Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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onms Drl)iit;int( ' iil llic Stork (liil) lo ili()s - boys that mtJinini;. Havini; clisrmbarkcd our passmgrrs and un- loaded our carijo of planes, liinTly staried for the I ' ort Watch at ifioo. and that niKht the telephone lines were busy from Coronado and Dago to all sections of the country, as .iiiigfi Point men awaited their turn in line to call their wives and families. It Ix ' intj pretty well under- stood that we would be in and around Dago and Long Beach for several weeks at least, many Liinga Point wi ' es were given orders to return to that area with least possible delay, since many of them had returned to their homes, scattered all over the country, after wc shoved ofT from Astoria on 5 June, exactly two months before. The next day, 6 August, wc got underway for Terminal Island, Long Beach, Calif., where wc were to go into the Yard t(j iind rjut just hi w ucll we had shaken her dt)wn. Most of the men s[x-nt th -ir first few days there trying to hnd a room, any kind of a room, for their wives, l)ecause the li(jusing situation wa.s sfjmcihing terrible. Many a wife was en route, not know- ing where she would stay; howvver, they were all taken care of one way or another, either in hotels, apartment houses or private homes. While at Long Beach all hands were offered five days lea e, with most of the single men go- ing to Los Angeles, Hollywood, .San P ' rancisco and .San Diego, and most of the married men remaining in Long Beach with their families. Quite a few Lunga Point men were able to get rooms at the Hotel Hilton or the ' illa Ri iera in Long Beach, while those in the upp cr bracket stayed at the Biltmore in Los .Angeles. .Actually, we had one representative from our .ship in that upper bracket. It mattered not to us of the proletariat, though, because we could get to Los Angeles on the Pacific Electric in forty-five minutes. In any event, it was here at Long Beach that many lasting friend- ships were made amongst the wives of the Lunga Point men; friendships that were going to mean much to them during their lonely hours awaiting our return from the fighting front later on. One event in particular did much to cement the friendships amongst the wi es of the ofiiccrs. and that was the luncheon that Mrs. Washburn gave for them in the Rcndez- ous Room of the Biltmore in Los . ngeles dur- ing our Long Beach sojourn. We husbands, of course, did not rate the luncheon, but were told all about the delicious food, the lovely centerpiece, and some of the gossip that night. I of Captain at personnel inspection. North Island. Personnel inspection, North Island. 46

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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

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There they were, all together, about thirty of them, and the field wide open for gossip, dis- cussion of the latest styles, the latest hair-do, the latest book, and the new movies. The luncheon was at 1300; however, it was 1700 bv the time they returned to Long Beach just ■■talked out. There is no doubt but that that luncheon was the starter for many friend- ships, because, even that night in the hotels of Long Beach, the gals started all over again, talking about the hair-do that hadn ' t quite set when they left the Rendezvous Room. After necessary work had been completed on our ship, most of our wives followed us on down to Dago, from where we were scheduled to operate for several weeks, and, after another frantic rush to find rooms, most of the wives settled down to wait, because that is just what they were doing a good part of the time there. We went out on short cruises, lasting from two to ten days, going through v ' arious exercises and tests, and, of course, our wives never knew when we were coming back; so each time we came in we got just about as big a thrill as we did on returning from our Shake- down Cruise. Lunga Point wives could be found in almost every hotel and apartment hou.sc in Dago and C ' oronado; therefore, the Lunga Point was al- ways -cry much in evidence around the U.S. Grant Hotel and the El Cortez in Dago and the del Coronado in Coronado. In fact, our men and their wives could be found almost any- where you went in that area. Our stay in the San Diego area was not only a pleasant and happy one, but also an interest- ing one, since many availed themselves of the opportunity to visit places of interest in the vicinity while on liberty, not the least interest- ing of which were Tia Juana and Agua Cal- iente, Mexico. There, one could see the races on Sunday afternoons or spend an evening browsing around the many gift shops of Tia Juana, buying leather goods and Mexican siher, after a delicious dinner at the American C lub, highlighted by one of those tempting Romaine salads. The .San Diego area was a most pleasant one in which to be from another standpoint — the fact that it is truly the Cross-roads of the Navy. There is seldom a day passes that you don ' t run into friends you have known some- where else in the Navy or in civilian life. This is particularly true at the del Coronado Hotel, o er in Cloronado, where almost e eryone feels perfectly at home, walking into the lovely and spacious, high-domed dining room or into the Cocktail Lounge, because you are almost cer- tain to meet up with friends even before you have had a chance to sit down. This only adds to the gaiety that seems always prevalent at this charming hotel. ' C-85 Reports Abo.ard On 16 August, our Squadron, Composite Squadron Eighty-Five (VC 85), reported aboard for duty, and e promptly go t under- way to qualify them. Right from the start they made a most favorable impression on us, and they went about their Shakedown aboard the Lunga Point with a seriousness of purpose that was bound to have been most pleasing to our Old Man. From that point on, until we left on our business trip a good part of the time for the next several weeks was devoted entirely to shaking down our Squadron. ' We made several short crui.scs with them, and they left the ship once for a couple of days special training at one of our nearby land bases. They worked hard and long, and were really shaping up into a fine Squadron, but, becau.sc of the intensity of their work, we of the Ship ' s Com- pany were unable to get acquainted ..jvith them as quickly as we would ha ' c liked We were determined to operate as one; so we decided to have a C VE 94- VC 85 Dutch Treat Cock- tail Party at the Officer ' s Club, North Island. The party was given in the Sun Rocn% of the Club on Wednesday, 4 October, and it was a