Saipan (CVL 48) - Naval Cruise Book

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.v . Y V , xv' .. Commander J. T. Blackburn USN iff,y:jfijpjxjgi'z ,jjj.,1j3 1 f I , X fo ' Commander R W. Cousins USN

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THE CAPTAIN Captain Ralph Walter Dunstan Woods was born on 4 May 1902 at Chicago, Illinois. He received his early formal education at Cambridge, Massachusetts and was graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in the Class of 1923. He was a member of the A Squad in boxing and crew for three years while at the Naval Academy. His first assignments were on the U.S.S. WEST VIRGINIA and the U.S.S. ARKANSAS, where he received indoctrination as a battleship deck officer. His next tour was at the U. S. Naval Torpedo School, Newport, Rhode Island, under instruction in torpedo construction, operation and tactics. Following this was a tour on the U.S.S. CINCINNATI. The next step was from the anti-air- craft battery of the CINCINNATI to naval aviation. In 1926, Ensign Woods reported to the U. S. Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, as a stu- dent aviator. Then on 30 August 1927, as Lieutenant C junior gradej, he was appointed Naval Aviat- or number 3385. On 6 July 1929, Lieutenant C junior gradej Woods was married to Anita Birney Rhea at Annap- olis, Maryland. After tours with various squadrons, Lieutenant Commander Woods, as Commanding Officer of Scouting Squadron FORTY-TWO, won the annual Scouting Squadron Class Trophy for safety in flight operations from aircraft carriers. Upon completion of duty as Commanding Oflicer of Seaplane Training Squadron ONE at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, LCDR. Woods was assigned duty as Officer in Charge of the Aviation Cadet Regiment, and subsequently, of the Aviation Cadet Brigade. Soon after Pearl Harbor day, LCDR. Woods was ordered to the Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet, as Staff' Aviation Oflicer where he became successively a Commander and a Captain. In the Amphibious Force, Captain Woods participated in the Moroccan and the Sicilian 'invasions and was awarded the Legion of Merit with a UV.

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EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Commander John Thomas Blackburn has the blood of the Navy flowing through his veins as he is the son of a retired Naval Captain. He was graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in the class of 1933 and was assigned duty aboard the U.S.S. MISSISSIPPI. He entered flight training at Pensacola, Florida in March, 1936, and won his wings in April 1937. From there he went aboard the U.S.S. LEXINGTON for two years with Bombing Squadron TWO and later with Fighter Squadron TWO. In February, 1941, he became an instructor in Advanced Training Fighters, at the Naval Air Station, Miami, Florida and held that position until June 1942. He then commissioned Escort Fight- ing Squadron Twenty-nine as Executive Officer. That Squadron was attached to the U.S.S. SANTEE and participated in the invasion of Morroco, November 1942. On January, 1943, as Commanding Officer, he commissioned VF Squadron Seventeen aboard the U.S.S. BUNKER HILL. From October, 1943 to March, 1944, his Squadron operated from an air strip in the Solomon Islands. His first tour of duty with BuAer was from May 1944 until May 1945. He then commissioned Air Group Seventy Four, as Air Group Commander, aboard the U.S.S. MID- WAY. Between September, 1946, and October, 1949, he spent one year with the office of the Chief of Naval Operations and two years with the Bureau of Aeronautics. Upon detachment from duty in the SAIPAN, Commander Blackburn was assigned to Heavy Attack Wing ONE with duty involving flying as Prospective Commanding Officer of a Composite Squadron. Commander Ralph Wynne Cousins-was born on July, 1915 in Oklahoma. He was schooled in Michigan and was graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1937. His first duty assignment was on the U.S.S. PENNSYLVANIA where he learned about the battlewagon navy. He reported to Pensacola for flight training in 1940 and received his designation as a Naval Aviator in December that year. He then reported to Bombing Squadron TWO aboard the U.S.S. LEXINGTON and continued with that squadron through the Battle of the Coral Sea in which the Lexington was sunk. He immediately received orders to Bombing Squad-ron ELEVEN, partici- pated in the Guadalcanal campaign, returned to the States in August 1943 and was assigned duty at NAS, Seattle. In March 1944 he was ordered to the Staff, Commander Fleet Air, West Coast, to coordinate Rocket training for the fleet. In April 1945 Commander Cousins became Commander, Carrier Air Group ELEVEN and held that duty until February 1947 when he received orders to the Military Requirement Section in CNO. Following this assignment he attended the Test Pilot Training School at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Maryland, and on completion of the course reported on 15 August, 1950 as Operations Officer of the SAIPAN, In May, 1951 Commander Cousins succeeded Commander Blackburn as Executive Officer.