Staten Island (AGB 5) - Naval Cruise Book

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ISLAND IN THE SUN: STATEN, THAT IS: A moonliT cruise in The Tropics aT deTiniTely cuT raTes Tor The men of The icebreaker. An aerial view of STATEN ISLAND cuTTing a clean swaTh Through The endless waTers of The Pacific fahove, righll, while on The mess deck Those friendly meclicos, Dr. DUCKVVORTH and CHIEF HANNA, pierce The willing arms of SHEPARD, SN Copper leTTJ. A noon siesTa on The Torecastle under The Inroiling rays of old Sol lrighT, belowl was a daily musT, while aTTer dark The luxury of hammocks and rolling chocks was hard To beaT flower IeTTT. ,ggi ..,,3-, r'--Q.-- Q13 4... 6

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bv -if 1.8719 'Afihgi-5-7 ,, .... 0N THE ROAD After leaving Seattle on Uetolier ffird. S'l',Yl'liY lb- LAND navigated out the Straits of .Iuan de Fucgi and pointed her nose south for the first leg of the long journey. Loaded to the gunwales with food. supplies. spare parts and the thousand and one items that turn Supply officers' hair prematurely grey. the sturdy ice- breaker experienced a surprisingly peaceful trip down the XVest Coast. All hands busied themselves with the seemingly endless chores of a Navy ship, learning their new duties and attempting to make their winter home as comfortable as possible. STATEN ISLAND arrived at and departed San Diego on the same day, merely tarrying sufficiently to embark the officers, men, helos and spare gear of our unit from Helicopter Utility Squadron Une. ln the final hours of the hurried work of loading, the ship received an un- expected honor. ADMIRAL CAMPBELL, commander of the Pacific Service Forces, came aboard to wish all hands a pleasant and successful cruise. Then, a few 7 inches lower in the water, but with newly-acquired, far-probing eyes to guide our icy steps, the squat lady eased out of the harbor and struck out for the distant shores of New Zealand. lt would seem safe to remark at this point that, in the seven years since this ship was returned by the Russians tStalin only knows what went on before-and he'll never telllk, the round-bottomed, rolls-in-wet-grass vessel has never enjoyed quite so comfortable a cruise as that from San Diego to New Plymouth. Nary a coffee urn was overturned nor a recent recruit tossed from his rack: no flying missiles in the wardroom nor independent garbage cans on the mess deck marred our journey. Oh, it was hot enough, and perhaps BuShips didn't ex- actly design this mass of steel and cork for tropical oper- ations . . . But worship of the sun and that cool evening breeze, myriads of stars and-for once!-a relatively level platform, combined to make these weeks some- thing memorable.

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3 Among thc numerous scientific projects aboard the icc- breaker was the study of cosmic rays emitted by the sun which was conducted by HUGH ANDERSON and DON BARELLI of Cal Tech. As the photos above graphically illustrate, their technique consisted in re- leasing helium-Hlled balloons from the ship at eighteen different latitudes between Seattle and Mcklurdo Sound. The balloons carried an ionizing chamber and radio transmitter to heights of 110,000 feetg during the flight, cosmic rays penetrated the chamber and ionized the argon gas within, causing a small electrical charge which was transmitted to the recorder aboard ship as a radio wave. It will be some time before the ultimate result of their research is known, but this and similar studies being conducted elsewhere will eventually play a con- siderable role in manis conquest of outer space.