USS Helena CA-75
1949 CRUISE BOOK
Pages 121 - 125
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NORTHERN CRUISE
During the afternoon of 6 April seventeen officers and 187 enlisted men of the Army and Air Force reported aboard the HELENA for temporary additional duty as participants in a Navy training cruise. The cruise was to be of two weeks duration with the majority of time spent in the vicinity of the island of Hokkaido. Short visits were made to three ports on the northern island.
The Army and Air Force personnel came from all parts of the island of Honshu, from as far south as Osaka and as far north as Misawa.
Promptly at 0900 on 7 April lines were cast off from Forrestal Causeway Pier and the Northern Cruise was under-way. A short distance outside Yokosuka Ko the AGAERHOLM (DD) and BAUSELL (DD) joined company with the HELENA. Firing exercises were scheduled for this date but low clouds and intermittent rain prevented the supporting aircraft from taking off, and the exercises were cancelled.
The ships continued northward and the temperature dropped. It was not uncommon to see a lookout clad in three or four pairs of trousers, numerous sweaters and all the socks that would fit in his shoes. The minimum temperature recorded was 33 degrees F, but many will insist that that reading should have been preceded by a minus sign.
Throughout the seventh and eighth the skies were overcast with occasional rain but the seas remained comparatively calm. The guests ate regularly and complained only of increasing waistlines.
Nemuro, the first port of call, was reached on Easter Sunday morning. The day was clear and bright but the wind, blowing off the snow and ice-covered shore, kept the temperature below the forty mark. Divine services were held for those of Catholic and Protestant faiths and the cooks presented the crew with a sumptous repast worthy of the occasion.
Nemuro is a fishing village with little in the way of diversion to offer a thousand active men, therefore no liberty call was sounded. The only item of interest is the large Kamchasso crabs which are obtained off-shore and canned in Nemuro canneries.
The following morning the ship left Nemuro for Tsuguru Strait, between Honshu and Hokkaido. Early on the eleventh the destroyers left the formation to visit Aomari and Ominato, seaports in the northern part of Honshu. The approach to Hakodate Ko was a beautiful and inspiring sight as the tall snow-covered peaks appeared through the morning mist. Hakodate is located on a peninsula in south western Hokkaido. The city spreads out to the eastward a distance of four or five miles along the base of a mountain, and narrows to a minimum width of about two miles along the peninsula.
In the main part of town several large department stores carry as great a variety of goods as a stateside chain drugstore. Most of the shops, however, were small and carried items of interest to Japanese only.
Hakodate's claim to fame, most in evidence, was fish. Fish were everywhere, hanging to dry in doorways, from windowledges, clotheslines and racks spread out on the ground, lying on tables and benches, in pathways and on the streets. Most every shop had fish to sell in one form or another: whole, filleted, sliced, dried, salted, smoked, pickled, strung in bunches like grapes, wrapped in seaweed, or pressed into cakes. Luckily, our visit preceded the coming of warm weather. Hakodate also produces the major portion of Japan's coal. As Hakodate. is the seaport closest to Honshu, railroad ferries haul large amounts of coal across the strait to Aomori whence it goes by rail to the principal cities of Honshu. It was interesting to watch these large multi-smoke stacked vessels as they glided by, belching forth vast clouds of black smoke.
Recreation facilities were non-existent and merchandise was limited and expensive. Liberty parties spent the day-light hours in sightseeing and picture taking. Few found cause to remain after dark. There were no complaints on the thirteenth when the HELENA rounded the southwestern tip of Hokkaido and started up the western coast toward Otaru.
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