Randolph (CV 15) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 81 text:

'WW -mln-u l506u.,.. 'N.,,,,..w ii Aff ,pr- 'S Q, N :nl xxx '

Page 80 text:

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.

Page 82 text:

SUPPLY DEPARTMENT When The Randolph was puT in commission, Chief Chrisfman was in charge of The Supply Office, assisfed by R. W. Hendricks, in charge of Commissary, Ship's STore, and Clofhing and Small STores records in The Sup. ply Office. The sTores had To be requisiTioned and al. lowances filled. During The nexT six weeks over 2,000 requisiTions were submiTTed and our sforekeepers worked I8-20 hours daily bringing maTerial and spare pai-+5 aboard. When The Kamikaze sTruck on The nighT of March ll, l945, Supply had Two sforerooms below decks severely damaged and Three sforerooms above decks damaged, besides The ofher maferial and spaces belonging To ofher deparTmenTs. Our job was Then To salvage all The ma- Terial ThaT we could and Try To replace whaT was de- sTroyed. We began To reorder maTerial from every available source. By The Time The ship was ready To go info acTion again, Supply again had done Their job afTer long hours of hard and sTrenuous work. The Commissary Secfion of The Supply Deparfmenf wiTh iTs 75 cooks and bakers did a Tremendous iob dur- ing This firsT year of operaTion aboard The Randolph . There was an ambifious loT of sTrikers assisfing The peTTy olTicers, and TogeTher They Turned ouT an average of 3,300 raTions per day. These boys deserve special credif for The way They carried on under baTTle condiTions and supplied personnel wiTh greaf quanTiTies of Thick hoT soup, coffee and sandwiches righT on Their baTTle sTaTions. On numerous occasions iT was necessary for Them To prepare more Than l0,000 sandwiches on a single day. The bake shop baked The bread ThaT wenT info Those l0,000 sandwiches To say noThing of The delicious pi9S and cake ThaT emanaTed from The RandoIph's Bake Shop. When The Randolph served pie, These boys in The Bake shop Turned ouT 500 of Them for a single meal. One of The special feafures on The Randolph is iTs cusT0m of supplying each officer and man wiTh a beaufifully decoraTed birthday cake. The man who geTs The credif for producing These cakes is J. Williams, Bkr2c, who is 6 Professional in The field and everyone agrees ThaT he is a masTer of The pasTry bag. The Bufcher Shop under The supervision of O. E. John- Son, SCBlc, is a very busy spoT. The boys on The Sl1lP eaT l400 To l800 pounds of meaT aT a single siTTin9- Tlie 9reaT Casey, SClc, from Haddonfield, N- Jw and Broccoli, SC2c, breakouf and The fresh and frozen Pro'