Page 115 - Mastheads Jan-June 1945

THE MASTH~AD, SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 1945
I I I I II I I I I I I I I I I I II I I I I I I I I I 111111111111111 II 111 ,
-. -=-~ ·---------------------------------,-.
~~SEA~FRONTIER ACROSS 3-Perfect food ✓
~-=~~ I-Transfer 4-Unit
7-Tenant 5-Poem
$ec an~ 13-Arranges
SAILED WARM 14-Kingdom 6-Intrinsic natures
LOCAL DEFENSE 7- Unaspirated
AND SMOOTH 15-Kings 8-Issue
16-Fastener
17-Large deer 9- Noticed
SEAS UNDER
Belying her age and the bat- 18-Calm IO-Yellow ochre
BENIGN SKIES tering she has received from seven 20- Bill of fare 11- Before
21- Assume
seas, from the enemies in tw.o 25-Leer 12-Suffix: profession
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 wars and the hands of crews in the 28-Gael 19-Lament
BY ERNIE PYLE past 30 years, the vene,rable gun- 30-Sue 20-Chess pieces
boat, U. S. S. Sacramento, re- 31- Monarch 22- Debtor
In The Western Pacific 33-Lamprey fishing
cently slipped into her berth at 23-Minute orifice
There are moments when a voy- ground
Section Patrol, Treasure Island, to 35-Metallic element 24-Playthings
age to war has much of the calm 25-Chooses
and repose of a pleasure cruise in await her next assignment whicb. 36-Consumes 26- Clasp tightly
will continue an enviable log dat- 38-Irks 27-Merchandise stock
peacetime. 39-Lance
For day after day we sailed in ing back to 1914. 41-Serpents 29- Abated
32- Custodian
seas that were smooth and war.m, Her natty lines and overall smart- 43-Affair 34-Fleur-de-lis (Her.)
under benign skies. There was no ness is an assurance of her ability 45-Edge 37-Dine
48-Taste
air of urgency about us. True, we to continue as a member of the 51-Tyro 40-Startle
kept air patrols in the sky, but it fleet despite the fact that just prior 53-Brazilian river 42- Prostrate
44-Decades
was really a practice gesture, for 54-Glossy coating 45---Hoarfrost
55-;-Madmen
we were far away from any enemy. 56-Hate 46-Desserts
Sailors at work wore no shirts. Courtesy Harle Publications, Inc. 47- Liquefy
Little bunches of flying fish skim- (Solution on Page 4) DOWN 48-Equivalence
49~ Chalice
med the blue water. You· needed I- Underdone 50.-::::Dally
dark glasses on deck. Pilots took 2- Hebrew month 52- Large tub ·
sun baths on the forecastle.
coal-burning engines were ripped
Up on the broad flight deck~ clad
only in shorts, the chaplain and ex- out and modern oil-burning equip-
ment installed. In 1940 the Sacra-
ecutive officer were playing deck
tennis. And in the afternoon the mento was recalled to duty and
after an extensive overhaul and
forward elevator was let down, the
refitting at the Boston Navy Yard
officers and men played basketball.
was again sent to sea.
Every night we had movies after
supper. It was hard to keep i in It is a unique distinction of the
your mind that we were a ship of Sacram~nto that she was the first
war, headed for war. American vessel to stick her bow
Extended Action Bill into several important international
Then ever so gradually the wea- situations or was present when
ther changed, as we plowed north- world-shaping events were develop-
ward. Yesterday and all the days LT. COMMANDER ROBERT F. ing, including a series of incidents
behind it had been tropically hot. SHEFFIELD, commanding officer in the Pacific which culminated in
Today was surprisingly and com- -of the USS Sacramento. the attack on Pearl Harbor, De-
fortably cool. Tomorrow would be cember 7, 1941.
to the present conflict she was a-
cold. We were nearing the great It was soon after she had gone
bout to be junked to make way for
hunting grounds off Japan. newer, faster additions to the Navy. down the ways in a yard at Phila-
On the last day you could sense delphia in 1914, that she was dis-
the imminence of it all over the In 1939 her usefulness was consid- patched to Vera Cruz for the Naval
ered ended, her mission completed
ship. Not by anything big, but by landing and occupation of that city.
and she was sent to the Great Lakes
the little things. Our weeks of mo- From that time on she sweated in
notony and waiting were at an end. to act as a training ship. It was dur- the tropics, was frozen in Arctic
The daily briefings of the pilots ing this time that she ended an ice, weathered typhoons in the
era of naval propulsion, for here her China Sea and sailed the glassy
became more detailed. There was "PLANK OWNERS" of the USS Sacramento. These men are ten of the
less _playboyishness among the smoothness of inland seas. original 237 of the Indianapolis area who put the Sacrament-a into com-
crew. Ordinary ship's rules were bomb when it explodes. On some Although the Sacramento patrol- mission in Michigan City, Ind., in 1940, and are still members of the
changed to battle rules. ships the men paint their faces ed the Barbary coast before the crew. Left to right, rear row: Herbert Simpson, WT1c; Ralph Moore,
CSK ; R. F. Rayborn, S1c; R. 1-i. Crouch, SK1c; W. F. Doughty, CMM;
What is known as the "extended with an anti-flash grease, making first war and was the first Ameri- Wayne Montfort, SK1c; (front) J. F. O'Connor, MM1c; C. B. Miller,
action bill" went into effect. Sailors them look like circus clowns, but can vessel in those waters since the SC1c; J. H. Moore, GM1c; and E. M. Gaddy, WT1c.
could let down their racks in the we didn't on our ship. days of Decatur, it wasn't until
daytime, and get a little extra rest. she was assigned to convoy duty Philippine constabulary squelch an to the states in 1939 and she start-
On the lower decks, every com-
Meal hours, instead of being at that she received her first real uprising in Socorro. From 1926 to ed_ home the long way. Only 226
partment door was closed. This
12 and 6 o'clock sharp, were chang- baptism of ,fir-e. While on this 1931 she operated off the China feet long and very slow, she headed
ed to run from 11 till one, and was done so that if a torpedo duty ·she convoyed 483 ships across coast and was called upon to pro- west and came to the east coast
should hit, it would flood only the
from 4:30 and 6:30, so that men on the Atlantic, sailing more than tect the foreign colony in Canton in by way of the Suez and the Med-
compartment where it struck. All
watch could trade off and dash in 63,000 miles. While in the Atlantic 1927. The year 1931 found her off iterranean. While on this trip she
the rest of the ship would be sealed
for a bite. The captain never left off from it. she rescued the crews of the SS Bolize, Honduras, again aiding used her auxiliary sails for the last
the bridge, either to eat or sleep. Sebastian when it burned at sea earthquake victims and rescuing a time, when in order to conserve
The ship's hospital was shut off,
Issued Flash Gear in 1917, and of the SS Swan River group of castaways on Cocas is- coal and add an extra knot to her
When you came into your cabin, and the medics set up business in when it sank while being towed land. speed, a jury sail was rigged on
you found your bunk had been the many prearranged aid stations to port. The opening of the Japanese in- her mainmast.
made up with a "flash sheet" scattered on higher decks about The close of the war sent her to vasion of China found · the "old Although recalled from active
the ship. They could even perform
around it. That is a black rubber- Murmansk, where she was frozen lady" on hand when she was in the duty she reached the east coast in
ized sheet, to protect you from operations at any one of a dozen in while serving the troops guard- midst of the first bombing of time to perform another outstand-
bomb burns. temporary spots set up in mess ing the Russian and Siberian rail- Shanghai. One Japanese bomb fell ing service for the Navy. She ar-
Everybody was issued "flash halls or cabins. way. Three years later she was at within 20 yards of her, shatter- rived in New York in time to serv-e
gear." That consists of several After supper on the night before Vladivostock to take on foreigners ing her ports, smashing her boats at the sce·ne of the Squalus dis-
items - a thin gray hood that our strike, we saw the movie, "The who had been caught in the middle and injuring several members of aster. She stood by during the long
covers your head and hangs down. Magnificent Dope." I guess it's of fighting between the White and her crew. Although damaged she weeks of struggle raising the sunk-
over your shoulders; a white cloth old but it was good and awfully Red Russians. Disturbances in evacuated refugees from Shanghai en sub from the bottom, providing
on an elastic band to cover your funny. Honduras in 1922 recalled her to and Hong Kong to Manila. When quarters for rescue workers and
nose and mouth; isinglass goggles Except I noticed there were only Central American waters which the Nips )?lasted the gunboat, USS helping tow th:e Squalus to Ports-
for your eyes; and long gray half as many people at the movie were followed by seven years duty Panay, to the bottom, the Sacra- mouth. Following this episode,
cloth gloves with a high gauntlet. as usual. And not long after it along the China coast. mento was on hand aiding crew which some thought would be the
All of this to save your hands was over, -everybody had gone to In 1923 she relieved earthquake members of the first American ship last in her long career, she was
and face from the searing, flame- bed for they knew there would be victims in Yokohama and then an- sunk by the Japanese. sent to the fresh-water port of
throwing blast of a big shell or no rest tomorrow. swered an urgent call to help the The Sacramento was called back Michigan City, Ind.
Male Call by Milton Caniff, creator of "Terry and the Pirates" Personnel Officer, Female, Civilian~ Hep
Ml½ !..ACE, I'M SO WOJ.:!RIED I THINK I K~OW
ABOUT FRANK ••• Wf TOOK TI-lE ANSWEri.,MA'AMf
THESE HOME MOVIE5 ID JUNIOR:., WILL YOU
-SHOW HIM WHEN J.IE GOT DO ME A l=AVog?
BACK. - AND HE DOESN'T
SEEM TO ENJOY THEM
AT ALL •••