Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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

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formation was received with ripples; in fact, waves of excitement throughout the ship, be- cause it had been a long time since we had been to New Guinea (never, for most of us). As a matter of fact, it had been so long that we had forgotten all we ever knew about the place; so much so that we were half hoping to find it populated with gobs of those beautiful South Sea sirens, the kind that Samuel Goldwyn had accustomed us to expect, waiting for us on the beach. This happy prospect almost made us forget the unhappy prospect of our coming initiation before King Neptune. Meanwhile, the Civilian Officers of the Ship ' s Company turned to in their determina- tion to prove to the Executive Officer that he was wrong. For it was none other than Com- mander E. R. Swede Eastwold, USN, who, in his first informal talk with our Officers in Bremerton on 4 April 1 944, said, and we quote him verbatim as follows: Well, I ' ve been looking over the Officer ' s Roster and I find the Reser es (he meant civilians) in the majority. I understand that other C E ' s before us have gone out under the same uncertain and shaky conditions, though, which proves it can be done: so all I want you to do is to prove it to me. I don ' t see how it can be done, but it ' s up to you. Do the job; that ' s all I want. The Exec, however, couldn ' t have realized how far wrong he was in estimating the ability of his officer personnel. He simply hadn ' t, at that time, interviewed all the officers to see just what their Naval qualifications were, because we were so fortunate as to have lawyers, engineers, chemists, bookmakers, radio crooners (a Na- tional hook-up, too), insurance men, football coaches, petroleum engineers, business men, lumber dealers, rising young business men, dry ice manufacturers, prominent young business men, lawyers, flying machine dri% ' crs, dentists, doctors, farmers (gentleman farmers, of course), lawyers, school teachers. Harvard men (a Vale man, too, and also a son of old Nassau), law students to be, salesmen, public welfare work- ers. Ministers (Methodist), law students, paper cup salesmen, filling station operators, three graduates of the United States Naval Academ -. classes of 1923, 1932 and 1935 (adding up and di iding by three gives an average of 1930; therefore, we were somewhat comforted to know that three members of the class of ' 30 were with us to keep us oflT the coral reefs that lay ahead), detectives, lawyers, lawyers, one child of the Streets of Paris, hauling contractors. certified public accountants, lawyers, boxing instructors, G.M.A.C. Bird Dogs, lawyers, obstetricians, and lawyers. For the life of us we can ' t understand how anyone can feel that all these qualifications can ' t add up to at least Top: Our escort center : . part of New G route to New G boltoi of San Francisco enroute to New Guinea: hangar deck cargo on Shakedown to Hangar deck cargo and passengers en- 33