Our period in Guam was highly successful, in terms of work accomplished as well as being a welcome break from the routine of the transit. We arrived at eh entrance of the harbor in company with IMPLICIT on the stroke of our estimated time of arrival, and proceeded directly to the fuel piers to offload our diesel oil in preparation for entering drydock the following day. Preliminary liaison began immediately with the Ship Repair Facility, which was to handle the repairs we had requested. By the time we had completed our offload of fuel and ammunition and moved to the main pier area, we had made all preparations for the beginning of work in the morning. Liberty call, when it was finally put down, came with a feeling of satisfaction at a fine transit.

We set the sea detail the next morning at 0815, and moved with a help of a tug into the well of USS ARCO, a floating drydock. IMPLICIT moved in astern of us, the gates were closed, and the process of pumping the water out of the dock was started. As the dock rose under us, the ship settled onto large wooden blocks which ad been carefully placed beforehand, and by noontime we were sitting high and dry, with work already commencing in a number of places throughout the ship. All of the normal housekeeping services usually provided by the ship itself, were hooked up from the drydock, including steam pressure, fresh water, fire main pressure, electricity, and compressed air.

It has been a consederable time since the ship was last in drydock, and one of the major tasks was to clean the barnacles and marine life from the bottom, sandblast the hull, and repaint all of the underworks. A scaffold was erected around the ship, and work was started as soon as the hull was dry. The crew spent the first two days delivering materials to be worked on to the various shops around the base, and in helping the yard workers to locate and begin work on the jobs which would be done aboard ship. We also continued with our own cleaning and painting program, making full use of the availability of air-powered tools. Shipyard are noisy places, generally, and our stay in the drydock was no exception.

All of our time was not spent working, however, and most personnel too the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time away from the ship. Guam is a small island, the farthest west of all outright U.S. possessions. It was ceded to the United States by Spain as a result of the Spanish- American war, and except for a brief period during World War II, when it was occupied by the Japanese, has remained with us since. The people on the island are of a mixed Polynesian background, known as Chamorro, and the major industry is tourism. Guam is extremely popular as a resort area for the Japanese. The southern end of the island is hilly, while the northern is flat, and the surrounding reef provides fine opportunities for skin diving. Transportation is a problem, however, and there are no highly developed population centers, so most personnel found themselves taking advantage of the recreation facilities which were available on the base.

The primary of these is Gab Gab Beach, which fronts on the harbor. There is a small swimming area, and facilities are provided for cookouts. Trucks were run from the ship each day during the afternoon to allow off-duty personnel to get there, and the last truck back at 1800 could always count on finding eight or ten waiting for a ride. You may notice that I have not mentioned the weather. It has been so uniformly good for the past month and a half that it has almost ceased to be a matter of thought for us.

Our second weekend in Guam was spent participating in a divisional slow-pitch softball tournament. The first game with IMPLICIT on Saturday featured two home runs by Eddie Borgnino, fine pitching by Roger Hines, and a generally fine team effort in a five-run victory. Commodore Peterson was the umpire, and although it cannot be said that there were no arguments, those that we did have were necessarily short-lived. The game with the DYNAMIC for the divisional championship on Sunday was not so successful, however, and we came out on the short end of a 9-7 score. Immediately after the game all personnel retired to Gab Gab Beach, where the cooks prepared a cook-out dinner, and beer provided by the welfare and recreation committee was disposed of in short order.

The ball games were only one attempt at adding a measure of physical fitness to our lives while in Guam. Our in-port day began each morning during the week at 0735 with quarters held on the pier. After mustering and passing the word were completed, a short warmup period was held, followed by a short run to get the circulation going for the day. Work on board began at 0800 and went on until 1115, when dinner was served. The previous day's duty section was granted liberty at 1130, and most spent the afternoon at the beach, bowling, or taking trips on the island. The remainder of the ship's company worked until 1500, when liberty was called away for the other section not on duty. The Club Mocambo, right on the base provided the major source of entertainment, with movies, shows, and a game room.

Our stay in Guam provided us with the opportunity to make many repairs which had become necessary during the course of the transit, and also to do many other jobs in the "nice to have done" category. The repair people from the shipyard were extremely helpful, and the entire ship's company did a tremendous amount of work while we were there. We remained in the drydock until Monday, March 31, when once again the water was let in and we were towed to a position alongside the pier. This was the national day of mourning for the passing of former President Eisenhower, and only essential work was carried out after the move was completed. We spent eh remainder of our time in Guam completing last minute preparations to break in equipment which had been completely overhauled. We left Guam on the morning of Friday April 4, with a feeling of great satisfaction.

Our next port was to be Subic Bay, in the Philippine Islands, and after two weeks away from the routine the at sea time was a pleasant change. We spent the Easter weekend relaxing with holiday routine, holding services on Sunday morning as we do every week at sea. The weather was hot, but we were unable to put up the swimming pool because of the necessity for carrying the blob on the fantail with our spare fuel. The swimming pool, which we expect to use during the next two months, is essentially a large canvas bag which we string up on the fantail and fill with sea water from the firemain system. It was sewn together by Boatswain's Mate Jim Trehan, and worked well in the one trial we were able to give it on the way in to Guam, though it's impossible to do much more in it than sit and be wet.

We continued with our painting work topside during the transit, and spent considerable time in cleaning up the ship after the people who had tracked all through it during the yard period. Evenings were spent with movies, cards, letters, and bingo, with the jackpot, which had been building up since our departure from Long Beach. Doc Henri continued with his soda sales, and the operations department ran the popcorn machine in the galley each evening. The welfare and recreation committee has put down an initial investment in the popcorn machine and soda, and returns are used to replenish the supplies as they run out.

By pushing our speed a bit, we were able to arrive in Subic Bay during the late afternoon on Thursday, April 10. We spent the day on Wednesday transiting through the central islands and around the many fishing and local craft which we observed. Many fishermen were seen, in their small, kayak-like boats with outriggers, and some displayed their catches to us as we passed close aboard. On Thursday morning we passed close to the entrance of Manila Bay and saw the island of Corregidor. This was the last outpost maintained by the United States before the Japanese Army took the Philippines in the early part of World War II, and was the place at which General MacArthur said "I shall return" as he was evacuated along with the last of the Americans.

Our landing at Subic Bay was made difficult by the number of ships in the area, and the tightness of our berth, but we were in and safely tied up by 1640. The standard briefings were held concerning the port regulations, and liberty call was held for all but the duty section. Having had such a successful visit to Guam in terms of work, we decided to use all available time here for liberty, and it was granted to all hands at 0900 each morning. Olongapo City has been famous for some time as something of a counterpart to Tijuana, but it was found that things have calmed down considerably since the ship's last visit last year. Many went there, and still others took the opportunity to go to Manila, about three hours away by bus, for a day. The base also provided excellent recreational facilities, and we were afforded our first chance to take advantage of some of the famous bargains which are available in the Western Pacific at the foreign exchange. Goods of foreign manufacture, such as cameras, tape recorders, and Filipino wood carvings, are available at fine savings, and many huge boxes were lugged aboard during our stay.

We left Subic Bay on Tuesday at noon, and have been transitting since to our patrol area, where we expect to arrive in the morning. We stopped the ship in the middle of the South China Sea yesterday afternoon, and all personnel being advanced in rate were treated to the traditional dunking in the ocean that goes with a new "crow" or stripe.

As I said at the beginning, we are currently making preparations to assume our patrol duties.

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