Randolph (CV 15) - Naval Cruise Book

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Their baTTle sTaTions. Gas masks, baTTle gear and helmeTs were handy. The aTTack was made. The 'righf feeling around The ThroaT leTT, buT The Tenseness of nerves re- mained. The long hours caused The men To curl up and grab a few winks in The oddesT places. India rubber men could never duplicaTe such conTours. Ask Sack Faulks how he did iT. The operaTion of The firsT and second Tokyo raids and Iwo Jima found The members of The communicaTions deparTmenT willing and able To meeT any exigency. March Tound The Randy back in UliThi, preparing For The nexT operaTion. BuT here Tragedy sTruck when a Jap Kamikaze hiT us. Doucharme and Whipple were wounded and received The Purple HearT. The deparTmenT suffered greaT maTerial damage. Radio lll and V were compleTely desTroyed and one of our Two remaining masTs was Torn off. The eTTiciency of The equipmenT was impaired by 40 O 0 per cenT. The Technicians under Messrs. Hann, STevens, and HursT came Through wiTh flying colors. OperaTions were Taken parT in and mainTained in spiTe of The I T oss o equipmenT. This same period saw Admiral Began and his sTaTT coming aboard To use The Ran- dolph as The Tiag ship. This addiTional load on com- municaTions was Taken in sTride wiThouT undue sTrain in spiTe of The TacT ThaT only 60 per cenT of our equipmenT remained. The Okinawa campaign Tound The deparTmenT sorely pressed. The long hours aT GQ , The TacT The men sTood a waTch in Three and a gun waTch in addifion TogeTher wiTh The depleTed condiTion oT The equipmenT caused The deparTmenT much concern. The men sTood up under These hardships remarkably well. BuT The com- ing aboard of Admiral MiTscher placed an unprece- denTed load of 300 per cenT upon The ship's radio Trans- miTTers which had been reduced To 60 per cenT of The normal allowance. Over 20,000 groups of code were broken daily and as high as l83 visual dispaTches senT and received. IT was only by judicious use and exercise of ingenuiTy and Technical skills, personnel and remain- ing equipmenT ThaT This load was able To be absorbed and assimilaTed. AT no Time did The services of The com- municaTion deparTmenT Tail The Two flags. Truly, The inexperienced green crew of The Chesapeake Bay had come a long way. The deparTmenT had proved iTs righT To The well dones besTow by The flags. AT LeyTe The men seTTled down To a well deserved resT. BuT here again Tragedy sTalked. The sTaTemenT TasTened To The signal bridge bulkhead pressed home The TruTh. A P-38 hiT The ship. Two of our shipmaTes, Vallor and Trappe, losT Their lives, and Segro was TaTally 3 if ,.

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' 1 11 Wh i s-if enlered lhe Pacihc. Here lhey played ball lor keeps. New procedures had lo be adopled. Radio operalors benl lo lheir lasks lor lhe increased speed required more concenlralion. Finally il was learned lhe Randy was going lo l'lunler's Poinl, where lhe men were given six days leave. Parlies were held al lhe Palace Holel in lf af, if 'x chi!- va ly San Francisco. Bul Chrislmas had been spenl al sea and lhe holiday season couldn'l be reaclivaled by spirils lrumenlif' Somelhing grim lay ahead. ...,. . .. The Golden Gale laded lrom view and lhe vasl Pacific loomed in lronl. By lhis lime all hands knew lhe busi- ness lor which lhe crew had been lrained was soon lo be enlered. Each day lound lhe going lougher. Trallic became heavier and lhe men had lo keep on lheir loes. Copying became more dillicull wilh lhe increased speed and slalic. GQ began lo lake on meaning. This waS nol praclice, lhis was il. By lhe lime Pearl Harbor was reached, lhe signal gang was in good shape due lo lhe experienced hand ol Mr. Campbell. Messrs. Camp- bell, Hann and Slevens were lhe only ollicers aboard wilh Pacific experience, so lhey look lhe coding board in hand. Aller a shorl slay al Pearl, lhe Randy moved oul +0 keep a rendezvous wilh lhe lamous Task Force 58. ll W65 lo receive a momenlous inilialion inlo lhe big league' The ollicers were galhered logelher in lhe coding Nom by Mr. Gallery who inlormed lhem lhal lhe ship would 'fake parl in lhe lirsl carrier raid on Tokyo! Jusl lour monlhs and seven days lrom lhe day ol commissionin9' lhe ship was lo lake an aclive parl in lhe waf- The morning ol lhe allack came. All hands were Bi

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-we s s burned. Syzmanslci and Keene were seriously burned, This was a horrible blow. Again fhe ship sef ou'l'. This proved fo be our lag warfime cruise. Sevenfy-six days af sea under warfime condifions off fhe coasf of Japan never once found fhe members of fhe deparfmenf napping. ln spife of a de. plefed crew, sorely overfaxed equipmenf, and long hours on dufy, fhe deparfmenf afforded consfanf and con. finuous communicafions. The men had been excellenf and devofed in fheir worlcg fhey were qualified in every respecf. The officers had been fhoroughly frained and qualified. ln facf fhe deparfmenf had shown ifs worfh. lfs warfime record sfands as a glowing credif. There were ofher services rendered by fhe deparf- menf fhaf are worfhy of credif. The Dawn Aler+ , lafer named fhe Sea-V News , was published daily even fhough in warfime condifions. The fremendous volume of money order business done by fhe posf office under Lf. Kinney and posfal clerln Ryan and his cohorfs, is fhe envy of fhe fleef. Hense's space saving mail rack is being copied by fhe fleef. The prinf shop produced a picforial series of papers fhaf give a record of our cruises and will be lcepf as memenfos. Our deparf- menf has confribufed much fo fhe welfare and morale of fhe ship: Marfine fafhered fhe carfoon Randy and ofhers fool: an acfive parf in fhe acfivifies of fhe ship, an example of which is fhe facf fhaf K-I won fhe bond selling confesf. When fhe men refurn fo civilian life fhey can be proud of fheir warfime record. Cerfain memories and anecdofes may sfand ouf, such as: Gerolsfein's musical accompanimenfs in fhe prinf shop: Lilly Dache's haf sfyles as worn by Tessagliag fhe fales of Marner, Wyllis and Tumosa abouf Japan: Panzer's cigars: and fhe re- sourcefulness of Boofhe af finding food and painf. To fhe men of fhe communicafions deparfmenf, you have deserved a well done. ', W, ,if '