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morning. They didn’t constitute the entire complement for an escort carrier’s crew, but more men were ¤ltering in every day. Daily’s pay records showed that their hometowns dotted every corner of the nation. Some came from America’s coastal cities—New York, Seattle, Miami, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Portland, and San Diego. Others arrived from the heartland—Birmingham, Cleveland, Omaha, Topeka, Minneapolis , Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, and Salt Lake City. But for every New York there was a Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, a St. Maurice, Louisiana, a Spur, Texas, or a Pine Hill, Alabama. Some claimed just rural route numbers. Some hometowns were not even in the United States. Cook Third Class Gabriel M. Mansapit hailed from Guam, while Seaman Paul P. Rocha’s parents lived in Nueva Laredo, Mexico. But regardless of their hometowns, accents, or color of skin, they were all prepared to close ranks to face a common foe somewhere over the western horizon. Shouted orders sent the crew’s formation peeling off the ¤eld and onto a roadway. With seabags balanced on their shoulders, the crewmen of Liscome Bay headed for Astoria and the new ®oating home that awaited them. Once pierside, they formed into long, snaking lines to board the carrier towering above them. Picking their way through unfamiliar passages , they found their quarters, broke open their bags, donned their dress uniforms, and then headed topside to the ®ight deck. On the ®ight deck, the ship’s company fell into formation again as the navy formally commissioned Liscome Bay and welcomed her into the Paci¤c Fleet. A scant eight months had passed since her keel had been laid in Vancouver. On the other side of the Paci¤c, in Japanese shipyards, it would almost be another year before the carriers intended to replace Japan’s losses at Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal would hit the water. From his signal station at the ship’s bridge, Beasley watched the ceremonies. “Very impressive,” the North Carolina native later wrote.28 Despite their new home, the crew of Liscome Bay quickly found out that they were little closer to sea than they had been at Tongue Point. For nearly four weeks the ship remained dockside as its crew transformed the carrier into a veritable ®oating city. Its of¤cers and sailors loaded stores, opened galleys and mess halls, started up the ship’s laundry room, post of¤ce, barbershop, and ship’s store, and stocked and prepared the 30 / Chapter 2 carrier’s operating room and sick bay for its ¤rst patients. Constructed as only the second vessel in a brand-new class of warship, Liscome Bay and her interior compartments and passageways represented uncharted territory for each member of her crew. Though a relatively small carrier, she was still a new ship, and it took several days for her of¤cers and sailors to ¤nd their way around. Atop her ®ight deck, three-fourths of the way to the ship’s bow and on the starboard side of the deck, stood the carrier’s island. This fourstory structure housed Liscome Bay’s bridge, ®y control station, and steering station, essentially doubling as a ®ight control tower. Below the ®ight deck lay the gallery deck. It ran for only approximately the front quarter of the carrier but was packed with such stations and compartments as the ship’s air plot, radar plot, radio rooms, coding room, captain’s and executive of¤cer’s staterooms and cabins, junior of¤cers’ bunk room, and catapult machinery room. The upper deck, located beneath the gallery deck, was home to “of¤cers’ country,” where the ship’s of¤cers lived. The hangar deck, which provided covered storage for the aircraft of the ship’s aircraft squadron and a maintenance area for their crews, was located aft as well as below the upper deck. The ship¤tters’ shop was also found on this deck. Below the hangar deck lay the so-called second deck, sitting just barely above the waterline. This was home to the crew’s quarters, the sick bay, the medical of¤cer’s of¤ce, the damage control of¤ce, the of¤cers ’ wardroom, and the chief petty of¤cers’ mess. The ¤rst platform deck lay below the second deck—beneath the waterline. More of¤cer wardrooms, the electricians’ workroom, the generator room, the steering gear, the ammunition magazine for the 5-inch gun, and the forward machinery spaces were found on this deck. Finally, at the very...

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