Point Cruz (CVE 119) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 122 text:

bremerton . . . Actually the cruise began on the fifth of January, and with the order, Cast off all lines, the ship headed out into Puget Sound on her way to San Diego. But first we stopped off at Bangor to load up with ammunition to take over with us-and second we ran into a storm. We didn't look much like a fighting ship. Topside, the hang- ar deck and flight deck were cov- ered with the crew's automobiles. the cars

Page 121 text:

a white temple, a crowded hongkong street, a junk against a far east evening sky each an oriental mystery unfolded shining yielded to the foreign eye without the fear of understanding all the knowledge lald wlthln and under the temple the street the far east evening sky

Page 123 text:

These along with a cargo of teak- wood and navy supplies made us an ungainly looking floating ware- house. And the Pacific treated us with the respect due our ugliness. Half of us had never been to sea, we were an untried ship with a green crew, and after a half a day in the hurricane we hit off the Washington coast our complex- ions verified it. For three days we were tossed up, down, and side- ways by the wind and the sea. A few of us managed in moments of desperation to drag our way up out of the compartment or vomit alIey as the chaplain dubbed it, to gaze with glazed eyes at the sea for a moment before tumbling back below to the rack. The green water broke over the flight deck as we plunged into the waves, the bulkheads lunged at us as we stum- bled around the passageways, and a couple of tables in the mess hall were all they needed to serve the crew chow. We got our sea legs in a hurry, if somewhat rudely, and on the twelfth we steamed past Point Loma, waved at the Bairoko as she set out for Japan, and Ja- pan, and tied up at pier king. AI- most everyone ate dinner that evening-ashore . . . and the storm