All Hands Naval Bulletin - Sep 1943

8/4/2019 All Hands Naval Bulletin - Sep 1943

1/84


2/84


3/84

BUREAU OF

/NFORMAT/Off BULLET/N

SEPTEMBER 1943 NUMBER 31 8~~ ~

~.

REAR ADMIRAL RANDALL JACOBS, USNTh e Chief of Naval Personnel

REAR ADMIRA L L. E. DENPELD, USNT h e Assistant C hief o f Naval Personnel

Table of ContentsPage

Amphibians Reoccupy Kiska. . . . . . . 2Back in h eFirst Line . . . . . . . . . . . 6One U-Boat SunkEach Day . . . . . . . 8How to Abandon Ship . . . . . . . . . . . 10U. . S. Lafuyet teBegins to RightHerself . 13How W e Landed a t Amchitka. . . . . . . 16KulaGulf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Decorations and M ed also f the U.S. . . . . 22Photo-Paintings o f Nava l Leaders. . . . . 24The Navys Combat Artists. . . . . . . . 25Th e Tr ials of Lifesaving Equipment. . . 30Convalescence and Education. . . . . . . 31PublicationCheck List . . . . . . . . . . . 31Letters to he Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Ne w Names in the Navy . . . . . . . . . . 32Training Tip: Binoculars . . . . . . . . . 33Th e American Navyat Sicily . . . . . . . . 34Th e Months News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Navy Department Communiques . . . . . 56Italian: Short List of Wo rds and Phrases . 57New Books in Ships Libraries. . . . . . 59Decorations and Citations . . . . . . . . . 60BuPersBulletinBoard . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Naval Personnel directs attentionIn this Section, the Bureau of

to matters ofpa rticu lar interest andimportance to the service generally.

the section may be oun d on page 71.A separate index to the contents o

I I

,This magazine s published monthly n Washing ton,D. C., by the Bureau of Naval Personnel or th e

whole. Where eference is made to regulations,information and nterest of the Nav al Service as a

orders and directives, such reference is intended as

information nd doesnot omprise uthority foraction. The authority for action s the regulation,order or directive upon which the Bulletin article is

personnel ndividually, it is equested hat eadersbased. Because the magazine annot be urnished

pass along their copies to insure that all hand s willhave opportunity o ead each issue. All activitiesshould keep the Bureau informed f how many copiesare required. Ship and station papers are authorizedto eprint material as desired. Articles of gene ralinterest may be forwarded via official channels.

PASS THIS COPY ALONG

AFTER YO UHAVE READITI


4/84


5/84

JAPS RUN AWAY FROM FIGHT;AMPHIBIANSREOCCUPYKISKA

On 15 August United States andCanadian forces reoccupied Kiska.Men from a large amphibious fleet,assembled at Adak, jumped ashore,all set for battle. They found nobodyhome.

They ound quartermaster ware-houses bulging with clothing, food,fruit, vegetables, fish, ammunition,some big guns. They ound a signfrom the J apanese that s aid, in ffect,out o unch: On the wall of th emain Jap command hu t was scrawled,W e sha ll come again and kill outsesa rately Yanki jokers. But heJaps themselves were gone.

h r even months the Japs had eenpounded by U. S. bombers. More than4,000,000 pounds of bombs had fallenupon their ast tronghold n heAmerican Aleutian Islands. Recentlythe campa ign had been stepped up,and Naval vessels had taken a largepart: 9 July, U. S. Naval vessels shelledKiska for the second time in a week(and hore atteries eturned hefire).On 14 July, nother Navalbombardment took place (thi s imeno fire was returned). On 20 July, abombardment by two Naval vessels;21 July, bombing by Liberators, shell-ing by surface craft; 24 July, 10 airraids; 25 July, 10; 26 uly, 13; 27 July,six; and so on into August.

On 13 August a large task force be-gan to slip to sea from Adak harbor.There were press orrespondentsalong. From their reports and fromofficial statements, his rticlestaken.

There were battleships, cruisers, de-stroyers, tank carrie rs, oil tankers,landing craft, etc. There was a shipthat saw action at Casablanca. Buttherewereno soldiers, no sailors.There were only Amphibians. Eachman who landed wore upon achshoulder the ma rk of the AmphibiousForces. And the men who wore themark came from both the Army andthe Navy.

When they landed, this is what theAmphibians ound: J ap jeeps andtrucks half buried under the earth bymade-in-U. S. A. explosions. .Shat-tered windows. Four urned-outships in th e arbor. Practically everyobjecGincluding roofs of. huts-punctured with bullet holes.

D o you suppose this is a trap? alieutenant asked as th e men landed.It was partly that : Many booby trapshad been installed by the enemy, anda Canadian officer was killed by oneof them. But i t was something else,too: It was the first time in the warthe Japanese had fled without evenattempt ing a defense of a conqueredposition.

Tokyo broadcast hat he with-

The Prize: Kiska has a good harbor, zcsed by the Japanese as a submarinea d eaplane base. The island also.is potentially a firze bomber base.

drawa l had been according to plan.Tokyo said the withdrawal had beenwithout loss, and that it was success-ful without a parallel in world mili-tary history. Not all Allied officerswere so sure. There was a possibilitysome Japanese ships had been sunk nan exchange of fire n a glue-thickfog. The worlds wors t fogs come inth e Aleutians, and they, apparently,were what allowed the Japs to makegood their escape.

It was believed by some t hat theJaps who escaped had crossed 70 milesof sea, in barges and submarines, toBuldir Island, where they met smallships. The barges were believed the16 or 20 with whiCh, they had occu-pied Kiska, repaired by lumber from50 buildings on the island the Japshad torn down by 2 August.

The barges probably moved at about

five knots, which indicated manyround rips might have been madethrouzh the late July ogs to move out

a Japanese garrison once estimateda t between 7,500 and 11,000 men.

The victory at Kiska was a triumphforavalombardment, nd forUnited S,tates air power. It was atriumph or th e U. S. AmphibiousForces: Perhaps he Japanese, whohad learned of their prowess in theSouth Pacific and a t Attu, had nodesire for more of th e same. Thevictory was a triumph of strategy.Kiska had been surrounded .by ourconquest of Attu and our establish-ment of a base t Amchitka (see pages

Wha t the reta king of Kiska fore-told for the utu re was plenty: Itshowed, for one thing, how tough ourAmphibious Forces had become. Itgave us an unbroken string of basestoward the Kuriles (bombed threetimes recently by the U. S .) . It gaveus a vital stepping stone on the roadto apan , which lies eyond theKuriles.

16-17).

Page 3


6/84


7/84


8/84

Poised fo r christening. Champagneplatters. Salute t o a newestroyer,

Back in the First LineWhat It Means When Ships Are BuiltAndaunched and Sent to Sea

By JOY BRIGHT HANCOCKLieutenant, W-V(S) , USNR

{First Naval Ofiicer T o Christem aNaval Vesse l}

After it was over, and the U. S. S.Lewis Hancock was down the waysand in the water, I was asked, Howdoes it feel to christen a ship? Thesensations of t he event were vivid inmy mind, but they refused to beherded nto words; they emainedsensations.

I first felt them when I received aletter from the Secretary of the Navysaying a destroyer, now building, willbe named in honor of your husband,the la te Lt. Comdr. Lewis Hancock,Jr., U. S. Navy and Will you pleaseadvise the Department at your earli-es t convenience, if you will be able to

act as sponsor for this vessel whenshe s launched. Would I act assponsor? From some ecess, almostburied since Qhe day back in 1925when the U. S. S. Shenandoah had

crashed and Lewis Hancock had beenkilled, came to life and t o fulfillmentthe hope that some day the Navywould pay tribu te in just this mannerto his devotion and sacrifice. And I,who had shared his ife and his death,

honor to participate n he Navyswasgiven the opportunity and he

recognition of his services.1 August finally arrived and with it

the unfolding of the orderly ceremo-nies planned, including arrival at th eyard of the Federal Shipbuilding andDry Dock Company a t Kearny, N. J.On all sides the work of keel laying,building, launching was being carriedon. Were those men and women a t

work on the hulls on the ways con-scious of the act hat hey werebuilding more th an ships? Did theyvisualize their effort beyond the daywhen their finished work steamedaway to join the Fleet? Di d theyknow that every section of plateriveted into place, every bulkheaderected, every bracing itted wouldenter somehow into the life of one ofth e men who would fight her?

The sign I read near the foot f th eladder o he aunching tand an-nounced the dat e he keel of th eU. S. S. Lewis Hancock had been laid.It also announced the date of th elaunching. In n incredibly shor ttimehosemen and women hadreadied another ship for naval ervice.

I mounted the ladder and eered overthe railing of the platform. I saw thetwo steel plates on either side of th e

Page I ;


9/84


10/84


11/84

-British Comhine Drawings.

Battles of the Atlanti c: Armed G uardsvs. U-B oats and Army Fortressesvs. U-B oat Hide-outsTh e contribution of th e United State s Navys Armed Guard crews to he fight against ubmarines in everyocean has been great indeed. The submarine hat manages to get close to a convoy, despite planes and surface escortcraft, still has to think about the Armed Guards. Although th e Rritish Government last month announced shipping

loss reports would be issued monthly by the United States and Britain (to prevent the Axis from obtaining informa-U-boats. Meanwhile, U-boat bases were high on t he priority list as the RA?? and the USAAF stepped up bombingtion), London on 2 days announced the arr ival of large convoys without loss despite fights with packs of 2&30

attacks on Europe. A No. 1 example, of course, was Hamburg, where the entire harbor area was reported nruins following th e terrific Allied raids on th e city.

operations and he losses are onlyabout 80,000 tons. O n he other hand,th e U-boats which attempted to in-terfere with these operations sufferedsevere losses.

Our offensive operations againstAxis submarines continue to progressmost favorably in all areas, and dur-ing May, June, and July we have sunkat sea a total of over 90 U-boats,which represents an average loss ofnearly one U-boat a day over theperiod.

The decline in the effectiveness ofth e U-boats is illustrated by th e fol-lowing figures:

In the first 6 months of 1943. thenumber of ships sunk per U-boat op-erating was only half tha t in the las t6 months of 1942 and only a quarterof that in he first half of 1942.

The onnage of shipping in heservice of th e United Nations contin-ues to show a considerable n et n-crease. During 1943 new ships com-pleted by the Allies exceed all sink-ings from all causes by upwards of3,000,000 tons.

In pite of this very avorableprogress in he battle against heU-boat, it must be remembered th atthe enemy still has large U-boat re-serves, completed and nder con-struction.

I t is necessary, therefore, to pre-pare for intensification of the bat tleboth at sea and in th e shipyards andto use our shipping with utmost econ-omy to streng then and peed th e gen-eral offensive of the United Nations.But we can expect continued success

only if we do not relax our efforts inany way. F ~ O S E V E LT,CHURCHILL.

Navy Planes Constantly Seek Out U-BoatsThese are Mar tin Mariners, one . o f the newest planes used by th e Navy.One o f their successes was announced this month: hey ocated a U-boat,crippled it , called in destroyers for the kill. Recent successes of planes againstU-boats have been announced by the RAF (Liberators) in the Atlant ic andMediterranean, the New Zealand RAF (a Hudson bomber) in th e Pacific, byth e Navy (Vega Venturas, Catalinas, Mariners) in both Atlantic and Pacific,and by the Australian Air Force in the Bay of Biscay.

Page 9 ,


12/84

Far preferable to jumping is going over the side b y If you must jump, protect your face. One method isclimbing down a line or a adder. This is safer- showrz. Grab he ife acket ulzder left a rm withif the rope, ose, or ladder yo u climb dowrz is belayed. right hand. Take deep breath and hold nose.

How to Abandon ShipIts Best to Go Over Windward Sideand to Avoid Jumping if You Can

By W I L L I A M C . CHAMBLISSLieutenant Commander, U S N R

[Condensed with pemzissiom f rom U. .&Val Institute roceedings, J U ~ V19431Bobably the first step s to learn the

shi p thoroughly. The paths of travelfrom bunk to mess to duty stationtendoak eroutine patternsalong the short-e s t u s u a l l ytraveled routes.Woe betide afellow, trappedby fire or flood-ing in a locationfrom w h i c ha b a n d o n i n gship s not m-mediately pos-

sible, if th e one way out which he hasbeen accustomed to follow has beenclosed off. Get going on the businessof learning the ship as oon after firstrepo rtin g as time permits. Make theinvestigation a thorough one, neg-lect ing no possibilities.

While xploring th8 avenues oftravel, ake note of piping in over-heads. If a n y is traversed by steamor gasoline line put tha t n th e list of

ture with shock, and steam or burn-.second choices. Such lines may frac-

ing gasoline is not conducive to saf epassage. I n much the same categoryare hose passageways which assclose to magazines or gasoline stow-age.

Armed with complete knowledge ofthe ship, a person has appreciablybettered his chances of getting over

Page 10

the side should that become neces-sary. But hereemains notherproblem: when to st ar t or th e jump-ing-off place. Normally, that time iswhen the word is passed to abandonship. But word may never come-not because the skipper doesnt try to

pass it but because communicationshave failed. In such a case, a personmust be prepared%o decide for him-self. It happened on a recently sunkcarrier that such a decision had t o bemade without any word from topside.The forward four th of the ship wasseparated from th e remainder by animpenetrable wall of fire and explod-ing mmunition. On th e forecastledeck were two officers nd twenty-oddenlisted men. ven an intelligent

tion was impossible, for their horizonestimate of the ships general situa-

was sharply circumscribed by smoke,flame, and a sea whose surface was

intermittently covered y ools fburning oil and gasbline. The seniorofficer exhausted every possible meansof getting in touch with the bridge.Then, realizing th at nothing could bedone by him or his companions t ohelp the ship, and appreciating that,as the lame-free area of ship and sur-rounding sea narrowed, their chancesof eventually getting away becamemore dubious, h e ordered those withhim o abandon ship, a proper as-sumption of responsibility for whichhe was later mentioned with approvalby his commanding omcer.

. Knowing the way to get out, andbeing prepared to decide for oneself,if necessary, when to get out, consti-tute a larg e par t of th e struggle forsurvival. But here is yet another

phase of th e problem: what a well-dressed ship-abandoner should havewhen he takes the plunge.

The problem of what o wear isusually settled by circumstances-youwear what you have on at th e time,unless you ar e involved in one of those

leisurely ship-leavings which admit ofa choice of apparel. Such are no t th erule. However, if you happen o betorpedoed while partially disrobed, byall means try to grab a shirt and pairof trousers on your way out. Clotheswill spar e you much barked hide whileyoure goingover, whether you godown a rope, climb along a cantedhull, or follow th e more decorous pro-

have to swim (an d the chances arecedure of getting into a boat. If you

about five-to-one th at you will), darkclothes will be less likely to at tr ac tsharks than white skivvies or almostequally ligh t skin. Of prime mpor-

tance are gloves. Theyre well worthcarrying in the hi p pocket habituallyjust or his emergency. You mayhave to tear away debris, climb overjagged or h o t wreckage, or take to arope. One cannot afford injury to thehands, principal tools of salvation.

Parenthetically, another item th atwill serve you well, not in the ac tua labandonment but in getting squaredaway aft er reaching port, s a litt leslip of paper tucked in your wallet onwhich is kept an up-to-date record ofyour pay account. The writer keptsuch a record. The first column washeaded Pate, th e second AmountDue, and the thir d Amount Drawn,with current allotment data on th ereverse side. Entered by typewriter(pencil would do as well) on a small


13/84

filing card, it was perfectly legibledespite the fac t hat he wallet inwhich it was carried had been wetdown for over three hours n heCoral Sea. Dead broke and wi th onlythe clothes on his back, this survivorpassed it on t o t h e first available dis-bursing officer who, aided by tha t rec-ord, was able with gratifying prompt-ness to make up a survivors accountand shell out some badly-needed ash.

Very useful i s a knife. The Navy is-sue variety, with a scabbard thathitches to the trousers belt, is a finetool. It s uses are many: cutting your-self clear of l ines or other mpedi-menta with which you may becomeinvolved in he water; discouraginga stray shark; opening a can of emer-gency rations should you happen toget close to a raft.

Handy, too, is a flashl ight of a pen-cil type. You may, for example, bebelow decks when disaster overtakesth e ship. Almost invariably the lightsgo out. Also , it is quite possible youmay get sunk at night, and a littlepoint of l ight trai ned in the irectionof a rescue ship may mean he differ-ence between being picked up nd ap-pearing n th e missing list. Ofcourse, to be effective when youre inthe water, the flashlight must e keptdry. Many methods have been de-vised for accomplishing that end.The most successful this reporter hasseen is to enclose th e flashlight in arubber heath, securely closing theopen end with a rubber band or bytying a knot. A bi t inelegant, butelegance has no place in abandoningship.

Finally, the matter of a life jacket,whether kapok or pneumatic or noneat all. The proponents of kapok pointout that it is less vulnerable to dis-ablement due to tearing; that it givessome protection against flying frag-ments; that it helps avoid in te rn 1 n-jurydue o he effects of depth-charging while the wearer is in the

water. However, without attempt ingto ettl e he dispute, this writerspreference is fo r the inflatable pneu-matic jacket, primarily because of itsgreater flexibility.

The carrier, a t whose impromptudecommissioning this reporter w a s aparticipating witness, was literallyblowing to pieces when the tim e cameto go over th e side. From the mid-ships area there rained a devastatingcollection of missiles-parts of theship and exploding ammunition ofvarious calibers. For the most part,these projectiles flew straight out ona line roughly normal to t he side ofthe ship. The water for a distance ofabout 250 yards was subjected to anintense barrage. The ship had somesternboard on, and he writer wasmaking his getaway from the afterpart of the ship.

Because of th e ships movementastern, it was evident that, to avoidcoming under the barrage, t would benecessary to swim a course not di-rectly away from the wreck but on aline abaft that normal to the shipsside so as to hold a constant bearingo n the point of departure, which wasin a missile-free area. This maneuvercalled for considerable wimmingspeed if any distance were ta be madegood away from the ship. The solu-tion,wearing an inflatable jacket,was simple: Let the air out of thejacket, thus educing water resistanceto a minimum. I t worked. Once in asafe area, t was not difficult to pumpup the jacket through the oral infla-tion tubes provided for this purpose.

In connection with the uperio rprotection against depth-charge n-jury ascribed to the kapok type, itshould be pointed out that the areamost seriously affected by shock ofthat natu re is the abdomen, not verycompletely covered by the kapok.Bearing on that same issue, it mightbe worth while t o mention a maneu-ver this reporter employed to avoid

depth-charge shock. A safe distanceaway, a destroyer was observed heav-ing ash cans. This writer shifted hispneumatic jacket to the small of hisback, and hereafter swam on hisback wi th his stern sheets and mid-section practically clear of the water.When ships close aboard began depth-charging, he felt only the character-

of his ubmerged body areas, ndistic prickling sensat ion on the skin

slight shock in the well-protectedregions of the lungs and skull.Whatever life jacket you choose-or are forced to accept-there is oneindisputable ten et of sound abandon-ship doctrine: Dont go over the sidewithout one if th at can be avoided.You may be in th e water a long time,embarrassed by rough seas and de-bilitated by shock. Some uxiliarymeans of f lotation is a prime essen-tial, at least for most persons. True,the athletic navigator of t he ill-fatedWasp galloped all over the Coral Seaf o r 3 hours without a life belt. Buthe is a far-above-average swimmer.

So much, then , orhe how.when, and w i t h what of prepara-tion or leaving. Th e next problemis the actual get-away. Of course,if there is a boat available in whichyou have a rightful place, by a l lmeans take it. But the odds are, inbattle casualty, that youll have t oswim for it. And right here, beforeyou blithely take to the water, is thetime to make an estimate of the sit-uation, upon whose accuracy oursurvival may well depend.

By the time you get ready t o g oover, the ship will usually be lying to ,or with slight way on ahead or astern,depending pon the direction inwhich the engines were last, turningover. Ships wi th high freeboard for-ward such as destroyers) generallyweathercock, ster n to the wind. Butvessels with relatively even over-allfreeboard tend to lie in the trough ofthe sea, across the wind. Unless there

Official U. 8 . Navy Photographs.

Upside-down breast stroke beimg used by swimmer irt Theres aknack to gett ing onto a life raft. Get onethis photo relieves strain of swimmilzgj offers rest arm a d one leg. up, then roll yourself aboard rtslzeeded to remaim afloat. . shown here.

Page 11


14/84

is no othe r possible choice, never goover the lee side. With any kind ofwind, you will be unable to swim asfast as the ship drifts. Hence, if yougoover th e lee side, you will findyourself inexorably pressed againstthe hull, forced o the xhausting taskof working your way to th e bow orst ern to get clear. Should you workyour way aft, and the ship is downby the head, youll find yourself in-volved with he propellers. Loosegear that ha s gone over the lee sidewill still be there, trapped as you areby the drift of th e ship, adding to th edifficulties of your progress toward asafe place. If you cant go, over thewindward side, try to work your wayto one end so as to be clear of thedrifting hulk when you get into thewater.

While viewing the situation, makea note of th e relative position ofboats, rafts, or arge groups of sur-vivors alr eady n he water. Theseelements, easily seen from a few feetabove the wate r, may not be visiblein even a moderate sea once you haveassumed swimming status.

Now, for getting over the side.Dont jump, unless theres no alterna-tive. A leap rom ny appreciableheight is an invitation t o a brokenneck or to getting yourself knockedout by th e slap of the life eltagainst your jaw. Further, you can-not be certain tha t ust below thesurface there isnt some obstruction.

I f there has been time to rig cargonets, your descent is a simple matter.Most of us, however, have had to em-ploy other means. First choice is afire hose, if theres one rigged which

reaches close to the surface. Becauseof its squeezability, the hose offers a surer grip tha n a rope. But, i f youuse a hose, look out for that nozzle a tth e end. Dont let it sneak up on youunawares uring your ownwardprogress. It can be ery painful.Lacking a hose, you wilI have to take

belayed! It is a fact that we grabbeda rope. First, be certain it has been

.one young ma n by the nape of theneck just as he was going over he sidefrom the flight deck on a trailing linetha t was secured to nothing a t all.

Once on the ope or hose, rememberthe ard inal rule: Dont slide. Godown hand-over-hand. If you slide,you may not be able to stop. And, ifyou have not provided yourself with apair of stout gloves, your efforts tostop will result in reducing our handsto a pulpy seared mass. Be alwaysalert for any tendency to slide unin-tentionally ropes become slipperyfrom water, oil, and blood), and snubup promptly before the slide devel-ops. Theres good use, on a hose orrope, for the old station-keepingaxiom, Remember the next astern.Only in his nstance, its or yourbenefit, not his. The next man onthe rope after you may elect to slide.In th at case, be well braced and haveyour head out of the way so that youtake t he shock on your shoulders.

Page 12

Those Who SwamDid Not Perish

Because th ey could w im ascant 50 f ee t , 17 m en saved theirlives when their ship was tor-pedoed, but 38 others on boardw ere lost because th ey could notkeep afloat.

This i s th e story told b y a SunFrancisco shi ps doctor, w ho d e-scribed how his anker wasstruck by a t orpedo fro m a Japsubmarine in South Pacificwaters just at sunrise and wassent to the bottom amidst aflaming sea o f gasoline and oil.

Those savedwam underw ater, coming u p splashing andfanninghe flames as th eybroke wat er, inhaling a, freshbreath of air, then duckiqzgagain beneath the scatteredburning w aves, swimm ing untilthey were out of danger.

The 17 all managed, w ith t hehelp of each ot her, o reach oneof he pontoon raft s, but notrace was found of the other 35af t er their ship disappeared.

The ability to swim or keepafloat fo r as ittle as 25 f ee t ,many tim es, according t o ship-w recked seamen, had been t hemeans o f saving t heir lives.

T H B MASTRBADNavaI TrainingCenter, Treadwe Island. Calif.

Should your ship be in companywith others at the time of destruction,

you will probably be picked up in3

or4 hours, provided you have adopted acommonsense course of preaarationto favor that happy enouement.Once aboard the rescuing vessel, t rynot to make a nuisance of yourself.If you have suffered some slight hurt(a bit of rope burn, a small c u t ) , gethold of a first-aid kit and Ax yourselfu p temporarily. The ships medicalpeople will be busy aiding your moreseriously injured hipmates. If youare picked up by a destroyer or simi-larly mall vessel, get below decksright away. A destroyer that ha staken board 600 or 700 survivors(and individual tin cans have escuedthat many) is in a precarious state ofbalance. People staying topside maywell cause the ship to tu rn over.

There is a large element of that im-ponderable factor called luck in sur-viving the destruction o f ones ship.But luck alone canno t be ountedupon to effect your salvation. Whenthe time comes, youre going to haveto think your way out. And the mwethinking youve done ahead of time,the more likely you are o be in aposition to tell your grandchildren ahighly embellished account of wha thappened.

Arriving at the nd of th e line, easeyourself into th e water. Dont jump.Try not to let go until your feet a re

immersed. Then get nder waysmartly on th e previously determinedcourse, putting distance betweenyourself and the ship with an initialspeed run. You want to get well clear(a couple of hundred yards) as soonas you can. It is near the ship thatth e danger of falling debris s greatest.Even though she isnt blowing upwhen you go over th e side, she maya t any moment. It is near the shipth at th e lmost inevitable leaking fueloil is thickest, with consequent dangerof fire on the water. One way to de-termine th at you are beyond this lat -ter peril is to look at th e oil in thewater. If it isbroken up n small,isolated globules instead of formingan unbroken sheet, you ar e reason-ably safe from fire.

Upon reaching a safearea, slowdown, and thereafter swim as slowlyas the exigencies of th e situation per-

have a long stay in the water. Shouldn i t . Save your strength; you may

there be a rescue ship within swim-ming distance, head for it. But not

with maximum speed, for th e shipmay get under way before you canreach it. In ha t case, a burst ofspeed may have o exhausted you thatyou wont be able to swim to the nextsh ip tha t comes along.

If there is no rescue ship withinreasonable distance, stee r for a raftor for a large group of survivors. Arescue ships lookouts will be morelikely to see a large group han a loneswimmer. I ts the traggler whosename turns up on the missing list.

If you go to a raft, remember that,to help a large number of persons, ara f t should be hung onto, not climbedonto. Except where there are only afew people, climbing on a raft willonly tend to submerge the thing, mayeven turn it over with consequent os-sibility of loss of emergency rations.YOU dont gain anything by climbingon board i n numbers sufficient to sub-merge the raft. The slight advantageof being on board should be rationedto those in bad shape from injury orexhaustion.

Be on the alert at all times to takeevasive measures gainstepth-charge injury. I f YO U see a destroyerwhich has been picking up survivorssuddenly get going, leaving some ofthem still in the water, you may bereasonably certain she h a s made asound contact and that depth charg-ing will soon be star ted. Arrange yourlife jacket o as to get as much as pos-sible of your abdominal are a clear ofthe water, and hold that pose untildepth charging ha s ceased.

If you att ach yourself to a raf t, itsnot a bad idea to follow th e pictur-esque practice of rigging some sort ofsignal, such as a rag attached to theend of a vertically stepped oar. Un-der a heavy overcast, on a darkened,wind-swept sea, even a fairly numer-ous group of survivors may not show

likely to be coated liberally with fuelout well, particularly as they are most

oil.


15/84


16/84

"Off i c i a l U. . Nary 1'hotogr:rph.

Navy Divers Worked Constdntly OH Salvage OperationsFor more than a year from 600 to 800 workers and as man y as 75 naval divers swarmed over the hulk of th eL a f a y e t t e . Three hundred fifty-six air ports, submerged at an average of 60 feet below the surface and 8 to 10 feetin mud, had to be patched and braced with reinforced concrete. Cargo ports had to be blocked ana backed with

reinforced concrete laid under water. Tons of debris and mud had to be removed from the ship. Spun glass (usedas insulation hroughoxt the vessel) wh ich, entered the divers' skin hrough he pores, broken glass and raggedsteel edges which threatened t o sever air and life lines, and gas were among the many hazards which confrontedthe divers. In spite of these handicaps, not a single fata l accident occurred during the ent ire operation.

Page 14


17/84

" P r e s s Association Photograph.

Wuter Pours from the Lzfuyette US She Slowly Rolls OverOne of the man y problems which confronted salvage officials was the removal of >OO,OOO tons of water from theLafayette. Under normal condit ions his could have been accomplished in 21/2 hours. I n this case, however, 93

ship changed. Operations were directed from a control house built on a swivel stage amidship. Head engineerspumps, each attended by 2 men, were placed on swivel platforms which changed thei r positions a s th e list of t he

compartments, pumping others, often eturning water o another section of th e vessel. Sensitive nclinometersdirected pump atten dant s by loudspeakers. T h e Lafayet te was kept rim at all times by notpumping somerecorded every degree of her rise. Salvaging an d refitting have been estimated to cost $~O,OOO,OOO,with $5,000,000going for salvaging alone. The original cost of the Lafayette has been se t at $60,000,000.

Page IS


18/84


19/84


20/84

KUL- GULF These photogrrHelena fires her :tom, flash silhox

%phs show he two night battles of 5 and 6 July 1943. At top, the U. . S.last shot a t the Japs before being struck by an enemy torpedo. At bot-xettes a gun crew manning 1.1 antiaircraft guns aboard cruiser.


21/84


22/84


23/84


24/84

MEDAL OF HONOR

N AV Y CROSS

DISTINGUISHED-~~RVICE MEDAL

LEGION OF MERIT

Page 22

DECORATIONSANDDeJinite, Complete Systems o f Awurds for

B y ROSS F. COLLINSC a p t a h , USNR

(This a r t i c l e is apgearing concwen t ly &th e Numismatic Reuiew)

From the form ation f the Republicuntil quite recent years neither heNavy nor the Army had a definite,complete system of awards o coverheroism and especially meritoriousservice. In he pas t few years th eArmy arrived a t a really completesystem, which was ollowed by theNavy during the pa st year. The Ma-rine Corps and Coast Guard are cov-ered by the regulations pplying to theNavy awards.

Official decorations and medals ofour government, n the ense of thoseintended to be worn on the uniform,began with the award for fidelity bythe Congress on 3 November 1780, o

David Williams, and Isaac Van Wart,three private soldiers, John Paulding,

all New York State Militiamen, forthe apprehension of Major ohnAndd.

On 7 August 1782, George Wash-ton issued a n official order from hisheadquarters at Newburgh-on-the-Hudson, establishing a decoration tocover instances of unusual gallantry ,and also of extraord inary fidelity andessential service. This decoration,worn on the left breast, onsisted of ahear t of purple cloth or silk, edgedwith narrow lace or binding, and wasthe forerunner of the present PurpleHeart. It was provided that the factsof the act or service should be sub-mitte d to the Commander in Chief,accompanied by certificates from the

and brigade to which the individualcommanding officers of t he regiment

belonged, or other incontestible proof,for final approval.

This medal was never abolished, butso fa r as is now known, only threemen ever received this award, viz:Sergt. Daniel Bissel (2d ConnecticutRegiment, Continental Army), Sgt.Daniel Brown (5th Connecticut Regi-ment, Continental Army). and Sgt.Elijah Churchill of th e 2d ContinentalDragoons, of Connecticut.

The same order provided a longservice and good conduct badge for 3years service with bravery, fidelity,and good conduct. It consisted of anarrow piece of white cloth, of anangular form fixed to the left sleeveof t he uniform. Six years similarservice was indicated by two similarpieces of cloth set parallel o eachother,

No other official decorations ormedals were issued until during th e

I Il l medal drawings exact size, done

LETlN by Charles Chickerin g.especially for th e INFORMATION a -

Civil War. The irst of modernUnited States decorations was theNavy Medal of Honor authorized byCongress on 21 December 1861.

Th e award was limited to petty of-

ficers, seamen, andsmen, and ma-rines or gallantry n action andother eamanlike qualities. On 12July 1862 the Army Medal of Honorwas authorized for noncommissionedofficers and privates for gallantry inaction and other oldier-like qualities.On 3 March 1863, the award wasmade avai lable to commissioned offi-cers of th e Army, and the wording ofthe authority was changed making itavailable to only those who have mostdistinguished themselves in action.

The limitation for ivil War servicewas also removed, as had been donefor the Navy on 16 July 1862. It wasnot until 3 March 1915, however, thatcommissioned officers of the Navy andMarine Corps were made eligible forthe award.

No further medals were authorizeduntil 1869 when the fir st Navy GoodConduct Medal was authorized. The

[OBVERSE]

[REVEFtSE]

AWARD FOR FIDELITY(First U. S. Medal, no longer awarded)[Exact size, photographed rom a cast.]


25/84

EDALSOF THE U. S.oism und Service is Recent Deuelobment

CertiAcate of Merit was authorizedin 1847 but no medal was issued togo with i t until 1905. The next medalwas the Manila Bay Medal, amil-iarly known a s th e Dewey Medal,which was followed by th e West In-

dies Campaign MedalSampsonMedal), he Specially MeritoriousService Medal, and the CongressionalMedal for Philippine Service.

All of these medals were for specialacts or special occasions, and no me-dallic award ha d ever been availableto the veteran s of an y of our cam-paigns. Principally hrough he ef-forts of Lt. Gen. Adna R. Chafee fo rthe Army, and Maj. Gen. George F.Elliott for the Marine Corps a nd theNavy, th e deep-rooted rejudiceagainst such awards n a Republic wasovercome, questions of legality wereuntangled, and on 11 January 1905 itwas announced in orders to the Armyth at campaign badges would be issuedas part of t he uniform.

ORDER OFPRECEDENCE

The following order of p re-cedence of Navy decorations,and corresponding decorationsawarded by the Army to navalpersonnel, has been approved bySecNav for wear by naval per-sonnel:

Medal of Honor (Navy).Medal of Honor (Army).Marine Corps Brevet Medal.Navy Cross.Distinguished Service Cross

(Army).D i s t i n g u i s h e d S e r v i c e

Medal.D i s t i n g u i s h e d S e r v i c e

Medal (Army.)Legion of Merit.Silver S ta r Medal.Distinguished Flying ross.Navy andMarineCorps

Soldiers Medal (Army).Air Medal.

Purple Heart.

. Medal.

S p e c i a 11 y Meritorious

Presidential Unit Citation.Gold Life Saving Medal.Silver Life Savine: Medal.

Medal.

Dewey Medal.Sampson Medal.NC-4 Medal.Byrd Antarctic Expedition

2d Byrd Antarctic Expedi-

Navy Expeditionary Medal.Marine Corps hrpedition-

Campaign Medals in chron -

- ~ - ~

Medal.

tion Medal.

ary Medal.

ological order.

I

On 13 August 1908 the followingcampaigns ereesignated: CivilWar, Indian Wars, Spanish Campaign,Philippine Campaign. Later rdersmade members of the organized mili-tia, and men no onger in th e service,

eligible fo r th e medals.issued by the Secretary of the Navy,

On 27 June 1908 two orders were

one for the Navy and the other forthe Marine Corps, authorizing medalsf o r th e Civil War, Spanish Campaign,Philippine ampaign, an d ChinaCampaign. Medals f o r the Army ofCuban Occupation nd Army of CubanPacification followed, and _were avail-able to all of th e armed services par-ticipating.

The medals fo r t he Army differ indesign from those for th e Navy a ndMarine Corps, the atte r two beingidentical except or th e inscriptionon the reverse. Up to 1913, however,the ribbons for Army medals differedfrom those for th e Navy and MarineCorps, so th at veterans of the samecampaigns wore entirely different rib-bon bars. Following ecommenda-tions of the j oin t board, effective inth e Navy on 12 August 1913, both serv-ices agreed to a uniform set f ribbons.I n some cases one service adopted theribbon of the other , and in other s a nentirely new ribbon was agreed upon.

The World War resulted in the in-stitution of the Distinguished ServiceCross, Silver Star, and DistinguishedService Medal fo r th e Army, and theDistinguished ervice Medal, andNavy Cross for the Navy.

The Silver Star was originally asmall silver star worn on th e cam-paign ribbon by tho se. cited for gal-lantry in action, but was later issuedas an actu al medal. It was recentlyauthorized for the Navy.

I n 1926 the Distinguished FlyingCross was instituted available to allour armed services. At the same timethe Soldiers Medal was authorized.This medal for service with th e Armyprovided an award for those who dis-tinguish hemselves by heroism notinvolving actual conflict with an en-emy. It was paralled last year by thenew Navy and Mar ine Corps Medal.

In 1932 the Purple Heart was re-established for he Army. It wasawarded to hose who had receivedthe Meritorious Services Citation Cer-tificate, and ohose who erewounded in action. Th e Army nowhas a good conduct medal, and allservices ar e eligible fo r the new Le-gion of Merit. Thi s provides a junioraward f o r distinguished or meritoriousservice. Four degrees, th e highest ofwhich becomes a signal honor, are au-thorized for awards o foreign officers.

It is hoped that these additionalawards, ogether, with policies that(Continued on Page 32)

SILVER STAR-

DISTINGUISHED- FLYING CROSSkfd

NAVY :ED AL

AIR MEDAL

PURPLE-HEART

Page 23


26/84

ADMZRAL WZLLZAM D . LEAHY, U S N (RET .) ADMZKAL ERNEST .I, KING, USN

Photogruphs like these are beilzg prepared for the Archives.

Photo-Paintingsof Naval LeadersTechnical Improvements Have Made Possible,Portraits inQuantity orHistoricalUses

Determined that likenesses of i ts

leaders in this war shall be preservedfor post-war purposes in he sameway the scenes of its epic struggles arebeing recorded, he Navy has commis-sioned the noted portrait photog-rapher, Maurice Constant, as a lieu-tenan t in the Naval Reserve and setup a Documentary Photography uni tin BuPers to insure that the lack ofproper picturization of leaders of othe rwars wiI1 not occur again.

Afterhotographing the Navalofficers in Washington responsible or

the conduct of the war, Lieutenant

Constant will leave for other areas.In addition to photographing Naval

personnel, Lieutenant Constant willphotograph Army leaders a t the WarDepartments request. Time permit-ting, it is planned also to photographleaders of Allied nations.

Since historical evaluation requiresstudy of the eade rs of the periodunder scrutiny, likenesses are of spe-cific use. As far back as the Revolu-tionary War, painte rs were commis-

sioned to produce port rait s of military

leaders. The medium o f oiI being ofnecessity a long and tedious process,the output was necessarily restrictedto portraits of a few men.

Lieutenant Constant in civilian lifeproduced a collection of portraitstudies of distinguished personages inth e fields of art, science, government,and the armed forces which ha s beenincorporated nto heFranklin D.Roosevelt Hyde Park Library. AConstant panel of th e Justices hangsin the Supreme Court Building.

Page 24


27/84

Dishing I t Out With he Navy, a typical poster pailzting by Lt. Comdr. McClellalzd Barclay, USNR

The Naws Combat ArtistsCapturing Scenes the Camera Cannot Catch,Painters Are Helping Record Wars History -

Reports during the past month hatLt. Comdr. McClelland Barclay, USNR,ar tis t most widely known fo r his Navy

Lt.Comdr.Barclay was m a spe-cial duty, not

attached o he egular group, hisfunctions were similar to the others.

What th e purpose of the Navy com-bat artists i s , and how they accom-plish their duties, was explained

recently in an address bg CommanderE. John Long, USNR, oficer in chargeof the Pictorial Section, Ofice of Pub-lic Relations, under whose cognizancethe arti sts operate. The text o f that

address, delivered before the Archi-tectural League of New York , isquoted below:

Historians of World War I found awoefully inadequate pictor ial recordof tha t cocflict and particularly of thePart played by our Navy. The picturecoverage of the present war will bemuch better. Every impor tant actionof the war has been eported bycameramen nd rtists s well aswriters. In th e Navys Ales a re thou-sands of photographs which, for se-curity reasons, cannot be releasedunti l the war is over.

The modern camera, in spite of it s

great scope and versatility, however,has definite limitations. Some sub-jects, such as action a t night, or in

foul weather, or over wide expansesof sea and sky, are beyond the rangeof photography. But they may be de-picted by an artist, who can capturethe dramatic ntensity of an action

and put i t on canvas, and by a properuse of a n artists skill make scenesand activities more vivid and poign-ant, stressing and integrating essen-tiol elements and omitting unimpor-tant detail.

Significant naval events are husbeing recorded today, not only by thecamera but by a few carefully chosenmen, who are naval officers as well asartists. These men, assigned by th eNavys Office of Public Relations t ocombat zones, pain t the Navy a t warin all its hases, whether aboard ship,at our furtherest outposts, or with th e

bold task forces th at ar e th e spear-heads of modern strategy. I n addi-tion to heir primary job as artists,

Page 25


28/84

Battle of the,Santa Cruz Islands, by Lt. (jg) Dwight C. Shepler, USNR

Loading Mail Bags, by Lt. (jg) Mitchell Jamie-, USNR

Page 26


29/84

The Reuben James survivors, by Lt. Comdr. Griffith B. Coale, USNRthese men have duties as junior of-ficers of the watch afloat, in orderthat theymay have a thoroughunderstanding of their ubjectmatter.

In all heate rs of war, from hegreat naval bat tles of Guadalcanal,Savo Island, Lunga Point, and Sa ntaCruz, the occupation of th e AleutianIsland of Amchitka, aboard convoysto Iceland and Africa and Sicily, inth e perilous waters of the Nor th A t-lanti c, these officer-artists have beenon t he spot, experiencing momentousevent s and ecording them so that thepublic and Navy alike may have bet-ter conception of the vast and bloodyconflict taking place beyond o urshores.

Almost a year before Pear l Harbor,the Navy commissioned Lt. Comdr.Griffith Baily Coale, USNR, to painthistorical events of the turbid emer-gency period preceding he w ar. Hisfirst assignment was a convoy to Ice-land.The tirring events of tha ttrip, recorded in paintings and draw-

published in book form by Parrar &ings, supplemented by his log, were.

Rinehart under the title North A t-lan tic Patrol. The book has beenvery well received in naval circles aswell as by the public, and all profitshave been donated o the Navy ReliefSociety.

Coale was later sent to Pearl Har-bor and Midway Island. He paintedin Hawaii an important historicalcanvas, depicting the sneak att ack of7 December, reconstructed from pho-tographs, official reports , and eyewit-ness accounts, soon aft er this world-shaking event took place.

In the spring of 1942, after elimi-nating many candidates, four youngartists, Lt. William F. Draper, usm,and Lt. Dwight C. Shepler, USM, bothof Boston; Lt. Albert K. Murray,USNR, ofNew York; and Lt. ( j g )Mitchell Jamieson, usm, f Washing-ton, D. C., were commiSsioned as of-ficer -artis ts to be sent on combat as-signments. Each ha d to pass the rig-orous hysical xamination as doother naval officers.

Lieutenant Shepler was the first tosee battle action. He erved asdeck officer aboard several ships dur-ing 6 months of the first Solomonscampaign in 42-43, when bitter fight-ing was at it s peak. His cruiser wasin th e thick of th e bat tle of S an taCruz. From his battle station, Shep-ler saw Jap planes dive-bomb his ship

United States carrier. This water-and others which were screening acolor, with th e sky blotched with nti-aircraft fire, and Jap planes falling,is ne of Sheplers most stirringpaintings.

No photographs are available ofthe night battle off Savo Island, butLieutenant Shepler hasdepicted itin a dramatic painting which showsthe second phase of th e victoriousaction against two strong Japanesesurface forces on 14 November 1942.The picture was checked for accuracyand approved by the admiral com-manding our forces there.

In th e mud and dust and jungle ofGuadalcanal, hepler lived for 3weeks, under steady Japanese bom-bardment. His pictures interpr etmore fully tha n photographs th e tr uecharacter of thi s tropical hell and ofth e struggles of our gallant marines.Sheplers water colors reveal men,malar ial and wounded, being carriedto landing boats and then to waitingships, leaving comrades, bothdeadand alive, who had shown Americancourage a t its best. This artist sawthe peak of. battl e action. He por-trayed, with a revealing nsight, themen behind th e guns and their offi-cers fromirst-handnowledge,gained as a trenchmate who had ex-perienced their thrills, hardships, anddangers.Officer-artist Lt. William F. Draper

pation at lonely Amchitka Island, thewent ashore with the forces of occu-

Aleutians, in anuary 1943. Hispaintings show ships stealing through


30/84

Kodiak, by Lt. William F. Draper, USNR

hazardous waters in the cold Arcticdawn, gray shadows against a grayersky, while boatloads of anxious sol-diers approach the arren shores,nearest United States erritory t oTokyo, in mall anding boats. A l lwere tense, since they did not knowwhat J a p resistance might develop.One of the ships an aground andspread oil about, a likely target forJ ap planes. Fortunately, the ap sdeferred their first bombing visit fo rsome days.

Lieutenant Drapers number wasalmost up once, as trafing bulletsskimmed hrough th e grass next ohim as he crouched in his fox hole.I n several dramatic oils he shows Ja pplanes attacking our positions, withbombs bursting and tracer ullets andack-ack fire as red streaks against asullen wintry sky.

While in the Aleutians, LieutenantDrapers work was hampered by ec-centric winds which sometimes blewat 100 miles an hour, wrecking planes

Page 28 -

and tossing lumber about like paper.He expressed this dread wind, moredestructive th an enemy raids, in threepaintings. These an d other pictureswere made under most trying circum-stances, for several times his canvassailed into the air like a kite. Whenhe. ran out of canvas, Draper workedon pieces of masonite salvaged fromQuonset huts. When he ran out ofpaint, he borrowed housepaint andcarried on.

the Seabees, the Navys resourcefulIn th is series h e also shows us how

construction attalions, built fromnothingness a Navy town. His brushreveals the ever-present hazards oflife in an Arctic wilderness, a andof savage sto rms enveloped by a sea

ina few minutes. Through it allwhose icy swells can freeze a person

runs the never-failing determinationof s tout-hearted men and the acts ofcourage, heroism, and unspoken sac-rifice that wars necessities bring outof t he worst of us. Drapers Aleutian

series was published in he August1943 issue of the Nat ional GeographicMagazine.

Lt. Albert K. Murray, before goingt o the Caribbean area on assignment.

the Navy General Board.He alsopain ted por trai ts of six members of

made a series of charcoal and oil por-traits rom life of heroes of theU. S. S. Boise, after she returned fromfabulous exploits in the Sou th acificand was undergoing epairs at hePhiladelphia Navy Yard. Th e ruggedcaptain, keen Irish Mike Moran; th edoctor, under whose expert and de-voted care all men not killed outrightwere brought through safely; th e gun-ners mate; and others , heroes all,have been put on paper and canvasas typical examples of a gall ant ight-inn band.

picted naval activity in a theater ofthe war that has yielded some fine,though not quite so spectacular ma-terial as he Pacific and Aleutians.

In the Caribbean, Murray has de-


31/84

Ensign Lowell E.He ha s given us a vivid and accuratePicture of Navy life afloat and ashorein th e closely guarded area betweenus and our atin-American neighbors.

Lt. ( j g ) Mitchell amieson, USNR,whose series of paint ings on Embar -kation appeared in Life Magazine,gives us a running picture story of a

typical convoy trip to North Africa.Jamieson stood watch and performedother naval duties n route. He showsus all of the manifold activitiesaboard a convoyed troop s h i pweighing anchor, message signaling,gunnery practice,, men lounging in anuncomfortable aft hold, a scene inth e galley as Filipino cooks get chowready and sailors si t peeling spuds,men receiving mail, a ttending divineservice, the armed guard ready f o rsubs, etc.

In North Africa, Jamieson sensedthe impact of military occupation onan are a tha t had been largely pas-toral andagricu ltural or decades.His impressions of Arab coal heavers

, returning home a t midnight, soldiers\marching to the accompaniment of

!1

Davis, USN, y Lt. Albert K.shrill-voiced Arab children beggingfor alms, the building of a tent cityto shelter increasing hordes f troops,men learning to do things with theirhands hroug h necessity, long con-voys entering the harbor and troop sdisembarking, the rain ing of am-phibious forces or invasion, the rust-

ing hulks of torpedoed ships-Jamie-son gives us all the myriad scenes andactivities of modern warfare againsta fantast ic background of green andbrown African hills and blue sky. Hehas seen and brought to us those ex-tensive preparations andhumdrumroutine, those preludes to action, th atare as much a pa rt of war as battlesthemselves.

These officer-artists have not donetheir paintin gs n ivory towers, norhave they used he war as a test tubefor new theories of art and expres-sion. They have gone ou t to isk andsuffer in the same degree as the menbehind the guns, to give to th e ublic,in graphic media, a better apprecia-tion and a more complete insight ntowhat s being done by our fighting

Murray, USNRmen on the worlds, far-flung battle-fronts.

Sir Douglas Haig, in his introduc-tion to the Western Front, t he greatcollection of th e drawings by Muir-head Bone on the ast World War,said the portrait and the picture areinvaluable aids to the right reading

of history.Th e collection of paint ings hddrawings by these Navy artists is avivid and ccur ate picture of th eNavy at war. In addition to th e anyphotographs being made, it will pro-vide a historical record of naval war-fare such as he world ha s never seenbefore.

A book on the work of t h e m e n int h e Nav y art roject is being publishedthis al l by Will iam Morrow & Co.,New York , w i th t ex ty Hanson Bald-win and a. foreword b y Admiral A. 3.Hepburn, Chairman f t he Navy Gen-

eral Board. App roxim ately 25 repro-ductions in color and 75 reproductionsin black and whi te of thertists workwill be included.

Page 29


32/84

Chief Needs of S urvivors: Protection Against Elements. . .Means of furnishing protection against the weather are taking the form ofseveral types of rubber and waterproof suits th at double as life preservers,and portable covers that can be drawn over a liferaft as a sunshade, a rain-collecting surface, and a protection against cold or high seas. There arebeing studied also special sun caps and sunburn reams.

. . . And Drinking W aterThis portable water still weighs 7Ibs. and turns out 2 Ibs. of water from1. b. of fuel. Chemical methods ofprecipitating salts out of sea waterhave been perfected by naval experts.

l h elnals of Lltesavlng bqulpmentNew Devices ArePerfectedin Tests Many Miles at Sea

By RICHARD L, GRIDLEYLiezbtenant, USNR

The gradual spread of war to alloceans and limates has resulted n anambitious rogram o f the armedforces and other Government andprivate agencies i n developing ife-saving equipment to aid persons castadrift in any of the seven seas.

As a means of keeping all servicesan d agencies abreast of the late st de-velopments in his field, th e oin tChiefs of Staff recently directed th eCoordinator of Research and Develop-ment of th e Navy Departm ent to un-dertake coordination of this work, in-cluding methods, techniques, evalua-tion of present equipment, as well as

resea rch n emergency quipment.Liaison smaintained with therUnited Nations n order th at new res-cue deasmay be adopted y allfriendly countries at the earliest pos-sible moment.

All branches of t he armed forcesandother agencies dealing in seatranspor tation, as well as the cogni-zant bureaus of th e Navy, Army, andthe Office of Stra tegic Services, ar einvolved in th e coordination plan.

The Navy Department, using tsown as well as other personnel, hasbeen directly nvolved during the past-month n two important proving

ground ests of emergency escueequipment. These trials were eld

Fla. Particular attention was paid. tooff Cape Pear, N. C. , and Pensacola,

Page 30

rubber raft s and rubber raft equip-ment used largely for the rescud ofairmen forced down at sea. A t Pen-

sacola, too, the physical condition ofsurvivors exposed to varying periodsof sun, rain, and other exposure wasunder special study.

Rations a re being developed to con-serve space nd to provide some nour-ishment without promoting n accom-panying thirst. Fishing kits are in-cluded to provide a change of diet.Small first-aid kits ar e of assistancein case of disease, discomfort, oraccident.

With a supply of pure drinkingwater and rations available, the nextproblem of the survivor is to be res-cued. Many gadgets fo r attracting

attention have been devised and areeither in use or unde r study. Hand-operated short-wave radio transmi t-ters seem to have grea t possibilitiesin revealing the position of a lost raft.When rescuing planes or ships are inth e vicinity other methods of attr act-ing ttention re available. Smallrafts ar e extremely difficult to sightat sea, and nearby craft must be at-tracted by other means. Small handmirrors, reflecting the sun oward therescuers, can be seen for 10 miles. A tnight rockets provide the same effect.Various daytime methods nclude abright-colored box kite, a brilliant

dye that is thrown n the water in thevicinity of the ra ft , smoke guns, andgaudy colors on the raf t and acces-sories.

T h e comfort of survivors has notbeen overlooked in t he considerationof life-raft design. Sleeping accom-

modations are to be improved consid-erably by stretching a canvas fromside to side, thereby enabling occu-pants to keep off the bottom of theraft where water usually is standing.Seating arrangements will be changedtoperm it he necessary stre tch oflimbs without great inconvenience toother occupants. Stowage of acces-sories and clothes can be improved sot ha t t he r a f t a t ll times can presenta trim appearance.

Miscellaneous articles ike rations.tooth brushes-recently found to be apowerful morale builder-cigarettes,matches, watches, and other knick-knacks can be preserved watertightwithin a new life-preserver bag wornon the chest. It is reinflated by thelungs.

All of these rescue ideas. have beensubject of intensive experimentationby the Navy and Army, both in thelaborato ry and in the ield. The fieldtrials have been made under actualwartime conditions by casting volun-teers adrift many miles a t sea. Thesetrials have uncovered many bugs inequipment that looked perfect on th edrafting board and n he abora-tories. It is expected th at many liveswill be saved in the future and theordeals of many survivors made asierby the continuing study into he fleld ).1of emergency escue quipment. /

i/i


33/84

Convalescence and EducationSuccess of Experimental Unit in NavalHospital Will Lead to Broadened Services

mental unit ,in Philadelphias UnitedBecause of the success of an experi-

States aval ospital, educational

lished as rapidly as possible in otherservices laboratories will be estab-naval hospitals.

I n complete cooperation with medi-cal authorities, the educational serv-ices program offers opportunities inth e fields of languages, mathematics,naval customs an d usage, and othersubjects when needed.or requested.

In th e hiladelphia hospital, duringthe patients brief stay, which aver-ages 4 weeks, he is visited often by aspecially trained educational servicesofficer, who utlines and supervises thebroad educational opportunities vail-able. These include, among otherthings, inguaphone instruction inmany languages-of which French is

spondence study in any one of 6,877currently most popular-and corre-

courses which are available, t hroughthe Armed Forces Inst itut e, in the x-tension divisions of 83 colleges anduniversities.

The most popular subject at th ehospitalsmathematics. Courses

range ll he way from r e v i e warithmetic hrough algebra, planegeometry, an d trigonometry. A closesecond in nt ere shh ow n by thehospital staff itself-is the course innaval customs and usage, attendedregularly by more than 300 membersof th e Navy Nurse Corps. The Navydoctors likewise have evinced an in-terest in brushing up on heir an-guages by the linguaphone method.

Twice each week the hospitalspublic address system is used fo r 15-minute news summaries, and WeeklyNewsmaps (INFORMATION BULLETIN,July, 1943, p. 9) are used to help visu-alize for hetudent-patient heprogress of th e wars from which hehas eturned. War nformation sconstantly made available as supple-mentary eading material, and theuse of the hospi tal library is encour-aged.

Plans areunder way to emandhospital educat ional services activi-ties by utilizing bo th the educationaland therapeuti c values of music, byemploying films to acquaint patientswith war developments an d war s-

sues (as is already being done n othernaval units), and extensive guidancework in helping naval personnel con-tinue or round out their educationalcareers or helping them plan a long-term series of studies which will takethem back to the ob they want whenthe war is won.

Reception of the educationa l serv-ices opportunities by patients ha sbeennthusiasticnd serious-minded. They look forward o get-ting back to th e job of winhing t hewar, either in or out of th e service,as soon as possible; meanwhile theywelcome the chan ce o occupy th ethinking-and-waiting time of Con-valescence in worth-while personalachievement.

This linking of the mind and body,th e intellec tual and he physical, isth e key to he educational serviceshospit al program. The combinationof a creative educational opportunityan d the finest medical care available,the experiment in Philadelphia hasdemonstrated, can win the war onthe personal, as well as the interna-tional, battle fronts.

New Army and Navy StaffCollege

Opens in WashingtonThe Army and Navy Staff College,

located in th e new War Depar tmentBuilding, Twenty-First treet ndVirginia Avenue NW., Washington,D. C., was formally opened in August.

The Army and Navy Staff College,an activity under the jurisdiction ofthe joi nt hiefs of Staff, operating un-der the direct supervision of the jointDeputy Chiefs of Staf f, has been es-tablished to instruct selected qualifiedArmy, Navy, and Marine Corps officersin the performance of command staff

duties in unified an d coordinated ac-tivities of Army and Navy forces byincreasing heir knowledge of th etechnique of operations and logisticsof land, sea, and air orces.

The course of inst ruction is dividedint o two phases. The first phase isconducted at thr ee associated schools,th e Naval War College, Newport, R. I.;the Army Command and GeneralStaff School, Leavenworth, Kans.;an d th e Army Air Forces School ofApplied Tactics, Orlando, Fla. Thesecond phase will be at th e Army andNavy Staff College.

The first phase is intended t o sup-plement the stud ent ofiicers knowl-edge of his own service or branch by avery comprehensive course n the taff

1

organizations, functions, and proce-dure, and the capabilities and limita-tions of vessels and weapons and serv-ices unfamiliar to him. During thisphase the student officer will attend a4 weeks course at the two associatedschools he has not previously attended.

The 8 weeks course at th e Armyand Navy Staff College, Washington,will give all student officers intensiveinstruction in th e pplication and useof thei r knowledge in joint or coor-dinated operations. The college is di-vided into four joint staff divisions:Intelligence, Operations, Logistics, andCommunications. The oint Oper-ations Division is subdivided intojoint air operat ions and amphibiousoperations.

Between 30 and 40 student ofiicers,with ranks normally ranging upwardfrom lieutenant colonel in the Armyand Marine Corps and commander inthe Navy, respectively, will attendeach course. Ins tructors have beenselected from officers of each serviceexperienced in each ubject understudy. Other ectures will begiven

by officers visiting or etu rn ing oWashington from the various opera-tional theatres.

I PUBLICATION II CHECKIST II Iinformation hich therwise may be

Designed to call attention to published

missed. Activi ty or publisher i n paren-thesis ndicates where publication mq

Issuing activities should furnish listingsbe obtained; cost, if any, as indicated.

to editor.UNICALS

0;Bicial

Aid for Their Dependents (BuPers, NavPersPersonal Affatrs of Naval Personnel and

15,014). This is being given general dis-tribution.

Summary of Ranks an& Rates oy th eU. . Navy Together wit h Designations andInsignia. (Omcia1opies, BuPers, NavPers 15,004; personal copies, Superintend-ent of Documents, Washington, D. C. , J -527,777, 5 cents.) Reprinted with minorchanges from the BuPers nformation Bul-letin, issue of Ma y 1943.

Issuance and Wearing of Decorattom,Summary of Regulations Governing the

Medals amd Ribbons Nom Designated fm

NavPers 15,016; personal copies, Supelin-Naval Personnel. (OfRcial copies, BuPers,

tendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. ,5-538,338,5 cents.) Reprinted with certainadded material from the BuPers Informa-tion Bulletin , issue of March 1943; secondprinting, revised.

PERIODICALSOff ic i a l

(Training Division, BuPers) .raDiv Letter for 15 August 1943

Page 31


34/84

LETTERST O THE ED ITORThis column is open t o unofficial communications from

within the Naval Service on matters of general interest. H o w -ever, it is not intelzded to conflict in any way wit h Navy Regu-lations regarding the forwarding of official mail through chan-nels, nor i s it t o substitute f o r the policy of obtaining informa-tion from the ocal commanding officer in all possible instances.Answers to correspondence addressed to the Editor will bethrough this column only.

To THE EDITOR:I hope Im not jumping too soon,

bu t th e Guadalcanal Battle Blaze in-signia, which is now out for futuredress of the Fighting First Marines f

May 1943, p. 5 2 ) , sure knocks theth e Solomons ( INFORMATION ULLETIN,

Navy and Coast Guard, sailors whomorale of a l o t of us. Dont we-

landed a few hours after the marinesto establish radio and signal stations,

lessly back and for th unloading shipsand boat crews, who worked relent-

da y and ni g h t r a t e consideration?Heres something ha t I believe very

few people now: Of the originallanding force there were 20 of us leftbehind, a month after he marineswere relieved. I n all, we stood in theSolomons over 6 months. And whatjustice does thi s do the crew of thr eeYPs th at carried necessary suppliesfrom Tulagi to Guadalcanal and, Imight say, aved the day many times?

My intentions arent to throw thisup at anybody and expect immediaterectification on an oversight, or what-ever i t might be called. Nor is it forglory; not n he least. I , myself,am thankfu l to e alive, but why taketh e credit from men so deserving ofit?-R. G ., SMlc. USN.

A nsw er: Blaz es are notworn on Navy unif orms. How-ever, you may be sure that indue t ime appropriate naval rec-ognition w i l l be given all w hoparticipated honorably in allnaval actions.

T O THE EDITOR:I n th e July issue there was a list

of publications on page 6 which could

be had by writing to the address ivenin t he item. .However, Ive had some difficulty in

understanding some of th e abbrevia-tions or to unders tand the completeaddress of, e. g., U. S. Coast Guard,not knowing whether to wri te Wash-

berr, a re yo u H e y. Al -

sure our al-t i m e t e r 8sworking?

F l i g h t (NCS, rosse Ile, Mieh.)

Page 32

ington, D. C., or the United StatesCoast Guard Academy. veskedseveral men on t he station, and nonehave been a bl e~ to elp me. Id ap-preciate your enlightening me.-S. A. M., AS, USNR.

Answ er: Unit ed St at es CoastGuard, W ashington, P. . Thisanswer ould have been b-tained from your division of-ficer or company commander.

T O T H E EDITOR:We have had a great eal of discus-

sion here over the regulations of theservice stripe and who is allowed towear it. We have a number of menat the base who have had previousactive and nactive service in heArmy and National Guard. All thesemen are drawing longevity for thei rtime and eel th at inasmuch as it wasthe Federal service they should beallowed to wear the stripe. We under-stand that men in th e rmy, with pre-vious Navy time, and men from theNational Guard ar e allowed to wear

it. Would you please set us right onthis question?Uniform Regulations, 1941, Article

8-8 (c) , fail to state yes or no onthe above question and leave thewhole mat ter in doubt.-. A. N., Cox,USNR.

Answer: No. I f A rmy servicecounted, Uniform Regulationswould so state.

To THE EDITOR:Today a question has come which

we are unable to answer, so we areturn ing to ou for assistance. A man,WTlc, with many years service, camein to say that he had een questionedabout wearing a service star fo r hisson who is in th e ervice and of whomhe is very proud. As it was a Reserveofficer who questioned him regardingit , he seeks more nformation con-cerning his righ t to wear it. Pleasegive us your verdict-he says he wouldmuch rather wear th e st ar han cam-paign ribbons, as he doesnt cme totell the world where he ha s been, butdoes want the world to know he hasa son in the rmed forces.-Librarian,United States Naval Hospital.

A nsw er: He cannot w ear such

a service star; only oficial in-- signia can be w orn upon a uni-fo rm , and service stars have nooficial sanction.

N E W.NAMESin the Navv

The U. S . S. Remey, in honor of thelate Rear Admiral George CollierRemey, USN. Admiral Remey heldcommands in the. war between theStates, was in command of the nava lbase at Key West in he Spanish-American war, an d was cornmander-in-chief of United States squadronsin the Far East during th e Insurrec-tion of th e Philippines and the Boxerwar in Chin a in 1900.

The U. S. S. Kenneth Whiting, aseaplane tender, in honor of the la teCapt. Kenneth Whiting, USN (Ret.), adistinguished pioneer in th e fields ofaviation and submarine operations.Once, as an ensign in 19098, in a haz-ardous experiment t o demonstrate ameans of escape from a sunken sub-marine, he was expelled from a tor-pedo tube of t he Porpoise and swamto he surface in safety. In 1914Captain Whiting was tau ght to pilota plane by Orville Wright. He wasawarded th e Navy Cross for outstand-ing service as commanding officer ofthe firs t United States aeronauticaldetachment to reach France in theFirst World War, and later in com-mand of the impo rtan t United States

England. He helped plan the car-naval air station at Killinghouse,

riers Lexington and Saratoga an dlater commanded the Saratoga.Whiting Field, auxiliary air stati on,Milton, Okla., was also amed inhonor of Captain Whiting BUPERSBULLETIN, ugust 1943 ,p. 4 9 ) .

U. . DECORATIONS{continued from page 23)

have been enunciated will result in aclose adherence to- the rules for theaward of each ecoration. I n thepast, in some cases, these rules havenot been followed, and medals intend-ed for heroism have been awarded formeritorious services where no heroismwas involved.

Both branches of the service havea unit citation for outstanding per-formance in action. The Navy awardis called the Presiden tial Unit Citationan d he Army award the Mstin-guished Unit Badge.

The policy of awarding campaignmedals has been continued, and theNavy has provided the ExpeditionaryMedal for minor campaigns, where amedal is not issued.

Where the same decoration i s wonmore than once, the Army issues abronze Oak Leaf Cluster for achadditional ward. The Navy issuesa gold star fo r the same purpose.This s worn on he ribbon of theappropriate decoration.

[A t t en t ion s nv i t ed o a specia lsect ionon the sub j ec t of Navy R ibbons i n t he M arch1943 In fo rma t ionu l l e t i n . For r ep r in t s ,see page 74.1

I


35/84

,...: ; :,.::.:..: ,./.:....., ... .......... . ...................................................


36/84


37/84

-0Ricial t?. S. Navy Photogrnpn.THE GOAL: Shore line near Licutu, Sicily, as Allied invaders moue in. Thus end months of intensive train-

ing and meticulous plannircg on a vast scale.

Cola aboard, also. Th at is nothingshort of miraculous.

fleet of 2,000 ships th at carriedthe Allied invasion forces t o Sicily

was by all odds he most gigantic everassembled in the worlds history,many, many imes th e size of th egreat Spanish Armada. (Allied head-quarters announced later that thetotal of ships was 3,266.)

I n reading of th is invasion you mustremember that at least half of it wasBritish. The planning was done to-gether and our figures lumped to-gether, but in the actual nvasion wesailed separate fleets, landed in sep-arate areas.

But either section of the invasion,American or British, was a gigan-tic achievement. It was originated.planned, organized, nd put into ffectin the !j short months since the Casa-blanca conference. The bulk of ourown invasion fleet came into existencesince November.

The United States Navy had hewhole job of embarking, transporting,protecting, and landing American in-

THE

vasion roops in Sicily, then helping heterogeneous leet wasnavigatedto ight he short battle with heir across the Atlantic mainly by spit-warships, and afterward keeping the ting nto th e wind.tremendously vital supplies and ein- Fewer th an a hird of th e sailorsforcements flowing in steadily.

most of that third hadnt been in th eon our ship were Regular Navy. And

Yo u n z s t e r s of Scant Navy mansea rs . Most of our crewExper;ence D&? he Job

FTER being with hem hrough

Ahis operation, 1 must say ,my re-

spect for the Navy is great. Th e per-sonnel fo r this great task had to bebui lt as quickly as the fleet itself. Wedid not rob th e Pacific of anything.We created from whole cloth. Therewere 1,000 officers staffing these new-type invasion ships, and less th an 20of them were regular Navy men. Therest were all erstwhile civilians trainedalmost overnight into seadogs. Thebulk of the assault craft came acrossthe ocean under their own power.They are flat-bottomed and not ad-dicted to deep-water sailing. Theirskippers were all youngsters of scant

experience. Some of them rrivedhere with hardly a n y equipment atall. A s oneNavy man aid,his

were y o u n g peacetime andlubberswho became sailors only because ofthe war an d who were longing to get

back to civil life.These .amateurs make a crewsomewhat less efficient th an you wouldhave ound before th e war. Theyjust havent had ime o becomethoroughly adept. But heir officerssay they a re terribly willing.

Tbrough t f rom Africa to Sicily inHE American invading force was

three immense fleets sailing sepa-rately. Each of these hree was inturn broken down into small fleets.It had been utterly impossible to sailthem allas one fleet. Th at wouldhave been like trying t o herd all the

sheep in the world with one dog. Theships sailed from every port in NorthAfrica down to he tiniest ones, It

Page 35


38/84

B r i t i s h Official Ph o tox r anh . Official U. S . Navy Pho tog ra ph .

T H E T R l P T O SlC lLYI Some U.S . soldiers doze, British soldier studies, other U. , soldiers eat canned ratiom

was all worked out like a railroadschedule.

Each of the thr ee big fleets had a

in charge of th at fleet and th e Armycommand ship carrying an admiral

general in command of th e troops be-ing transported. Each command shipha d been especially fitt ed up for thepurpose with extra space or warrooms, which contained huge maps,officers at desks, and scores of radiooperators. It was through these com-mand hips tha t he various andbattles were directed in he earlystages of the invasion before corn-munication centers could be set upashore.

0 R three fleets were not all alike.One came directly from Amer-ica, topping in Africa nly longenough for the roops to stretch theirlegs, then ight on again,. The bigtransport fleets were much easier t oget here; but once here, heir diffi-culties began. Everything had o beunloaded into lighter craft which thebig ships carried on their decks, thentaken ashore. It meant a muchlonger process of unloading th an ours.When your assault roops are beingattacked by land and your waitingships are catching it from he air,believe me, thes pe ed of unloading ismighty important.

I n addition o he big transportsand our hundreds of oceangoing land-ing cra ft, our fleet consisted of sea-going tugs, mine sweepers, subchas-ers, submarines, destroyers, cruisers,mine layers, repair ships, and self-propelled barges mounting big guns.

We had practically everything thatfloats. Nobody can ever know unti lafter the war just what planning thisthing entailed, just what a stagger-ingask it all was. Huge taffsworked on it in Washington until thelas t minu te, then oved bag and bag-

gage over here. Thousands of civil-ians worked day ndightormonths. Troops and ships practiced

Page 36

which their mascot refuses t o beg for .

landings over and over for months.A million little hings ad o bethought of and provided. Th at it allcould be done in months is a modernmiracle.

And yet,) one high naval officersaid as we talked about th e invasiondetails on th e way over, the publicwill be disappointed when they learnwhere we landed. They expect us toihvade Italy, France, Greece, orway,and all of them at once. The peoplejust cant realize tha t we must takejust one step a t a time, and this stepwe are taking now took a half year toprepare.

Before the war, Ernie Pyle was arovingowespondentorheScripps-Howard ewspapers andUnited Feuture Sydicate. In theAfrican imvasiolz e wen t alongwith the U. . Army, wrote colorfuldescriptions of theront. he

Navy ook him t o Sicily, and hisfirst artides concerning the Navy,reprimted here, were the result.

T o ail,but it w as obvious itwerent told wha t day we were

wasnt going to be immediately, forthere was stil l oo much going andcoming, too much hustle .and bustle,

was blacked-out while in port, but itabout the port. Our ship, of course,

wasnt bserved as tric tly s ourconvoy black-outs from England lastfall.

For one thing, the activity of in-vasion preparation was so seethingthose last few weeks th at in practi-

harbor ights blazed hroughout th ecally every port in North Africa the

bight,ontemptuous of danger.There simply wasnt time to be cau-tious. The hip loading ha d o goon day and night, so they et heharbor lights burn.

The bunk assigned to me was inone of the big lower bunkrooms, butit w&s terrificially hot down there, sothe captain of th e ship-a serious,thoughtful veteran naval viator-had a cot put up for me on the deckwith a mattress o n it , and here Islept with he soft fresh breezes oftheMediterranean ight waftingover me. Mine was th e best spot onthe ship, even better han he cap-tains.

Ships AIC Stripped for Actio%HEN I came aboard the vesseltha t was to carry us through the

invasion, I was struck with the oddbleakness of th e walls and ceilingsthroughout the ship.

At first I thought it was a new andvery unbecoming ype of interiordecoration, but then sho rtl y I real-ized that this trange ffect wasmerely part of t he Navy procedureof stripping or action. Inside ourship there were many other precau-tions. As you go into battle all ex-cess rags nd lankets re aken

ashore or stowed away and locked up.The bunk mattresses are set on edgeagainst the walls to act as absorbent


39/84

Official fJ. Y. S a v y Photographs.W H AT T H E ADMIRALS W O R E : Rear Admiral Alan G. Kirk, U S N , ( 1 ) watches a landing, ( 2 ) keeps vigil in

foul weather 0 % bridge, ( 3 ) shakes ham! of Vice Admiral N. K. Hewitt , USN.

cushions against torpedo r shellfragments. he entire crew must befully dressed in shoes, shirts, andpants-no working in shorts or un-dershir ts because of th e danger ofburns.

The Navys traditional white hatsare left below for th e d urat ion of theaction.. No white lothing is al-lowed to show on deck. Steel hel-mets, ainted attleship gray, areworn during engagement. Men whogo on night watches are awakened 45minutes ahead of time ins tead of theusual few minutes and ordered to beon deck half a n hour before going on

watch, for it takes that long for theeyes to become accustomed to hefull darkness.

and the ammunition thrownU ouvenir Arearms are turned

overboard. There was one lockerroom full of German and Italian iflesand revolvers which the sailors hadgot from front-l ine soldiers. Failureto throw way mmunition was acourt-martial offense. The officersdidnt want tra y bullets whizzingaround in case of fire.

Fbod supplies were taken fromtheir regular hampers and stored allabout the ship o that our entire sup-pl y couldnt be destroyed by one hit.A l l movie film was taken ashore.No flashlights, even hooded ones,were allowed.

Doors opening n deck haveswitches jus t the reverse of refriger-ators-when you open the door thelights inside ga .out. A l l linoleumha d been emoved from the floors,all curtains taken down.

Because of weight imitat ions onthe plane which brought me here Ihad to leave my Army gas mask be-hind, so the Navy issued me a Navymask along with a l l the sailors before

departure. They also gave meoneof those bright yellow Mae West lifepreservers like aviators wear.

ship had been lying far out in theEFORE sailing on the invasion our

harbor, tied o a buoy, fo r several days.Several times day general quarter swould sound an d the crew would dashto their battle stations, but always itwas a photo plane or perhaps one ofour own.

Then we moved into a pier. Thatvery ni ght the raiders came and ourship got it s baptism of fire-she los ther virginity, as the sailor s put it. Iha d go t out of bed at 3 a. m. as usualto stumble sleepily up to the radioshack o go over th e news reportswhich the wireless had picked up.

Ther e were several radio operators onwatch, and we were sitting arounddrinking coffee while we worked.Then around 4 a. m. a13 of a suddengeneral quarters sounded. It wasstill pitch dark. The whole ship cameto life with a scurry nd rattling, sail-

have hought they could get heirors dashing to sta tions before youd

shoes on.Shooting had l ready s t a r t e d

around the harbor, so we knew t h i stime it was real. I kept on working,and the radio operators did, too; or,rathe r, tried to work. So m a n y peo-ple were going in and out f the radio

shac k that we were in darkness halfthe ime, since the ights automati-cally go off when the door is opened.

HEN the biggest guns of o ur shiplet loose. They made such a

horrifying noise we thought wed beenhit by a bomb every time they wentoff. Dust and debris came driftingdown from he ceiling to smear upeverything. Nearby bombs hook usUP, tJm.

One by one the electric light bulbswere shattered from the blasts. Thethick steel walls of th e cabin shookand rattled as tho hey were tin. The

entire vessel shivered nder achblast. The harbor was lousy withships, and they ere all shooting. The

raiders were dropping flares all overthe sky, and the searchlights on thewarships were fann ing the heavens.

Shrapnel rained down on the decks,making a terrif ic latter. All thiswent on or an hour and half. Whenit w as over and everything was addedUP we found f o u r planes had been sho tdown. Our casualties were negligible,and no damage was done the ship ex-cept little holes from near-misses.Three men on our ship had beenwounded.

Best of all, we were credited withshooting down one of th e planes!

NOW this raid, of course, was only

one of scores of thousands thathavebeen onducted in his war.Standing alone it wouldnt even beworth mentioning. Im mentioning itto show you what a little taste of t hegenuine thing can do for a bunch ofyoung Americans.

As I have said, our kids on this hiphad never been n action. The major-ity of them were strictly wartime sail-ors, still half-civilian n haracter.Theyd never been shot at, never shotone of thei r own guns, except n prac-tice, and because of this they had beenvery sober, a little unsure, and morethan a little worried about the inva-sion ordeal that lay so near ahead ofthem. And then, all within an hourand a half , hey became veterans.Their zeal went up like one of thoseshooting graph ines in the movieswhen business is good. Boys who hadbeen a l l butterfingers were oadingshells like machinery after 15 minuteswhen it became real. Boys who previ-ously had gone through their routinelifelessly were now yelling w i t h bitterseriousness, Dammit, cant you passthem shells faster.

Thegunnery officer, making hisofficial report to the captain, did it inthese gleefully robust words:

Sir, we got the s f a k.It was worth a days pay to be onthis ship the day after the raid. A l l

Page 37


40/84

Official V. 8. Coast Guard Photograph.

THE LANDING: Coast Guard-mumzed tramport ismissed by Axis bombers . .

Br iti sh Official Photogra ph.

, . . while only sea gulls flock around British Infantry

day long th e sailors went gabble, gab-ble, gabble, eac h telling the othe r owthey did it , what they saw, what theythought. After that raid a great p artof their reluctance to sta rt for theunknown vanished; their guns hadbecome t he ir pals, the enemy becamereal, and the war came live for them,and they didnt fea r i t so much anymore. This crew of sailors had jus t gone through what hundreds f thou-sands of o ther soldiers and sailorsalready had experienced-the on-version from peaceful people intofighters. Theres othing especiallyremarkable about it , but it is moving

to be on hand and see it happen.and sailors in camps back

H EN I try t o picture our soldiers

home now , I always visualize-and nodoubt w rongly-a raft ee who isgoing th rough his training like a man,but still reluctantly and without

Date post:	07-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	cap-history-library
View:	227 times
Download:	0 times