Shea (DM 30) - Naval Cruise Book

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THE CONTROL GANG -igpo0 - left us to Join the Navy Air Corps Iohnson a very person Now here there, men. -Ship's holiday with the excep- ' l ' I ' ' . -- tion of the fire control gang Mark' Markl Mark' We are a small gang of I4 men, two strikers and the rest Petty Officers. We formed in Norfolk, Virginia, for train- ing, Later on we were sent to the U.S.S. SHBA in Brooklyn Navy Yard and there is where our troubles began. First trip to Bermuda. Every night while we were there you could hear the PA. system ring out all fire controlmen. and strikers man, your station for Director check . After long days of arduous practice, we left the beautiful island and headed for Norfolk. Of course, we were still holding Director checks and the gang was getting pretty well fed up for we never appreciated the importance of this practice until the Iap planes started at us. Here we would like to say a few words about the boys in the gang. Most of the boys in the gang had seen some action before coming aboard the SHEA. The gang now is the proud possessor of two wearers of the Purple Heart and two presidential Citations . One of our outstanding mem- bers, Bolstead, gave his life when the SHEA was hit. He was one swell guy and a real friend to all of us. Shrapnel Bryant, who when short of cash, rushes to the Medico and has some of the steel removed from his carcass and converts it into cash. Then we have Dashing Eichelberger, the boy that guarantees to repair the phones IF you can find him out of his rack. Meet W. D, Smith, a jolly good fellow who sings all day long-never a sad day when Smith is around. Then we have Leo Long, who is definitely the romantic type. We like his sly sense of humor. We would like to introduce you to our Chiefs: Chief Ary made his rate aboard the SHEA and it was well deserved. Our new Chief who took Ary's place came up the hard way-Chief Hrastic. He was re- puted to have a complete drug store in his locker. Brectel was renowned for having a darned good watch, which took three screw drivers to rewind. Then there was Fulton, who ax? 1 'fir able chap better known as the 40 MM King Horack is next-the only sailor who ever pulled his hitch over a Circuit, McShaffrey was the fighting Irishman who wouldnt fight without his lucky shoes. L. I. Smith left us to Q0 to The hospital-we hated to see him go. Cole, the boy who says he has never kissed a girl. Myatt-the family man who was always talking about his boy. LYT1Chf Unmhef fCfm1lY 1'f1CI1'1, who was always talking about his baby girl. Blecky, the Qld boy who swore he was '59-he was no kid. Veno, a swell guy we left at Pearl Harbor, going back for HIOTS? Yris, the sharpest guy who ever put on a set of dress blues and 'then headed for the beach. PurCSlli, the HSiI?C1'fTCfH Of the fire patrol gang-noted for his joviality and that becoming paunch. Godwin-Jbetter known as eagle eye . Krollja great big guy from the WARD, who saw plenty of action before coming aboard. Gillespie, the sonny-boy of our gang. Green is a young guy, with two sons in the service. Brown is the king of the 5 -the man who was never wrong. O'Don- nell-better known as the rajah of the radar, Lt. I. G. Moore was our fire control officer and was liked and respected by all the men. Could that man get work done? That is about all the good l can think to say about the boy.s and naturally I would be afraid to write the bad parts factually, there aren't any bad partsl. In your memory, can you remember the fire control men ever having a ship's holiday? As is customary, a good writer always saves his best material until last and our best material was Dennen-the key man of our group-and with Dennen in the Director a feeling of security. spread throughout the whole ship. So long for now-see you at the next Director Check. W. D. Smith, Slfc. at THE MINE MEN OF THE SHEA Minemcrn Extraordinary Stump Hole Bailey . . . blood brother of Ray Acoff and co-originator of The Great Speckled Bird , etc, Big Bobby Morris . . . most successful in marriage of mine gang. Bobby very happy teaching son preservation of Mine Gear. Red Eye Marsh . . . the only minernan alive with four hotel rooms and- who insisted on sleeping in the brush. Demitasse Keay . . . who fed demitasses to all the debutantes in the Sheritan, then ate the containers. He can do it too, Sugar foot Flanagan . . . when under assimilated shore bombard- ment and the slack light from the beach centered on the ship, Sugar Foot came out with 'his latest dance routine and took his bows. Hunky Waide . . , the mineman with the per- petual grouch and the goolash stand on the fantail. Clark Bar Kyle . . . when all others wished for Four Roses and Ea beautiful girl, he would settle for a Clark Candy Bar, Robert the Ripper Doty . . . who was going great guns until the tables were turned. Feets Turner . . . the only man on the ship who was not assigned a life raftg with a pair of oars and confidence in himself, he'd make out, Killer Diller you know who . . . God's gift to the fair sex and who mustered his women in squads. Spider Beadle . . . who looks like one and acts like one, but with a what you may call it in each appendage, is the most valuable man in the mine gang, Little Moose, Ir., Fitzgerald . . . the man who fooled Ship's Company for six months by having his eyes openp he sleeps that way. Brown, I, R., M.N.lfc, U.S.S. WARD-Hitchcock, M.N.2fc, U.S.S. WARD--Demetrosko, Euro- pean Theatre: are the new additions to the group and each a capable and popular fell-ow. Mattress Back Davis . , . who carried a mattress both fore and aft. He feared that some day he might fall forward, Forgetful Reeves . . . the only man on the ship who thought Church Call was Cap- tain's mass, Freddy Duddy Pratt . . . for a rough tough Chief, he purchased hundreds of roses but proved he could dig a fox hole in a steel deck. Financially Conservative Metcalf . . . who insists his dress canvas isn't dungarees and who appreciates any contribution. Radar Ears Lusk . . . the only man in the Navy who had to be kept below decks if the ship was to remain on course. But all in all, its a swell gan.g. And all's said in fun, of course!! These are the men who changed the SHEA from a D-D. to a D.M. These are the Dead Eyed Boys that assured us of safety from submarines. These the men that made such fine records in mine laying activities Never found an one - Y QTOUP Yet that could do so much talking on a telephone circuit Never a bunch who were more meticulous in the care of their gear. We are proud to have taken our part in the ad- ventures of this great ship, the U.S.S. SHEA. Donald E. Keay, MNI fc 40. - I l

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1 THE GRIPES OF THE BLACK GANG BLACK GANG . That sounds sort of rough, doesn't it? Well, mate, not a bit rougher than it did to me the first day I found I had been advanced in rating from an A.S. to a F2fc, So, in order that you, the readers of this article, maY have a better understanding of us Engineers or SI1iDeS 1 as we are more commonly called, I, with the aid of our Engineering force, shall attempt to give you the straight dope as to how we work and live, mostly work, as you will see later on in this article. The nucleus and balance crews of the engineers were picked at the Naval Operating Base, Norfolk, Virginia, on l Iuly l9l4'4 and V25 August 1944, respectively. The nucleus crew consisted of apprOXiIT1OIie1Y 'lhiTfY HIGH, all old salts and rated-the balance crew being just the opposite. We, up until this time, had been dry-land sailors, and the highest rate among us was Fl fc. After a six-weeks pre-commissioning course, we were transferred to the Brooklyn Navy Yard to go aboard Our new fourteen million dollar home. At this time we were all strangers to each other and to our ship., So in order that we might become better ac- quainted and made sea-faring men of us, we went on that grand and glorious thing called a SI-IAKEDOWNH. That, my friends, 'is a cruise no engineer who was aboard the old SHEA at the time will ever forget, It was continuous round of watches, General Quarters, Emergency Drills, Turn-to, and inspections. At the time we were very unhappy about the whole affair, but as you will soon see, we later appreciated our training. ' In my opinion, our one and only Boilermaker, Eugene t'Poe Cockrell, sums it up very nicely in the article which follows: l'Eng'ineering wee Never Like This It all started back in Norfolk in the summer of 1944. Along with many other snipes, I was sweating it out every Tuesday and Friday lfdraft daysl until my numbercame up for assignment to a new destroyer. Finally, the great day came, we were assigned to the U.S.S. SI-IEA fDD7'5'Ol, later the CDMISUD, and we left for K-West and the engineering pre- commissioning school, I can still hear Ortell calling cadence as we marched back and forth to school, nobody ever knew for sure if he was wheezing from over-exertion or calling cadence, because it all came through his nose-but anyiway he kept pretty good time. Finally, in late luly, 1944, at the completion of our schooling, the First Increment of the nucleus crew reported to Staten Island, New York, to get an e'arly view of the SI-IEA and see what made her tick. There were Zeke Bryan, CMM, Bub Burk, CMM, Innes, CMM, Ears Watson, CWT, and myself, Blfc, along with a few more rated men. We had almost two months there on sub- sistance, which, of course, was hard to take. By the last of September all the erstwhile plank-holders were gathered together for the Commissi-oning, which took place on 30 September 1944. Soon after we went on our shakedown to Ber- muda, which was really rugged-but so were the engineers- ask Housley or Dixon. If we engineers had a dollar for every bell we got on that shakedown cruise, we'd all be mil- lionaires. No 'such thing as lf3 back or 2X3 ahead, always FULL BACK and HFLANK AHEAD . We would steam all day and work on the machinery all night, but she was always ready. for steaming the next day. -I 42 Once in a while, if we were a little short on steam, we had to sneak a N28-1'5 sprayer plate in-who said anything about smoke? It was when we were in Bermuda that Takacs, MM3fc was elected SALT WATER KING without a dissent- ing vote. And when Fabozzi, EM1fc, told Mr. Dib'ble he was leaning over backwards to get along with Borshay, Mr. Dib'ble replied, That's not enough, fall over backwards . Once on the shakedown cruise I asked Ortell the proper way to light off an Engine Room. The prompt reply was, Oh, just go down and open all the valves that are closed and close all the ones that are open. Finally the shake- down was over, and all the engineers took that big leave fthe four days, do you remember?J and came back to the ship-all rested up and ready to go. We went to New York and picked up the U.S.S. BENNINGTON and set sail for Panama. Now the Oil Kings took turns running the tanks over so they could get rid of the job. It worked all right for every one but me, and they were so good about it all and gave me another chance 'Ccan't remember how many times I was on that last chancel, that here I am, still the SI-IEA'S oil king. There's one good thing about being oil king, you never have to worry about sleeping-you just don't. Ears Watson used about four different oil kings and finally said to Abney, You too could be Oil King . But that was one mistake Watson never made. So after we wiped up the oil we spilled in Panama, we headed for Frisco and the big New Year's Eve celebration. Of course, the Engineers all stayed aboard, being more in- terested in the upkeep and operation of the machinery than in liberty 'loh, yeal, so when they all finally staggered back to the ship, we shoved off for Pearl Harbor. I It was on the Way to Pearl Harbor that Lt. Dibble found out that Kruger WTlfc, now discharged, was making a hobby of collecting song titles. So one day he detected a suspicious haze over Number 2 stack. l-le called Kruger up and asked him if he had Smoke Gets in Your Eyes . Kruger replied, No, but I have You'll Never Know '. And who was that other character that answered the phone and said, Kelly's Pool Hall, Duty Boy speaking, when a voice said, This is Lt. Dib'ble speaking -a rather weqk voice WGS heard to say, Sorry, closed for the afternoon . But all work and no play makes the engineers dull, Boy, do they shinel In Pearl Harbor the engineers annexed the Soft 'bull Championship of the departments on the st-IEA, also the beer drinking championship and other minor de- tails. But our stay in Pearl Harbor gave us a good chance IO get OUT Spaces cleaned up and all the machinery in good running conditionFto bad we passed it up, After leaving Pearl, via Eniwetok and Ulithi, we steamed up around Okinawa and steamed and steamed and Siteqmedl There is one thing about it, the Skipper never caught the engineers with their clothes off. A few of them haven't taken them off yet! The Okinawa Campaign was one long story of working dCIYS Gnd Sleepless Hfights: but no one can ever say the engi- neers weren't ready to answer all Bells. A 'fYDiCCIl GXCtInple was the night the Kamikaze almost got us and the Captain later told us that a hard right rudder and flank speed had saved the day. We were pretty proud of that so all throughout the campaign the engineers were always there with their flank speeds, and full bqckg 1-