Ludlow (DD 438) - Naval Cruise Book

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-wfq as-1 aa... . wil ,hte sumnfef 35 COUVPY escort for shipping bound to the United Kingdom. Following 1 period of training exercises, the Lucky Lud joined a task force accompanying a convoy bound across the Atl t ' f ' ' - an ic or the invasion of North Africag on Nov. 8, 1942, she was off Fedala, French Morocco, serving first as a control vessel for landing craft in the assault waves and then as a fire su t h' ' ' ' . . ppor s lp for the Army forces ashore. When hostilities opened the exchanged fire with shore batteries at Chergui and Cape Fedalag a little later she came under the fire of the French Naval forces moving up the coast from Casablanca, was hit emporary repairs, and from there she took an interest in this and forced to retire to effect t war which the Nazis will always regret. -wastefu- l 29

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i1 - THE HUMAN ELEMENT HE t' h' h f 11 W5 is not repeat, not for you old salts, both real and self styled. It sec ion w ic o o T . a - better half or little t , Wh ever our mother, dad, your is purely for home consump 1on en Y LOW PH Ou can break out junior starts prodding with, just what did you do. on the - Y HH d ye olde Ship's History and turn to the indoctrination section and SaYf ere' 'ea this. -- . 4 RADIO THE Radio gang under full wartime complement consists of a Chief, a first class, two sec- -. ond class, four third class radiomen and three strikers. Their duties are carried out in Radio Central and in Emergency Radio when necessary. . . h 'The biggest job from standpoint of time and effort for the radiomen is copying the Fleet Broadcasts or Fox Skeds . This traffic is transmitted to all fleet units in Interna- tional Morse Code at speeds varying from 18 to 25 words per minute. Generally, copying skeds is the duty of the third class radioman. - D I . . Before a striker sews the coveted crow on his arm, 1115 dUf1C5 are Varied- Flfst he 15 3 messenger, routing all traffic to the Captain, Executive, Communications Officer and to whomever else is concerned. Of course, the shack must be kept clean and orderly and as usual in this man's Navy these tasks fall largely to the junior men. Naturally making a .good pot of coffee is a prime prerequisite. ' 1 U ' s A RM2c is usually the supervisor of the watch. It is his duty, while acting in this ca- pacity to make certain that the best frequencies for proper reception are in use, to have all 'incoming traffic routed promptly, and to clear outgoing messages and dispatches, He is the snapper or foreman of the watch and he must constantly guard against discrepancies in circuit discipline so as not to hinder transmission and reception of high priority traffic. A first class radioman has added to the duties of the second class petty officer, the job of copying the radio press for the daily fweather permittingl perusal of the morning paper. Radio press is the only real link with the world when the ship is at sea. All the im- portant news is edited by the operator on the circuit and mimeographed in time to go with morning coffee. It is this same press news that has cumshawed many a loaf of warm bread from the baker or an egg sandwich from the cooks for the mid. or morning watch. The Chief Radioman is at the top of the ladder. He is the key to the performance of the entire gang. Among his duties fall the jobs of advising on advancements in rate, desig- nation of watch supervisors and organization of the watches. The diligence with which he fulfills these tasks is reflected in the finish ed product each radio guard. p All radiomen feel a certain pride every time a wide eyed landlubber is introduced to the complicated maze of the radio shack. Many a chest has noticeably swelled at these words, How can you ever learn what all those knobs and dils are for? or All those signals sound the same to me. This is the reward of many hours of hard work. p i . SHIP'S LAUNDRY THIS Destroyer was built for fighting, and this is her primary purpose for existence every- thing else being considered secondary. The ship's laundry comes under the latter and crammed in a 5'x12' space isa washing machine, dryer, extractor, and press leaving, very little room for the operators. This was reason enough to make a big job difficult but rough weather and invasions were the real stumbling block and it has not yet been decided which of the two was the most hazardous since during rough weather the extractor had ta bad habit of bounding all over the place making it equally as dangerous as an invasion, Besides invasions and rough weather, break downs in equipment were not unusual Q which naturally only happened when all ry,-,,.yf was Caught up With. Breakdowns Could be re 30 A