Point Cruz (CVE 119) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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

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x .- H 5 . M... W. - son diego . . . Our stay in San Diego went quick- ly. We got the damage done by the storm fixed up over at the destroyer base and immediately were launched into intensive training. First it was Un- derway Training with General Quarters, drills, and critiques. We simulated at- tacks, casualties and repairs: fired the guns and taught ourselves to run the ship. Then came the carrier qualifica- tions with aircraft: AFS, TBMs, helicop- ters: and finally we began to get the feeling that we were, perhaps, more a carrier than a flat topped tanker. But too so-on it was over. There were the last few days of leave to see the folks, a weekend with the wife and family, a pier full of people to see us off. April had arrived and we departed. It was a long time before the men left the flight deck. Each man had an excuse for loi- tering there-to see the last glimpse of the people on the pier, to see the last chance sight of Point Loma as it fad- ed into the horizon, the last for eight m-onths ....