BUREAU OF NOVEMBERz1942 NUMBER 308 REAR ADMIRAL RANDALL JACOBS, USN The Chief of Naual Personnel REARADMIRAL L. E.DENFELD, USN The Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel Table of Contents Page They’reCalled the ‘Orphans of the War’ 2 Navy Day Greetings. .7, 13, 21 Seabees. 8 Casualties in the Service. 13 ‘First Round’ Ends in Solomons.. 14 ‘You Can’t Deny a People,’ a poem . 15 Nurse Gets Legion of Merit. 17 Anniversary Finds Marines Fighting. 18 Treachery in the Solomons. 19 ‘And TexasIs Just ONE of Our States’.. 20 The ‘Wasp’ Is: Sunk. 21 Saga of a Tanker, a photograph. 22 The Japanese ‘Zero’ Fighter. 23 Getting Mail. 24 Meeting a Problem in Training.. 25 Legislative Matters of Interest. 27 Navy Relief and Red Cross. 28 Elimination of Paper Work. 29 Change of Command. 30 ‘Oregon’ to Swell Scrap Pile. 32 Precedence of Ratings of Petty Oficers . 38 ‘We Will Win Only by Fighting’.. 40 Decorations and Citations. 42 Promotions. 45 Commendations. 47 Naval History for December. 48 This magazine is published monthly in Washing- ton, D. C., by the Bureau of Naval Personnel for the information and interest of the NavalService as a whole.Because copies cannot be furnished all per- sonnel individuallyat present, it is requested that each copy be given as wide a circulation as possible. It is suggested that readers pass along their copies when they are finished. To further publicize the. contents, shipand station papers may desire to reprint per- tinent materialfrom the Bulletin.All activities should keep the Bureau informed of how many copies arerequired. Articles of generalinterest maybe forwarded to the Editor via official channels. er’s runningmate, the captain re- ARMED GUARD LONELY ported,no made furtherattempt to attack the convoy. He wheeled in the BATTLES To and air vanished over the horizon. It wasn’tonly beating off air at- Over the far-flung convoy trails This crew, the master said in en- tackers for the crew of Navy sharp- that cover the Globe the Navy’s larging on his report, stuck by their shooters on this freighter, as witness “Orphans of the War”-theArmed gununtil the deck onwhich their the following quotation made late in Guard crews-carry on to keep the gun had been placed was almost knee May from the report of the Armed flow of supplies moving to our own deep in water. Guard commander: forces and our Allies. They waited so long, however, that “Betweensnow flurries that con- Under the blazing sun of the Car- only one of the nine was saved. This tinued all day and nighta single scout ibbean and the Indian Ocean-over man was picked up after he hadbeen plane was observed circling the cob the wintry “road to Murmansk” with swimming aroundfor the greater part voy far out of range. This procedure its menace of ice and suow carrying of the night-for the craft was tor- :was maintained for some time when almost as great a threat of disaster pedoed in thedead of night. the planedisappeased. Thenthe as thesubmarine and dive bombers- A master who knew full well that Commodore hoisted a signal to ex- the Armed Guards hammer away to his vessel had been struck a death pect an air attack. Less than an hour keep the pathoverseas openand Davy blow gave the order to abandon ship ’ later in theearly morning hours three Jones’ locker shut. but not for these Armed Guards. Ex- planes were sighted on the starboard Not merely against the submarine perience had taught them that time wing of the convoy and fire was im- menace are these men of the Armed after time the undersea raiders sur- mediately opened. The planescon- Guard operating, for one officer in a faced to shell the lifeboats and they tinued their approach in formationto- matter-of-fact report related how his were willing to pay with their lives for ward the convoy. Just before passing crew had facedenemy air fighters. a crack at the enemy. over the center of the line of the lead- and bombers,surface raiders and It was their task to keep the sea ing ships the plane on the left of the mineson one trip they successfully lanesopen, tomaintain the Navy’s formation was hit. It seemed to stop completed .to a port less than 75 miles tradition of “not giving up the ship,” for a moment and then plunged into from the fighting‘ front. and this they did even though they the sea in flames. At the same time, Gun crews of the Armed Guard paid with their lives. the leading plane and the plane on have been exacting their toll of the “Loaded 5.000 cases of TNT. then the right of the formation dived and Axis raiders in the air,on the surface, cleared to join convoy”was the log attempted to torpedo the two leading and underwater. Crews from two of entry of another commander of an ships.” the guarded merchant men attacked Armed Guard crew in his report to It wasn’tonly beating off air at- by enemy aircraft were officially cred- the Navy ‘Department after the suc- tackers for the crew of Navy sharp- ited by observers of thenation in cessful completion of a trip overseas. shooters in this convoy. Here is an- whose port they were unloading cargo “Sitting on a load of dynamite” was other quotation from the log of the and by Naval observers of their own literally the truthfor this crew. They Armed Guard after theconvoy landed country with having sent threeof the saw the trip through but only after in the heartof an attacking sub pack. enemy aircraft plunging in flames into battling against air and subforces. “Just a few minutes after the air the waters of the harbor. Time after time they were attacked attack thelookout on this ship sighted It isn’t all manning guns for these by Axis air raiders. Time after time the exposed part of a submarine’s con- hardy members of the Armed Guard, they set up antiaircraft barrages so ning tower in the heartof the convoy however, for time and again they haveterrific that the raiding planes turned and just a FEW YARDS off our star- been forced to take to boats and life back to their base.Bombs were board quarter. raftsas their torpedoed craft slid dropped on them often but they kept “Infact, she was so close aboard under the waves. the raidersat such high altitudes that that neither a heavy gun mounted on Days of drifting under the merci- the bombs dropped harmlessly some the stern normachine guns were able less sun was the lot of one of these distancefrom the TNT-laden to be brought to bear on it. Evidently crews before they finally were picked freighter. realizing that we had sighted her, the up by a convoying destroyer that had One of the raiding planes, the com- submarine changed course and came been called to their aid by a patrol mander of thisparticular ship re- across to the port quarter. When she plane that sighted theirfrail craft ported, after being driven off time was about 25 yards away from the ship, tossing on the brassy southern sea. after time, finally was sighted diving fire wasopened. The second shot “U. S. Navy gun crew members were directly at the port side of the ship. from the sterngun struck her squarely the last to leave the ship,” was the Then, as fire was directed at him, he inthe conningtower. As the shell laconic report of the master of a cargo was hit and crashedsmoking and exploded, the topof the conning tower ship that had been torpedoed. fiaming into the sea. The Axis raid- was blown off. As sheappeared to Page 2 Wur’ Bat They’re Doing u Job -0ffici:ll li. S. Na~yF’hotopaph. In fair weather and foul, armed guard crews keepsea paths open, and our supplies flow around the world. sink, the water boiled up in a great enemy, but still they carried through noon by a dhbomber. Enemy de- froth of airand bubbles.After ob- to victory on the ocean road overseas stroyers which attempted to intercept serving the spot where she submerged and home again. Extracts from a r6- . the convoy during the air attackwere we saw an oil slick forming with oc- sum6 of the voyage as submitted by defeated. Of the attackingsurface casional bubbles rising to the surface. the commander of the Armed Guard raiders one destroyer was sunk and “At this pointone of the gunners crew follow: another set afire. On four occasions reported a torpedo track crossing our “Upon our departure from________, our escort vessels dropped depth bow from port to starboard. The ship March ____,we ran into foul weather immediately backed at full speed and that ended in a full gale lasting sev- charges. Just priorto entering the the torpedo missed us by a few feet.” eral days, with the result that seven safety of the submarinenet. at The trip of the Armed Guard that ships lost their convoy escorts in. the __________,we were attacked by a previously had been listed as bringing excessive weather. On March ____,we pack of submarines whichwere re- down three planes reads like a night- were attacked by a high altitude pulsed by our escort vessels with dam- mare of continuous action against the bomber and again on the same after- age to three of the attackers. Page 3 Page 4 riding practically on top of the boat thesubmarine crash dived and we the Armed Guard Schools which have deck and thought the funnel was go- had only time for three shots before been established at Little Creek, Vir- ing to strike us as it toppled.” she wassubmerged.” ginia; Gulfport,.