Quincy (CA 71) - Naval Cruise Book

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,Y 9-rf .-ng.-.Q ha- - v-.,- -- THE SHAKEDOW CRUISE The name Trinidad has an exotic appeal for the travf eler. There is a romantic flavor to Port of Spain that is made piquant with the excitement of dangerous living, softened by the languid ways of the tropics. Trinidad was to be the Quincy's first foreign port of call. The Quincy was not, however, embarking a load of tourists for a pleasure cruise, nor was she merely fleeing the bitter winds of Boston Harbor. Her fundamental job was to transform a shell of steel and machinery, a crew of raw recruits, spotted with aching veterans, into the mag' nificent fighting ship which eventually she proved herself to be. This was the shakedown of the new ship and the new crew into an integrated battle unit. At this time in the early winter of 1944 the end of the war was still far off. The Quincy had much fighting ahead of her. No wonder, then, that the first cruise of this virgin ship should be met with such sober and careful planning. It was to be an earnest affair for which only the most complete and conscientious efforts from all hands could be accepted. To the taxpayers the Quincy represented an investment of millions of dollars. To the shipyard workers the vessel was a finished job of welded steel. To the admirals the new heavy cruiser was an item in tactics, perhaps even a cog in the overall strategy. But to the crew a warship is more than all of these. She is a complex maze of miles of wire, a plumber's nightmare of pipes and valves, fittings and couplings. The ship is a scientific ventureiinto which fer' tile minds have poured their best talents. The ship is a large restaurant catering to a constant clientele of 1600 hungry, discriminating men. Then, too, she is a gigantic venture in communal living, an experience in administraf tion. The regulars think of the ship as a career, while the reserves think of it only as a tool to preserve their way of life, but to both it is a duty. The shakedown cruise must consolidate these many facets of the ship into an actual threat of roaring guns accurately blasting enemy targets. ' The shakedown cruise had a heavy responsibility thrust upon it. It had Hrst to make this shell of steel into a def pendable cog in the overall strategy. Then it had to knead the ship into an efficient battle organization. The men had to learn to work the inventions of the scientists. They had to learn to shoot fast and well. They had to learn that damage at sea can be repaired, that a wounded ship has to be patched up to keep her fighting. Then, when thc many jobs had been learned so well that they became second nature, when the crew had experienced endurance and ingenuity in crisis, then would the ,ship be ready to join the war against the enemy and the shakedown called a success. By that time, too, 1600 men would have learned to live and work together and call the Quincy their home. The Quincy cast off all lines on February 2, 1944, after having been loaded with stores and ammunition and prof ceeded through the nets of Boston Harbor. The shakedown cruise had begun. On the following day, Thursday, the Captain ordered all hands to General Quarters-to battle stations new to most of the men aboard. Men who had never fired more than a cap pistol prepared to load the main battery rifles with eight inch projectiles, Below decks the repair parties had dogged all hatches and doors and closed all valves and fittings to isolate the ship into the small watertight units of condition Z , In the lower handling rooms a preview of the excitement of battle swept through the men as they passed powder bags to the hoists. The engineers carefully guarded the valves and

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