Midshipman's Cruise on the Carrier: USS PRINCETON

Sea Classics, Aug 2007 by Sheppard, James D

Then, as today, future Naval officers received their first taste of shipboard life with summer cruises aboard the fighting ships of the world's finest Navy

In the spring of 1948,1 was a sophomore at Princeton University and a member of the NROTC unit there. The best part of the NROTC program from my standpoint was the long summer cruises. The previous summer, an eight-week cruise had taken our group of some 35 midshipmen to the Caribbean aboard the USS Oregon Gty(CA-122). In 1948 we were to take an eightweek aviation-indoctrination cruise aboard USS Princeton (CV-37), leaving from and returning to San Francisco and visiting Hawaii and southern California.

On Sunday, 16 May, the midshipmen attended a tea at the home of the university's president (Harold W. Dodds) and his wife, "in honor of the cruise of the USS Princeton."Mrs. Dodds had christened the ship, which had been built in the Philadelphia Navy Yard and commissioned in November 1945. The ship was named for the Battle of Princeton in the Revolutionary War.

I started my four-day train trip to San Francisco on 20 June, at the Princeton, New Jersey, station where I'd bought my round-trip ticket some time before. The ticket was 2.5-ft long and I had Pullman (sleeping car) accommodations, paid for by the Navy.

The trip to Chicago was via the Pennsylvania Railroad. In Chicago I changed to another train for the second half of the trip, going on the Chicago & North Western to Omaha, the Union Pacific to Ogden and Southern Pacific to Oakland, where I took a ferry to San Francisco. The total rail mileage was 3210.

I arrived at the US Naval Air Station, Alameda, on the afternoon of 24 June, reported to the barracks, and turned in my orders. A loudspeaker near the barracks carried Thomas E. Dewey"s speech of acceptance of the Republican nomination for president of the United States.

At 0900 on 25 June, the midshipmen were taken on a tour of the Princeton, nicknamed the "Sweet Pea." It had a displacement of 27,100-tons, was 888-ft long, and had a flight deck of 860-ft. Its armament consisted of 5-in/38cal. guns, along with 40mm and 20mm batteries. It had eight boilers, eight turbines, and four propellers, and could reach a speed of 32-kts. It

carried approximately 95 planes, all propeller-driven, of three types: the F8F Bearcat, a fighter; the AD Skyraider, an attack plane; and the TBM Avenger, a torpedo bomber. Two helicopters were to be aboard for this particular cruise (with another two on the Boxer), to perform plane-guard duties during air operations. The ship had two catapults, three airplane elevators, and two cranes. The peacetime complement was 78 officers and 1539 enlisted men.

There were approximately 630 midshipmen aboard the Princeton and a similar number aboard the USS Boxer (CV-21), which would be accompanying us on the cruise. Twenty-one colleges/universities were represented on the Princeton and 20 on the Boxer for a total of 41. The men on each carrier were divided into eight wings of about 78 men each. Each wing had four sections. (I was in Wing 7, section 2.)

26 JUNE-3 JULY EN ROUTE TO PEARL HARBOR

On the morning of Saturday, 26 June, the midshipmen rode to the pier in a bus, boarded the Princeton, and found their assigned bunks and lockers. My compartment, holding about 30 men, seemed spacious. My bunk was the middle one in a stack of three. The ship sailed at 1100. Soon it got very cool, as we went under the Golden Gate Bridge. I spent most of the afternoon trying to avoid getting seasick.

The two carriers were accompanied by USS Rupertus (DD-851), USS Arnold J. Isbell (DD-869) and USS Leonard F. Mason (DD-852). The five ships collectively comprised Task Force 38.

Each midshipman had been given a "Pacific Carrier Cruise Manual," 75-pages long, giving details about the organization of the cruise. For example:

* Practical training: This was to consist of observation flights; watches, lectures, and drills; training movies; practical instruction; and elementary amphibious training (in San Diego).

* Watches: Midshipmen were assigned four-hour watches (except for the 1600-1800 and 1800-2000 dog watches) both at sea and in port on a one-in-four basis. (Beginning 20 July, however, all engineering watches were dogged.) Watch stations at sea were divided into eight rotating groups of 16 watch-standers each: Bridge (midshipman OOD, helmsman, etc.), Signals (flag bag, etc.), Radio/CIC, Flag Plot/Miscellaneous, Forward Fire Room, After Fire Room, Forward Engine Room, and After Engine Room.

* Instruction periods: Fifteen instruction periods were planned for each of the four military departments aboard the carrier: Operations, Air, Engineering and Gunnery. There would normally be two one-hour instruction periods each day at sea.

* Battle stations: The cruise was divided into eight battle station periods and midshipmen would rotate among battle stations located in the four departments: Operations, Air, Engineering and Gunnery.

* Cleaning stations: Each wing was to be responsible for the upkeep of its own living compartment and each wing would also be responsible for the cleaning stations assigned by the ship's department in which the wing was receiving instruction.