Shea (DM 30) - Naval Cruise Book

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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-

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when they were needed. Then the Ig S h d th . . . . , , D CI err inning E? May the 4thh at nine oclock in the morning, Number 1 eh room ost t e load for a few minutes becau f fusion and smoke and a broken gauge g1QSS, but ijt-iegs 510:11 1 eeiii minuteis it was all ahead full power again, There is gidQS?iY to ei gained in the engineers' force Cit's all oil, , 90 I fm Qflfflel, but there IS a deep satisfaction in a good Job Wen done' and therels CIIWCTYS Ctrl E for effort if not for 9ff1C1ef1CY'- So to the men who took her from Staten Eiggdjgi Okigagivcr aggdlgbcrik again to Philadelphia- It is Q we one. t t'11 NEVER LIKE THIS, U S1 SCIY, ENGINEERING WAS E .Ohf Yesqwe dem new forgot the Gold Braid of the ngineers. Eirst we have the erstwhile Lieutenant George L Dlbble, engineering officer, that held her down from Brooke lyn to Okinawa and back to Philadelphia, where he was de- it if? tached and, as far as we now know, he is working in Wash- ington, D. C. Next, we come to Lt. fjgi Grah'arn, or muscles, as he is some times called. He has proved himself a very competent engineering officer and has filled his duties as effectively as a Bulova watch. Know what I mean? No wisecracks, boys! Next comes the daddy of the outfit, Lieu- tenant tfigl Hash-Mark Barnes. He has been in the fire rooms and engine rooms so much that he has begun to think that is the only place for him and he seldom sees the light of day. He has been in the Navyl 'longer than most of us, the engi- neers, ever want to be. Lt. fig? Carlson came aboard in August as Lt. Dib'ble's relief, and he seems as quiet as a mouse, but you know how that goes, when he says some- thing, he wants you to jump. We don't know Mr. Carlson too well, but he seems like a regular foe , Eugene C. Cockrell, Blfc. ik ELECTRICAL GANG As yet I have touched but very lightly the Electrical Gang or Bulb Snatchers , a sub-division of the engineering division.. These boys deserve a lot of credit, They number sixteen- in all-pretty small gang, isn't it? But, under the supervision of Samuel 'fGlyptolD Borshay and Ernie fGyroi Iudson, Borshay's protege, they have done a swell job and we of the E division take our hats off to them. I believex the following comical occurrances, which took place 'in the Bulb Snatchers gang will be long remembered and enjoyed by all, especially the engineers. In no way am I responsible for their truth. They were sworn to 'by Short Circuit Ziros and Zero Ground Brodeur. They have rated them as following: 'iff iff George Beachcomber Silengo-The EM that hunted all day for the INVINCIBLE OHM SIFTERH, Donnis Hominy Grits Williams-The lad that thought the PIT LOG was the Captain's Diary. Herm Baldy Ingram-Intellectual Hair Growing wizard and Pop of the gang. Iames Rebel Iones-JMayor of Buzzard's Roost, N. C. Ioe Ears Mohring -Never will we forget his Panama Romance. Eugene Rack Time Spoyer-That's all, boys. Francis Horn Cummingsl- The Scoop Injector King, Matthew Tarzan Taranowitze- Lt. Graham's helper. Russell Rocky Kilowatt Sanderson -The Griping King. I In behalf of the Engineering Division I hope you ,now have a better idea as to what the Black Gang is like. Mervil Pappy Barrett. THE CGMMISSARY GANG We are about one of the smallest gangs aboard the ship, yet one of the most important and well known. We are the cooks and bakers, generally known as belly robbers and dough heads . As we boarded the SHEA in Brooklyn, our first intention was a glimpse of the galley, but the Chief had different ideas, so we turned to unwrapping all our new equip- ment. Spezio, SCZXC, and McGaha, SC3fc, made a delicious chicken salad for commissioning day, That was the first meal put out on the SHEA. Kerley, our Bkr.2fc, and Quinn, Bkr.3fc, prepared bread and pastry for the fellows. At first it was difficult for them because they were both used to working with plenty of equipment and facilities, but on a destroyer these were modified. They managed to more than just satisfy and please the fellows. Our thanks and gratitude to Quinn, who is now a civilian, and Kerley, who did his utmost for his shipmates and country by giving his life, will always live in our minds. At San Francisco we received three of our most unfor- gettable friends, Kennedy, SCIXC, Brown, SC2fc, and Blue, SC3fc, Kennedy was transferred in Ulithi. Blue remained with the ship until we came back to Philadelphia and was transferred to the hospital. Brown already had I8 months of Pacific duty, rating four battle stars. He recently had 3U days leave in Bridgeport, Conn., his home town.. He was a young fellow of 20 and a real proud sailor. His duty on the ship was a watch captain in the galley, So many people back home think that cooks do not man guns. Well, BIOWI1 was a gunner 'on a .50-calibre machine gun. He waS One of the men who saw the deadly Baka bomb darting for us, being the only one to fire at it with a few short bursts before I43 it came down upon him. He had what it takes. Our Skipper said, Can't lose with men like Brown on our side. Sicigmano, SC3fc, a Mediterranean Irishman, also a Brooklynite, was right at Home when we were commissioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He was one of the first lack of the Dust's , i.e., provider of supplies to the galley. In fact, he was one so long that everyone was afraid he would forget how to cook 'by the time he got back into the galley. Talk about a galley messer-upper, he's a lulu. Long-range Mullinax, SIXCCSCJ earned his name by firing his .20mm at incoming planes before they were even in range of the 5 guns, scaring us into believing that a plane had sneaked upon us. He was a tobacco chewer and was kept out of the galley for obvious reasons. Wall, SIXCCSCD, the Caesor Romero of the Sf-IEA, and the father of two boys. Sebastyn, CCS, with the prominent characteristics of a cook, namely a protruding abdomen, did a magnificent job of feeding the crew. He was wounded and transferred to a hospital ship leaving Domke, SCIXC, in charge of a ruined galley, a flooded mess-hall and limited equipment. He ar- ranged a temporary mess-hall top-side and somehow man- aged to pass out the chow. Everyone can vouch for the swell menus he prepared and we were sorry to lose him into that practically unknown realm of civilian life. Not to be forgotten is our supply officer, lOl1f1T1Y l0hf1' son, who had the endless job of providing the provisions. We all join in thanks to him for making the commissary depart- ment what it is. We've enjoyed his spirited direCtiO1'1-G grand fellow. - Sicignano, Sc3fc 1-