Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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ADDENDA It is not intended that this addenda be a sequel to the pictorial log covering our first year in commission, but rather that it simply be a brief synopsis of events of interest that have transpired since our first anniversary, up to our return to the States. This has been deemed advisable in the interest of all hands in view of the sudden termination of the war and our most interesting operations in and around Japan and the desire of our present Command- ing Officer to make recent pictures available to all hands, it being felt that they would not justify the publication of another book, but would certainly justify an addition to the one that has gone before. S. Linton Smith, Lieut. Cmdr. USNR

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First of all. on behalf of all hands, vvc would like lo express our appreciation to Chaplain Washburn for his enthusiastic endorsement of this project, his sympathetic understanding of the obstacles that confronted us, and his gen- uine appreciation of our efforts. He was quick to appreciate what this book would mean to his men in years to come and unhesitatingly set aside suilicient funds lo insure a copy to all hands. His backing was an inspiration to us at all times and his attitude made our job just a little bit easier and a little bit plcasantcr. VVc cannot speak too highly of our Photo Gang. The quality of their work is displayed throughout this book, since all of the pictures herein were made by them with the exception of those taken at the Kai.scr Shipyards and those of San Francisco, Seattle, Long Beach, Honolulu and San Diego, the Chambers of Commerce of these cities having so kindly furnished us with their pictures as did the del C oronado Hotel, C oronado, Calif. Also, the picture of the Kamikaze exploding astern of us in the Sulu Sea was taken from our Flag .Ship, the U.S.S. Maklii Island (C ' E 93). This book clearly shows the volume of work done by our Photographer ' s Mates, and we can honestly say that they always did every job assigned them willingly and cheerfully. Their contri- bution to the success of this book cannot, there- fore, be over-emphasized. Our deepest ap- preciation to Pentecost, PhoMic, Muenster. PhoMic, Tango. PhoM c. Robcy. PhoM3c and Sinex, Sic. We feel that all hands will agree that the cartoons herein add much humor and interest to our book. While all of our cartoonists in- sist they are amateurs, we feel that they are anything but amateurish. An) vay, many thanks to James. B.Mic-, Lynch, AMMic, (ihighi. ABM2(. jury, ABM2C, Webb, EM c and Sandoval, Fic. This entire book was written while in the combat area, and it was a very slow and tedious process, what with the pitch and roll of the ship, an occasional typhoon, and also an occa- sional Devine Wind interrupting our hunt and peck system of typing. Therefore, when the time came to make .sufficient copies of the manuscript for submission to the publishers, we could not have gotten along with tnir hunt and peck system, and we relied solely on the Yeomen in the E. ecuti e Officer ' s Office to make the c opies. It was no easy ta.sk, but they went about their work cheerfully and with much greater speed and accuracy than vvc could have po.ssibly achieved. Our deepest appreciation, therefore, to Partin, Yic, Chcle- medos, Y2c, Doely, Y3C, and Waer, Y3C. We would also like to express our appre- ciation to our Advisory Committee for their many helpful suggestions and their constructive criticisms. Many thanks to the C ommittee, which is composed of Lieut. C omdr. .Sands, Lieut. C omdr. Hagstrom. Lieut, lippeti. Lieut. Corkran. Lieut. Garrett and Lieut. Homans. Last but not least, we want to thank the en- tire Ship ' s C ' ompany of the Lunga Point. Had we not sincerely felt that you were the finest crew in the L nited States Fleet we would never have volunteered to do this job for you. It has not been an easy job. but being .Shipmates with you has made it a pleasant and genuinely satis- fying one. Many thanks I .S. Linton Smith, Lieut., USNR.

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After cclchratini; our first anniversary in eominission at (iuam we remained tiiere lor several clays, and all hands enjoyed liherty at the recreation center over at (»al) (iali and at the OHieer ' s C:lul)s at Orote. Finally, on 23 May, Composite S(|iiadron Ninety-eight (VCl-gS), I.t. Cldr. R. Semmes, commanding and Lt. A. Fisani, Ivxeciiti ' e Ollicer, reported aboard for dnty to relie c VC-85, and on the same day we got underway for our new operating area. VC -gfi quickly sold themselves to us, not only as a line hunch of shipmates, t)ut also in their skill and accuracy in liring on towed spars with tlieir machine guns and rockets, they ha ing conducted prac- tice runs beginning the second day out. We were underway to join a large group of tankers south of Okinawa, where wc were to remain and pro ide air co er for them for a while, and we rendez oused with them on 26 May and pro ided them air co cr until 2 June, at which time it was intended that wc set our course west for attacks on enemy air strips on Saka- shima Ciunto, a group of Islands just north of Formosa. ' 1 ' PH()()N ! We set our course west all right. JDUt soon learned that one of those dreaded C hina .Sea typhoons was heading our way, so we, nat urally, changed (jur crjurse to avoid Ix ' ing (aught in the center of it. China .Sea typho(m.s, however, are pretty diliicult to determine the course of and, try as hard as w - could, wc (ouldn ' t avoid getting well on the edge of it. ihe blow started on the afternoon of 4 .June, increasing in intensity until dawn of the j-,th, when it began to subside, but it did not entire- ly subside until mid-afternoon that day. To say that the peaceful waters of tlie Pacific wa.s a u ' clcome sight to us all is putting it mildly, because few of us had slept at all the night before. One cannot imagine the eHects of a typhoon without having gone through one. Our ship was rolling and pitching as never before all through the night and. although all loose gear and our planes had been thoroughly secured, there was little sleep to be had on board that night, because there was just enough loo.se gear shifting about the .ship to keep us awake. In addition to the noise created by this shifting gear and the mountainous waves beating against the sides of the ship to keep us awake, it was practically an impossibility for us to stay in our bunks. C onsequently, most of us sp ent ' the night just walking up and down the pas- sageways or in the wardroom. Twenty and