39mto39g
Sat June 7, 2003 9:13am
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dsc00208
Playing with the boys
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David
Wed December 31, 2003 1:28am
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Yeah, But How Do You Play
Yeah, But How Do You Play "Logistics"?
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David
Wed December 31, 2003 1:36am
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Play it safe
Play it safe
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David
Wed December 31, 2003 1:36am
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David
Wed December 31, 2003 1:36am
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Games We Play
Games We Play
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David
Sat January 3, 2004 11:33pm
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BB61 - Iowa Class Battles
Function: Last of the world's Surface Action capital ships.
History: Following a legacy established by the HMS Dreadnaught, the Iowa class battleships represent the ultimate personification of the Ship of the Line. Originally designed as the flagship of the United States fleet, the battleships were overshadowed by the emergence of the aircraft carrier in World War II. Despite this, however, battleships played an indispensable role during that war, their enormous firepower serving to protect not only the carriers but the rest of the fleet from enemy surface and air action as well as providing unequaled fire support during amphibious operations. Despite their age, no other ship currently afloat can deliver the same degree of firepower with the same accuracy over an extended period of time as the Iowa class battleships. Commissioned in the 40's the Iowa class battleships have participated in every major conflict the United States has been involved in since World War Two. Following their peacetime recommissioning in the 1980's the four Iowa battleships were able to serve supporting roles in carrier or amphibious battlegroups, or in low air threat environments, serve as flagships for Surface Action Groups.
General Characteristics, Iowa Class
Ships:
USS Iowa (BB-61), Decommissioned, Inactive
USS Wisconsin (BB-64), Decommissioned, Inactive
Builders:
BB 61 - New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, N.Y.
BB 64 - Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, PA
Power Plant:
Eight Babcock & Wilcox boilers, four General Electric or Westinghouse steam turbines, four shafts, 212,000 total shaft horsepower
Length, Overall:
888 feet (273 meters)
Beam:
109 feet (33.5 meters)
Displacement:
Approximately 57,353 tons full load
Speed:
35 knots (40 mph)
Dates Deployed:
February 22, 1943;
Decommissioned October 26, 1990 (USS Iowa)
April 16, 1944; Decommissioned September 30, 1991 (USS Wisconsin)
Crew:
Ship's Company: 1,515
Armament:
Guns:
9 Mk 7 16"/50 caliber naval cannons
12 Mk 12 5"/38 caliber general purpose cannons
1 Mk 15 Mod 2 Close-In Weapon System (4 mounts)
Missiles:
32 Tomahawk cruise missiles in Armored Box Launchers (ABL)
4 Mk 141 Harpoon Missile Quad-Cannister Launcher
Sensors:
One AN/SPS-48 air search radar
One AN/SPS-67 surface search radar
One AN/SPQ-9 gunfire control radar
Four Mk 37 gunfire control radar
Two Mk 38 gun director
One Mk 40 gun director
Countermeasures:
One AN/SLQ-29 electronic warfare suite
One AN/SLQ-25 towed torpedo decoy (Nixie)
Aircraft:
Four SH-3 or SH-60 helicopters
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David
Thu April 15, 2004 2:04pm
Rating: 10
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Newburgh, May 1783
After the British rout from Lexington, a loosely organized New England army of volunteers and militia laid siege to Boston. The British commander, Sir Thomas Gage, determined to gain more elbowroom by seizing the Charlestown peninsula. Learning of Gage's plans, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety recommended the occupation of Bunker Hill, a commanding height near the neck of the Charlestown peninsula. But a working party of 1,200 Americans, sent out on the night of 16-17 June 1775, instead fortified Breed's Hill, a lower height nearer Boston.
When the British awoke next morning, they saw a fortification with walls six feet high astride Breed's Hill. Determined to take the barrier by assault, a force of 2,200 Redcoats under Sir William Howe landed on the Charlestown shore in early afternoon 17 June, and launched a well-planned three-pronged attack. The Americans, who had been reinforced during the morning, repulsed the British assault with devastating musket fire. Howe had to resort to frontal attacks on the American redoubt to avoid a costly defeat of British arms. After enduring two volleys that tore huge gaps in their lines, the Redcoats converged on the American forces in a final three-column attack. The Patriots, running out of ammunition, used their muskets as clubs against the British bayonets. Colonel William Prescott, seeing the damage wrought by the Regulars, ordered his men to "twitch their guns away." The homespun-clad Americans contested every inch of ground, but finally were forced to retreat from t he peninsula.
Bunker Hill gave its name to the battle fought on Breed's Hill. For the British it was a Pyrrhic victory, their losses amounting to over 40 percent of the forces engaged. A force of New England townsmen and farmers had proven its ability to fight on equal terms with British Regulars when entrenched in a fortified position.
The ceremony, however, symbolized much more than recognition of two brave men. It represented the climax of the molding of a citizen army of volunteers and militia into a force that had fought on equal terms with one of the world's best armies, and in doing so, had played a vital role securing freedom and independence for themselves and their fellow citizens.
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David
Sun August 7, 2005 4:19am
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Manuelito
1818 - 1893
Manuelito was a Navajo chief who played an important role in the Navajo resistance to settlers taking over their land. In 1860, Manielito helped to lead an attack on Fort Defiance in what is today the state of Arizona.
After several other skirmishes U.S. troops led by Kit Carson forced thousands of Navajos to surrender. Manuelito was not captured but surrendered in 1866. In 1868, the United States government established a reservation for the Navajo in what is now part of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
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David
Tue August 9, 2005 12:03pm
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USS Lexington CV 2 14 Dec
USS Lexington CV 2 14 Dec 1927 8 May 1942
Leaving San Diego, California, 14 October 1941.
displacement: 41,000 tons
length: 888 feet
beam: 105? feet
draft: 32 feet
speed: 34? knots
complement: 2,122 crew
armament: 8 eight-inch and 12 five-inch guns
aircraft: 81
class: Lexington
The fourth Lexington (CV 2) was originally designated CC 1; laid down as a battle cruiser 8 January 1921 by Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, Mass.; authorized to be completed as an aircraft carrier 1 July 1922; launched 3 October 1925; sponsored by Mrs. Theodore Douglas Robinson, wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy; and commissioned 14 December 1927, Capt. Albert W. Marshall in command.
After fitting out and shakedown, Lexington joined the battle fleet at San Pedro, Calif., 7 April 1928. Based there, she operated on the west coast with Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet, in flight training, tactical exercises, and battle problems . Each year she participated in fleet maneuvers in the Hawaiians, in the Caribbean, off the Panama Canal Zone, and in the eastern Pacific.
On 16 January 1930, Lexington completed a 30-day period in which she furnished electricity to the city of Tacoma, Wash., in an emergency arising from a failure of the city's power supply. The electricity from the carrier totaled more than 4.25 million kilowatt-hours.
In the fall of 1941 she sailed with the battle force to the Hawaiians for tactical exercises.
On 7 December 1941 Lexington was at sea with Task Force 12 (TF 12) carrying marine aircraft from Pearl Harbor to reinforce Midway when word of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was received. She immediately launched searchplanes to hunt for the Japanese fleet , and at mid-morning headed south to rendezvous with USS Indianapolis (CA 35) and USS Enterprise (CV 6) task forces to conduct a search southwest of Oahu until returning Pearl Harbor 18 December.
Lexington sailed next day to raid Japanese forces on Jaluit to relieve pressure on Wake; these orders were canceled 20 December, and she was directed to cover the USS Saratoga force in reinforcing Wake. When the island fell 23 December, the two carrier forces were recalled to Pearl Harbor, arriving 27 December.
Lexington patrolled to block enemy raids In the Oahu-Johnston-Palmyra triangle until 11 January 1942, when she sailed from Pearl Harbor as flagship for Vice Adm. Wilson Brown commanding TF 11. On 16 February, the force headed for an attack on Rabaul, New Britain, scheduled for 21 February. While approaching the day previous, Lexington was attacked by two waves of enemy aircraft, nine planes to a wave. The carrier's own combat air patrol and antiaircraft fire splashed 17 of the attackers. During a single sortie Lt. E. H (Butch) O'Hare won the Medal of Honor by downing five planes.
Her offensive patrols in the Coral Sea continued until 6 March, when she rendezvoused with USS Yorktown's TF 17 for a thoroughly successful surprise attack flown over the Owen Stanley mountains of New Guinea to inflict heavy damage on shipping and installations at Salamaua and Lae 10 March. She now returned to Pearl Harbor, arriving 26 March 1942. Lexington's task force sortied from Pearl Harbor 15 April, rejoining TF 17 on 1 May. As Japanese fleet concentrations threatening the Coral Sea were observed, Lexington and USS Yorktown (CV 5) moved into the sea to search for the enemy's force covering a projected troop movement. The Japanese must now be blocked in their southward expansion, or sea communication with Australia and New Zealand would be cut, and the dominions threatened with invasion.
On 7 May 1942 search planes reported contact with an enemy carrier task force, and Lexington's air group flew an eminently successful mission against it, sinking light carrier Shoho. Later that day, 12 bombers and 15 torpedo planes from still-unlocated heavy carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku were intercepted by fighter groups from Lexington and Yorktown, who splashed nine enemy aircraft.
On the morning of the 8th, a Lexington plane located the Shokaku group. A strike was immediately launched from the American carriers, and the Japanese ship was heavily damaged.
The enemy penetrated to the American carriers at 1100, and 20 minutes later Lexington was struck by a torpedo to port. Seconds later, a second torpedo hit to port directly abreast the bridge. At the same time, she took three bomb hits from enemy dive bombers, producing a seven degree list to port and several raging fires. By 1300 her skilled damage control parties had brought the fires under control and returned the ship to even keel. Making 25 knots, she was ready to recover her air group. Then suddenly Lexington was shaken by a tremendous explosion, caused by the ignition of gasoline vapors below, and again fire raged out of control.
At 1558 Capt. Frederick C. Sherman, fearing for the safety of men working below, secured salvage operations, and ordered all hands to the flight deck. At 1707, he ordered, "abandon ship!", and the orderly disembarkation began, men going over the side into the warm water, almost immediately to be picked up by nearby cruisers and destroyers. Admiral Fitch and his staff transferred to cruiser USS Minneapolis (CA 36); Captain Sherman and his executive officer, Cmdr. M. T. Seligman insured all their men were safe, then were the last to leave their ship.
Lexington blazed on, flames shooting hundreds of feet into the air. The destroyer USS Phelps (DD 360) closed to 1500 yards and fired two torpedoes into her hull. With one last heavy explosion, Lexington sank at 1956 on 8 May 1942 at 15? 20' S., 155? 30' E. She was part of the price that was paid to halt the Japanese overseas empire and safeguard Australia and New Zealand, but perhaps an equally great contribution had been her pioneer role in developing the naval aviators and the techniques which played so vital a role in ultimate victory in the Pacific.
Lexington received two battle stars for World War II service.
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David
Tue August 9, 2005 12:16pm
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USS Yorktown CV 5 30 Sep
USS Yorktown CV 5 30 Sep 1937 7 Jun 1942
Anchored in Hampton Roads, Virginia, 30 October 1937.
displacement: 19,800 tons
length: 809 feet
beam: 83 feet 1 inch
draft: 28 feet
speed: 32? knots
complement: 2,919 crew
armament: 8 five-inch guns, 22 .50-cal. machine guns
Aircraft: 81-85
class: Yorktown
The third Yorktown (CV-5) was laid down on 21 May 1934 at Newport News, Va., by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; launched on 4 April 1936; sponsored by Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt; and commissioned at the Naval Operating Base (NOB), Norfolk, Va., on 30 September 1937, Capt. Ernest D. McWhorter in command.
After fitting out, the aircraft carrier trained in Hampton Roads and in the southern drill grounds off the Virginia Capes into January of 1938, conducting carrier qualifications for her newly embarked air group.
Yorktown sailed for the Caribbean on 8 January 1938 and arrived at Culebra, Puerto Rico, on 13 January. Over the ensuing month, the carrier conducted her shakedown, touching at Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; Gonaives, Haiti; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Cristobal, Panama Canal Zone. Departing Colon Bay, Cristobal, on 1 March, Yorktown sailed for Hampton Roads and arrived there on the 6th and shifted to the Norfolk Navy Yard the next day for post-shakedown availability. After undergoing repairs through the early autumn of 1938, Yorktown shifted from the Navy Yard to NOB Norfolk on 17 October and soon headed for the Southern Drill Grounds for training.
Yorktown operated off the eastern seaboard, ranging from Chesapeake Bay to Guantanamo Bay, into 1939. As flagship for Carrier Division (CarDiv) 2, she participated in her first war game ? Fleet Problem XX ? along with her sistership USS Enterprise (CV-6) in February 1939. The scenario for the exercise called for one fleet to control the sea lanes in the Caribbean against the incursion of a foreign European power while maintaining sufficient naval strength to protect vital American interests in the Pacific. The maneuvers were witnessed, in part, by President Roosevelt, embarked in the heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30).
The critique of the operation revealed that carrier operations ? a part of the scenarios for the annual exercises since the entry of USS Langley (CV-1) into the war games in 1925 ? had achieved a new peak of efficiency. Despite the inexperience of Yorktown and Enterprise ? comparative newcomers to the Fleet ? both carriers made significant contributions to the success of the problem. The planners had studied the employment of carriers and their embarked air groups in connection with convoy escort, antisubmarine defense, and various attack measures against surface ships and shore installations. In short, they worked to develop the tactics that would be used when war actually came.
Following Fleet Problem XX, Yorktown returned briefly to Hampton Roads before sailing for the Pacific on 20 April. Transiting the Panama Canal a week later, Yorktown soon commenced a regular routine of operations with the Pacific Fleet. Operating out of San Diego into 1940, the carrier participated in Fleet Problem XXI that April.
Fleet Problem XXI ? a two-part exercise ? included some of the operations that would characterize future warfare in the Pacific. The first part of the exercise was devoted to training in making plans and estimates; in screening and scouting; in coordination of combatant units; and in employing fleet and standard dispositions. The second phase included training in convoy protection, the seizure of advanced bases, and, ultimately, the decisive engagement between the opposing fleets. The last pre-war exercise of its type, Fleet Problem XXI, contained two exercises (comparatively minor at the time) where air operations played a major role. Fleet Joint Air Exercise 114A prophetically pointed out the need to coordinate Army and Navy defense plans for the Hawaiian Islands, and Fleet Exercise 114 proved that aircraft could be used for high altitude tracking of surface forces ? a significant role for planes that would be fully realized in the war to come.
With the retention of the Fleet in Hawaiian waters after the conclusion of Fleet Problem XXI, Yorktown operated in the Pacific off the west coast of the United States and in Hawaiian waters until the following spring, when the success of German U-boats preying upon British shipping in the Atlantic required a shift of American naval strength. Thus, to reinforce the Atlantic Fleet, the Navy transferred a substantial force from the Pacific including Yorktown, a battleship division, and accompanying cruisers and destroyers.
Yorktown departed Pearl Harbor on 20 April 1941 in company with USS Warrington (DD-383), USS Somers (DD-381), and USS Jouett (DD-396); headed southeast, transited the Panama Canal on the night of 6 and 7 May, and arrived at Bermuda on the 12th. From that time to the entry of the United States into the war, Yorktown conducted four patrols in the Atlantic, ranging from Newfoundland to Bermuda and logging 17,642 miles steamed while enforcing American neutrality.
Although Adolph Hitler had forbidden his submarines to attack American ships, the men who manned the American naval vessels were not aware of this policy and operated on a wartime footing in the Atlantic.
On 28 October, while Yorktown, the battleship USS New Mexico (BB 40), and other American warships were screening a convoy, a destroyer picked up a submarine contact and dropped depth charges while the convoy itself made an emergency starboard turn, the first of the convoy's three emergency changes of course. Late that afternoon, engine repairs to one of the ships in the convoy, Empire Pintail, reduced the convoy's speed to 11 knots.
During the night, the American ships intercepted strong German radio signals, indicating submarines probably in the vicinity reporting the group. Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, commanding the escort force sent a destroyer to sweep astern of the convoy to destroy the U-boat or at least to drive him under.
The next day, while cruiser scout-planes patrolled overhead, Yorktown and USS Savannah (CL-42) fueled their escorting destroyers, finishing the task just at dusk. On October 30, 1941, Yorktown was preparing to fuel three destroyers when other escorts made sound contacts. The convoy subsequently made 10 emergency turns while USS Morris (DD-417) and USS Anderson (DD-411) dropped depth charges, and USS Hughes (DD-410) assisted in developing the contact. Anderson later made two more depth charge attacks, noticing "considerable oil with slick spreading but no wreckage."
The short-of-war period was becoming more like the real thing as each day went on. Elsewhere on 30 October and more than a month before Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, U-562 torpedoed the destroyer USS Reuben James (DD-245), sinking her with a heavy loss of life-the first loss of an American warship in World War II.
After another Neutrality Patrol stint in November, Yorktown put into Norfolk on 2 December and was there five days later when American fighting men in Hawaii were rudely awakened to find their country at war.
The early news from the Pacific was bleak: the Pacific Fleet had taken a beating. With the battle line crippled, the unhurt American carriers assumed great importance. There were, on 7 December, only three in the Pacific. USS Enterprise, USS Lexington (CV-2), and USS Saratoga (CV-3). While USS Ranger (CV-4), USS Wasp (CV-7), and the recently commissioned USS Hornet (CV-8) remained in the Atlantic, Yorktown departed Norfolk on 16 December 1941 and sailed for the Pacific, her secondary gun galleries studded with new 20-millimeter Oerlikon machine guns. She reached San Diego, Calif., on 30 December 1941 and soon became flagship for Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher's newly formed Task Force (TF) 17.
The carrier's first mission in her new theater was to escort a convoy carrying Marine reinforcements to American Samoa. Departing San Diego on 6 January 1942, Yorktown and her consorts covered the movement of marines to Tutuila and Pago Pago to augment the garrison already there.
Having safely covered that troop movement, Yorktown , in company with sistership Enterprise, departed Samoan waters on 25 January. Six days later, TF 8 built around Enterprise, and TF 17, built around Yorktown , parted company. The former headed for the Marshall Islands, the latter for the Gilberts ? each bound to take part in the first American offensive of the war, the Marshalls-Gilberts raids.
At 0517, Yorktown ? screened by USS Louisville (CA-28) and USS St. Louis (CL-49) and four destroyers ? launched 11 torpedo planes (Douglas TBD-1 Devastators) and 17 scout bombers (Douglas SBD-3 Dauntlesses) under the command of Comdr. Curtis W. Smiley. Those planes hit what Japanese shore installations and shipping they could find at Jaluit, but adverse weather conditions hampered the mission in which six planes were lost. Other Yorktown planes attacked Japanese installations and ships at Makin and Mili Atolls.
The attack by TF 17 on the Gilberts had apparently been a complete surprise since the American force encountered no enemy surface ships. A single, four-engined, Kawanishi E7K Mavis, patrol-bomber seaplane attempted to attack American destroyers that had been sent astern in hope of recovering planes over-due from the Jaluit mission. Antiaircraft fire from the destroyers drove off the intruder before he could cause any damage.
Later, another Mavis ? or possibly the same one that had attacked the destroyers ? came out of low clouds 15,000 yards from Yorktown . The carrier withheld her antiaircraft fire in order not to interfere with the combat air patrol (CAP) fighters. Presently, the Mavis, pursued by two Wildcats, disappeared behind a cloud. Within five minutes, the enemy patrol plane fell out of the clouds and crashed in the water.
Although TF 17 was slated to make a second attack on Jaluit, it was canceled because of heavy rainstorms and the approach of darkness. Therefore, the Yorktown force retired from the area.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz later called the Marshalls-Gilberts raids "well conceived, well planned, and brilliantly executed." The results obtained by TFs 8 and 17 were noteworthy Nimitz continued in his subsequent report, because the task forces had been obliged to make their attacks somewhat blindly, due to lack of hard intelligence data on the Japanese-mandated islands.
Yorktown subsequently returned to Pearl Harbor and replenished there before she put to sea on 14 February, bound for the Coral Sea. On 6 March 1942, she rendezvoused with TF 11 ? formed around Lexington and under the command of Rear Admiral Wilson Brown ? and headed towards Rabaul and Gasmata to attack Japanese shipping there in an effort to check the Japanese advance and to cover the landing of Allied troops at Noumea, New Caledonia. However, as the two flattops ? screened by a powerful force of eight heavy cruisers (including the Australian HMAS Australia) and 14 destroyers ? steamed toward New Guinea, the Japanese continued their advance toward Australia with a landing on 7 March at the Huon Gulf, in the Salamana-Lae area on the eastern end of New Guinea.
Word of the Japanese operation prompted Admiral Brown to change the objective of TF 11's strike from Rabaul to the Salamana-Lae sector. On the morning of 10 March 1942, American carriers launched aircraft from the Gulf of Papua. Lexington flew off her air group commencing at 0749 and, 21 minutes later, Yorktown followed suit. While the choice of the gulf as the launch point for the strike meant that the planes would have to fly some 125 miles across the Owen Stanley mountains ? a range not known for the best flying conditions ? that approach provided security for the task force and ensured surprise.
In the attacks that followed, Lexington's SBD's from Scouting Squadron (VS) 2 commenced dive-bombing Japanese ships at Lae at 0922. The carrier's Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2 and Bombing Squadron (VB) 2 attacked shipping at Salamaua at 0938. Her fighters from Fighter Squadron (VF) 2 split up into four-plane attack groups: one strafed Lae and the other, Salamaua. Yorktown 's planes followed on the heels of those from "Lady Lex." VB-5 and VT-5 attacked Japanese ships in the Salamaua area at 0950, while VS-5 went after auxiliaries moored close in shore at Lae. The fighters of VF-42 flew over Salamana on CAP until they determined that there was no air opposition and then strafed surface objectives and small boats in the harbor. After carrying out their missions, the American planes returned to their carriers, and 103 planes of the 104 launched were back safely on board by noon. One SB3-2 of VS-2 had been downed by Japanese antiaircraft fire. The raid on Salamana and Lae was the first attack by many pilots of both carriers; and, while the resultant torpedo and bombing accuracy was inferior to that achieved in later actions, the operation gave the fliers invaluable experience which enabled them to do so well in the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway.
Task Force 11 retired at 20 knots on a southeasterly course until dark, when the ships steered eastward at 15 knots and made rendezvous with Task Group (TG) 11.7 (four heavy cruisers and four destroyers) under Rear Admiral John G. Crace, Royal Navy-the group that had provided cover for the carriers on their approach to New Guinea. Yorktown resumed her patrols in the Coral Sea area, remaining at sea into April, out of reach of Japanese land-based aircraft and ready to carry out offensive operations whenever the opportunity presented itself. After the Lae-Salamaua raid, the situation in the South Pacific seemed temporarily stabilized, and Yorktown and her consorts in TF 17 put in to the undeveloped harbor at Tongatabu, in the Tonga Islands, for needed upkeep, having been at sea continuously since departing from Pearl Harbor on 14 February 1942.
However, the enemy was soon on the move. To Admiral Nimitz, there seemed to be "excellent indications that the Japanese intended to make a seaborne attack on Port Moresby the first week in May." Yorktown accordingly departed Tongatabu on 27 April, bound once more for the Coral Sea. TF 11 ? commanded by Rear Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch, who had relieved Brown in Lexington ? departed Pearl Harbor to join Fletcher's TF 17 and arrived in the vicinity of Yorktown 's group, southwest of the New Hebrides Islands, on 1 May 1942.
At 1517 the next afternoon, two Dauntlesses from VS-5 sighted a Japanese submarine, running on the surface. Three Devastators took off from Yorktown sped to the scene, and carried out an attack that only succeeded in driving the submarine under.
On the morning of May 3, TF 11 and TF 17 were some 100 miles apart, engaged in fueling operations. Shortly before midnight, Fletcher received word from Australian-based aircraft that Japanese transports were disembarking troops and equipment at Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. Arriving soon after the Australians had evacuated the place, the Japanese landed to commence construction of a seaplane base there to support their southward thrust.
Yorktown accordingly set course northward at 27 knots. By daybreak on 4 May, she was within striking distance of the newly established Japanese beachhead and launched her first strike at 0701-18 F4F-3s of VF-42, 12 TBDs of VT-5, and 28 SBDs from VS and BY-5. Yorktown 's air group made three consecutive attacks on enemy ships and shore installations at Tulagi and Gavutu on the south coast of Florida Island in the Solomons. Expending 22 torpedoes and 76 1,000-pound bombs in the three attacks, Yorktown 's planes sank a destroyer (Kikuzuki), three minecraft, and four barges. In addition, Air Group 5 destroyed five enemy seaplanes, all at the cost of two F4Fs lost (the pilots were recovered) and one TBD (whose crew was lost).
Meanwhile, that same day, TF 44, a cruiser-destroyer force under Rear Admiral Crace (RN), joined Lexington's TF 11, thus completing the composition of the Allied force on the eve of the crucial Battle of the Coral Sea.
Elsewhere, to the northward, the enemy was on his way. Eleven troop-laden transports ? escorted by destroyers and covered by the light carrier Shoho, four heavy cruisers, and a destroyer ? steamed toward Port Moresby. In addition, another Japanese task force ? formed around the two Pearl Harbor veterans, carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, and screened by two heavy cruisers and six destroyers ? provided additional air cover.
On the morning of May 6, 1942, , Fletcher gathered all Allied forces under his tactical command as TF 17. At daybreak on the 7th, he dispatched Crace, with the cruisers and destroyers under his command, toward the Louisiade archipelago to intercept any enemy attempt to move toward Port Moresby.
Meanwhile, while Fletcher moved northward with his two flattops and their screens in search of the enemy, Japanese search planes located the oiler USS Neosho (AO-23) and her escort, USS Sims (DD-409) and identified the former as a "carrier." Two waves of Japanese planes ? first high level bombers and then dive bombers ? attacked the two ships. Sims ? her antiaircraft battery crippled by gun failures ? took three direct hits and sank quickly with a heavy loss of life. Neosho was more fortunate in that, even after seven direct hits and eight near-misses, she remained afloat until, on the 11th, her survivors were picked up by USS Henley (DD-391) and her hulk sunk by the rescuing destroyer.
In their tribulation, Neosho and Sims had performed a valuable service, drawing off the planes that might otherwise have hit Fletcher's carriers. Meanwhile, Yorktown and Lexington's planes found Shoho and punished that Japanese light carrier unmercifully, sending her to the bottom. One of Lexington's pilots reported this victory with the radio message, "Scratch one flattop."
That afternoon, Shokaku and Zuikaku ? still unlocated by Fletcher's forces ? launched 27 bombers and torpedo planes to search for the American ships. Their flight proved uneventful until they ran into fighters from Yorktown and Lexington, who proceeded to down nine enemy planes in the ensuing dogfight.
Near twilight, three Japanese planes incredibly mistook Yorktown for their own carrier and attempted to land. The ship's gunfire, though, drove them off; and the enemy planes crossed Yorktown's bow and turned away out of range. Twenty minutes later, when three more enemy pilots made the mistake of trying to get into Yorktown's landing circle, the carrier's gunners splashed one of the trio.
However, the Battle of the Coral Sea was far from over. The next morning, 8 May, a Lexington search plane spotted Admiral Takagi's carrier striking force ? including Zuikaku and Shokaku, the flattops that had proved so elusive the day before. Yorktown planes scored two bomb hits on Shokaku, damaging her flight deck and thus preventing her from launching aircraft; in addition, the bombs set off explosions in gasoline storage tanks and destroyed an engine repair workshop. Lexington's Dauntlesses added another hit. Between the two American air groups, the hits scored killed 108 Japanese sailors and wounded 40 more.
While the American planes were bedeviling the Japanese flattops, however, Yorktown and Lexington ? -alerted by an intercepted message which indicated that the Japanese knew of their whereabouts ? were preparing to fight off a retaliatory strike. Sure enough, shortly after 1100, that attack came.
American CAP Wildcats slashed into the Japanese formations, downing 17 planes. Some, though, managed to slip through the fighters and the Kates that did so managed to launch torpedoes from both sides of Lexington's bows. Two "fish", tore into "Lady Lex" on the port side; dive bombers ? Vals ? added to the destruction with three bomb hits. Lexington developed a list with three partially-flooded engineering spaces. Several fires raged belowdecks, and the carrier's elevators were out of commission.
Meanwhile Yorktown was having problems of her own. Skillfully maneuvered by Capt. Elliott Buckmaster, her commanding officer, the carrier dodged eight torpedoes. Attacked then by Vals, the ship managed to evade all but one bomb. That one, however, penetrated the flight deck and exploded belowdecks, killing or seriously injuring 66 men.
Yorktown 's damage control parties brought the fires under control, and, despite her wounds, the ship was still able to continue her flight operations. The air battle itself ended shortly before noon on May 8, 1942; and within an hour, "Lady Lex" was on an even keel, although slightly down by the bow. Her damage control parties had already extinguished three out of the four fires below. In addition, she was making 25 knots and was recovering her air group.
At 1247, however, disaster struck Lexington, when a heavy explosion, caused by the ignition of gasoline vapors, rocked the ship. The flames raced through the ship, and further internal explosions tore the ship apart inside. Lexington battled for survival; but, despite the valiant efforts of her crew, she had to be abandoned. Capt. Frederick C. Sherman sadly ordered "abandon ship" at 1707. Her men went over the side in an orderly fashion and were picked up by the cruisers and destroyers of the carrier's screen. Torpedoes fired by USS Phelps (DD-361) hastened the end of "Lady Lex."
As Yorktown and her consorts retired from Coral Sea to lick their wounds, the situation in the Pacific stood altered. The Japanese had won a tactical victory, inflicting comparatively heavy losses on the Allied force, but the Allies, in stemming the tide of Japan's conquests in the South and Southwest Pacific, had achieved a strategic victory. They had blunted the drive toward strategic Port Moresby and had saved the tenuous lifeline between America and Australia.
Yorktown had not achieved her part in the victory without cost, but had suffered enough damage to cause experts to estimate that at least three months in a yard would be required to put her back in fighting trim. Unfortunately, there was little time for repairs, because Allied intelligence-most notably the cryptographic unit at Pearl Harbor ? had gained enough information from decoded Japanese naval messages to estimate that the Japanese were on the threshold of a major operation aimed at the northwestern tip of the Hawaiian chain ? two islets in a low coral atoll known as Midway.
Thus armed with this intelligence, Admiral Nimitz began methodically planning Midway's defense, rushing all possible reinforcement in the way of men, planes and guns to Midway. In addition, he began gathering his naval forces-comparatively meager as they were-to meet the enemy at sea. As part of those preparations, he recalled TF 16, Enterprise and Hornet (CV-8), to Pearl Harbor for a quick replenishment.
Yorktown, too, received orders to return to Hawaii; and she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 27 May 1942. Miraculously, yard workers there ? laboring around the clock ? made enough repairs to enable the ship to put to sea. Her air group ? for the most part experienced but weary ? was augmented by planes and flyers from Saratoga (CV-3) which was then headed for Hawaiian waters after her modernization on the west coast. Ready for battle, Yorktown sailed as the central ship of TF 17 on 30 May.
Northeast of Midway, Yorktown, flying Rear Admiral Fletcher's flag, rendezvoused with TF 16 under Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance and maintained a position 10 miles to the northward of the latter. Over the days that ensued, as the ships proceeded toward a date with destiny, few men realized that within the next few days the pivotal battle of the war in the Pacific would be fought. Patrols, both from Midway itself and from the carriers, proceeded apace during those days in early June. On the morning of the June 4, 1942, as dawn began to streak the eastern sky, Yorktown launched a 10-plane group of Dauntlesses from VB-5 which searched a northern semicircle for a distance of 100 miles out but found nothing.
Meanwhile, PBYs flying from Midway had sighted the approaching Japanese and broadcast what turned out to be the alarm for the American forces defending the key atoll. Admiral Fletcher, in tactical command, ordered Admiral Spruance, with TF 16, to locate the enemy carrier force and strike them as soon as they were found.
Yorktown's search group returned at 0830 June 4, 1942, landing soon after the last of the six-plane CAP had left the deck. When the last of the Dauntlesses had landed, a flight deck ballet took place in which the deck was spotted for the launch of the ship's attack group ? 17 Dauntlesses from VB-3; 12 Devastators from VT-3, and six Wildcats from "Fighting Three." Enterprise and Hornet, meanwhile, launched their attack groups.
The torpedo planes from the three American flattops located the Japanese carrier striking force but met disaster. Of the 41 planes from VT-8, VT-6, and VT-3, only six returned to Enterprise and Yorktown, collectively. None made it back to Hornet.
The destruction of the torpedo planes, however, had served a purpose. The Japanese CAP had broken off their high-altitude cover for their carriers and had concentrated on the Devastators, flying low "on the deck." The skies above were thus left open for Dauntlesses arriving from Yorktown and Enterprise. Virtually unopposed, the SBDs dove to the attack. The results were spectacular.
Yorktown's dive-bombers pummeled Soryu, making three lethal hits with 1,000-pound bombs that turned the ship into a flaming inferno. Enterprise's planes, meanwhile, hit Akagi and Kaga, turning them, too into wrecks within a very short time. The bombs from the Dauntlesses caught all of the Japanese carriers in the midst of refueling and rearming operations, and the combination of bombs and gasoline proved explosive and disastrous to the Japanese.
Three Japanese carriers had been lost. A fourth however, still roamed at large, Hiryu. Separated from her sisters, that ship had launched a striking force of 18 Vals that soon located Yorktown .
As soon as the attackers had been picked up on Yorktown's radar at about 1329, she discontinued the fueling of her CAP fighters on deck and swiftly cleared for action. Her returning dive bombers were moved from the landing circle to open the area for antiaircraft fire. The Dauntlesses were ordered aloft to form a CAP. An auxiliary gasoline tank ? of 800 gallons capacity ? was pushed over the carrier's fantail, eliminating one fire hazard. The crew drained fuel lines and closed and secured all compartments.
All of Yorktown's fighters were vectored out to intercept the oncoming Japanese aircraft, and did so some 15 to 20 miles out. The Wildcats attacked vigorously, breaking up what appeared to be an organized attack by some 18 Vals and 18 Zeroes. "Planes were flying in every direction," wrote Capt. Buckmaster after the action, "and many were falling in flames."
Yorktownand her escorts went to full speed and, as the Japanese raiders attacked, began maneuvering radically. Intense antiaircraft fire greeted the Vals and Kates as they approached their release points.
Despite the barrage, though, three Vals scored hits. Two of them were shot down soon after releasing their bomb loads; the third went out of control just as his bomb left the rack. It tumbled in flight and hit just abaft number two elevator on the starboard side, exploding on contact and blasting a hole about 10 feet square in the flight deck. Splinters from the exploding bomb decimated the crews of the two 1.1-inch gun mounts aft of the island and on the flight deck below. Fragments piercing the flight deck hit three planes on the hangar deck, starting fires. One of the aircraft, a Yorktown Dauntless, was fully fueled and carrying a 1,000-pound bomb. Prompt action by Lt. A. C. Emerson, the hangar deck officer, prevented a serious conflagration by releasing the sprinkler system and quickly extinguishing the fire.
The second bomb to hit the ship came from the port side, pierced the flight deck, and exploded in the lower part of the funnel. It ruptured the uptakes for three boilers, disabled two boilers themselves, and extinguished the fires in five boilers. Smoke and gases began filling the firerooms of six boilers. The men at number one boiler, however, remained at their post despite their danger and discomfort and kept its fire going, maintaining enough steam pressure to allow the auxiliary steam systems to function.
A third bomb hit the carrier from the starboard side pierced the side of number one elevator and explode on the fourth deck, starting a persistent fire in the rag storage space, adjacent to the forward gasoline stowage and the magazines. The prior precaution of smothering the gasoline system with CO2, undoubtedly prevented the gasoline's igniting.
While the ship recovered from the damage inflicted by the dive-bombing attack, her speed dropped to six knots; and then, at 1440, about 20 minutes after the bomb hit that had shut down most of the boilers, Yorktown slowed to a stop, dead in the water.
At about 1540, Yorktown prepared to get underway again; and, at 1550, the engine room force reported that they were ready to make 20 knots or better. The ship was not yet out of the fight.
Simultaneously, with the fires controlled sufficiently to warrant the resumption of fueling operations, Yorktown began fueling the gasoline tanks of the fighters then on deck. Fueling had just commenced when the ship's radar picked up an incoming air group at a distance of 33 miles away. While the ship prepared for battle ? again smothering gasoline systems and stopping the fueling of the planes on her flight deck ? she vectored four of the six fighters of the CAP in the air to intercept the incoming raiders. Of the 10 fighters on board, eight had as much as 23 gallons of fuel in their tanks. They accordingly were launched as the remaining pair of fighters of the CAP headed out to intercept the Japanese planes.
At 1600, Yorktown churned forward, making 20 knots. The fighters she had launched and vectored out to intercept had meanwhile made contact, Yorktown received reports that the planes were Kates. The Wildcats downed at least three of the attacking torpedo planes, but the rest began their approach in the teeth of a heavy antiaircraft barrage from the carrier and her escorts.
Yorktown maneuvered radically, avoiding at least two torpedoes before two "fish" tore into her port side within minutes of each other. The first hit at 1620. The carrier had been mortally wounded; she lost power and went dead in the water with a jammed rudder and an increasing list to port.
As the list progressed, Cmdr. C. E. Aldrich, the damage control officer, reported from central station that, without power, controlling the flooding looked impossible. The engineering officer, Lt. Cmdr. J. F. Delaney, soon reported that all fires were out; all power was lost; and. worse yet, it was impossible to correct the list. Faced with that situation, Capt. Buckmaster ordered Aldrich, Delaney, and their men to secure and lay up on deck to put on life jackets.
The list, meanwhile, continued to increase. When it reached 26 degrees, Buckmaster and Aldrich agreed that the ship's capsizing was only a matter of minutes. "In order to save as many of the ship's company as possible," the captain wrote later, he "ordered the ship to be abandoned."
Over the minutes that ensued, the crew left ship, lowering the wounded to life rafts and striking out for the nearby destroyers and cruisers to be picked up by boats from those ships. After the evacuation of all wounded, the executive officer, Cmdr. I. D. Wiltsie, left the ship down a line on the starboard side. Capt. Buckmaster, meanwhile, toured the ship for one last time, inspecting her to see if any men remained. After finding no "live personnel," Buckmaster lowered himself into the water by means of a line over the stern. By that point, water was lapping the port side of the hangar deck
Picked up by the destroyer USS Hammann (DD-412), Buckmaster was transferred to USS Astoria (CA-34) soon thereafter and reported to Rear Admiral Fletcher, who had shifted his flag to the heavy cruiser after the first dive-bombing attack. The two men agreed that a salvage party should attempt to save the ship since she had stubbornly remained afloat despite the heavy list and imminent danger of capsizing.
Interestingly enough, while the efforts to save Yorktownhad been proceeding apace, her planes were still in action, joining those from Enterprise in striking the last Japanese carrier ? Hiryu ? late that afternoon. Taking four direct hits, the Japanese flattop was soon helpless. She was abandoned by her crew and left to drift out of control and manned only by her dead. Yorktown had been avenged.
Yorktown, as it turned out, floated through the night; two men were still alive on board her ? one attracted attention by firing a machine gun that was heard by the sole attending destroyer, USS Hughes. The escort picked up the men, one of whom later died.
Meanwhile, Capt. Buckmaster had selected 29 officers and 141 men to return to the ship in an attempt to save her. Five destroyers formed an antisubmarine screen while the salvage party boarded the listing carrier, the fire in the rag storage still smoldering on the morning of June 6, 1942. USS Vireo (AT-144), summoned from Pearl and Hermes Reef, soon commenced towing the ship. Progress, though, was painfully slow.
Yorktown 's repair party went on board with a carefully predetermined plan of action to be carried out by men from each department-damage control, gunnery air engineering, navigation, communication, supply and medical. To assist in the work, Lt. Cmdr. Arnold E. True brought his ship, USS Hammann, alongside to starboard, aft, furnishing pumps and electric power.
By mid-afternoon, it looked as if the gamble to save the ship was paying off. The process of reducing topside weight was proceeding well ? one 5-inch gun had been dropped over the side, and a second was ready to be cast loose; planes had been pushed over the side; the submersible pumps (powered by electricity provided by Hammann) had pumped out considerable quantities of water from the engineering spaces. The efforts of the salvage crew had reduced the list about two degrees.
Unbeknownst to Yorktown and the six nearby destroyers the Japanese submarine I-158 had achieved a favorable firing position. Remarkably ? but perhaps understandable in light of the debris and wreckage in the water in the vicinity ? none of the destroyers picked up the approaching I-boat. Suddenly, at 1536, lookouts spotted a salvo of four torpedoes churning toward the ship from the starboard beam.
Hammann went to general quarters, a 20-millimeter gun going into action in an attempt to explode the "fish" in the water. One torpedo hit Hammann ? her screws churning the water beneath her fantail as she tried to get underway ? directly amidships and broke her back. The destroyer jackknifed and went down rapidly.
Two torpedoes struck Yorktown just below the turn of the bilge at the after end of the island structure. The fourth torpedo passed just astern of the carrier.
Approximately a minute after Hammann's stern disappeared beneath the waves, an explosion rumbled up from the depths ? possibly caused by the destroyer's depth charges going off. The blast killed many of Hammann's and a few of Yorktown's men who had been thrown into the water. The concussion battered the already-damaged carrier's hull and caused tremendous shocks that carried away Yorktown's auxiliary generator, sent numerous fixtures from the hangar deck overhead crashing to the deck below; sheared rivets in the starboard leg of the foremast; and threw men in every direction, causing broken bones and several minor injuries.
Prospects for immediate resumption of salvage work looked grim, since all destroyers immediately commenced searches for the enemy submarine (which escaped) and commenced rescuing men from Hammann and Yorktown. Capt. Buckmaster decided to postpone further attempts at salvage until the following day.
Vireo cut the towline and doubled back to Yorktown to pick up survivors, taking on board many men of the salvage crew while picking up men from the water. The little ship endured a terrific pounding from the larger ship but nevertheless stayed alongside to carry out her rescue mission. Later, while on board the tug, Capt. Buckmaster conducted a burial service, two officers and an enlisted man from Hammann were committed to the deep.
The second attempt at salvage, however, would never be made. Throughout the night of June 6, 1942, and into the morning of the 7th, Yorktown remained stubbornly afloat. By 0530 on the 7th, however, the men in the ships nearby noted that the carrier's list was rapidly increasing to port. Then, at 0701, on June 7, 1942, according to Capt. Buckmaster's official report, Yorktown "turned over on her port side and sank in 3,000 fathoms of water, her battle flags flying."
Yorktown (CV-5) earned three battle stars for her World War II service; two of them being for the significant part she had played in stopping Japanese expansion and turning the tide of the war at Coral Sea and at Midway.
But Yorktown's story does not end there. On May 19, 1998, noted underwater explorer Dr. Robert Ballard and his search and survey team on the National Geographic Battle of Midway expedition found Yorktown more than three miles deep in the Pacific. The expedition used the U.S. Navy's deep submergence support ship, Laney Chouest, and two underwater vehicles to locate and photograph the aircraft carrier on the ocean floor. One of the submerged vehicles was a Navy bottom-surveying robot called ATV (advanced tethered vehicle) which can see about 100 feet with video and still cameras. The carrier was found to be quite well preserved.
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David
Tue August 9, 2005 12:21pm
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USS Wasp CV 7 25 Apr 1940
USS Wasp CV 7 25 Apr 1940 15 Sep 1942
USS Wasp (CV-7) entering Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 26 May 1942. An escorting destroyer is in the background.
displacement: 14,700 tons
length: 741 feet 4 inches
beam: 80 feet 8 inch; extreme width at flight deck: 109 feet
draft: 19 feet 11 inches
speed: 29? knots
complement: 2,367 crew
armament: 8 five-inch guns, 16 1.1-inch guns, 16 .50-cal. machine guns
aircraft: 80
class: Wasp
The eighth Wasp(CV-7) was laid down on 1 April 1936 at Quincy, Mass., by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co., launched on 4 April 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Charles Edison, the wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy Charles Edison; and commissioned on 25 April 1940 at the Army Quartermaster Base, South Boston, Mass., Capt. John W. Reeves, Jr., in command.
Wasp remained at Boston through May, fitting out, before she got underway on 5 June 1940 for calibration tests on her radio direction finder gear. After further fitting out while anchored in Boston harbor, the new aircraft carrier steamed independently to Hampton Roads, Va., anchoring there on 24 June. Four days later, she sailed for the Caribbean in company with USS Morris (DD-417).
En route, she conducted the first of many carrier qualification tests. Among the earliest of the qualifiers was Lt. (jg.) David T. McCampbell, who later became the Navy's top-scoring "ace" in World War II. Wasp arrived at Guantanamo Bay in time to "dress ship" in honor of Independence Day.
Tragedy marred the carrier's shakedown. On 9 July, one of her Vought SB2U-2 Vindicators crashed two miles from the ship. Wasp bent on flank speed to close, as did the plane-guarding destroyer Morris. The latter's boats recovered items from the plane's baggage compartment, but the plane itself had gone down with its crew of two.
Wasp departed Guantanamo Bay on 11 July and arrived at Hampton Roads four days later. There, she embarked planes from the 1st Marine Air Group and took them to sea for qualification trials. Operating off the southern drill grounds, the ship and her planes honed their skills for a week before the Marines and their planes were disembarked at Norfolk, and the carrier moved north to Boston for post-shakedown repairs.
While civilian workmen from the Bethlehem Steel Co. came on board the ship to check their workmanship and to learn how it had stood up under the rigors of shakedown, Wasp lay alongside the same pier at which she had been commissioned. While at Boston, she fired a 21-gun salute and rendered honors to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose yacht, USS Potomac (AG-25), stopped briefly at the Boston Navy Yard on 10 August.
Wasp departed the Army Quartermaster Base on the 21st to conduct steering drills and full-power trials. Late the following morning, she got underway for Norfolk. For the next few days, while USS Ellis (DD-164) operated as plane guard, Wasp launched and recovered her aircraft: fighters from Fighter Squadron (VF) 7 and scout-bombers from Scouting Squadron (VS) 72. The carrier put into the Norfolk Navy Yard on 28 August for repair work on her turbines ? alterations which kept the ship in dockyard hands into the following month. Drydocked during the period from 12 to 18 September, Wasp ran her final sea trials in Hampton Roads on 26 September 1940.
Ready now to join the fleet and assigned to Carrier Division (CarDiv) 3, Patrol Force, Wasp shifted to Naval Operating Base (NOB), Norfolk from the Norfolk Navy Yard on 11 October. There she loaded 24 P-40s from the 8th Army Pursuit Group and nine O-47As from the 2d Observation Squadron, as well as her own spares and utility unit Grumman J2Fs on the 12th. Proceeding to sea for maneuvering room, Wasp flew off the Army planes in a test designed to compare the take-off runs of standard Navy and Army aircraft. That experiment, the first time that Army planes had flown from a Navy carrier, foreshadowed the use of the ship in the ferry role that she performed so well in World War II.
Wasp then proceeded on toward Cuba in company with USS Plunkett (DD-431) and USS Niblack (DD-424). The carrier's planes flew routine training flights, including dive-bombing and machine gun practices, over the ensuing four days. Upon arrival at Guantanamo, Wasp's saluting batteries barked out a 13-gun salute to Rear Admiral Hayne Ellis, Commander, Atlantic Squadron, embarked in USS Texas (BB-35), on 19 October.
For the remainder of October 1940 and into November, Wasp trained in the Guantanamo Bay area. Her planes flew carrier qualification and refresher training flights while her gunners sharpened up their skills in short-range battle practices at targets towed by the new fleet tug USS Seminole (AT-65). While operating in the Culebra, Virgin Islands, area, Wasp again teamed with the aviators of the 1st Marine Air Wing, giving the flying Leathernecks practice in carrier take-offs and landings.
Her work in the Caribbean finished, Wasp sailed for Norfolk and arrived shortly after noon on 26 November. She remained at the Norfolk Navy Yard through Christmas of 1940. Then, after first conducting degaussing experiments with USS Hannibal (AG-1), she steamed independently to Cuba.
Arriving at Guantanamo Bay on 27 January 1941, Wasp conducted a regular routine of flight operations into February. With USS Walke (DD-416) as her plane guard, Wasp operated out of Guantanamo and Culebra, conducting her maneuvers with an impressive array of warships ? Texas, USS Ranger (CV-4), USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37), USS Wichita (CA-45) and a host of destroyers. Wasp ran gunnery drills and exercises, as well as routine flight training evolutions, into March. Underway for Hampton Roads on 4 March, the aircraft carrier conducted a night battle practice into the early morning hours of the 5th.
During the passage to Norfolk, heavy weather sprang up on the evening of 7 March. Waspwas steaming at standard speed, 17 knots, a pace that she had been maintaining all day. Off Cape Hatteras, a lookout in the carrier spotted a red flare arcing into the stormy black night skies at 2245. The big ship swung around to head in the direction of the distress signal while a messenger notified the captain, who reached the bridge in an instant. Capt. Reeves himself took the conn, as a second set of flares was seen at 2259.
Finally, at 2329, with the aid of her searchlights probing the wet night, Wasp located the stranger in trouble. She proved to be the lumber schooner George E. Klinck, bound from Jacksonville, Fla., to Southwest Harbor, Maine.
The sea, in the meantime, worsened from a state 5 to a state 7. Wasplay to, maneuvering alongside at 0007 on 8 March 1941. At that time, four men from the schooner clambered up a swaying jacob's ladder buffeted by gusts of wind. Then, despite the raging tempest, Wasp lowered a boat, at 0016, and brought the remaining four men aboard from the foundering 152-foot schooner.
Later that day, Wasp disembarked her rescued mariners and immediately went into drydock at the Norfolk Navy Yard. The ship received vital repairs to her turbines. Port holes on the third deck were welded over to provide better watertight integrity, and steel splinter shielding around her 5-inch and 1.1-inch batteries was added. After those repairs and alterations were finished, Wasp got underway for the Virgin Islands on 22 March, arriving at St. Thomas three days later. She soon shifted to Guantanamo Bay and loaded marine stores for transportation to Norfolk.
Returning to Norfolk on 30 March, Waspconducted routine flight operations out of Hampton Roads over the ensuing days and into April. In company with USS Sampson (DD-394), the carrier conducted an abortive search for a downed patrol plane in her vicinity on 8 April. For the remainder of the month, Wasp operated off the eastern seaboard between Newport, R.I., and Norfolk conducting extensive flight and patrol operations with her embarked air group. She shifted to Bermuda in mid-May, anchoring at Grassy Bay on the 12th. Eight days later, the ship got underway in company with USS Quincy (CA-39), USS Livermore (DD-429), and USS Kearny (DD-432) for exercises at sea before returning to Grassy Bay on 3 June. Wasp sailed for Norfolk three days later with USS Edison (DD-439) as her antisubmarine screen.
After a brief stay in the Tidewater area, Wasp headed back toward Bermuda on 20 June 1941. Waspand her escorts patrolled the stretch of the Atlantic between Bermuda and Hampton Roads until 5 July, as the Atlantic Fleet's neutrality patrol zones were extended eastward. Reaching Grassy Bay on that day, she remained in port a week before returning to Norfolk sailing on 12 July in company with USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37), USS Grayson (DD-435), USS Anderson (DD-411), and USS Rowan (DD-405).
Following her return to Norfolk on the 13th, Wasp and her embarked air group conducted refresher training off the Virginia capes. Meanwhile, the situation in the Atlantic had taken on a new complexion, with American participation in the Battle of the Atlantic only a matter of time, when the United States took another step toward involvement on the side of the British. To protect American security and to free British forces needed elsewhere, the United States made plans to occupy Iceland. Wasp played an important role in the move.
Late on the afternoon of 23 July, while the carrier lay alongside Pier 7, NOB Norfolk, 32 Army Air Force (AAF) pilots reported on board "for temporary duty." At 0630 the following day, Wasp's crew watched an interesting cargo come on board, hoisted on deck by the ship's cranes: 30 Curtiss P-40s and three PT-17 trainers from the AAF 33d Pursuit Squadron, 8th Air Group, Air Force Combat Command, home-based at Mitchell Field, N.Y. Three days later, four newspaper correspondents ? including the noted journalist Fletcher Pratt ? came on board.
The carrier had drawn the assignment of ferrying those vital Army planes to Iceland because of a lack of British aircraft to cover the American landings. The American P-40s would provide the defensive fighter cover necessary to watch over the initial increment of American occupying forces. Wasp consequently cast off from Pier 7 and slipped out to sea through the swept channel at 0932 on 28 July, with USS O'Brien (DD-415) and USS Walke as plane guards. USS Vincennes (CA-44) later joined the formation at sea.
Within a few days, Wasp's group joined the larger Task Force (TF) 16 ? consisting of USS Mississippi (BB-41), Quincy, Wichita, five destroyers, USS Semmes (AG-24), USS American Legion (AP-35), USS Mizar (AF-12), and USS Almaack (AK-27). Those ships, too, were bound for Iceland with the first occupation troops embarked. On the morning of 6 August 1941, Wasp, Vincennes, Walke, and O'Brien parted company from TF 16. Soon thereafter, the carrier turned into the wind and commenced launching the planes from the 33d Pursuit Squadron. As the P-40s and the trio of trainers droned on to Iceland, Wasp headed home for Norfolk, her three escorts in company. After another week at sea, the group arrived back at Norfolk on 14 August.
Underway again on 22 August, however, Wasp put to sea for carrier qualifications and refresher landings off the Virginia capes. Two days later, Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, Commander Cruisers, Atlantic Fleet, shifted his flag from USS Savannah (CL-42) to Wasp, while the ships lay anchored in Hampton Roads. Underway on the 25th, in company with Savannah, USS Monssen (DD-436) and Kearny, the aircraft carrier conducted flight operations over the ensuing days. Scuttlebutt on board the carrier had her steaming out in search of a German heavy cruiser, Admiral Hipper, which was reportedly roaming the western Atlantic in search of prey. Suspicions were confirmed for many on the 30th when the British battleship HMS Rodney was sighted some 20 miles away, on the same course as the Americans.
In any event, if they had been in search of a German raider, they did not make contact with her. Wasp and her escorts anchored in the Gulf of Paria, Trinidad, on 2 September, where Admiral Hewitt shifted his flag back to Savannah. The carrier remained in port until 6 September, when she again put to sea on patrol "to enforce the neutrality of the United States in the Atlantic."
While at sea, the ship received the news of a German U-boat unsuccessfully attempting to attack the destroyer USS Greer (DD-146). The United States had been getting more and more involved in the war; American warships were now convoying British merchantmen halfway across the Atlantic to the "mid-ocean meeting point" (MOMP).
Wasp's crew looked forward to returning to Bermuda on 18 September, but the new situation in the Atlantic meant a change in plans. Shifted to the colder climes of Newfoundland, the carrier arrived at Placentia Bay on 22 September and fueled from USS Salinas (AO-19) the following day. The respite in port was a brief one, however, as the ship got underway again, late on the 23d, for Iceland. In company with Wichita, four destroyers, and the repair ship USS Vulcan (AR-6), Wasp arrived at Hvalfjordur, Iceland, on the 28th. Two days earlier, Admiral Harold R. Stark, the Chief of Naval Operations had ordered American warships to do their utmost to destroy whatever German or Italian warships they found. The "short-of-war" operations were drawing frightfully close to the real thing!
With the accelerated activity entailed in the United States Navy's conducting convoy escort missions, Wasp put to sea on 6 October in company with Vincennes and four destroyers. Those ships patrolled the foggy, cold, North Atlantic until returning to Little Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, on the 11th, anchoring during a fierce gale that lashed the bay with high winds and stinging spray. On 17 October, Wasp set out for Norfolk, patrolling en route, and arrived at her destination on the 20th. The carrier soon sailed for Bermuda and conducted qualifications and refresher training flights en route. Anchoring in Grassy Bay on 1 November 1941, Wasp operated on patrols out of Bermuda for the remainder of the month.
October had seen the incidents involving American and German warships multiplying on the high seas. Kearny was torpedoed on 17 October, Salinas took a "fish" on the 28th, and in the most tragic incident that autumn, USS Reuben James (DD-246) was torpedoed and sunk with heavy loss of life on 30 October. Meanwhile, in the Pacific, tension between the United States and Japan increased almost with each passing day.
Wasp slipped out to sea from Grassy Bay on 3 December and rendezvoused with USS Wilson (DD-408). While the destroyer operated as plane guard, Wasp's air group flew day and night refresher training missions. In addition, the two ships conducted gunnery drills before returning to Grassy Bay two days later.
Wasp lay at anchor on 7 December 1941, observing "holiday routine" since it was a Sunday. In the Pacific, the Japanese broke the Sunday morning peace in a devastating surprise attack on the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Their daring attack plunged the United States into World War II in both oceans. On 11 December, Germany and Italy followed Japan into war against the United States.
Meanwhile, naval authorities felt considerable anxiety that French warships in the Caribbean and West Indies were prepared to make a breakout and attempt to get back to France. Accordingly, Wasp, USS Brooklyn (CL-40), and two destroyers, USS Sterett (DD-407) and USS Wilson, departed Grassy Bay and headed for Martinique. Faulty intelligence gave American authorities in Washington the impression that the Vichy French armed merchant cruiser Barfleur had gotten underway for sea. The French were accordingly warned that the auxiliary cruiser would be sunk or captured unless she returned to port and resumed her internment. As it turned out, Barfleur had not departed after all, but had remained in harbor. The tense situation at Martinique eventually dissipated, and the crisis abated.
With tensions in the West Indies lessened considerably, Wasp departed Grassy Bay and headed for Hampton Roads three days before Christmas, in company with USS Long Island (AVG-1), and escorted by USS Stack (DD-406) and Sterett. Two days later, the carrier moored at the Norfolk Navy Yard to commence an overhaul that would last into 1942. After departing Norfolk on 14 January 1942, Wasp headed north and touched at Argentia, Newfoundland, and Casco Bay, Maine, while operating in those northern climes. On 16 March, as part of Task Group (TG) 22.6, she headed back toward Norfolk. During the morning watch the next day, visibility lessened considerably; and, at 0650, Wasp's bow plunged into Stack's starboard side, punching a hole and completely flooding the destroyer's number one fireroom. Stack was detached and proceeded to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where her damage was repaired.
Wasp, meanwhile, made port at Norfolk on the 21st without further incident. Shifting back to Casco Bay three days later, she sailed for the British Isles on 26 March, with Task Force (TF) 39 under the command of Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox, Jr., in USS Washington (BB-56). That force was to reinforce the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy. While en route, Rear Admiral Wilcox was swept overboard from the battleship and drowned. Although hampered by poor visibility conditions, Wasp planes took part in the search. Wilcox' body was spotted an hour later, face down in the raging seas, but it was not recovered.
Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen, who flew his flag in USS Wichita, assumed command of TF-39. The American ships were met by a force based around the light cruiser HMS Edinburgh on 3 April 1942. Those ships escorted them to Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
While the majority of TF 39 joined the British Home Fleet ? being renumbered to TF 99 in the process ? to cover convoys routed to North Russia, Wasp departed Scapa Flow on 9 April, bound for the Clyde estuary and Greenock, Scotland. On the following day, the carrier sailed up the Clyde River, past the John Brown Clydebank shipbuilding facilities. There, shipyard workers paused long enough from their labors to accord Wasp a tumultuous reception as she passed. Wasp's impending mission was an important one ? one upon which the fate of the island bastion of Malta hung. That key isle was then being pounded daily by German and Italian planes. The British, faced with the loss of air superiority over the island, requested the use of a carrier to transport planes that could wrest air superiority from the Axis aircraft. Wasp drew ferry duty once again. Having landed her torpedo planes and dive bombers, Wasp loaded 47 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. V fighter planes at the King George Dock, Glasgow, on 13 April 1942, before she departed the Clyde estuary on the 14th. Her screen consisted of Force "W" of the Home Fleet ? a group that included the battlecruiser HMS Renown and antiaircraft cruisers HMS Cairo and HMS Charbydis. USS Madison (DD-425) and USS Lang (DD-399) also served in Wasp's screen.
Wasp and her consorts passed through the Straits of Gibraltar under cover of the pre-dawn darkness on 19 April, avoiding the possibility of being discovered by Spanish or Axis agents. At 0400 on 20 April, Wasp spotted 11 Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat fighters on her deck and quickly launched them to form a combat air patrol (CAP) over Force "W".
Meanwhile, the Spitfires were warming up their engines in the hangar deck spaces below. With the Wildcats patrolling overhead, the Spitfires were brought up singly on the after elevator, spotted for launch, and then given the go-ahead to take off. One by one, they roared down the deck and over the forward rounddown, until each Spitfire was aloft and winging toward Malta.
When the launch was complete, Wasp retired toward England, having safely delivered her charges. Unfortunately, those Spitfires, which flew in to augment the dwindling numbers of Gladiator and Hurricane fighters, were tracked by efficient Axis intelligence and their arrival pinpointed. The unfortunate Spitfires were decimated by heavy German air raids which caught many planes on the ground.
As a result, it looked as if the acute situation required a second ferry run to Malta. Accordingly, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, fearing that Malta would be "pounded to bits," asked President Roosevelt to allow Wasp to have "another good sting." Roosevelt responded in the affirmative. Rising to the occasion, Wasp loaded another contingent of Spitfire Vs and sailed for the Mediterranean on 3 May 1942. Again, especially vigilant for submarines, Wasp proceeded unmolested. This time, the British aircraft carrier HMS Eagle accompanied Wasp, and she, too, carried a contingent of Spitfires bound for the "unsinkable aircraft carrier," Malta.
The two Allied flattops reached their launching points early on Saturday, 9 May, with Wasp steaming in column ahead of Eagle at a distance of 1,000 yards. At 0630, Wasp commenced launching planes ? 11 F4F4s of VF-71 to serve as CAP over the task force. The first Spitfire roared down the deck at 0643, piloted by Sergeant-Pilot Herrington, but lost power soon after takeoff and plunged into the sea. Both pilot and plane were lost.
Undaunted by the loss of Herrington, the other planes flew off safely and formed up to fly to Malta. Misfortune, however, again seemed to dog the flight when one pilot accidentally released his auxiliary fuel tank as he climbed to 2,000 feet. He obviously could not make Malta, as the slippery tank fitted beneath the belly of the plane had increased the range of the plane markedly. With that gone, he had no chance of making the island. His only alternatives were to land back on board Wasp or to ditch and take his chances in the water.
Sergeant-Pilot Smith chose the former. Wasp bent on full speed and recovered the plane at 0743. The Spitfire came to a stop just 15 feet from the forward edge of the flight deck, making what one Wasp sailor observed to be a "one wire" landing. With her vital errand completed, the carrier set sail for the British Isles while a German radio station broadcast the startling news that the American carrier had been sunk! Most in the Allied camp knew better, however; and, on 11 May, Prime Minister Churchill sent a witty message to the captain and ship's company of Wasp: "Many thanks to you all for the timely help. Who said a Wasp couldn't sting twice?"
While Wasp was conducting those two important missions to Malta, a train of events far to the westward beckoned the carrier to the Pacific theater. Early in May, almost simultaneously with Wasp's second Malta run ? Operation Bowery ? the Battle of the Coral Sea had been fought. That action turned back the Japanese thrust at Port Moresby. One month later from 4 to 6 June 1942, an American carrier force smashed its Japanese counterpart in the pivotal Battle of Midway. These two victories cost the United States two precious carriers: USS Lexington (CV-2) at Coral Sea and USS Yorktown (CV-5) at Midway. While the Japanese had suffered the damaging of two at Coral Sea and the loss of four carriers at Midway, the United States could scarcely afford to be left with only two operational carriers in the western and central Pacific ? USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS Hornet (CV-8). USS Saratoga (CV-3) was still undergoing repairs and modernization after being torpedoed off Oahu in early January 1942.
To prepare to strengthen the American Navy in the Pacific, Waspwas hurried back to the United States for alterations and repairs at the Norfolk Navy Yard. During the carrier's stay in the Tidewater region, Capt. Reeves ? who had been promoted to flag rank ? was relieved by Capt. Forrest P. Sherman on 31 May 1942. Departing Norfolk on 6 June, the last day of the critical Battle of Midway, Wasp sailed with TF 37 which was built around the carrier and the new battleship USS North Carolina (BB-55) and escorted by USS Quincy (CA-39) and USS San Juan (CL-54) and a half-dozen destroyers. The group transited the Panama Canal on 10 June, at which time Wasp and her consorts became TF 18, the carrier flying the two-starred flag of Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes. Arriving at San Diego on 19 June, Wasp embarked the remainder of her complement of aircraft, Grumman TBF-1s and Douglas SBD-3s-10 of the former and 12 of the latter conducting their carrier qualification on 22 and 23 June, respectively, the latter replacing the old Vindicators. On 1 July, she sailed for the Tonga Islands as part of the convoy for the five transports that had embarked the 2d Marine Regiment.
While TF 18 and the transports were en route to Tongatabu, Wasp received another congratulatory message, this time from Admiral Noyes, embarked in the ship. "During the two weeks my flag has been in Wasp I have been very favorably impressed by the fine spirit of her ship's company and the way that all hands have handled their many problems. Since we have been at sea, every day has shown marked improvement in operations. I am sure that when our opportunity comes to strike the enemy in this ocean, Wasp and her squadrons will add more glory to the name she bears." Noyes' hopes were to be realized, but for all too brief a time.
Four days out of Nukualofa harbor, Wasp developed serious engine trouble. The ship's "black gang," however, worked diligently to do the preliminary work in lifting, repairing, and replacing the ship's starboard high-pressure turbine. The work done en route substantially helped enough to allow speedy completion of the repairs after the ship dropped her hook at Tongatabu on 18 July 1942.
Meanwhile, preparations to invade the Solomon Islands were proceeding apace. Up to that point, the Japanese had been on the offensive, establishing their defensive perimeter around the edge of their "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."
On 4 July, while Waspwas en route to the South Pacific, the Japanese landed on Guadalcanal. Allied planners realized that if the enemy operated land-based aircraft from that key island, then it immediately imperiled Allied control of the New Hebrides and New Caledonia area. Rather than wait until the Japanese were firmly entrenched, they proposed to evict the Japanese before they got too deeply settled. Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, who had attained a sterling record in London as Special Naval Observer, was detailed to take command of the operation, and he established his headquarters at Auckland, New Zealand. Since the Japanese had gotten a foothold on Guadalcanal, time was of the essence. Preparations for the invasion proceeded apace with the utmost secrecy and speed.
Wasp, together with the carriers Saratoga and Enterprise, was assigned to the Support Force under Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher. Under the tactical command of Rear Admiral Noyes, embarked in Wasp, the carriers were to provide air support for the invasion.
Wasp and her airmen worked intensively practicing day and night operations to hone their skills to a high degree. Pilot qualification and training, necessitated by the ship's recent operations in the Atlantic and by the re-equipment of her air group and newer types of planes, proceeded at an intensive pace and, by the time the operations against Guadalcanal were pushed into high gear, Capt. Sherman was confident that his airmen could perform their mission. "D-day" had originally been set for 1 August, but the late arrival of some of the transports carrying Marines pushed the date to 7 August.
Wasp, screened by USS San Francisco (CA-38), USS Salt Lake City (CA-25), and four destroyers, steamed westward toward Guadalcanal on the evening of 6 August until midnight. Then, she changed course to the eastward to reach her launch position 84 miles from Tulagi one hour before the first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon. A fresh breeze whipped across the carrier's darkened flight deck as the first planes were brought up to prepare for launch. The night offshore was bright, but clouds hung heavily over the assigned objective. So far, so good. No Japanese patrols had been spotted.
At 0530, the first planes from Wasp's air group barreled down the deck: 16 F4F-4s under Lt. Comdr. Courtney Shands. Then, 15 SBD-3s under Lt. Comdr. John Eldridge, Jr. and the TBF-1 flown by the air group commander, Lt. Comdr. Wallace M. Beakley, fitted with a larger gasoline tank in its bomb bay to lengthen its time in the air, followed seven minutes later. At 0557, the first combat air patrol fighter took off.
The early flights of F4Fs and SBDs were assigned specific targets: Tulagi, Gavutu, Tanambogo, Halavo, Port Purvis, Haleta, Bungana, and the radio station dubbed "Asses' Ears." After taking off, the 16 Wildcats split up into sections and raced off to their respective hunting areas. At about 0600, the planes passed over the transport area off Lunga Point, as the ships were preparing to disembark their troops. In the pre-dawn darkness, the ships were almost invisible until the fighters passed directly over them. Soon, the fourth division of Shands' flight climbed to 5,000 feet above Tulagi to serve as CAP for the strafers. The third division broke off and headed for their target ? Haleta ? before Shands took three planes around the northwest tip of Tulagi.
Shands and his wingman, Ensign S. W. Forrer, then swung down the north coast toward Gavatu. The other two headed for Tanambogo, to work over the seaplane facilities there. The Japanese appeared to be caught flat-footed, and the Grummans, arriving simultaneously at daybreak, shot up all of the patrol planes and fighter-seaplanes that were in the area. Fifteen Kawanishi flying boats and seven Nakajima floatplane fighters ? the seaplane derivative of the Mitsubishi Zero ? were destroyed by Shands' fighters that flew almost "on the deck." Shands himself bagged at least four Nakajima single-float fighter seaplanes and one four-engined flying boat. His wingman, Forrer, bagged three floatplane fighters and one patrol plane. Lt. Wright and Ens. Kenton bagged three patrol planes apiece and destroyed a motorboat apparently attempting to tend the flying boats; Ensigns Reeves and Conklin each bagged two and shared a fifth patrol plane between them. In addition, the strafing F4Fs destroyed an aviation fuel truck and a truck loaded with spare parts.
The SBDs, too, laid their bombs "on the money." Post-attack assessment estimated that the antiaircraft and shore battery sites pinpointed by intelligence had been destroyed by the dive bombers in their first attack. So complete was the enemy's unpreparedness that none of Wasp's planes was shot down. Only one plane from the 16 Grummans failed to return, and, in that case, its pilot, Ensign Reeves, put her down on board Enterprise after having run low on fuel.
That was not all, however. At 0704, 12 Grumman TBF-1s, led by Lt. H. A. Romberg, rolled ponderously down the deck, loaded with bombs for use against land targets. Having encountered resistance, the initial landing forces called for help. Romberg's dozen Avengers blasted enemy troop concentrations east of the nob of land known as Hill 281, in the Makambo-Sasapi sector, and the prison on Tulagi Island. "All enemy resistance," the official report later stated, was "apparently effectively silenced by this flight."
The first day's operations against Guadalcanal had proved successful. Some 10,000 men had been put ashore there and met only slight resistance. On Tulagi, however, the Japanese resisted stoutly, retaining about one-fifth of the island by nightfall. Wasp, Saratoga, and Enterprise, with their screens, retired to the southward at nightfall.
Wasp returned the next morning, 8 August 1942, to maintain a continuous CAP over the transport area until noon. These fighters were led by Lt. C. S. Moffett. Meanwhile, she also launched a scouting flight of 12 SBD-3s led by Lt. Comdr. E. M. Snowden. The Dauntlesses searched a sector to a radius of 220 miles from their carrier, extending it to include all of the Santa Isabel Island and the New Georgia group.
The Dauntless pilots sighted nothing that morning and made no contact with the enemy during their two hours in the air. But that was soon to change for the flight leader. At 0815, Snowden sighted a Rufe some 40 miles from Rekata Bay and gave chase. The Japanese airman, seeing that he had been spotted, had no stomach for a fight. He pulled up and attempted to use the clouds for cover. Each time the dogged dive bomber pilot gunned the SBD-3 after him. Twice the Rufe headed for the clouds. Snowden finally pulled within close range, and, using his two fixed .50-caliber guns, fired a short burst that hit home, causing the Rufe to spin into the Solomon Sea.
Meanwhile, a large group of Japanese planes approached from Bougainville, apparently bent upon attacking the transports off Lunga Point. Upon learning of their approach, Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner ordered all transports to get underway and to assume cruising disposition. The Americans accordingly cleared the decks for action. Wasp's planes took part in the melee that followed, some planes by accident.
Lt. Comdr. Eldridge, again leading a formation of SDB-3s from VS-71, had led his planes against Mbangi Island, off Tulagi, the site of some still fierce Japanese resistance. Eldridge's rear seat gunner, Aviation Chief Radioman L. A. Powers, suddenly spotted a formation of planes coming in from the northeast, but thinking them to be a relief flight, Eldridge continued on his present course. The Americans did a double-take, however, and discovered that the planes were, in fact, enemy. At that instant, six Zeroes showed up and bounced the first section, but showed remarkably little skill in the attack, for they made 12 firing passes but could not down any of the Dauntlesses.
Meanwhile, the leader of the last section of VS-71, Lt. (jg.) Robert L. Howard, spotted a cluster of twin-engined G4M1 Betty bombers heading for the American transports. Howard dove to the attack, but, in his excitement, failed to flip his armament switch to "on." After two runs during which his guns had failed to fire ? thinking that the guns needed to be recharged ? he discovered his error, but too late to do anything about the Mitsubishi bombers. At that moment, four Zeroes, escorts for the bombers, attacked the single SBD.
Howard's rear gunner, Seaman 2d Class Lawrence P. Lupo, handled his twin 30-caliber mount magnificently and kept the enemy fighters at arm's length, his bullets scoring several hits on them as well. After about eight passes, one Zero veered up sharply and made a head-on run that Howard met with simultaneous fire from his fixed .50s. The Zero caught fire like a flying tinder box, passed close aboard the Dauntless' left wing, and crashed in flames amidst the American landing craft far below. At the same time Howard was downing the Zero ahead, Seaman Lupo was firing on another Zero making an attack from the stern. Lupo kept the enemy away, but he had to shoot through his own plane's vertical stabilizer to do it. Eventually the enemy tired of sporting with the SBD and retired to leave Howard and his squadron mates in VS-71 to return safely to their carrier.
At 1807 on 8 August 1942, Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher recommended to Ghormley, at Noumea, that the air support force be withdrawn. Fletcher, concerned by the large numbers of enemy planes that had attacked on the 8th, reported that he had only 78 fighters left (he had started with 99) and that fuel for the carriers was running low. Ghormley approved the recommendation, and Wasp joined Enterprise and Saratoga in retiring from Guadalcanal. By midnight on 8 August, the landing had been a success, having attained its immediate objectives. All Japanese resistance, except for a few snipers, on Gavutu and Tanombogo had been overcome. Early on 9 August, a Japanese surface force engaged an American one off Savo Island and retired at very little cost to themselves. The Allied force suffered loss of four heavy cruisers off Savo Island, including two that had served with Wasp in the Atlantic: Vincennes and Quincy. The early and unexpected withdrawal of the support force, including Wasp, when coupled with Allied losses in the Battle of Savo Island, jeopardized the success of the operation in the Solomons.
After the initial day's action in the Solomons campaign, the carrier spent the next month engaged in patrol and covering operations for convoys and resupply units headed for Guadalcanal. The Japanese, while reacting sluggishly to the initial thrust at Guadalcanal, soon began pouring reinforcements down to contest the Allied forces.
Wasp was ordered south by Vice Admiral Fletcher to refuel and did not participate in the Battle of Eastern Solomons on 24 August 1942. That engagement cost the American force the use of the valuable Enterprise. Saratoga was torpedoed a week later and departed the South Pacific war zone for repairs as well. That left only two carriers in the southwest Pacific: Hornet, which had been in commission for only a year, and Wasp.
On Tuesday, 16 September 1942, those two carriers and North Carolina ? with 10 other warships ? were escorting the transports carrying the 7th Marine Regiment to Guadalcanal as reinforcements. Wasp had drawn the job of ready-duty carrier and was operating some 150 miles southeast of San Cristobal Island. Her gasoline system was in use, as planes were being refueled and rearmed for antisubmarine patrol missions; and Wasp had been at general quarters from an hour before sunrise until the time when the morning search returned to the ship at 1000. Thereafter, the ship was in condition 2, with the air department at flight quarters. There was no contact with the enemy during the day, with the exception of a Japanese four-engined flying boat downed by a Wasp Wildcat at 1215.
About 1420, the carrier turned into the wind to launch eight fighters and 18 SBD-3s and to recover eight F4F-3s and three SBDs that had been airborne since before noon. The ship rapidly completed the recovery of the 11 planes, she then turned easily to starboard, the ship heeling slightly as the course change was made. The air department at flight quarters, as they had done in earlier operations, worked coolly at refueling and respotting the ship's planes for the afternoon mission. Suddenly, at 1444, a lookout called out, "three torpedoes . . . three points forward of the starboard beam!"
A spread of four torpedoes, fired from the tubes of the Japanese submarine I-19, churned inexorably closer. Wasp put over her rudder hard-a-starboard, but it was too late. Two torpedoes smashed home in quick succession while a fourth passed ahead. Both hit in the vicinity of gasoline tanks and magazines.
In quick succession, fiery blasts ripped through the forward part of the ship. Aircraft on the flight and hangar decks were thrown about as if they were toys and dropped on the deck with such force that landing gears snapped. Planes triced up in the hangar overheads fell and landed upon those on the hangar deck. Fires broke out almost simultaneously in the hangar and below decks. Soon, the heat of the intense gasoline fires detonated the ready ammunition at the forward antiaircraft guns on the starboard side, and fragments showered the forward part of the ship. The number two 1.1-inch mount was blown overboard and the corpse of the gun captain was thrown onto the bridge where it landed next to Capt. Sherman.
Water mains in the forward part of the ship proved useless, since they had been broken by the force of the explosions. There was no water available to fight the conflagration forward; and the fires continued to set off ammunition, bombs, and gasoline. As the ship listed to starboard between 10 and 15 degrees, oil and gasoline, released from the tanks by the torpedo hit, caught fire on the water.
Sherman slowed to 10 knots, ordering the rudder put to port to try to get the wind on the starboard bow. He then went astern with right rudder until the wind was on the starboard quarter, in an attempt to keep the fire forward. At that point, some flames made central station untenable, and communication circuits went dead. Soon, a serious gasoline fire broke out in the forward portion of the hanger, within 24 minutes of the initial attack, three additional major gasoline vapor explosions occurred. Ten minutes later, Capt. Sherman consulted with his executive officer, Comdr. Fred C. Dickey. The two men saw no course but to abandon, as all fire-fighting was proving ineffectual. The survivors would have to be gotten off quickly if unnecessary loss of life was not to be incurred.
Reluctantly, after consulting with Rear Admiral Noyes, Capt. Sherman ordered "abandon ship" at 1520. All badly injured men were lowered into rafts or rubber boats. Many unwounded men had to abandon from aft because the forward fires were burning with such intensity. The departure, as Capt. Sherman observed it, looked "orderly," and there was no panic. The only delays occurred when many men showed reluctance to leave until all the wounded had been taken off. The abandonment took nearly 40 minutes, and, at 1600 ? satisfied that no one was left on deck, in the galleries, or in the hangar aft ? Capt. Sherman swung over the lifeline on the fantail and slid into the sea.
Although the submarine hazard caused the accompanying destroyers to lie well clear or to shift position, the "tin cans" carried out the rescue efforts with persistence and determination until USS Laffey (DD-459), USS Lansdowne (DD-486), USS Helena (CL-50), and USS Salt Lake City had 1,946 men embarked. The abandoned ship drifted with her crew of remaining dead. The fires greedily traveled aft; four more violent explosions boomed as night began to fall. Lansdowne drew the duty of destruction, and she fired five torpedoes into the dying ship's fire-gutted hull. Three hit, but she remained afloat. By now, the orange flames had enveloped the stern. The carrier literally floated in a burning pool of gasoline and oil. She sank at 2100 by the bow.
Wasp received two battle stars for her World War II service.
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David
Tue August 9, 2005 12:41pm
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USS Lexington CV 16 17 Fe
USS Lexington CV 16 17 Feb 1942 8 Nov 1991
USS Lexington (CVA-16) arriving in San Francisco Bay, California, circa early 1958, after a four and one-half month overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington. The "Lady Lex" has the letters "USO" spelled out on her flight deck by members of her crew, in observance of the United Services Organization fundraising drive then being conducted. Note automobiles parked aft, and a wingless UF Albatross behind the island. The original print has the date 8 May 1958 stamped on its reverse.
displacement: 27,100 tons
length: 872 feet
beam: 93 feet; extreme beam: 192 feet
draft: 28 feet 7 inches
speed: 32.7 knots
complement: 3,748 crew
armament: 12 five-inch guns, 68 40mm guns
aircraft: 103
class: Essex
The fifth Lexington (CV-16) was laid down as Cabot 15 July 1941 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Mass., renamed Lexington 16 June 1942, launched 23 September 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Theodore D. Robinson; and commissioned 17 February 19 43, Capt. Felix B. Stump in command.
After Caribbean shakedown and yard work at Boston, Lexington sailed for Pacific action via the Panama Canal, arriving Pearl Harbor 9 August 1943. She raided Tarawa in late September and Wake in October, then returned Pearl Harbor to prepare for the Gilbert Islands operation. From 19 to 24 November she made searches and flew sorties in the Marshalls, covering the landings in the Gilberts. Her aviators downed 29 enemy aircraft on 23 and 24 November.
Lexington sailed to raid Kwajalein 4 December 1943. Her morning strike destroyed a cargo ship, damaged two cruisers, and accounted for 30 enemy aircraft. Her gunners splashed two of the enemy torpedo planes that attacked at midday, and opened fire again at 1920 that night when a mayor air attack began. At 2322 parachute flares silhouetted the carrier, and 10 minutes later she was hit by a torpedo to starboard, knocking out her steering gear. Settling five feet by the stern, the carrier began circling to port amidst dense clouds of smoke pouring from ruptured tanks aft. An emergency hand-operated steering unit was quickly devised, and Lexington made Pearl Harbor for emergency repairs, arriving 9 December. She reached Bremerton, Wash., 22 December for full repairs completed 20 February 1944.
Lexington sailed via Alameda, Calif., and Pearl Harbor for Majuro, where Rear Adm. Marc Mitscher commanding TF 58 broke his flag in her 8 March. After a warm-up strike against Mille, TF 58 operated against the major centers of resistance in Japa n's outer empire, supporting the Army landing at Hollandia 13 April, and hitting supposedly invulnerable Truk 28 April. Heavy counterattack left Lexington untouched, her planes splashing 17 enemy fighters; but, for the second time, Japanese propaganda announced her sunk.
A surprise fighter strike on Saipan 11 June virtually eliminated all air opposition over the island, then battered from the air for the next five days. On 16 June 1944, Lexington fought off a fierce attack by Japanese torpedo planes based on Guam, once a gain to emerge unhurt, but sunk a third time by propaganda pronouncements. As Japanese opposition to the Mariannas operation provoked the Battle of the Philippine Sea 19 and 20 June, Lexington played a mayor role in TF 58's great victory. With over 300 enemy aircraft destroyed the first day, and a carrier, a tanker, and a destroyer sunk the second day, American aviators virtually knocked Japanese naval aviation out of the war; for with the planes went the trained and experienced pilots without whom Japan could not continue air warfare at sea.
Using Eniwetok as her base, Lexington flew sorties over Guam and against the Palaus and Bonins into August. She arrived in the Carolinas 6 September for three days of strikes against Yap and Ulithi, then began attacks on Mindanao, the Visayas, the Manila area, and shipping along the west coast of Luzon, preparing for the coming assault on Leyte. Her task force then blasted Okinawa 10 October and Formosa two days later to destroy bases from which opposition to the Philippines campaign might be launched . She was again unscathed through the air battle fought after the Formosa assault.
Now covering the Leyte landings, Lexington's planes scored importantly in the Battle for Leyte Gulf, the climactic American naval victory over Japan. While the carrier came under constant enemy attack in the engagement in which USS Princeton (CVL 23) was sunk, her planes joined in sinking Japan's superbattleship Musashi and scored hits on three cruisers 24 October 1944. Next day, with Essex aircraft, they sank carrier Chitose, and alone sank Zuikako. Later in the day, they aided in sinking a third carrier, Zuiho. As the retiring Japanese were pursued, her planes sank heavy cruiser Nachi with four torpedo hits 5 November off Luzon.
But in the same action, she was introduced to the kamikaze as a flaming Japanese plane crashed near her island, destroying most of the island structure and spraying fire in all directions. Within 20 minutes mayor blazes were under control, and she was able to continue normal flight actions, her guns knocking down a would-be kamikaze heading for the carrier USS Ticonderoga (CV 14) as well. On 9 November Lexington arrived Ulithi to repair battle damage and learn that Tokyo once again claimed her destroyed.
Chosen flagship for TG 58.2 on 11 December, she struck at the airfields of Luzon and Formosa during the first 9 days of January 1945, encountering little enemy opposition. The task force then entered the China Sea to strike enemy shipping and air insta llations. Strikes were flown against Saipan, Camranh Bay in then Indochina, Hong Kong, the Pescadores, and Formosa. Task force planes sank four merchant ships and four escorts in one convoy and destroyed at least 12 in another, at Camranh Bay 12 January. Leaving the China Sea 20 January, Lexington sailed north to strike Formosa again 21 January and Okinawa again 22 January.
After replenishing at Ulithi, TG 58.2 sailed 10 February to hit airfields near Tokyo 16 and 17 February to minimize opposition to the Iwo Jima landings 19 February. Lexington flew close support for the assaulting troops 19 to 22 February, then sailed for further strikes against the Japanese home islands and the Nansei Shoto before heading for overhaul at Puget Sound.
Lexington was combat bound again 22 May, sailing via Alameda and Pearl Harbor for San Pedro Bay, Leyte, where she joined Rear Adm. T. L. Sprague's task force for the final round of airstrikes which battered the Japanese home islands through July until 15 August, when the last strike was ordered to jettison its bombs and return to Lexington on receiving word of Japanese surrender. During this period she had launched attacks on Honshu and Hokkaido airfields, and Yokosuka and Kure naval bases to destroy the remnants of the Japanese fleet. She had also flown bombing attacks on industrial targets in the Tokyo area. After hostilities ended, she continued to fly precautionary patrols over Japan, and dropped supplies to prisoner of war camps on Honshu. She supported the occupation of Japan until leaving Tokyo Bay 3 December 1945 with homeward bound veterans for transportation to San Francisco, where she arrived 16 December.
After west coast operations, Lexington decommissioned at Bremerton, Wash., 23 April 1947 and entered the Reserve Fleet there. Designated attack carrier CVA-16 on 1 October 1952, she began conversion and modernization in Puget Sound Naval Shipyard 1 September 1953, receiving the new angled flight deck.
Lexington recommissioned 15 August 1955, Capt. A. S. Heyward, Jr., in command. Assigned San Diego as her home port, she operated off California until May 1956 sailing then for a six-month deployment with the 7th Fleet. She based on Yokosuka for exercises, maneuvers, and search and rescue missions off the coast of China, and called at major Far Eastern ports until returning San Diego 20 December. She next trained Air Group 12, which deployed with her on the next 7th Fleet deployment. Arriving Yokosuka 1 June 1957, Lexington embarked Rear Adm. H. D. Riley, Commander Carrier Division 1, and sailed as his flagship until returning San Diego 17 October.
Following overhaul at Bremerton, her refresher training was interrupted by the Lebanon crisis. On 14 July 1958, she was ordered to embark Air Group 21 at San Francisco and sail to reinforce the 7th Fleet off Taiwan, arriving on station 7 August. With another peacekeeping mission of the U.S. Navy successfully accomplished, she returned San Diego 19 December. Now the first carrier whose planes were armed with air-to-surface Bullpup guided missile, Lexington left San Francisco 26 April 1959 for another tour of duty with the 7th Fleet. She was on standby alert during the Laotian crisis of late August and September, then exercised with British forces before sailing from Yokosuka 16 November for San Diego, arriving 2 December. Through early 1960 she overhauled at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
Lexington's next Far Eastern tour began late in 1960 and was extended well into 1961 by renewed tension in Laos. Returning to west coast operations, she was ordered in January 1962 to prepare to relieve USS Antietam (CVS-36) as aviation training carrier in the Gulf of Mexico, and she was redesignated CVS-16 on 1 October 1962. However, during the Cuban missile crisis, she resumed duty as an attack carrier, and it was not until 29 December 1963 that she relieved Antietam at Pensacola.
Lexington operated out of her home port, Pensacola, as well as Corpus Christi and New Orleans, qualifying student aviators and maintaining the high state of training of both active duty and reserve naval aviators. Lexington marked her 200,000th arrested landing 17 October 1967, and was redesignated CVT-16 on 1 January 1969. She continued as a training carrier for the next 22 years until decommissioned 8 November 1991. On 15 June 1992, the ship was donated as a museum and now operates as such in Corpus Christi, Tex.
Lexington received the Presidential Unit Citation and 11 battle stars for World War II service.
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David
Fri August 26, 2005 1:53pm
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Treaty of Paris (1783)
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The American War for Independence (1775-83) was actually a world conflict, involving not only the United States and Great Britain but also France, Spain, and the Netherlands. The peace process brought a vaguely formed, newly born United States into the arena of international diplomacy, playing against the largest, most sophisticated, and most established powers on earth.
The three American negotiators, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, proved themselves to be masters of the game, outmaneuvering their counterparts and clinging fiercely to the points of national interest that guaranteed a future for the United States. Two crucial provisions of the treaty were British recognition of U.S. independence and the delineation of boundaries that would allow for American western expansion.
The treaty is named for the city in which it was negotiated and signed. The last page bears the signatures of David Hartley, who represented Great Britain, and the three American negotiators, who signed their names in alphabetical order.
Transcript:
The Definitive Treaty of Peace 1783
In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.
It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts of the most serene and most potent Prince George the Third, by the grace of God, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, duke of Brunswick and Lunebourg, arch-treasurer and prince elector of the Holy Roman Empire etc., and of the United States of America, to forget all past misunderstandings and differences that have unhappily interrupted the good correspondence and friendship which they mutually wish to restore, and to establish such a beneficial and satisfactory intercourse , between the two countries upon the ground of reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience as may promote and secure to both perpetual peace and harmony; and having for this desirable end already laid the foundation of peace and reconciliation by the Provisional Articles signed at Paris on the 30th of November 1782, by the commissioners empowered on each part, which articles were agreed to be inserted in and constitute the Treaty of Peace proposed to be concluded between the Crown of Great Britain and the said United States, but which treaty was not to be concluded until terms of peace should be agreed upon between Great Britain and France and his Britannic Majesty should be ready to conclude such treaty accordingly; and the treaty between Great Britain and France having since been concluded, his Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, in order to carry into full effect the Provisional Articles above mentioned, according to the tenor thereof, have constituted and appointed, that is to say his Britannic Majesty on his part, David Hartley, Esqr., member of the Parliament of Great Britain, and the said United States on their part, John Adams, Esqr., late a commissioner of the United States of America at the court of Versailles, late delegate in Congress from the state of Massachusetts, and chief justice of the said state, and minister plenipotentiary of the said United States to their high mightinesses the States General of the United Netherlands; Benjamin Franklin, Esqr., late delegate in Congress from the state of Pennsylvania, president of the convention of the said state, and minister plenipotentiary from the United States of America at the court of Versailles; John Jay, Esqr., late president of Congress and chief justice of the state of New York, and minister plenipotentiary from the said United States at the court of Madrid; to be plenipotentiaries for the concluding and signing the present definitive treaty; who after having reciprocally communicated their respective full powers have agreed upon and confirmed the following articles.
Article 1:
His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign and independent states, that he treats with them as such, and for himself, his heirs, and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety, and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof.
Article 2:
And that all disputes which might arise in future on the subject of the boundaries of the said United States may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that the following are and shall be their boundaries, viz.; from the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, viz., that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix River to the highlands; along the said highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River; thence down along the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; from thence by a line due west on said latitude until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy; thence along the middle of said river into Lake Ontario; through the middle of said lake until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and Lake Erie; thence along the middle of said communication into Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake until it arrives at the water communication between that lake and Lake Huron; thence along the middle of said water communication into Lake Huron, thence through the middle of said lake to the water communication between that lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior northward of the Isles Royal and Phelipeaux to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long Lake and the water communication between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said lake to the most northwesternmost point thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the river Mississippi; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said river Mississippi until it shall intersect the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude, South, by a line to be drawn due east from the determination of the line last mentioned in the latitude of thirty-one degrees North of the equator, to the middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint River, thence straight to the head of Saint Mary's River; and thence down along the middle of Saint Mary's River to the Atlantic Ocean; east, by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river Saint Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly north to the aforesaid highlands which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the river Saint Lawrence; comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part and East Florida on the other shall, respectively, touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are or heretofore have been within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia.
Article 3:
It is agreed that the people of the United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of every kind on the Grand Bank and on all the other banks of Newfoundland, also in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and at all other places in the sea, where the inhabitants of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish. And also that the inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty to take fish of every kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundland as British fishermen shall use, (but not to dry or cure the same on that island) and also on the coasts, bays and creeks of all other of his Brittanic Majesty's dominions in America; and that the American fishermen shall have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbors, and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled, but so soon as the same or either of them shall be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at such settlement without a previous agreement for that purpose with the inhabitants, proprietors, or possessors of the ground.
Article 4:
It is agreed that creditors on either side shall meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted.
Article 5:
It is agreed that Congress shall earnestly recommend it to the legislatures of the respective states to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated belonging to real British subjects; and also of the estates, rights, and properties of persons resident in districts in the possession on his Majesty's arms and who have not borne arms against the said United States. And that persons of any other decription shall have free liberty to go to any part or parts of any of the thirteen United States and therein to remain twelve months unmolested in their endeavors to obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights, and properties as may have been confiscated; and that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several states a reconsideration and revision of all acts or laws regarding the premises, so as to render the said laws or acts perfectly consistent not only with justice and equity but with that spirit of conciliation which on the return of the blessings of peace should universally prevail. And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several states that the estates, rights, and properties, of such last mentioned persons shall be restored to them, they refunding to any persons who may be now in possession the bona fide price (where any has been given) which such persons may have paid on purchasing any of the said lands, rights, or properties since the confiscation.
And it is agreed that all persons who have any interest in confiscated lands, either by debts, marriage settlements, or otherwise, shall meet with no lawful impediment in the prosecution of their just rights.
Article 6:
That there shall be no future confiscations made nor any prosecutions commenced against any person or persons for, or by reason of, the part which he or they may have taken in the present war, and that no person shall on that account suffer any future loss or damage, either in his person, liberty, or property; and that those who may be in confinement on such charges at the time of the ratification of the treaty in America shall be immediately set at liberty, and the prosecutions so commenced be discontinued.
Article 7:
There shall be a firm and perpetual peace between his Brittanic Majesty and the said states, and between the subjects of the one and the citizens of the other, wherefore all hostilities both by sea and land shall from henceforth cease. All prisoners on both sides shall be set at liberty, and his Brittanic Majesty shall with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any Negroes or other property of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons, and fleets from the said United States, and from every post, place, and harbor within the same; leaving in all fortifications, the American artilery that may be therein; and shall also order and cause all archives, records, deeds, and papers belonging to any of the said states, or their citizens, which in the course of the war may have fallen into the hands of his officers, to be forthwith restored and delivered to the proper states and persons to whom they belong.
Article 8:
The navigation of the river Mississippi, from its source to the ocean, shall forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of the United States.
Article 9:
In case it should so happen that any place or territory belonging to Great Britain or to the United States should have been conquered by the arms of either from the other before the arrival of the said Provisional Articles in America, it is agreed that the same shall be restored without difficulty and without requiring any compensation.
Article 10:
The solemn ratifications of the present treaty expedited in good and due form shall be exchanged between the contracting parties in the space of six months or sooner, if possible, to be computed from the day of the signatures of the present treaty. In witness whereof we the undersigned, their ministers plenipotentiary, have in their name and in virtue of our full powers, signed with our hands the present definitive treaty and caused the seals of our arms to be affixed thereto.
Done at Paris, this third day of September in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three.
D. HARTLEY (SEAL)
JOHN ADAMS (SEAL)
B. FRANKLIN (SEAL)
JOHN JAY (SEAL)
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frisco-kid
Sun December 11, 2005 4:45pm
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100_0071_2
Our driver, Bao. A real nice young man [28yrs. old], who did a great job of driving us all over the countryside. Didn't kill anybody, or get us killed, anyway. He couldn't speak much english, but he liked to rock out to Kath's CD's that she brought along and we played in the CD player in the van  .
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David
Wed October 28, 2009 9:16am
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Wild Weasel
Wild Weasel is a nickname for an aircraft of the United States Air Force specially equipped with radar seeking missiles used to remove radars and SAM installations of enemy air defence systems. The techniques used with Wild Weasels in the Vietnam and the Yom Kippur War were later integrated into the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) a plan used by US air forces to establish immediate air control, prior to possible full scale conflict. Initially known by the operational code "IRON HAND" when first authorized on August 12, 1965, the term "Wild Weasel" derives from Project Wild Weasel, the USAF development program for a dedicated SAM-detection and suppression aircraft. Originally named "Project Ferret", denoting a predatory animal that goes into its prey's den to kill it (hence: "to ferret out"), the name was changed to differentiate it from the code-name "Ferret" that had been used during World War II for radar counter-measures bombers.
In brief, the task of a Wild Weasel aircraft is to bait enemy anti-aircraft defenses into targeting it with their radars, whereupon the radar waves are traced back to their source so that the Weasel or its teammates can precisely target it for destruction. A simple analogy is playing the game of "flashlight tag" in the dark; a flashlight is usually the only reliable means of identifying someone in order to "tag" (destroy) them, but the light immediately renders the bearer able to be identified and attacked as well. The result is a hectic game of cat-and-mouse in which the radar "flashlights" are rapidly cycled on and off in an attempt to identify and kill the target before the target is able to home in on the emitted radar "light" and destroy the site.
The technique (or a specific part) was also called an 'Iron Hand' mission, though technically the Iron Hand part refers only to a suppression attack that paves the way for the main strike.
The unofficial motto of the Wild Weasel crews is YGBSM: "You Gotta Be Shittin' Me". This appears prominently on the logo patch of some squadrons. As the story goes, this was the response of Jack Donovan, a former B-52 EWO (Electronic Warfare Officer):
This was the natural response of an educated man, a veteran EWO on B-52s and the like, upon learning that he was to fly back seat to a self-absorbed fighter pilot while acting as flypaper for enemy SAMs.
The "WW" tailcode of the 35th Fighter Wing derives from its Wild Weasel heritage.
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