Topeka (CL 67) - Naval Cruise Book

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Trying The Rudder Showing Off . . .

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For 18 days the ship and crew ran through drill after drill designed to make them ready for actual battle. Day and night, the 6 and 5 guns fired at towed sleds and en- gaged in offset firing battles with the Oklahoma City. And day and night the 5 , 401VIlVI and 20lVIlVl guns fired at towed sleeves and drones. It was simply practice, practice, prac- tice. In between firing, there were damage control prob- lems, fire drills, salvage drills, prize crew drills and aban- don ship drills. At regular intervals there was a complete battle problem which involved gunnery, tactics, damage control and materiel and personnel casualties. Tactical ex- ercises were held nearly every day, and there were two shore bombardment rehearsals by the 5 and 6 guns. As a climax to the training a complete inspection, plus battle problem and damage control, was conducted aboard the Topeka by personnel of the Oklahoma City, and the same was conducted aboard the Oklahoma City by Topeka per- sonnel. This was in preparation for the all-important in- spection in Norfolk which was to come later. Every fourth or fifth day the ship anchored off the Navy base in Trinidad, and liberty within the N.O.B. was granted for enlisted men and at the Macqueripe Officers' Club for ofhcers. This liberty consisted mainly of drinking beer or malted milks and trying to find suitable souvenirs to take home. The one big question on everyone's tongue as the shake- down period was drawing to a close was that of leave in the States when the ship returned. Just before the ship left Trinidad, the Captain announced that, providing the Topeka passed its inspection in Norfolk satisfactorily, 10-day leave for everyone aboard would be given, the first leave to begin the day the ship reached Boston. No greater tonic could have been issued, and on 28 February, the Topeka steamed out of the Gulf of Paria with visions of home in everyoneis mind. En route to the States, off Culebra Island, one of the Virgin Islands, the ship stopped for shore bombardment, then continued directly to Norfolk, again in company with the Oklahoma City. As usual, tactical and general drills were held along the way, and on 4 March the ship moored at Norfolk. The next two days were spent getting the ship ready for the big inspection to be conducted by the Commander Op- erational Training Command, U. S. Atlantic Fleet, and in assisting in the inspection of the Oklahoma City. This in- spection was to be held on 7 and 8 March and would in- clude a Military Inspection, Battle Problem and Damage Control Inspection. Failure to pass would mean additional weeks of training before the Topeka would be considered fit to take her rightful place in the battle line of the United States Fleet. On 7 March, Rear Admiral C. F. Bryant, USN, Com- mander Operational Training Command, U. S. Atlantic Fleet, assisted by his staff and personnel of the Oklahoma City, inspected all parts of the ship and all personnel of the ship. The next day, with Rear Admiral Bryant and his staff aboard, the Topeka went out to sea for the Battle Problem and Damage Control Inspection. With all the background of intensive training, the inspections were not as difficult as had been anticipated. With remarkably few exceptions, everything was more than shipshape, and the Topeka came through with flying colors. Immediately after the inspection, the ship shoved off for Boston and home. En route, there was drone firing off Cape May, New Jersey. Shortly before noon on 10 March, the Topeka tied up in South Boston, and within an hour half the officers and men had left the ship and were off on their leaves, with the other half waiting to go as soon as the first group returned. The shakedown cruise was over, it would not be long now. 99 'FF if if -39 The first leave party was gone until 20 March, and the second party left immediately upon their return. By 31 March all hands were back on the ship. During the leave periods those men present stood watch-on-watch becauseof the shortage of men. There was liberty every second night, however, and when both parties had returned liberty was put on a three-out-of-four basis, time spent, no doubt, im- proving the mind with the aid of the cultural advantages offered by the city of Boston. There was a great deal of work to be done on the ship during this time, and the chippers and riveters were at it again day and night-mostly night. No one knew for cer- tain when the ship would get underway again, but everyone knew that when she did, it would be for points west. The second Topeka dance was held the night of 4 April, again in the Statler ballroom, and again the Topekais finest and their lovely ladies made a memorable night of it. If there was an neat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we go to sea attitude observed, it was wholly understandable- and Boston girls had been contending with that line for over two years anyhow. Early the afternoon of 10 April the ship got underway and steamed slowly out of Boston harbor. For most of the officers and men it was the last sight of the United States for several months, but characteristically, very few of them gave it a second thought. The Topeka was en route to Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal. The end of both the Euro- pean and Pacific wars was in sight, though no one dared hope it would come as soon as it did. Eighteen months in the Pacific looked like a good bet---if the Zhip was lucky. On the way to Panama it was the usual round of general drills, gunnery exercises and tactical exercises. OH' Culebra Island the 6 and 5 batteries had another shore bombard- ment. On 15 April the ship anchored at the U. S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and a fortunate group got ashore for a few hours to drink American beer and Ameri- can malted milks. The next two days were spent in gunnery exercises in the operating areas off Guantanamo Bay. The morning of 19 April the ship was at the eastern entrance to the Panama Canal, and a Hrope yarn Sundayn, which is Navy for holiday, was declared. Only the deck, engine room and communication watches were stood. Everyone else was free to find himself a comfortable spot topside and watch the Canal go by. 18

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It took the entire day to negotiate the Canal, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. and not the least amazing as- pect of the trip was that the ship traveled southeasterly, instead of westerly direction, due to the fact that the isthmus of Panama nearly doubles back on itself in connecting the North and South American continents. The Panama Canal is truly one of the great wonders of the modern world. The isthmus is formed by a range of rugged mountains which are the southern extremity of the American Rockies. It is necessary, by a system of giant locks, figuratively to lift the great ships over the mountains and deposit them on the other side. The lock system is relatively simple in theory, but it becomes grandiose when it is conceived and engineered on the tremendous scale of the Panama Canal. The ship steams into the first lock and the gates are secured astern. Water is pumped into the en- closed area, raising the ship to the height of the water beyond the gates forward. Then the gates forward of the ship are opened and the ship steams into these waters. There are three series of locks raising the ship to the level of Lake Gatun in the middle of the isthmus, and three more which lower it to the level of the ocean on the other side. Along all lock chambers powerful cable cars, called elec- tric mules, on either side of the canal pull the ship into position within the locks. The gates separating the locks are also used as pedestrian bridges. Shut in from the cooling breezes of the sea by the high hills on both sides, it was intensely hot during the transit of the Canal, and the leisurely manner in which the canal' workers maneuvered the ship.-plus an occasional bright- frocked native girl-kept nearly everyone topside for the entire trip. Late in the afternoon, just before mooring, sight of the heavy carrier Franklin en route home with her decks twisted and charred, cast a momentary measure of forboding over the ship. The Topeka moored that night alongside a dock in Balboa, Canal Zone, and the first real liberty in a foreign port be- gan shortly thereafter. Everyone on the ship went ashore either that night or the next, and these were perhaps the most memorable libertiesjin the Topekais career. Balboa, in the Canal Zone. is a quiet, sober, Army and Navy controlled community. But the city of Panama, in the Republic of Panama, is a sensational, wide-open, dirty, native-controlled Rabelaisian city. A single avenue separ- ates the two geographically, but from a sanitary, cultural, moral or spiritual standpoint, they are worlds apart. Sailors linger in Balboa only long enough to cadge a ride to Pana- ma. Even Chaplain Albrecht was seen in Panama, giving the main drag the jaundiced eye and the curled lips. Sou- venirs were available at highly infiated prices, and many Hwlelcome to Panama pillow covers will bring Topekamen daydreams and nightmares as they settle down on the family sofa in years to come. On the morning of 2I April the Topeka, still in company with the Oklahoma City shoved off from Balboa en route to Pearl Harbor. Speculation on the possibility of making a west coast port was soon dispelled-the ship was taking the direct route to Pearl. Again the tedious but necessary round of drills, exercises, and classes began, interrupted only by Captain's inspection. In addition, large numbers of men were studying for ad- vancement in rate. It was an ll.-day trip to Pearl Harbor, but there was little time for idleness--the Navy was cling- ing tenaciously to its timeless policy that a busy man is a happy man. On the afternoon of 2 May the Topeka stood into historic Pearl Harbor, backdrop for the uday that will live in infamyfl The ship remained in the Hawaiian area for I9 days, but her crew had little time to spare. Since this was the last major Navy base the Topeka would enter for some time, it was necessary to make all required repairs here, and to load up to the hilt with stores and ammunition. On three dif- ferent occasions, the ship steamed out to sea for three and four day periods of gunnery exercises--certain requirements of the Pacific Fleet had to be satisfied, and again the Topeka came through with one of the 'highest gunnery scores ever earned by a light cruiser. Exercises included the customary drone, sleeve and sled firing, plus shore bom- bardment of Kahoolawe Island. On the days the ship was in port, all-day liberty was granted by sections. Honolulu, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and Waikiki Beach were the principal points of interest. Buses were chartered for day-long excursions around the island of Oahu, including a stop at one of the pineapple processing plants. One evening a troupe of Hawaiian en- tertainers were brought aboard to present what was billed as a typical Hawaiian show. And of course, the souvenir hunters found Hawaii ready and waiting for them. On 22 May the Topeka steamed out of Pearl Harbor. en route to Ulithi Atoll in the Western Caroline Islands. The ship and its crew were now presumed to be ready for com- bat. Aboard her was Commander Cruiser Division 18, Rear Admiral Carl F. Holden, USN, and his staff, and accom- panying her was her old friend, the Oklahoma City. Three days after leaving Pearl, the ship crossed the 180th meridian --the International Date Line-and the date jumped over- night from 25 May to 27 May, leaving out 26 May entirely. For the benefit of those men who lost a birthday in the shuffle, every man whose birthday was 26 May was given a special birthday cake on 27 May. There still remains some confusion in their minds, however, about how old they are now. Crossing the International Date Line also made every- one aboard eligible for membership in the uSacred Order of the Golden Dragon, and membership cards were issued to all hands later. Amidst the regular round of exercises and drills the ship continued westward, and on I June steamed into Ulithi to anchor near an island which bore the fascinating name of lVIog Mog. Ulithi is a typical Pacific coral atoll, consisting of a string of small coral islands which form a sort of circle, the center of which becomes a reasonably sheltered harbor. Because it was only 60 miles from the Jap-held island of Yap, the ship maintained gun watches throughout the short stay there. Liberty was granted morning and afternoon to play ball, swim and drink beer and coke.