Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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THE ADMIRALTIES Long before reaching Manus, our base at Seeadler Harbor, we had begun to suffer from the heat worse than ever before. While the Top: Tango on Pityilu with his ration of beer, below: Liberty at Pityilu. i Santa Claus collects nickels and dimes at c'Times Squaren on Christmas Eve. air was hot and humid in New Guinea, we weren't bothered by it much because of the eX- citement of our first visit to a South Pacific island as well as the fact that we were hardly there long enough for it to Htake hold? We had now been cruising for several days in the Equatorial heat, and the Admiralties are prac- tically on the Equator. At first, the heat was almost unbearable, and nearly everyone aboard went to Sick Call daily for heat rash treatment. Even at night, we would lie in our bunks liter- ally wringing wet from perspiration, Al- though, it seemed impossible at first, we did finally become pretty well accustomed to the climate, in addition to which we were to have ample opportunity to swim in the beautiful, crystal clear waters of the Pacific, and this alleviated our discomfort from the heat some- what. Probably more than anything else, we simply became reconciled to the heat, because we had already heard the most reliable Scuttle- butt, straight from the Chow Line, that we . S

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ghggr men was kt-1-iilytkilt hy .ill Ship rind sonnrl, hut wats iirtrptt-tl ill tht- . ngble spirit that is .tltxttys liotttid on tht- hg of one's Shiplliatrs, strontgly t-x1tl1'11t'1-tl ln, a grim determintttion to txirry on .ind lirintg honor to our ship :ind stittiidroii with t't'l'liIlll knowledge that thost' who hint- gout- lN'liUl't' tll't' equally responsililt' for httttrt' Alt'lllt'X't'llll'lllS. The Captain gittcttdt-tl the Mt-111o1'i41l St-1'x'i1-1-s the Squadron held lilbl' these 1111-11 411 l'Ullillll .Xir Strip on I7 Ijl'l't'lllllt'l' while tw txt-rc Qlllt'llHI't'tl at Mantis, i11 the .Xdinirtilty lsltinds. R 1f.v1aNo1-1 IS Sw 111113 1' After il rather lll't'SUlllt' sind 11ot too i11tt-1't-st- ing an ope1't1tion, and with our mission Sllt't't'SS- fully Complt'tt'd, wt' llt'2lill'l'l south, and tht- idea Oferossing the l'itittz1tort1g11i11zippt-ztllt-d to IllUSl of us on hoard, liergittst' the gl'l'2l.l. tiiatiority had at this time hceti trusty old Slit-llharks for at least four months, and the idea ol' gvttitig rt-- venge for all we took at tht' hands ol' King Neptune when we dt'st'rtt'd the ranks ol' tht- Pollywogs was most pleasing. WR- crossed the line this time on Sunday, Qti Ntivt-iiilit-t', and tht' great majority ol' ottr Pollywogs wt-rt' in tht' Sttll2itll'Ull. As at matter of fact, the only ones wt' 1't't'11ll otttsidt- oi' the Squadron that walked the fonts on this st-cond crossing were Lt. Cdr. Sands, l.t. tlorkran, Wat-r, Sic, Longoria, Flc, rind Mtilntosh, llA1t'. In any event, we had 111-otiiirl 1511 to work on, and when it was all ow-1' wt- lk-lt that, after all, it was worth being itiitizttcd jttst to wreak vengeance on that inno- t't-nt Zlllll ttiisuspt-citing hunch of 'cland- l1tl1l1t'1's.l' Wt- had hardly gotten the ship looking ship- shzipt' l1l'l.l'l' tht- crossing the line ceremonies NN'llt'Il till t'Mo11dziy, 27 Novcinher 1944: 118- 1 2 Str-arniiig as ht.-fore. 0813 Changed to 'lii111t- font- og st-t ship's clock hack one hour. o84o t' s to 414 knots. 0841 Stationed all the ztnrhoi' dt-tail. ogto Commenced manuvering on variotts courses and speeds to enter Seeadler llarhor, Adiniralty Islands. IOIO Anehored to tht- starhoard anchor in I2 fathoms of water, 43 fathoms of chain to the waterjs edge, in St't'2.lCllt'I' Harbor, Wlestern part of Admiralty Islands, in Berth XV-go. 1032 Secured the zinrhor detail. Set normal port routine. .' 't will Sol l . lictwvt-11 ollicers and chiefs 11t Pityilu. 57

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,if ' v. L.. Vit I :iii xtviiil- liAr'lltt s tt: .ill li.iiitls .tt i.liitsliii.is l.uty. . 1 , would ht' in iiiitl tiitiiiiitl Xl.ll1lIsltJl'slJIIlt'XX't't'liS bcfort' our iii-xt tipt't'4lIttili. Wt-hacl,1it this tiiiit-, ht-vii mit ol tht Nt itis sincc' iii Urtolwi' 'iiitl i-su-pt lot tl vviw' lvw ' vt' lmtl iAt't't'tx'i'cl no lettvrs awaiting its .it llithi, x f il is thi- om- thitii ut mail sinu' lt-4ix'iii4. Nl.ii ' look lorwaircl to iiiort' than .iiivthitig vlst- lit-iiii-' sCConcl only to aivtiiiilly t' 't i t irtiiiif' to tht' X-titvs 5 i I i Consvqttviitly. iiothiiig uiiiltl h.ix'i- pltuisvtl its tht thi sit ht ol' iii lC'Nl hill til. iniil fl'10I'l' - ' f Il voiiiing zilongsiclt' our ship cvvn hvforc we had cli'oppt'cl our hook in Svc-acllcr Harbor. XVC it-t't'ix't'cl thirty odd hags all told. and nothing c-tiiilcl liavt' inaclt- tis happier at that point than thi' inaiiy lt'ttt'i's wt' 1'cCQix'cd that aftcrnoon, liwgiiist' our invn in thc' Post Qflicc had worked likt' 'lioiatis to gvt it up for us at thc Carliest possihlt' inmnvnt as thtiy always do. Also, the-ii' tlvsirti to got our mail to us as soon as possihlt' inadt' an t'x'c1'lasting iniprcssion on us i dn: It - 'in' lv E f . e Zn, 1 ' ,Al xx --Nw ,.' X . 'if' ,pl-OA H. X' A . lil- fit. 5' ,V Y W, ' 'ff .qv 3-N V l.iiImi, fXl.1i1iis. I Hi llplp- Ntiillllil l i l l i i i i t 4 l VU -J