Randolph (CV 15) - Naval Cruise Book

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December 20+h when our shakedown period was com. pleTed, 2025 landings had been made. We began To Teel ThaT we were now Tully capable of handling whaTever siTuaTion mighT arise in combaT. During March The arresTing gear crew was hard aT work geH'ing The ship inTo shape aTTer The hiT by The Kamikaze. In order To replace The ruined No. I arresTing engine, No. 6 engine was moved aTT and a new plaTTorm builT upon which The engine was seT. This was The TirsT Time ThaT The locaTion oT one of These new engines was changed ouTside oT a navy yard. The repIacemenT of No. I arresTing engine made The ship Tully operable Tor land- ing aircraTT and so made unnecessary The immediaTe re- Turn of The ship To a navy yard. The TirsT plane launched from The ship was senT oTT by caTapulT on November I2, I944. This was an indicaTion of Things To come: Tor, of The I2,063 planes launched up To The end of The war, 4,897 were caTapuITed. This is probably The highesT percenTage of caTapulT launchings in The T'leeT. In June I944 The crash of a P-38 TighTer on The TIighT deck resulTed in considerable exTra work Tor The crew in replacing damaged cables on The caTapulT. Repair work was The order of The day when Randy anchored, Tor major overhauls could noT be accomplished underway. V-2 DIVISION REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE In The beginning, The aircraTT mainTenance division, V-2, was known as CASD, Carrier AircraTT Service Divi- sion. IT has iTs origin and Training aT Three separaTe Train- ing cenTers on The EasT CoasT: QuonseT PoinT, R.l., AT- lanTic CiTy and Wildwood, N. J. IT was Tinally broughT TogeTher as a compleTe uniT aT Oceana, Virginia, where iT's TirsT maior responsibiliTy-Tor The mainTenance of bombers, Torpedo, and TighTer planes which were There and later To be broughT To The ship, when she sailed. We sailed Tor Trinidad-TwisTing and piTching off Cape HaTTeras, liTTle realizing how much was To happen and how long iT'd be before we'd come by There again. As soon as we reached The Carribean, TIighT operaTions commenced and wiTh iT, our real work. For our primary duTy on The Randolph was To nursemaid and docTor a loT of sTubborn planes ThaT seemed To develop every pos- sible Trouble known, and many ThaT were unknown. There were Times when one suspecTed There were some people aboard who TelT ThaT aircraTT mainTenance could be done by The pixies and gremIins , and ThaT V-2 was a very handy coolie force To be used Tor every oTher kind of work. In spiTe oT many having To sleep on The hangar deck or any convenienT corner, working parTies, field days, long Tedious chow lines-in spiTe of all ThaT, and more, The work was done. DelicaTe insTrumenTs, heavy can- Tankerous engines, obsTinaTe radar, whole wing sTrucTures -creaTed problems. NighT check crews would sTruggle To geT a dawn hop ready, only To have iT cancelled or To Tind-a propellor had chewed up The eIevaTors oT a couple planes. Shakedown isn'T an adequaTe w-ord Tor ThaT period of Trial and sTruggle, buT iT paid off. We Tound ways of doing Things aImosT incredible. We heckled and ThreaTened and screamed and even wenT down on our knees To beg. In The end, we goT The dive bombers spoTTed so The wings could be spread Tor adiusTmenTsg we goT The plane handlers indocTrinaTed inTo The reaIizaTion ThaT eIevaTors and sTabiIizers have no known immuniTy To a whirling propeller: we managed To convince one and all ThaT Those Things hanging on The planes were fragile parTs of radar equipmenTg and ThaT TracTors COULD be driven inTo Them buT ThaT iT didn'T help The radar any. To do The iob more eFl'icienTly, we spliT The division inTo Tour separaTe uniT divisions, V2F, VZE, V2M, and V255 each oT which has a separaTe TuncTion. The plane capTains in V2F had To manage The impos- sible and do everyThing buT sleep in Their planes. They were The TirsT ones up and The lasT ones To Turn in. Dur- ing The I8 hours or so in beTween, They had To Try To Tind Time Tor chow and a smoke or Two and sTill man all planes aT all Times. No sooner would a plane capTain hop ouT of his plane To go Tor a drink Than There'd be a howl oT rage from someone on The fIigh+ deck because a plane wasn'T manned. And, more Than ThaT, iT was The Things he didn'T do ThaT he was blamed Tor, Too. IT The gassing crews were forward when They should have been aTT, iT was obviously a plane capTain aT TaulTg if The radio gang leTT a puTT-puTT in The middle oT The TlighT deck, Then The only possible culpriT was a plane capTain: if a Talker's phones wouldn'T work, if a plane wouldn'T Turn up, if anyThing wenT wrong There could be only one reason Tor L.-11585

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frouble. Buf fhe Comdr. managed fo weafher if all wifh fhe aid of fwo imporfanf fhings-Cassidy's ice fhaf was brewed in Flighf Deck Confrol and fhe couch in Air Plof fhaf seemed fo soofhe him so much when he as- sumed his famous horizonfal posifion. He had a hidden genius for finding ice cream and freafing all hands even during fhe sformy days af Suicide Junc'rion off Okinawa and Kyushu. Combaf will never forgef how he used fo yell info fhe squawk box, Combaf, where are Our planes? each fime a flighf was overdue. He was a familiar sighf during G.O. wifh his helmef iammed on backwards, and once even walked around wifh a helmef saying Messenger in whife leffers across fhe fronf. The falkers for Air Confrol as Primary fly was some- fimes called were Pappy and Harry. They manned fhe I JG sound powered phones in shiffs and became fhe besf of friends. Pappy iMark Papal calls fhe smokey cify of Piffsburgh his home and Harry Crow hails from fhe rice paddies of Liffle Rock, Arkansas. This was al- ways good for a secfional baffle wifh no decisions or winners declared. AIR PLOT There have been fimes, while fhe ship was underway, fhaf Air Plof was nof crowded and did nof resemble a madhouse . . . we don'f remember when. When we firsf came aboard and were assigned fo Air Plof, Cdr. Simpler and Lf.-Cdr. Minfer inow Cdr.l were fhe only fwo who had a clear idea of ifs funcfion. l visualize us as fhe nerve cenfer of fhe ship, if nof fhe Fleef, said Swofes, fhe erudife yeoman, whose loffy calm has never been disfurbed lexcepf when fhe Naviga- for accused him of borrowing painfl. Nervous we were, buf hardly a nerve cenfer. lf was foo crowded fo be much excepf confused. A check of fhe personnel assigned fo Air Plof as a General Quar- fers sfafion revealed we had fhree Lf-Cdrs., Messrs. Berg, Sweeney and Sarforis, fwo Lfs., Messrs. Usher and Wilkins, one Lf. ligl, Mr. MacMannis, one Ensign, Mr. Sul- livan. ln addifion fhere was Schneider, Swofes, Papa, and Henry for Talkers, plus fwo refugees from fhe Training Room, Talberf and Crow, a radioman fname unknownl who never said anyfhing, and Fiorello, iMayor LaGuar- dia's boyl, for a messenger. This was our regular sfaff. The Air Boss, Cdr. Simpler and his assisfanf, Lf-Cdr. Minfer, were fhe fwo for whom fhe resf iusf worked. They hung ouf in Air Plof. The Execufive, Cdr. Nebleff, delighfed fo come in and heckle us abouf fhe locafion of our dial phone. And fhe C.O., Capf. Baker, found our pool room afmosphere so enferfaining he would come in and heckle us. Planes would mysferiously disappear. Whaf had been a flighf of 20 planes had only I9 when if landed. A hydraulic leak compelled one fo land af Waller Field, buf Air Plof forgof fo fell fhe Boss. When fhe schedule was changed so fhaf fhree divisions would fly CAP insfead of fwo, Air Plof forgof fo fell Mr. Madden. The Air Boss assumed his usual calm while correcfions were made. Soon we had a well-oilecl machine sef up. The pilofs never fhoughf so, fhough. Flyers seem fo regard non-flyers fhe way seagoing sailors regard shore- based sailors: fhey're human beings, alrighf, buf noi very brighf. Air-plof was expecfed fo know fhe answers fo everyfhing, and was panned confinually when if didn'+. The men in Air Plof felf a personal hurf when planes failed fo refurn: fhey came fo know fhe pilofs so well. Af Ulifhi, orders appeared for many of fhe original Air Plof crew, and when fhe smoke cleared Lf. Craw- ford, fhe windmaker, found himself doubling in brass as Operafions Officer. Assisfing were Lfs. Buchanan and Newman as Air Plof officers along wifh one member of fhe original crew, Ensign Sullivan, fhe only bald-headed ensign in fhe Navy. V-1-H HANGER DECK V-IH was formed in Newporf News, Va., a few days before fhe ship wenf in commission. These men, sfrangers fo each ofher before reporfing abroad, soon became close friends. They had fun fogefher on fheir leaves and liberfies and during fheir bull sessions fhroughouf fhe cruise. They also suffered grief fogefher when several of fheir buddies were killed and several more wounded fhrough enemy acfion. These green men fhaf wenf fo sea are now all seasoned veferans. V-IH produced fhe ship's firsf baskefball and volley- ball championship feams. Bofh fournamenfs were hofly confesfed, buf wifh such afhlefes as Mike Sobieraiski, Ed Kufley, Lou Frass, Bob Fusfin, Phil Godfrey, Johnnie Ger- des, Boafs Campbell, Johnnie Hirf, Norf Blume and playing manager Joe Emerson, fhe pushers came fhrough vicforious. Remember how L. S. King and J. Gorgoreffi gof sea- sick whenever we were in rough wafers-when Chief Gilliam, Pop Richardson, H. P. Monis and Norf Blume were sweafing ou'l ' fheir blessed evenfs-why Joe Emer- son and Walf Gardner were called fhe bogie boys . Remember D. E. Hyland and all his pracfical iokes ihow could you ever forgef 'eml-Marfy lFungusl O'Neil sfick- ing wifh Nofre Dame's 44 squad and faking all comers- Brooklyn's pride AI Habib and his million dollar voca- bulary-and fhaf midnighf reveille when Idaho Pefe Price used shaving cream fo scrub his feefh lhe was sfill asleepl-how we used fo scrub fhe hanger deck, even when we were on fhe Nips doorsfep wifh enemy planes overhead? V-1-A ARRESTING GEAR AND CATAPULT On November l2, I944, fhe firsf plane, a fighfer lF6Fl made a landing aboard. Since ours was an enfirely new l'YPe Ui afl'eSfing gear, fhis was indeed a big evenf. ll' was also fhe firsf fime fhaf fhe new crew was solely re- 5P0'1Sible fOr 'flie proper operafion of fhe gear. The gear 0Pe a+efl Pe ieC+lY and was a good omen fo us. By

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,.,..w-: . if-some plane capfain musf have been around. Final insulf was added fo repeafed iniury when our mascof Randy , who wasn'+ quife shipbroken yef, made a mis- 'rake on fhe flighf deck and someone yelled for a plane capfain. The job of mainfaining fhe plane's elecfronic equip- menf fell fo VZE, fhe aviafion elecfronics unif. They had fo confend wifh all sorfs of froubles. There were 'rhe planes fhemselves all iammed wifh infricafe insfrumenfs, elecfrical equipmenf, cables, dynamofers, radios, genera- fors, iuncfion boxes, radar sefs and everyfhing else ever dreamed of. The whole ouffif had fo sfruggle on a fwenfy-four hour basis during combaf fo keep fhe planes in repair. Offen delicafe radio and radar equipmenf had fo be changed in fhe dark and many fimes sha'Hered anfennas had fo be replaced wifh only seconds fo spare for pre-dawn fake-offs. The insfrumenf men were always racing againsf fime wifh gas gauges, insfrumenf panels, remofe compasses, efc. Buf plane mainfenance was fhe easy side of fhe iob. The elecfricians were always being called ouf for weak bafieries which fhey righfeously poinfed ouf was fhe faulf of eifher fhe radio gang or, mosf likely, fhe plane capfains. Their hours were long and fheir work fedious, buf fhey came fhrough. The grease monkeys of V-2 were fhe men of VZM. They called fhemselves coolies. and sweafed fhrough fhe changing of engines, wings, landing gear, propellors and almosf everyfhing else conceivable. There were fwo .V -K T is , .. J. I A sta. J' I fe i I 7 Q sx,Kn,4- -q . .Q 0 J, kinds-'rhe nighf and fhe day coolies. Nafurally each infained if had fhe heaviesf volume of work and was fhe mosf imporfanf facfor, in keeping up fhe availabilify of fhe planes. Thaf argumenf has never been group ma seffled. A The V-25 division has a whole group of rafes in if: mefalsmifhs, parachufe riggers, oxygen shop men, and painfers. They offen were considered by fhe misguided as fhe hobby shop division . In facf, a moffo of fhe division was when beffer bracelefs, wafch-bands, and picfure frames are made, we will make fhem-we also do aircraff work . On shakedown fhe mefal shop builf lock- ers, l40 of fhem, did welding for everyone from fhe mess cooks fo fhe Capfain and only incidenfally worked on aircraff. Since shakedown, fhe proporfion of job orders shiffed foward fhe aircraff side, buf fhere is sfill an irresisfable urge on fhe parf of all and sundry fo call on V-2-S fo do some odd iob or ofher. The painfers are always called on for somefhing-since PAINTING SOMETHING is an old Navy cusfom. The mefalsmifhs learned fo pafch al- mosf any kind of flak hole and could be seen af fimes, squaffing down on fhe hangar deck rivefing on a pafch. There was one iob fhaf was parficularly pleasanf-fhaf of painfing Japanese flags on fhe plane's fuselages. V-4-F Any sfory abouf fhe V4F lGassingl unif should sfarl wifh a series of confradicfory orders and a lof of con- fusion. Nof fhaf Messrs. ROUGH and KERR ran fheir ouffif fhaf way, buf iusf fo make fhe unif feel af home. Air Plo'r would say, Pu'r I0 fighfers on fhe Hangar Deck and degas fhem. Bring up five of fhose fighfers 'rhaf iusf wenf down and gas fhem. Puf gas in fhe belly fanks buf nof in fhe wing 'ianks of 'lhe bombers. There is a nighf fighfer on fhe cafapulf wifhouf any gas. And fhen, Belay fhaf lasf word. Thus when on an average sfrike day, fhe Gassing defail fakes a slick fasf moving ouffif fo keep up wifh fhe consfanfly changing facfical sifuafion and V4F has learned how fhe hard way. When 'rhe gassing defail was finally assembled many monfhs ago fhere were very few who had acfually seen a bigfime carrier operafe. The shakedown cured 'l'ha'l', and made fhem a lof of enemies besides. Thai blankefy- blank-blank sysfem had more blank-blank leaks fhan a fish ne+ , said Bowers. We would puf fhe smoking lamp ouf abouf fwenfy fimes a day while we hunfed for leaks. Hunfing leaks and holding a meefing every day in Aircraff Confrol faughf fhe lads a lof, and by fhe fime fhe shakedown was over and fhe RANDOLPH sfarfed on her way fowards fhe combaf area fhe unif knew ifS sfuff and had developed characfer and an esprif de corps' 'l'ha'l' sfill marks if. V-4 -A Half of fhe crew of ordnanceman came aboard shorfly affer fhe Commissioning Ceremonies fo augmenf fhe iwelve man Crew 'lhen aboard, forming fhe V4A division. They were capably lead by ushakedgwnn Cherry, an ex- Pefi' lon Shalledvwnsi. Then, affer a shor'l' bay cruise.