PDF Reload-Daybook-Volume 7-Issue 3-PDF Reload

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The Daybook

HRNM Staff

Rear Adm. Christopher W. ColeCommander, Navy Region, Mid-Atlantic

The Daybook is an authorized publication ofthe Hampton Roads Naval Museum (HRNM). Itscontents do not necessarily reflect the official viewof the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense,the U.S. Navy, or the U.S. Marine Corps and do notimply endorsement thereof. Book reviews are solelythe opinion of the reviewer.

The HRNM is operated and funded by Commander,Navy Region, Mid-Atlantic. The museum is dedicated tothe study of 225 years of naval history in the HamptonRoads region. It is also responsible for the historicinterpretation of the battleship Wisconsin.

The museum is open daily. Call for information onWisconsin’s hours of operations. Admission to the museumand Wisconsin are free. The Daybook’s purpose is toeducate and inform readers on historical topics andmuseum related events. It is written by the staff andvolunteers of the museum.

Questions or comments can be directed to theHampton Roads Naval Museum editor. The Daybookcan be reached at 757-322-2993, by fax at 757-445-1867, e-mail at [email protected], or writeThe Daybook, Hampton Roads Naval Museum, OneWaterside Drive, Suite 248, Norfolk, VA 23510-1607.The museum can be found on the World Wide Webat http://www.hrnm.navy.mil.

The Daybook is published quarterly with acirculation of 2,000. Contact the editor for a freesubscription.

About The DaybookDirector Becky PoulliotCurator Joe JudgeEducation Specialist Bob MattesonExhibits Specialist Marta NelsonMuseum Tech./Librarian Ofelia ElboEditor of The Daybook Gordon CalhounArchitectural Historian Michael TaylorBattleship WisconsinOperations Manager Capt. Mary Mosier, USN (Ret.)Special Events Kathryn HolmgaardVolunteer CoordinatorThomas DandesHRNM OIC LCDR Willie PosadasHRNM LCPOITC (SW/AW) MarionClinckscalesHRNM LPO QM1(SW) Clay PickardDirector, HRNHF Maj.Gen.Dennis Murphy, USMC (Ret.)

In This Issue...Volume 7 Issue 3

Features

Arctic Mission: By Airship and Submarineto the Far North by William F. Althoff.Reviewed by Alex Mecensky

The Director’s Column...............2HRNM Report Card

Book Reviews..............................10

Captain Blakeley and the Wasp: TheCruise of 1814 by Stephen W.H. Duffy.Reviewed by Joe Mosier

The Museum Sage.....12Name Game II:Future Ship Names

Cover Photographs: Like many ships fighting in WorldWar II, the crew of the battleship Wisconsin was made up ofa mixture of both veterans and raw recruits. The veteransincluded men such as future CNO Rear Adm. Louis Denfieldwho is show at left. The recruits were made up of sailorssuch as “Murphy’s Bluejackets,” shown here getting theirpicture taken at Newport Naval Training Station in 1943. Allworked together as a team to make sure that Wisconsin didher job successfully and that everyone made it home safely.

Take a Stroll Down “Wisky Walk”.......................................3

Bringing the Giant to Life....................................................6

On Navy Time..................................................................4

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The Daybook

The Director’s Columnby Becky Poulliot

Vol. 7 Issue 3

HRNM DocentHonor Roll

2000 HoursBob CometAl Petrich

1000 HoursTom DugganMiriam Burgess

500 HoursJim ReidHenry Tarrall

100 HoursRick BaileyFred BouwmanEd BurkJohn CummiskRobert FallLarry FloydDick HannaEd HippsMargaret MitchellDavid PaigeGlenn PendeltonJJ ReedBill RiedelJerry RogoffPeggy RussellHoward SandeferGeorge Stuart

HRNM Report Card

In an earlier edition of this year’sDaybook, I reported on two grants thatare providing educational seed money

to the museum. First, the Centennial of theU.S. Navy Submarine Force NationalCommemorative Committee gave $10,000for a program on submarines. Another grantof $5,000 was later provided by the localNatural Sciences Fund toward a museum-produced Teacher Awareness Program.After reading this column, I hope you willfind that we are earning high marks in bothventures.

The museum contracted with NancyPerry to coordinate the submarine program.Nancy brings many years of experience asa museum educator. As the former directorof the Yorktown Victory Center, she isaccustomed to heavy visitation from schoolgroups. After tweaking the basic premiseof providing students with information aboutWWII submarine life and technology, shedecided to include a compare/contrast withthe battleship—which we are discovering isa huge draw for young people. Then, Nancywent to the MacArthur Memorial staff andasked if the institution would consideradapting its “WWII Home Front” programinto our pilot venture. The final result isthat our institution now has a middle schoolprogram that is expandable into a full fieldtrip for a public school’s entire grade.Entitled “The Hunter, Hunted and the HomeFront,” we have managed to teach 1,526students from May-early June. The majoritycame from public middle schools in VirginiaBeach (a new district for us), but we alsopresented the program to private institutions,magnet schools and even the learningdisabled. Teachers took the time to evaluatethe experience. Some of their commentswere: “Very educational, kept studentsinterested…Just excellent…I want toschedule a tour for next spring…Goodquestions asked, very well planned…Couldeasily be related to the SOLs (Standards ofLearning.)”

Special thanks go to the military andvolunteer guides and docents who made thisprogram possible. Beginning this Fall, “The

Hunter, Hunted and the Home Front” willbe available to all teachers.

Nancy Perry has also developed theTeacher Awareness Program. She firstformed a regional educators’ group todiscover the needs of the public schools andhow our museum could be of benefit. OnAugust 8-9, the group’s many months ofhard work will come to fruition as themuseum conducts its first recertificationworkshop for teachers. We’ll present twoof our on-site school programs- “TheHunter, Hunted and Home Front” and “ThePrice of Our Heritage” (about the Civil Warand underwater archaeology.) Bothprograms, although they can be modified,are aimed at the middle schools because theSOLs are compatible with our mission andcollections. If you are interested inbecoming involved in the museum’seducational forays, just call me at 322-2990.

We offer training and other perks like anannual awards program and volunteerrecognition dinner. We provide variousawards connected to service length. At 100hours, we present the museum lapel pin;with 500 hours the volunteer receives ablazer patch embroidered with our logo.Once 1,000 hours has been reached, thevolunteer receives a free lunch with thedirector (who says there are no freelunches?) The 2,000 hour award is a plaque.The highest award, not yet reached by avolunteer, is the 5,000 hour one where thevolunteer will be listed on a wall of fame.Its location to be determined.

At right, the following volunteersreceived awards on June 14th, our firstawards dinner since the arrival of USSWisconsin. My gratitude to the HamptonRoads Naval Historical Foundation forhosting the dinner, and of course to all 200+volunteers who enable us every day toprovide the best interpretation given by anymilitary museum!

Finally, I would like to welcome ErinPhillips as our new summer intern. Erin isa second year public relations student at theUniversity of Florida. She is helping us outwith the many media requests we get for the

museum, the battleship, and is overseeingour marketing plan.

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The Daybook Vol. 7 Issue 3

Take a Stroll Down Wisky Walkby Joe JudgeBefore Visiting the Ship, Learn About the Ship

The Hampton Roads Naval Museum’smajor exhibit in 2001 features thehistory of the battleship Wisconsin

(BB-64). The permanent exhibit, which alsoserves as the passageway to the ship for themany thousands of visitors that arrive eachweek, features original artifacts,photographs and film clips highlighting thecareer of the great battleship. The dualpurpose of the space (a passageway leadingto the ship and a museum exhibit) led to thenickname “Wisky Walk,” calling to mindWisconsin sailors’ favorite nickname fortheir ship.

The exhibit introduces visitors to thebasic factsabout the ship– what did theWisconsin do,and when did

she do it? The Wisconsin served in threewars, and museum staff organized theexhibit around these three crucial periodsin the ship’s life.

A piece of bunting from Tokyo Bay, 1945,courtesy of Jim Cook, and a searchlight greetthe visitors. The exhibit begins with a briefsection about the design of the Iowa-classbattleships; the greatest ever built in terms ofspeed, protection and firepower.

The ship was born in World War II and thenext section of the exhibit discusses this period.The ship was built at the Philadelphia NavyYard, and one of the lithographs of BB-64given to shipyard workers is in the exhibit.

on the ship. World War IIWisconsin sailor SeamanArvel Phifer contributedinvitations to the ship’scommissioning, and a 5-inch shell casing made intoan ashtray.

The most exotic groupof items came fromJapan. Wisconsin signalmanFrederick Mauritson gaveus a Japanese bambooportrait and a Japaneserifle, among many otherartifacts. Mauritson wrote,“I retrieved this woodenbamboo picture from aschool wall outside the Yokusaka NavalBase as a souvenir – September 16, 1945.Being a boy of 18, I thought of our 5-centand 10-cent stores back home that had thesesame pictures. During our first day in Japanwe also discovered under the school floorboards hundreds of rifles with bayonets forthe citizens of the town to use to defendthemselves if we had landed combat troopson the beaches in August 1945. I rememberhow deserted the town was of its citizensthat day, except for the many defeatedJapanese soldiers coming home.”

The section on the Korean War featuresa complete uniform belonging to Gunner’sMate Frank Scott Moore. One of thehighlights of the opening week was seeingMr. Moore stand next to his Korean War

uniform – many believed that he couldstill fit into it. Mr. Moore’s uniformstands next to the most popular item inthe exhibit – a real 16-inch shell. Theshell provides a vivid sense of scale.

The third major section of the exhibitdiscusses the 1988 reactivation and theWisconsin’s role in Gulf War. A posterannouncing the return of the battleshipbegins the interpretation in whichvisitors learn about Tomahawk missiles,General Colin Powell and the use of theincredible drone aircraft known as theRPV.

The exhibit also features four videos,corresponding to the three wars and anadditional one on the ship’s launching.

These stylish videos were produced byMetro Video of Norfolk under the guidanceof Producer Mariska Breland. Ms. Brelandused footage of the Wisconsin that themuseum obtained from the NationalArchives.

By the time the visitors turn the finalcorner in the walkway, they have had a goodintroduction to the battleship’s history andare ready to enjoy their tour. A new door to

Mr. Al Dunning donated the print - hisparents Rose and Albert met while working

the Hampton Roads Naval Museum was alsobuilt as part of the exhibit process, andvisitors exiting from the ship pass throughthe museum.

The exhibit was designed by SteveFeldman of Steve Feldman Design, Inc.,Philadelphia. Mr. Feldman’s design mixesthe artifacts, images and videos in a way thatoutclasses many more expensive museumexhibits. Maltbie Associates of Mount Laurel,New Jersey fabricated the exhibit – the samecompany that fabricated the museum’s otherpermanent exhibits in 1994.

Shown here is a part of the World War II and post-KoreanWar display of Wisky Walk. (Photo by Glen McClure)

Shown here is a 16-inch shell donated by the Yorktown NavalWeapon Station (Photo by Glen McClure)

“Wisky Walk: Fifty Years of Service” is the museum’s newest permanent exhibit.The exhibit highlights the history of the battleship Wisconsin and some of theartifacts given to the museum by veterans.. (Photo by Glen McClure)

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by Jim Dyson, Capt., USNR (Ret.)

On Navy TimeUSS New Ironsides’ Innovative Engine Room Clock

Through the graces of the NavalHistorical Center and the foresightof Hampton Roads Naval Museum

staff Joseph Judge and Gordon Calhoun,the magnificent engine room clock fromUSS New Ironsides will soon be ondisplay at HRNM. USS New Ironsides, afirst generation ironclad, was launchedtwo months after the famous battlebetween USS Monitor and CSS Virginiain 1862, and served with distinction untilthe end of the Civil War. The innovativeturret design of John Ericsson’s USSMonitor influenced American navalconstruction for decades after its drawwith CSS Virginia in Hampton Roads. USS New Ironsides’ much greater abilityto deliver and receive punishment with itsfourteen 11-inch Dahlgren smoothboresand two 150 pound Parrott rifles may havechanged the outcome of this famous battlehad she been delivered two monthsearlier. An excellent book USS NewIronsides in the Civil War by William H.Roberts, is available from the NavalInstitute Press at www.usni.org, forthose desiring a more detailedhistory on New Ironsides.

The clock itself is a history lesson innaval architecture during the infancy ofsteam and iron in the U.S. Navy. Originally named USS Ironsides, thename was changed to USS New Ironsidesonly one month prior to herlaunching to avoid confusion withthe wooden frigate USS Constitution’snickname “Old Ironsides.” The clock’s14-inch dial was apparently engravedbefore this change and is an engraver’smasterpiece with exceptional detail. Emblazoned on the dial are “USSIronsides,” “Merrick & Sons, Philada.,”the engine maker, and “Wm. Cramp &Sons”, the Philadelphia shipyard whereshe was launched.

In addition to being a timepiece, theclock dial also kept track of therevolutions of the massive two cylinder50-inch by 30-inch steam engine and 12-foot diameter propeller. Revolutions pertime would indicate speed in a no wind,

no current sea; very importantinformation to the ship’s captain. The mechanism of the revolutioncounter is marked “The Novelty Iron

This the engine room clock fromUSS New Ironsides that is currentlyon loan to the museum from theNaval Historical Center. Themanufacturers engraved USSIronsides into the silver plate beforethe ship’s name was changed at thelast moment. (Photo by Jim Dyson)

New Ironsides Clock continues on page 5

Here is USS New Ironsides as seen by a Harper’s Weekly artist shortly after her launch in May 1862. Classifiedas a frigate, she was intended to be a “blue-water” warship but rarely had her rigging in place during the war.In many ways, she was a better equipped and more useful warship than any of the highly publicized monitors.(June 6, 1862 Harper’s Weekly engraving)

Works, New York” and “Paul Stillman’sPatent.” Paul Stillman and his brotherThomas were pioneers in the steam trade

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Like many works of art in the Industrial Age, New Ironsides’ clock is the result of a cooperative effort by severaldifferent inventors. Paul Stillman (shown at right) and his brother Thomas, for example, invented andmanufactured the engine revolution counter. (Photo of counter by Jim Dyson. Photo of Paul Stillman courtesyof the Stillman Family Archives, http://www.stillman.org.)

This the movement of the clock. At its core are a diamond, a clear sapphire, and rubies. The movement doeswork and it is accurate to about one minute per month. (Photo by Jim Dyson)

as engineers and mechanics with theNovelty Iron Works. The clock movementitself was the work of Edward Howard, ofthe Howard Watch and Clock Co. of Boston,E. Howard & Co., Proprietors. Howard wasan apprentice to Aarron Willard, son ofSimon Willard, famous Americanclockmaker of 18th and early 19th centuryfame. Howard started his clock making in1842 with several partners, but by 1857 hadestablished himself in his own right as amaker of exceptional watches, regulatorsand marine clocks. The Howard Companycontinues today making a limited numberof banjo type clocks, of the type patentedby Simon Willard in 1802.

The movement in Ironsides’ clock isbasically a large balance wheel type watchmovement because pendulum clocks wereunable to function on a rocking ship. Theescapement is jeweled with rubies on theescapewheel and pallet and diamonds orclear sapphires on the balancewheel.

The power to run the

New Ironsides clockcontinued from page 4

clock for eight days is supplied by a verystrong spring enclosed in a going barrel. Themovement is enclosed inside the bronzeclock case and additionally covered on allsides with sliding dust covers to protect

the movement from the harsh environmentof the engine room.

The base of the clock is engraved“Chief Engineer, N. P. Towne, U.S.N.”and is one of the most intriguingengravings on the clock. The General

Navy Register of Officers shows NathanP. Towne, Third Assistant Engineer,January 6, 1862, Second AssistantEngineer, October 1, 1863, First AssistantEngineer, January 1, 1868 and Chief

Engineer, July 3, 1887. On the night of December 15, 1866,

while in mothballs after decommissioningat League Island Navy Yard, Philadelphia,New Ironsides burned to the waterline andsank, the victim of an unattended stove. Apparently the clock was removed fromthe ship before this disaster befell theship. Navy records do not indicate theownership or whereabouts of the clockuntil 1949 when it was recorded as beingin the collection of the Naval HistoricalCenter, Washington, D.C.

William Roberts, in his book USSIronsides in the Civil War, mentionsHarman Newell as Chief Engineer,William S. Wells and Frederick Ramsdenas Assistant Engineers during the CivilWar. Roberts does not mention N. P.Towne as being a crewmember of USSNew Ironsides. Further research will benecessary to say definitively.

Presently, it is known that althoughTowne did serve during the Civil War, hecertainly was not the Chief Engineer ofthe New Ironsides during the Civil War,or even before she sank in 1866. Howdid Towne’s name come to be engravedon the clock? He was not promoted toChief Engineer until 1887. Apparentlysomeone had possession of the clock andthought enough of Towne to have hisname engraved on the base. Thewhereabouts of the clock from 1866 until1949 are a mystery. If only the clockcould talk!

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World War II crew continued on page 7

Bringing the Giant to Life:Wisconsinís World War II Crew

The confident emotions of “Murphy’s Bluejackets” areproudly displayed at boot camp graduation. However,as the war went on, the simple comforts of home becamea wanted luxury. (Top, HRNM photo from veteran’scollections; at right from The Badger)

Plankowner-Earl Foremanas told to Susan Boland

When the USS Wisconsin pulledinto Pearl Harbor late in 1944,Earl Foreman, an 18 year-old

sailor, stood on her teak deck, close tonumber one turret, at parade rest. He wasin his white uniform, manning the rail withthe other 3000 men who made up theWisconsin’s crew in war time. This youngman had one thing on his mind. PearlHarbor meant liberty, and liberty meant atattoo. Every sailor had a tattoo, and Earlwasn’t just any sailor, he was a battleshipsailor.

Those 3000 sailors had good reason tobe proud of their ship. She was resplendentpulling into Pearl Harbor, having just joinedthe fleet a couple of months prior at thePhiladelphia Navy Yard, where she hadbeen built. The designers of the Wisconsin

had been given one constraint as they begantheir task - she must be able to transit thePanama Canal, whose locks measure 110feet in width. However, there seemed tohave been no constraints when it came toprotecting the ship from enemy fire. Thedesigners put enough armor, or solid steel,on the Wisconsin so that she would beprotected from enemy shells fired by anygun up to 16 inches in diameter. Strategicareas of the Wisconsin are her three gunturrets, each of which hold three 16-inchguns. The gun turrets have 17 inches of steel

plate serving as protection from enemy fire.The propeller shafts are protected by 13.5inches of steel plate, the conning tower sides17.3 inches. Couple this armor with the 205-inch guns, 80 40-mm guns, 60 20-mmguns, and the main battery of nine 16-inchguns among the three turrets, and onebegins to understand why battleships arealso referred to as “dreadnoughts,” for adreadnought is a person who fears nothing.No fear. I see these words often on the

back of pick up trucks driven by youngmen of 18 or 19 years of age. As amother concerned about her own 19year-old son confronting his sea, Irealize, upon listening to Earl’s storyabout his coming of age on a ship atsea in war, that 19 year-old boys have

not changed much in 50 years. Teen-ageboys fear nothing: their mothers feareverything.

As Earl’s ship pulled into Pearl Harbor,Earl was not thinking about kamikazeplanes making suicide dives at his ship, theship having to change course every 7minutes to avoid torpedoes as she steamedacross the Pacific, or the desperation in thefaces of ship’s crew as they fight a fire atsea. He was not thinking about war. Thisyoung American wanted some liberty and atattoo. Earl and a couple of his buddies

Editor’s Note: The crew of the battleshipWisconsin during World War II representsthe finest qualities of what news anchor andauthor Tom Brokaw called the “GreatestGeneration.” Three World War IIWisconsin veterans, Earl Foreman,Marshall Pearson, and Irwin Watson “Bill”Carpenter were gracious enough tell aboutlife aboard Wisky.

walked around town till they found a tattooparlor that looked right. Earl went in,pointed to a skull and cross bones designthat appealed to him, and dutifully sat downin the chair that the Hawaiian womansilently pointed to.

She stood beside him, and held his armin her hands as she wiped the area for thetattoo with graphite. When she finished, Earldecided he wanted another tattoo - on hisother arm. This second tattoo is an anchorinscribed above with the date he entered thenavy - January 4, 1943-the date of his 17thbirthday.

“But that is not the real date I joined theNavy” Earl explains, as he rolls his sleevesback down to his wrists after showing mehis tattoos, and rests his arms on the dining

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The Daybook Vol. 7 Issue 3World War II crew continued from page 7


Capt. Earl Stone (far right) and his command staff. The giant in the middle is Cmdr. DanielT. Eddy, Wisconsin’s executive officer from March 1945 until the end of the war. Eddy wasan All-American left tackle for the Naval Academy, which won the national championship in1927. At left, is Rear Adm. Louis E. Denfield who flew his flag on Wisconsin while servingas commander of Battleship Division Nine. Denfield became the Navy’s 11th chief ofnaval operations two years later. (HRNM photo from veteran’s collections)

room table in front of him. Earl was oneof 11 children, 6 boys and 5 girls. In 1943two of his older brothers were already inthe Army, but Earl’s mother knew thatwithout parental permission her next sonwould have to be 18 to enlist. By then,perhaps this war would be over.

But Earl had a plan. A young man couldenlist at 17 if he had one parent’s writtenconsent. Earl waited for his 17th birthday,and waited again for the first Saturday afterhis 17th birthday. Every Saturday morninghis mother walked into town to get her hairdone. While she was gone, Earl talked tohis father about his intentions, knowing hecould convince his Dad that his enlistmentwas the right thing to do. This took a littlelonger than Earl had anticipated, but finallyhis father agreed, and the two set outwalking to the recruiting office in town.They met his mother at the corner on herway back from the hairdressers. They toldher where they were going, and she fussed.Then, she cried. Then, she went home.

Earl and his father went to the recruitingstation and Earl, with his father’s writtenconsent, joined the Navy. The recruitergave Earl the red star he gave to all newenlistees, which was meant for his motherto put in the front window of the house. NowMrs. Foreman had three red stars in herwindow, because three days later her thirdson reported for duty.

In Earl’s mind, he joined the UnitedStates Navy on his 17th birthday, which wasJanuary 4, 1943. His first ship was thebattleship New Jersey (BB-62), on whichhe served from May of 1943 until Januaryof 1944. Then he was sent to Newport,Rhode Island where the Navy was puttingtogether the crew for a new battleship, theUSS Wisconsin. The Navy pulled sailorswho had served on other battleships to puttogether the Wisconsin’s first crew. TheNavy moved this crew from Rhode Island,where they did some classroomtraining, to Philadelphia in April of1944. Earl was now aboard his newship.

Earl remembers watching theshipyard workers putting in theoriginal teak deck that covers mostof the main deck of the ship. He alsohas vivid memories of cleaning theteak deck, a process known as holystoning. It was so named becausefragments of broken monuments

from St. Nicholas Church in GreatYarmouth, England were used at one timeto scrub the decks of the ships of the Britishnavy. In the British service, these“holystones” were also called“ecclesiastical bricks.” Sailors used bricks,or sandstones, which were attached to whatresembled a broom stick through anindenture on one side of the brick. A smallamount of sand would have been scatteredover the deck area, and the sailor wouldswing the brick back and forth about twentyor thirty times area over the teak directly infront of him. Then he would take a stepforward, and start the swinging motionagain. The sand being run over the deck

had the same effect as sandpaper. In thisway, the teak deck would be scrubbednearly white. This was done two or threetimes a week.

As the sailors went about this and othertasks on the Wisconsin, it was not unusualto hear remarks like “This isn’t how we didit on the New Jersey” -which would havebeen the battleship which that sailor hadpreviously served on. One day, theboatswain announced to all hands “ I don’twant to hear the way we do things herecompared to another ship again. This is howwe are doing it here.” Earl will tell you,though, that the boatswain’s threat was notwhat brings on that sense of ownership to a

Two of Wisconsin’s cooks prepare a battleship size order of chocolate chip cookies. Like almost all of theNavy’s ships in World War II, Wisconsin’s African-American sailors were restricted to the mess specialist rate.(HRNM photo from veterans’ collections)

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There was always work to be done. Shown above, Wisconsin receives wounded from a destroyer.Shown at right is the mail bag. (Photos from National Archives and Wisconsin veterans’ collections)

crew. “She becomes your ship the day weset out for the war zone. Then you know -it is a question of whether we sink or westay alive.”

Less than a year later, 19-year old Earl,was right in the middle of the Pacific warzone. He stood just under turret numberone, about to crawl in and man his battlestation, as the entire crew had been orderedto do. But before he crawled into the turret,Earl turned to take a good look at what washappening around him.

“We are being attacked by enemyaircraft. From where I am standing, she(enemy aircraft) looks like a big boxcar outthere. She is right above the USS Intrepidnow. Suddenly she is falling toward theIntrepid. She hit the Intrepid on herstarboard side. Heavy damage is done.Suddenly another plane. Same type as thefirst one is coming toward our fantail (stern).We are giving her everything we have. Sheis burning now and seconds later she isdown with many shells in her. No damageto us. Next one is coming at us in a dive.We are shooting at her. She is down also.This makes two for us today. Suddenlyanother plane is diving at another tincan(destroyer). We are firing at her, but shegot away. Now another is diving right at us.We got her, but the pilots parachuted out.”

Just one week before this, Earl had beensitting on the stern of the ship as he and therest of the crew waited for the entertainmentshow entitled “Two Little Hips.” At a safeanchorage in Ulithi Atoll, which is in theWestern Caroline Islands serving as areplenishment area, they were far enough

away from the war zone that theycould leave lights on, get some workdone, as well as some hard-earnedrest and relaxation. Two carriers, fourto six destroyers and a hospital ship were atanchor with them. Off the port side nearthe stern was an aircraft carrier, theRandolph, whose crew was hard at work onthe illuminated flight deck with the planes.

For three weeks prior to their arrival inUlithi Atoll, the members of the cast of“Two Little Hips” had started to practicetheir roles. The last couple of days beforeUlithi the ship’s carpenters had started tobuild the stage on the aftermost section ofthe stern. The stage was so high and largethat it took 70 braces to hold it, and thecarpenters used almost all the raw lumberthat the Wisconsin kept on board for repairs.Their plan was to use the lights from thesuperstructure to illuminate the stage. Thesewere large spotlights usually used forsignaling other ships. On the night of show,almost the entire crew of the Wisconsin aswell as a group of nurses from the hospitalship in Ulithi sat in their rows at eighto’clock in the evening waiting for theCaptain and the Admiral who was ridingthe ship to arrive. Then the lights were to goon, and the show would begin.

At one minute before eight, RalphSterling was serving as the watch at QuadMount # 9 on the starboard side whenCombat Information Center (CIC) reporteda bogie, which is a possible enemy aircraft.In what he describes as an instant, there wasa loud blast like a thunderclap and the aftend of the Randolph blew up in a gigantic

fireball.General Quarters was immediately

sounded for the crew of the Wisconsin, withthe additional order to hit the deck. Earl’sbattle station was the Number One Turret,which was at the opposite end of the ship,about two football fields away. Crawling onhis hands and knees down the teak deck,Earl heard explosion after explosion as theplanes on the deck of the carrier Randolph(CV-15) burst into fireballs. He keptcrawling up the side of the ship toward hisbattle station. Just as he was about to crawlinto the turret, another kamikaze planeexploded. Earl saw it hit, and he saw itexplode, but he could not be certain if ithad hit the water or the destroyer it had beenheading for. Earl waited a minute, and thensaw the bow of the destroyer come throughthe smoke of the burning plane. Relieved,an older and wiser 19 year-old Earl crawledinto his turret. Twenty five men were killedthat night aboard the Randolph, and another106 wounded. The kamikaze pilot hadflown right over the 3000 men of theWisconsin sitting outside on the stern oftheir ship. The show lights had not yet beenturned on. Had they, the men of theWisconsin knew the loss of life on their shipcould have been devastating.

“That got real hairy that day. That wasthe first time it got personal.”

Plankowner is a term used in the Navy

World War II crew continued from page 7

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Wisconsin Visitor Information

General Information: 757-322-2987 http://www.hrnm.navy.mil

Volunteer Opportunities: 757-322-3106 [email protected]

Honor and Ceremonies: 757-322-2988 [email protected]

Historical Information: 757-322-2993 or 322-2984 [email protected]

Information on visiting Nauticus andNauticus’ Wisconsin Exhibits: 757-664-1000

www.nauticus.org [email protected]

Wisconsin Project Partners:USS Wisconsin Association:www.usswisconsin.org

Battleship Wisconsin Foundation:www.battleshipwisconsin.org

Throughout the history of the U.S. Navy, music has always beenan important part of any ship. Here, members of Wisconsin’sorchestra look over famed Big Band leader Tommy Dorsey’s“Swing High.” (HRNM photo from veterans’ collections)



A series of boxing matches was held between Wisconsin and otherships such as South Dakota (BB-56) and Hancock (CV-17) onthe fantail of BB-64. Navy commander and boxing legend GeneTunney was the referee for some of the matches. (HRNM photofrom veterans’ collections)

to designate a member of the ship’s firstcrew. Earl is proud to be a plankowner ofthe USS Wisconsin . His PlankownerCertificate states that he is entitled to aplank from her deck - in the case of theWisconsin, one of those teak planks whichhe watched being laid and secured, the teakwhich he holystoned, the same teak planks

on which he crawled on his hands and kneesto reach his battle station.

Wisconsin was taken out of the fleet in1957, only to be called back for duty in1988. Earl has since received a brochurefrom a company that tells him that whenshe was recommissioned, the original teakdeck had to be replaced. This company,therefore, is in the position to offer him oneof those original planks which he, as aplankowner, is entitled to.

But Earl isn’t buying one. In fact, hedoesn’t buy the whole idea.

“I watched them put those plankson the Wisconsin in Philly. Thosepieces of wood were four-inch thick.Each plank was lined with jute,hammered securely between each ofthe four-inch planks. Then tar was putdown to set each plank. I holystonedthat deck. I know that deck. I know

The author works at Old DominionUniversity in Norfolk, VA. She iscurrently looking for other Wisconsinveterans to interview. She can bereached at: [email protected] or757-363-7127.

Battlestations-Marshall Pearson

Like Earl Foreman, Marshall Pearsonwas not even 20 years old when he

enlisted in the Navy. The service was not acomplete stranger to him as he had workedat the Norfolk Naval Shipyard here inHampton Roads. But even this previousexperience did not fully prepare him for histour as a deck seaman on Wisconsin.

“It was an amazement, really,” hecommented. “It was a great thrill and

everything else for a young sailor to seesomething that big and know that’s goingto be your home, and not knowing whereyou’re going, or what you’re getting into.”

Like all crewmembers, Pearson had hiseveryday duties along with a battlestation.His everyday duty was working in 1st

division on the starboard side. Probably thedeck division’s most important job alongwith mooring the ship and holystoning thedeck was refueling the battleship’s escortingdestroyers.

Pearson’s battlestation was turret #1.Gunner’s mates called upon the seaman andboatswain’s mates of the deck departmentto assist them in loading the big guns.Pearson’s job, at the young age of 19-years,was to ram the one ton shell and the six 110-pound powder bags in behind them. Therewas no time to rest either.

what I am talking about. Whenwe were finished, that teak deckwould bleach out to almostwhite. It was beautiful. Therewould be no need to replacethat teak deck. These guys don’thave the original planks. Theoriginals are still on her.”

As are originals like EarlForeman.

10


Book Reviews

Stephen W.H. Duffy. CaptainBlakeley and the Wasp: The Cruiseof 1814. Annapolis: Naval InstitutePress, 2001. ISBN 1-55750-176-9,348 pages. $34.95

Captain Blakeley and theWasp: The Cruise of 1814by Stephen W.H. DuffyReviewed by Joe Mosier

When the pantheon of early Americannaval heroes is recounted, somenames spring immediately to mind.

John Paul Jones, Thomas Truxtun, EdwardPrebble, Stephen Decatur and Oliver HazardPerry all stand out. Certainly there are other,less well-known figures who deserve acclaim.Author Stephen Duffy has undertaken the taskof elevating one such officer in the minds ofreaders. His work, Captain Blakeley and theWasp, focuses on Master CommandantJohnston Blakeley. After a solid butunexceptional career which started in 1800,Blakeley rose to fame with his success in asingle cruise in 1814 before literallydisappearing from the scene. The first section of Duffy’s book dealswith his subject’s early career. The newlyappointed and relatively elderly nineteen year-old, Midshipman Johnston Blakeley left the

University of North Carolina to serve underThomas Truxtun in the frigate President. Theyoungster’s performance through a WestIndies cruise was sufficiently promising toensure his retention in the face of the Navy’spost Quasi-War strength reductions. At thestart of the Barbary War, Truxtun resigned ina huff, and Blakeley went on to serve underthe command of Truxtun’s protégé JohnRodgers. These two captains formedBlakeley’s approach to leadership at sea,grounded in professional competence, strictbut not brutal discipline and aggressivenessin action. He continued to prove a skilled anduseful subordinate in a series of assignmentsfollowing his promotion to Lieutenant in 1807. The outbreak of the War of 1812 occurredas Blakeley was enjoying his first commandassignment in the schooner Enterprize. Theearly months of the war were spent infrustration, a frustration brought on jointly bylack of action in the backwaters of the Gulf of

Mexico and the unhealthy climate of his homeport of New Orleans. Blakeley’s big breakcame with his assignment to the command ofthe sloop of war Wasp then building inNewburyport, Massachusetts. Duffy devotesthe second section of his book to Blakeley’strials in completing the construction andmanning of the new vessel. The reader comesaway with a thorough appreciation of thedifficulties the newly promoted mastercommandant faced: local hostility to the war,shortage of supplies and the partiality of hisarea commander, Commodore WilliamBainbridge. Part Three of the book deals with thewartime cruise of Blakeley and his ship. It isan expansion on a paper the author presentedat a Maritime History Symposium in 1993.Perhaps because it was originally meant to begiven orally, it is the best written section ofthe work. In it, Duffy superbly describesWasp’s success in destroying British merchantshipping and her two signal victories over HisMajesty’s Sloops of War Reindeer on 28 June1814 and Avon on the night of 2 September.In the case of both sea battles, Duffy, askilled model maker, uses his superiorknowledge of the ships of the day to presenta lucid blow-by-blow narrative of the fight.After his defeat of Avon, Blakeley continuedon his cruise taking a least three more prizesbefore disappearing at sea. Duffy hascombed contemporary accounts to offer anumber of alternatives on how and whyWasp failed to return. It is this untrumpeteddisappearance that may have cost JohnstonBlakeley the place in history Duffy feels isdue him. While generally competently written,Captain Blakeley and the Wasp is notwithout some shortcomings in thisreviewer’s mind. Stephen Duffy is aremarkably thorough researcher. He hasmelded information from all the usual sourcesand from some, such as pension reports, notnormally mined by writers on the period.Unfortunately, he seems constitutionallyunable to leave out a fact whether it movesthe story forward or not. One parcticularly

egregious example is that of the triplets bornto the wife of the Gunner of the Peacock thenfitting out in New York. Duffy seems to havediscovered this fact in his readings of theNewburyport Herald and Country Gazette.The infants’ births, initially seen as good luck,and their subsequent deaths within three weeksis rather artlessly included to the confusion ofthe reader. The fault here lies in large partwith the Naval Institute Press which shouldhave offered the first-time author better editing. Also, Duffy often gives way to an unseemlyboosterism. Blakeley victories must be seenas “not only unprecedented, they were neveragain repeated in the postconstitutionalAmerican sailing navy.” Blakeley is“America’s most accomplished navalcommander during the age of sail.” Too muchis made in this reviewer’s view of the fact thatWasp defeated two similarly matchedopponents on a single cruise. Blakeley wascruising in grounds off the English coastwhere two such encounters were possible.Moreover, the two battles were separatedby a six-week refit period in the Frenchharbor of L’Orient which allowed Wasp timeto be refitted.

Blakeley was undoubtedly a competent,aggressive and courageous naval. But, Duffyoverreaches in saying “Johnston Blakeleyhas as much claim to the title of America’s‘Nelson” as do Stephen Decatur, Isaac Hull,James Lawrence, or even John Paul Jones.”While clearly ahead of such contemporariesas M. Simmones Bunbury or MelancthonT. Woolsey, Blakeley’s career lacked thelong-time successes through multiple wars ofother American naval greats.

11


Arctic Mission: By Airship andSubmarine to the Far Northby William F. AlthoffReviewed by Alex Mecensky

The Arctic icepack was the lastundeveloped strategic frontier in1958. Cold war rivalry between the

Soviet Union and the United States hadrapidly accelerated with each passing yearin the 1950’s. This was the era of Sputnik,the Suez Crisis, and the “bomber gap.” Inthe summer of 1958, the Eisenhoweradministration gave the green light to a U.S.Navy proposal called OperationSUNSHINE, a bold attempt to penetrate theArctic circle by nuclear submarine and rigidairship. William F. Althoff’s Arctic Mission:By Airship & Submarine To The Far Northsets out to examine the parallel efforts ofthe Navy to gain an advantage over theSoviets in the Arctic during that tensesummer. Arctic Mission spends its early chaptersproviding a lengthy recounting of the

history of airships and the Canadian-U.S.relationship in the Arctic. This effort ispresumably intended to heightenunderstanding of the Arctic’s importanceand engender sympathy for the airship halfof Operation SUNSHINE. Unfortunately,half the background information provideddoes not serve to support the narrative ofthe main text. A great deal of time is spenttalking about the history of Canada and thedifficult Canadian position as both an allyof the United States and as a countrymindful of its neighbor’s tendency totrample on its sovereignty. It wasdisappointing to find that the author failedto later develop this theme at all. Canadiansare mentioned only in passing in the rest ofthe text, ironically highlighting the concernsof the Canadian government so wellexpressed by the author earlier in his work. On a similar note, the narrative

information on the voyage of the USSNautilus (SSN-571) is not a main focus ofthe book, as the jacket implies. Thecoverage of Nautilus’s voyage serves onlyas a counter point for the airship boundprotagonists of this work. The level ofsympathy and involvement evoked for thecrew of Airship 719 is just not there for theNautilus. Perhaps the author is implyingthat they did not need such a focus. Byupstaging and eclipsing the airship arm ofthe mission, Nautilus and the nuclear subprogram gripped the imagination andexcitement of the military and the public.Mr. Althoff does not begrudge the Nautilusher success, but he does make the case thatAirship 719 did not get the recognition dueher. When the work moves to the subject ofairships the author begins to shine. Lovinglydetailing the rise and fall of commercial andmilitary airships, Mr. Althoff shows his truecolors as an enthusiast. He relates howoperation SUNSHINE was seen by the menin the airship arm as a last chance to provethe worth of their program. Far more detailis provided on the struggles and successesof Airship 719 as she lumbers north than isdevoted to the voyage of the Nautilus underthe icepack. The chronicling of this ‘also-ran’ mission is the real meat of the book,and was surprisingly engaging. Mr. Althoff not only follows the technicalchallenges faced by the crew of 719, hetouches on the nature of the Navy men andscientists committed to the project. Theirhope of making what was to be the first of aseries of scientific voyages of discovery inthe Arctic by airship is sad and touching inretrospect. The Navy had already begun toshut down the program in 1957; SUNSHINEturned out to be the last hurrah of a forlornair arm. You can still hear the echoes of hurtdisbelief from the men of that year in theauthor’s theorizing on why the program died.The shutting down of the airship programin spite of its qualified success inSUNSHINE is poignantly related. If thereader can get through the clutter of half-

developed themes, he will find a compellingstory of might have beens in a tense age ofnaval competition.

Arctic Mission warrants a qualifiedrecommendation. While a good deal ofeffort is expended on side topics that do notadvance the main narrative, the last gasp ofairships in worth examining. So much ofNaval history has been over done that it isdifficult to find a work that offers somethingfresh or original. Specialty topics are toooften approached from a worm’s eye view,condemning them to engage no more that afew hundred (if not dozen) enthusiasts. Buteven if you are not a naval airship fan, thisbook can still speak to the romantic notionof exploration and of technologies of a by-gone era. Perhaps this is not appealing tosome; it certainly failed to enchant theCNO’s office in the fall of 1958. For manythough, this book will leave an impressionnot unlike that left by the airshipsthemselves. While seemingly ponderous andungainly, their charm and promise ofnostalgic adventure will grow on you.

William F. Althoff. Arctic Mission:By Airship and Submarine to the FarNorth. Auckland, New Zeland:Lighter-Than-Air-Institute, 2000.ISBN 0-9583693-3-X, 291 pages,$49.95

The editor of The Daybook isalways looking for reviewers! Ifyou have an interest in navalhistory, please contact theeditor at 757-322-2993 [email protected]

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12


The Museum Sage

Name Game II: Future Ship Names

It is time for The Sage to bring up theissue of ship names once again. In thisinstallment, The Sage would like to

present names he would like to see as futureship names. Now, the Sage is unsure exactlyhow ship names come about. However, itdoes seem when it comes to people names,the more heroic and/or the more popularyou were, the better your chances of gettinga ship named after yourself. However, thereare those personalities in Naval history whofor one reason or another have had theirname passed over. Either they have not

been considered famous enough or they didsomething that is perceived to have anegative reflection upon their career. Insome ways, its seems it’s like being chosenfor the Baseball Hall of Fame and all thepolitics that go into being chosen for thatinstitution. In any case, the Navy has a crop

of new carriers and destoyers coming up,which traditionally receive names ofnoteworthy officers, politicians, sailors,and marines. The following are sevengentlemen who deserve to have a shipnamed after them and why they deserve thehigh honor:

Eugene Ely-The majority of Nimitz-classaircraft carriers are named after politicians.Some of them have been named afterpoliticians who have particularly supportedthe Navy over the years. So why not theman who dared to be the first pilot to flyoff a ship and got this little venture known asnaval aviation off the ground? The fact thathe was not a naval officer should not be heldagainst him. The National Museum of NavalAviation has placed him in their hall of fameand it is time to take the next step.

Charles McCally-This name comes out ofthe “Your Reputation is Only As Good asYour Last Command” category. For those ofyou who are familiar with him, you more thanlikely have a negative feeling about the 70-year-old captain. For those of you notfamiliar with him, McCally is most wellknown for being the commandant of theGosport Shipyard in Portsmouth, VA. Overthe years, historians have savagelycriticized him for losing the Navy’s mostimportant shipyard, all of its guns andequipment, and the loss of the frigateMerrimack to the Confederate States.Some historians even go as far as to asimply that the disaster that fell upon theU.S. Navy on March 8, 1862 (sinking of

that McCally wanted to stay and fight.Washington officials sent down two juniorofficers to find out what was going on. Thesetwo officers proceeded to countermandevery order McCally gave. In any case,McCally is not at fault for the whole affair.

USS Charles McCally? We need to not only forgivenhim, but honor him. (HRNM photo)

Louis E. Denfield-Making the position ofChief of Naval Operations has been almosta cold stone lock to get one’s ticket punchedfor a ship. There is one big exception:Admiral Denfield. Why is this? Are weembarrassed over the fact that Denfield indefense of the service he cared so muchabout resigned his position? For those ofyou who do not Denfield, he is most famousfor leading what has been called the “Revoltof the Admirals” against the TrumanAdministration’s gross lack of supporttowards the Navy. Denfield was an adminand personnel officer by training, but he wasas passionate about the importance of navaland naval air power as any line officer ornaval aviator. His stand and eventualresignation caught the attention of Congressand saved naval aviation.

Sydney Phillips Lee-Adm. S.P. Lee has hada ship named after him, but in all due respectto the oceanographic sailors, he deservesmore than a cable laying ship. S.P. Lee is acousin to the famous Confederate general

The Sage Continues on Page 13

Test pilot and first naval aviator Eugne Ely deserves to havea carrier named after him as much as any national electedofficial. (HRNM photo)

Cumberland and Congress) wasMcCally’s fault because CSS Virginiawas built from USS Merrimack.

First of all, McCally was an officerwho had devoted over FIFTY years ofhis life to public service. He enteredthe Navy right before the War of 1812,fought at the Battle of Craney Islandas a midshipman while assigned toConstellation, fought in the MexicanWar with distinction, and defused twomajor international incidents withSouth American nations. But, becauseof one perceived mistake, none of thatmatters. Notice the Sage uses the word“perceived.” The fact of the matter is

13


Useful Web Sites

http://www.nara.gov/regional/mprsf180.html-Manyvisitors asks us how they can get a copy of their relatives’military records. The National Archives hold these recordsand requires one to fill out an SF180 to make a request.This web address provides the necessary paperwork andaddresses.

http://www.portcolumbus.org-This is the web address for aremodelled Civil War museum that concentrates on the naval side ofthe war. Called the Port Columbus Civil War Naval Center, it is locatedin Columbus, GA.

and like many admirals in the Civil War, hedevoted the majority of his life to the Navy.He was not as flashy as Farragut and DixonPorter, but he got the job done. The biggeststrike against him seems to be a PR problem.Lee was not involved in a major Civil Warbattle like Farragut (New Orleans, PortHudson, and Mobile Bay), Dixon Porter (FortFisher), and Foote (died due to wounds causedin combat). Most of his time in the Civil Warwas spent directing the North Atlanticblockade and controlling the James River.

Arthur Dillingham-This one timecommander of the Naval Station Norfolk is apersonal favorite of The Sage. His voice alone(a lieutenant commander wrote several yearslater that he had never been yelled at so loudly)and handle bar mustache should get him a shipname. But for this short admiral, his resumeprovides much more than just an authoritativevoice. As a young lieutenant in the Spanish-American War, Dillingham was awarded theMedal of Honor for his service as the firstofficer during the Cienfeugos Cable Cutting

The Sage continued from page 12Expedition. His command style at NavalOperating Base Hampton Roads brought orderto what was a very chaotic situation duringWorld War I. As city manager of Norfolk, hebrought the Navy and the city closer togetherand sold off Norfolk land to allow theOperating Base to expand.

African-American Sailors-There is a severelack of ships named after African-Americansailors. “But, oh wise Sage, they didn’t doanything but serve as mess cooks!!” Wronganswer. Even in the days when discriminationexisited, several African-American sailorsdistinguished themselves. The Sage willonly list three here, but knows that these arenot the only ones. The most obvious andfamous one is Dorie Miller who receivedthe Navy Cross for his actions at PearlHarbor. Two other names that are worthyof your consideration are GeorgeWashington Bright, a Virginia-native whoreceived the Medal of Honor for hissacrifice on board the battleship Iowa (BB-4) during the Spanish-American War, and

Josiah Tunnell, another Virginia-nativewho helped save the torpedo boat Winslow(TB-5) during the Battle of Cardenas duringthe same war. According to legend, whilebeing held in the arms of his commandingofficer, Tunnell asked “Did I save the ship?”When Tunnell received a nod in theaffirmative, he died.

United States-In addition to the sevennames for The Sage’s squadron of onecarrier and six destroyers, there is oneanother name to consider: United States. Itis not for a lack of trying that there has beenonly one ship named after our gloriousnation. After the frigate United States, theNavy on three occasions has tried to getanother one named, only to be denied bycivilian politicians: 1) 1922 battlecruiser,canceled by Washington Naval Treaty; 2)1948 aircraft carrier, canceled by PresidentHarry S. Truman; 3) 2000 aircraft carrier,renamed by Congressional order Harry S.Truman. All The Sage can say is, keeptrying, the nation needs a flagship.

14


World War II crew continued on Page 15


Called by one Naval historian as“The Navy’s Secret Weapon”during World War II, Mog MogIsland in the Ulithi Atoll was aplace where ship and sailor a likecould take a break from the warwith Japan without having tostray far from the front. Shownhere, sailors from Wisconsinpractice softball, in preparationfor their championship run in thefleet tournament, while at MogMog. (HRNM photo fromveterans’ collections)

“We would completely re-load it every32 seconds…so you didn’t have to wait andthink. You knew what you had to do andyou had to do it then.”

To Pearson, the feeling of the big gunsgoing off was somewhat unreal, yet quitequiet.

“You could feel it, but in the turret, youactually only heard a swish of the gun. Youdidn’t actually hear an exceptionally loudnoise. Turret two was right behind us andwhen they fired, there were vent holesunderneath that turret. When they fired, itwould blow your pants legs off, likesomebody was slapping you on the leg.”

Not every combat situation had Pearsonrunning to turret #1. Sometimes he wascalled to help man a 5-inch or one of the40mm. Then there was the “kamikazewatch.” While the Navy had used radar togreat effect during the war (Wisconsinserved as fighter director during the war), it

could not detect anything directly overhead.The sailor on this special watch was givena mattress on top of the gun director andtold to look up.

“You looked directly overhead up thereand these kamikazes would be very, veryhigh-I mean way up above…we had towatch for them.”

Like Foreman, Pearson was notparticuarly concerned about the Japanesesuicide aircraft.

“I keep tell everybody, as a 19-year-oldkid, you really don’t think of anything asserious for yourself. I mean, you just see aplane and you do what you’re suppose todo.”

Of course there was the one time whenno one was on the kamikaze watch because

the crew’s minds were given a brief momentto relax at Mog Mog. Like Foreman,Pearson and his fellow sailors fromWisconsin and from several other ships atanchor, including nurses from hospital ships,awaited the comical spoof “Two Little Hips”on the battleship’s fantail.

“They were all on our fantail, sittingthere, waiting for the show to start…and twokamikazes, we had lights on and hadmentioned that everybody had their lightson, came in and went right into the stern ofthe Randolph. All Hell broke loose.”

“My battle station was all the wayforward and me trying to get all the wayforward. Everybody else was scrambling,trying to just get anywhere they couldget…out of the line of fire. Nobody evenknew really what it was until later. It wasquite a mess for a few minutes.”

Like all Wisconsin’s World War IIveterans, Pearson will always be grateful to

the warship that got him home safely. Yousee, waiting at home was his girl Gladys. Thetwo of them had known each since highschool.

“When I was 15,” Gladys told us “heleft to go to the Navy. He was 19 years old.I was heart broken. He was gone 18 months,I don’t know whether he remembers that ornot. I don’t remember him coming home.When he did come home, got out of the Navyin April of ‘46, and June of ‘46, we gotmarried. It’s been like that ever since.”

Helmsman-Irwin Watson “Bill” Carpenter

Irwin Watson “Bill” Carpenter wanted togo to sea. Badly. He joined the thousands

of Americans wanting to avenge Pearl

Harbor and enlisted in the Navy the dayafter the surprise attack. The recruitersigned him to be a naval aviator and senthim to school. Then when he was done withthat school, they sent him to another schooland another. The frustration was beginning tobuild on him.

“Finally I said, ‘I’m through with this, I’mgoing to go in the Navy so I can get to sea.’”

While at the Naval training center inBainbridge, MD, the Navy said Carpentercould become an officer through the V12program. Carpenter refused. Finally,somebody told him one way he couldguarantee a sea billet was to become aquartermaster. He eagerly accepted.

Graduating at the top of his class, the Navytapped him for the first ship’s company onboard the Navy’s newest battleship underconstruction in Philadelphia. Though he nowhad a ship, Carpenter was still no closer togetting to sea. He had to wait three moremonths at Newport, Rhode Island while theNavy assembled all of the new recruits forWisconsin.

Finally, he got his ship. Asquartermaster, Carpenter’s main job wasnavigation. It is a time-honored rate in theNavy as every ship, sail or steam-powered,needs a skilled person at the wheel. The factthat his first assignment was an 887-footbattleship made him that much moreimportant.

As Carpenter was at the ship’s wheel inthe battleship’s “citadel,” it was very commonfor him to have dealings with Wisconsin’s twoWorld War II captains: Earl Stone and JohnRoper. While Stone was an extremelyintelligent officer, Carpenter got the feelingthat his first captain had not been to sea a lot.Though, Carpenter had to admit that everyone,including himself, was still trying to get a feelfor this new warship. This is also not to saythat Carpenter did not think the world of hiscommanding officer.

“I don’t think he’d ever conned abattleship, well, he didn’t know a lot aboutwhat we were doing. He was a very polite,gentlemanly-type man, but didn’t put upwith mistakes much of course. I didn’tmake very many.”

Carpenter became so good and made sofew mistakes, that he was made what theNavy calls a “Special C Detail Helmsman,”a title given to only the best quartermasters.As a result of this title, Carpenter was

15


Even in the middle of a great war, there was always room for silliness. Here, one of Wisconsin’s ship services sailors prepares a wig for a comic play known as “TwoLittle Hips.” However, just before the lights went up on the fantail for the play, a kamikaze hit the carrier Randolph (CV-15), which was anchored next to thebattleship. (HRNM photo from veterans’ collections)


Wisky-By the NumbersThe Badger, Wisconsin’s monthly

newspaper, reported the followingfigures in its October 1945 issue. DuringWorld War II, Wisconsin crewmenconsumed on a daily basis (with a totalcomplement exceeding 3,100 officers andmen):

Twenty tons of food provisions consumedin one week4,110 pounds of vegetables1,640 pounds of fruit1,500 ponds of flour2,465 pounds of meat1,200 pounds of potatoes

164 pounds of butter6,500 eggs217.5 gallons of ice cream (an additional3,500 quarts were transferred to other shipsin the task force in May 1944)275 bars of Ivory Soap2,000 gallons of coffee (an additional 1,500pounds were transferred to other ships inthe task force in May 1944).

To get Wisconsin to sea, it took:

6,250 shipbuilders2,500,000 manhours to desgin30,000,000 manhours to build

312,000 pounds of paint5,000 Electric Light Bulb348,000 pounds of blueprint paper1,135,000 Rivets4,300,000 feet of welding1,330,000 feet of electric cable422,000 feet of piping9 1/2 acres of deck900 electric motors

responsible for navigating the ship in tightsituations like coming in and out of ports,squeezing Wisconsin through the PanamaCanal, and during general quarters.

“Captain Stone gave the orders and I hadbeen taught how to do it, but I’d never doneit on a real ship of any size. When we leftthe Philadelphia Naval Yard going down theriver and by the time we got in the ocean, Iwas pretty proficient and I got better andbetter as time went on.”

During combat situations, Carpenter didnot get to see a lot of what was going on ashe was locked inside the armored fortressthat protected the bridge.

“The kamikaze didn’t really botherbattleship guys much. For two reasons: theyweren’t trying to hit the battleships and ifthey did, they just hurt somebody. It’s not

going to get the whole crew.”While the Imperial Navy’s planes did not

bother him so much, he had to admit thatthe battleship Wisconsin and her sisters weredesigned to fight, the giant Yamato, did. Hewas called to the bridge when the Yamatowas sighted in what was to be her last run.

“I was a little uneasy when we did whatthey call ‘Bull’s Run.’ We started steamingjust as hard as we could go to try to get intoa shooting war with the Japanese ImperialFleet. They had battleships. One wasbigger than us and had bigger guns. Ithought ‘you know, I don’t think they’revery good, but they might just get a luckyhit with one of those 18-inchers.”

These kind incidents made one long forhome. Coming back home was quitedangerous in itself, but for different reasons.

“When we went under the Golden GateBridge in San Francisco, we had to get ourhelmets on, because these girls werethrowing compacts, lipsticks, andeverything. They had their name and addresson it. The stuff just kept falling down.”

Now that the war was over,Quartermaster Second Class Carpenter washappy to go to school. This time, he used hisGI Bill money to get a degree from PurdueUniversity.

The stories on Marshall Pearson and BillCarpenter were taken from a series ofinterviews conducted by David Kohnen.These interviews and ones conducted withother Wisconsin veterans can be seen inNauticus’ “City at Sea” exhibit on thesecond deck.

16


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Freedom Fighter: Wisconsin in the Korean War

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