The War Diary of Cpl H. Fletcher Davidson, USMC
ON THE USS DEKALB,
THE VOYAGE TO FRANCE
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Dec 7th -
Packed sea bags and all equipment loaded ready to shove off in the morning.
[ Packed equipment and loaded it on freight cars. ]
Dec 8th -
Left Quantico before daylight in snow storm and detrained in Newport News about 4 PM. Spent night in loading ship.
Dec 9th -
Reveille at 3:45 AM. Train left Quantico at 6:30 for Newport News. Coaled ship, the U.S. De Kalb, at the mouth of James River.
Dec 10th -
Left Newport News about 8:30 AM and pulled into lower harbor, N.Y. late that night.
Dec 11th-13th -
Lay aboard De Kalb in N.Y. harbor [ Tompkinsville ] awaiting the formation of the convoy.
Dec 14th -
Left N.Y. [ 8:45 PM ] for France. De Kalb, acting cruiser, and North Carolina [battleship] escorting six other transports. De Kalb was the old famous German raider, Prinz Eitel Fredrick.
Dec 15th-20th -
Spent on high seas. Have not been seasick at all and have been enjoying trip fine. [ Night of 20th saw a rainbow made by moon. ]
Dec 21st-22nd -
Two days spent in target practise. The gunners on the De Kalb make fine scores, being some of the best gunners in the world.
Dec 24th -
North Carolina has disappeared in the night and a fleet of [ 8 ] destroyers now accompany us. [ Christmas eve had a fake sub alarm. ]
Dec 26th -
Convoy splits, three transports [ the President Lincoln, the Princess Irene and Pocahontas ] turn to the north headed for Brest. We head for St. Nazaire.
Dec 27th -
Were lined up for belated Xmas dinner when siren blew. Submarine sighted hard on starboard bow. Rushed to my station in time to see periscope bob up under our stern and had a fine post from which to observe the well aimed shots with which De Kalb sank the submarine. The destroyers circled and dropped depth bombs. Later reported finding dead Germans floating on water. Land sighted while eating dinner which proved to be Bell Isle. Mainland sighted soon after. Pulled into harbor at sunset. [ De Kalb fired 3 shots from forward guns and 5 shots from the stern guns. Dropped anchor near mouth of Loire River. ]
Dec 28th -
Sail up river through beautiful scenery and harbor outside of dock locks.
Dec 29th -
Go through locks with afternoon tide and dock. Start unload ship immediately.
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