Point Cruz (CVE 119) - Naval Cruise Book

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squadrons . . . We had a lot of transient p a s s e n g e r s aboard. They'd come aboard tor three or tour months at a time, take a trip to Hong Kong with us and then leave tor another duty station. These were the squadrons. There was the navy squadron, VS-23. It did anti-submarine Patrol and attack work, flying both day and night in the exercises we went through. ln the daytime HS-2, a helicopter squadron worked too. They investigated any sub contacts with their dip- ping sonar, and kept track of it until the destroyers could kill the sub. Then about midway in our cruise we lost VS-23 and

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underway in

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HS-2 and the marines landed- to the accompaniment of the crash alarm. They flew corsairs -the last squadron of corsairs in the fleet-in patrol work off the west coast of Korea. But in a Iot of ways, I guess they were real welcome aboard because they stood a lot of sentry and guard duty. This went over great with the gunnery depart- ment, for they were the ones that usually got stuck with these watches. There was one squad- ron that stayed aboard during the entire Far East cruise: HU- Ig two navy pilots and a hand- ful of men operating the angel -the rescue helicopter. Every daytime flight was accompan- ied by first launching the helo- guard. And when they weren't flying plane guard, they acted as a general taxi and messenger service, carrying men and mail between the various ships in the task unit. I never knew whether I'd find the squadrons in their compartment or not if I went back there. One day they'd be aboard, the next on TAD to the beach. And when I finally got to know some of the men, they were transferred off the ship. . .