Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 35 text:

respective departments, which was, of course, designed to give all officers at least a superficial working knowledge of those departments in which they had no direct interest. This plan not only made us more familiar with our ship as a whole, but it instilled in us a sympathetic attitude toward the particular problems of our fellow officers. Therefore, with our indoctri- nation program well underway, and feeling that we were ready for our Shakedown, on Saturday, 24 June 1944: 16-20 Steaming as before. 161 o Sighted Far- allon Islands bearing i89°T. 161 1 c c to ioo°T and p.g.c. 1656 Passed Buoy A abeam to port. Maneuvering on various courses con- forming to channel into San Francisco Har- bor. 1834 Stationed all special sea details. 1835 Passed from International to Inland waters. Passed Bonita Point abeam to star- board. 1843 Passed under Golden Gate Bridge. 1857 Passed Alcatraz Light abeam to port. 1934 Passed under San Francisco Bay Bridge (Some folks caU it Oakland Bay Bridge — Ed.). 1938 Passed Goat Island Light abeam to port. 1954 Anchored in Berth 9 in 10 fathoms of water with 60 fathoms of chain out to the port anchor at the water ' s edge, on the follow- ing bearings: Ferry Building 297. 5°T, Goat Island 005. 3°T, Red Dock 27o°T and Alca- traz Light 3i3°T. Secured main engines. We now found ourselves finally anchored in San Francisco Bay, where we were to move to the dock at N.A.S., Alameda, the next morning. Lfpon docking at the Alameda pier, all hands turned to on loading stores and other gear for our Shakedown Cruise. It being the policy of our Government to make these Shakedown Cruises pay for themselves, among other things, we took aboard quite a number of planes as cargo, and a large number of officers and men as passengers. We had so much gear to get aboard that it took a couple of days hard work, which meant a couple of liberties for those in the liberty section. Consequently, the Lunga Point was very much in evidence around San Franci.sco, at the Top o ' the Mark, Fisherman ' s Wharf, ClifT House, Seal Rocks, the Saint Francis and even Trader Vic ' s over in Oakland. Many a Lunga Point man could also be seen hanging precariously on the little cable cars as they climbed slowly but surely up Telegraph Hill. This was the first visit to ' Frisco for many men on the Lunga Point, and the quaint- ncss and charm of this lovely West Coast me- tropolis, with its most genuine C hinatown and Latin Quarter, was thoroughly enjoyed by all of us. Yes, we all had had a good time, and well we might, because we had a long journey ahead of us, which held the unhappy propect for many of us having to go through the ordeal of being Pollywogs until crossing the line, at which time we would be well initiated into the ancient and honorable ranks of the Shell- backs ; so on Shake her down ! Shake her down ! ! Tuesday, 27 Jvme 1944: 12-16 Moored as before. 12 15 Stationed all special sea details. Made all preparations for getting underway. 13 10 Pilot, Lt. Cdr. H. S. Stengel, USCG, came aboard. 1312 Under- way from Carrier Pier, Berth 7, N.A.S., Ala- h, ,: Goldc Gate bridge; bottom: View from Twin Peaks, lookii down Market Street, San Francisco. 31

Page 34 text:

I ' licrc ;iic two iiii|)()rlaiit rrns rslii|) rci;iil;i- tioiis lli.it llic Niivy ;il v;iys in;m;iK s to kcc|) ;i deep, dark .secret, aiicl they are the time ol ' cli- partiire and wliere we aic i oinu. In this |)ar- ticular instance, our I xeciitive ()(iic ' r |)ulle(i a fast one on the Shijj ' s .Ser ice Ollicei ' before Icavini; Seaitie. He had intimated that we weic t oini to Alameda (San I ' ' rancisc()), Calif. . t liiis |)articiilar time the carbonator.s had not been installed in the Ship ' s Service Store and vc were selling bottled Coca-Cola. Con.se- quently, in order to conserxe space, which is always at a premium aboard ship, we took on just enough bottled C ' Dkcs to last until we reached ■ Frisco. but we didn t e en come within sight of Seal Rocks, mu( li less pass throunh the ( Jolden Gate, and we had to go withoiii our Dopes for a couple of days, b ' causc (in li ' iday, id June i ).(}: ())i-ij Steaming as before on course of 2J(n ' and p.g.c., j-,4° p.s.c. .Speed 12 knots. 0810 l- xerci.sed at Steering Casualty Drill. 0818 .Secured from .Steering Casualty Drill. 0920 Land sighted bearing I ' i ) !. 1129 c c to ;V20° ' r and p.g.c. Passed Bell Buoy A abeam to port. ii ' -j;5 Stationed all special sea details. Standing in to San Diego Harbor, Calif, on arious courses and speeds. C!aptain at the (onn. Executive Officer and Navigator on llic bridge. Instead of arriving at Alameda, wc made our first call on N.A.S., North Island, San Diego, C alif., where tho.se of us who were for- tunate enough to rate liberty had a brief but pleasant isit in the beautiful cities of .San Diego and Coronado. It was destined to be a .short stay though, because after all, there was a war going on and wc had work to do. Therefore, the next day, Saturday, 17 June 1944, we got underway from North Island for several days at sea on various tests and exercises incident to preparing a ship for its .Shakedown Cruise. . t this point, in addition to our drills and classes of instruction, the Captain introduced another indoctrination program, which was to have arious Department Heads address the oHicers on the functions and operations of their . t DesBase, San Diego, California. 30

Page 36 text:

mcda. C.ilifitniiii. Pilot ;it llic conn. Clap- l.tin, l ' ,xc uli c ()IIi( -r iinci Naxifjator on llic luiilnr. I ' rocccclini; on various coursrs and s|XTcls out of San Franrisro Bay. i3. ' )4 Pass ' d Alcalra Island abeam to starboard. I4f f) Passed inider (iolden (Jate Bridge. 141R Pas.sed from Inland to International waters. Spn-ed 1 -, knots. Passed between Bonita Point and Seal Roek Linhthouse. On arioiis courses ronforminn to swept channel. i-,oi Stopped. Lying to. Pilot left the ship. 1 -)io Ahead s s. .Set course :ioi°r. 202° p.g.c, and 191° p.s.c. E.xerci.sed at Cieneral Quarters. 1519 .Secured from General Quarters. Set Condition III. ]-y o c c to 148°! and p.g.c. 1540 U..S. Navy Blimp K-10-, reported for duty. i. )47 c s to ilj knots. Heard among the .Sky-larkers : I got it straight from a Civil .Service Quar- tcrman Laborer on the dock at Alameda that we ' re headed straight for Brisbane. My girl friend ' s brother has a buddy who has a sister-in-law working at the Federal Builditig in Frisco, and she says we ' re delinitely going to Pearl. A waiter in the Lotus Restaurant told nie we are going to Ulithi Atoll, when-ver that is. Boy, they do have good Chow Mein at that Lotus, too. .So that waiter must know what he ' s talking about. Now, listen, youse guys: I ' ve got the drjpe, and I ain ' t hankerin ' to tell you, but, if you must know, here it is. W ' e ' re goin ' to sea! . ow, having really gotten underway on our .Shaked(nvn Cruise, all hands were told the first night, by our Executive Officer, that wc were en route to Fin.schafen. New Guinea. We are always told, after getting underway exactly where we are going, because, after all, no one is so anxious to let out the information as to want to swim ashore with it. Ihis in- Top liji: A good place lo pass by — . lcatraz: lop nghi: CaJUslhemcs on flight deck; bollom left: Caulking off on fantail en route I iollom right: Calisthenics on flight deck (Pi.xley seems to be having a hard time). 32