BUREAU OF NAVAL PERSONNEL INFORMATION I SEPTEMBER 1944 RETURN TO GUAM vC^Wmp,•- %: O .its*.. 'ftp. \M'>Pi 7 &J&-%'M y "..<*•?• fa&\ w. _ • '^.PS©'^ 7'''? </_ 2'*'# 77/'V >/- •^ ,y»v/-/#v,y *^s_." : J- vV / ' A fatter!Wtf$$M >••I i RMAN TAPESTRY: " OFF CHERBOURG mmmm'mmmBUREAU OF NAVAL PERSONNEI SEPTEMBER 1944 NUMBER 330 VICE ADMIRAL RANDALL JACOBS, USN The Chief of Naval Personnel REAR ADMIRAL L. E. DENFELD, USN The Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel Table of Contents Page Navy Nerve Center 2 31 Months on Jap-Held Guam 9 Guam: Photographs of Recapture 10 Shore Patrol 12 Battle Recordings of Sea War 16 Voting by Federal Ballot 18 The Movies That Make the Rounds 20 The Care and Feeding of Torpedoes 24 Navy Divers 26 New Books in Ships' Libraries 30 Legislative Matters of Naval Interest 31 What's Your Naval I.Q.? 31 War Record of the SBD 32 The Month's Alnavs in Brief 34 Editorial 36 Letters to the Editor 36 The Month's News 37 The War at Sea: Communiques 44 Decorations and Citations 50 The Bulletin Board 61 Index 72 This magazine is published monthly in Washington, D. C, by the Bureau of Naval Personnel for the information and interest of the Naval Service as a whole. By BuPers Circular Letter 162-43, distribution is to be effected to allow all hands easy access to each issue. All activities should keep the Bureau informed of how many copies are required. All original material herein may be reprinted as desired. PASS THIS COPY ALONG AFTER YOU HAVE READ IT imw~fa0Mp*>*m—« *#m»w " w Hrin_-____M_-d i^,! • rMyjiU^ *.* J h?a___aa4. -ui-^_-_vjr -i- **.. f,, t ? IUL. jj^jjs my. Wvl" -r>___jy ____M____i .V Ba Official U. S. Navy photograph NAVY NERVE CENTER Wartime Expansion Has Brought Changes To Washington and the Navy Department "What's Washington look like these Some of the change has been in the act as Commander in Chief, United days?" organization of the Department itself, States Fleet. "Yes, we hear you wouldn't recog­ with new boards and offices set up to Almost immediately after our entry nize the Navy Department any more— handle both the complexities of a in the war it became apparent that lots of new buildings, spread all over seven-seas war and the greatest pro­ for the purpose of exercising command the map, and all the bureaus and of­ duction program the Navy had ever all oceans must be regarded as one fices changed around." known. area, so that effective coordinated con­ "Sounds like a lot of changes since Along with this came a sizeable phy­ trol and proper distribution of oak we've been back there. What's the sical change—new buildings went up, naval power might be realized. ^U new set-up; who's located where?" old buildings were expanded, "tem­ On 20 Dec. 1941 the Presideflf These questions, heard all over the porary" buildings and leased struc­ changed this organization by making world when Navy men from Washing­ tures mushroomed out all over the the Commander in Chief, United ton appear on the scene, arise from a District, and there has been a general States Fleet, separate and in addition solid basis of fact. shifting about of bureaus and offices to the other three commanders in Like all shore establishments, the to new locations. chief, and he ordered the headquarters Navy Department exists for one main, On 1 Feb. 1941 command afloat had of the Commander in Chief, United purpose: to serve the fleet. When the been vested in three commanders in States Fleet, established in the Navy fleet grew to many times its peacetime chief, one of whom commanded the Department at Washington. Admiral size, becoming the biggest in all his­ Asiatic Fleet, one the Pacific Fleet Ernest J. King, USN, was named as tory, it brought on a terrific expansion and one the Atlantic Fleet. Provision Cominch. and change at the Washington "nerve was made whereby one of these three, In March 1942, coincident with the center," too. depending on the circumstances, would appointment of Admiral King as Chief Page 2 AT LEFT: Main Navy Department up, in 1862, the Bureau of Navigation moved its units, along with others buildings are seen from the top dealt with scientific and navigation from the main Navy building, to a of Washington Monument, look­ matters, personnel matters at that new building created for it at Suit- ing toward Lincoln Memorial at time being handled elsewhere in the land, Maryland. far end of Reflecting pool. For Navy, including the then Bureau of The wartime need for charts has Equipment and Recruiting. been so great as a result of the count­ identifications see diagram at the As time went on, more and more less thousands of new ships commis­ bottom of this page. personnel activity devolved upon Bu- sioned that Hydrographic has already Nav, and eventually its non-personnel outgrown its new building and flowed of Naval Operations, the duties of activities were channeled elsewhere. over into the Census Building, next CNO were combined with the duties Two steps were taken after the out­ door. From its mid-1942 space of 71,- of Cominch. This move was accom­ break of war. By executive order, the 000 square feet, it has increased to panied by a number of adjustments in Hydrographic Office and Naval Obser­ 199,000, and personnel has tripled. the Navy Department organization, vatory were transferred out of the In ways such as these, wartime calculated, among other things, to fa­ Bureau to CNO, on 8 April 1942. And growth has shifted the Navy Depart­ cilitate the logistic support of the on 12 May 1942, by act of Congress, ment's geography considerably, spread­ ^^rces afloat by providing for its co- the Bureau's real function was more ing it out in every direction, some­ ^^Phiation. clearly recognized in a change of times hundreds of miles out of town. Except for the fact that the Asiatic name, whereby it became the Bureau Take the change in just the last two Fleet ceased to exist as such in June of Naval Personnel. years—since August 1942. At that 1942, that basic organization of the In October 1941, two months before time the Navy Department already United States Fleet and supporting Pearl Harbor, the already expanding had 15 buildings; today there are 25. activities is still in effect. In the Bureau moved out of the main Navy The office space totaled 2,491,000 spring of 1942, however, and from Department building and across the square feet; today it's 3,212,000. A time to time thereafter, independent Potomac to Arlington County, Va., more revealing figure, perhaps, is this: commands were established directly where it occupies what is now known in August 1942 thei'e were 26,300 peo­ under Cominch. as the Arlington Annex. Atop a hill, ple in the space; today there are 43,- it overlooks Arlington National Cem­ 600. One major administrative change etery on one side and the War Depart­ Matching that 29% increase in of­ was the establishment of the Deputy ment's vast Pentagon Building on an­ fice space with a 66% increase in the Chief of Naval Operations (Air) in other. number of people to be fitted into the the office of CNO. DCNO is charged Sharing the seven wings of Arling­ space has created the problem which with the functions of coordinating and ton Annex with BuPers is Marine the Navy's "space control" office has correlating all military aspects of Corps Headquarters, which has been up against in wartime Washing­ naval aviation. He is charged with doubled its personnel since August ton. the preparation, readiness and logistic 1942 and has expanded from 134,000 Finding out what goes where, and support of the naval aeronautic oper­ square feet of floor space to 206,000 how to get the room for it, is the ating forces included within the sev- now. BuPers takes up 371,000. function of the Navy Department's ^1 fleets, seagoing forces and sea Space Planning and Control Office. ntier forces of the Navy, and with Prior to the war the Arlington An­ nex was a public building (originally During the last half year, Space Con­ ' ccoordinatio< n and direction of effort intended as a warehouse) and the trol has branched out into field space u this end of the bureaus and offices Army occupied part of it, other parts also, and now screens all acquisitions • f the Navy Department. Needed of­ being taken up by activities of the Hy­ of office space throughout the naval fice space for DCNO was drawn from drographic Office and a branch of Sup­ establishment. Findings and recom­ both CNO and BuAer. plies and Accounts. To make room mendations are passed on to all naval Another administrative change was for BuPers and Marine Corps Head­ districts to aid them in making the the setting up of a new Navy Depart­ quarters expansion, the Army was best use of whatever space is available. ment activity, the Office of the Chief moved; Supplies and Accounts moved There is now a Space Control officer in of Procurement and Material. Estab­ its Family Allowance and Allotment each naval district, with whom the lished by General Order 166, 30 Jan. Branch out to the new Field Branch central Space Control officer works. 1942, OPM was charged with coordin­ in Cleveland, Ohio; and Hydrographic {Continued on Page 6) ating all the material and procurement activities of the Navy Department, and supervising material procurement programs as directed by SecNav.