Stoddard (DD 566) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 21 text:

First in war, first in peace, and very often last on liberty, they paint, they swab, they chip, they swab, they clean sides, they swab, they keep the ship shipshape -and they swab some more. They're the real salts on the ship,they can not only carry a coffee cup without spilling a drop in 45 degree roll seas but they can do rope tricks that would make Lash LaRue look sick. For pure poetry in motion watch them during an unrep. lt's, say, four o'clock in the morning and heavy seas when STODDARD pulls alongside the oiler. Bolos away! Suddenly the deck is strewn with criss-crossing lines. For a few seconds the scene resembles a Chinese fire drill. Unimaginable curses and threats break the morning stillness and then somehow there is order. STODDARD awaits its life-blood oil. FIRST DIVISIQN

Page 20 text:

11-minu- 47 5 , -v- l .. ' M iff 2 ,- 4-A '-rf ll W- ,M ,W 'C 1 7 rr - 1 1 5 1 Xi x i S jg' S, V f , v ,Q e. ,s X 1 , f .Q ' - 4 T --2, 'E ' s mi-,IKM if FRONT ROW: SN Martin, SN St. Clair, SN Danicich, SN Mercier, SN Maoaulay, SN Miller. SECOND ROW: BM1 Thomas, SN Crocker, SA Wynkoop, SA Allen, SN Henderson, FN Mueller, SN Salley, ENS Schuck. THIRD ROW: FN Page, SN Lupo, SA Horner, SN Howe, SN Anderson, SA Mitchell. v fs M , 5

Page 22 text:

lf STODDARD speaks with authority, it is thanks to the untiring efforts of the men of Second Division. Ever since men put to sea, they have been arming their ships. And ever since there have been weapons, there has had to be a man to care for them. The Gunner's Mates and Fire Control Men of today follow in a line that began when the first sword was carried on the first ship. The job is vastly more complicated today, and the modern men of Second Division need much more knowledge than their counterparts of years ago. Radar, computers, electricity, and delicate ma- chinery have become of the weapons systems: The men who run them have become jacks of all trades to maintain them in top shape. Sea and weather take their toll of everything on ships and the gunS D9fhaP5 most of all. Yet when they are needed they are readY, making STODDARD known on the beach or in the air.