Point Cruz (CVE 119) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 12 text:

. . . Commander Carrier Division Seven- teen came aboard in April, and in May sur- rounded by his staff, the Point Cruz be- came the guide in a formation composed of eight destroyers, the aircraft carrier, and two submarines lthe latter which seldom showed themselvesl. And the Anti-subma- rine Warfare training began. First the 'oper- ation plan would appear from the staff of- fice, then in the midst of a rush of honors to be rendered, the captains of all the taslc group would arrive for the pre-sailing con- ference. And the next morning the long line of ships would move out for the begin- ning ofthe exercise. The formation -of the screen, the basic plan for the flight sched- ules, the orders to avoid torpedoes, the movements of each ship were controlled from the voice of flag plot: and the forma- tion turned, zig-zagged, darkened ship, with Rear Admiral Eckstron Commander Carrier Division ComCarDiv 'I7 . . . beep beep, beep beep beep, beep the ever present command of all the actions of all the division. the commands and orders and the endless string of new situations to deal with. Seventeen

Page 11 text:

. . . It was in July l95I, just after l'd come aboard, that the Point Cruz was recommis- sioned. Before that she was in mothballs in Tacoma, Washington, where she had been built in I945. The Point 'Cruz had the usual story of a ship just 'Finished after the Second Wrorld War. Captain Douglas T. Day was the first commanding officer and in the ac- tivities just after the war he took her through the usual shakedown activities and down to San Diego in November I945, where she picked up a Marine Air Group, MarCasD-8. Then it was carrier qualifications for air groups and carrier transport trips from Ala- meda and San Diego to Peal Harbor, Guam, Okinawa and Yokohama-passengers, army fighter planes, automobiles and household goods. Then back to the mothball fleet at Tacoma-I946. I95l came with the recom- missioning ceremonies and Captain David- son relieving Captain Butterfield. . . . We to-ok the ship down to Bremerton for yard work in December and it was then we became part of the Pacific Reserve Fleet. There were only 40 -officers on board at this time and 350 enlisted men. Every month or s-o 'we'd take the ship out on the sound or through the Straits of Juan de Fuca to operate off the coast-and pick up sea store cigarettes. In June of l952, they start- ed a six months conversion job - built a whole new island, strengthened the flight deck and put on new arresting gear. And during this time we got a new captain, Cap- tain C. C. Marcy. It was Captain Marcy who got the ship underway in January l953, now as part -of the active Pacific Fleet, and took us through the straits again on the first leg of a journey to the Far East.

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leer i Rear Admiral Goldthwaite Commander Carrier Divisio the barge along side with two stars on the bow exchange of honors and Seventeen official calls . . . ceremonies, operations and a hunter, killer, diller party at the end. - u I f i 1 2 5 4 iilHFZIftifllI,ilHi!El the commands of the OTC. Early in the week the movements were slow, sometimes mistakes were made, and every-so-often the word would be passed around that the ship was only torpedoed five times in the morning. At the end of training, subs were often seen on the surface-subs that had been ordered to surface because they were considered to be sunk. And then the ships would return and there would be more hon- ors again, and the post-sailing conference, where the mistakes were talked over and action taken to correct them. Then it would start all over again with different destroy- ers-the training, the commands, the mis- takes, the corrections. Patiently the staff worked to perfect each ship in its duty of hunting, tracking, killing any enemy subma- rines they might in the future encounter.