COLONIAL (LSD-18) AUGUST 1948 - AUGUST 1950
The Colonial’s Homeport during these years was the Naval Operating Base at Norfolk Virginia. The ship usually tied up at The Escort Piers up the street from the Main NOB.
Naval Funds at that time were very tight and the Amphibious Navy’s Allotment was one rung above that of the Minesweeping Fleet. Funds were so low that the Oil King would trade large tins of coffee with the YOG (Yard Oiler Craft) crew for the extra Fuel Oil they had squirreled away.
The Heads in early 1948 had not been modernized they still had the original Galvanized Troughs with running sea water and moveable Wooden Slats for toilet seats. They were soon replaced with Commodes but no Partitions.
The Colonial had no Air Conditioned which didn’t seem to bother the crew.
There was a manpower shortage on ships as well. The Colonial probably never had more than 100 -125 crew members and often less during those years. There were plenty of empty bunks in every Berthing Compartment.
In Port; every Saturday reveille was held early to allow plenty of time for Field Day. The Living Spaces were scrubbed and polished for Inspection. 1000 hours, cleaning had to be finished and the crew out of the spaces in Dress Uniform ready for Personnel Inspection on the Upper Deck at 1100. Occasionally Bunk and Locker Inspection was held so instead of the Upper Deck you stood at attention in Dress Uniform by your open Locker and Bunk for Inspection. Liberty was granted after Inspection for those passing inspection or not on duty.
Liberty was Port and Starboard, one day on one day off and was by no means a sure thing. A sailor had to show a Liberty Card along with his ID Card at the Quarter Deck to leave the ship. These cards were held and issued each day by the Senior Divisional Petty Officer. When he didn’t want give you your card you stayed aboard. That’s how it was; he had complete control of your Liberty. When you had a hot date you sweated it out until you started down that Gangway.
The decks in the Berthing Compartments were painted Gray beneath the bunks. The aisles were left unpainted and had to be kept bright, the Humid Salt Atmosphere at Norfolk presented quite a challenge. The aisles were shined every day with “Bug Juice” and Steel Wool under the sliding foot of the Compartment Cleaner. “Bug Juice” was a Lemon Powder mixed with water to make lemonade to quench the crews thirst. The crew agreed the concoction made better polish than Lemonade.
The Ships Laundry did our laundry once a week. Large long canvass Laundry Bags were hung in the Division Compartment on wash day for you to toss in your washable clothes. The Compartment Cleaners, with any help they could get, were responsible for taking the bags to the Laundry. The clothes were brought back the same day clean, but wrinkled. Each item of work clothing had your named stenciled on a specific visible area. These allowed the Compartment Cleaner to sort and distribute the clothing to your bunk. For any reason you owned a shirt or dungarees with some other name on it, you took it to the Master at Arms Shack and he’d stencil DC (Deserters Cloths) over the name and you’d re-stencil your name. Work clothes were worn the way they came from the laundry. Most sailors had an Iron to press their Dress Whites and Blues or they spread a set between the mattress and the canvass bunk bottom (no springs)and slept on them for a couple of days. Civilian Cleaner Trucks were available daily on the pier. You could take your Dress Blues or Whites to them, or slip a little change to one of the underpaid seamen in the laundry for some after hours pressing.
Sailors that worked in the Laundry and the Ships Store were part of the Supply Department, but had no career pattern. They could not advance beyond Seaman as long as they stayed in those positions. There was no Ship Serviceman Rate. Actually in those years there were no civilians working in the Commissaries or the Naval Exchange they were staffed by sailors.
The Ballasting System Valves (the Colonial’s Main Battery) were designed to be operated electrically by Push Buttons from Ballast Control. The valves electric motors were all out of commission, each valve was manned by two R-Division sailors receiving orders by Sound Powered Phone from Ballast Control on when to open or close the valves. There were no Repair Funds for the Shipyard to repair the system. The system was completely restored by the Colonial’s Electrical Division in by 1950., thanks to a First Class Electricians Mate named Thiele
The Ship had two major operations each year, “Spring Board” in the Caribbean in April and “Cold Weather” at Labrador in October/ November. Both these were full Fleet Exercises with Battle Ships, Cruisers, Destroyers Air Craft Carriers and Amphibious Ships.
SPRING BOARD
The Colonial got underway shortly after the Holidays for Spring Board preparations. We steamed to Little Creek Amphibious Base VA.and loaded Landing Craft, LCM, M Boats, LCVPs’ along with their crews. Then down to Morehead City to take on a Marine Engineering Battalion. The Marines pretty well filled all the Troop Spaces. The Troops kept busy during the transit working on their gear and sometimes providing working parties for the ship. They pretty much kept to them selves. The Chow Lines got long and Movie seats were at a premium. The Marines were dropped off at Vieques and Puerto Rico.
The rest of the time until Spring Board started in April was a Caribbean Cruise. We visited numerous ports picking up and transporting support personnel and cargo for Spring Board. We had a lot of time in port. The ship was on Tropical Hours, the Work Day started at 0600 hours with Liberty starting at Noon, the crew had lots of time to visit and play on the beautiful Islands of the Caribbean.
In April the ship would join the Fleet and take part in the Bombardment and Landing at Vequies. The Colonial probably fired the 5”/38 twice and broke all the light bulbs in the compartment below. The Amphibious Exercise lasted 3 or 4 days after which the ship cruised around picking up cargo and troops for transport back to where we loaded them. The ship arrived back at Norfolk in early May.
The time between Spring Board and Cold Weather was pretty slow. The ship spent a lot of time tied up at the Escort Piers.
There were occasional local Landing Exercises off Little Creek and Morehead City, also trips hauling Barges, Camels, and Yard Craft up and down the East Coast. Barges and Camels were not a favorite cargo. They were seldom out of the water so their bottoms accumulated clusters of Mussels and Barnacles, after a few days in the dry Well Deck the smell would get pretty powerful. A breeze from Aft would carry the odor forward and up to the Living Quarters.
COLD WEATHER LANDING
The Cold Weather Operation in Labrador/New Foundland in October-November was also a full Fleet Exercise terminating with a joint Amphibious Landing on Labrador by US and Canadian Armed Forces. Storms were frequent and seas were always rough the Colonial bounced around a lot. The initial stowage and securing of Landing Craft, Vehicles, and Cargo was accomplished by the Deck Division. Occasionally troop personnel would loosen the tie downs. Things would start rolling around in the Well Deck so the Deck Division would have to re-secure the cargo under some pretty hazardous conditions.
The ship made Port Calls at Argentina New Foundland and Halifax Nova Scotia. A tragedy happened as the Fleet sailed back to Norfolk, the Aircraft Carrier Wasp collided with the Destroyer Hobson and cut her in two with a heavy loss of life on the Hobson.
The Colonial ran aground in 1949. We were Ballasting down Underway entering the harbor at Morehead City preparing to load Marines and Landing craft for some local exercise. The ship hit something and came to a stop; luckily the water in the Well Deck surged forward and lifted the stern over whatever it hit freeing the ship. The ship had hit an uncharted Sand Bar and seriously damaged both Propellers. The ship limped back to Norfolk with heavy vibration doing the best speed it could, about 5 Knots. Later in Drydock at Portsmouth VA we had a look at the propellers they resembled a couple of Tulips, surprisingly none of the blades had broken off. There were no repercussions as far as the crew knew; at least no Officers were relieved.
The last week of June 1950 and the first week of July the Colonial crew swelled to its full complement of around 350 Officers and Crew. It was quite a shock to the “Old Timers onboard” it almost seemed like these people appeared over night. The new people were World War ll Inactive Reserves. They were a bitter bunch, having their lives interrupted again. They had no expectations of being called up before the Active Reserve unless the country was at war.
The new crew members hardly had time to stow their gear before the Colonial set sail for San Diego via the Panama Canal. The most memorable event of that transit wasn’t the Panama Canal; it was when the ship hove too a few miles off Point Loma and seaman were put over the side on stages to touch up the paint before the ship continued into San Diego Bay.
This was pretty much the routine for the Colonial during 1948 ,1949, and the early months of 1950.