Randolph (CV 15) - Naval Cruise Book

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of fhg OOD's LT. John Hankey and LT. Darce C. Coyle were former shipmafes on The carrier, U.S.S. RANGER U. George Whisler had previous duTy aboard The cruiser U.5,S, TRENTON, while The fourfh member of The quar- fef, LT. Warren G. Youngren, had been aboard The U.S.S. NASSEAU. Fresh from indocTrinaTion school, En- gigns Evans, MencheTTi, Bigbie, and PaTTerson assumed The JOOW duTies. WiTh our waTch Team organized and our division seT UP' we were ready for pracfical work. This we goT in large doses during The Chesapeake Bay Trials. While enroufe To Trinidad we soon became more fam- iliar wifh our duTies. A regular waTch in four was seT and we soon seHIed down To The iob ThaT lay before us. While noT on waTch There were sTill many charts To be eorrocfed, much To be learned. We were wiThouT a chief, so Farringfon, Then firsT class, assumed Those dufies. Each secTion leader Took his waTch Team in hand and soon had Them working smoofhly. Each day The navigafor and LT. Magor kepT consTanT check on our posiTion. The sexTanT played an imporTanT parf. Each morning found Them boTh on The bridge be- fore dawn To shooT The sTars before They would be hidden by The brighT morning sun. ln The evenings as The firsT sTar popped inTo view They were on The bridge waifng. A shoT was Taken, a posiTion noTed, a course charfed. AT The wesT coasT porT we received several new mem- bers inTo The division. RecenTly graduafed from quarTer- masTer school, Madden, Reagen, Fallon, and Dubefz were added To our complemenf. Chief Gossard came aboard To join The ranks. In porT our dufies were lighTer. However, each sTop required a run To The hyrographic office in The area for new charTs, laTe publicaTions, and sailing direcfions. We headed wesf afTer a brief sTay . . . Too brief for mosT of us . . . from here on our dufies became consTanT. While enrouTe TacTical classes and daily insTrucTion was held for boTh quarTermasTers and waTch officers. Prob- lems in maneuvering, various formafions and plans were sTudied. We prepared To become a parT of a maior Task force. When we reTurned from The Tokyo raids in February we were like seasoned veferans. We had operafed wiTh a uniT of The mighfy Task Force 58. Formafions, maneu- vering, and zig-lagging had become almosT roufine. Even now you can Tell a Randolph quarTermasTer reTurning from liberfy by his zig-zag plan. While anchored aT UliThi we suffered our TirsT casual- Ties. Chief Gossard was seriously wounded when a Twin- engine Jap bomber sTruck The ship. He was Transferred To The hospifal ship The nexT day. Sfanley Dansicker, one of The buglers, suffered head and leg wounds, buf was sTill able To carry ouT his dufies. Our 23-piece band, formerly The Philadelphia Navy Yard band organized by Eugene Ormandy, aided morale during leisure hours. During The noon hours on days when wifhdrawn from The immediafe combaf area or when aT anchor, Chief STehman's ouTfiT played on The hangar deck. We were forTunaTe in having one of The besT bands in The fleef. Capable of playing for all occasions, The group of musicians audifioned and selected from 500 men aT Philadelphia, provided small ensembles, sfringed arrangemenfs, and dance music. A daily accounT of all acTiviTies was noTed in The ship's log. Each movemenf of The ship, each man received on board, each enemy aTTack was carefully noTed. A waTch To waTch accounT was wriTTen, Then smoofhly prepared by The navigafion yeoman, and recorded for hisfory. Ac-

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gr' an ,K NAVIGATION DEPARTMENT To ihe smallesi deparimenl' aboard ship 'falls a mogf responsible iask-'rhal' of ge'Hing ihe ship 'io where it mus'r go, by +he righi direciion, and ai' The righl' lime, Our firsi' problem in navigaiion originafed long before 'I'he Randolph's commissioning pennani was raised. During iraining monihs in Newpori, ii' was ofien necessary +0 keep consiani waich io insure Thai' 'rhe quariermasiers mainiained a irue course and speed when enrouie from barracks io ihe char? correciion building. Thousands of charis and publicaiions had 'io be cor- recied in preparaiion for fuiure use in guiding The ship aboul' ihe world. As if was found a sieady diei of chad correciion soon grew monoionous and ii was oiien neces- sary for Ensign Jack Prowse +o sieer fhe boys away from ship's service and back 'lo lhe charis. Our iirsf weeks aboard ihe Randolph were busy ones. Our primary iob was geiiing spaces in order for sailing. The bridge needed alieraiions, charis and insirumenis had io be pu'r away, a navigaiion office was io be organized. We were a small ieam. Commander Blackburn, now Execuiive Officer, was The navigaior, and his assisiani, L+. Magor, was our division officer. We comprised 'rwo main raiings, quariermasiers and musicians, a combinaiion of sirained iaciions. The pied pipers and ihe quariermasiers oiien iangled. The only neuiral was Builer, +he navigaiion yeoman. Our four buglers had iheir own problems. Four experienced waich officers and four compeieni junior officers formed our underway waich ieam. Two

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i i l i i 1 E.L'F',fQ 3. 4 companied by a desfroyer screen we deparfed Ulifhi on fhe 5+h of April fo join Task Force 58 which was sfriking fargefs af Okinawa. Rain, fog, sleef, squalls, fyphoons, and heavy winds made sfeering difiliculf. Cloudiness, hiding sfars, and a relucfanf sun made fhe power of fhe sexfanf nil. Cerfainly all navigafors musf go fo heaven because fhey're cafch- ing plenfy of hell now. By now many subsfifufions had been made in our feam. New wafch officers were frained and our former JOOW's were experienced enough fo handle fop wafches. A wafch in five was placed info efifecf. During fhe laffer parf of May, Commander Blackburn moved info 'rhe posifion of Air Officer, and Commander Fieldericame aboard while af sea fo fake over fhe helm. The Officer of fhe Deck frequenfly finds if necessary fo make splif-second decisions-somefimes he makes fhe righf guess: somefimes he misses by a mile. Lafe one nighf while anchored af Guam, fhe OOD sighfed an Admiral's Barge coming ouf of fhe darkness. Now Ad- miral Bogan had leff fhe ship, and his refurn was ex- pecfed. Alfhough if was a sfrange barge,-well, who could fell, maybe he'd borrowed one from a friendly Admiral , so- Sfaff Gangway! Sfaff Gangwayl was sounded and six bells were made. Commander Needham and Lf. Comdr. Garsfensen made a hurried appearance and all was in readiness fo welcome Admiral Jerry aboard. The barge made fhe gangway and ouf sfaggered fhe Gold Dusf Twins, Lf. Enman and Lf. Kisor, who affer a rugged nighf wifh friends ashore in Guam, had shang- haiecl a barge and a cox'n fo gef back fo Randy. The OOD was morfified, buf nof half as morfified as 1-he fwo culprifs who sneaked off fo bed affer muffering many apologies. Prior fo deparfing on our final war cruise, Lf. Hankey leff 'rhe ship. Glenn and Hawkins came aboard. During July and Augusf our cruising range covered fhe enfire lengfh of fhe Jap coasf. From a fransporf we received Farren, Ford, Edward, and Dillon who had insi- come ouf from fhe Sfafes. Lafer Hopen, Hornbosfel, Hurff and Hofmeisfer were added fo our numbers. Our firsf confacf wifh fhe Brifish Fleef came one dark nighf off fhe coasf of Japan. A surface confacf of four vessels was received. No reply. Again fhe challenge for recognifion. Again no reply. If musf be fhe enemy's ships. Suddenly over fhe TBS came, Blimey, whaf's fhis we have here?' Anofher reporf, They're big fellows aren'f fhey. There could be no misfake. Moving slowly fhrough fhe dark nighf, four small Brifish minesweepers moved quiefly passed our formafion. We were a liffle over a hundred miles off fhe coasf of Japan when fhe Japs finally surrendered. The charf house became an informafion cenfer. Whaf's our cruise? Where are we headed? Where do we go from here? On fhe morning of fhe 5+h of Sepfember, Commander Fielder and Lf. Magor benf over fhe enfrance charf fo Tokyo Bay. We were scheduled fo go in af l7O0 fhaf evening. The communicafions officer rushed in. The navigafor's face beamed as he dove info fhe desk for anofher charf. We had orders fo proceed fo Pearl Har- bor. We were going home! Buoy ZCB abeam fo s+arboard. Bufler made a nofe in fhe bearing record book and passed fhe word on fo L+. Magor. I+ was 2I Ocfober. A+ 0706 Sfanfon squinfed info fhe alidade felescope, grinning from ear fo ear called ouf, Mark, Cape Henry Lighf abeam 'l'o porf. A familiar sound: we were home.