MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS U

MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS U.S.S. NASSAU (CVE-16)

Introduction

Many who will read this book do not know or have the history of The U.S.S. Nassau (CVE-16), lovingly called, 'The Nasty Maru" or 'The Princess," which I compiled over 10 years ago from my own personal diary and other sources.

I will only touch on the high spots of the Nassau's history, very abbreviated, to say the least. The U.S.S. Nassau was built in Bremerton, Washington, and commissioned on August 20, 1942. She made her maiden voyage to Alameda, California on October 10, 1942, and set sail for Pearl Harbor arriving on October 20, 1942.

From October 27, 1942 until the Nassau arrived back at Pearl Harbor on February 14, 1943, she conducted flight operations at Noumea, New Caledonia, Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides and Viti Levu, Fiji Islands. There were also some flights over Guadalcanal.

At this time, also, the U.S.S. Nassau and the U.S.S. Enterprise were the only two carriers operating in the Pacific. The Lexington had been sunk in the Coral Sea on May 8, 1942; the Yorktown was sunk at the Battle of Midway on June 6, 1942; the Wasp was torpedoed supporting the Guadalcanal landings, with the Saratoga being torpedoed in the same e operation and the Hornet was lost the 27th of October 1942 at the Battle of Santa Cruz.

The U.S.S. Nassau (CVE-16) received Five Battle Stars for World War II service. The Aleutian Operation, 11-22 May, 1943; The Gilbert Island Operation, November 20-30, 1943; The Marshall Islands Operation, 29 January to 8 February, 1944; Western Caroline Islands Operation, 6 September - 14 October, 1944; and the Leyte Operation, October 11-19,1944.

Life aboard the Nassau revolved around General Quarters an hour before sunrise and an hour before sunset. The reason for these strange hours to be manning a 20mm gun (mine was the last one aft on the starboard side) was these hours in the day were the most dangerous, as it was at these times we could expect a submarine attack.

The in-between time was spent in mundane things, like Flight Operation, Sweeping the Deck, as well as the Flight Deck (for what reason escapes me as while we were under way there was not a speck of dirt to be found), each Division's Regular Chores, and time out in the afternoon to pay a visit to the ships store or the GE-Dunk Stand to have our favorite ice cream. Vanilla.

The vacation spot I served in was The Bake Shop, with four other doughheads, with temperatures around 100 degrees (and that was with all the ovens off) We baked about 250 pies and 800 loaves of bread a day, but some of the bread came up missing from the time it was baked to the time it was stored in the bread locker in the Mess Hall.

The culprits who committed the dastardly deed were the Torpedo Men on the Hanger Deck. They would purloin the bread, cut both ends of the loaf off and strain the torpedo juice (the alcohol that powered the torpedoes) through the bread, in hopes of getting the crotoun oil out of the alcohol so that they could have a party. Am I glad they didn't invite me as everyone of them came down with some kind of stomach disorder.

The Nassau always traveled in a Convoy, at the center, guarded by Destroyers (Tin Cans) that encircled us, and the sonar could pick up any sound of an enemy submarine.

The Destroyers, in those days, had very small Galleys and almost non-existent bake shops. Many times the Destroyers would come along side, and our ship would pass over to them, on the breeches buoy, fresh bread, ice cream and movies that we had seen three and fours times.

Life aboard the Nassau, most of the time, was lonely, and returning back to the States in one piece preoccupied our thoughts. Mail Call was the most important event that took place aboard ship as it was only when we made a port someplace that we received any mail at all. Many times the mail was forwarded, but many times we were there and gone, so it was sent to the next Port of Call, and so on.

The U.S.S. Nassau (CVE-16) was an Escort Aircraft Carrier in the U.S. Navy during World War II. This is an effort to preserve her memory and the memory of those who served on her so gallantly for love of their country.

Sam A. Moore, Executive Director U.S.S. Nassau (CVE-16) Association