November 25, 1945

25 _____ This morning we had Mass in after messing space _ also again this afternoon _ not much doing _ we cross date line between 2100 & 2400 _ day went back to 24th of Nov. Which makes it Sat. Night.

25 _____ Since today is Sun again we had Mass in after messing space at 900 & again at 1400. Not much doing. Weather still very cold & windy.
_________

Joe made two entries for the 25th because of crossing the date line. Interesting that it happened on a Sunday and therefore they had religious services/mass two days in a row.

Photo shows one of the Mobile's signalmen.

November 24, 1945

24 _____ time went back another hour today at 1900 which makes us ___ hours dif than west coast time _ will cross date line tomorrow. Still very cold.
_______

Photo shows the Mobile's final "scorecard." The flag symbols on the left are airplanes. The diagonal stripes probably represent battles, since the Mo received eleven battle stars.

November 23, 1945

23 _____ Not much today except movie in messing space at 1300 & again at 1830. Not much work on ship because of sick bay sick. over 100 fellows have disenterry _ I have a slite case.
_____ Ship today ____ N. on ___ M. at ____ heading for Frisco.
_________

Photo shows the Mobile at sea.

November 22, 1945

22 _____ Weather still getting very cold _ time went back another hour so its now ___ dif. then west Coast. Expect to be there by 1st of Dec. Had new point system out _ will let me out by Dec. 15. So this is really my last trip. 34 men from 1st Div. getting out & 2 getting New Constriction. first Div will have 18 left.
____ ship today ____ N. at ___ M. at ___
_____ Still getting very cold _ time change at 1900

_________

Photo shows Mobile's machine shop.

November 21, 1945

21 _____ Weather wasn't to[o] bade today _ getting very windy heard were going to keep two guns manned during the trip. Movies this afternoon at 1300 & again at 1830 in Messing space. First div. was force to give up compartment for sick Bay because of wide spread of Disenterry about 50 cases.
_____ Ship today _____ N.

_________

Joe may still have been leaving these blank for security reasons, but likely he just meant to fill the information in later and forgot. I suspect with the end of his service in sight, he wasn't as motivated to fill in details.

Photo is of the homebound pennant catching the breeze. Each end was attached to the bow and stern so that it flew out sideways from the ship.

November 20, 1945

20 _____ Today was pertly nice day, the weather was really nice sun out most of the day.
_____ At 1400 this afternoon the ship was about 100 miles from the entrance to T_____ Bay, we pass between four islands called (_____ Shima). we are now traveling North east & this alto be the last bit of land we see for about ten days.
_____ At 1600 we sighted a ship & it pass in front of our bow just a few hundred yards.
_____ At 1700 time well be setting a head one hour which will still make _______ different then our west coast time.
_________

The letter T actually looks like an L or a C, but following the coordinates given the previous day, the islands mentioned are those strung out south of Tokyo, so likely the letter is an uncrossed T and Joe meant Tokyo Bay.

The islands were likely Oshima and Toshima (pictured), which are right outside Tokyo Bay. The other islands in the vicinty are Niijima and Shikine.

alto = ought to

Joe probably meant to go back and fill in how many hours each time the time changed, but he never did.

November 19, 1945

19 _____ I started the day off with a 2400 to 400 watch. Only four forty Mil. guns are being mand for a few days till we get clear of the area where we might run into a mine field.
_____ This morning we saw the last of the Jap islands _ one was a high volcano with smoke coming out of it. At 900 we turned out & we haven't seen land all day _ heard were pulling into San Franscisco or San Diego eather the 1st or 2nd of Dec.
_____ Today we holly stoned the deck _ the weather is pretty good so far _ we was out most of the day but the wind was a little cold. The ship is going as far as 47° north.
_____ Right now we seem to be traveling south east.
(260 days out of states)

[written in bottom margin across 2 pages:] at 1200 ship was 5000 miles from Frisco—31°North on 132 M. at 2200 ship was 31°N 135 M.
_______

The Japanese islands are dotted with volcanos, so it's hard to know which one Joe meant. Pictured are two such volcanoes on the island Hachijo-Jima.

Holly stoned = holystoned. As said before, this was a soft sandstone used to scrub and whiten the decks.

The Mobile followed the Japan current, which moves clockwise around the Pacific. They went southeast first to clear the Japanese islands and get out into the Pacific.