As the Japanese ships left to return to port, the USS CURTIS WILBUR joined the carrier strike group as an escort destroyer. Our next assignment was to guard the carrier as it steamed through the South China Sea to Hong Kong. This would serve as another show of force in the region prior to conducting a major 7th Fleet port visit. My ship was not originally scheduled to participate in the port visit but plans changed at the last minute.
I was eager to see how Hong Kong compared to the other two major cities I had seen so far, Manila and Singapore. Each major city has it's own unique flavor and history. As we pulled into the harbor, I got the sense of just how big the city was. A mountain behind the city had been leveled to provide the concrete to build much of the city. Each building was progressively bigger and more ornate. The weather was quite miserable while we were pulling in, dense fog combined with sheeting rain. We were pulling in just ahead of a tropical storm. We anchored out in the harbor since there are no piers capable of supporting warships in Hong Kong. I doubt there will be any such piers anytime in the near future.
With the carrier and several other ships in port for liberty, I knew this was going to get wild. The number of liberty boats going back and forth made for some interesting maneuvering sometimes. I was interested in possibly spending a night in Hong Kong but since our plans had changed at the last minute, hotel rooms had doubled in price ahead of the fleet arrival. I decided not to spend that much money when I could still spend the night on the ship. That did not dissuade many of the crew in finding hotel rooms though.
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