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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CHIEF UF STAFF SevenTh FleeT surTace aft ala: 115.52 a 'riff :arf 'r The UniTed NaTEons camoagf. VJ' e er: 55' C iqvei TPS enemy incessamly Trorn acne iacczorf :nos oorroarszed him wiTh Their heavy gms. Hardreds QT genvrles were ggridugiefj gqginf Q53 gugpi, 'reg and Troop comiemra- Tions along oem :care oT Korea. The F eeT oayeo a mafor parT in The amphfoous 'rvazfcni aT Fohang EUC lnihfr. Ships were in:TramenTa in zavfnq Thouiandz of UN Troops aT The l-lundnam evaiuafcn, Fleek wife were C3n5Tai1Tlj, enqaqed in The never-endfnq hafrle ani: blozlcade oF Vvcn- san harbor. NeiTher The magnilmde nor frnoorffince of The FleeTs Taslr diminished wiTh The Korean armfffee. There were numerous TesTering sores in A,iar riifoe Trim Korea whlzh ThreaTened To ipreafi--nwfirmy Inav-Cheri ani: Formosa. When an armiihfe was fini! ,I 1i'1n'e.el 'n Ind:-Chirii SevenTh FleeT :hiry TfgxVT.IFL l'iC',1 fhfpiirwzir1ffS',ff'fan5T ee- inq The Communif, Tfirfher own To Tree TerrITorv. CAPTAIN LUTHER K. REYNOLDS, USN fa 1 f' I...-f ,fn Rigs Wi-er Feipino aoverTised iTs inTenTion To invade Formosa r ,954 FresfoenT Eisenhower re'inTeraTed The original :roers of The SevenTh FleeT-inTerTere wiTh any aTTempTs 'o 'r-.ace Formosa Trom The mainland, FleeT uniT5 5Teamed SCLxllY To The Formosa STraiTs and SouTh China Sea and ef' no doaoT ir The minds ol The CommunisTs ThaT iT was There To carry ouT This order. As The Reds iniTiaTed aTTaclcs again? The Tachens and Quemov Island iusT oTT The uneasy China coasT, SevenTh FleeT uniTs sTeamed on paTrol noT very Tar away. During This period, The SevenTh FleeT Com- mander was embarked in SAINT PAUL. AH The various TunCTions oT operaTional and logisTiC piannmgl EnTelIigence, TacTical command and communica- Tons were carried on in SAINT PAUL during her Tour as Tlaoship ov The 140 oTTicers and men on The SevenTh FleeT iTaTT. lT was The Task oT The ChieT oT STaTT To assisT The Admiral and To oversee The work of The sTaTT in carrying ouT iTs Complex. duTies, E3 M x