Sierra (AD 18) - Naval Cruise Book

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We tended battleships November 26th marked the start of our two most notable repair jobs. The USS Claxton CDD-5715 moved alongside and went into drydock. There a large portion of her port quarter was completely rebuilt by the Sierra repair force. This damage had been sustained as the result of a direct hit by a lap suicide plane in the battle of Leyte Gulf. The same afternoon we reversed the usual procedure -of taking ships alongside and went alongside the bat- tleship USS California CBB-445. While moored to the battleship the repair force and the 'deck gang of the Sierra performed a navy yard job in com- pletely replacing a twin-mount 5 gun on the port side of the California. The stay at Manus, although consisting mainly of heavy work sched- ules, intense heat, and a great deal of fungus and heat rash, was not with- out its lighter moments. There were three recreation islands where daily a portion of the crew played softball, went swimming, and had their beer or soft drinks. Each division on the ship had a softball team, and the interdivi- sional games were bitterly contested. The 3rd division won the ship's cham- pionship and also placed the most men on the ship's team, which in turn won the harbor championship. Many of the men combed the waters sur- rounding the recreation beaches gathering the plentiful coral shells and cat-eyes , from which we made necklaces, rings, and bracelets for the folks back home. 'Stars and Gripes , an Army show, had a one night stand on thefore- castle, and late in December lrving Berlin and the original cast of his mu- sical comedy success, This ls The Army , played four nights in the amphi- theater on Manus lsland, which permitted all of us to attend one perform- ance. Mr. Berlin also came aboard the Sierra at the invitation of our com- manding officer and gave a highly entertaining impromptu show. About a month later Commander Eddie Peabody, the celebrated banjo perfectionist, brought his gang of entertainers aboard for a show which was received with enthusiasm by the entire crew. On February l8, l945, in company with the USS Briareus CAB-125 and the USS Whitehurst CDE-634D, we steamed out of Seeadler l-larbor bound for the Solomons. We passed between the mountainous profiles of New Britain and New Guinea, where our soldiers were still hard at work rounding up the Nips. ln the early morning of the Zlst we steamed between Guadalcanal and Savo lsland, crossed historic lron Bottom Bay, and dropped anchor off Lyons Point, just inside the nets of Port Purvis, Florida lsland, lron Bottom Bay was the burial ground for more lapanese and U. S. ships than any oth- er combat area of the South Pacific. Within our sight was l-lenderson Field where the battle of the South Pacific was turned against the laps and our forces started on the long road to Tokyo. We tend landing craft too For slightly more than three weeks our repair gangs labored on the vast job of patching up LST's, which later participated in the invasion of Okin- awa. The weather at Port Purvis was a slight relief from Manus. lt was much cloudier with frequent rains which cooled things off and ruined eighty per- cent of our forecastle movies. u Enlisted personnel had recreation at the Marker Fox recreation area

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5 1 I 1 1 1 1 l W1 f 1d,i?.,.,-...:.4.., 11 Q . TI-IE MT, HOOD GOES UP A GI SHOW ON THE FQRECASTLE SOFTBALL AT MAN US

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THE SIERRA BAND MAIL CALL YANOWITCI-I AND SUZIE CDN TI-IE I-'CDRECASTLE