Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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Mavinn spt ' iit a vrry plcisanl hour wiili our frifiids at tlu- Seaplane Base, w - lio[)|)ccl another Jeep ricU hack to the boat landini;. En route, we pass -cl three natives, dressed in their In-st loin cloths, with their arms full of miniature out-ri ij; r eanoes, which we felt t er- tain they were takinir to the landinir to sc-11 as souvenirs to the Army, Navy and Marine per- sonnel stationed lh -re: so we asked our bene- factor if he would mind stojipini; loni eiKJunh for us to buy one. We approached the elder of the three and said, How much? Not a i runt was forthcoming, e en after the third attempt. Then, in our very Ix-st French, which we hadn ' t used in i8 years, we .said, Qu est-ce que le prix? Immediately, the words came back, ■ ' Fifty C:ents. ' We finally got out of him that the only English they spoke was Money, and we can well understand that, because wc later learned that, two years iDcfore, .American service men could buy boars teeth from them Top: .Sailing off Lo IS Beach; hdou: Rainbow f .-Xuditorium, Long Beach. for J-, cents, whereas, now that they have learned that all .Amc-ricans are rich, they charged Im Dollar for thi-m. aiifl iliey got it. With the Captain ' s pants and our out-rigger (anoe. we returned to the ship perfe tly con- tent with our three-hour visit to the New Heb- rides. Upon arriving at the ship, we .saw that the main reason for our calling at Espiritu .Santos was to take on a large number of Army. .Navy and .Marine p -r.sonnel for transportation back to the States. Our Might deck and hangar deck were kjaded with planes, and there were row upon row of cots all up and down the hangar deck for the enlisted pas- sengers, and every inch of space in Officer ' s Country was taken up with officer pa.ssengers. They were a most cheerful lot of passengers, be- cause they were all going back to the States, either on duty or leave, after many months in the New Hebrides getting our various ba.ses established. We, too, were in a cheerful mood, because the prospect of an early reunion with our families meant much to us also. Therc- fon-. it was one happy ship when on Friday, 21 July 1944: 12-16 Moored as before. 1422 Stationed all special sea details. Made all preparations for getting underway. 1458 Underway from Berth 16, Espiritu Santos, on various courses and speeds proceeding out of Segond Channel. C ' aptain at the conn. Executive Officer and Navigator on the bridge. 1546 Passed through anti-submarine nets. ' The Plan-of-the-Day for Saturday. 22 July, had thereon the note. En route San Diego. Uncle .Sugar. which was most welcome, but not altogether unexpected news to all hands. Until then, we had been afraid they might, by some remote chance, transfer our cargo and passengers at Pearl Harbor, and send us on the road to Tokyo without another good look at the U.S.A. before starting on our business trip. The cruise back to the .States was a ery pleasant one, with most of our spare time spent either in classes of one kind or another or out on the forecastle or fantail. watching the many species of flying fish as they sailed excitedly ' away from our ship, and otherwise enjoying the beauty of the Pacific waters, while telling and listening to all manner of .Sea .Stories. We could not have desired a nicer bunch of 44

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Hangar deck passengers returning to Uncle Sugar frc We were getting the feel of the sea. Our Gunners were staying on target more and more in our Gunnery Exercises. We had a definite feeling that our Progress for Combat was shaping up to the satisfaction of all con- cerned, and a definite feeling of pride in our ship and in ourselves was beginning to develop. We not only felt, but we knew we were on our way, and that we had reached that near state of perfection with our many drills and exercises. It was, therefore, a happy and more confident crew that on ESPIRITU SANTOS Thursday, 20 July 1944: 16-18 .Steaming on various courses and speeds preparatory to entering harbor of Espiritu Santos, New Hebrides. 161 6 Dead in water. Captain at the conn. Executive Officer and Navigator on the Bridge. 1631 All engines ahead i ,3. Maneuvering to enter Segond Channel. 1651 Passed through anti-subma- rine nets. 1653 Pas.sed Beacon A abeam to starboard. 1 708 Passed Beacon C abeam to starboard. 1 7 14 Passed Beacon G abeam to starboard. 1720 Maneuvering to moor at Buoy 16. 1728 Line aboard buoy. 1743 Moored to Buoy 16, Segond Channel, Espiritu Santos Island, with 10 manila bowline and wire pre enter. Various cargo and repair craft moored in harbor. SOPA: U. S. S. Briaius. 1 745 Sludge barge received alongside. Secured main engines. 1757 Executed colors. The sun having set just as we anchored, we saw no prospect of getting ashore that night, and Scuttlebutt, straight from the Chow Line, having pretty well convinced us that we would be getting underway sometime the next day, our hopes for getting ashore rapidly diminished. Fortunately for us, however, the Captain still hadn ' t gotten his khaki pants; so he sent us in at 0800 on the 2 ist to try again to get them for him. We found the pants right away, which we didn ' t mind very much, becau.se, after all, there were no more places of interest to shop in between Espiritu and Uncle Sugar, and we had every reason to believe we were returning to the States. Our boat was not to return for us until 1 100; so we had over two hours to wait. We decided to use that time to look up some friends at our Seaplane Base; so we hopped a ride down there in a Jeep. En route, we were immediately impressed with the fact that the New Hebrides were a much prettier and more civilized Gunto than we had expected. There was not as much mud as in New Guinea, and the SeaBees had built perfect sand and gravel roads all up and down the island. The more affluent citizens were of French extraction and lived in very attractive homes scattered along the roads, and many of them had their own French automobiles, though they were of a rather old vintage. Even the natives lived in more civilized homes than were found in New Guinea; however, we saw no villages, the homes merely being scattered sparsely along the roads with plenty of Leibenstraum. 43

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passengers than we had on our return trip, and many friendships were formed amongst them. The enlisted personnel were a particularly well behaved and orderly group, and at least one of them was a rather enterprising young chap. He was a Marine Pri ate, and he had with him one of those miniature Singer sewing machines. Our Tailor Shop is always rushed ith work prior to returning to the States, because they have much work to do, not only in pressing, but also in sewing clean Watch tape and Rating Badges on uniforms, so that the men will look their best when they see their one and only. C ' onsequently, this Marine, not wanting to overlook a good thing, just set up business right there on the hangar deck, and he did such a thriving tailoring business that there is no telling how much he did make on that cruise. Everytime we passed his cot, he seemed to have all the business he could handle. As an important part of our training, we ne ' er o erlooked an opportunity for Gunnery Exercises. Frequently, while at sea. we would have one of our own planes tow a slee e target for us to practice on, but nearly always, just before entering, or just after leaving port, we would ha e one or more planes from the beach tow targets for us, because we felt pretty certain that we would soon be grateful for all the gun- nery practice we could cram into our routine. Our first contact with the States on our return therefore, was with planes from North Island towing targets for us. We could, at that point, see concrete evidence of the results of our many hours firing at towed sleeves in the hot tropical sun. because we were hitting the target pretty regularly. We had hardly secured from Gun- nery Exercises when on Saturday, 5 August 1944: 08-12 Steaming as before, 0804 c c to o64°T and p.g.c, 056° p.s.c. 0807 c s to 16 knots. 0838 Sighted outer buoy bearing o63°T, distance 2 miles. 0839 a e ahead 2 3. 0901 c s to 10 knots. 0917 Commenced maneuver- ing on various courses and speeds to conform to channel. 0931 Pilot, J. T. Johnston, came aboard. 0957 Passed Point Loma abeam to port. 1030 Moored starboard side to Pier Item, Xorth Island, .San Diego, Calif. 1153 Passengers disembarked. Ev eryone on board was happy that morning as we docked at North Island, but none were happier than our passengers who were return- ing to the States after many months duty in the South Pacific, and they nearly went wild with cheers when they saw their first American girl since leaving the good ' ole U.S.. . She was a civilian employee of the Air Station, driving a tractor on the dock, but she looked like a glam- Tofy: Beach and Tennis Club, del Coronado Hotel; center: Coronado Hotel; bottom: .Aerial view of San Diego. 45