Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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Navy. loof, Passed from lnlaiul to Iiitcr- iiational waters, lonfi .Seciirctl Iroiii (Jciieial Qiiarieis. .Sel Condition III. .Section • . loji I ' ilot, l.t. ( ' .dr. Hansen. U.SCXi, left the ship. Took departme on course Pji ! and p.i;.r. I no e (■ to if)4°r and p.t .e. ' The al)(j ( ' loK entry was not needed to con- vince everyone dial we were linally underway on our ' Maiden N ' oyai e. ' Notable amoni tho.se who needed only the pitch and roll of the Lwiga Point to con ince them that something new had suddenly come into their lives were Lieutenants DeAngelis and Ray, as well as many men scattered throughout the Crew ' s Quarters trying in vain to calm the seas by laying Hat on their stomachs in their bunks, with their agonized heads burrowing futilely into their pillows for comfort, which was no- where to w found. It was during this period that Lt. De. ngelis introduced a new piece of gear to be carried topside to the open Bridge Tof : Seattle from a w boat; bottom: .Seattle from air, showing Bremcrlon ferry. by till- ( )lii(ir-of-lhe-I)e( k when rditxing the Wait h jiisl a plain Inuket. After crossing the Columbia River Bar, we found ourselves in the- Pacilic for the (irst time. The I ' acilic was evcTything but what its name- im|)lies, however, and cjur ship pitched and to.ssed like a ccjrk in the- mountaincnis waves, and the plates c;f the ship rescjunded with a boom throughout that first night at sea as they gave under the impact of the heavy sea.s. It was. therefore, a relief to all. and particularly those unhappy sea-sick .sailors, when we entered the C|uiet and peaceful waters of Fuget .Sound the ne. t morning. For the next few days, we enjoyed smooth sailing in what is probably the mcjst picturesque sound in the world, while we called at Port Townsend, Illahee. Bremerton and oth er points in Puget Sound, taking on various stores, ammunition and other gear, and going through various tests of precision instruments preparatory- to our Shakedown Cruise, which was ne.xt in our schedule. As we cruised along through the narrou- straits of Puget Sound we could not help but feel that we were being allowed much the same view as met the eyes of Captain John Smith as he brought his ships into Jamestown, in the Colony of ' irginia. in 1607, because the beau- tiful pines, firs and spruce so typical of that beautiful northwest country came right down to the crystal clear water ' s edge, as virgin in appearance as one could possibly hope to see. Despite the fact that huge lumber mills were humming beyond the hills and that we were cruising through waters that are literally a highway of commerce between the United States, Canada and Alaska, the view that met our eyes convinced us in our ow-n minds that we were the first ship to chart a course through that panorama of e ergreen beauty. While we enjoyed the cruise from a scenic standpoint, we had hardly gotten underway from Astoria when we were made to realize that this cruise was not only a preliminary to our shakedown, but that it was the beginning of an indoctrination period that was to grow in its intensity until such time as all hands had been trained to do the job for which they were best fitted and to do that job well. Drills of all kinds were the order of the day — General Quarters, Fire Drill. Collision Drill, Abandon Ship Drill and many other exercises that, thoroughly mastered, would enable us to fight our ship successfully when we had reached that 28

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and the Pacific, and commanding an excellent view of each. There v erc so many Navy couples there, in connection with the C ' E commissionings, that we never lacked for con- genial companionship; consequently, we were never lacking for something to do. Another advantage in staying at either Gear- hart or Seaside was the beautiful drive in to Astoria, with the highway literally banked on both sides with Scotch Broom, its yellow blooms giving you a feeling of driving down a highway of spun gold, through the stately pines and fir of the Coast Range, with Saddle Mountain rising in the distance. This was, however, a much prettier drive at sunset than at sunrise as many an officer and man from the Liinga Point will agree. During our fitting out, we were constantly stumbling over shipyard workers who were putting the final touches to our ship, pointing up this and tightening up that. Despite the general confusion, however, we finished with our work in record time and were ready to put to sea. Consequently, the Crew was given a dance on the hangar deck on the evening of Saturday, 3 June, and it was a most enjoyable occasion. The forward half of the hangar deck had the various signal flags and pennants hang- ing from the bulkheads, forming a very appro- priate and pretty setting for the dance. The Astoria Naval .Station Orchestra played for the dance, and many a rug was ciu to smith- ereens ' by the Jitterbugs of the Liiiiga Point. Refreshments were served throughout the evening in both the C.P.O. and the Crew Mess to as lovely a group of ladies as ever graced the Lunga Point. ■Sunday, 4 June, found most of the Lunga Point wives en route home or preparing to leave, because Scuttlebutt, straight from the C;how Line, told us that we would soon be getting underway. anc:hors AWEIGH! Stand Na y down the field. Sail set to the sky ! We ' ll never change our course; ■So Army, you steer shy-y-y ! Roll up the score. Navy, Anchor ' s aweigh ! Sail Navy down the field And sink the Army; sink the Army Grey! Monday, 5 June 1944: 08-1 2 Moored as before. Set Condition Baker. 0820 Stationed all special sea details. Made all preparations for getting underway. 0857 Underway from Pier 2, Berth 4, U.S. Naval •Station, Astoria, Oregon, on various courses and speeds. Pilot, Lt. Cdr. Clark, at the conn. C aptain, Executive Officer and Navigator on the bridge. 0909 Pilot, Lt. Cdr. Hansen, USCG. relieved Pilot, Lt. Cdr. Clark, at the conn. 0944 Exercised at General Quarters. 0957 Sighted blimp; identified as K-87, U..S. Getting underway from .Astoria. 27

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point of near-perfection for which the Old Man strove so hard. It was just like going to school again, not only because we were having drills of some kind every day, but be- cause we were going to school in fact. The officers were ha ' ing classes every day in Officer- of-the-Deck duties, aircraft and ship recogni- tion and so on, while the enlisted personnel were having lookotit and recognition classes, too. Actually, it appeared to us that we were being ■ screened. While, no doubt, the Cap- tain was a little apprehensive at the tremendous number of dry land sailors he had under his command, we don ' t feel that he ever thought lie had a hopeless job on his hands, but that, rather, his job was to try us all out in various duties until he had found the job best suited to our individual capabilities. With this feeling in mind, we all went about our duties cheer- fully and with a determination to absorb all we could from our various training courses and exercises, and, in retrospect, we can now say vith justifiable pride that we do feel that we got off on the right foot and that we have been well rewarded for our efforts. After several days cruising in Puget .Sound and with all hands ready for a liberty or so after our long cruise, on Friday, 9 June 1944: 12-16 Steaming as before. 1442 Completed measured mile runs. 1445 Set course 300°T and p.g.c. Speed i8 knots. 1500 c c to o8o°T and p.g.c. c s to 15 knots. 1524 On various courses and speeds proceeding to dock. Lt. Cdr. Willard, Pilot, at the conn. Captain, E.xecutive Officer and Navigator on the bridge. 1544 Moored starboard side to Pier 91, Berth How, Naval Station, Seattle, Wash., with two 10 manila lines and six ]4 wire lines doubled. The Captain, of course, being in the know- as to when and where we were going, al- ready had things arranged, and he simply had to walk down the gangway and be dri en to his home overlooking Lake Washington to see his Skipper, while the rest of us, the proletariat, walked the four miles in to the Seattle business section for much-needed rest and recreation. This, of course, was not our first visit to Seattle, because we had all spent several weeks in Brem- erton, at the CA ' E Pre-commissioning School prior to going to Astoria to commission our ship; however, we were all kept so very busy while in Bremerton, attending classes, holding per.sonnel inspections and so on that we had heretofore seen very little of Seattle proper. Seattle had much to offer us in the way of diversion from our shipboard duties, and we found the typical Northwest hospitality much in evidence, what with various .Service Clubs and Fraternal Organizations, as we ll as the hotels, ready to welcome us with open arms. As a matter of fact, on arrival in the Cocktail Lounge of the Hotel Olympic a short (very short) while after we had docked, we found quite a number of Lunga Point men already en- joying their rest and recreation. The whole city was crowded that night, as well as all the time we were there, because we were not the only Naval vessel in port, and the Bremerton crowd from the Puget Sound Na y Yard was sufficient to over-flow the city, anyway. De- spite the usual .Seattle wartime crowd, though, we could eventually find a restaurant where we didn ' t have to stand in line more than an hour, and we even found a couple of night clubs that had room for us. Quite a number of our men from the .Seattle-Tacoma area had the pleasure of a short visit with their families. All in all, our first night, as well as the days to follow, in Seattle were most enjoyable. It was also while in Seattle that we in the Wardroom were served that never-to-be-for- gotten dinner — three courses of them — on Sat- urday, 10 June 1944. It made such a lovely impression on our guests that we shall ever be grateful to our Wardroom Mess C aterer, Lt. (jg) C. C. Smith, for his ingenuity in planning such a delicious menu. As long as we live we shall blush at the sight of a Boston Baked Bean. Having finished our loading of stores in Seattle, on Monday, 12 June 1944: 12-16 Moored as before. 1232 Underway from Pier 91, Berth How. U.S. Naval Station, Seattle, Washington, on various courses and speeds. 29