Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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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,

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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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in-as ,Mr V W I lim-ww iluunmm , tlonxov ol lb l 's approau lung I.:-y te, Noveinber 11944. Even before we got there, we recalled that the Palau Islands had ,just recently been taken by our forces, in fact, all of them had not yet been taken, and haven't been at this writing. We were anchored about 8000 yards otl' Babel- thaup, one of the larger ot' the Palaus, and it added nothing to our peace ot' mind to learn. on anchoring, that thc xjaps still held that island. We understood, however, that though the island was heavily defended, all their big guns were pointed south in a tixed position. and fortunately, we were north of it. It was mighty fortunate for Hour side that the tlaps eouldn't train their guns on us, because the anchorage was literally full of all types ot' naval vessels. Naturally, we not only didn't get ashore here, but we had no desire to. It did atlord us much satisfaction, however, to listen to the radio in Combat and hear our Peleliu-based pilots talk- ing to each other as they bombed and strafed the Jap installations on Babelthaup, while, out- side, we could see the columns of smoke rising from the island, proving to our satisfaction that the attack had not been in vain. About the only recreation for all hands while in Kossol Roads on this particular visit was swimming over the side, which was enjoyed by the majority of otlieers and men, despite the possible presence ol' sharks that might be usyrnpathetie to thc enemy. Foreseeing this danger, however, thc llxee posted men with rifles on the forecastle and t'anta.il, and the Lite Guards in the No. 2 hflotor Wvhale Boat were 3180 armed. While the swimming was en- g, OO mjoyed, it was marred by an unfortunate oc- currence when Dr. Tirrell, our Senior Medical Ollieer, tried to keep up with the young Blue- jackets by diving from one of the Sponsons and came up with a broken arm, which later nec- essitated his being detached. Having taken on all the supplies and fuel we needed, on HlNlonday, I3 November 1944: 04-o8 Anchored as before. 0630 Stationed all special sea details. blade all preparations for getting underway. O657 Underway from Kos- sol Roads on various courses and speeds con- forming to channel. Captain at the eonn. Executive Ullicer and Navigator on the bridge. O71 5 Exercised at General Quarters as modified by special sea details. o726 Passed through Kossol Passage: took departure on course 275017 and p.g.e., 2780 p.s.c. Steaming at I5 knots. o74Q Secured special sea details. O747 e s to 18 knots. o75o Proceeding to position tooo in cruising formation 5-LS at IQ knots? We were linally underway on our first actual operation of thc war, and that night the Cap- tain Hgavc us the wordf, It seems that things were not going too well with General Mac- Arthur's invasion of Leyte as far as his supply line was concerned, and the Old Man told us that they had called on the Lunga Point and VC 85 for support. This talk of the Captain's was the tirst he had made to us to keep us in the know, but, from then on, he never failed to