Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.
NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
AP-22 Mount Vernon
Cruise Book 1941 to 1946
Page 10Contributed by Robert E. Houle, CM2c, SSMT1c
All images in this section are taken from the cruise book. Narrative has been transposed and added to the photos where appropriate.
Click on Thumbnail Image to See Enlarged Picture
Glazed with ice and cutting through the freezing winds of the North Atlantic, the 'Mount Vernon' at last found her course plotted for New York and home. But the trip was to be interrupted. Through the fog came the distress signals of a burning Norwegian tanker. The homeward course was altered as preparations for rescue began. Blow torches were needed to melt the ice holding the lifeboats to the davits. Fire and Rescue crews assembled their equipment. Fog was hugging the surface of the water and sleet was driving against the decks as the burning vessel came into view. For two hours the 'Mount Vernon' stood by, leaving only after assistance was on the way in the form of Coast Guard rescue ships.
Entry into New York harbor was made in the early morning; special sea details were set at 0200 and for four hours the crew shivered while ice-covered tugs maneuvered the ship up the ice-jammed harbor and alongside Pier 51.
New York became a city of individual memories for the men of the 'Mount Vernon'. Its size swallowed them up in the afternoon and separated them until morning. Here at last they found liberties suitable to every taste. Of course they saw the sights of the city--the Empire State Building, Radio City, and Times Square, but they saw them alone or in groups of two or three, not in the large parties which grew in smaller and stranger ports.
Legitimate theaters augmented the movie programs; music and museum tours were available.To the sea-wary men of the ship, however, it was countless small bars, the dinner in scattered restaurants, the bawdy floor shows of the night clubs, the horse-drawn buggies in Central Park that at last formed their memories of New York.
One steward's mate shifted his weight uneasily from one foot to the other as he stood before the captain at mast. The captain briefly scanned the charge sheet, rubbed his chin, and looked threateningly at the man.
'Your're charged with being absent over leave. What have you to say for yourself?'
'I missed the subway, suh.'
When the man further explained that his home was in Harlem the captain gasped, and re-examined the charge sheet. He must have misread it, but no, there it was in black print. . . 'Absent over leave for a period of 'three days, 17 hours, and 45 minutes.'.'
More than four years had passed since that day in San Francisco when Navy crews first came aboard the 'Mount Vernon'--years spent in constant sailing, as a connecting link between ports throughout the world.
Through the sub-infested waters of a world at war she logged the amazing total of 363,000 mile of travel. On her decks and through her passageways have teemed more than 315,000 troops, casualties, prisoners, and refugees--bound for the fighting fronts or returning home from the realities of war.
The end of hostilities did not complete the task of the 'Mount Vernon'. Her duty as one of the Navy's largest transports became the returning of millions of victorious troops home-- a fitting task to close her naval career.
Coming years will change her appearance and de-commissioning will begin the metamorphosis that will cover the dull Navy gray with white and black brilliance. new thousands of passengers in the future will enjoy the pleasures of peace time voyages. But they will not know the real 'Mount Vernon'.
It will be the sweating, milling soldiers whom she carried to the extremities of the earth, the grim veterans whom she returned home, the men who tended her boilers in the heat of the Pacific, the men who manned her guns in the gray chill of the Atlantic dawn, men whose comradeship and indomitable spirit found in her intangible personality which shaped their existence__ it will be these who will have known the 'USS Mount Vernon', and who will call her memory blest. . . "
ROUND THE WORLD TRIP
2 June to 31 March 1942
San Francisco, California, USA Addu Atoll, Maldive Islands
Balboa, Canal Zone Singapore
Colon, Panama Aden, Arabia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Suez, Egypt
New York City, New York, USA Aden, Arabia
Norfolk, Virginia, USA Colombo, Ceylon
Halifax, Nova Scotia Freemantle, Australia
Trinidad, BWI Adelaide, Australia
Cape Town, Union of South Africa Wellington, New Zealand
Mombassa, Kenya Colony, Africa San Francisco, California, USA
PACIFIC CRUISES
22 April to 8 June 1942 20 January to 20 February 1943
San Francisco, California, USA San Francisco, California, USA
Adelaide, Australia San Diego, California, USA
San Francisco, California, USA Auckland, New Zealand
16 June to 30 June 1942 San Francisco, California, USA
San Francisco, California, USA 10 March to 21 April 1943
Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands San Francisco, California, USA
San Francisco, California, USA San Diego, California, USA
24 July to 1 September 1942 Noumea, New Caledonia
San Francisco, California, USA Melbourne, Australia
Wellington, New Zealand Wellington, New Zealand
Auckland, New Zealand Auckland, New Zealand
Sydney, Australia San Diego, California, USA
San Francisco, California, USA San Francisco, California, USA
6 September to 18 September 1942 9 May to 11 June 1943
San Francisco, California, USA San Francisco, California, USA
Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands Sydney, Australia
San Francisco, California, USA Auckland, New Zealand
24 September to 2 November 1942 San Francisco, California, USA
San Francisco, California, USA 21 June to 26 August 1943
Auckland, New Zealand San Francisco, California, USA
Sydney, Australia Sydney, Australia
Wellington, New Zealand Auckland, New Zealand
San Francisco, California, USA Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands
5 November to 17 November 1942 Sydney, Australia
San Francisco, California, USA San Francisco, California, USA
Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands 19 September to 21 October 1943
San Francisco, California, USA San Francisco, California, USA
25 November to 27 December 1942 San Diego, California, USA
San Francisco, California, USA Noumea, New Caledonia
San Pedro, California, USA San Francisco, California, USA
Noumea, New Caledonia 6 November to 10 December 1943
Suva, Fiji San Francisco, California, USA
San Francisco, California, USA Sydney, Australia
San Francisco, California, USA
13 January to 17 February 1944
San Francisco, California, USA
Milne Bay, New Guinea
San Francisco, California, USA
21 February to 22 March 1944
San Francisco, California, USA
San Pedro, California, USA
Melbourne, Australia
Bombay, India
Melbourne, Australia
Balboa, Canal Zone
Colon, Panama
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
ATLANTIC TRIPS
4 June to 20 June 1944 8 February to 27 February 1945
Boston. Mass., USA New York City, New York, USA
Liverpool, England Liverpool, England
Boston, Mass, USA Boston, Mass., USA
2 July to 17 July 1944 6 March to 25 March 1945
Boston, Mass, USA Boston, Mass., USA
Liverpool, England Liverpool, England
Boston, Mass, USA Boston, Mass., USA
25 July to 10 August 1944 4 April to 24 April 1945
Boston, Mass, USA Boston, Mass., USA
Glasgow,Scotland Liverpool, England
Boston, Mass., USA Norfolk, Virginia, USA
18 August to 1 September 1944 29 April to 12 May 1945
Boston, Mass., USA Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Liverpool, England Oran, Algeria, Africa
Boston, Mass., USA Naples, Italy
11 September to 28 September 1944 New York City, New York USA
Boston, Mass., USA 28 June to 17 July 1945
Liverpool,England New York City, New York, USA
Boston, Mass., USA Naples, Italy
7 October to 24 October 1944 Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Boston, Mass., USA 22 July to 11 August 1945
Liverpool, England Norfolk, Virginia, USA
New York City, New York, USA Naples, Italy
4 November to 28 November 1944 Norfolk, Virginia, USA
New York City, New York, USA 21 August to 10 September 1945
Marseille, France Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Naples, Italy Naples, Italy
Oran, Algeria, Africa Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Boston, Mass., USA 16 September to 12 October 1945
10 December to 27 December 1944 Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Boston, Mass., USA Marseille, France
Liverpool, England Gibraltar
New York City, New York, USA Marseille, France
6 January to 27 January 1945 Norfolk, Virginia, USA
New York City, New York, USA 17 December 1945 to 3 January 1946
Marseille, France Norfolk, Virginia
Oran, Algeria, Africa Le Havre, France
New York City, New York, USA New York City, New York, USA
compiled by
ROBERT B. LYTLE, JR., Editor
ALFRED C. WOODWARD
PAUL F. X. HEARNES
JOHN W. WILLS
DAVID F. JOHNSON
RALPH GORDON
GUSTAV A. ABROLAT, Photographer
HARVEY C. MITCHELL, JR., Business Manager
This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
|
