Show COME ABOARD the philippine SEA series of articles article 8 by first t of 0 a firs who was epperson albert bert W of 0 th the e navy recently guest cruise in tile the pacific aboard the observer canha ilan a philippine sea one of the aircraft criers carriers it yo rrt larger it 81 privilege privilege lege to experience one fis shows allows ot of modern the greatest which lett left me with a sense ls as to americas Amerl Ameri cAs cai might i security and I 1 in n the air sell tte the 62 utah publishers other lith n etli I 1 10 two lo si 4 oa Gal stord isford ot of A merican american pork fork ro ot of spring d gard arlson sOll conover M dou don eck general manar mana A ad d dile acla chicago wo we boarded the rom from dg the evening of nov 12 pl sea on i a flie die day cruise oft off the coast sail agn diego invitation of vice admiral oa 00 the commander of 0 the r L sprague sprae pacific fleet we were ir force aboard the philippine sea bests capt ira hobbs commanding decer or of the vessel we board the ship boarding the ship at north la Is were shown to our rooms lud re e ial a had bad our evening meal in the ard room officers mess that we saw a picture show with the crew on oil the hanger deck and later went to our quarters tor for our first sleep aboard the carrier it was vas my good fortune to be a roommate room mate ot of lemar C R IL rocher a veteran ot of 23 jears years in the navy though only 13 43 years 0 of age had enlisted as a seaman and came up the hard way receiving ills his ensigns commission commissi oll la in 1941 at present an air officer hla his thorough gh knowledge ot of all phases of 0 carri carrier ei night flight operations fits him as one of tile the most valuable well men aboard A native of ohio rocher had married a utah gill from salina so we had a lot to talk about ile he was most helpful in getting our party adjusted to life aboard and seeing to it that we miss any of the big show lets set the stage before going further I 1 must tell you about the philippine sea so that the stage may be set up tor for the story that Is to follow the keel of the phil sea an essex class carrier tons was laid aug 19 1944 in the quincy mass lass shipyard she was launched on sept 5 1915 and commissioning took place at the U S naval dry docks south doston boston mass may 11 1946 in june the ship went vent to quonset point IL I 1 for initial training upon return fiam training in the caribbean 1 she embarked on the navys 1 antarctic expedition in the thel antarctic region of the south pacific 1 rear admiral richard IC I 1 byrd and his party were flown from the ship to begin their polar explorations from little america acts as trainer much aluch of the time from 1947 to 1949 the philippine sea spent in the Medi and during the winter of 1960 1950 she operated from her base at quonset point in a training demonstration capacity with the outbreak of war in korea the philippine sea was ordered to pearl harbor on july 5 with air group eleven embarked leav ing pearl harbor she sailed for or the vestern pacific reaching okinawa on aug 4 the philippine sea sailed into action off korea as flagship of task force 77 on aug 5 6 since that day the ship was relentlessly engaged in launching air strikes t to 0 rain thousands of 0 tons of bombs pockets lockets and napalm on strategic targets during a day and a night ot of operations as ay many as aa sor ties have been launched from this carrier except for time out to rearm or refuel or repair for brief brict periods the philippine sea was waa in action continuously throughout the korean campaign coming home from the korean war alter after 11 months of combat duty the carrier set a new pacific record from Yoko suka japan to san francisco in sev seven on days and 13 hours an average ot of knots to ile be continued |