LST 446

[bearridge]

My Uncle Cooper tried ta join the Navy in the summer of 1941. He had hiz own bizness airplane 'n aimed ta be a Navy pilot. The Navy tole him since he had a heap a flyin' time, he kin join up az a flyin' teacher. He used ta fly round Mississippi usin' a Shell Oil road map ta tell where he wuz. He got hiz contract 3-4 days before Pearl Harbor. Then they found out he wuz near bout blind. Navy sent him ta procurement in March, 1942....makin' talks at schools ta git the young fellas ta join up.

So far he had no Navy trainin' cept frum the ole salesman at the Godchaux's clothes store in New Orleans who taught him the Boy Scout salute 'n how many stripes went on a ensign uniform. Cooper had picked out a Commander uniform cuz it looked nice. The salesman had been in WWI 'n tole Cooper ta salute everbody with more stripes. He asked Cooper how come a boy joined up az a Navy officer 'n didnt even know how ta salute. Later the first day in hiz uniform, Cooper run upon some fellas with bars 'n it flung him fer a loop. He didnt know what ta do. That wuz the end of hiz Navy trainin'.

Cooper hated he "Uncle Sam wants you" talks 'n wrote letters begin' ta go ta sea til the Navy finally wrote back 'n tole him hiz eyes wuz so bad, there wuz no point in trainin' him fer sea duty. Then a few days later he got a letter sendin' him ta San Pedro, California az the navigation officer on the SS Doyen, but when he got there they had put the motors in backwards 'n most everbody wuz sent on somewhere else cuz they figgered a year ta fix it. Cooper figgered it wuz Commander Huntoon, his boss in recruitment, who had been let out of the Navy after WWI when they cut back on the military money, but who remained active 'n had put in a good word fer him.

They musta lost Cooper's Navy file so he jest hung out in Miramar drawin' $7 a day (over reglar pay) til the Navy found him agin. They sent him ta Vancouver, Washington where the Kaiser Shipyard had jest built the first of some new LSTs fer the British, who backed out on the deal cuz they figgered these ships wuz bound ta fall apart 'n sink. [There wuz 3-4 of 'em on the eastern coast that mite have hit the water a few days before the 446.] Cooper had no idea how ta navigate other than frum the air off a Shell Oil road map, but the Navy had seen hiz file where he wuz sent ta San Pedro ta be a "navigation officer" on the Doyen.

Cooper joined the Navy cuz when he wuz in school hiz coach got him n' 6-7 others ta go ta a Civilian Military Training Camp (CMTC). He sez he never walked so much in hiz whole life. He went three summers 'n swore he'd never walk that much ever again.

Pt. 1

 

[Bilgerat]

Alright! Now we be gettin' someplace! 8) 8) 8)

Thanks, Friend Bearridge, I'm sittin' here waitin' fer anothern.

Mike

 

[hairymick]

Ditto here Sir Bear!
Story Teller Extraordinaire.!!! 8)

 

[bearridge]

Cooper wuz glad fer orders ta Washington, but he had no idea how ta navigate 'n these new LSTs wuz headed ta the Southern Pacific. He had never set foot on a ship before 'er had one minute of Navy trainin'. He figgered a ship would have some ole hands ta show him the ropes. He wuz wrong. It wuz at Portland, Oregon when he seen it the first time. He had never even heard of a LST.

The 446 wuz near bout built when he got there. It shook him ta think of bein' out in the ocean in somethin' like that. He talked ta 20-30 shipyard workers. One of 'em wuz braggin' on the ship bein' seaworthy. He grabbed a hammer 'n had a few whacks on a seam that split wide open. A young fella in the new crew had worked fer Kaiser before he joined up 'n he wuz scairt of settin' out on the ocean in the 446, but he stayed with 'em all the way 'n wuz the one who later cut the bow doors off with a cuttin' torch.

The Navy 'n the shipyard wuz in a mad rush cuz they aimed ta git this ship ta Guadalcanal. Mr. Kaiser at the shipyard liked the press 'n fancy tea parties. He hired a band 'n civilians with a paper tellin' everbody how ya commission a ship. Cooper sez they done like they wuz tole. They lined up 'n the band played, but the flag they raized wuz British.....jest like the signal books 'n the rest of the stuff on board. Only three officers showed up. After the party Boone, the top officer (a lawyer frum Baltimore), went ta hiz room 'n went ta bed. He woke up chokin' a few hours later. He tried ta git out, but the lites wuz off 'n the hatches shut ta kill the rats 'n roaches with poison smoke bombs. He come down with pneumonia 'n a week later transferred off fer good. The captain missed the whole thing cuz he wuz off tryin' ta figger out where they wuz headed.

After the British flag wuz raized 'n the party went wrong, Mister Kaiser got mad 'n left. They took the flag down 'n went searchin' fer one of ours. They found one of on a Liberty ship. The band had gone 'n the party wuz over, so they jest raized our flag by theirownselves.

Pt. 2

 

[Wannabe]

Bear,
Do you know if your Uncle Cooper got in on the Townsend-Brisbane fight?
Bob

 

[bearridge]

I hate ta jump ahead, but he sez they went down in the mouth when they drew Townsville instead of Brisbane. He sez the Australian liquor tasted like shellac....but they got drunk az Cooder Brown. They spent a heap a time at Magnetic Island cross frum Townsville. This wuz jest before their first invasion. He didnt figger they would make it thru. The 446 wuz the flagship of the LSTs. There wuz bout 6 of 'em that finally showed up down there. I dont reckon they stayed in town long enuff ta mix it up with the Aussie soldiers.

They put the Commander off in Townsville. Cooper never wrote one word bout the time he had ta lock him in hiz room....not one word bout what he had done 'er did. I dont recall why they didnt leave him in Hawaii, but I aint jumpin' ahead again 'er I mite git it all mixed up.

regards
bearridge

 

[bearridge]

"We first had orders to proceed from Vancouver to San Diego. This was done with the greatest of pain due to the fact that no one knew how to run the ship."

Cuz Huntoon wuz a ole WWI Navy man who put in a good word fer him, Cooper went ta see him ta make "terrific objections about going to sea in this condition". He tole him "We would all go out and get drowned". Huntoon put Cooper in a far corner of hiz office 'n give him hiz second Navy ass chewin' bout junior officers. On the drive back he give the crane operator a dollar ta put hiz car in the 446.

In a shipyard, ever boat haz a man in charge......a hull superintendent. When the 446 left the dock, their superintendent sez "Thank God they're gone". Cooper sez the whole Kaiser shipyard wuz bout ta come unglued over the new LST that the British had turned down.

There wuz a Lt. Schwartz frum Southern California (taught physical education at some small school). He wuz nervous 'n fergot ta git in line when they give out common sense. He missed the commission party cuz he wuz ashore tryin' ta figger out where they wuz headed.

The river pilot come on board 'n asked 'em ta start the engines. They couldnt. One officer had never seen a motor in hiz whole life. He wuz in charge of the engines. Under him wuz 15-20 drafted kids either seamen or firemen, but no engineers. That officer went ashore 'n found some Kaiser workers who showed him how ta crank the engines. He watched 'em "screw the valves and punch the switches". They showed him how ta go fast 'n how ta go slow. This took bout four hours 'n the river pilot wuz bout ta jump off. He had never seen a ship where the crew could not make it run. He didnt want ta be part of this at all.

On the way ta Astoria they run inta a heap a fog. The pilot sez "drop bow anchor". They dropped it, still doin' five knots, the brake band melted 'n ran down on the deck. They finally ground ta a stop 'n waited til the fog lifted.

The pilot got 'em ta Astoria, Oregon where he had ta go alongside a dock. The pilot pulled in ta git there 'n all hell broke loose. They wuz at one third speed, when the pilot sez "stop the engines". They went two thirds instead.....knocked the heck outta the dock 'n tore inta a ship tied up alongside the dock. Cooper felt that pilot near bout had a breakdown, but he didnt lock him up. Cooper sez the pilot wuz used ta "a certain amount of efficiency".

"We made our first trip down to San Diego with a Shell Oil road map. No navigation. We knew San Diego was south and so just headed south and tried to stay far enough out in the ocean so that we wouldn't bump into anything. The first big problem we had was the reefs that jut out from the California coast. We knew the number of miles to San Diego and figured if the ship went so fast we could divide the miles and the time. We werent' sure where we were. We fussed around and nosed in and nosed out. We finally took a blind shot and arbitrarily, after so many days, turned left because we knew land was on that side. It was early in the morning and we went in closer until we saw a town. We were only 10 or 20 miles south of San Diego."

They pulled up ta San Diego 'n went ta blinkin' their signal lite....no Morse code.....jest blinkin' til the Coastal Guard come out ta find out what wuz wrong. They give 'em a pilot 'n the show begun.

"All the admirals and generals with gold braid had turned out to see the LST come in. They had never seen one before. First official act was to drive my car off, which is strictly against regulations, creating great consternation. I thought they would lock us up in jail. When my shining new car drove off the ship, one admiral threw up his hands and said "Lord, I have lived too long in service---look what has happened to what used to be a good Navy."

"It being the first LST, the gold braid wanted to have a trial beaching. They sent us out with admirals and Marine colonels to Coronado. We were to get about five miles offshore, head for the beach, get in, drop the anchor and open the bow doors. We made the first approach to the beach. "Drop the stern anchor" (which keeps the ship from going sidewise on the beach, and also helps to retract from the beach). If the cable is 500 yards there should be about 200 yards to play with left on winch after ship is on beach. Schwartz says "Drop anchor". The cable started going out and going out. When the last of it went out we were still about a mile off the beach. We lost the cable and anchor and everything. "How much cable is left?" "200 yards left." "How much?" "100" "None left now" Schwartz got excited. He realized everything had gone wrong and he tried to explain it. He was topside and all the admirals were on the bridge. Instead of Schwartz coming down in a dignified manner, he jumped off and slid down the smokestack and hit the deck flat on his fanny in front of the gold braid----most undignified for the captain of ship. Some admirals laughed out loud. Some were too mad to laugh. Next day he was released from his command. We hit the beach at full speed, but it was a shallow beach and just slowed the ship up. They decided to discipline our ship. We were in San Diego for three days and spent all the time looking for the anchor. No way to find it, but they were going to teach us that when we did anything wrong, we had to pay for it. That went on for three days. Then we were to go back to San Francisco."

Pt. 3

 

[Bilgerat]

Dis is good stuff! 8) 8) 8)

Mike

 

[bearridge]

After the fellas on the 446 quit lookin' fer their anchor, Cooper figgered he better find some ocean charts ta find their way ta the Southern Pacific. He heard the Navy had sea charts, but when he asked fer some, they didnt have none fer a LST.....even in San Diego. It wuz brand new 'n not on the officialized list of ships yet. Cooper spent $20 frum his own pocket ta buy some charts. Boone, the Baltimore lawyer, agreed ta pay half, but never did.

Cooper bought a sextant which set him back some more, but he got hiz dough back in San Francisco when the Navy finally give 'em a U.S. Navy sextant. Cooper went ta a book store 'n tole the clerk hiz truble. He asked fer a book that tole ya how ta find yer way round the ocean without any dang nautikle talk. The clerk sez "sho do....Mixture on Navigation....very simple. In a hunerd pages it tells ya what the Navy dont tell ya in two thousand".

The high Navy 'n Army bosses in San Diego kept droppin' by ta see this funny new ship. They give 'em a medium size tank ta see it raized 'n lowered on the elevator, then drive off the ship. They done that so much the elevator broke. After that it never worked rite the whole time in the Southern Pacific.

They got orders ta head fer San Francisco, then ta Mare Island soon az anuther new skipper took over in San Diego. They didnt trust 'em ta git ta San Francisco without a new skipper. This one wuz the fella Cooper had ta lock in hiz room. I reckon I'll call him Lieutenant Dan. He had been on the Yangse Patrol in China fer 4-5 years 'n wuz sent back cuz he wuz bout ta breakdown agin. Cooper felt he wuz a fine officer 'n a gentleman who had jest wore out on war.

Lt. Dan wuz hospital bound, but hiz orders got screwed up (that iz one Navy term Cooper knew) so instead of the hospital, he got the Lone Wolf. [He also got the bad end of the stick after he married Jugo-Slav gal when he wuz in the Mediterranium.] Cooper sez Lt. Dan had enuff sense ta git by if a admiral come on board 'er at a public show, but first day out ta sea he snapped, played "Sonny Boy" on his Victrola all day 'n begun ta throw dishes agin the wall. They had ta run the ship ta San Francisco without any help frum him.

They went ta San Francisco first ta pick up Commander Cutler. Cooper sez if it had been anybody but Cutler, the new skipper would have put Lt. Dan in a hospital in San Francisco. Seems nobody wanted Cutler cuz they Navy didnt train him too good either, but they give him a high rank.....so they got rid of him on the 446.

Pt. 4

 

[bearridge]

Cooper sez the new crew wuz a bit on the stubborn side. They tried ta share bunks with 'em 'n have 'em stand watches, but they jest done nuthin'. The trip ta San Francisco wuz rough. They tole 'em ta wrap their legs round the table ta keep frum fallin' off the chairs, but cuz they tole 'em to, they didnt do it. He sez a big wave would set the ship on its side 'n the kids would end up sprawled all over the deck with food on their laps.

When they first met Commander Cutler, he pulled up hiz sleeve 'n showed off a bluebird with a red breast. Cooper seen he wuz a bit odd rite off. In San Francisco they aimed ta fill up with grits 'n other supplies fer the trip ta Pearl Harbor. That wuz danged hard ta do. There wuz no supplies fer an LST. They went ta beggin', borrowin', stealin', tradin'.....even usin' false names ta git what they had ta have. They shipped out shorthanded on everthin'. Fer a year 'n a half they went round searchin' thru stuff they stole in San Francisco. They figgered they had 10 boxes of gunnery equipment, but it wuz fur jackets fer Marines up in Iceland. The Navy fergot ta git ready fer the LST.

The Navy put a LCT in the 446 fer the first time. They wuz ta convoy out ta Pearl Harbor, but the worst storm in 5-6 years wuz brewin'. Nobody wuz ta leave in a ship less it wuz a emergency. Cutler sent 'em off alone. He wanted ta git ta Guadalcanal before the invasion wuz over 'n wuz huntin' glory like a hound dog on a rabbit. The storm wuz a first rate hoodoochie.

Nobody on the 446 had ever been out ta sea before so they didnt know how ta tie everthin' down real good in case of a storm. In 12 hours they lost everythin' on the deck not welded down. The lifeboats didnt go overboard, but they wuz smashed up good cuz they fergot ta double lash 'em. The life rafts wuz gone 'n near bout everbody wuz seasick. That wuz when Cooper seen what a fine fella Crook wuz. He sez that when bad times hit, a few men will always come forward. They wuz tryin' hard ta tie down the lifeboats in the storm, but all they done wuz git one fella's hand smashed. This storm went on fer 3 more days.

Clark begun ta worry bout the engines cuz when the ship went over a big wave, the screws come up outta the water 'n went ta racin'......like they wuz gwine ta come apart. Clark started messin' with the fuel lines 'n got the water 'n fuel lines crossed. Fuel got in the spud lockers 'n water got in the commissary where the other rations wuz. They flooded everthin' before they quit. In 12 hours they ruined near bout all the food. However, bein' seasick, most of 'em didnt have much of a cravin' fer vittles.

Cooper 'n three other officers wuz all they had. They had ta steer too cuz the three fellas they broke in ta be helmsmen wuz sick. When they took a break 'n went down below deck, the look 'n the stench made 'em break out in a sweat 'n drove 'em back out. A fella named George Shaw got so sick he begun ta puke blood. They asked ta git him off the ship later, but the Navy sez "nope". [George never asked ta leave.] The sick fellas would come up 'n give it a try ever now 'n then, but their knees buckled. Cutler wuz havin' the best time of hiz life.....woulda attacked the battleship Haroona if it had come in sight.

Cooper felt that durin' the war several LST's broke apart 'n sunk in less storm than that, but he figgered havin' the LCT tied off give it some extra structural help. After the storm they had rough seas all the way ta Pearl Harbor, but they had radio truble. "We had a radioman who couldn't radio. We never got a message that we could read. They could have ordered us back to the States and we wouldn't have known it."

By 'n by they made it ta Pearl Harbor....kinda hongry.

Pt. 5

 

[bearridge]

When they got ta Pearl Harbor they had ta find some new dishes....broke ever danged one they had on the ride out. Jest before they left San Francisco, the fellas pooled their dough 'n bought a radio/record player fer $100. The ones behind it put a heap a pressure on the rest ta chip in. It wuz torn up the first day out ta sea in the storm. Lt. Dan worked on it jest enuff ta git the Victrola ta play, but then he played "Sonny Boy" over 'n over, so one nite they took a hammer 'n broke it up.

Everthin' in the wardroom wuz broken. Everthin' in the ship wuz broken, even the chairs. Clothes wuz everwhere. They give up on their bunks 'n walked thru vomit.

*************

As we approached Pearl Harbor we hit a convoy ships. It was late at night. There were about 100 ships in the convoy. We couldn't get through this damn convoy. We didn't know how to set a course and there were no lights on the convoy. Roger got up on the mast about 50 feet up because he was on watch and he had the best eyes. It was raining like hell. Roger would yell down and say "Ship on the right--or ship on the left." He didn't know about starboard and port. Lt. Dan was in a complete nervous breakdown. "Where are the ships?" "Give me a bearing."

Cutler kept saying "Don't worry about the damn ships. Go on in. There are good looking girls on the beach." We went right through the middle of the 100 ship convoy. The convoy didn't alter course. We were blowing the damn whistle all the time. It just never quit blowing. When we got about 100 yards from a ship they would frantically alter course. Everybody was yelling to everybody else. Theoretically, you have a telephone, and we would try to call up to the bow--"Can you see the ship from there?" By the time we got a message back we would have passed it. They would see a ship up front and run back to tell us about it. It was like a relay team in action at a track meet, except that the runners were always just a little late.

We got in in broad daylight. They had never seen an LST and came as close as they could to take a look at it. As we were going in we saw the first signs of war. There were lots of battleships over on their sides. The OKLAHOMA was bottom-up. We saw all the gruesome sights. The PENSACOLA had a hole as big as a room in her side. We saw them unload possibly 126 bodies from her ship's company and cart them off. She had an 8" plate on her hull and it was just bent like butter. When Aston saw the OKLAHOMA bottom-up it struck him pretty close to home because he had come from Oklahoma. They said there were still about 400 bodies aboard her. It made us fighting mad. It was no longer the bands playing and the boys marching. The reaction was more that of everybody getting quiet than talking. It was more inside and a silence rather than conversation. Everybody went from "Yankee Doodle" to grim realization. The boys forgot about themselves and anything else. It was the scope of the tremendous thing that hit us. The shock treatment made men out of lots of boys.

Pt. 6

 

[bearridge]

Frum oldyaker's ole salt site


LST-446

LST-446 was laid down on 15 June 1942 at Vancouver, Wash., by Kaiser, Inc.; launched on 18 September 1942; and commissioned on 30 November 1942, Lt. H. A. Swartz, USNR, in command. During World War II, LST-446 was assigned to the Asiatic- Pacific theater and participated in the following operations: Consolidation of southern Solomons - March through June 1943 New Georgia Group operation: (a) New Georgia-Rendova-Vangunu occupation- July and August 1943 (b) Vella Lavella occupation-August 1943 Treasury-Bouganville operation: (a) Occupation and defense of Cape Torokina - November and December 1943 Green Islands landing-February 1944 Capture and occupation of Guam-JuIy 1944 Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto-April 1945 Following the war, LST-446 performed occupation duty in the Far East until mid-December 1945.

Upon her return to the United States, the tank landing ship was decommissioned on 13 July 1946 and struck from the Navy list on 8 October that same year. On 10 February 1947, she was sold to the Suwannee Fruit & Steamship Co., of Jacksonville, Fla., for conversion to merchant service.

LST-446 earned six battle stars and the Navy Unit Commendation for service in World War II.


The pichurs...scroll down ta 446 http://www.abiz4me.com/Lstphotos.html

 

[Bilgerat]

Thanks, friend Bearridge! This is some really good readin'. 8) 8) 8)

Mike

 

[bearridge]

Friend Mike,

Thanks.

I never meant ta wander off inta this. I done a heap a stuff unencumbered by the thought process. I really bit off a hunk this time.

regards
bearridge

 

[Wannabe]

Bear,
That is a fine story. I hope there is more to it. I do like stories like that about people and things that happened to them in that War. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Bob

 

[oldyaker]

Br'r bear...I think this story should be offered to that old salt site. There may be just a few old salts left who was on the old 446.

 

[bearridge]

Bein' the first LST ta show up, there wuz a steady stream of gold braid come ta have a look at it....which meant a heap a salutin'. The bow doors opened 'n closed.....over 'n over. Cutler went ahsore ta report, got all slicked up in hiz whites, but he stuck out like a fish stick on a barbecue plate cuz the Navy quit whites 'n went ta khaki. This Admiral Helfry frum the Royal Dutch Navy showed up......other foreign big wigs too. One admiral wuz such a big fella he got stuck in a hatch (tryin' ta git down inside ta see the LCT) 'n had ta be winched out.

Nimitz come on board. Roger wuz on deck 'n got hiz rite hand mixed up with hiz left hand. Nimitz walked over ta Roger 'n sez "Nimitz iz my name. What's yours?" The crew all took note how the top dog wuz jest a man....human like them. He saluted all the different decks 'n asked if it wuz okay ta come aboard. They wuz supposed to blow a pipe, but they didnt have one. If they had one, noboby woulda known what it wuz 'er how ta blow it. Cutler called him "Chester".......(Jimmy Forrestal 'n Uncle Chet). Cooper sez Nimitz wuz embarrassed.

Chester loved the LST, got a big smile over all the things they mite be able ta do. He got on the wires back ta the States 'n tole 'em ta drop what they wuz doin'.....make LSTs. They built near bout 2000 rite off the bat. A Marine general come on board 'n wondered what they coulda done with some LSTs at Guadalcanal. They kin unload 600 drums of airplane fuel in 10 minutes. A heap a folks wuz keepin' a close eye on the 446. Everbody begun ta feel some pride over it. Cooper figgerd that out of 11 million men in service during the war, 80% rode on a LST at one time 'er anuther.

But it didnt take 'em long ta git anuther Navy ass chewin'. It stunk of vomit, garbage 'n busted up plates 'n stuff. They scrubbed her clean 'n dumped it all in the harbor. They didnt know no better, but after several captains finished with 'em, they would never dump nuthin' in a harbor agin. They couldnt even flip a match inta the harbor cuz it wuz a foot deep in oil 'n gas.

They set out ta replace all the gear 'n all they lost in the storm. Roger went lookin' fer lifeboats. Cooper went after topside equipment. Clark come up empty tryin' fer spare engine parts.....thru the reglar channels. They used the same parts as the subs, had the same diesel engines, so he went over ta the underwater boys, who helped him out. The Navy supply system wuz not their pal. After the first day all three of 'em come back empty handed. They all felt terrible. After that Clark got all the parts he needed. They would issue 'em ta one of the subs, but they went ta the Lone Wolf. Cutler wuz only interested in the bars 'n the gals. He never give no thought ta "a single operational detail" but he wanted ta be Ole Blood & Thunder. He wuz so fearless he risked the ship a few times.

They needed some repairs too. Some repair shops would turn 'em down. They'd go back ta the ship 'n git the First Class Machinist ta go over. Sometimes lower rank fellas kin git stuff done a captain cain't. Proper channels wuz always the last resort, but they still left Pearl Harbor without lifeboats. They tried ta patch theirs up. They got enuff food ta keep frum starvin', but not the rite stuff. They got a whole freezer fulla mutton that nobody liked much. They wanted beef. If a cruiser come in, they'd git some beef, like mebbe 20%. They give the LST more mutton so the others kin git more beef. The mutton come frum Australia 'n the smell wuz so strong, they had ta hold their noses ta git it down. It tasted okay.....jest smelled bad. They had potatoes, dehydrated cabbage 'n Spam. They shoulda got a heap a oranges, but they ate so many on the way out, they turnt 'em down....a mistake they seen a few days later.

Pt. 7

 

[bearridge]

The 446 left Pearl Harbor in near bout az bad a shape az when it got there, cept fer Pops Packard 'n the spare engine parts. Pops had a shore job workin' on subs, cuz he wuz too old fer a sub job. When he seen the Lone Wolf, he asked hiz boss if he kin leave 'n he give Pops the okay. He volunteered ta help 'em out of their sorry mess. Pops had snow white hair 'n had been retired after 28 years active in the Navy. Even the officers called him "Pops". He took over the engine room 'n had the colored boys doin' a good job.

They still had Lt. Dan on board. Cooper wuz tryin' ta git him off when the order come down ta hit the road fer a 10 day shakedown, but Cutler sez "nope....we gotta go where there iz a fightin' war." They got the compass fixed 'n the ship deGaussed, but Cutler got the orders changed 'n they took off after three days without gittin' the ship fixed up rite. A mine sweeper set off with 'em. A few miles after they cleared the harbor, the sweeper blinked that they had ta go back fer repairs. Cooper felt they shoulda gone back with 'em, but Cutler sez "No, on to the war!" He had only a vague idea of the general direction. Beyond Pearl Harbor was the battleground, they wuz in No Man's Land.

After the mine sweeper left, they shoulda reported to the Radio Pearl Harbor Port Director fer instructions. They didnt. They couldnt radio worth a dang anyway. Shaw had been reading the regulations 'n sez they wuz headed fer big truble if they dont follow 'em. Cutler jest waived hiz hand 'n never gave no answer. That shut Shaw down. After that he took the Navy regulations ta Cooper or Roger 'n never discussed 'em with Cutler agin.

Pt. 8

 

[bearridge]

Bout three days out of Santos they seen a sub. They argued bout whether it put a torpedo under the ship. They likely set the torpedo fer 18-20' ta git well under the water line, but the Lone Wolf wuz only drawin' 4-11'. Several officers 'n men reported seein' one pass under the forward part of the ship. Everone wuz scairt ta death.

Then the steerin' gear went out. We didnt know there wuz back up steerin' gear on board. It wuz close ta dark. The ship went in big circles fer bout two hours. Pops knew bout the back up steerin' gear, but didnt know where they had it hid.

**********

Auxillary steering is an old-fashioned looking steering wheel which is about three decks below, down in the bottom of the ship, close to the rudder. It's a system of cables on a drum. We looked and looked and went into compartments with flashlights. Finally we discovered it. Even Pops couldn't figure out how to hook it up. One guy figured a cable should go here, and another figured it should go there. After it was all rigged up we had to make it operate. To make it run we would have to have someone on the conning tower. When he said "go right" the ship would go left. It was because the men were facing in an opposite direction to the man on the conning tower. We couldn't stop to repair it because we knew there were subs there and a sitting ship is a dead duck. Everybody tried to get it going. Five men could probably have done it lots quicker than 60 men. One man hooked up something and the next man unhooked it. It was a screwed up mess.

We got awful lonesome out on the ocean by ourselves for two weeks. Lt. Dan knew how to navigate, but he was getting worse. He was coming on deck maybe once in every three days. We were getting lost. Alton Smith, Seaman 1st Class, was still trying to learn. Our star sights would never cross. When you cross the International Date Line and go from one hemisphere to another you lose a day. If you're west of the line, instead of adding 180 degrees, you subtract 180 degrees in your calculations.

Lt. Dan would have his sane moments and would pick up a sight which would spot us. It's a much simpler problem to shoot the sun at noon. Then we would start dead reckoning away from that spot. We were lost most of the time. Smith was struggling through the book of navigation (Mixture). You have a chart table with all your charts. We knew we were not in the right place. We might be getting in around the Carolinas (Jap controlled). Knowing Lt. Dan was crazy, we weren't so damn sure of what he was telling us. It turned out, however, that he was right. Everything was guesswork.

When you cross the Equator you report before King Neptune's Court. When we came through the line they shaved stripes on our heads and put grease in the stripes. They initiated about a dozen men of the crew. Pops was King Neptune. With his big paunch and white hair, he really looked the part. The Captain wouldn't speak to the officers for days because we had taken the initiation, but the officers and crew were knit together by the spirit in which it was taken. The initiation is an old Navy tradition. You go from pollywog to shellback.

Pt. 9

 

[bearridge]

Comin' inta Santos they blinked out messages frum the Lone Wolf, but they caint read any comin' back.....cuz they went too fast fer 'em. The folks on shore wuz tellin' 'em ta stay put....dont try ta come in cuz of all the mines, but by the time they figgered out the problem they had made it in. They jest plowed straight thru the mine field....rite over 'em. Copper figgered the shallow draft 'n the deGaussin' saved 'em. Nobody at Santos wuz lookin' fer the 446 cuz they didnt know they wuz comin'. They wuz way late cuz they had been on a lost, zig zag line all the way frum Pearl Harbor.

While they wuz lost they begun ta look round the ship 'n see what all wuz on it. They broke some stuff open....found stuff in the bos'n's locker that shoulda been in the engineer locker. In the navigatin' department wuz some saws 'n hammers.

*****

We literally spent the whole damn trip on one great big Easter Egg hunt. We found things that nobody could identify. We would put it all together. "This belongs to me." "No, it looks like something we might need". Everybody argued as to who owned what.

********

Alton Smith held some church services. They had no chaplin. While they wuz lost they set up some deck gangs, navigation crews 'n engineerin' gangs. One day a man would be in one, two days later he'd be in anuther cuz they had bout half az many officers 'n half az many enlisted men az they wuz supposed ta have. They run some drills, like a fire drill. Confusion supreme. There wuz 50 men round one lifeboat, with two empty ones. Lt. Dan pulled hiz hair out.

Cutler got real excited over the sub. He wanted ta ram a submarine the worst kinda way so he kin yell out "stand by with yer boardin' party". They wuz supposed to zig zag if there come an attack. Shaw tole 'em the Navy regulations sez so. Cutler sez "hell, we been zig zaggin' ever since we left San Francisco tryin' ta go straight".

That same day they got the first alert, which ta them wuz near bout like bein' under fire. One 'er two Jap planes come over at nite, mebbe an hour 'er two apart. Mebbe they would drop a bomb, mebbe not......jest messin' with 'em....kept 'em frum a good nite sleep.

Then a "Code Red" message come in. They all run ta the guns even tho they didnt know how ta shoot 'em yet. They aint supposed ta shoot 'em at nite anyway. Everbody run ta the wrong guns. Too many went ta one 'er two guns 'n left some alone.

They shipped out the next day fer Guadalcanal. Cutler wuz bout ta bust a gasket. Tween Guadalcanal 'n Santos they come ta a place called "Torpedo Junction". They shoulda gone thru with a convoy, but Cutler would have none of it. He sez "Nobody tole us not ta head off all by ourownselves." Five miles off Guadalcanal a PBY come out ta meet 'em. Everbody cept Cutler figgered they'd be kilt dead before they ever reached Guadalcanal.

Pt. 10