Hi All
I was passed this letter by a friend of mine in the States he was on the ship
during the Vietnam war on one of his three tours of duty there.
His bit of background says.
A little history about this ship: After 1944, it went to be apart of the
Atomic Bomb testing, then on to the States. In the 1960's, it was refitted
and called the Corpus
Christi Bay, Which I was on for 12 months in Viet Nam on one of my tours
over there.
Now for the letter --
Letter from Quartermaster ---------- to his wife relating the voyage of the
USS Albemarle to Swansea, Wales - 1943
"6 October 1943: Well we left Argentia in a fog and never seen our escorts
for two days yet they were only one mile away all the time. We started out
enroute to Avonmouth, England and on the way across our orders were changed
and we went to Swansea, Wales instead. About four days out on our trip
across the pond on the 8 to 12 of which I had picked up 8 subs on R.D.F. at a
distance of about 15 miles. You know one of those Wolf Packs you read about
in the N. Atlantic. Well we slipped by them nice & quiet like you know and
all was well. We were now within easy range of Jerry's and so all personnel
were on the double alert. We had fog with us continually all the way across
which was to our advantage. Well we hit North Channel early in the morning
of which is the entrance to the Irish Sea. The Channel is about twenty miles
wide and there was Ireland on our right where Johnny Doughboy found his rose
and dear old Scotland on our left. As we go cruising along lo and behold we
pass some floating mines. My what they would have done to our bow if we had
hit one. Well we steam all day in the Sea and as the sun goes down we turn
on our running lights and secure all battery. Mind you we're only about four
hundred miles from a Jerry airfield. You're probably wondering what a Jerry
is well if you don't know the limey's call the German planes Jerries. Well
the Irish Sea gets pretty rough with a 40 knot wind and so we had a pretty
tough night of it and the next morning we pulled into Swansea Bay and
anchored to wait on high tide at 1800 so that we would have enough water to
go into the Docks.
Well we got tied up about seven oclock and we were all surprised and stunned
to know that two thirds of the crew would rate liberty and no battery would
be manned and mind you we were only 200 miles from a Jerry airfield. Well we
all took off on liberty to see what a war torn country looked like and we
found out. The town was completely blacked out and you couldn't see where in
the hell anything was. But it wasn't too black to see the streets were full
of women and all very anxious to get acquainted with the American Navy.
There were very few bars open and, of course, we found those that were open
as any sailor would. The beer was terrific. It tasted to me as a mixture of
wine & beer and no whiskey. Well we seen where the German blitz of 1941 had
been. They bombed the town for three straight nights and mopped out all the
civic center of the town. Other words the center of the town where all the
theaters and fur shops, etc. were. They said those three nights were hell
and I believe them. I saw the town the next day in daylight and it was quite
interesting. You see Swansea is right in the center of the Welsh coal mining
district and the docks were the main target and they missed them by about
five miles.
When I think of what people there have gone through with and I hear some one
in the States growling about not having enough to eat or some air raid warden
telling him to get his window blinds down, I could knock him down. For here
was 165,000 people who had been walking the little streets of the town for
four years in total blackness and a ration of 10 ounces of meat a week and 12
ounces of candy a month and yet they are going about their work as if nothing
happened. When the average American gets the guts of those people, we will
have some country.
The people were all very friendly towards us and as you went down the street
it was not uncommon to hear some one say good evening to you and very amusing
to hear them say 'Top of the morning' to you when you met an Englishman of a
morning."
[The next part of the letter goes on to describe a trip Milburn Smith made
with fellow Albemarle Quartermaster Everett Green to London. Perhaps that
can be part of a future message. Let me continue with the ending:]
"Well we got back in Swansea at 1900 and found everything closed so were
starved to death and finally found a little hole in the wall of a tea room
and gently crowded in and ordered twenty five sandwiches and four cups of tea
without sugar and, believe it or not, me & Green ate them all. In fact, we
dam near starved to death for all this week I have been eating like a hog.
We got underway the next morning of which everyone was disappointed and
started out on what was one of the most boresome cruises I've had. Well the
old Irish Sea was plenty rough and then it got even more rougher when we got
out to sea the next day. For two days we pitched and swayed in a 40 knot
wind in the North Atlantic and had to slow to 12 knots for the escorts. It
was nothing to see the escorts disappear in a swell and we were taking a few
over the bow and also two thirds of the crew were sea sick and your old salty
husband stood it all with out withering. Well it took us from a week ago
yesterday (Mon.) till today (Tues.) to get back across and we were never in
any calm weather at any time. We went through several storms on the way
back. And so today (12 October) finds us in Argentia, Newfoundland."
Regards Phil T.C.M.