Saint Paul (CA 73) - Naval Cruise Book

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t X But hard work is not the whole story of a successful deployment. Hawaii, Bangkok. Hong Kong. Saseho: these were some ot' the plaees SAINT PAUL visited, lt takes surprisingly few days of nine o'eloek liberty to make a sailor forget all about the sleepless nights on the line and the hours of handling eight-inch projeetiles. Body surfing at Waikiki: touring a few of Bangkoks 3000 Buddhist temples: bargaining for tailor-made suits in Hong Kong: eating sukiyaki in a Japanese inn: these were a few ofthe things SAINT PAUL sailors found to do during liberty hours. With so much to see and do in the Orient, liberty can become as exhausting as standing watches on the gunline, But sailors have always worked hard. and played hard. . ' 'rs' is . f -we-ff' H' 1 in in , 4 'yu' t- ji -,-l.v'.scfff-'Zyl '...J I'-' s fr' L-.

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M'-1 X Kb -I RD OR During her 1969 deployment to the Western Pacific, SAINT PAUL spent almost 150 days at sea and 93 days on the gunline off the coast of the Republic of Vietnam. On the line one-third of the crew manned their battle stations at all timesg every man stood eight hours of watch a day, as well as performing his regularly-assigned duties. The heavy cruiser participated in more than 60 underway replenishments during the cruise. Several times a week she left the line for brief periods to rendezvous with support ships and take on fuel, ammunition and supplies. Every unrep meant hours more of hard work for all hands. A cruise is a time of long hours and sobering responsibility for every man on board. Fourteen hours ot' work a day is not uncommon on the gunlineg away from it, there is paperwork to be caught up, supplies to be ordered, rust to be chipped. Every man has his job to do-whether calibrating the guns or sorting the mail-and every job is vital to the success of SAINT PAUL's mission. Y 1 ' 9-...sm-has '-aw ' f-

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The first SAINT PA UL was bull! as a commercial liner in 1898 but soon afteru ard she nas modified for the Spanish American War rn which she fought valzanlly The colorful career ofthe USS SAINT PAUL stretches back to the wining years of World War II when the heavy cruiser slid down the ways in Quincy Massachusetts After a quick indoctrination ind training period she steamed to the Pacific, Oce in never again to return to the Atlantic to Dunkirk as one of the greatest move-outs in history SAINT PAUL was the last ship to leave the harbor with the Lily burning behind it Throughout the war SAINT PAUL made her presence K . x . , f 8 I , 8 Q ' I 5 tl ' . . . , . . . .. ' A Huis: T4 ' N .n -. ws. Q !l ::Tf.1. '- -.ri-Q 4-LlL ' . -,jx .... . -, . .:.' ., M1-Q--' .-- ' . . ' ' ' v ' D . l ' I I , 7 , . 1 1 I I I . I s . a , ', . ' f . ' ' . . -V -. s w 1 - s . , . ' 1 1 ' 1 I I ' 1 1 I I ' N Y 4 5 9 1 1' . H v 1 1 I ' 'l 1 'w 1 , - a 1 ' f ' D 7 SAINT PAUL became part of Admiral Bull IIalsey's Third Fleet, operating in support of air strikes off mainland Japan. On August 9, I9-45. SAINT PAUL fired the final salvo by a major Naval unit on the home islands of Japan. She then steamed into Tokyo Harbor to participate in the surrender ofthe Imperial Japanese Navy. In the following peacetime years. the ship deployed yearly for Naval Occupation duty, until the outbreak of the Korean conliict. SAINT PAUL was flagship for Cruiser Force ONE and maintained patrol along the Formosa Strait until the Chinese entered the war in December 1950. The heavy cruiser used her tive and eight-inch guns to bombard Wonsan during the evacuation of U.N. personnel and equipment from the city. This evacuation ranks close felt along both coasts ofthe Korean peninsula On July 27 l954. the heavy cruiser conducted the last gunstrike ofthe Korean confiict. Approximately two minutes before Lieu- tenant General William K. Harrison signed the first truce document, SAINT PAUL fired the final shell from a United Nations naval unit. During the next five years, the ship made periodic cruises in the Western Pacific to insure naval superiority for the SEVENTH Fleet. In 1959, she deployed permanently to Yokosuka, Japan, and became the first major U.S. combatant ship to be home-ported in the Orient since pre-World War II days. Thirty-nine months later, SAINT PAUL returned to Long Beach to take up duties as FIRST Fleet flagship. She did not return to WestPac until 1965. Cngziafr . 0 CA-73