Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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respective departments, which was, of course, designed to give all ollieers 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 'fSaturday, 24 june 1944: 16-20 Steaming as before. 1610 Sighted Far- allon Islands bearing 189OT. 1611 cfc to IOOOT 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 fSome folks call it Oakland Bay Bridge+Bd.D. 1938 Passed Goat Island Light abeam to port. 1954 Anchored in Berth 9 in IO 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 297.5OT, Goat Island 0o5.3OT, Red Dock 27oOT and Alca- traz Light 313OT. 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. Upon 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, thc Lungfz Point was very much in evidence around San Francisco, at the Top o, thc Mark, l islierinan's Wharf, Cliff House, Seal Rocks, the Saint Francis and even Trader Vicis over in Oakland. Many a Lunga Pain! man could also be seen hanging precariously on the little cable cars as they climbed slowly but surely up lclegrapli Hill. This was the first visit to Frisco for many men on thc Lunga Point, and the quaint- ness and charm of this lovely West Coast me- tropolis, with its most genuine Chinatown and Latin Qiuarter, 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 f4Pollywogs', until Hcrossing the line,H at which time we would be well initiated into the ancient and honorable ranks of the fCShell- backswg so on Shake her down! Shake her down!! HTuesday, 2 7 June 19441 12-16 Moored as before. 1215 Stationed all special sea details. Made all preparations for getting underway. 1310 Pilot, Lt. Cdr. H. S. Stengel, USCG, came aboard. 1312 Under- way from Carrier Pier, Berth 7, N.A.S., Ala- Ai tl lnpg Golden Hale liridgcg bnllnm: View from Twin Peaks, lookin down lWai'kel Street, San Francisco.

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Land sighted bearing But where to? There are two important censorship regula- tions that the Navy always manages to keep a deep, dark secret, and they are the time of de- parture and where we are going. In this par- ticular instance, our Executive Officer pulled a fast one on the Ship's Service Cflicer before leaving Seattle. He had intimated that we were going to Alameda CSan Franciscol, Calif. At this particular time the carbonators had not Civic center, San Diego. been installed in the Ship's Service Store and we were selling bottled Coca-Cola. Conse- quently, in order to conserve space, which is always at a premium aboard ship, we took on just enough bottled c'Cokes', to last until we reached 'cFrisco, but we didn't even come yyilhill sight of Seal Rocks, much less without our '4D0pcs for a couple of da s beca use on 1 pass tlirough the flolclcn Cate, and wc had to go Y 1 fliil f,1bI 4 144' OT 41'-'ray un' ic... 08-12 Steaming as before on course of 270 and p.g.c., 2540 p.s.c. Speed IQ knots. 0810 Exercised at Steering Casualty Drill 0818 Secured from Steering Drill 0920 Casualty , 1iSfO'li' II Qt C 0 .1 - .J ff t 32oOT and p.g.e. Passed Bell Buoy A abeam to port. II33 Stationecl all special sea details. Standing in to San Diego Harbor, Calif. on various courses and speeds. Captain at the conn. Executive Oflicer and Navigator on the bridgef, Instead of arriving at Alameda, we made our first call on N.A.S., North Island, San Diego, Calif., where those of us who were for- tunate enough to rate liberty had a brief but pleasant visit in the beautiful cities of San Diego and Coronado. lt was destined to be a short stay though, because after all, there was a war going on and we had work to do. Therefore, the next day, Saturday, I7 ,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. At this point, in addition to our drills and classes of instruction, the Captain introduced another indoctrination program, which was to have various Department Heads address the ofhcers on the functions and operations of their At DesBase, San Diego, California.

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meda. CIZllIl'Ol'l1lLl. Pilot at tl1e 1'111111. fill!!- tain, Exeeutive Ullieer and Nax'ig11t111' 1111 tl1e bridge. Proceeding on x'ari11us eourses g1111l speeds out of San Franeiseo Bay. 1335.1 l,2lSSt'tl Alcatraz Island abeznn to stt1rl111z11'd. 1.1.1111 Passed under Golden Gate Bridge. 1418 l'a1sse1l from Inland to International waters. Speed I5 knots. Passed between Bonita Point and Seal Rock Lighthouse. Gn various eourses Conforming to swept Channel. 1501 Stopped. Lying to. Pilot left the ship. 1510 Ahead s s. Set course QOIOT, 2020 p.g.e., and IQIO p.s.e. Exercised at General Quarters. 1519 Seeured from General Quarters. Set Condition Ill. 1530 efe to 148011 and p.g.e. 1540 US. Navy Blimp K-105 reported for duty. 1547 es to 16 knotsf' Heard among the HSky-larkerswz 'CI got it straight from a Givil Service Quar- terman Laborer on the dock at Alameda that weare headed straight for Brisbane? HNI3 1.111l lIllt'lltl '- llllllglff l1.1-A .1 lltlfltly who ' Ims gl sl-.l1'1Nl11-l11xx xx111l11l1Lj .lt Illt' I'il'Clt'I'21l I lilllltllllglll I111111.11111sl11's.1t-A111-'11-1l1'l11'1ilely l L11111111 l11 l'1'.ll'l.'L 'ZX xx.11te1 111 1l11 I.IIllIx- R1-s1.1111e.111I t11l1l mf XXt'ill't'Qt1lllL1 111 l l11l11 .Xt11ll. XXllf'l't'Xl'l' that ig Boy. they 1l11 l1.1x1' u11111l I l111xx NI1-111 Stl that l,t9lllS, 11111, Stl lllill XX.Illt'l lllllsl kllflxxl wl'1at l1e's t11ll4i11g 11I111111. Nong listen. y1111s1- Lllllf'-if l'x1-got tl1e dope and l z1i11't llillllit'l'lIl. 111 tell Xtlll. lllll. itiv1111 must l41111xst. llt'l'l' it is, XX1911- goin' 111 seal Now. l1z1x'i11g I't'2ll.y gotten 11111l1'1e11:1x' 1111 our Sll2lliCCltJNN'll tlrnise. all llltlltlm XNt'I't' told the lirst night. by 11111' l'lxe1'11lix1e Ollieer. that W1 were VII route 111 l'li11s1'l1:1l1'11. New Guinea Vile are zilwnys told. lllllt'l' getting llllClt'I'X'N'Hy CX2lt'llY wliere we 1ll't' going, lJt'l'2lllSt'. alter all no one is so z111xio11s 111 let 11111 1l1e i11l'111'1nation as t11 want t11 swim 2lSllUl't' with it. 'l'l1is in- 1 11' 1 Top 141, A good place to pass b E - . - y Alcatrazg lop rzglzl: Calisthe ' 1 fl' 1 ..,. . bouom fight: Calisthcnics on HigHiSC8:1gk 1.lx, lllllflllll lffft CIz111lki11t:K CJIIIUI1 lhutzuil en route to New Guineal seems . . , Y IU lil. lmving cl l1z11'1l Illlllq.