Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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And., now that we had seen 9 November 1944: as before. og34 Lit oll' No. 2 4 boilers. 0945 Station:-d all special Made all preparations for getting 1041 Underway from Plertli K-tg, Marshall Islands, on various courses peels conforming to channel. Captain cowl. Executive Ollieer and Navigator the bridge. 1053 Secured all special sea Set Condition of I-leacliness lll. 1059 reduced to mile due to rain squall. cfs to IQ knots. tyc to 1l5O'l' and p.g.c., I' p.s.c. , This was to be a hshort hop, because on wSunday, 5 November 1944: I2-16 Steaming as before. 1234 Sighted land bearing 256oT and 253O'l', distance I5 miles. 1433 Entered swept channel entrance to an- chorage, Ulithi Atoll. 1533 Anchored in Northern anchorage, Ulithi Atoll, Western Caroline Islands, Berth 153, on the following bearings: Beacon NN 322o'I', Temporary Bea- con 336.5oT, Tower on Mangejang Island a57.5 T, left tangent Lolang Island o83.5O'l'.'i Although we were at Ulithi Atoll live days on this stop, only a chosen few were privileged to get ashore due to the shortage of boats to transport liberty parties to and from the many ships present. lt seems that a grave emergency existed in the Captains Cabin, because Port- holefi the Skipperls cat, was in dire need of a fresh supply of sand. Consequently, Boat- swain Luck was given orders to do the needful, and he did. He took, in addition to himself, one BMIC, two BMQC, three Coxswains, four Src and Five Sac, and the Athletic Officer, Lt. DeAngelis fto provide the fishing gearl, not to mention the No. 2 Motcar Whale Boat and its WSW of three, and the 'fBos'n's Gig, to get EBM bag of sand. They were gone all day on M recreation partyi' to Lolang Island, Qooo our starboard beam, and we happened on the foreeastle when they returned that with the Gig just loaded down kinds of coral, sea shells and other sou- witirely obscuring from view thc one bag Mr the Captain's cat. Looking up to- me aviation boom on the flight deck we me Portholeis head looking down at that one bag of sand, with a forlorn expression on INT Iliff-3 HS If to say, It doesnlt look like they got enough to last until we hit port again, bc. cause the Captain has told me where we'rc goingf' As soon as our forces took Ulithi Atoll the natives were all moved to the island of Fassari and some of us on the morning watch had 3 rather interesting experience one morning. We were anchored only about 2000 yards off lfassari, and, with our binoculars, we could get a very good view of the scattered native huts. 9 just as the sun was rising we had our glasses trained on a fairly large hut, and, as we watched closely, wc could see the matted grass curtains pushed aside by a lazy arm, and, there, right before our eyes, was the Fassari counter- part of Dorothy Lamour, stretching and yawn- ing, and, apparently, hating to leave her palm leaf mat just as much as a Park Avenue Debu- tantc hates to leave the percale sheets of her Simmons Beauty Rest mattress. But, being a Ulithi ufrauf, she had her chores to dog so, finally, she got up and made a dash for the surf, splashing water all over her face and body to thoroughly awaken herself. Having com- pleted her toilet, she returned to the hut to awaken HPop.H With no little effort, he finally got up, and, with spear in hand, walked down to the inlet about 200 yards from their place. After several dives into the breakers made by the coral reefs, he walked triumphantly back to the hut with their breakfast, which appeared to be two very nice fish. You could see them building a lirc and cooking, and, soon, we saw no more of them until about sunset when we happened to be on the Hight deck. They came sailing by in their over-sized outrigger canoe, with ffDorothyi' doing most of the work in sailing the craft, and 4'Pop', and the kids lolling in the waning sun. Somehow, there was much to be envied in their way of life. We couldn't help recall the Presidential election taking place in the States the following Tuesday and all the sorrow and disappointment that would accom- pany it, regardless of who won. Such trivial', matters never bothered Dorothyi' and her 'fOld Man',g politics was something they couldn't even read about. Then, we thought of income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, franchise taxes, capital stock taxes, excess prof- its taxes, tax surcharges, poll taxes, cigarette taxes, gasoline taxes, business licenses, auto- mobile licenses, amortizing the mortgage, life insurance premiums and the many other

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with the number of such crashes customarily expected. Likewise, our Flight Deck Crews were already operating like veterans as they re-spotted the deck in record time, while our V-2 Division on the hangar deck was nursing', our planes so well that we were destined to have a plane availability of not less than 99.2 per cent at any time during our first year, whether in actual combat or just routine operations. In short, we felt ready. Finally, after a comfortable and uneventful cruise, on 'CWednesday, 1 November 1944: o4-o8 Steaming as before. o43o Sighted land on horizon. O457 Ceased zig-zagging. Re- surned base course 245011. o5oo Sounded Gen- eral Quarters. o525 Made preparations to enter Eniwetok Atoll. 0551 U.S.S. Yorktown passed on opposite course to port, 2500 yards. O556 Stationed all special sea details. 0701 Secured from. General Quarters. o732 axe Berth K-9, with no fathoms of ehain out to port anehor at water's edge in 27 fathoms of water stopped. o7j54 s e haek 2 rtjg. Anehored in ' ! in liniwetok Atoll, Marshall lslands. 075i Seeured speeiztl sea details. Set regular Sea watches. Since we were to he there only one day very few got on the heaehg however, it was an in- teresting stop, since it was our first call on a small Pacific atoll, and we did enjoy the View from the forecastle and fantail. Eniwetok, too, had been torn and burned by the ravages of war, resulting from our having taken the island a few months before, but, from the ship, it presented a rather pretty and typical picture of a small Pacific isle. The entire length of the island was only about two miles and it averaged about a half mile in width. Its highest point of elevation was probably not more than ten feet above sea level, but it was pretty, with its remaining palms swinging gently in the warm E l t 1 Eniwetok as seen from our ship.

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Kprivilcges we enjoy. Yes, there was so111e- thing to envy i11 this l'lilSS2ll'l lliinily alter till. The Captain pondered on this, too. So, i11 order to prevent wholesale 'fjuiiipiiig shipm to take 11p abode o11 Fassari, he decided to c'Friday, IO November 1944: 16-18 Anchored as before. 1632 lvlade all preparations for getting underway. Stationed all special sea details. 1645 Set Condition Baker. 1719 Sunset. 1725 Underway on various courses and speeds from Northern anchorage, Berth 153, Ulithi Atoll, Westerii Caroline Islands,on orders from Commander Seventh Fleet Dispatch No. OIO32I, dated IO Novem- ber 1944. Captain at the conn. Executive Cflicer and Navigator on the bridge. 1740 Stopped. Hoisted in No. 1 Motor Wllale Boat. 1745 afe ahead IO knots. 1759 Set course 215OT and p.g.c. 2120 p.s.cf' The Executive Ofhcer told us that night over the general announcing system that we were en rotite to liossol lioatls., l'11l.111 lslztndsi Our l,Qt'UQ,l'2llJlllt'N had liiilecl IIN atQ.1i1i. lieeatist' wtf were again l1e11decl lor il pliitte we had never lieartl ol, :ind tliis also 1x.1s to In-11 short hop, lieezitise on iisllltllllity, ll NUX't'IlIlJt'l' IKHQI 16-18 Stezuiiing' as lielort-, 16112 11 1- ahead if knots. 16114 e e to 172c ll and p.g.c.. llitio 1656 Aiieliored ill 15 l'z1tl1o111s ol' water, 75 liathoins oliehain at XN'2tlt'l'iS eclge, i11 Kossol Pas- sage, Berth No. 8, l,2Il2ill lslands, XVestern Caroline Islands. a ,fe stopped. Cn this Wforld Wfar l Armistice Day, we found ourselves in strange waters, anxious to prove the results of our long period of training, and determined to do our utmost to prosecute the war toia successful conclusion, and bring about another Armistice Day that would be more signihcant and lasting than that of II November 1918. Tl1e4'Old Swiinining Hole at Rosso! P assage,