Midshipman's Cruise on the Carrier: USS PRINCETON

Sea Classics, Aug 2007 by Sheppard, James D

Both 11 and 12 July were easy-going, in-port days, with plenty of liberty time.

13 JULY-23 JULY - EN ROUTE TO SAN DIEGO

On Tuesday, 13 July, at about 1500, our task force got underway from Pearl Harbor. Flight operations resumed and during the day a Lt. (jg), flying a TBM, made the 13,000th landing on the Princeton. My section started a stretch of watches in the engineering department. I stood watch near the evaporators from 1600 to 1800. The next day I stood a watch in the forward fireroom (where it was very hot) and the following day a watch with the water king.

On 16 July, on very short notice, I took another flight on a TBM. I drew my gear in the parachute loft and received my plane number, 416. In error, I pulled slightly on the parachute release handle but luckily it did not open. An officer told me that four parachutes had been opened by mistake the day before. Again, I chose to ride in the bilge. About 16 TBMs went up. As on my first flight, the plane made a large circle on the port side of the ship. But the pilot this time dived, climbed, and banked sharply for several minutes. The altimeter showed we stayed from about 800- to 1500-ft in the air except when diving, when we dropped to about 400-ft. The flight lasted about 50-min and I enjoyed it.

My daily routine from 17 July to 22 July involved watches in the engineering spaces, general quarters, instruction periods, and movies in the evenings. On the afternoon of 21 July, there was mail call, the mail having been flown in by TBMs, so I was told. On 22 July we packed our seabags in anticipation of leaving the ship the next day for a week of amphibious training.

23-30 JULY - AMPHIBIOUS TRAINING AT SAN DIEGO AND CORONADO

About 0930 on Friday, 23 July, the ship docked at the Naval Air Station, San Diego. Two hours later we disembarked, our seabags were put on trucks, and we traveled by bus to the Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado. We were assigned to a comfortable barracks with plenty of living space. Liberty began at 1900 and I went with a small group of other midshipmen to visit San Diego, a half-hour trip by bus and ferry.

On Saturday, 24 July, we spent the morning visiting various boats and ships in the pier area: an LCT (Landing Craft, Tank), a pontoon barge, an LCM (Landing Craft, Mechanized), and an LCM(R) (rocketship).

On Sunday, 25 July, liberty started at 0900. Five other midshipmen and I left the ship at 1030, took the bus to San Diego, and had lunch there. We rode the bus to San Ysidro, about 15-mi from San Diego (the roundtrip ticket cost $5.50), walked across the US/Mexico border, and took a taxi for the half-mile trip to Tijuana ($2.50 each). The town had one main street, lined with curio shops, bars, etc., with vendors of cheap rings and jewelry everywhere. There seemed to be a photo establishment at each intersection with a jackass used as a prop and a photographer using a tinplate camera. Our group had a photo taken at one of those places, with the photo placed in a folder marked "Souvenir of Tijuana" and a printed notation, "If you don't like this picture, blame the ass." Every store was open and the sidewalks were crowded. We left Tijuana about 1700, walked back to the border, and as we crossed the bridge a motorist picked us up and drove us to the outskirts of San Diego. We took a bus to town, had dinner, attended a show, and returned to the base about 2300, well short of the expiration of liberty at 0100.