The Daily Alaska empire., 1945-10-26

4 v USS Panamint, flag ship or lucky ship" of the North Pacific Fleet, now 1 lying in dock at the Support in Ju- neau is enough to impress even a landlubber.
 According to the ships official diary, the 460-foot vessel on which 40 officers and $50 men arrived here Wednesday to celebrate Fleet Week and Navy Day, has more than ample reason for it's special designation, Lucky Ship of the Fleet"
 Not only does the Panamint's per i formance during the war justify such a claim, but her record was made against a background of per sonal data that would have spelled bad omens, and plenty of them to i the oldtime seafarer.
 HolU Name DeriUed
 The name "Panamint' itself is derived from the Panamint Noun tain Range which overlooks Death Valley and faces Funeral Mountain Range. Added to the fact that the flag ships number is the portentous "l3", is the date she was scheduled for commissioning the 13, and the location of her office during ! commissioning days-1300 Park Avenue, Hoboken, N. J.
 Yet despite these portents, the Panamint has the following record during her one year as commis- stoned U. s. Navy vessel, briefly Crossing the Equator twice and the dateline four times, she's travelled lmCre than 30,000 miles in two oceans, the Atlantic and Pacific. She spent 76 days in Okinawa without receiv- | ing a scratch. She successfully evaded bombs, torpedoes, Kamikaze planes, and suicide boats. There has never been a fatality among her crew members.
 Besides her official logbook full of facts and figures in Navy's formal language, the Panamint has her own personal unofficial and strict , ly private log, or more aptly diary Rotations entered in this manual give the following personal facts about the largest of the three ships now visiting Juneau.
 Commissioned Captain Woods officially takes over the Panamint October IA, l944, the commissioning pennant is hoist ed, the watch is set and We begin our sea duty aboard the GO 13. But we remain firmly secured to the dock in Hoboken.
 Oct. 28-Under way for Norfolk, Va, after a brief training voyage and many New York liberties We're sailors now, no land to be seen un- til we reach Norfolk.
 Nov 7-Weighed anchor and head ed southward for the Panama Canal. We observe Armistice Day enroute to the Pacific Theatre of War.
 Nov 13-Brief stop and liberty in l Colon. For purposes of the log that's enough to say The next day pleas ant and interesting trip through the Panama Canal, where the Pacific Ocean lies east of the Atlantic '. and the Executive Officers an- nouncement that San Francisco is our next port of call"
 Nnv Iyo o,,;,,o nEo,o roiz a. T which, with Hunters Point, will be our home for more than a month Mare Island means Vallejo, Sacra- mento and Frisco
 Head For Action
 Jan. 4, 1945--With Rear Admiral L. F. Reifsnider, Commander Am phibious Group Four and his staff aboard we weigh anchor for Pearl Harbor. Enroute we make a futile search for plane reported down
 January 10-Arrive at Pearl Har- bor We make our first liberty in Honolulu with its souvenir shops, it's tatto artists, it's gaudy Waikiki Beach. its spectacular Pai and its beautiful weather Two and a half weeks of this for us, punctuated by brief training cruise.
 January 28-Weighed anchor and out to sea, headed west and south. This is it; we're headed for action.
 February I've cross the Inter- national Dateline about 1515 and instantly it becomes tomorrow" February 2, at the same time. We cross at about degrees north lati- tude and it's hot
 February 4-During the night we cross the Equator
 February 5-All 'pollywogs' and that means most of us, are mustered and King Neptune takes over the ship With it's trusty "shellbacks" he initiates us into his realm and we become members of the Ancient Order of the Deep" Now we know what third degree. means. The ceremony gives some of us pain in the CT neckSi
 At Guddalcandl