All Hands Naval Bulletin - May 1945

8/3/2019 All Hands Naval Bulletin - May 1945

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I882FRANKLIN iDELANO IROOSEVELT

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B U R E A U O F N A V A L P E R S O N N E L

MAY I945 NAVPERS-0 NUMBER 338VICE ADMIRAL RANDALL JACOBS, USNThe Ch i e f of Naval Personnel

REAR ADMIRAL WILLIAM M. FECHTELER, USNThe Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel

TABLE OF CONTENTSPage

The Sailor President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2O n Japan's Doorstep.. . . . . . . . . . .Here's Your Enemy.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The 'Temporary' W ar o f LST 460. .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20222426

aNavy Sails the Rhine.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Truk, End of a Bogey.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maritime Day.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .New Books in Ships' Libraries.. . . . . . . . . . . 36The Month's Alnavs in Brief.. . . . . . . . . . . . 37Letters to the Editor.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40The Month's News:

Commander-in-Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Ships and Stations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Report From Home.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Decorations and Citations 61What's Your Naval I.Q.?,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68The Bulletin Board.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Along the Road t o Tokyo. . . . .

This magazine i s published monthly in Wash-ington, D. C., by the Bureau of Naval Personnelfor the information and interest of the navalservice as a whole. By BuPers Circular Letter162-43, distribution i s t o be effected to allow allhands easy access to each issue (seeAll activities should keep the Bureau in ormed o fhow many copies are required. All originalmaterial herein may be reprinted as desired.

pageFor sale by Superintendent of 'Documents, U. S. GovernmentPrinting Office, Washington 25, D. C.: 15 cents per copy; sub-scription price $1.50 a year, domestic (including FPO or A,POaddresses for overseas mail): $2.25, foreign. Remittance shouldbe made direct to the Superintendent of Documents. Subscrip-tions are accepted for one year only.


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Photograph frani Press Association, Inc.Wearing familiar sea cape, President Roosevelt reviewed the Pacific fleet in 1938. With him was Admiral Bloch.THE SAILOR PRESIDENT

Through Two Wars, He Worked Mightily For TheseThings H e Loved: The Navy, Its Ships and I t s MenIGHT soldiers, sailors and marinesE lowerkd the body into the grave.A file of West Pointe rs advanced, firedthree volleys. As the la st volleysounded, muffled drums began to beatin the distance, and a bugler soundedTaps.Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32dPresident of the United States, hadbeen committed to his last restingplace, on his estate at Hyde Park,N. Y. The armed forces had lost their

wartime Commander-in-Chief (see p.41). The Navy, in particular, hadlost a longtime friend, one who hadseen it through two wars and broughtit to the peak of its power.More than any man who ever held2

the office, President Roosevelt wasclose to the sea, the Navy, i ts men andits ships.As Assistant Secretary of the Navyfrom 1913 to 1920, he wa6 a leadingfigure in naval affairs throughout thefirst World War and after it. AsPresident, he saw another conflictlooming in the 30s and found ways t obuild up a stronger Navy in prepara-tion for it. Before he died, he was tosee his forces on the verge of victoryin Europe, and his Navy, now themightiest in all history, battering atthe door of Japan.Some 37 years before FranklinRoosevelt died, an earlier Rooseveltthe famed T. R., Franklins fifth cou

sin-had sent the U. S. Fleet to Jap anand around the rest of the world on a46,000-mile cruise t o impress upon theGreat Nations that the United Stateshad attained full stature as a worldpower.But t he familys connection with seaand Navy went back generations be-fore that. President Roosevelts grand-father, Warren Delano, was sailingbefore he was 19 as supercargo on aship which went t o South Americaand China. His gre at grandfather,another Warren Delano, had been asea captain of the early 1800s.The President himself made his firstocean voyage, to Europe, at the saltyage of 3. He made his first visit tothe White House (at 5 ) in a sailorsuit. His fa the r had taken him thereto see Grover Cleveland. PresidentCleveland, then groping with a na-


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request to President Wilson, who said,Tell the young man that his only andbest war service is t o stay where heis. M r. Roosevelt himself then wentto see the President, but Wilson re-fused t o let him resign.M ine Barrage vs. U-Boats

Prribably his most daring and im -portant war achievement was pushingthrough the Nor th Sea mine barrage-a project which the British admiraltydid not think possible and whichAdmiral William S. Sims at firstcalled the conception of a newspaperstrategist.

Ge-rman U-boats had the Alliesworried. One out of every four shipsleaving the United Kingdom was sunkbefore it could return. The Britishand French had the Straits of Doverpr et ty well blocked off wi th mines,nets and patrols, but long-rangingU-boats were leaving their bases atWilhelmshaven and Kiel and takingthe route north of Scotland. If thisnorthern exit of the North Sea couldbe blocked, the submarine menacecould be ended.The plan of stretching a chain ofhigh-explosive mines, 25 0 miles long,across the North Sea appealed to As-sistant Secretary Roosevelt and he anda grohp of naval officers pressed forits adoption, finally getting their way.The mines were built in a plant nearNorfolk, carried overseas by a fleet of24 cargo vessels, and a special Ameri-can squadron began laying them inMarch 1918.Admiral Sims late r referred t o thisfeat as one of the wonders of thewar, and Secretary of the NavyDaniels called it the greatest navalachievement in the World War.Stories of this barrage were circu-lated all over Germany, wrote Ad-miral Sims. Sailors who had been incontact with it related the experienceto their fellows, and the result wasextremely demoralizing to the Germansubmarine flotilla. The North Seabarrage was probably a contributorycause of the mutiny which demoralized

the German fleet in the fall of 1918.Assistant Secretary Roosevelt madetwo trips to Europe during the war,the first time to report on the opera-tions and needs of the many Americannaval and aviation bases and ships inEuropean waters. His interest in get-ting into uniform was still keen, andMrs. Roosevelt wrote that he hadobtained a promise that when thiswas done he would be permitted to re-turn to Europe as a lieutenant com-mander attached to the naval railwaybat tery of 14-inch guns under AdmiralPlunkett.

He sailed 9 July 1918 on the de-stroyer USS Dyer, which was convoy-ing a number of transports to France.A few months later came the Armis-tice, and Mr. Roosevelt found that hewould have to go to Europe again , thistime t o wind up Navy affairs inEurope, to dispose of what could besold, ship home what could be usedagain, and speed up demobilization.As Assistant Secretary of the Navy,Mr. Roosevelts first office in Washing-ton looked out on the White House,and was in fact only a few yards fromit. The building is now the State De-partment, which flanks the WhiteHouse to the west as the TreasuryDepartment does to the east. In thosedays, War, Navy and State all sharedthe same building. M r. Roosevelt wasinstrumental in getting the presentNavy Department building constructedover on Constitution Avenue, and theNavy moved into that temporarybuilding in 1918-and is still there.The leap from Navy Department toWhite House took quite a few yearsmore, but when it came Mr. Rooseveltwas well prepared for it. His experi-ence in the Navy Department, Dan-iels wrote, particularly in the wardays of 1917-18, was invaluable whenhe became Commander-in-Chief in theconduct of World War 11. When hewas nominated for the Presidency a tChicago, he told the delegates he wasthankful for my Navy training.One thing he had learned well wasthe value of naval preparedness, andhe took steps early to see that the

Navy would have a little more t o fightwith if another war was to coma Oneof the early pieces of New Deal legis-lation was the National Industrial Re-covery Act, passed by Congress in1933 to encourage national industr ialrecovery, to foster fair competition,and t o provide for the construction ofcerta in useful public works. Luckilyfor Americas future, it also includedanother clause: . . . and, if in theopinion of the President it seems desir-able, the construction of naval vesselswithin the terms and/or limits estab-lished by the London Naval Treaty.

With this as authority, the Presi-dent allocated $238,000,000 to theNavy for construction of 32 ships: 4light cruisers, 2 carriers, 20 destroy-ers, 4 submarines and 2 gunboats. Thecarriers were the Yorktown and En-t e rpr i se , both of which participated inthe first raids on the Marshalls. Itwas the Yorktown which later made adramatic 5,000-mile run from theCoral Sea to help swing the scales inthe Battle of Midway. Although sunkherself a t the end of the action, shehad been a vital factor in inflicting onthe Jap Navy its first decisive defeatin 35 0 years, and the battle was acrucial turning point i n the Pacific.This construction program stimu-lated the shipbuilding industry to newactivity and started the nation on theroad t o acquiring a Navy of reallymodern warships.

Other naval legislation followedrapidly. In 1934 the President ap-proved the Vinson-Trammel1 Act,under which the Navy was authorizedto be built up to the strength per-mitted by the Washington (1922) andLondon (1930) agreements.More increases followed : on 17 June1938, an increase of 295,412 tons, alittle over 2 0 % ; on 1 4 June 1940,167,000 tons; on 19 July 1940, a whop-ping 1,325,000 tons, almost 70% up:Naval air strength was also beingupped before Pearl Harbor. On 17May 1938 the Navy was authorized toincrease its air strength to 3,000

Pa y -Of f a t M idwa y

Official U . S. Navy photographsCHURCHILL visited President on cruiser Augusta dur- IN ALASKA on inspection tour of Army and Nav facil-ing Atlantic Charter talks. At the left i s Franklin D., Jr. ities, 1944, President went fishing in Navy smalr boat.


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es. Three jumps in 1940 increasedto 4,500, then 10,000, then 15,000.Aided and abetted by its Navyt o come.

AccomplishmentsAqong the many acamplishmentsor and by the Navy during President1 2 years in the Whitese were these:modernization of the fleets old

the building of a new experi-the building up of a tremendous

11.gigantic expansion of naval avia-the building of much neededthe construction and manning ofmore powerful warships and ord-the recruiting of women for thethe addition to the nations first45,000-USS I o w a, N e w J e r se y , M k -

and Wiscons in , as well as th eUSS South Dako ta ,r th Caro lina, W ash ing ton , I nd iana ,and Alabama .During his 12 years in the Whiteas his aides.

at the timef th at duty. In order, they were:1932-34; Wilson1934-36; Paul H. Bastedo,W. B. Woodson, 1937-38;J. Callaghan (who died an Franc i sco , in the Battle of Gua-

, 1938-41; J. R. Beardall,and John L. McCrea, 1942-. At the time of his death, Presi-1943 to serve f o r the second time.

Of a ll his White House intimates,few were closer t o President Roose-velt than his personal physician, ViceAdmiral Ross T. McIntire, (MC)USN, Surgeon General of the Navyan d Chief of th e Bureau of Medicineand Surgery. Every morning about8:30 the Presidents doctor parked hiscar in front of the White House an-nex, strolled, down .the corridor. intothemain building, up the stairs andinto the Executive bedchamber wherethe President held his daily bedsidesession,Admiral McIntire traveled with thePresident on presidential trips and

was known around Washington a sthe only man whp, gives orders toFranklin Roosevelt.It was Admiral McIntire who hadthe sad duty of announcing to thepress th e news of Pres ident Roose-velts sudden death, opening a pressconference called at the White Houseby saying t o the assembled newsmen,This is a tough one for me t o haveto give you.All four of President Rooseveltssons were in the armed forces at thetime of his death, three of them inthe naval service. Col. James Roose-velt, USMCR, the eldest, is on duty onthe staff of a commanding officer ofan amphibious group in the Pacific.Brig. Gen. Elliott Roosevelt, ArmyAir Forces, is CO of the 325th Pho-tography Reconnaissance Wing. Lt.Comdr, Franklin Delano RooseveltJr., USNR, s CO of a destroyer escortin the Pacific, and Lt. John AspinwallRoosevelt, (SC) USNR, s on the staffof a carrier division CO in the Pacific.Many a Navy ship had carried Mr.Roosevelt aboard, both when he wasPresident and earlier as AssistantSecreta ry of the Navy. He frequentlytook week-end cruises down the Poto-mac on the yacht uss Sequoia, whichthe government furnished for itsChief Executive. When it was decidedthat the Sequoia, being a wooden ves-sel, was too much of a fire hazard fo rits distinguished topsider, the CoastGuard cutter Electra became thePresidential c raf t USS Potomac.

In the first World War, Mr. Roose-velt had sailed aboard the transportuss George Washington, which car-ried Woodrow Wilson to France; thedestroyer D y e r , which he took toEurope in 1918; the destroyer K i m -berly, in which he sailed to visit theAmerican naval base at Queenstown,in southern Ireland.Peacetime d ays found him oftenaboard the H o u s t o n o r Indianapolis,cruisers apparently being among hiskvorites. It was* another cruiser,

the signing of the A tlantic Charter.The Navy 1s His Monument

Perhaps the greatest monument tothe Presidents love of sea and Navy,and one with which he would be wellcontent, is the Navy itself which hehad helped grow to such mightystature. The fleet which Teddy Roose-velt sent around the world in 1907-09was a ponderous one, with its 16first-line battleships, but it was tolook like just a task force beforeWorld War I1 was over.When President Roosevelt tookoffice, the Navys operating force planfor 1933 provided for a total of 455vessels. By 30 June 1944 the U.S.Navy, worlds largest, consisted of1,108 warships plus 60,191 other craft ,a grand total of 61,229 vessels.At the end of 1933 the U.S. Navyhad 919 serviceable airplanes onhand. On 30 June 1944 it had 34,000.Personnel in 1933 numbered 96,227(79,700 in the Navy, 16,527 in theMarines). On 28 February of thisyear the personnel s treng th of theU.S. Navy included 3,269,670 in theNavy itself, 474,980 in the Marinesan d 171,726 in the Coast Guard-atotal of 3,916,376.Franklin Delano Roosevelttime friend of the Navy, hadhind him a Navy ready, willimort? th an able to take u p any tas kthe nation might assign it. For asailor President, that made quite amonument.


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north of where main landing was made (p. 43). Britishtask force joined U. S. 5th Fleet forces in preliminaries.

Official U. S. Coast Guard photograph5,r.FLAG is hoisted over Akawhich were taken to cover (

R bombs, rockets, bullets lulled Okinawai s a shot of an air attack on Toguchi, town

Off ic ia l U. S. Navy photographsbomb and strafe Jap cargo ships in anThe air preparation involved 1,500 planes, Shima, one of Kerama Island>kinawa landings six days late


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to deli


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Official U. S. Marine Carps photaoraphsd. stone wall. While marines herded part of theioled the main garrison up in the southern sector.


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Some 262,000 J ap sailors have diedin this war, it was estimated lastmonth in a rsport on Ja p naval menand their ships prepared by the Officeof W ar Information from materialmade available by the U. S. Navy andother official sources.As a result, the remaining 850,000Jap sailors are being told to thinktwice before drawing the blade.The willingness of Japanese tocommit hara-kiri is no longer consid-ered a virtue because so many of theNavys best sailors have done awaywith themselves, the report said.Do not, however, let the Japs stag-gering losses lead you to believe thatthe Nipponese sailor is not one t o berespected. Comic cartoonists to thecontrary, the foe you face is not agoggle-eyed, buck-toothed, gibbering H e is the well-trained, well-educated, well-equipped f ighting man in this photo.little idiot: Nor is he a stupid, stone- DISCIPLINE. The Japanese sailorge warrior. He is a well-trained, japaneseunnery is good.well-equipped fighting Japanese naval officers ar e of high is easy to command. They expect or-man. quality. ders and feel unhappy when le ft toJapanese naval vessels are excel- themselves. (Even on shore leave, theBig-League Foe lent. Japs discipline is high. If a sailorBefore the war, ther e were many in Japanese naval men have physi- misbehaves, his officers lose face. Inthe U. S. who held the opinion that C a l endurance, loyalty, confidence, dis- the ra re instances when Jap seamenJapanese seamanship and gunnery cipline and foresightedness. have been guilty of infractions, officerswere poor. Events have made it neces- Americans who know the Ja p Sailor have been known to confine themselvessary to revise that opinion. Make no best have had th is to say about him: to quarters.)mistake about it: The Japanese Navy The Japanese are taug ht to be ag-has given the u. S. Navy its first big- gressive, resolute and daring. During CONFIDENCE. Their morale isleague t e s t s in ce fighting ships the heat of battle, they fight Tithout excellent, thanks to pas t victories inchanged from wood to steel. We are fear .. nd t o the bitter end. former wars and th e initial successesfighting the greatest naval war in all af ter Pearl Harbor. The Japanese feelhistory against a foe who is highly ENDURANCE* The Japanese say themselves, man to man, superior tocompetent technically, and who is con- that the loyalty Of Officers and men an y of us. They believe in their divinetinuously aware of improvements in them to endure the hardships destiny to conquer the world. Theyall branches of warfare. If the Japa- Of a Spartan life at sea, and their are not discouraged by single battles.nese had certain technical equipment men-of-war accordin& are They, are confident they Will win thewhich ha$ been developed by American ships, even sacrificing Some thin@ war.ingenuity and made available by which we consider basic necessities.American industry, their fighting abil- LOYALTY. Training and educa- FORESIGHTEDNESS. The Japa-ity might be even higher. tion does much to bring to the front neSe are Prudent and Careful. Thethe devotion of the Japanese to his War has been long.P1anned, with Cer-Emperor and country. They revere tai n details taken care of Years [email protected] Emperor as God, who is the head They expect to conquer all of Eas ternAsia and the Pacific Ocean and thenforce us to make a peace which will

weaken us, and cause us to growweaker with time.SUSPICION. The Japanese do no%tr us t even themselves. They often sus-

THE JAP SAILOR i s not a goggle-eye, buck-toothed, id iot ic cartoon char

Combat experience has proved that:Japanese seamanship is high.Japanese torpedo warfare is ex-cellent. of the whole family.

-

The Japanese Sailor, Though Taking a Beating,Has Proved Himself a Big-League Fighting Man


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the Imperial Naval Academy at Eta-jima for line officers, the ImperialNaval Engineering Academy a t Mai-zuru and the Imperial Naval Pay-masters Academy a t Tokyo.These academies are rated sociallyand profkssionally in th at order. How-ever, since the outbreak of the war,attempts have been made to eliminateth is snobbery. Bu t there continues tobe social friction between the Japarmy and navy- riction that, attimes, has probably made the task ofAmerican forces easier than it mightotherwise have been.Candidates for the line officersacademy must be between the ages of16 and 19. Most of them come fromthe upper middle class. Before an ap-pointment is made, the candidatesfamily is thoroughly investigated tosee if it is worthy of producing anaval officer. If , fo r example, an ap-plicants brother ha s a bad reputation,the candidates chances for appoint-ment would be jeopardized.Although candidates must have had11 years of schooling, the prewarscholastic standard was not high be-cause the academic instruction coveredmerely the essentials of the technicalbranches. Instead, the utmost stresswas and is placed upon moral train-ing and, second only to that, uponphysical development and endurance.Hence, the entrance requirements tothe academy ar e stiff. In 1935, for in-

stance, 7,000 Japanese youths applied,but only 210 survived the rigorousphysical examination and competitivesubject tests to gain admission. Today,wiih the academys classes expandedand the wartime course shortenedfrom four to three years, more than400 cadets ar e admitted annually.Academy regulations are strict.Rules ar e many and petty-both offi-cial and unofficial. Examples:0 Members of the first two classes

cannot smoke.When on liberty, cadets may notride in automobiles.0 Cadets may not go anywhere ex-cept on the island of Etajima.0 Cadets cannot be entertained bygeishas; to enjoy such female com-pany, they must wait at least untilthey are ensigns.Hazing by upper classmen is therule. The three upper classes, how-ever, g et along fair ly well together.

Training in SeamanshipSeamanship is stressed- throughoutthe cadets academy life. Small boat

handling is the most important sub-ject in th is course. This small boathandling is not maneuvering in for-mation, bu t consists of basic seaman-ship, such a s coming alongside a land-ing, handling a boat in a heavy seaand in a fog, and the prevention ofcollisions, The firs t hclf of this boattraining course is carried out largely

in rowboats, the second half in sail o rpower boats.An expert on Japanese naval edu-cation has said that almost everysmall boat leaving a Jap man-of-warhas a boat officer in charge. If any-thing happens to a ships boat o r if aships boat renders incorrect passingorders, the ship to which the boatbelongs loses face and is discredited inthe eyes of the r est of the fleet.Final stage of the academy trainingis the graduat ion cruise. Upon com-pletion of this cruise, cadets ar e ap-pointed midshipmen for 10 monthsspecialized training before being com-missioned ensigns.While in the academy, students re-ceive all necessary boaks, uniforms andthe like, but are not paid any moneyby the government. They may, how-ever, receive money fr om home. Upongraduation, a man receives about 100yen ($23) with which to buy uniforms.Most of a newly made ensigns uni-forms ar e converted from naval acad-emy outfits.The staff officers schools-the engi-neering and paymaster academieehave entrance requirements and regu-lations similar to those at the navalacademy. However, candidates ma y beas old as 21 in contrast to the 19-yearage limit at the line officers academy.The higher naval college is at Me-guro Station, near Tokyo. It providesfacilities for lieutenants and lieuten-

JAP SHIPS, though in some respects inferior to ours, areexcellent. Scattered and reduced by attrition inflicted by U. S. Fleet, however, they can no longer pu+ on theshow of strength they were able to before the war (below).


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CONCEALED fighting i s the specialty of Jap soldier. TRAINING is given the Jap Army mainly in the field.


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the Pacific they g o t their first taste of It was a demonstration, all right. and the first night there they had 12the peculiar roll of the lumbering Although they did everything theyd general quarters, s tar ting at 1800.LST-a quick, six-second rol l th at was been told and tried t o repeat the When the first came they thought:something between a snap and a hic- happy success of tlia t first beaching, well, this is it. After the fifth, theycup. Officers and crew promptly got the 460 broached. They stayed there decided, well, anyway, thev dont getseasick. helplessly all night, and about noon you every time. After the 12th theyOn the way down they got to know next day a tug came UP to Pull them decided that it might not beeso danger-a little more of the feel and nature off. The Army group, having had a ous but i t certainly wa s tiring.cf the ir ship, explored its huge t ank demonstration of modern landing tech-deck which would soon be. fer rying niques, went away very quietly while u p the slotAbout a week later they learnedanks and trucks and amphtracs to the 460 Was towed to a drydock forinvasion shores, learned the workings repa irs to its screws and bottom.of its elevator to bring things down Orders to move on to Pearl Harbor they get their first mission Upfrom the top deck, studied the huge were received with mixed emotions. the lot? to The tw o pre-bow doors and the bow ramp which Other LSTs had set out for Pearl, cedingLSTs that had gone up hadhad yet to drop on it s first beach. but nobody ever seemed to hear been lost* First the LST 340 wentWhen equipment wasnt being carried, whether thev arrived o r not. The 460, up; they heard shed been bombed*there was plenty of room on the tank full of gloomy rumors, expected to Then the 341 went up; Only On e sur-deck fo r a basketball court, and it was break in two half way across the Pa- viving Officer came back f rom her.put to this use later in many a Pacific cific. When they finally lef t, everybody On their fingers, theport. The 460 developed one of the was sympathetic and kind and gave men Of the M0 eredhere wasbest LST basketball teams in the Pa- them a party. It was sort of like a Some time before get up to 460cific, playing 50 t o 60 games and 10s- last friendly funeral service, they re- at this rate*ing only two. called. But word came fo r the 460 to g o upFrom Pearl they went on, via next. They felt a little like a scaredSamoa and Espiritu, for Guadalcanal. b 3 ~ alking into a dar k cavern. TwoThe men were manning their guns a minutes out of the harbor they wereAt San Diego they g o t orders t o g o day and a half out of Guadal, scan- a t general quar ters, all set and rarinUP the coast a ways for a period of ning the sky f o r enemy alanes as the to fight. All went well, the night VOY-training. This consisted, as it turned LST crept cautiously dong . Youd age was quiet except fo r a few dog-out, of one practice beaching. With have thought we were about t o make fights overhead, and the 460 discharged

everybody coaching, it came off all the original landing, they said. Ac - he r cargo. From there on she was aright. Jubt as they were retracting tually, the island had been secured five veteran and was of f on a series offrom this first beaching theyd ever months before-just about the time combat missions excelled by few LST stried, ordeks were blinked to them to the 460 was being commissioned. in the Pacific.pick up an Army group to give them Jap planes were still active, though. Between missions the re were occa-a demonstration. The,460 moved across t o Purvis Bay sional restful periods in port. Then

Across the Pacific


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Only time they didnt have deckt o do was when it rained.with re-a spell in Milne Bay when it30 days. At Leyte there23 inches rain-a month.Another busy man aboard the LSTir. When the shipfitter wasnthis shop was. The menit to make things for them-

or their families or their girls,a knife or ornamentbracelet.Sometimes the LSTs cargo would

Holidays usually brought a fancymeal fo r all hands-turkey, if possible.One LST group commander used tosend his men ashore at island portsand have them gather up hearts ofpalms. They varied the diet a bit andmade a good salad-sort of crunchy,like celery. Best chance for diet vary-ing came when another ship wouldcome in to port. If i t was a big ship,word was passed to lay up to theconning tower to identify it, then findout who knew somebody aboard. Asponging party would soon be

formed and would set ou t in the LCVPto see what could be wormed o r bar-gained out of the new arrivals.LCVPs were the 460s liberty boats.They had two of them, so they de-cided to fix one up r eal p retty, makingit their Saturday night sports road-ster. They did a good job of it.Too good, in fact. The flotilla COtook one look at it and said, Thatsfine, just what I need.Large Stranded Target.

The 460s first really close call camewhen they go t orders to go up a l i t tkcreek in the Munda area. It was twistand turn all the way, and they knockedseveral blades off one screw in the na r-row channel. Ju st as they got stuckon a sandbar, the Japanese opened u pfrom Kolombangara with artillery andlaid down a barrage, coming step-by-step. closer t o the 460 as she lay therestranded on the bar. For some reasonnobody yet can figure out, the ba rragestopped about a hundred yards shortof the ship. I guess the deck waspretty well washed from the sweatwhich flowed from our pores.The next combat mission was to beVella Lavella. There wasnt muchpoint in her zig-zagging on the way asthe general motion of an LST waspre tty close to a zig-zag anyway. Inone convoy they were in, the instruc-tions were sent out to ships as fol-lows: Destroyers and transports willzig-zag. LSTs will waddle.The LST 4 6 0 was breezing its slowway along t o Vella when word sud-denly came to tu rn back. They foundout later that the Battle of Kula Gulfwas taking place, and the Navy ap-parently didnt figure that the LSTs20-mms. would turn the tide.They went in at Vella Lavella the

Lt. Albert I


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in all by thei+o Mindor

After Leyte, thev 7ord

1so thMindoro. On thi

4f ukept going byto them. The 1:f you fall behindgive you protect

ion in the convoThe change savede moment. They15 Decembg o t i472 .

n Borrowed TirFrom there on thcon, borr?

Several gave their Iifeiwounded men, though itheir own chances were


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i n m ewas slomget thenescort bcone by at o our slaway allLt. Irl

They talked to him on the radio,told him the circumstances and he sentback word he was willing t o try. Buthe asked them t o stick with him andgive air support.So Lt. Fecke ordered the other fourt o stay and circle above the ship, whilehe went back to pick up Buchananslocation and guard him.But when he not there, he couldntfind Buchanan. He flew for 25 minutesaround Tokyo Bay and was about to+espair, when he began getting sunCashes in his eyes.He flew over about three miles, andthere was Buchanan. He had used hissignal mirror, just like it says in thebook.In the meantime the ships progresswas slow. It took almost two hours t oget there. And one by one the aeria lescort began getting in trouble, andone by one Fecke ordered them homet o our ship, which w as getting fa rthe raway all the time.Lt. Irl Sonner, of Petaluma, Calif.,

American [n arms.All the Navy-from SecretaryForrestal. who said the Nationowes him its unending gratitude,down to the youngest seaman onthe smallest invasion cr af tm ou rn e dthe passing of the thin, gra y littleHoosier.Death came 18 April on Ie Island,off Okinawa, as Pyle was moving upto be with the foot soldiers. A Ja pmachinegunner ambushed the jeepin which he was riding with Lt. Col.Joseph B. Coolidge, USA. They doveinto a ditch; then peered over thetor, to see if all was clear . . . An-

Official U. S. Navy photouraphRECENT PICTURE of Ernie Pyleshows him as a correspondent withthe Navy in the Pacific.

other burst hit the road over ourheads, the colonel related, and Ifell back into the ditch. I . . . sawhe had been hit. He was killed al-most instantly, the bullet entering hisleft temple just under his helmet.Pyle, 44, long had a premonitionof death on a battlefield. Once hewrote: Somehow, I feel Im press-ing my luck . . .

I21


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PR Emanto stions of Navy's,hrough narrowf trailer-trucks.1. S. Navy photographs_____l_"".--Official I--- .


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But the sauadron skippers dreamwasnt entirely true. Ens. Foye c l am e lonly one Ja p plane.en of Seabee Maintenance Units 609,610, 611 and 612 not only have to culllumber from the tropical jungle, butmust not only keep an eye peeled forfalling timber, but also beware of livebombs in t he surrounding brush.We always seem t o hit shrapnel inthe logs just as were getting in thatlast lick, said Arthur G . Betts, MMlc,USNR, of Sea ttle, and always when

also plczk shrapnel from the logs; and This Takes the CakeEven in the excitement of the nightbefore, the Luzon invasion, Ronald C.Hoover, BkrZc, USNR, placidly bakedbiscuits aboard his landing ship; and,next morning, cheerily baked cakes.Suddenly there was an explosion toport . . . Hoover was hur t. But, like

i ~ousewife worried that heavy foot-falls might make her cake fall, hewas concerned only with: My bis-cuits! I couldnt serve em! And mycakes! Theyve fallen!

When the cakes were baked, all hada decided port list.


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its prestige.Nevertheless, Tr uk wa s high on thepriority list of targets which Admi-ral Nimitz kept locked away with hiswar plans at Pearl Harbor. The rea-sons were Dlain. Truk lies southwest ofthe Marsgall Islands in a command-ing position north of the Solomons-Bismarck Archipelago - New Guineaarea. It had long been a key positionfrom which Japan had attacked Alliedforces in those regions. Fleets hadsailed from here to the battles ofSanta Cruz and Guadalcanal and hadreturned here for repairs. From a de-fensive standpoint Truk protected theCarolines and was a decided threat tothe flank of projected U. S. opera-tions against the Marianas, the nextisland group to the north.A Natural FortressGeography alone lent Truk naturalstrength. The long, roughly circularperimeter of its outer reef encloses alagoon some 33 miles in diameter,6

Carefully sealed from the outsideworld for a quarter of a century,Truk was a place of secrets. Fewwhite men had ever seen it. Theo-retically, of course, Japan as a man-datory power could not fortify theislands, but the handful of outsiderswho chanced by accident o r curiosityupon Truk were rushed away withobsequious politeness, or, if they hadseen too much, met with regrettableaccidents. Exist ing charts were onlyapproximate. The extent and even thegeneral location of Truks defenseswere riddles as obscure as the un-solved writings of ancient Etr ur ia.Off with the LidIn fact, it was only twelve days be-fore the fast carriers raid that twodaring Marine photographic planes fi -nally-and partially-pried the lid offTruk. Led by Marine Maj. James R .Christensen of Sal t Lake City, withNavy photographers aboard, the twoplanes flew a perilous 2,OOO-mileround trip over enemy waters from abase in the Solomons, fought theirway through freak weather whichiced their wings as they crossed theequator, and spent twenty minutes24,000 feet over the tar get taking pic-tures. Caught off guard, the Japswere unable to shoot them down, andthe two Liberators returned to rushthei r pictures to t he anxiously waitingadmirals.Alas, that day over Truk had beencloudy, and the photographs were in-complete. One airfield, which laterturned out to be tiny Eten Island,


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of th at island, fol- by cruisers and 28 destroyers. Youa staf f which hoped anx- could tell by. looking a t those babies_ tha t npne-of the lurkjng snipers that they could lick. anything afloat,

planes. A stick of bombs (circles) can b

le enemys by air while the greatpposing sh ips of the line slugged itu t with their 16-inch main batteries,ie cruisers and destroyers deployedn their flanks. Spruance would haveThat the Navy calls tactical com-land, that is, run the battle, in casef a surface match; Mitscher wouldave it in case it was strictly an avi-tors show. It was almost definitelyssumed that the attackers would en-mnter enemy patrols - ampans,icket boats and prowling aircraft-) warn of intrud ers on the Emperorsomains, and a message was dutifully:nt out by the flagship : WARNING.LL SHIPS OUTSIDE TASK FORCE.RE ENEMY.But nothing ever appeared.At launching time on the morningf 16 February (west longitude date),readed Truk, which lies only tenours away by air from Tokyo, wasu t a mere 46 minutes by air fromle avenging armada. And 46 min-tes later, as a sweep of Hellcatstreamed over the little islands in thealf l ight of ear ly dawn, one of therea$est all-fighter-plane battles ofistory began.ighter Against FighterA Hollywood war was whatlighting Fives skipper Ed Owen sar-onically called this first big fighter:rap of the Central Pacific offensive.he sides were almost evenly matched.In th at first flight there were noombers around t o be protected. Itas simply fighter against fighter,here were dogfights everywhere, intangle of smoke and flame and hurt-n g aircraft in the best Cecil B.IeMille tradition.The fighters wheeled in from north the atoll and, in a long circle that)ok five minutes to complete, passedearly around the whole lagoon. Lt.jg) Tom McClelland of the York -~ w n emembers feeling that Trukas deserted, that the fears everyonead felt the night before had beendiculous. Owen, who was leading the[vision, broke off his section t o dive3wn and strafe. It was just really:tting light now. Suddenly a streamF tracers whipped by McClellandsghter and, as he looked, a Jap floatlane, diving from a high point ofmtage, zoomed up-past him into aoud and disappeared. There wereiemy fighters in the air now, plentyF them, and the low and mediumwer layers of fighters were soon,rambling in a general melee,eros on +he RunThen, down below, McClelland spot-d a dark green Zero closing up onLe tail of a section of F6Fs. Diving

27?, , .b


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ACES come only four to a deck in cards but not on car-riers. Heres Bombing Nine passing time on the way to Truk, AVENGER torpedo bomber zooms over the smoking hulkof a Jap destroyer of the Asashto class plastered at Truk.down, he opened fire and the Zerostarted smoking and entered a cloud.The clouds were the Zeros protection,for Truk that day was about halfcovered with fleecy cumulus. Once aZero lost the terrific speed and attackadvantage from a high altitude dive,it would veer off and hide. With theinitial advantage gone the Japs didntknow what to do.They fought a s though they werein a daze, said One-Slug McWhorter,and the rest of Fighting Nines pilotsbore him out by shooting down 36 ofTruks defenders. My wingman andI ran into three Zeros. The first hada perfect bead on me but for somereason o r other didnt fire, and Bud,my wingman, knocked him down. Theother two ran right into my sights,one after the other, inside ten sec-onds, and went down. Less than amile away another Zero was bearingdown on me. He could have got me.But, strangely, he didnt fire either. Ilet him have one burst and set himafire. He bailed out.Over and Over

The same story was repeated overand over. It sounded like propaganda,like the old bar-room boast before thewar: Any American can lick anyten (Japs ) (Germans) (dirty furri-ners). But it was true tha t the Navypilot was head and shoulders abovehis Jap adversary in tactics, training. ,and teamwork. One lost Essex Hellcat,. piloted by Lt. (j g) Eugene A. Valen-cia of Alameda, Calif., was attackedby six o r more Jap fighters who pur-sued him for miles out to sea untilValencia decided they couldnt hit anelephant if i t was tied down for them.So he turned, brought down three ofattackers and put the rest t o rout.T h o s e Grummans are beautifulplanes, said Valen$a. If they couldcook Id m ar ry one.The story of Truk was one of in-dividual feats. It was a field day forFighting Five. Ed Owen shot downtwo Japs. So did Stevens. McClellandgot three. Group Commander Steb-

bins, who was supposed to be takinpictures and running the show, ha!to take time off to shoot down a Zerowhich attacked him. Dapper Nelson,who was new to the squadron and

had never so far been on a flightwhen any enemy aircraft weresighted, shot down three in one hop.Lt. (jg ) Teddy Schofield, the Mormonyoungster from Provo, Utah, andyoungest inan in the squadron, broughtdown two, one of which declared anex tr a dividend. On fire, the enemypilot headed down t o make a forced.landing. Schofield followed on his tail ,pouring more lead into him andwatching closely. The unfortunate .Japtried to set his plane down on itswheels. Instead, one of his wings hi tthe ground first and then his craftstarted down the field in flames, spin-ning end over end through a row ofparked torpedo planes. Promptly threeof the torpedo planes caught on fireand added their dames to the pyre,but Schofield came home complainingbecause his cartwheeling quar ry cameto res t just short of hitting a bigfour-engine plane at the end of therow.Top Scorer

Top score of the day, however, be-longed to easy-going Bob Duncanfrom the clay hills of southern Illi-nois. Back in the fighter ready roomof the Yorktown he draped his para-chute harness over his chair, hung hisMae West, microphone and goggleson a hook, folded the writing boardacross his lap, lit il stale cigar, andbegan his terse, technical, official re-port, as required by Navy Regulations.My God, every aviator thinks whenhe sits down to this task, you canttell them how it feels. You cant tellthem how fast it is or how terribleo r how thrilling o r how frightening.You cant tell them about how yourlegs felt and the sensation in the pitof your stomach o r the exultationwhen you saw your bullets hit andthe flames spread down his fuselage.You cant tell them about that pro-found feeling of relief when the propstopped spinning and you go t outstiffly and walked down to the readyroom. There arent any words to pu tthose things on paper. You just givethem the facts, Navy style, and thenhi t your sack.Readers are invited to study par t ofDuncans report (the narrative sum-

\ mary) as a psychological experimenton themselves :At 2300 D-minus-one-day I tookoff a team consisting of myself, Bur-nett, Merrill and Schiller, escortingVT and VB (torpedo planes andbonlbers) to the target. We flew re arside cover. . . ,Rising Suns

At this tiqe I spotted about 1 0 t o15 Zekes coming at us out of the sunfrom about 20,000 feet, we being at14,000. My section and Merrills be-gan to weave. One Zeke started anapproach at myself and Burnett: hewas coming in from about 10 oclockwith good position for a high-side run,but instead he elected to flip over onhis back and approach upside down:Immediately I turned in and underhim where he couldnt pull throughon me. He managed t o hit Burnettsplane aft of the cockpit and shootaway a piece of his elevator. As theZeke passed over us I turned towardhim and caught him as he recoveredwith a long burst at four oclock posi-ticn from slightly below; he began toburn. (One)

Another Zeke recovered almostst ra ight in front of me-I got a tailshot at him from a distance butmissed. He then turned back towardme and, as he *passed, I turned, g o ta short burst and set him on fire.(Two)A Zeke tried to get on my tailfrom about eight oclock above. Iturned into him and we began severalviolent scissors toward each other. Hefired short bursts at me twice but shotbehind me each time. He then decidedto go off and forget the whole thing,I guess, and started to glide towardsome clouds at 4,000 or 6,000 feet. Icaught up with him around 8,000 feet,however, and closed in fast on histail, firing all the time. As I ran*The clock system is used by fliers toindicate quickly the relative direction fromwhich enemy planes are approaching.Consider yourself at the center of theclock face. Then a plane at 1 2 oclock isdead ahead a plane-ab 6 oclock is deadastern a piane,,at 9 oclock is broad onthe pdrt beam Le. on by pu t left side, ina position at right angles 20 + y a p @wncourse. Hence a plane at 10 oclocktouldhave,been a little forward of the 9 oclockposition.20


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But as I pulled out from this II came to againat about 4,000 feet . . .climbed back to 8,000 feet as quicklys I could to spot a Zeke coming at300 feet. . . We approached eachat me, but onlysho rt burst. Then he quit. He wasat me and I

. (My por t guns had jammed.)as it looked like we were goingI pulled up. BankingI started coming around tot him again, but evidently I haded the pilot. Slowly he began ae hills of Dublon . . .

Did Duncans report bore you? Itreason it probably re-a weekenda long story aboutIt was included pre-f o r that reason, to show the. . .. . Equals Zero

The worst of t he fighter battle wasa few hours. A total of 20 4p planes had been destroyed, 127n the air. Usually, morer e shot out of theit was not safe to

off the ground.t a Japanese still flying, and nexta single enemy plane tookIt had taken but a fraction ofto gain mastery of ther over Truk than it had over Kwaja-But what of the great surface bat-e f o r which Admiral Spruance hadit never ma-lized. The Ja p men-of-war which

default. A great dealU. S. battlewagonsa major disappoint-There was, however, a minor

ace ships of Task Forcewere sent to intercept a group oft o escape fromThe significance of tha t battleelatively a skirmish- annot beForce 58 W a i t s

The story begins ea rly in the morn-of the first day of $e attack.

Meanwhile, however, one individu-alistic, resourceful fighter pilot wasdoing a little exploration. His namewa s Lt. E. T. (Smoky) Stover,and a word about him is in order. Afamous character of the war in thePacific, Smoky had fought in Fighting

Suddenly the carriers heard hisvoice radio open up with the flash th atthree o r four light cruisers o r de-stroyers and a merchant ship weresteaming rapidly north through thelong lagoon toward the North Pass.From there they could escape theblazing trap inside and pass out to theopen sea. Stover went closer to in-spect the fleeing enemy. Their anti-

Official U. S. Navy photouraphrSMOKE marks spot where Jap warships try at escape from Truk ended whenAdmiral Spruances fleet overtook her. Note how close battleship is to target.29


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aircraftLt.saw himjust outsieast, getcircled thvainly t r jOther sq ifor him

captured.

boasonclasPerhercShi

Tgin1twenooHe1rieracrcdenslicPaseloceneiofwaicircKalplaiEvi

Spru:estimu. scloseout fiJapsDaletug, :businHe s lDuthe ugc~tteiriers,


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The Navys re turn punch was muchheavier. It was pushed home by Tor-pedo Squadron Ten. It was a momentfo r which t ha t squadron had been pre-paring a long time, and it went backto an idea which a Navy flier namedBill Martin had been thinking aboutfo r years. William I. Martin, com-manding officer of Torpeda Ten, wa s abig, tall, brown-haired flier whosported a Clark Gable moustache. Hecame to the Naval Academy from asmall town i n Missouri, then went into

Official U. S. Navy photographs


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andthemanfirstin 1armUnitin 1

by a few hundred feet below, saw live , rou nds ; theEach of the TBFs carried four 5Op- the bomb hit the deck. There was an splash was an im-Pound bombs, ra th er tha n one blg agonized pause-then a blinding flash. portant part of theone-tonner, in order to be ab*e to The tankers after deckhouse lifted ceremony. ~ l ~ ~ kharges are usedattack more than Once* Each bomb free of the ship and flew 25 feet into now because one of the complimen-carried a short delayed-action fuse- the air, spraying wreckage f a r and tary cannon balls was fatal to the manTo the nor th the seven-plane group wide* She burned fo r Some time, Sil- it was meant to honor. The Unitedhad found a row of ships now in Moen houetting the other ships in the Dub- States Navy has always fired blankanchorage. One by one, at short in- 1011 lagoon fo r fu rt he r punishment. charges, live ammunition being usedtervals, the TBFs were speeding down fo r business purposes only.the line of merchantmen, carefully pping a pair of bombs, and turning Results of this novel attack wereaway from the ships antiai rcraf t fire tallied as soon as th e las t T BF rockedto prepare for another run. The other to a stop in the arres ting gear, fifteen the tr ip home, and OSullivan, G. S.group followed,suit. Eason, the skep- minutes before sunrise. Torpedo 10 Berg, his radioman, and Raymond E.tic, leading. had scored thir teen known direct hits, Ford, his gunner, found themselves inbesides Seven probables which could a rubber boat just outside the lagoon-not be fully observed in the darkness. Skipper Upson Came to his rescue andA Near Miss With them they sank eight merchant- almost overstayed his gas limits whileFo r the first 20 minutes, before they men and damaged five more ships, one bringing the sub to the spot- Finallycould find the ir ta rgets, the Japs anti- of them apparently a destroyer. The another Pilot relieved him at the vigilair craft was terrible. Easons plane point of all this, exclaimed the pro- until the sub arrived. At Pearl Hare

selecting a target, approaching, drop- ercentages 11111111111111111111lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll~llllllllllllllll

ponents of night bombing, (was a mat- bor OSullivan was offered the usual

Captain .

in 1775 by the Naval Committee.

32 II


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IS,ietoieer,a


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CAP lNSibNlAand gold-plated pin-on deviceauthorized fo r wear on the leftof the new earrison cau bv enlisted

bons also provide adequate indication ofSIR: We have heard th e neTN ter- participation zn. recognized combat andhazardous operations. N o change in. thispoZzcy on overseas chevrons for naval per-

NAMLNSC O f NEW CUBS'IR: With the recent launchings Of the

~ ~ ~ ~ O ~ , , , a i r f ~ ~ ~t ~ ~ B q s ? e s $ ~ ~has come UD how these names can ben.ticzpated'-ED*ves (o the r th & CPO;~m~~l"~;n$s OFFICER-TRAINING used when there are already two CVEsbearing these names.-J. H. B., Sp(A)lc.embroidered lapel SIR: I a m a Negro with two years Of ' 0012 15 Xept, 1 9 4 4 the kame o f GVE (iddevice now worn college work and 2 6 months of over8eas (Zatar sun% in the Battle 08 8amUr: I N *by all members of FORMATION BULLETXN, J U l t . 1 9 4 5 , p. e ) wasthe Women's Re- in the Navy fo r which a man with my changed from uss Midway t o Us8 Saint Loserve. R ig h t? -- background would be eligible?-B. M. C.. and that o f GVE 5 1 from U s & Coral SeaN.A.C., Slc , U S N R . BM2c. to uss Anzio, Zeavzng their former names

8 Riaht. The new - X T ~ ~ ~ ~P rnnmmP i nl *P nnrtinimntanrnm t h o avadable fo r the New GVBS.-ED.duty. Is there any officer-training p rogra m


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Preside4.THE MONTHS NEWS ok* awPERIOCommander-in-Chic

RANKLIN DELAN(VELT, 32d PresideUnited States and CorChief of the Army an d Naicas greatest war, died I1 2 April at Warm SpringsAt the White House inthat evening Vice Preside]Truman took the oath of

clusion.The change in leaders,new President emphasized-^ - -0 ,.L....C.. .-- :-both milytary victoicame at a momentstood less than 50and warships ofsteamed defiantly cJapanese homelancM r. Roosevelt, udent for 12 years, (days, died of a cerethe age, of 63 whillto rest in preparatUnited NationsFrancisco (see p. f

D 21 M A R C H T H R O U G H 20 A PR IL German,f3 ROOSE-! n t of thenmander-in-vy in Amer-iuddenlv on,Ga.Washingtonn t Harry S.office as hist statement,be sure thata r on bothrith all thecessful con-, which thnwould mean

JIU L I W I K ~ : UI D L t a L a g y 111 che fight for-y and last ing peace,when U. S. armieamiles from Berlinthe U. S. Fleet)f f the shores of the1.rho had been Presi-me month and eighth a 1 hemorrhage ate on a brief holiday.ion for opening the:onference at San8).

By special tra in the body of the latePresident was brought to Washingtonfor a simple funeral ceremony in theWhite House. From Union Station theflag-draped coffin was carried on acaisson flanked by members of thearmed forces through streets linedwith thousands of solemn-faced Amen-cans. Flags throughout the city flewa t half staff. Most business houseswere closed. Government offices closedat noon.Members of the Roosevelt and TITI-man families, government dignitariesand representatives of foreign govern-

ments attconductedWhite HcMore moistreets lamoved batrain carrto Hyde IThere, ctate, he wsired in tla firing scCommand1Only 01sons, all ii

kc& I \ \m . Within two weeksth e U. S. N a v ytook par t in theb ig ge st a m p h i booerationr UD till- hen in both theEuropean and Paci f ic Theatersi the land-ings in Normandy and on Saipan-and,in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, sanktwo Jap carriers, destroyed or damaged14 other ships and shot down 402 planes.

n t Dies; W e Invadea, Batter ]lap Fleet;I Defenses Crumble,ended the funeral servicesin the east room of tl.2)use at 1600 on 14 AprAL.irning thousands lined t kter as the funeral corteg


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OKINAWA ASSAULT was an around-end play with U. S. shown advances of the Army southward and marinesforces hitting the island's west side instead of the east northward as of 15 A ril. Flags indicate minor islandside fronting the U. S. line of advance across the Pacific. landings in support of tRe main drive. Map on the oppo-,On relief map (above), product of the Terrain Model site page shows Okinaws's strategic location in relationWorkshop, Naval Photographic Intelligence Center, are to advance U. S. bases and outposts of Japan.6 April developed strongly in the sink one destroyer and damage other and 2,569 Ja p air craf t were destroyed.south dulring the next two days. Army vessels. Casualties fo r the Ryukyus cam-doughboys suddenly ran into the heav- The invading forces did not rest rict paip in app rox ~at ely the sameiest artillery barrage of the Pacific their activity strictly t o Okinawa period totaled 7,895 killed, woundedwar and into a defense line of double-decker concrete pillboxes, hillside sidestepped over to small Tsukan Is- and missing' Of these,caves and fortified ravines stretching land, dominating Nakagusuku bay, neloundedossesndwere,491 missing;89 casualtles,220clear across the island ju st above taking it with comparative ease.Naha. It was evident the Japs were On 17 April they hopped over to Ie among ground forces, bothgoing to make their stand in the more island of f the west coast and in little marines and soldiers, were 478 killed:heavily populated southern section, f o r , more than 24 hoQrs fighting captured 2,457 wounded and 260 missing*opposition to the marines in the north two thirds of the island. On the set- Capture of Okinawa, although itwas negligible. ond day Ern ie Pyle, famous wa r cor- may be delayed by Jap resistanceFrom 9 to 15 Apri l the marines ad- respondent, was killed (p. 2 1 ) . equaling that of Iwo in violence,vanced, mopping up 'Motobu peninsula Fourteen TJ. S. nava l vessels were eventual ly will give American forceson the west coast and pushing their sunk in the Okinawa and associated more strategic advantages tha n theylines to the north. On 19 April they operations between 18 March and 18 have obtained in any other Pacific vie-reached the northern tip of the island. April, Pacific Fleet headquarters an- tory. From Okinawa's eigh t navigableThe soldiers, hampered by rugged nounced : five destroyers-the Ha& bays, harbors and anchorages hun-terrain plus a fanatical enemy, re- gun, Bush, Colhoun, Mannert L.Abele dreds of surface ships and scores ofported $ains of only 200 to 400 yards and Pringle-ihe minecraft Emmons submarines may be based f o r attacksdaily, despite heavy support from bat- and Skylark, the destroyer transport against Japa n proper. Not only cantleship and cruiser guns and carrier Dickerson, the gunboat pG M 18, the these vessels directly attack other Japplanes. Then they bogged down, ammunit ion ships H o b b s Vwtorg and possessions and the mainland, butstopped dead by fierce counterattacks Logan Victory and three amphibious they will also be able to institute aand stubborn Japs. vessels-LCZ 8.2, LCS s3 and LCT 876. stiff blockade around Japan and cutDuring th at period the J a s made During the Same period 100 enemy enemy supply routes to the south. Theone more suicide attack on t i e fleet. ships including the battleship Yamat0 Ja p base of 'Formosa Will be out-This time it cost them 118 planes to were sunk, besides many small cra ft, flanked and neutralized.

proper. Early in the campaign they

44


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sadsghtersmanyPacificin theForcet leastk Wi-themitrafedtstalla-la also

3 from- basesapans

Army

S.Navy-

! char-;ed areed themman-Area,rectiveArmyPacific?imitz,Oceanof allhe Pa-d willth Air

ff willrectionid willhur orall re-gpecificrmallyhargedpaignsonductnanderiourcesforcesiuct ofch hasChiefsTange-der inr cam-entireChiefswhichInsibiI-lent onr cam-n.

47,


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HISier, tin and fuel Taungups fall virtually brings to athe Netherlands conclusion the three-year battle for Chinese troops.Frank D. Wag- Arakan, fought through two monSOOnS, Air Force, 7th and three seasonal hea t spells. Themonth tha t the Ja ps clung tenaciously to the smalln the China Sea port because it was an important link

reports said it was still being held byDespite the loss of the airfield, Maj.G ~ ~ .iaire L. Chennau1tps 14th ~i~F&ce was able to launch a heavy blowaaa;nQtian i r r t r n m o a in Phino in ,

ies. Rear Admiral Frank D. Wag-USN, Commander, Air Force, 7th

In other part s of the Pacific, Ven-of Fleet Air Wing 4 carried outPri-of ,F!eet Air Wing 2 made

Bombings of the by-passed enemyd U . S. Navy personnel carried out

a yeara reported Japanese

Dulation of Maloelan In the face of

Taungups fall virtually brings to a reports said it was still being held byconclusion the three-year battle for Chinese troops.Arakan, fought through two monsoons Despite the loss of the airfield, Maj.and three seasonal heat spells. The Gene Claire L. Chennau1tps 14th ~i~JaPS Clung tenaciously to the Small Fdrce was able to launch a heavy blowport because it was an important link against Jap airdromes in China inin thei r inland chain of supply. erdination with Okinawa landings inOther British and Indian troops the Ryukyus (p. 43). In a two-daystart ed another th rus t toward Ran- blitz Mustangs and Mitchells destroyedgoon in the Burmese oil area around o r damaged 122 enemy planes andMeiktila. They captured the railway killed 1,200 enemy troops, part of ajunction of Thaei and pushed 70 miles column of 3,000 caught on a spur rail-south to within 70 miles of Rangoon. road north of the Yellow River inBurma forces number thousands of Monan province.men, including 17 Brit ish Empire divi- Chinese troops ought back alongsions, five or six Chinese divisions, the the Hankow-Canton mainAmerican Mars task force and supply line for enemy troops guardingAmerican. a three-pronged offensive toward theAmerican air-base town of Chihkiang.mand communique announced th at the American planes fought the attackJapanese lsth in which started from the enemy base atPocketed with the Capture of Man&- Paoking, wes t of th e Canton-Kankowi s threat, many of- the natives es- lay and Meiktila, no longer exists railroad junction of H~~~~~~ ~ 1 1t o the u. S.-controlled atoll of s an effective fighting force. The Allied efforts o the th;! J~~~S. naval officers set for th in 15th and the 33d and 28th, which tried still advanced and succeeded in takingof the to rescue it, were all badly mauled by sinning, 97 miles from Chihkiang,ining Maloelap natives. There ar e Allied forces. A headquarters an- while pushing the northern prong of8,000 Marshallese under the nouncement said 17,000 J ap dead h ad their offensive west of paoking, only

a handful of na- been counted on central Burma bat- 85 miles from the ~~~~i~~~ ase.n Mille and Jaluit atolls ar e tlefields from 1 December to 31 March.t o Japanese domination. In Central China, the only war thea-ter in which Axis forces are still on Bad News Upsets Jap CabinetGains and Losses the offensive, the Japs started a new Diplomatic developments and thedrive northwest of Hankow, aimed at rapid advance of American forces to-Pushing hard toward Rangoon and capturing several Allied ai r fields and ward Japans home islands last monthof the Irawaddy River to seizing the important wheat crop. proved too much fo r Premier Generalof all Jap Sixty thousand troops began the Kuniaki Koiso. To his Emperor, Hiro-, Bri tish .and In- push on 22 March and, within five hito, he offered the collective resigna-troops last month Plunged 42 days, the ir fa st mechanized columns tion of his cabinet. It was accepted,t o lay had driven t o within 25 miles of and 77-year-old Admiral Baron Kan-to and capture TaunguP, vital Laochokow where one of the principal taro Suzuki, President of the PrivyU. S. air bases for offensive action Council, was appointed to succeed him., against the enemy in North China is Former .commander-in-chief of theThe fall of the town marked an- located. Fourteenth Air Force officials Japanese Navy (in 1027, before her in the series of leap-frog jumps admitted they destroyed the air base ret ired), Baron Suzuki immediatelyich the Allied Burma forces have and evacuated equipment and person- start ed to form a new cabinet. TWOsince last Jan ua ry when they nel. Next day the Japs claimed they days later he c m e up with one COT,-a t Akyab, 130 miles above. had captured Laochokow but Chinese posed of one A m y officer, four Navyofficers, nine civil service and businessmen. Said Suzuki:Developments do not warrant op-tim!sm . . . n the present momentouscrisis . . . But I am ready t o die inleading the nation in carrying on thewar and crushing the enemy.Meanwhile, from Naotake Sato, hisambassador to Russia, Emperor Hiro-hito received the news that the Sovietgovernment had denounced the neu-

trality pact between the two nations.The pact was signed 13 April 1941.Since that time, declared SovietForeign Commissar Vyacheslav Molo-tov, the situation is entirely altered.Germany attacked the Soviet Union,and Japan, an al ly of Germany, helpedthe, lat ter in he r war against theU.S.S.R. Besides, Japan is fightingagainst the United States and GreitBrit2.in who are allies of the SovietUnion. Under these circumstances theneutrality pact . . has lost its sense.In other developments during themonth affecting Japans diplomaticfront: Spain broke off diplomatic rela-tions with Japan after charging Japtroops with brutalities against Spanishcitizens in the bat tle of Manila; Ar-gentina declared war against the Axis;Venezuela changed its status from asta te of belligerency with Japan to aformal st ate of war.

.

% of supply troops, including many the China Coast, the Japanese beganMeanwhile, a Southeast Asia Com-

ORlcla , , s. NavyRyukyus and Kyushu, 18 March to 18 April, 1,674 Japs were bagged.are rising suns last rays as U. S. battleship knocks out a Jap plane.


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White areas show Allied gains in Europe from 15 March through 15 April.EUROPE

Western Front CollapsesThe ragged remnants of Hitlersarmies of the west [are] now totte ringn the threshold of defeat.General of the Army Eisenhower sostated late last month as his powerfulrmies crashed to within less than 50iles of the ruins t ha t were Berlinnd pounded southeastward into theavarian mountain redoubt where itas expected that the shredded re-ains of the Wehrmacht will attempta last stand against the squeezingSince the crossing of the Rhine on3 March, speeding American ar-ored columns had captured cities byhe dozen, prisoners by the hundredhousands. The lis t of captured enemyities reads like a Nazi gazeteer: Lud-en, Duisberg, Karlshrue, Muen-ter, Osnabrueck, Essen, Weimar, Nu-emberg, Magdeburg, Leipzig andore. Their fa ll left the Germans withonly 10 cities of over 100,000 popula-tion and with few adequately armedmen t o defend them. American andBritish troops had captured over 2,-100,000 prisoners since D day, morethan 900,000 of them in April, whene Ruhr pocket (p. 51) was encircledand wiped out, giving up 317,000Germans.Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges 1strmy started the German rout inarch when it captured the Remagenbridges and crossed the Rhine. The

3d Army quickly followed by crossingthe river in boats and establishing an-other bridgehead far to the south.But the great blow fell on 23 Marchwhen four Allied armies, including anairborne army, swept across with the

help of the Navy (p . 22) and fannedout against light resistance. Lightningfa st armored columns probed what de-fenses there were, then cut loose inlong drives up to 85 miles inside theReich. The cities began to fall.The 3d Army advanced 136 milesinto Germany to take Frankfort onthe Main. So fast was the 4th Ar-mored Divisions movement t hat i t wascloaked in a security blackout. The 9thArmv drove 17 miles into the suburbsof Diisburg.To the north the British 2d Armystreamed into the Westphalian plainsand the whole front advanced 5dmileseast of the Rhine. Nazi defenses werecollapsing like paper walls under anelephants charge. Field Marshal Kes-selring switched his crack 116th Pan-zer division from the Netherlands t othe Dorsten area and counterattacked,or tried to. The att ack crumbled.On 28 March six Allied armiesopened up full blast and began plough-ing through Germany like destroyersthrough a lake, using up to 3,000tanks in spearhead drives.The 1st Army was averaging 30miles a day. The Brit ish 2d crashedthrough northern defenses towardHanover. The 9th Armys 2d ArmoredDivision dashed 53 miles to join 1stArmy forces near Lippstadt and locktight the Nazis in the Ruhr.The 9th lef t some of i ts unit s behindt o begin extermination of the trappedenemy, but the remaining 1,000,000Allied troops east of the Rhine con-tinued their powerful drive. The in-dividual drives now became more spe-cific. Lt. Gen. George s. Pattvs .3dArmy pounded down the ThuringianPlain toward Leipzig on a 45-milefront. The British 2d to the northheaded for Bremen and Emden, theU. S. 9th f o r the Elbe River and Ber-lin. The Canadian 1s t swept through

The two fastest traveling armies, theU. S. 3d and 9th, sped alonga 150-mile front toward Berlin and Leipzig.The 9ths 2d Armored Division reachedthe Elbe River and Magdeburg whileother 9th elements captured Essen inthe Ruhr. The 3d mopped up in Co-burg, entered Erfurt and then cap-tured Weimar. home of the late Ger-man Republic.Suddenlv the situation changed. The9th moved aeross the Elbe less than50 miles from Berlin, and the 3dplunged 32 miles across central Ger-many to within 38 miles of Dresdenand 89 miles of the Russian armies.The latters advance cu t all main high-ways and railways linking Berlin withsouthern Germany. Bu t the Germanshad one last-ditch defense left: Heavyartillery massed on the e as t side of t heElbe drove one American bridgeheadback across the river near Magde-burg. The other bridgehead held andstiffened, eventually expanding towithin 45 miles of the German capital.First Army troops took over theLeipzig front and swept 12 miles pastthe city. But the greates t new drivewas Gen. Pattons, coordinated withthat of Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patchs7th Army. Suddenly swinging south-east, the 3d broke into Nuremburg,Nazi shrine city, laid siege to Chem-nitz, seven miles from the Czech bor-der, and then poured over the borderheading for a linkup with Russianforces northwest of Vienna.The main weight of the Alliedarmies had suddenly shifted to thesouthern front. Problems of supply.temporarily stalled the 9th t o thenorth, but the 1st around Leipzigwas headed for Dresden the same aswere the Russian armies in the east.By 20 April the distance betweenthem had narrowed to only 58 miles.The French 1st Army and the U.S. 7th were hammering out 10 and 20mile gains daily into the Bavarianlast stand mountains. The Frenchrammed through the Black Forest t owithin 25 miles of the Swiss frontierand the Yanks were 70 miles fromMunich.In the north British-Canadian forceswere only a mile from Hamburg.And although disaster piled upondisaster for the Germans, their lead-ers continued to exhort them to fightt o the last man. Propaganda Minis-ter Joseph Goebbels, on the eve ofHitlers birthday, 20 April, admittedGermany was sitting on the razoredge of di saster but said the Fuhrerwould lead his people to victory.

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Official U. S. Navy photographROUGH WEATHER i s no respecter of any particulartype of ship, big ones or litlle ones. The battleship USSRbcAmerm.festW.

ussians Close on BerlinUp to the threshold of blazing,nnb-battered Berlin rolled the Redrmy lat e las t month-a month of al-ost uninterrupted advances as Vi-ma, capital of Germanys sole re-aining satellite, Austria, and Danzig,here the wars first shots were fired,11 before the Russians seven-armyeamroller.The Nazi radio squealed out news ofthe big drive as early as 14 Aprilwhen it reported the Red Army hadpenetrated strong fortifications 30miles east of the capital. The Rus-sians, on the other hand, maintainedstrict silence on their push until 19April when they finally admitted itwa s underway. Minimizing the action,they said the First White RussianArmy was merely securing bridge-heads across the Oder River due eastof Berlin.Enemy broadcasts, however, said th egreatest tank battle of all time was

raging beyond the Oder, with the Rus-sians throwing into battle men andmaterials to an extent hitherto un-known. The battle before Berlin,Nazi commentators said, had assumedsuch proportions and ferocity as werenever before witnessed in this mostbloody of all wars.On 20 April, confirming Berlins ad-mission that the Spree River defenseline on the southeast had been cracked,Moscow announced that the capitalwas invested f rom three directions an dthe Red Armys artillery was lobbingshells into the citys inner defenses.Berlin wad beginning to know howStalingrad felt. ,To make al l thi s possible, the monthof March went out like a lion on theRussian war calendar. It was on 30March that the Russians hauled downthe swastika over Danzig and hoisted

Official U. S. Coast Guard photographMissouri takes it on the nose in picture at left, whileabove transport, smaller vessel fight an Atlantic gale.

the Polish flag; on 31 March theysurged across the Austrian border ontheir march to Vienna. Bratislava,capital of the Nazi puppet state Slo-vakia, fell four days later to the 2dUkraine Army, and at the same timethe 3rd Ukraine Army drove withinsight of Viennas ancient spires.Viennas fall was swift. On 6 April

the Russians knifed into her suburbs;on 9 April they secured the centralcity; on 13 April they cleaned out thelas t Nazi defenders. More th an 130,-000 prisoners were taken on this day-the Red Armys biggest one-day haulsince their Stalingrad sweep.Meanwhile, to the north, Koenigs-berg on the Baltic was battered intosubmission after a six-week siege (9April) and Klessin on the Oders westbank 33 miles from Berlin fell (11April).Three days later the Nazis began tobellow about the drive on Berlin. Theytold of Russian paratroopers being

dropped less than 23 miles from thecity (16 Apri l), of the Red Armyplunging within 18-20 miles east of thecapital (17 April ), of the fall of thefortress of For st and approach ofRussians to within 14 miles (18 April)and then of the fierce tank battle ascant 10 miles away (19 April).Finally, Moscow broke her silenceabout the drive. On 20 April U. S.war correspondents with the RedArmy cabled that the capital was un-der attack frOm three directions, thatthe vaunted Russian artillery hadrumbled into place and roared into ac-tion. Russian forces were poised fo rthe crusher. The acrid smell of theburning Reich capital must have beensweet revenge t o them who hadfought in the rubble of Stalingrad andLeningrad, of Kharkov and Sevasto-Pol.

Strategic A ir War WonTwo of the greatest weapons of theEuropean war-Allied strategi c bomb-ing and the once-vaunted GermanLuftwaffe-passed into history las tmonth.Strategic bombing passed awayquietly because it no longer had a jobto do. All its targets had been de-

stroyed o r captured. The Luftwaffedied violently in the relentless grip ofits American and British counterparts..Back of the Allies decision to di-vert their huge heavy bomber fleetsfrom industrial targets to tacticalsupport of ground forces are surveysmade by the Army Air Forces whichdisclose that the Reichs gasoline pro-duction has been slashed to four per-cent of normal, its production capacityof steel, rubber, tanks and other warmaterials to barely a trickle.ore output 85 percent, steel productionby 92 percent, hard coal 99 percent,lignite 80 percent, coke almost 100percent. Most of tliis destruc tion wasinflicted by bombing which also cutdeeply into crude and synthetic oilproduction. Bu t now Allied armieshave captured 95 percent of Ger-manys crude oil and 75 percent of her.synthetic oi l refineries.USAAF and RAF bombers eaded arecord month in March when they del-uged the Reich with 165,000 tons ofbombs+ with a 5,700-plane assault on31 March, hitting railway yards, oilfactories, U-boat pens and other tar-gets from the Austrian Alps to th eBaltic coast. From then on, with fewexceptions, they concentrated on theLuftwaffe.Airfields by the score were attackedwith bombs and fighters until, by 20April, the total kill of German planesfor April reached 4,230. The record


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General Vandegr i f t Adm iral Wae rche Admiral Edwards Admiral Hew it t Admiral K inkaidA large par t of t he operational and

750 Germanrs of war. In one of the firstArmy-Navy projects of it s kind,t o work-a labor pool, which handles

a compound outside the center, theU . S.a quarter of a mile tocenter where they are turned over

t o work details. POWs ares buildings, do washing, greasing

Capt. Harold B. Miller, USN, Public1944,

been ordered toa n d

tempting t o a gourmet but rare deli-cacies to fighting men-are being sup-plied t o sailors and marines on Pacificbases through a program of farminginstituted on captured islands by navalmilitary government and the ForeignEconomic Administration. Star ting ona small scale in 1942 in the SouthPacific, where there are now 5,000acres under cultivation, farmi ng oper-ations have been so successful thatplans now call for tripling this acre-age in the Cent ral Pacific. Some2,000,000 pounds of all types of vege-tables are raised each month. Basedon a conservative estimate of 10 centsa pound, annual output is valued at$2,400,000. Equipment, seed, fertilizer,insecticides and supplies have costapproximately $1,500,000. Principalsaving is in shipping space. Refrig-eration ships which the Navy formerlyused may now turn more of their at-tention t o the fleet. In addition theNavy-FEA program is developingnickel and chrome mines, copra plan-tations and fishing operations and isplanning -dairy and hog farms, all of

e rn African Wate rs; Thomas C. Kin-kaid, USN, Commander, 7th Fleet andCommander, Southwest Pacific Force.Others confirmed by the Senate fol-low: *To be vice admiral:?alter S. Anderson, USN. as Commander,William S. Farber. USN, a s Sub-Chief ofArthur S. Carpender, USN, as Com-JLmes L. Kauffman, USN, as Com-Edward L. Cochrane. USN. as Chief ofTo be rear admiral:Robert P. Briscoe, USN.Edmund W. Burrough, USN.Edward J. Foy, USN, as deputy com-mandant of Joint Army-Navy Staff College.Howard A. Flanigan US N (Ret) ashead of Naval Transiortation Service.CNO.Vance D. Chapline US N as head of FleetMaintenance Divisio;, d o .Irving H. Mayfleld US N as chief ofU. S. Naval Mission td Chill.Harold M. Martin, USN.Ernest W. Litch, USN.Thomas S. Combs, USN.John Harper, (MC) USN. as medical di-

G ql Sea Frontier.N&al Operations.mander, Midwest Naval Area.mander, Philippine Sea Frontier.BuShips.


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U"I111 b. ~ " C L I ' I U \ A V & b , UU,? Illr".Lal "I-Nab, as ch ie i of AviationCarlton L. Andrus. (XC) USN. medicalas chief of PlanningWilliam R. Bowne, (SC) US N (Ret) , payas district supplyicer 3rd N DDa&d W. 'Mitchell. IRC) TJSN. Dav di--in the Navy,--& hest supply ohcer,William R. Ryan. (SC) USN. pay di-Navy, as supply offlcer, staffArchie A Antrim. (SC) USN, as plan-Charles W. Fox. (SC) USN. Dav directorNavv. as S U D D ~ Vofflcer in command.Joseph L. Herlihy, (SC) USN, pay di-as fleet supply offlcer.William 0. Hiltabidle Jr., (CFK) USN,as 0-in-C of aPaul J. Halloran. (CEC) USN. civil enpi-

as 0-in-C of a navalBeaufofd W. Fink Jr., (CEC) USN. civilstaffWallace B. Short, (CEC) USN, civil enni-as 0-in-iC of a navalRobert C. Johnson, (CEC) USNR. civilas 0-in-C of aClaire C. Seabury, (CEC) USN. civil en-as 0-in-C of a navalRobert H. Meade, (CEC) TTSN civil en&as 0-in-C bf a navalJoseph C. Cronin USN chief of staffCommander, BatShuad 5.George Van Deurs. USN..as chief of staff1.John T. Bottom Jr., USN, as a task flo-John P. Womble Jr., USN, a s a task flo-John hl. Higains, US", as a tas k flotillaRoland N. Smoot, uSN, as a task flotillaFrederick Moosbrugger, USN. as a taskRodger W. Simpgon. USN, as a task fl--To be major generals in the Ma-Corps:William P. T. Hill, USMC. Quartermaster

of the Marine Corps.Claude A Larkin USMC to commandTo be byigadier general :

Ivan W. Mzler, US&!, chief of staff t oneral, Aircraft , Fleet Ma-

First enlisted correspondents a t work in Pacific Fleet Headquarters.

Fleet Newsmen TellSailors' War StoryTo Home PapersTen thousand stories a week t otell the public the ro le of t he Navy'senlisted men in this war is the goalof the 100 enlisted naval correspon-dents serving aboard ships of theU. S. Pacific Fleet. The program wasdesigned t o give as comprehensivenews coverage of the Navy's activi-ties as is consistent with security.Naval correspondents will serve on

all types of combatant ships. Allexperienced newspape r m e n a n dchosen from many different ratings,they will receive indoctrination inpublic relations policy and shipboardlife before drawing their assign-ments. Correspondents assigned tosubmarines, for instance, will com-plete one patrol and then be reas-signed to subtenders f rom which theywill get stories of men from differentsubmarines.News an d Pictures

Correspondents will work with theEollateral-duty public relations officerand the ship's photographer aboardthe ship they are assigned. Corre-spondents who can also handle acamera will be assigned to ,vesselsnot having a photographer. An esti-mated 2,000 pictures a week willcome from the Pacific.In addition t o writing the story ofeach man aboard his ship, the Navynewsmen will also prepare biogra-phies of the commanding officer andofficers of flag rank aboard the ship.

Action AccountsWhen his ship goes into combat,

the correspondent will write an ac-tion news account devoted entirely tohis ship's par t in the operation. Al-though the program is only a fewweeks old, one of the correspondents,Donald W. Forsyth, Ylc , USNR,

Pensacola, Fla., was killed by enemyaction off Okinawa.Naval correspondents will notcompete with civilian reporters andphotographers, but will assist them in.every way possible and make actionnews accounts and other materialavailable t o them.Story Distribution

When a naval correspondent com-pletes a story it will be forwardedimmediately to Public Relationsheadquarters of. the Pacific Fleet.There the story will be censored andscreened. Stories of national interestwill be made available to the wireservices and the civilian correspon-dents pool. Local stor ies will be air-mailed to Chicago where Fleet HomeTown Distribution Center has beenestablished.The Distribution Center will berun much the same as a metropolitannewspaper. It will include rewritemen, picture men, media and otherpublic relations specialists who willprocess material from the naval cor-respondents and distribute it tohome-town newspapers, trade jour-nals, radio stations, school newspa-pers and magazines and other mediawhich would be interested in a par-ticular story.Atlantic Coverage

Stories from the Atlantic Fleetwill also be sent to the Chicago dis-tribution center. In the Atlantic, anofficer or enlisted man from each shiphas been designated public relationsofficer and as such will write thestories of the men of his ship. Fivethousand stories a week and 1,000pictures are expected from these cor-respondents.Between 19,000 and 20,000 piecesof mail will be handled dailv at th eChicago center. An average i f sevencopies per individual story will bemailed out to cover a man's home-town newspapers, nearby newspapersand nearby radio stations. 'Picturesgoing to many newspapers will bematted.

.ci. .-


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SHIPS & STATIONS0 Officially shes the uSS Dover (IX30),but to Navy men the world over shesthe Galloping Ghost of the ChinaCoast-oldest ship in full commis-sion in the U. S. Navy. After 48years of service, the Dover (below),now a training ship for Armed Guardcrews, recently dropped her hook inSan Francisco Bay following a 5,274-mile ja un t from Gulfport, Miss. Sincethe 1,392-ton gunboat slipped down theways at Newport News, Va., a nd was

San Francisco News photographcommissioned 13 May 1897 a s the USSWilmington, she has served in threewars. In the Spanish-American Warand World War I she was still theWilmington; in 1941 she became theDower, and her original name given t oa new oruiser. Built as a YangtzeRiver gunboat, the Dover first wentinto combat at Cardenas, Cuba, whenshe attacked three Spanish gunboats.Later she visited almost every Asiaticpor t and was flagship of the AsiaticFleet. She ha s even been interned bya foreign government. Her two orig-inal engines are still functioning.During her long career he r commissionpennant has come down only once-1904-1906 in the Philippines, Lt.56

Comdr. William Van C. Brandt, USNR,is the 30th skipper t o pace her quar-terdeck. Since she began training ser-vice, the Dover has sent 20,000 menand 2,000 officers to Navy ArmedGuard crews.0 When Chaplain Robert D. Workman,USN, walked into the office of the com-manding general on Tinian last monthhe was greeted by an aide with Goodmorning, Admiral ! When ChaplainWorkman corrected him, explainingthat he was a captain and not an ad-miral, the aide ushered him into thegenerals office. There, the generalhanded the chaplain a dispatch an-nouncing his appointment as Chief ofChaplains in the U.S. Navy with therank of re ar admiral. Later, in frontof a gathering of senior chaplains andofficers on the island, the commandinggeneral removed the eagle from thechaplains collar and attached in itsplace two of his own Army stars.0 At 0300 John J . Nealand, CBM,USNR, Troy, N.Y., c!imbed t o the tor-pedo-tube platform amidships aboard adestroyer in the Atlantic. Wate rswirled around him and he grasped astanchion t o steady himself as heleaned over the side of the platform tosee if all was secure on the main deck.Occasionally heavy waves lapped athis feet, a few lashed at his chest.Then came the biggest wave he hadever seen. Swish . . . splash -. . andhe was in the ocean, his ship steamingahead in the storm. Luckily he spieda floater net and made his way to it.Soon a merchant ship passed nearby.The chief gathe red all of his breathand let out a yell that would shamean Indian. But the merchant ship keptrigh t on going. Five hours later, how-ever, he was rescued by a Coast Guardfrigate. His shout had been heard bythe merchant ship and by the convoy


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There he found the natives living infilth and suffering from a diseasewhich covered their bodies with pain-fu l sores. Dr. Wees explained theimportance of sanitation to the nativeruler. Every possible breeding placeof flies, spreaders of the disease, wassprayed and the epidemic was checked.New sleeping mats were woven,brooms were made and screened boxesconstructed to store food. Then thenaval officer helped the natives toweave baskets t o sell to sailors onneighboring atolls. He also explainedthe rudiments of ari thmetic and book-keeping. In recognition of his serv-ices, the native king handed his titleand throne to the Navy doctor, whowill be head man until he leaves.

Official U. S. Marine Corps photographON OKINAWA one week afterinitial landings, Lt. (iq) Madge Over-street, Navy Nurse, i s pictured witha new (non-regulation) spring hat.


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tor-a large enemy battleship.Lt. (jg) John J. Killiany, USNR,Pa.: As a pilot of a carrier-a direct bombing hitenemy battleship of the Isesurface operations in the vicin-25 Oct. 1944.

(jg) Earl F. Lightner, USNR,Diego, Calif.: While piloting a24 Oct.he scored a direct torpedo hitt close range on an enemy cruiser

af t fire.. (jg) Earl F. Luther Jr., USNR,R.I. : In operations againstlarge enemy task forc

All Hands Naval Bulletin - May 1945

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Transcript of All Hands Naval Bulletin - May 1945