Fall 2012 AW:Winter 2006 HNSA Anchor Watch.qxd 8/28/2012 2:29 PM Page 1 SEPTEMBER NCHOR OCTOBER A NOVEMBER DECEMBER WATCH 2012 The Journal of the Historic Naval Ships Association To Support the Preservation of Historic Naval Vessels & To Honor Those Who Serve at Sea USS OREGON THE FIRST SHIP OF THE HISTORIC NAVAL SHIPS ASSOCIATION? www.hnsa.org Fall 2012 AW:Winter 2006 HNSA Anchor Watch.qxd 8/28/2012 2:29 PM Page 2 2 ANCHOR WATCH HNSA STAFF HNSA BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS Executive Director President CDR Jeffrey S. Nilsson, USN (Ret) Brad King, USS Massachusetts Executive Director Emeritus Vice President CAPT Channing M. Zucker, USN (Ret) Patricia Rogers, USS Requin Executive Secretary Secretary James W. Cheevers LCDR Sherry Richardson (Ret), HMCS Sackville Individual Member Program Manager Treasurer CDR Jeffrey S. Nilsson, USN (Ret) COL Patrick J. Cunningham (Ret) Anchor Watch Editor Buffalo & Erie County Naval & Military Park Jason W. Hall Immediate Past President USS New Jersey RADM John P. McLaughlin (Ret), USS Midway Webmaster Richard S. Pekelney HONORARY DIRECTORS International Coordinator Wyn Davies ADM Robert J. Papp, U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Heritage Consultant, UK Larry Ostola, Parks Canada VADM Drew Robertson, Royal Canadian Navy ADM Sir Alan West, GCB, DCD, MP, Royal Navy HNSA COMMITTEE DIRECTORS AT LARGE CHAIRPERSONS CAPT Terry Bragg, USN (Ret) USS North Carolina Annual Conference Co-Chairs Dr. William B. Cogar Bill Verge. USCGC Ingham Mariners’ Museum Toby Oothoudt, USS Cod Awards Maury Drummond USS Kidd James W. Cheevers United States Naval Academy Museum Alyce N. Guthrie Communications PT Boats, Inc. CAPT Jerry Hofwolt, USN (Ret) Curatorial USS Bowfin Andy Smith Terry Miller USS Texas Tin Can Sailors, Inc. Education Associate Member Representative Ms. Karin Hill, The Navy Museum CAPT F. W. "Rocco" Montesano, USN (Ret) Insurance USS Lexington COL Patrick J. Cunningham Buffalo & Erie County Naval & Military Park Richard S. Pekelney Marketing Individual Member Representative Toby Oothoudt Timothy C. Rizzuto USS Cod Submarine Memorial USS Slater Membership Patricia Rogers CDR Jeffrey S. Nilsson, USN (Ret) Carnegie Science Center Preservation Lindsey Shaw Joseph W. Lombardi Australian National Maritime Museum Ocean Technical Services Submarines Andy Smith William N. Tunnell, Jr. USS Texas USS Alabama/USS Drum Matt Woods Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum Fall 2012 AW:Winter 2006 HNSA Anchor Watch.qxd 8/28/2012 2:29 PM Page 3 ANCHOR WATCH 3 THE ANCHOR WATCH TEAM CONTENTS FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, Jeffrey S. Nilsson...4 FALL 2012 USS OREGON, Taylor Hitt...5 Executive Editor PT-617 & PT-796, Alyce N. Guthrie...6 CDR Jeffrey S. Nilsson, USN (Ret) USS NEW JERSEY, Dave Burgess...7 Publisher NEW & RENEWING HNSA MEMBERS...8 Robert D. Board USS COD, Paul Farace...9 Editor Jason W. Hall USS MIDWAY, Scott McGaugh...10 USS New Jersey 62 Battleship Place USS CAIRO, Elizabeth H. Joyner...10 Camden, New Jersey 08103 U.S.A. Tel: 856-966-1652 ext. 201 USS HOGA, Greg Stitz...11 [email protected] HNSA NEWS & VIEWS, Jeffrey S. Nilsson...12 Anchor Watch Editors Emeritus USS RANGER, Peter Ogle...12 Robert A. Willson D. Douglas Buchanan, Jr. USS LST-325, Bob Jornlin...13 Proofreaders HMS WARRIOR, Ken Jones...14 Jeffrey S. Cary CDR Jeffrey S. Nilsson, USN (Ret) USS BOWFIN, Nancy Richards...15 Contributing Writers EDITOR GONE A ROVING, Jason Hall...16 DAVE BURGESS FROM THE MEMBERSHIP, John Makara...18 JEFF CARY PAUL FARACE TRIVIA CHALLENGE, Jeff Cary...19 ALYCE N. GUTHRIE JASON HALL TAYLOR HITT KEN JONES The Anchor Watch in COLOR! BOB JORNLIN The Anchor Watch is now available in color on the ELIZABETH H. JOYNER HNSA website. To see this issue, and past issues, JOHN MAKARA in full color, visit: SCOTT MCGAUGH www.hnsa.org/anchorwatch/index.htm JEFFREY S. NILSSON PETER OGLE NANCY RICHARDS GREG STITZ DISCLAIMER THE COVER Right: The USS Oregon Articles represent the views of the authors shown in March 1898. and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Though no longer with Historic Naval Ships Association (HNSA). us, the ship may represent the first vessel of what would become the Historic Naval Ships Association. Fall 2012 AW:Winter 2006 HNSA Anchor Watch.qxd 8/28/2012 2:29 PM Page 4 4 ANCHOR WATCH will be towed through the Panama Canal and up to Little Rock, AR to her new berth at the Arkansas Inland FLOTSAM AND JETSAM Maritime Museum. At 11:30 AM on Wednesday, July 18, BY EFFREY ILSSON 2012 the ex-Edson (DD-946) was towed out of the Inactive J S. N Ships Maintenance, Philadelphia, PA on her way to Bay City, MI to be the prime artifact of the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum. Our good wishes and congratulations go to both museums in anticipation of the arrival of their ships. We extend our congratulations to the Pacific Battleship Center for getting ex-Iowa open for visitors in record time. On Saturday, May 26, 2012 at 2:30 pm, Iowa passed under the Golden Gate Bridge, for what will probably be the last time in her career, on her way to San Pedro, CA. San Pedro is in the Port of Los Angeles. She arrived on open my Flotsam and Jetsam column in this issue on a schedule the 30th of May. During the week of July 4th, note of sadness. On July 5th, 2012, Dr. John C. (Dr. she was opened for visitors. Again, congratulations to John) Fakan passed away after a long battle with Robert Kent and his staff. We wish them every success and Icancer. Dr. John was the President of the USS Cod bid them welcome to Fleet Membership in HNSA. Submarine Memorial in Cleveland, Ohio. John had also been the Chairman of the Communications Committee for Also joining HNSA as a Fleet Member is HMAS the Historic Naval Ships Association. John is survived by Castlemaine. She is a primary artifact for The Maritime Helene, his wife of 53 years, and their children Stephen G. Trust of Australia, Inc. in Williamstown, Victoria, Fakan, Debra A. (nee Fakan) Shattuck, and Sandra A. Australia. Castlemaine was one of sixty minesweeper/ Fakan, and a number of grandchildren. Also, John was a corvettes of the Bathurst-class built during World War II in recipient of the HNSA Casper J. Knight Award. We will Australian shipyards as part of the Commonwealth miss his wise council. Government’s wartime shipbuilding program of which fifty-six were for the Royal Australian Navy. She was built at the Williamstown Dockyard during 1941-1942 and her operational service during World War II consisted of IN MEMORIUM convoy escort duties, mine clearance duties, survey duties, ferrying duties and supplying of troops; all in the Pacific war zone. She was gifted to the Maritime Trust of Australia John C. Fakan in 1973 as nothing more than a stripped hulk. She has been restored to her 1945 configuration and she is an important “Dr. John” part of Australia’s maritime heritage. I received late word that the Battleship New Jersey May 10, 1934 Museum was named the Best Historic Attraction in Philadelphia Magazine's "Best of Philly" 2012 edition July 5, 2012 which was released in August. The magazine explained the selection by describing the Battleship as “Forty-five thousand tons of meticulously preserved American-made fighting steel that saw combat in World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and the Lebanese civil war, now docked on the Camden waterfront. The awe-inspiring tours, which Late in April, RADM Jay Deloach, USN (Ret) announced take you into the bowels of the massive ship, are definitely his resignation as the Director of the Naval History and not for the claustrophobic.” To the staff and volunteers of Heritage Command. Captain Jerry Hendrix, who is the the Battleship New Jersey Museum, BRAVO ZULU! Director of the Navy Secretary’s historical advisory panel, has been assigned as the command’s interim director. The program agenda for HNSA 2012 in Key West, Florida has been firmed and it has all the makings of a great On a brighter note, at the time of this writing, two ships conference! To view the updated program visit our website were underway (being towed) to their new homes. Late in at www.hnsa.org/conf2012prog.pdf. I look forward to July the ex-Hoga (YT-146) was towed out of Suisun Bay seeing you all in Key West! and after some maintenance work in a local shipyard she -Jeffrey S. Nilsson Fall 2012 AW:Winter 2006 HNSA Anchor Watch.qxd 8/28/2012 2:29 PM Page 5 ANCHOR WATCH 5 NEWS FROM THE FLEET USS OREGON (BB-3) The First HNSA Ship? by Taylor Hitt (Taylor Hitt is a rising senior history major at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.) he Indiana-class battleship USS Register as a ships relic under an unclassified Oregon, built at Union Iron Works in classification. San Francisco – the same yard that Tproduced Olympia – was commissioned in July The extent the people of Oregon were willing 1896. Oregon achieved notoriety during the to go to convert the display ship into a Spanish-American War, when she steamed permanent “Battleship Oregon Marine Park” around South America to join up with the monument was incredible, despite the Atlantic forces and on July 3, 1898 played a depression, and funds were raised by private pivotal role at the Battle of Santiago. subscription. In 1938, Oregon Governor Subsequently, Oregon had two tours in the Far Charles Martin asked the Secretary of the East between 1898 and 1906, and during Navy to “bring to the attention of the officers World War I she was used to guard the Pacific and men of the Navy the opportunity to coast.