Saint Paul (CA 73) - Naval Cruise Book

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Lu -I Than ThaT OT The SevenTh l:leeT Commander. The PresidenT had charged The SevenTh FleeT wiTh The duTy OT keeping The peace along The EasT coasT OT Asa. ln parficuiar, The llleeT was To prOTecT Formosa Trom fnvasion by The Chinese CommunisTs, Already The R-eos had made cOverT moves Toward some OT The ouTlying NaTiOnalisT ouTpOsTs. ShOrTly aTTer Admiral Pride had shiTTed his Tlag To SAINT PAUL, The ship proceeded sOuTh To The Tachen Islands, Then The subiecT OT COmmunisT ThreaTs. Several monThs laTer when There were similar ThreaTs againsT The island OT Quemoy, we sTeamed Trom T-lakoOaTe in The Far NOrTh OT Japan To The SOuTh China Sea in Two days-a disTance OT some l400 miles. For nearly a monTh The ship sTeamed wiTh a TasT carrier Task Torce ready Tor any conTingency. BUT war Tormed only a parT OT The baikground OT The SAINT! l954 Tour in The Far ELT, 'vvhen we were noT engaged elsewhere, good will fyill. The pma? er, sehiom- visiTed pOrT3 OTJapan were The Order OT The day. ln Beppu. Toyama, T-lakOdaTe, Kure, T-liroshirnai, Yokohama, and Tokoyo, we meT The Japanese people on common ground and learned To know Them a liTTie beTTer, We enTerTained and were enTerTained, We phyed baseball wiTh Them. BeTOre The cruise had ended 8,I00 school children and Their Teachers had visiTed On board SAlNT PAUL as Our guesTs. BUT The maior parT OT our lives aboard ship can be described only in Terms OT The enfifesi round OT wfiTchesI The chipping, painTing, and scrubbing: and The copies in TriplicaTe OT The yeoman s vari-colored Onion-skin. Mo-:T OT Our Time was Taken up wiTh The every day Tasks OT running The ship and susTaining Ourselves. The mess cooks sTill awakened an hour beTOre reveille To Turn OuT Three square meals. The bakers sTill Tound iT necessary To bake 250 loaves OT bread per day TO Till The seemingly unlimiTed capaciTy OT a swabbieis sTOmach. The laundry cOnTronTed mammOTh bags OT dirTy clOThes every day OT The week. The engineers waTched Their super-heaT, boiler Teed, and Tuel, and puT anoTher 43,000 miles behind us beTore we reTurned home in December. They perTOrmed an amazing Two-day run aT speeds over ThirTy knOTs. They kepT aT prob- lems OT damage cOnTrOl, engine casualTies, and aTOmic deTense, unTiI every man could perTOrm his duTies while asleep. And The shops were kepT Occupied wiTh repairs To everyThing Trom The hull TO elecTric Tans. The gunnery divisions made a name Tor Themselves wiTh ouTsTanding perTOrmances Trom every baTTery. The Three- inch managed To knock down Two large drones: The Tive and eighT-inch baTTeries earned Their E s wiTh sharp sur- Tace shoOTing. When noT shOOTing, The deck divisions kepT up The OuTside OT The ship, handled The complex operaTions OT replenishmenT aT sea, ran The ship's bOaTs, and drank Their share OT cOTTee. ln CIC, radarmen were our elecTronic eyes. OTTen They spoke wiTh disTanT ships or aircraTT in gibberish ThaT only Those OT Their breed could undersTand. Topside On The signal bridge, anoTher breed spoke Their Own brand OT palaver wiTh Tlashing lighTs and Tlags. Radiomen could be a sad Or welcome sighT wiTh news OT an exTensiOn or OT a new baby boy. QuarTermasTers bugled us awake in The morning, and, aTTer having done Their damage, wenT inno- cenTly abouT Their business OT navigaTing The ship. And There was liberTy, Yokosuka, paragon OT Far EasTern ciTies, had losT none OT iTs alluring charm since we had leTT iT in I953. Sasebo was sTill The vacaTiOnisT's paradise we had always known. The somber uncerTainTies OT life in Pusan, Korea and Taipeh, Formosa, were balanced Tor us by a Tew week-ends in The plush bisTrOs and glimmering bazaars OT Tokyo and Yokohama. ln l-long Kong we spenT TorTunes saving money. We saw a greaT deal OT Asia. Perhaps we learned To undersTand her beTTer. We saw enormous exTremes OT wealTh and poverTy, OT civilizaTiOn and primiTiveness, OT happiness and misery. The diTTerences beTween The ways OT The OrienT and our Own were There To see. buT so were The similariTies. Some OT The sighTs we saw were memo- rable: some beauTiTul like Fuiiyama, or The Inland Sea, Or T-Tong Kong harbor: some ugly like poor, baTTered Pusan. BUT above all, our seven monThs in The Far EasT in l954 were Tilled wiTh The good humor OT sailors and The close Triendship OT shipmaTes, The gaieTy OT a good liberTy and The serious business OT running a ship and preparing her Tor baTTle,

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HEN SAINT PAUI. sTeamed ouT oT Long Beach har- bor Tor The Far EasT on May 4, I954, we were Taking her ouT on her TenTh year oT service in The Navy. IT had been almosT nine years To The day since she had repor'Ted To Admiral Bull I-laIsey's Task Force 38 Tor her TirsT duTy in The PaciTic. Since ThaT Time she had remained in conTinuous commission longer and sTeamed more miles Than any oTher U. S. cruiser in commission. She had seen The end oT Two wars and possibly The embryonic beginnings oT a Third, And she had earned herselT an enviable repuTa- Tion among The ships oT The Navy. For despiTe her beIaTed arrival in World War ll, she arrived in Time To Tire The lasT salvo oT The war on The Japanese home islands. And on SepTember 2, I954, she sTeamed up Tokyo Bay wiTh MISSOURI Tor The surrender ceremonies. Surrender did noT mean resT. A Tew days laTer, The SAINT sTeamed souTh as Tlagship Tor Admiral Turner Joy's YangTze River paTroI. During The Tollowing years, The IisT oT porTs which The ship visiTed sound like a caTaIogue oT The Far PaciTic: Shanghai, TsingTao, Manila, Formosa. Okinawa, The Marshalls, Borneo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, I'lawaii .... And iT her IaTe arrival in World War II prevenTed her X 1 To . LJ Trom proving ThaT she had The sTuTT, The FIGHTING SAINT wasTed no. Time in proving iT in The Korean War. On a midshipman Training cruise aT The ouTbreak oT hos- TiliTies, she immediaTeIy unloaded her passengers and crossed The PaciTic. Upon arrival she became Tlagship Tor Rear Admiral BinTord's Formosa paTrol. ATTer several monThs oT This duTy, she proceeded norTh To The seas oTT The beleagured Korean peninsula. The ship was a iack-oT-all-Trades during Those years. She supplied close gunTire suppor'T Tor The Troops ashore. She conducTed gunsTrikes along The enTire EasTern coasT oT NorTh Korea. OTTen she sTeamed Tar ouT To sea wiTh Task Force 77 playing waTchdog Tor The carriers. I-Ier heIicopTer played bird dog and rescued many a downed and sTricken piloT. ln emergencies, her sick bay comTorTed and mended The wounded oT smaller ships, There was, hardly a maior campaign involving naval uniTs in The Korean War in which SAINT PAUI. did noT parTicipaTe: The drive To Chongiin, The lnchon invasion, The I-lungnam evacuaTion, Wonsan, Anchor I-Iill .... And as if To complimenT The Tinal rounds she Tired in World War II, SAINT PAUL sTeamed inTo Treacherous Wonsan harbor on The morning oT July 27, I953, and Tired The lasT salvo Trom a major naval vessel in The Korean War. By May, I954, when The SAINT was again due To reTurn To The Par EasT, The shooTing in Asia had slighTly abeTTed. BuT we did noT expecT a peaceTuI cruise. A biTTer shooTing war was sTiIl under way in Indo-China, Korea was by no means seTTIed, and The Chinese CommunisTs were already mouThing blaTanT ThreaTs To invade Chiang Kai-Shek's Formosa. SAINT PAUL's mission in This uneasy siTuaTion was an imporTanT one, Tor upon arrival in Yokosuka, Japan, on May 27, The Commander, SevenTh PIeeT made her his Tlag- ship. The SAINT had carried The Tlags oT many oT The com- manders under which she had served during her Ten years oT service, buT none had a greaTer or more imporTanT role

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