ESCORT CARRIER SAILORS Non-profit & AIRMEN ASSN. U.S. Postage 1215 N. Military Hwy #128 PAID Norfolk, VA 23502 Norfolk, VA Permit #360

June 2017 ESCORT CARRIER SAILORS The CVE PIPER & AIRMEN ASSOCIATION, INC 1215 N. Military Highway #128 Norfolk, VA 23502 Deadline for Excursions is July 11, 2017

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https://www.facebook. com/pages/Escort-Carri- ers/144430398902720 The CVE PIPER is published Board 0f Governors quarterly by the ESCORT CARRIER SAILOR & AIRMEN ASSOCIATION, INC. Anthony Looney, President (Art) Wayne Lowe, Vice President John W. Smith And is mailed by non-profit Veterans Permit from (Cindy) (Joan) USS Salamaua Norfolk, Virginia USS Sangamon USS Corregidor 5815 Winwood Dr., # 204 1203 Greenway Drive 5 Longbow Court Johnston, IA 50131 Allen, TX 75020 St. Louis MO 63114 Phone: 515.331.8823 Send MEMBERSHIP DUES, Phone: 214.738.5949 (cell) Phone: 314.429.1169 Fax: 515.289.8408 DONATIONS, Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] CHANGE OF ADDRESS, Term 2019 Term 2017 Term 2017 PUBLICATIONS, and TAPS to: ECSAA David Ryan, Membership Oscar (Clay) Hathaway III, Secretary Bob Evans, Treasurer 1215 N. Military Highway #128 and Marketing (Patricia) (Kim) (Janet) Norfolk, VA 23502 USS Bogue USS Casablanca USS Sangamon 1215 N. Military Highway #128 1310 W. 115th 1649 Glenhill Lane Norfolk, VA 23502 Jenks, OK 74037 Lewisville, TX 75077-2728 E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (855) 505-2469 Phone 918.606.9757 Phone: 817.798.2369 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Term 2018 Term 2019 Term 2018

CVE PIPER SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Committees: Memorial/Donations When submitting your articles please: Memorials & Artifact Committee Chair Convention Bob Evans • Limit your articles to no more than 2000 George Manik Sue Foley - Chairman Email: [email protected] words Telephone: 732.269.0866 Chuck Fecay - Committee Member • Check spelling, punctuation and subject Email: [email protected] Anthony Looney - Committee Member matter. (Editor reserves editing rights) • Determine the Headline for your story and Author. Merchandise Committee Member Recruiting Member Services Art Lowe Dawn Magerkurth Joyce Wilson LEGAL CONSEQUENCES Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Some members are sending clippings from http://ecsaa.org newspapers, magazines and books, with a request that we print them in the CVE Piper.

Membership Application 1YR $30.00 You must get written permission from the MAKE REMITTANCES PAYABLE TO 2YRS $50.00 3YRS $65.00 source of the article (writer, publisher, ESCORT CARRIER SAILORS & AIRMEN ASSN., INC. photographer, etc.) Before we can legally (NAVY & MARINE SHIPBOARD VETERANS OF WWII, & VIETNAM) DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE. reprint these articles or pictures. Membership Committee DUES ARE NOT. Attn: Dave Ryan, Membership Chairman We have been advised that this written 1215 N. Military Highway #128, permission must be in our possession in case of Norfolk, VA 23502 a law suite which can have substantial penalties Email: [email protected] for our Association. NEW APPLICANT RENEWAL MEMBER NO. ______ADDRESS CHANGE

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Many past submissions to the CVE Piper were ADDRESS______CITY ______ST _____ ZIP______hand written, and some were difficult to read by our printers who are not familiar with PHONE ______EMAIL ______CHECK Escort Carrier names and Navy terminology. CVE(S) NAME AND NUMBER OR SQUADRON DATE SERVED NO. ______The publisher had to guess. As a result, the AMT. ______editor received numerous letters pointing out DATE______RECD. BY______the errors. ENTRY DATE:______All future letters submitted for publishing must ______be typed or clearly printed, This may cause problems for some of you, but it will improve You can renew your membership on line as well as make changes to the quality of the Piper. your contact information. Islands) by James Hornfischer, as of this writing. A must to your tour is to visit the outdoor Plaza of the Presidents to your right as you stand looking into the gift shop. It is inspirational to see memorials to consecutive Presidents who serviced our Country with military service. As you complete this part of the tour, you are already in the outdoor Memorial Courtyard. The Memorial Courtyard consists of thousands of plaques and brick pavers that families, individuals, organizations, or others have placed in honor of those men or ships (37 CVE individual ships are so honored) that served in the Pacific. Embedded in native Texas limestone walls, these plaques are professionally made and placed by the museum and through contributions Under our Convention Chair Sue Foley’s leadership, our September San toward the plaques help sustain the museum financially. Some of you, your Antonio convention is shaping up to be a great one! ships, relatives, or a combination thereof, are honored with these plaques or After a hotel-sponsored reception Sunday evening, most of us will depart brick pavers. “They fought together as brothers in arms; they died together and early Monday morning for a huge day of activities – the Museum of the Pacific now they sleep side by side. To them we have a solemn obligation — the in Fredericksburg, the LBJ Ranch obligation to insure that their sacrifice will in Johnson City, and completing the help make this a better and safer world in day with fun times and dinner at the which to live.” (Chester W. Nimitz, Fleet Enchanted Springs Dude Ranch in Admiral, USN 1885-1966) Boerne. By the time we return to the hotel Monday evening most of us Your ECSAA association has a small will be ready to “hit the sack”. plaque located on the West Wall of the If you have not been to the Courtyard, section 23. Museum of the Pacific, you are in for a treat. The museum complex is so The Japanese Garden of Peace massive our 3-1/2 hour stay in flows from the Courtyard toward the direc- Fredericksburg is not long enough tion of the adjoining Nimitz Hotel Muse- to take in everything on the 6 acre um. The contents of the Garden are a gift campus. You will have to pace of the People of Japan to the People of the yourself to visit those areas you are United States in honor of Fleet Admiral most interested. Chester W. Nimitz. “By the beauty of this The actual museum consists garden, the Japanese and Americans who of a walk through in time of the War worked together to build it hope to transform the spiritual attachment between in the Pacific. In addition to life-like displays, the self-guided tour includes Admiral Chester Nimitz and Heihachiro Togo, their friendship and respect for interactive exhibits and audio-visual displays. There are many artifacts on one another into a friendly relationship between the people of Japan and the display; during my last visit they had an actual B-25 Mitchell bomber in the United States. The wishes of the two working committees have turned into suc- museum. Of course this plane came to prominence with flying off the USS cess as you see the beautiful garden, a living memorial to this friendship.” Hornet CV-8 by Jimmy Doolittle’s crews en route to in April, 1942. The Museum of the Pacific is located in Fredericksburg on the site of the birthplace and boyhood home of Chester W. Nimitz. His home and family hotel are located on the southeast corner of the campus at Washington and Main Streets. The history of the hotel and Nimitz family, including young Chester, are featured in this building restored to its grandeur of the 1840-1850’s. The Pacific Combat Zone portion of the museum complex can round out your tour. If you have limited mobility, remember that this portion of the tour involves some walking to the complex and additional walking within the indoor/ outdoor Zone complex. Your best bet if you wish to squeeze in lunch is the Auslander Restaurant (German/American food) just south across Main Street, yet there are at least a half dozen more restaurants within .1 mile of the museum. Addition- ally there is a plethora of shopping along Main Street. Hope you enjoy your visit to If you are interested in books of the , the gift shop has the Fredericksburg; be sure to save enough largest selection of Pacific War books of any store I am aware. It’s an honor for energy for the LBJ property and an author to have a book placed in the store as the staff regularly reviews books Enchanted Springs Dude Ranch! and keeps only the most popular available. Occasionally, the gift store features author-signed books such as The Fleet at Flood Tide (the invasion of the Mariana Family Membership Application...Please sign my family up as members of ECSAA

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You can submit your TAPS notice online at: ECSAA.org Taps can be submitted on line at : http://ecsaa.org/page-1827110 ECSAA Membership Information Terms: • Registration automatic upon notice of death to the Association Regular Membership in ECSAA is for those who served aboard or was • Widows who already maintain membership with the organization will transported aboard any Escort Carrier, or aboard any ship operating in the have their membership changed to fully paid LIFE Associate company of an Escort Carrier performing escort duty, air support, anti-submarine warfare, surface engagements, Military Sea Transport, Military Sealift or worked at a shipyard building Escort Carriers, or similar actions while in company with Family Pack an Escort Carrier, regardless of category code. A few examples: Any Member may register additional • Served aboard these vessels as ship’s company or members of embarked family members at a discounted rate. squadrons or staffs • Been members of the , Unites States Marine Corps, • 3 year term - $30.00 per regis- United States Coast Guard tration of each new family mem- • Been members of any allied Naval or Marine force ber. • Served while under either United States or allied operational control • Been a military or civilian aboard any Escort Carrier while under Terms: Military Sea Transportation Command or Military Sealift Command operational control • All new registrations are done at • Been a Shipyard worker who built Escort Carriers once • All Regular members are entitled to one vote and to hold office in the • This is for new memberships, not Association. renewals • Balance is paid in full at time of registration An Associate Membership is for anyone who is a spouse or widow of a Regular or Progeny member. Associate members shall be entitled to one vote Convention Bundle and to hold office in the Association. When you register and pay in full for convention you receive: • 3 year term new membership - free A Progeny Membership is for any descendant (regardless of age), of a • 1 year extension of membership for renewals – free Regular Member. All Progeny Members, on their 21st birthday, are entitled to • 3 year term new membership for Ship/Organization* - free one vote and to hold office in the Association. Terms: • Balance of convention is paid in full at time of registration A Supporting Membership is for any person who supports the patriotic * *The Ship/Organization must hold its first meeting at an ECSAA convention objectives of the Escort Carrier Sailors & Airmen Association. Supporting (roster registered en-bloc at convention or within 30 days of convention) members come from all walks of life, such as authors, artists, historians, military and civil professionals, active service members, friends and work associates of military families.... literally anyone who wishes to help honor and remember the heroism of those who served on or with an Escort Carrier while performing any of their many missions. Supporting members do not hold office or have voting rights in the association.

Regular, Associate, & Progeny - Member Pricing

• 1 year term - $30.00 - Most popular option which includes recurring payments. • 2 year term - $50.00 - Save $10.00 – recurring payments isn’t an option, but we will send you a reminder when it’s time to renew. • 3 year term - $65.00 - Save $25.00 - we will send you a reminder when it’s time to renew. Ship Group Discount Supporting Member Pricing To support expanded recruiting of single ship organizations • 1 year term - $30.00 - Includes recurring payments * 3 year term - $30.00 per registration

Life Associate For Widows Terms: • All new registrations are done at once – ships roster All widows of regular members will become paid-up LIFE Associates upon the • The ships and members of the group qualify per ECSAA By-laws passing of the Regular member. • This is for new memberships, not renewals • Balance is paid in full at time of registration • We hope you will have your yearly meetings during our annual ECSAA convention! Using my hearing senses, my assignment was to establish the subs loca- tion within the bouy’s plot. This was done by listening to the cavitation volume This morning I received the March 2017 CVE Piper’s Escort Carrier of each buoy’s transmitter and comparing it to the other buoy on the same plot Association newsletter. “The Sinking and Refitting of USS Card” story was line segment in the triangle. Each buoy was on a different sending frequency, most interesting and then suddenly my like radio stations, and they were coded red, purple, senses really spiked. In the next green, blue and yellow. For example, the cavita- paragraph the story switched to the tions would be four times louder on purple than USS Badoeng Strait CVE 116, one of on green. Accordingly I would put a mark on that my old carriers! purple/green segment line much closer to purple What could it be about? than green. Likewise I would listen to green/ blue Answer: it told the Fire in the and mark, and then blue/purple and mark. Incinerator Story, one which I have told Connecting these marks creates a triangle. and retold many times. Theoretically the sub would be in the center of this But first a digression about me triangular fix. Quickly plotting three such fixes and and some of my Navy experiences that we had a moving location: course line, the distance led to the “fire”... from the smoke and the speed of the underwater I was an Aviation Electrician, target. probably a second class petty officer at Think of flying over a baseball diamond. the time, serving in Air Anti-Submarine Approaching towards the swirl we drop the first Squadron 21. At that time, it may have buoy at home plate (red), the second one at the still been designated VC-21, Composite pitcher’s mound with the floating smoke bomb Squadron 21. My job was to maintain (purple), the third at second base (green), flying the electrical systems of our torpedo a standard left turn, dropping the fourth at third bombers. At sea I preferred working nights doing 30, 60, 90 & 120 hour base (blue) and crossing home plate dropping the last one at first base (yellow). inspections and special work orders requested by the pilots. Should the sub evade our detection within the plot, we could drop a fence of Like the Badoeng Strait, we were home-based at North Island, Naval buoys in front of where we guessed it had fled. Air Station . Our aircraft call sign, big and bold on each TBM-3S’s Lt. Birdwell would now fly this magnetic course from the smoking vertical stabilizer was BS, Baker Sugar. This had to be borrowed from the ship’s marker out to a distance that I had calculated from my plot. Then he would open name Badoeng Strait, more familiarly known by it’s crew as the Bing Ding. the bomb bay doors and drop a spread of depth charges at the calculated spot My pilot was Lt. j.g. Birdwell, a tall, quiet Texan with long legs. Once where the submerged fleeing boat was supposed to be. when we were ferrying aircraft to NAS Agana, , I strapped him into an During a night approach, through my periscope I aimed a 90 thousand F4U Corsair and his knees almost blocked the instrument panel. It was a natural candle power carbon arc searchlight down towards the target to identify our that his personal call sign was Birdlegs. disappearing radar contact. The light, slung on the starboard wing, had a range of I did dual duty as one of the lieutenant’s aircrewman. This placed me in 4-5 miles. Attacking a target I would dial into the bombsight our altitude, 300 ft., the Grumman on a bench in the bilge, just forward of the tail and airspeed, 175 knots. hook and with a forward looking periscope at my eye level abaft the bomb bay. The nose of a TBM is large. It holds in its radial shape two rows of nine When our radarman located a surfaced sub with his APS-64, we approached it air cooled cylinders plus starter, generator, magnetos, wiring harnesses, etc. The at low level. When it submerged, its dive left a smooth, flat swirl on the ocean’s Pratt & Whitney 2250 plus hp engine was the largest in the fleet of naval avia- surface. Approaching this wave anomaly in the middle of the ocean, my pilot tion aircraft. The pilot’s cockpit enclosure is set back from the propeller and that dropped our first sonobouy a mile out from the disappearing target. As he did makes it impossible for the pilot to look forward and below the aircraft while at so, he called out our plane’s magnetic bearing. I positioned the bouy on the plot low altitude. Which explains the critical function of the Landing Signal Officer board in my lap. (LSO) and talker who are positioned on the port corner of the stern just below At his command, over the swirl I kicked out through my hatch a rect- the . angular floating smoke bomb to mark where the submarine had just dove. Be My pilot was strictly on instruments during a bombing run whether on mindful that in the 1940’s, this was very primitive anti-sub warfare. My left leg a daylight shore target or at sea, day or night. I would track the target with my pushed open the hatch and I set the Navy gray wooden rectangular box half way periscope cross hairs and give him course directions, such as, easy right, easy outside the plane. The propeller airstream wedged it against the hatch frame right, right on, right on, hard left, etc. At the precise moment my cross hairs with the fuse lanyard inboard. were over the target, with bomb bay doors open and my red pickle button down, Upon my pilot’s command, I grabbed fuse lanyard’s handle grip and the bomb sight would release our 350 lb charges. At sea the fuses had been pre- kicked open the hatch with my handy left foot. The smoke bomb would drop set to ignite at various depths. In practice we dropped real but miniature bombs down onto the swirl, or close by, and begin producing white smoke. It became a with their small explosive charges. reference point in the center of a pattern of sonobuoys which could now track the As the aircraft pulled up, I would reach around to the port bulkhead and sub. The endless ocean surface now had a temporary reference point. slam a large button. It activated a K-25 aerial camera mounted alongside the tail The buoys were floating transceivers, each with a different frequency. hook. I would have preset the camera to so many frames per second. Simulta- When dropped, upon impact they released a spring loaded microphone on a cord neously a large flash bulb that was alongside the camera triggered itself. When that dropped 15 feet into the ocean. Submarine propellers turning in the salt we returned to the carrier an aviation photographers mate would scramble into water depths made a lot of noise in the 1940’s and 1950’s, chug, achug, achug…. the bilge and retrieve his camera to remove and develop the film. (They did not These are called cavitations. I would dial in each buoy frequency and if noises always share the prints with the aircrew). were detected they would be transmitted to my headset, hopefully not to be con- fused with talking whales and porpoises. Continued on page 7 Continued from page 6..... maybe fire control crew. But there really was a fire, and while it was not properly inside the fire- Back to the incinerator...... box, it was in the incinerator compartment. Refuse outside the firebox awaiting I’ve served with VS-21 on the Badoeng Strait, Rendova, Bairoko, its turn to be burned had caught fire. It was quickly extinguished, but that was Sicily and Bataan. It happens that the Badoeng Strait’s transient squadron berth- not the end of this story. It was my misfortune that the water being hosed on the ing compartment was one of the hottest. The white, three-tiered canvas racks fire filled up the deck of the incinerator compartment and lapped over the top of were standard, and the locker was ordinary, but the location was hot and uncom- the bottom of the compartment’s bulkhead hatch. fortable because we were directly above a boiler room. The deck was so hot that If men were sleeping in our compartment they all evacuated, and as they a sailor was at risk of burning the soles of his feet when walking barefoot. left they were instructed to raise their bunks and secure them to the stanchions. And we were directly alongside the incinerator. I could almost reach out The fire control party was all over the place with hoses and yelling instructions from my bottom bunk and touch the corner of its compartment bulkhead. The to each other. Then as the flooded water in the incinerator spilled over and be- entry hatch to the incinerator was another short reach just around the corner. gan to rise on the deck of my berthing compartment, and below my bunk, all my We were allowed to let the bunks remain dropped down 24 hours a day. non-color fast souvenirs were being trampled and soaked and they also “ran”. Therefore I had chosen a bottom bunk for the convenience of storing souvenirs Eventually they too ended up in the incinerator, and unhappily never made it on the hot deck under my canvas. Most of the souvenirs came from Japan dur- back to Oak Park, IL as family Christmas presents. ing a port stop in Yokosuka. Then one night while I was working on planes tied down on the hanger Don Schilke deck, came the ugly sounds of ahoogah, ahoogah, ahoogah, with the boat- Englewood, FL swains’s public address system announcement, “Fire in the incinerator, Fire in the incinerator”. Surely most all hands chuckled at this silly remark. All except

Dalen Corbett is one of the faithful ECSAA Facebook followers.

Dalen’s father, Edward Corbett, and his twin brother, James, lied about their age to sign up because they weren’t 18 yet. During the exam they were worried about one of Dad’s eyes ( he had got an arrow shot in his eye first day of 3rd grade). The doctor asked “do you want in or out”? He said I want in! They both served aboard the USS Copahee. Edward passed away December 11, 2016.

Dalen’s father is the one on the left in both photos.

Thank you, Dalen, for sharing.

Our upcoming convention is fast approaching, so here are a few tips when planning your trip. 1. Register online or mail in the registration form from the Piper. 2. Make your hotel registration directly with the hotel, Holiday Inn Downtown Market Square (888) 615-0725. Be sure to let them know that you are with the Escort Carrier Sailor and Airmen Association (ECSAA) for the group rate. The group rate cannot be guaranteed after 8/25/17. 3. If traveling by car, parking at the hotel is complimentary. 4. If traveling by air, the best rates are available when booked at least three months prior to your travel date. 5. When comparison shopping online, be aware that airlines often have a lower rate when booking directly through them vs booking through a meta search, such as cheapflights.com. 6. Check to see if you have reward miles to use if you are a frequent flyer of an airlines. Or, Skymiles that you may have earned through a credit card, such as American Express. Things to consider when packing for your trip. 1. Currently, AccuWeather is predicting temperatures for San Antonio in the mid-eighties during the day and mid-sixties at night for September. 2. Bring comfortable clothing and shoes for tours and dress attire for the banquet. 3. You may want to pack your bathing suit and sunscreen if you plan to swim in the swimming pool at the hotel. 4. Don’t forget to bring enough medication for the duration of your trip. Dear Sirs,

Thank you so much for listing our dad, Hugh Dengler, in the “Taps” section of your newsletter/paper, & including his photo from the obituary.

Dad enjoyed reading the TRIPOLI newsletters, especially when there was an article or photo about the USS TRIPOLI or its crew. He liked to tell stories from his trips and when the movie came out, he told us he knew Carl Brashear and showed us the photo of him in his TRIPOLI book.

I have attached jpeg copies of several of his photos involving him &/or the USS TRIPOLI, most of which he had me add the names of the fellow crew- man to the photo. Please feel free to add/include them in your paper, or add them to your archives - as you see fit. In a framed photo/medal set-up, he has a big aerial view of the TRIPOLI in which he said he was one of the sailors standing in the bow section below the front edge of the flight deck. Unfortunately, I can’t get a copy of that sent to you.

Dad also had in his bookcase: his hardbound, blue-cover book with white letter- ing on the front listing “U.S.S. TRIPOLI” down along the right side, and “1954” listed horizontally across underneath the name but is also located in the cover’s embossing of a swath that encircles the globe showing the Atlantic Ocean & continents to each side. The inside cover page says: “The Traveling T Cruise Book” (with the “T” being a bow photo of the TRIPOLI cut into the shape of a T). It contains lots of photos & captions, much like a school yearbook. On the front & back inside covers & pages (which show world maps in red, along with port listings), dad had taped a lot of memorabilia including: a “Traveling “T”” matchbook cover (no matches in it), paper currency from the various countries (including Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Greece, , & Japan), a Religious Services information card from the U.S. Naval Receiving Station Brooklyn NY, and a couple other items not related to the TRIPOLI.

Oh, & by the way, I’m Eric Dengler, the oldest of his 6 children - with Guy, Rex, Roger, Alan, & Another question my dad & I have had for years - perhaps you may know the an- Iris. I also don’t remember if you swer. In one of the early "Dirty Harry" movies with Clint Eastwood, the movie listed it or not in your publication, ends with a motorcycle chase that ends on 2 old escort carriers - we could tell by but my uncle Ray Dengler, who also the small conning towers & straight decks. There were no longer any markings served aboard the USS TRIPOLI (& on the decks, towers or sides of the ships that we could see. Do you know which 2 of the photos attached show him ones they were, or at least the class? My dad thought they looked like his. with his brother Hugh), passed away on April 1, 2015. Sorry, but his For quite a while (in the 70's & 80's I think), there was also an escort carrier obituary didn’t include a close-up berthed near the Richmond side of the San Rafael-Richmond (CA) Bridge that photo of him. we used to see while driving that bridge. I believe it also might have been par- tially dismantled there, too. Could it have been one of those movie carriers, or a Thank you again, different one? Eric Mothballing the US Navy after WWII ships were selected, even though they were older than the four South Dakota class, as mothballing all four South Dakotas would remove an entire block of The US Navy at the end of WWII was the largest on the planet, and training and spare parts requirements from the active fleet. would be unaffordable at that size in peacetime. What followed was the largest Battleships are tremendously expensive to operate in peacetime and even warship preservation effort in history. this modest plan unraveled. Both North Carolina class ships went into reserve in 1947. The USS North Carolina (BB-55) and USS Washington (BB-56) were The Plan mothballed at Bayonne, NJ in February 1951. Both had been in reserve for four In September 1945, immediately following the end of WWII, the US years at that point and had “igloos” covering their 40mm AA gun positions. Navy put forth it’s first draft of what the peacetime fleet would look like. Using None of these ships was ever reactivated. USS Washington was scrapped in a very broad brush and not differentiating between types and classes, it recom- 1961, USS Alaska in 1960, and USS North Carolina was made into a museum mended retaining 30% of it’s ships on active duty, placing 50% into mothballs, ship. and scrapping 20%. Senator David Walsh (D-MA), an expert on naval affairs, One of Grumman’s “too-late cats”, the F7F Tigercat fighter just missed calculated in September 1945 that this would require total manning of 500,000 WWII combat. Capable of operating upcoming jets, the Essex class large air- men. craft carriers were considered war-winners and formed the core of the active- The post-WWII mothballing effort was a juggling act between the need duty peacetime navy. to get men back to civilian life, and the need for their services to lay up the fleet. Meanwhile the smaller carriers (CVLs and CVEs) were greatly pared in There couldn’t be warships still on duty without a crew, but, demobilization number. Especially in the case of the CVEs, their primary task had been escort- couldn’t be held up either. ing convoys against u-boat wolfpacks in the Atlantic, and there was simply no When the Japanese emperor made his surrender announcement in August real role for them in the late-1940s US Navy. Many of these ships were later 1945, the total manpower of the US Navy hovered around 3,000,000 plus an- pulled out of mothballs for conversion into ASW carriers or aircraft transports. other 400,000 non-active reservists, female WAVEs, and recruits still in training. Three were later transferred abroad. USS Solomons (CVE-67) along with a huge In early November 1945, about six weeks after the surrender signing aboard number of other mothballed CVEs at Boston Navy Yard in 1946. USS Solomons USS Missouri, Congress outlined the first demobilization plan for the US Navy. was later the first of the mothballed CVEs to be scrapped. A minimum of 33% of the fleet’s WWII manpower, about a million men, was to An extreme case was the escort carrier USS Tinian (CVE-123), which be out no later than 15 February 1946; and of this, 327,000 by Christmas 1945 literally went cradle-to-grave in mothballs. Launched about 48 hours after the and 865,000 by New Years Eve. By the end of April 1946, 50% of the wartime Japanese surrender, USS Tinian was completed with leftover wartime funds and manpower would be out. By 1 September 1946, the process would be essentially ran builder’s trials in early 1946. On 30 July 1946, the US Navy quietly declared completed with 3,000,000 WWII veterans mustered out, leaving about 490,000 the ship “accepted” without ceremony, and USS Tinian was sailed straight into on active duty in January 1947 including new sailors recruited in the meantime. the mothball fleet. The unused USS Tinian sat in reserve for a quarter-century In November 1945 Congress set a target of 1,079 active-duty warships to be in before being scrapped in 1971, never having done anything. service at the end of 1946. This was to include WWII-veteran warships and ves- The US Navy finished WWII with a huge surplus of cruisers. With the sels built in the meantime. While it might sound counter-intuitive, the US Navy postwar Des Moines class already started, most went into reserve in the late had to maintain at least a snail’s pace of new commissionings even as relatively 1940s. USS Augusta (CA-31) decommissioned ten months after the end of fresh ships were mothballed. This would avoid block obsolescence problems WWII. A post-WWII press release announced the reinstatement of “dress ship” (entire generations of ships simultaneously wearing out) down the road, and (flying of all pennants and lights on holidays) a custom of the sea which the would also avoid bankrupting shipyards. US Navy suspended after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. USS Augusta never returned to service and was later scrapped after 13 years in mothballs. The two Alaska class battlecruisers were a separate issue. The Ameri- Determining active vs reserve can concept of battlecruisers differed from the rest of the world.The US Navy While WWII was still raging, a small office of the US Navy quietly -be designed the Alaskas before WWII as “cruiser-killers”, specifically to hunt gan planning what the postwar battle fleet might look like. This was kept hidden down and destroy Japanese fast heavy cruisers. By 1945, their intended prey had as not to seem arrogant or callous to the American public.With no knowledge already been sunk and their core mission vanished. USS Alaska and USS Guam of the Manhattan Project, the team estimated that WWII would end in 1946 (in were almost as expensive as battleships to operate in peacetime. They went into Great Britain, the Royal Navy felt early 1947 was more likely). The team took reserve in 1947. Part of the reason they were retained in reserve was political; into account losses to date, ships under construction, current & future technol- their Mk8 12″ guns were very expensive to design and build during WWII and ogy and tactical trends, and projected losses during the final invasion of Japan. were specific only to this class. It would have looked bad to not get return on The team estimated the US Navy would finish the war with a surplus of battle- the taxpayer investment, even if only as a reserve asset. Neither was ever reacti- ships, cruisers, submarines, and convoy escorts, a parity of aircraft carriers, and vated and both were scrapped in 1960. a shortage of destroyers and amphibious ships. For carriers, destroyers, and USS William M. Wood (DD-715) was a Gearing class destroyer , the terrible poundings during the Okinawa invasion launched during WWII but still doing sea trials when Japan surrendered. The were projected to be much worse as Japan would obviously throw everything at Gearing class was the best destroyer design of WWII and quite possibly the best the final invasion fleet. all-around warship class in the world in 1945. Fresh, powerful, and modern; Already during WWII, it had been decided that none of the so-called destroyers like USS William M. Wood would form the core of the peacetime “standard-style” battleships would be retained on peacetime active duty. All escorts and continued in active duty. would be placed into reserve or discarded outright. None of the “standard-style” The US Navy’s massive amphibious force, the largest the world had ever seen, battleships were ever reactivated during the . was greatly dialed down in size. Never again would there be anything like the Of the remaining ten, six were called “treaty-style” and finally the four “Overlord” landings in Normandy in 1944, and there was neither the need for very modern Iowa class. For battleships, which had been eclipsed by aircraft these ships, nor funds to operate them, in active duty. carriers and submarines during WWII, it was planned to retain on active service the four Iowas and two of the six “treaty-style”. The two North Carolina class Continued on page 10 Mothballing the US Navy after WWII continued... phin was a “bridge” between the WWI-era subs before, and the Sargo, Tambor, Gato, and Balao classes later of WWII. A distinguishing trait was a watertight Additionally, some “minor” types like LCMs, LCVPs, LCTs, etc had for a smallboat; when USS Dolphin was being designed there was con- been built more or less under the assumption that they were semi-disposable, cern that unrestricted submarine warfare might later be classified as a war crime. with lifespans not intended to go much past the defeat of the Axis. After Japan’s To that end USS Dolphin was intended to surface, dispatch the smallboat to the 1945 surrender, LSM-272 served the occupation fleet then decommissioned target ship, and politely offer them the opportunity to surrender before firing in May 1946. The vessel was used as a makeshift mooring barge by US Navy torpedoes. After the savagery of WWII that now seems naive, but was the think- smallboats at San Diego, CA for a while then scrapped in 1948. ing of that time. USS Dolphin did not sink any ships during WWII but served With less ships overall, there were less ships per auxiliary to support and first as a valuable training submarine at Pearl Harbor, HI; then as an instructional the number of auxiliaries, both in active service and reserve, was trimmed. The hull for the Navy Submarine School at Groton, CT. A submarine like this had warship USS Vanderburgh (APB-48), a Benewah class self-propelled barracks no future and there was no point in keeping USS Dolphin in reserve. One of the barge, was commissioned about two months before the end of WWII. With a sur- first subs to go, USS Dolphin decommissioned 28 days after V-J Day and was plus of these types already on duty, the fresh USS Vanderburgh was placed into scrapped. reserve at the Mare Island, CA mothball fleet in 1947. USS Vanderburgh never With the drawdown of the combatant fleet, much of the yard & district returned to service and was scrapped in Portland, OR in 1969. support ships that kept it going joined it in mothballs. But there was a limit to The destroyer tender USS Markab (AD-21) was mothballed at the Or- how much could be supported in reserve. Some vessels did not make the cut and ange, TX facility in January 1947. In 1960, USS Markab was reactivated and were scrapped. converted into a repair ship (AR-23), seeing service in the . Decom- The little 1,600 ton nameless drydock YFD-60 had only been completed missioning again in 1969, USS Markab was mothballed at Suisun Bay, CA and in 1944. With WWII’s end in 1945, YFD-60 and her sister-ship YFD-61 were at scrapped in 1977. the bottom of the totem pole of floating drydocks. Both decommissioned shortly Little was done to preserve surplus WWII naval warplanes. In the 1940s, after the war’s end and were discarded, having seen little use. aviation technology was “turning a generation” every three years or so – con- Another example was USS Zane. Built as a destroyer (DD-337) in 1919, sider that the US Navy started WWII with the laughable Brewster Buffalo but USS Zane was obsolete in that role even at the start of WWII and was unsuc- finished it with the Grumman Bearcat, in a span of just over four years.A few cessfully converted into a mine warfare ship (DMS-14) during the war, and then select types were preserved, such as the SC-1 Seahawk battleship seaplane being again to a test ship (AG-109) which proved more useful. When WWII ended the vacuum-sealed after WWII. This was for naught anyways, as by the time the Ko- US Navy had any number of newer hulls to use as test vessels, and USS Zane rean War started in 1950, helicopters had replaced catapult planes aboard cruis- was decommissioned eleven weeks after WWII’s end and scrapped. ers and battleships. Of the civilian yachts and fishing trawlers emergency-requisitioned at the height of the u-boat attacks, many were returned to their owners even before Determining reserve vs scrapped WWII ended. Chevrons or not, many civilian owners were unhappy at the condi- Once the ships desired for active-duty retention had been identified; the tion their watercraft were returned in. remainder had to be split up between those destined for reserve and those to just be discarded. Some choices were easy.With a surplus of modern types, the US Scrapping Navy had no need for wartime-emergency obsolete holdovers. For warships in the discard category, usable spare parts were stripped off. The WWI battleship USS Arkansas (BB-33) was, by 1945, old, slow, Usually (but not always) the main guns were “demilled” by torching the barrel and thoroughly obsolete. The US Navy’s oldest frontline battleship at the end of or cracking the breech. The US Navy’s final step for scrapping a WWII warship WWII, USS Arkansas was decommissioned and sunk as a nuclear target. The was estimating what would be recovered, so that an auction minimum could be remaining New York, Nevada, and Pennsylvania class battleships were also all calculated. Generally in a destroyer there was about 40 tons of recoverable steel, quickly decommissioned and disposed of, as they would have no role in any 1 ton of copper wiring, 1 ton of brass, and 3 tons of lead. future war. Completely obsolete in terms of postwar cruiser tactics, USS Trenton WWII-era forward decommissioned three months after the Japanese surrender was signed in 1945 bases in the Pacific and was sold as scrap for $67,288 in January 1946. The WWII US Navy The Sims class destroyers is an interesting example of the rationale used had acquired many when deciding which ships would be mothballed vs discarded. These destroyers forward bases, anchor- gave excellent service throughout WWII and were always in the thick of battle. ages, and naval airfields By the Okinawa campaign, seven of the twelve Sims class still survived. The US across the Pacific Ocean Navy anticipated massive destroyer losses during the planned invasion of Japan, between 1941-1945. In and to that end, it was decided to modernize the remaining seven for service in November 1945, Con- the invasion and then in the postwar fleet. gress shortlisted nine The plan was to refit three and then rotate out the other four Sims for which would be retained their refits. WWII ended while work on the first three was underway. Now with or even expanded for the a surplus, not shortage, of destroyers; the US Navy decided to discard the entire postwar fleet. They were Sims class even though there was nothing wrong with them. Eliminating the Adak, AK; Kodiak, AK; whole class removed an entire block from the fleet’s training and spare parts Pearl Harbor, HI; Bal- burden. The three in refit were given a stop-work order. Literally overnight, the boa, CZ; Apra Harbor, yard workers left one shift trying to get them back to sea as fast as possible, then GU; Subic Bay, Phillipines; , Okinawa, and Manus Island. started the next day’s shift preparing them for scrapping. The other four were expended as nuclear targets at Bikini. Continued on page 16 The submarine USS Dolphin (SS-169) commissioned in 1932. USS Dol- Welcome...Shipmates and Families to the ECSAA 2017 Convention, San Antonio, Texas Preliminary Schedule Date Day Time Event September 24 Sunday 6:30AM - 11:00AM Breakfast available in Madera’s Restaurant 10:00AM - 5:00PM Registration Open - Ballroom 10:00AM - 10:00PM Hospitality Room Open - Ballroom 10:00AM - 10:00PM Breakout Rooms Available 4:00PM Website Familiarization Workshop - Ballroom 5:00PM - 6:00PM First Timer’s Meet and Greet - Ballroom 7:00PM - 9:00PM Hotel Reception - Ballroom

September 25 Monday 6:30AM - 11:00AM Breakfast Available in Madera’s Restaurant 7:00AM - 8:00AM Registration Open - Ballroom 7:00AM - 10:00PM Breakout Rooms Available 8:10AM Load Buses for Tours 8:30AM Buses Depart from Hotel 10:00AM - 12:00PM National Museum of Pacific History 12:15PM - 1:30PM Shopping and Lunch Downtown Fredericksburg (Lunch on Your Own) 2:30PM - 3:30PM Visit to Lyndon B. Johnson Ranch 5:00PM - 7:30PM Enchanted Springs Ranch with Dinner 9:00PM Buses Return to Hotel 9:15PM - 10:00PM Hospitality Room Open - Ballroom

September 26 Tuesday 6:30AM - 11:00AM Breakfast Available in Madera’s Restaurant 7:00AM - 8:30AM Registration Open - Ballroom 7:00AM - 8:30AM Hospitality Room Open - Ballroom 7:00AM - 10:00PM Breakout Rooms Available 8:40AM Load Buses for San Antonio City Tour 9:00AM Buses Depart from Hotel 9:00AM - 1:00PM City Tour 1:00PM - 2:45PM Market Square, Lunch on Your Own and Shopping 2:45 Buses Depart Market Square, Returns to Hotel 4:15PM Bus Loads for Riverboat Dinner Cruise (First Group) 4:30PM Bus Departs from Hotel (First Group) 5:00PM Bus Loads for Riverboat Dinner Cruise (Second Group) 5:00PM - 7:00PM Riverboat Dinner Cruise (First Group) 5:30PM - 7:30PM Riverboat Dinner Cruise (Second Group) 7:30PM First Group Returns to Hotel 8:00PM Second Group Returns to Hotel 8:30PM - 10:00PM Hospitality Room Open - Ballroom

September 27 Wednesday 6:30AM - 11:00AM Breakfast Available in Madera’s Restaurant 7:00AM - 9:00AM Hospitality Room Open - Ballroom 7:00AM - 6:00PM Breakout Rooms Available 10:00AM - 11:00AM Memorial Service - Ballroom 1:00PM - 2:30PM Business Meeting - Ballroom 6:00PM - 7:00PM Banquet Social Hour - Ballroom 7:00PM - 11:00PM Banquet (Dressy Attire) - Ballrooms

September 28 Thursday 6:30AM - 11:00AM Breakfast Available in Madera’s Restaurant 11:00AM Checkout, No Later Than Optional Monday and Tuesday Excursions Deadline for Excursions is July 11, 2017. Please complete the information on page 14 and mail or book online with your credit card at ecsaa.org

Tuesday/September 26th - $39.00 per person

San Antonio City Tour: You’ll have a guided tour of this incredible city with site visits such as; Missions, including the Alamo and the WWII and Monuments.

Monday/September 25th - $79.00 per person National Museum of Pacific: Located in Fredericksburg, the only insti- tution in the U.S dedicated exclusively to telling the story of the Pacific and Asiatic Theaters in World War II.

Market Square: Enjoy lunch (on your own) and shopping where San Antonio is world-famous for its authentic Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, bakery and shopping at the Historic Market Square.

Lyndon B Johnson Ranch: Known as the Texas White House, LBJ Ranch was where President Johnson was born, lived, died, and was buried.

Enchanted Springs Dude Ranch: This old western town is where Roy Tuesday/September 26th - $59.00 per person Clark, Mel Tillis and Kinky Friedman filmed the movie Riverboat Dinner Cruise: This San Antonio Dinner Cruise is the only way Palo Pinto Gold. As you stroll to experience the through the town, you will Riverwalk. Board the experience a feeling of being river boat and sail transported back in time. A away on the Historic tractor pulled wagon will take San Antonio River you through Wild Animal Park Walk, while enjoying to see longhorn cattle, buffalos, a world class Italian zebras, and many other exotic meal from Michelino’s animals. Meet Woodrow, a real Italiano. This will truly Texas Longhorn who would love be the highlight of to get his picture taken with you. your trip to Enjoy a Chuckwagon BBQ dinner in the Saloon with live country music and a San Antonio. Dance Instructor to teach Line Dancing. 2017 ECSAA Convention Holiday Inn Downtown Market Square San Antonio, Texas September 24 - 28

• Free Hot American Breakfast Buffet for two guests per room daily • Complimentary Shuttle within a 3-mile radius (no airport shuttle, but will take you to the Riverwalk, downtown, etc…) • Complimentary parking • In-room toiletries, alarm clock, iron, ironing board and hair dryer • In-room Mini Refrigerator, Microwave, Coffee/Tea Maker (Keurig), Complimentary Coffee/Tea Supplies Holiday Inn Downtown Market Square is located at 318 West César E. • Handicap accessible rooms/ Portable Bathtub Seats Chávez Boulevard, San Antonio, Texas 78204 (210) 225-3211 • All non-smoking rooms • Free local calls, voicemail, and wakeup service To make your reservation, call (888) 615-0725 and notify the • Complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the property reservations agent of the group name: Escort Carrier Sailors & • Outdoor pool and whirlpool Airmen Association (ECSAA) to confirm your reservation. The • Inside corridors and room rate is $99.00 per night + tax (current rate 16.75%). Rate is • 24-hour coffee service and front desk service effective 3 days pre and 3 days post of the convention. Choice of • Sundries and vending machines available two full beds or one king. The ECSAA $99 Holiday Inn Market • Guest self-laundry Square hotel room rate cannot be guaranteed after 8/25/17. • Same day dry cleaning Reservations can be canceled if you register and then decide you • On site restaurant and lounge (Open for breakfast and dinner cannot attend only – no lunch is served) • Service animals allowed • Business center • Exercise Facility • Hotel location is two blocks from the world famous San An- tonio Market Square. Attendees are encouraged to visit the square, especially on Saturday or Sunday when more of the vendors will be open.

TAXI SERVICE - Taxi cabs are available at the lower level curbside, outside of baggage claim, at Terminal A & B. Fare to San Antonio downtown areas start at $29 per taxicab.

SHUTTLE SERVICE - Super Shuttle is San Antonio International Airport’s authorized and single shared-ride shuttle service. Shuttles depart from 7 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. daily to downtown hotels every 15 minutes. Passengers may purchase tickets at the airport’s baggage claim area. Ticket Rates: $19.00 per person to downtown hotels or $34.00 for a round trip ticket. Major Credit cards are accepted. For more Information visit supershuttlesa.com or call 210.281.9900. 2017 ECSAA Convention - Holiday Inn Downtown Market Square - September 24 - 28 Please make checks for Convention and Events payable to: ECSAA Convention Account Mail your check to: Escort Carrier Sailor and Airmen Association, Inc., 1215 N. Military Highway #128, Norfolk, VA 23502 If you have any questions email: [email protected] or call Toll Free in the USA: 855.505.2469 Wednesday Evening Banquet Meal Choice:

Registrant Information: Date Arriving ______All entrees are served with Steamed Blend and Roasted Redskin Potatoes, fresh garden salad, your choice of Ship/Squadron ______Italian or Ranch dressing, dinner rolls, dessert, tea and coffee First Name ______Last Name ______Entrees (Check one) Address ______Chicken Marsala City ______State ______Zip ______Tilapia with Lemon Butter Caper Sauce Telephone ______Cell ______Medallions of Beef Tenderloin Email ______Vegetarian Plate Emergency Contact Name ______Emergency Contact Telephone Number ______Food Allergies or Dietary Restrictions? ______Vegetarian? Yes ____ No ____

Is this your first time attending an ECSAA convention? __Yes __No

What event(s) would you like to register for? Registration is due 9/17/17. Wednesday banquet meal choices are due to hotel this day. Therefore, _____ Convention - $69.00 includes Registration, Banquet Meal, all taxes and gratuities any meal additions or changes after this date _____ National Museum of Pacific War/Lyndon B Johnson Ranch/ Enchanted Springs cannot be guaranteed! Dude Ranch w/Dinner and Entertainment (Monday, September 25) - $79.00 _____ San Antonio City Tour/Market Square (Tuesday, September 26) - $39.00 _____ Riverboat Dinner Cruise (Tuesday, September 26) - $59.00

Are you attending with another registrant? If yes, list their name, address and relationship (i.e., spouse, companion, child, friend). If you have more than one guest, please use additional sheets of paper. Guest Information: Date Arriving ______Wednesday Evening Banquet Meal Choice:

Relationship ______All entrees are served with Steamed California Blend and Roasted First Name ______Redskin Potatoes, fresh garden salad, your choice of Last Name ______Italian or Ranch dressing, dinner rolls, dessert, tea and coffee Address ______City ______State ______Zip ______Entrees (Check one) Telephone ______Cell ______Chicken Marsala Email ______Tilapia with Lemon Butter Caper Sauce Emergency Contact Name ______Medallions of Beef Tenderloin Emergency Contact Telephone Number ______Vegetarian Plate Food Allergies or Dietary Restrictions? ______Vegetarian? Yes ____ No ____ Total Amount Enclosed: Is this your first time attending an ECSAA convention? __Yes __No $______

What event(s) would you like to register for?

_____ Convention - $69.00 includes Registration, Banquet Meal, all taxes and gratuities _____ National Museum of Pacific War/Lyndon B Johnson Ranch/ Enchanted Springs Dude Ranch w/Dinner and Entertainment (Monday, September 25) - $79.00 ECSAA Governors and _____ San Antonio City Tour/Market Square (Tuesday, September 26) - $39.00 _____ Riverboat Dinner Cruise (Tuesday, September 26) - $59.00 Membership look forward to seeing you at the upcoming convention. Joe Stravers Harold Fanning Thomas Kirkaldie Carroll Lundstrum Billy Evans Dominic Falcone, Sr

Gene Edward Doyle Robert Irvine Robert Mathis Clinton Waddell Joseph Giordano, Sr. John Edward Lee CVE LAST NAME FIRST NAME DATE OF DEATH SAVO ISLAND GIORDANO, SR. JOSEPH 2/23/2017 COPAHEE IRVINE ROBERT 2/23/2017 BLOCK ISLAND MERENUK VICTOR 2/26/2017 SICILY GRAY HAROLD 2/28/2017 BAIROKO BAY DEBUSK LOWELL 3/6/2017 ADMIRALTY ISLANDS HELZER HAROLD 3/5/2017 BLOCK ISLAND CREEL JACK 3/2/2017 MANILA BAY FANNING HAROLD 3/4/2017 HOGGATT BAY STRAVERS JOE 3/11/2017 ANZIO FALCONE, SR DOMINIC 3/9/2017 KULA GULF MCNALLY JIM 8/26/1993 Robert Shanks Robert W. Thomas, Jr. KWAJALEIN KIRKALDIE THOMAS 3/7/2017 SICILY HADBERG RICHARD 12/12/2006 BOGUE OLSON OMER 4/7/2016 BOGUE SNYDER BUD 9/20/2016 BOGUE BOOKBINDER JACK 12/12/2016 PETROF BAY MUNOZ ALBINO 7/8/2016 FANSHAW BAY GIFFORD EARL 12/30/2016 SAVO ISLAND HURST RAYMOND 4/3/2017 KWAJALEIN LUNDSTROM CARROLL 4/1/2017 BADOENG STRAIT PETERS, JR JOHN 3/31/2017 Raymond Hurst RENDOVA EVANS BILLY 4/11/2017 PUGET SOUND SHANKS ROBERT 4/8/2017 Raymond Hurst BADOENG STRAIT BLANCAFOR HERMINIO 3/23/2017 BLOCK ISLAND MATHIS ROBERT 2/17/2017 DUGGER DONALD 4/3/2017 CARD THOMAS, JR ROBERT 4/6/2017 PRINCE WILLIAM DOYLE GENE 4/18/2017 PALAU HOLVERSTOTT JAMES 4/26/2017 CARD BRIDGES WILLIAM 12/4/2016 SAGINAW BAY LEE JOHN 4/29/2017 COPAHEE CORBETT EDWA RD 12/11/2016 SICILY BELBIN EDWARD 5/13/2017 SITKOH BAY MOTT BARNEY 4/24/2017 NASSAU WADDELL CLINTON 5/2/2017 SUWANEE KILCHRIST VICTOR 5/8/2017 Edward Corbett Jack Creel BLOCK ISLAND ALEXANDER EDWARD 3/25/2017 Mothballing the US Navy after WWII continued... three and a half years after WWII ended, the Soviets returned the cruiser which they had named Murmansk. With sponsoned casemate guns, obsolete turrets, This expensive plan never came to fruition. As time passed and things were re- first-generation radar, and worn-out steam engines; the “four-piper” USS Mil- evaluated, most of these bases dwindled. The two in Alaska and one in the Canal waukee was a floating dinosaur. The cruiser was immediately decommissioned Zone remained but in greatly-reduced scope and importance. Iwo Jima was and immediately offered as scrap. However for about 36 hours while the paper- never a key postwar base and was later abandoned. Manus Island, north of New work went up the chain of command, USS Milwaukee was briefly, at least on Guinea, was allocated to Australia and was never a postwar US Navy base at paper, the senior active-duty cruiser in the US Navy. all. By the late 1960s, only Subic Bay, Apra Harbor, and of course Pearl Harbor Planned organization of the reserve fleet and the “divisions” concept were still of any real importance. in the US Navy’s numbered fleet system, two “ghost” reserve fleets were formed; Congress mandated retention of other WWII forward naval bases in lay- the 16th in the Atlantic and 19th in the Pacific. up status; in view of a possible future need. These were Wake Island, Midway Is- Each had a number of reserve anchorages. The 16th fleet’s were Boston, land, Truk, Tern Island, and Eniwetok. None of these played any major role ever MA; Groton, CT; the “Hudson River Group” in NY; Philadelphia, PA; Balti- again. Truk was quickly abandoned, Tern Island naval airstrip was destroyed more, MD; James River, VA; Wilmington, NC; Charleston, SC; the “Florida by a tsunami in 1946, and the others played very minor roles in the Cold War. Group” in that state; Mobile, AL; New Orleans, LA; and Orange, TX. Mean- Eniwetok was used as the staging area for nuclear tests but otherwise unimport- while in the Pacific, the 19th fleet had Pearl Harbor, HI; Bremerton, WA; Astoria, ant. Midway was reactivated during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, finally being WA; Stockton, CA; Suisun Bay, CA; , CA; and San Diego, CA. disestablished in 1978 and permanently abandoned in 1993. Not all were the same size, and the facilities were not “balanced” in the sense of having all kinds of warships. For example the Groton, CT facility was almost The “Roll-up” exclusively submarines, while the Charleston, SC location had a surplus of de- Millions of dollars of ashore US Navy property was scattered around stroyers. the world when WWII ended. Congress demanded a genuine effort to recover At each location, mothballed ships were formed into divisions. Each the taxpayer’s investment, either through use, sale into the civilian economy, or division numbered four to twelve ships, and was always of the same type and (if auction as scrap. The Army-Navy Liquidation Commission was established to possible) the same class. The divisions were to be operated as follows: ensure this directive was obeyed. Navy ashore equipment was divided into three For “capital combatants” like large aircraft carriers, newer battleships, large categories: modern cruisers, etc; every ship would have a skeleton crew at the facility as- - No longer needed at it’s current location but able to be economically shipped signed to keep the mothballed ship preserved, and also to form the nucleus of a back to the USA for use, sale, or scrapping. new crew if the ship were reactivated in a national emergency. - No longer needed at it’s current location, and uneconomical to ship back to the For secondary combatants like light cruisers, destroyers, frigates, LSTs, USA. US Navy commanders were responsible to seek a nearby Army, Marine submarines, escort carriers, minesweepers, etc; only one ship in the division - Unwanted by any branch of the military and uneconomical to ship back to would have a skeleton crew, responsible for all the vessels in the division. These the USA. Gear in this category was to be first offered for sale to allied foreign men would divide their time between the division’s vessels. The ship with the navies, then to local civilian authorities, and finally, abandoned. crew assigned would in theory, be able to be reactivated in about ten days, while While there was some waste – such as “Million Dollar Point” off Espiritu the rest would be in “Ready-30” status, to be reactivated in five weeks or less. Santo island where everything from artillery to the construction crane above to For minor assets like yard tugs, subchasers, landing craft, barges, lighters, etc; unissued Coca-Cola rations was dumped into the ocean – the worldwide “roll- no skeleton crew would be assigned to the division and it’s upkeep would be the up” was generally an economic success. A case in point was . This 85 responsibility of the base. miles atoll lagoon could accommodate 1,000 warships including battleships and The “divisions” concept did not work out as intended. The US Navy’s carriers. Ulithi was the US Navy’s main Pacific forward base. At it’s peak, it budgets in 1947, 1948, and 1949 were much smaller than had been envisioned briefly displaced Norfolk, VA as the largest naval base on Earth. Ulithi lost it’s in 1945, and there simply was not enough money for the skeleton crews. By the importance after Subic Bay was liberated in 1945. As part of the “roll-up”, liter- time of the Korean War, the idea was unraveling and in the mid-1950s was ally everything at Ulithi was collected and sent back to the USA. The US Navy abandoned. estimated the total ashore equipment recovered filled the equivalent of six full freighters. By late 1946, barely a trace of WWII remained.

Lend-Lease Returns Almost none of the ships lend-leased to the Allies were retained in re- serve. Some were obsolete, many duplicated the abilities of mothballed US Navy ships, and most had seen rough use during WWII. Many had foreign equipment installed and for some, the US Navy lacked a full bibliography of their mainte- nance records. Before the lend-lease expired, one of the HMS Reaper’s final missions was operation “Lusty”, the transport of high-technology ex-Luftwaffe planes captured at the end of WWII to the USA for study. On deck were Me-262 jets, a Ta-152, a Fw-190, a Do-335 Pfeil, and a Ju-388. All are encased in plastic to protect them from seaspray. HMS Reaper decommissioned shortly thereafter. The US Navy had no interest in getting the hull back and Great Britain disposed of it. One of the oddest returnees was USS Milwaukee (CL-5). This obsolete cruiser had been loaned to the Soviet Union during WWII. On 16 March 1949, I really enjoy reading the Piper. The Taps poem was written by a Canadian soldier by the name of A. Lawrence Vaincourt. He wrote it after being disgusted at seeing how veterans were being treated. It was called Just A Common Soldier and is referred to as A Soldier’s Story. The Taps poem just substitutes the word veteran for soldier. Mr. Vaincourt has always agreed with anyone that wanted to publish his poem anywhere and it has been published all over the world during those special days dedicated to veterans or soldiers as the case may be. The poem Taps is not really anonymous, just another broader version of A Soldiers Story. Keep up the good work.

Jim Goeppner, USS Sicily

______Dear Editor,

Many thanks for printing my poem ( We All Served Together) in the March 2017 edition of your newsletter. As you know the poem is dedicated to all of the association members and non members who served our country with honor and fidelity. I believe the poem reflects and mirrors shared experiences that impacted our lives like no others.Thanks again and continued best wishes.

Mail Bag B. Wallace Cheatham

Hello I’m putting together a shadowbox about my late grandfather’s military career. His records indicate he served on the USS White Plains CVE-66. Do you have a picture of the CVE-66 logo/patch for the ship?

Samuel Dykes

Can anyone help Mr. Dykes? Please send your information to: [email protected] or mail to: ECSAA, 1215 N. Military Hwy #128, Norfolk, VA 23502 ______

Chris Georgii requests: My grandfather was on the Kitkun Bay. His name was Harold Edward Georgii. Who can I contact to get information about him and to see if anyone remembers him? Please contact me. Thank you ______ECSAA has a member who is asking for information on A.T.E. Hill who served on the Gloucester CVE 109. Can anyone assist?

______My dad was on the USS Ommaney Bay CVE-79. He was a FC3; survived the kamikaze attack, and received the Purple Heart. His name is Oscar Andrew Winn. Born July 7, 1926. Passed away July 20, 2002. Retired Newport Beach, CA. Fire Captain. Was picked up by destroyer USS Patterson then transferred to the battleship USS New Mexico. There he narrowly survived another kamikaze attack on June 6, 1945. Submitted by Gary Winn.

Photos on the left and below were shared by Belinda Wilson McKnight, daughter of Lonnis Wilson, a barber while stationed aboard USS Kitkun Bay. Her dad passed away July 3, 2008. Escort carriers, nicknamed “baby flattops” and “jeep carriers,” were slow, ASW task groups that conducted op- thin-skinned, small, and cramped. Their crews, in a sarcastic reference to the erations from April 20, 1943, to Aug. classification “CVE,” called them “Combustible, Vulnerable, and Expendable.” 24, 1944. Bogue and her escorts sank On top of that, at first, the U.S. Navy high command didn’t want them. In 1940 13 enemy submarines and received the Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Harold Presidential Unit Citation which noted Stark believed advances in aircraft technology made escort carriers impractical, “. . . Bogue and her escort vessels were so development was stopped. President Franklin Roosevelt overruled them and largely instrumental in forcing the com- demanded a crash program converting merchantmen into carriers for use in anti- plete withdrawal of enemy submarines submarine warfare. from supply routes essential to the maintenance of our established military supremacy.” Escort carrier workload in the Pacific was more varied. Initially they shuttled aircraft to Australia and island outposts throughout the Pacific. USS Chenango (CVE 28) and USS Suwanee (CVE 27), both veterans of Operation Torch, were the first escort carriers to see combat action in the Pacific, engaging Japanese forces in the Battle of Rennell Island, the USS Anzio (CVE 57) rolling in last major naval battle of the Guadalcanal heavy seas. The little carriers, with campaign. so much topweight, pitched and One escort carrier captain who envisioned rolled mercilessly in storms. Note an expanded role for escort carriers was the extra chains tying the Avenger Nassau skipper Capt. Austin K. “Artie” torpedo bomber to the deck. U.S. Doyle. A Naval Academy graduate (1920), Navy photo Doyle earned his wings in 1922 and spent most of the interwar years flying fighters. He was assigned to USS Nassau (CVE 16) in August 1942, his first ship com- mand.

When not drilling his crew, The Avenger class escort carrier HMS Biter seen from one of her Fairey Sword- Doyle was peppering his fish aircraft just after taking off. Ready on the deck are two Wildcat fighters, and boss Vice Adm. John H. in the distance ships of the convoy. The U.S. supplied the Royal Navy with more Towers, Commander, Air than 40 escort carriers during World War II. Imperial War Museum photo Forces, Pacific Fleet, with memoranda containing sug- Of the 151 aircraft carriers built by American shipyards during the war, 122 gestions regarding escort were escort carriers. Designed more to be easily mass produced rather than as carrier doctrine and tactics. the most efficient warships, they were based on existing hulls originally planned To increase efficiency and for C-3 merchant ships, tankers, oilers, and fast transports. Many were supplied firepower, he recommended under Lend-Lease to the Royal Navy. Because they were both slow and roughly they operate in tactical half the size of fleet carriers, they didn’t usually have enough wind over their groups of four to six ships, short decks for combat-loaded aircraft to safely reach flying speed, so CVEs had with each escort carrier as- catapults installed to assist in launching aircraft. A U.S. Navy Vought F4U-1 Corsair aircraft of signed a specific air capa- With few exceptions, the U. S. Navy’s escort carriers, too slow to operate with VF-17 lands on the deck of the escort carrier USS bility: the faster and larger the fast carrier task forces, worked anonymously: ferrying aircraft, protecting Charger (CVE 30), probably during carrier quali- Suwanee class armed with convoys, providing tactical air support for amphibious landings, even taking fications, in February 1943. Bringing a Corsair dive and torpedo bombers soundings of uncharted ocean depths for the Navy’s Hydrographic Office. aboard an escort carrier was no piece of cake. and the smaller Bogue class “[Escort carriers] are so cheap and are so easily constructed that they are bound National Museum of Naval Aviation photo (which included the Nas- to be our shock troops in the Pacific.” sau) carrying fighters. —Capt. Austin K. “Artie” Doyle, USS Nassau (CVE 16) This put him at variance Even though escort carriers helped provide air support for Operation Torch, their with official Navy doctrine that emphasized independent operations for carriers, primary mission in the Atlantic was anti-submarine warfare (ASW), initially each carrying a complete air group of several different aircraft and thus main- defensively operating as escorts in or near convoys and later offensively in inde- taining their asset of tactical maneuverability. It was the fear of anchoring his pendent hunter-killer groups. fleet carriers to the Marine beaches following the landings at Guadalcanal that contributed to Vice Adm. Frank Jack Fletcher’s decision to withdraw his carriers The U.S. Navy’s most successful ASW escort carrier in that theater was USS out of range of Japanese air attack two days after the Marines had landed. Bogue (CVE 9), namesake of the second largest escort carrier class built in the war. Bogue entered service in February 1943 and served as the flagship for six Continued on page 19 Air Power....Continued from page 18 success in Landcrab caused the Navy to rewrite doctrine and make escort carriers responsible for official history, “In no engagement of its entire history close air support for amphibious assault troops. has the United States Navy shown more gallantry, guts Escort carriers lost their anonymity forever in Oc- and gumption than in those two morning hours between tober 1944, when “Taffy 3,” containing six escort 0730 and 0930 off Samar.” carriers (CVE 70 Fanshaw Bay; CVE 63 St. Lo; The Nassau’s only combat action came in May 1943 CVE 66 White Plains; CVE 68 Kalinin Bay; CVE with Operation Landcrab, the recapture of the Japanese- 71 Kitkun Bay; CVE 73 Gambier Bay) and a hand- held island of Attu. Initially responsible only for air ful of destroyers and destroyer escorts, successfully protection of the fleet, because of poor weather condi- defended the U. S. Army landing beaches on Leyte tions in the Aleutians and long distance separating the against the battleships, cruisers, and destroyers of assault beaches from Army Air Force bases in Amchitka the Japanese Center Force in the Battle of Samar and Dutch Harbor, Nassau also provided close air sup- Island. As naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison port for the troops. wrote in his official history, “In no engagement of its entire history has the United States Navy shown In his official report to Pearl Harbor and the Pentagon more gallantry, guts and gumption than in those two submitted on June 5, 1943, Doyle wrote, “The Army Crewmen of the escort carrier USS Kitkun Bay morning hours between 0730 and 0930 off Samar.” Air Corps couldn’t get over [the target], or when they (CVE 71) off Samar desperately launch FM-2 Doyle would later captain the fleet carrier USS did, couldn’t get under [the overcast]. Their effort was Wildcats of VC-5 as shells from Japanese battle- Hornet and retire from the Navy with the rank of negligible . . . I think the ACV (escort carriers were ships and cruisers bracket the USS White Plains admiral on the retired list. designated ACV, or auxiliary aircraft carriers, until July (CVE 66) in the distance. National Archives photo 15, 1943) is ideally suited for amphibious operations due to their flexibility and availability in numbers.” Doyle’s

WWII Interest Items

For the history buffs. Some of our fathers were involved. Some very interesting World War II Facts. Many you would not believe or were even aware of.

Submitted by Bob Evans

Only 20 percent of the males born in the soviet union in 1923 survived the war

In WWII the youngest serviceman in the US military was Calvin Graham--age- During WWII the largest Japanese spy ring was actually located in 12--Graham lied about his age when he Adolf Hitler’s nephew William Hitler Mexico enlisted served in the US Navy during WWII WWII Interest Items continued

The first German serviceman killed in the war was killed by the Japanese Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen were killed over Europe

Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen were killed over Europe Polish Catholic midwife Stanisawa Leszczyska delivered 3000 babies at the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust in occupied Poland

In 1941 more than three million cars were manufactured in the United States; only 139 more were made during the entire war British soldiers got a ration of 3 sheets of toilet paper a day; Americans got 22 WWII Interest Items continued

Four of every five German soldiers killed in the war died on The mortality rate for POWs in Russian camps was 85 percent the Eastern front

Had it been necessary for a third atom bomb, the city targeted would have been Adolph Hitler and Henry Ford each kept a framed picture of the other on his Tokyo desk

The Siege of Stalingrad resulted in more Russian deaths (military and civilian) To avoid using the German sounding name hamburger during World War II Than the United States and Britain sustained (combined) in all of World War II Americans used the name liberty steak Membership Payments Due for Third Quarter 2017 It is with a sad heart ECSAA has to tell of the passing of Jane Hillman (Magerkurth) on April 26, 2017. Jane was First name Last name Ship Renewal due the spouse of Ralph Magerkurth who was a Governor Fredio Samples Sakashima Gunto 27 Jun 2017 of ECSAA. As a team they worked tirelessly to keep (Clay) Oscar Hathaway III Shipname not provided 01 Oct 2017 ECSAA and the USS Sangamon alive and well through David Jourdan Shipname not provided 29 Jul 2017 membership. She will be missed. Our condolences go out Virgil F Motsinger USS Anzio - CVE 57 31 Jul 2017 to her family and especially to Dawn who continues their Howard Weitzel USS Bairoko - CVE 115 06 May 2017 long tradition with ECSAA. Our thoughts and prayers are Robert E. Box USS Barnes - CVE 20 27 Aug 2017 with them. Hollis K. Bates USS Block Island 2 - CVE 106 03 Jul 2017 Bob Evans Stated: “She and Ralph were the "back- George Dunagan USS Cape Gloucester - CVE 109 15 Jul 2017 bone" of ECSAA. Ralph was our Membership Chair- Lindy Allen USS Core - CVE 13 15 Aug 2017 man as well as the editor of THE SANGY NEWS, the J. Paul Comola USS Corregidor - CVE 58 24 Aug 2017 SANGAMON's newsletter. Their house was a library of William Jenkins USS Corregidor - CVE 58 05 Sep 2017 Escort Carriers history. They paid out of their pocket for Viki Rowell USS Corregidor - CVE 58 02 Jun 2017 renewals of The Piper and SANGY News. Ralph talked Raymond Korsten USS Gilbert Islands - CVE 107 15 Aug 2017 my wife and I into becoming Treasurer for ECSAA, Joseph J. Vieni USS Gilbert Islands - CVE 107 23 Aug 2017 taking over from another great founder of ECSAA, John Robert Lehan USS Kula Gulf - CVE 108 22 Aug 2017 Smith. Ralph and Jane and his daughter, are honored with Rich McBean USS Kwajalein - CVE 98 21 May 2017 our membership of over 2,200 members.” John M. Cokeley USS Makassar Strait - CVE 91 01 Sep 2017 Dean T. Perkins USS Manila Bay - CVE 61 14 Jul 2017 Leroy Bryant USS Matanikau - CVE 101 17 May 2017 Tom Webb III USS Nehenta Bay - CVE 74 02 Jun 2017 Anna Dickovitch USS Palau - CVE 122 17 Sep 2017 Joseph L. Levis USS Palau - CVE 122 28 Jul 2017 Charles D. Ayler USS Salerno Bay - CVE 110 30 Jul 2017 Kenneth G. Clyne USS Sangamon - CVE 26 28 Aug 2017 Morris Jerome USS Sangamon - CVE 26 03 Jul 2017 Edward V. Jones USS Sangamon - CVE 26 27 Aug 2017 Grant Looney USS Sangamon - CVE 26 24 Aug 2017 Michael J. Looney USS Sangamon - CVE 26 05 Sep 2017 Angie Ritchie USS Sangamon - CVE 26 24 Aug 2017 Dawn Roth USS Sangamon - CVE 26 24 May 2017 Samuel W. Frank USS Sargent Bay - CVE 83 01 Jun 2017 Rich Newell asks: I served in VMA-332 aboard the USS Philip H. Mercurio USS Siboney - CVE 112 02 Jun 2017 Bairoko (CVE-115) and the USS Point Cruz (CVE-119) Edward L. Belbin USS Sicily - CVE 118 01 Aug 2017 during and after the Korean War in 1953. I’ll ask your Joseph Iannaco USS Tripoli - CVE 64 02 Jun 2017 Association a question, which CVE was conducting combat Paul E. Long USS Tripoli - CVE 64 31 Aug 2017 mission on 27 July 1953, the day the armistice was signed? I know the answer because I was aboard the CVE but I need back-up!

Kathleen Ruther Haehl

My father was on the USS Ommaney Bay. I would love to know who the other guys are. I am pretty sure this was taken in the summer of '44 before they headed out. My dad is far left. The Great Escape Tunnel Tunnel vision: A tunnel reconstruction showing the Untouched trolley system. for almost seven decades, the tunnel used in Only three made it back to the Great Escape Britain. Another 50 were has finally been executed by firing squad on unearthed. The the orders of Adolf Hitler, 111-yard pas- who was furious after learn- sage nicknamed ing of the breach of security. ‘Harry’ by Allied In all, 90 boards from bunk prisoners was beds, 62 tables, 34 chairs sealed by the and 76 benches, as well as Germans after the thousands of items including audacious break- knives, spoons, forks, towels out from the POW camp Stalag Luft III in western Poland. and blankets, were squirreled Despite huge interest in the subject, encouraged by the film starring Steve away by the Allied prisoners McQueen, the tunnel remained undisturbed over the decades because it was to aid the escape plan under the noses of their captors. behind the Iron Curtain and the Soviet authorities had no interest in its signifi- Although the Hollywood movie suggested otherwise, NO Americans cance. were involved in the operation. Most were British, and the others were from But at last British archaeologists have excavated it, and discovered its Canada, (all the tunnelers were Canadian personnel with backgrounds in mining) remarkable secrets. Poland, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. Many of the bed boards which had been joined together to stop it col- The latest dig located the entrance to Harry, which was originally con- lapsing were still in position. And the ventilation shaft, ingeniously crafted from cealed under a stove in Hut 104. used powdered milk containers known as Klim Tins, remained in working order. The team also found another tunnel, called George, whose exact position Scattered throughout the tunnel, which is 30ft below ground, were bits had not been charted. It was never used as of old metal buckets, hammers and crowbars which were used to hollow out the the 2,000 prisoners were forced to march to route. other camps as the Red Army approached in A total of 600 prisoners worked on three tunnels at the same time. They January 1945. were nicknamed Tom, Dick and Harry and were just 2 ft square for most of Watching the excavation was Gordie their length. It was on the night of March 24 and 25, 1944, that 76 Allied airmen King, 91, an RAF radio operator, who was escaped through Harry. 140th in line to use Harry and therefore Barely a third of the 200 prisoners many in fake German uniforms and missed out. ‘This brings back such bitter- civilian outfits and carrying false identity papers, who were meant to slip away sweet memories,’ he said as he wiped away managed to leave before the alarm was raised when escapee number 77 was tears. ‘I’m amazed by what they’ve found.’ spotted.

The PIPER would like to know the names of our WWII vets who attended the 2016 USS Fanshaw Bay Reunion - Reno, Nevada 2016 ECSAA convention. If you can help please send an email to [email protected] Left to right - Bob Hall, George Demitrius, John Henry, Morrie or mail to: ECSAA, 1215 N. Military Hwy #128, Norfolk, VA 23502 Miller, Maurice Weyhmiller Escort Carriers and their Air Unit Items for Sale by Markings during ECSAA WWII in the Watch Cap Pacific ECSAA

$16.00 $12.00 SHORT SLEEVE SHIRTS

ECSAA CHALLENGE COINS DEPICTING EMBROIDER SHIP BETWEEN NAME AND NUMBER OVER THE CAPTURE OF THE U-505 GERMAN POCKET SUBMARINE IN WWII BY A CVE CARRIER TASK GROUP NEED SIZE AND COLOR $12.00 $35.00 TO COCK A CANNON FLAG OR ESCORT BY D. A. PATTIE EMBLEMS Unfortunately we can $15.00 $1.50 EACH no longer have only one OR hat embroidered at a 3 FOR $2.50 time

Merchandise Order Form Mail Order Form to: Arthur Lowe Ship order to: Vice President, ECSAA 5 Longbow Court, St. Louis MO 63114 Name ______If you have any questions please contact Art at: Street Address ______Home Phone: 314.429.1169 Email: [email protected] City ______State _____ Zip ______

Phone Number ______

Item Qty Cost Color Size Ship Amount Due

Short Sleeve Shirt $35.00 Flag or Escort Emblems $1.50 ea OR 3 for $2.50 Challenge Coin $12.00 Escort Carriers and their Air Unit $12.00 Markings during WWII in the Pacific To Cock a Cannon $15.00 Watch Cap $16.00 Total Amount Due

ECSAA’s phone number: For Membership Sign-up and Renewals call Toll Free In the USA: (855) 505 - 2469