Author: steve

1-19-13

From George Pitts’ War Journal   (Jan 19, 1945):

Today makes one year the Boston is out of Pearl Harbor and in enemy infested waters. We have one of the best records in the Fleet. We’ve been in 12 major engagements, 13 air attacks, 9 amphibious invasions, shot down 8 Jap twin engine torpedo bombers, and two shore bombardments. We have traveled the distance to go around the world more than four times.   Our main job is to protect our carriers in which we have done wonderfully.   In all our engagements only one carrier the Hornet in our group had been damaged and that was from Jap dive bombers off the Philippines; in which they strafed her, killing one man, wounding four and damaging 12 planes on her flight deck. All their bombs missed.   I’d say the Boston has fulfilled her job better than the average cruiser. We have been complimented on that more than once.

That remarkable entry from Signal George Pitts can be found in Baked Beans, Volume 2, which is now complete and available.   Which reminds me . . . . I am in the “starting up” process for Volume 3 – the third and last installment in the amazing story of the Boston in WWll.   Anyone who has been thinking about sending me picture(s) of their dad (or other relative) who served aboard CA-69 for inclusion in the book, you are now officially running out of time . . . .

Steve

 

 

Dec. 22, 2012

Since we seem to have survived yesterday’s end-of-the-world, I decided to share this ditty that Bob Knight, CA-69 plankowner and participant in my Baked Beans book series, sent me via email a couple of days ago:

The Night Before Christmas:   Sailor’s Version

‘Twas the night before Christmas, compartments were still,
 The sailors were sleeping, as most sailors will.
The ditty bags hung by the lockers with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
             
The men were all peacefully dreaming in bed ,
As visions of liberty danced in each head.
The Chief in his skivvies, hopped into his rack,
Having just come from town and a quick midnight snack.
           
When out on the deck there arose such a roar,
I ran to the porthole to find out the score.
I stuck out my head and started to shout,
 “Just what in the hell is this noise all about?”
             
A moon made for boondocking showed with a glow,
It was downright cold out, ’bout seven below.
 What I saw out there looked like those Mardi Gras floats,
‘Twas a Captain’s gig drawn by four Navy goats.
             
In the boat was a man who seemed quiet and moody,
I knew in an instant St. Nick had the duty.
As quickly as Monday his billy goats came,
He whistled and shouted and called them by name.
             
 “Now Perry, now Farragut, Dewey and Jones,
What’s the matter John Paul, got lead in your bones?
A little to Starb’rd, now hold it up short,
No fluffing off now, or you’ll go on report!”
           
He was wearing dress “Reds” that fit like a charm,
His hash marks, they covered the length of his arm.
The gifts to be issued were all in his pack,
 The gedunk was ready to leave on each rack.
     
His eyes they were watering, his nose caked with ice,
He wiped it with canvass, then sneezed once or twice.
He opened his mouth and started to yawn,
It looked like the Sun coming up with the dawn.
         
 The stump of a pipe, he held tight in his teeth,
And took a small nip from a bottle beneath.
He wasn’t so big, but he must have been strong,
I figured he’d been in SEALs early and long.
           
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old Tar,
Who said “Evenin’ Matey, here have a cigar.”
He filled every seabag with presents galore,
And left us all leave papers, right by the door.
       
 With “Anchors Aweigh” he climbed back into place,
A broad smile was creeping all over his face.
One look at his chronometer and he started to frown,
“This mid watch is certainly getting me down.”
       
 Then out to the breakwater and into the night,
 The gig started fading, the landscape was bright.
“Merry Christmas” he said, as he drove on his way,
 “Now I’ll finish my rounds and sack in for the day.”
           
Fair Winds and Following Seas in 2013

Thanks, Bob!   Bill and I wish all our friends out there Happy Holidays.

Oh, did I mention that Baked Beans Volume 2 is finished and available?

Dec. 20, 2012

Bob Knight: At one time I started sliding down the deck — this was on the starboard side.         The water was coming over the scuppers — in other words the deck was underwater.   I’m sliding down and didn’t know what the hell to do. I had my hand up in the air like this. Well they had put up an inside lifeline before it got too rough — just for people to even be able to walk down the deck. As I’m sliding down, the lifeline hit my hand and I grabbed it. If I missed, I’d gone right over the side. Once I grabbed the line and the ship rolled back to level, the guys formed a handline and the last guy grabbed my hand and I was able to get back up.   That was just an instant thing that happened, and you don’t think about it then, but you do think about it when you get older and you realize how lucky you were to have gotten out of that one alive.

As the winds and seas abated late in the day on December 19, six ships were unaccounted missing. Later, to everyone’s shock, the men discovered that three destroyers had sunk, taking almost 800 sailors.   The ships spent all day and night Dec 20th searching for survivors.   Only a handful were found.

steve

Dec. 17, 2012

The conversation about Typhoon Cobra with original crewmembers who survived the terrible storm that sank three ships and claimed over 800 lives, continues:

George Pitts:   The ship, during all this floundering around, I’m down below in my bunk and there wasn’t anything for you to do — so you just lay in your bunk and you try and relax. And the damn ship turned like this — a 46 degree roll — now fifty would be sideways.   46 degrees — just a couple of feet more and that thing would have tipped over sideways.   It got to 46 degrees and the whole ship started trembling. My whole life flashed before my eyes.   I was knocked out of my bunk. I couldn’t get up because the ship is sideways.   So I’m just holding on and I’m saying ‘Oh my God we’re going . . . ’ and it’s shaking and shaking and shaking.   Finally, slowly but surely   . . . voom . . . she came back.   I got up off that deck and I flew up that ladder and I went topside and I didn’t go back down below again until we were well out of that typhoon.   I thought for sure we were gone!

Julian Goldstein:     We’re going along and the ship is going up and down, up and down. At some point during this horrific storm, I looked over the side and there was this destroyer, this one destroyer, and it was going up and down and I watched it. All of a sudden it went up, then it went down and it disappeared.  

Occasionally, I recall it. Even now. I sometimes wake up from a horrible dream – no, a nightmare is what it is.   I sometimes see it happening in my dreams.   I finally have gotten over it after all these years.  

 During the typhoon, which lasted several days,   I found that sleeping wasn’t such a problem, but eating . . .   that’s a different story.   We would eat off of these trays, which you would have to hold with one hand and hold your tool with the other so the tray wouldn’t go flying.

steve

Dec. 16, 2012

The ships of Task Force 38, after supporting the landings of American troops on Mindora and bombing targets in and around Luzon and Manila Bay, headed for a fueling rendezvous east of the Philippines.   The ships were getting low on fuel, especially the destroyers and destroyer escorts.   However, the ships found themselves struggling in the increasing winds and the seas were becoming increasingly heavy. By afternoon, it was no longer possible for the ships to refuel.   They were in the edge of a typhoon that had managed to escape detection.

TYPHOON COBRA engulfed the fleet with relentless fury.   I have had the great fortune to interview some of the original crewmembers about their memories of this typhoon.

Pat Fedele:   Another time of great excitement was the big typhoon where we lost those destroyers — the Spence, the Hull and one other. They couldn’t tolerate being so badly bounced around.   Our bow was under water. It actually went under water. Man, we got slammed around!   The USS Washington, I think, a great big battleship, floated right in front of us. Their steering mechanism was gone. We couldn’t see anything — so we dodged them by blowing two horns and they blew two horns and then we used lights to locate each other. The lights were barely any use because all you could see was water anyway. We just barely missed ramming them.

I saw a life raft go by with a couple of guys hanging on it. Just their bodies — their legs were gone — eaten off by sharks.   It was an awful, awful mess the typhoon.   We got knocked around like a toy and we’re a heavy heavy ship — we were a lot safer than the destroyers.   The carriers got knocked around because they’ve got a squareness to them — the sharper the shape of a ship, the more it catches the wind. They had a tough time with planes breaking loose and catching on fire.

More on Typhoon Cobra over the next couple of days . . . .

steve