8-8-15
Original crewmember and contributor to the Baked Beans books, Bob Knight, sent this comment in after the re-post of last year’s Hiroshima entry: Fascinating. I didn’t realize we were that involved. Where was the Ca69 at the time of the bomb drop if our MC Capt was already in the inland sea.
That, of course, is a really good question. When I first met CA-69 Marine Commander Norm Bayley and he told me about his secret recon mission to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I was troubled by the obvious: the ship was “somewhat” near the Inland Sea on August 6 (1945), but was steaming north with the task group. In fact, on August 9, the Boston was part of a bombardment group hammering industrial targets in Northern Honshu, hundreds of miles away. This seeming disparity is addressed in previous posts, as well as in Baked Beans, Vol. 3.
What happened was that Norm Bayley reported to the ship only a few days before the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. An Admiral came aboard and asked him to take on the mission. He left the ship and was transported by another destroyer and dropped off near Hiroshima. He was later picked up by another destroyer and then rendezvoused with the Boston. So when Norm first spoke of the “ship” and the “Captain,” I had assumed he was talking about the Boston and Capt. Kelley. While Norm and his Japanese translator were gathering data at Hiroshima, and then at Nagasaki (where they arrived while the black fallout was still raining down), the Boston was steaming with the task force hundreds of miles away.
Last year, Norm’s grandson and I were working on Norm’s story together. I did more research into how it would have been possible for a US Navy ship to slip into the Inland Sea and discharge two passengers. I discovered that task force carrier strikes on July 28 pretty much destroyed every Japanese ship afloat in the inland sea around Kure, within eyesight of the city of Hiroshima.
The project has been put on hold. Norm is 97 years old, and is no longer up revisiting his service.
steve