Sierra (AD 18) - Naval Cruise Book

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HISTURY UF THE USE SIERRA Our ship, 'USS Sierra, is one of the U. S. Navy's most modern destroyer tend-ers. This is the story of her first twenty-four months of commissioned service, twenty-one of which were spent overseas. - Commissioning March 20, l944-what a day that wasl The sky in Tampa, Florida, was overcast with dark rain clouds. Fifty officers and a thousand men fervent- ly hoped that the rain would hold off, at least until after the commissioning ceremonies scheduled at l4OU. All the personal belongings of the crew had to be carried aboard an armful at a time. lt just couldn't rain that day, but it did. Brand new mattresses stacked alongside the gangways, as well as a thousand bags, hammocks, and ditty bags were soaked. There were hun- dreds of navy yard workmen still on the ship desperately trying to finish a thousand and one last minute jobs. Finally about l33O the last man came aboard just as the guests and officials of the Tampa Shipbuilding Company began to arrive. The microphone was shifted from the boat deck, where ev- eryone could see, to the starboard side of the upper deck, where' only a few people could see, so that the ceremony might be held under cover. Captain Paul B. Koonce, USN, our new commanding officer, read his or- ders and accepted the ship from the shipbuilding company. The band sounded off as the commission pennant, ensign, and jack were hoisted to their respective staffs. The watch was set with Lieutenant Cjgb Ted l-licks, USN, as first officer of the deck, and everyone breathed a sign of relief. That much was over. A The following day we shifted berth, mooring alongside the Clyde-Mal- lory dock. Here the next three weeks were taken up by completing the fit- ting out of the ship, fueling, and loading ammunition and provisions. Emer- gency drills were held daily to acquaint the green crew with their duties. On the l3th of April we got up steam, ran the degaussing range to check the ef- fectiveness of our degaussing coils, and set our course for Norfolk, Virginia, with the destroyer USS Mclseish as escort. Our daily drills continued, and after four days at sea we anchored at l-lampton Roads, Virginia. The next day Captain Hartley, USN, Atlantic Service Force Commander, came aboard to inspect the ship. For the next ten days the crew of our new tender put the ship through its paces in what is known in the Navy as the shakedown cruise. We held general quarters drills, fire drills, abandon ship drills, and simulated casu- alties, we streamed paravanes, blacked out the ship, and opened up the throttles in full power trials. At the conclusion of the shakedown the ship tied up at the Portsmouth navy yard to correct the deficiencies which had appeared during the trials. All hands received a 48-hour pass. After an ad- ditional ten day period of provisioning at the Naval Operating Base, Nor- folk, we took our leave of the east coast heading for parts unknown. May 23rd found us anchoring at Cristobal, the Atlantic terminal of the

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THE SIERRA A AT HN SEN KOREA EAPTAIN E. H. HUNUUIST U. S. N.

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Panama Canal. l-lalf the crew had liberty that night, and the other hagfl malscfile a liberty in Balboa at the Pacific end of the canal the follOW111Q fllgcl-H 9 proceeded up the west coast of Mexico and arrived in San D1eQOa da 1 Of' nia, tying up at the foot of Broadway. Whilelsome of the men atten e anti- aircraft gunnery school, others turned to as we loaded our magazines, storerooms, and cold boxes- to capacity. Cn lune 7, l944, the Sierra departed from San Diego and from the United States-we commenced our overseas duty. Outside the continental limits . . .' - On Tune l3th Diamond l-lead made its appearance, and we steamed slowly into Pearl l-larbor. Among the other repair ships present were the USS lason and our sister ship the USS Piedmont. We soon made our first liberty in Honolulu, and many of us were enrolled in fleet schools offering instruction in welding, radio maintenance, salvage diving, fire fighting, and the operation of power velocity tools. A week after our arrival the Sierra entered a new episode in her service. Up to that time we had been prepar- ing the ship and the crew to fulfill our mission of service to the fleet, and on the 22nd of Iune the destroyer USS Farenholt moored alongside to port, the first of over 700 ships to be repaired and serviced by our tender. I But our stay in l-lawaii was not all work. Some of us made overnight lib- erties at the swanky Boyal Hawaiian l-lotel overlooking Waikiki Beach. We held our first happy hour featuring the dancing of radioman striker F rank lorgenson, and some of us were lucky enough to see Bob l-lope and Frances Langford at Nimitz Bowl. Don Swan, Slc, pitched the 4th division softball team to the ship's championship, and it was alsowhispered about that the chiefs trimmed the officers. One day during the end of Iuly President Boose- veltarrived, and we manned the rail in our whites to watch his barge pass close aboard. Late in August the Sierra went into drydock for three days to have her hull scraped and painted. The following day the USS Yosemite, our other sister ship from the Tampa shipyard, steamed into Pearl l-larbor as our re- lief. We knew then that we would soon be on our trip westward. ln the early morning of September 3, l944, the Sierra departed from her berth at Pearl l-larbor for her first assignment in the forward area. The Sierra had already attracted attention as an efficient repair unit in the Ha- waiian area, but her capacity for front-line work was still an unknown quan- tity. ln company with our ship, which bore the designation of Commander Task Unit l2.5.2, were the USS Killen CDD-5935 and the USS McCoy Beynolds CDE-4405, acting as escort vessels and anti-submarine protection. lust prior to sundown the first day out the USS Mauna Loa CAB-83 was sighted and took a position in the column of the task unit, where she remained fm- the balance of the journey. Standard speed was fifteen knots. Qn the morning of September 7th we performed one of our most unique services when both escort vessels were refueled while the task unit was traveling at a speed of ten knots. First the USS Killen moved slowly 031011 - side to starboard and received 57,742 gallons of fuel oil. When fhig WGS Cori pleted, the USS. McCoy Reynolds took her place, was connected to the fu li ing lines, and given 37,312 gallons of fuel oil. Both ships also were recipiejts