Fifth Trip Overseas
Eight days was ample time to give half the crew a five-day leave, and five days’ leave gave many of the boys who lived within traveling distance of New York, an opportunity to see home again for a few days. It was at this time that the one-third fare rate was put into effect for soldiers and sailors on furlough and it is needless to say this greatly assisted many boys who did not have the full fare to reach home.
By evening, June 14th, all necessary supplies were loaded in our holds. Our quota of troops, this trip were as per the following list:
Troops, 10,423; 32d Engineers; 145th Infantry; 146th Infantry; 134th Machine Gun Battalion; 135th Machine Gun Battalion; Major General C. S. Farnsworth.
For thirty-six hours after leaving Ambrose Channel Light Ship, just outside of New York, we were escorted by one destroyer, submarines were busily engaged off our coast-line these days. After the destroyer left us we continued on our voyage in the customary manner, holding abandon ship drills each day and operating the water-tight door system to insure its being in perfect working order. The weather was extremely warm and as a consequence it was found necessary to allow the soldiers from the lower compartments to sleep on the outer decks.
On the 17th, at ten minutes to eleven in the morning, the Leviathan acted queerly, circling around in the smooth sea, which aroused the curiosity of all on board. This circling was caused by the steering apparatus going out of commission, but it was soon repaired.
We certainly expected to see more of “Fritz” than ever on this voyage, but not a solitary event occurred outside the daily routine. Brest, France, was reached on the morning of the 21st, troops and cargo were disembarked and we headed for sea once more on the 24th accompanied by four destroyers.
The return trip was interrupted once. The destroyers had left us after a day’s journey and no sooner had they done so when our gun-crews opened fire on a suspicious object astern of us. The destroyers by this time were on the horizon and hearing the firing of our guns proceeded to join us once more. Both number five and seven guns fired nine shots at the object sighted which disappeared immediately and we signaled to our destroyers that everything was O. K. and that we could proceed once more unescorted.
The weather for the remainder of the voyage was excellent. Fire Island Light Ship, which is thirty-two miles from Ambrose Channel, was sighted July 1st and in a few hours we were tied up at our pier in Hoboken with another trip to our credit.