Live Connected.

Networking the fleet means providing more than a network at sea, it means
connecting people with capability. At General Dynamics, our experts in cutting-edge
networking and radio technologies are committed to keeping the Navy online
– all the time, everywhere.

Connected to the mission. Connected to home.

New developments in bandwidth expansion and everything-over-IP, together
with state-of-the-art security and technology, are enabling sailor communications
for total mission sduccess and quality odf life.

Live connected to the mission, live connected to home.

www.gdc4s.com/navy

© 2011 General Dynamics. All rights reserved. Select photos courtesy of the U. S. Navy. Reproduced with permission of Navy Federal Credit Union. © 2011 NFCU. NASCAR.com
© 2001-2011 NASCAR | Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduced with permission of Phoenix International Raceway. © 2011 International Speedway Corp.
Reproduced with permission of Yahoo! Inc. © 2011 Yahoo! Inc. YAHOO! and Yahoo! logo are registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc.

www.downmagaz.com
 June 2011 I Volume 25 I Number 3

U.S. Naval Institute I www.usni.org

18 Ships That Were Lighter Than Air

By Norman Polmar
The U.S. Navy’s flirtation with a zeppelin fleet of
“flying aircraft carriers” dazzled the public but was
doomed to crash.

24 Picking Winners?
By Richard B. Frank
FDR’s secret list of top flag officers in 1942 offers a
lesson in 20/20 hindosight—especially coonsidering
who’s not on the list.

32 Where Naval Aviation History Is Manifest

By Hill Goodspeed
The centennial year oof the naval branch othat forever

18
altered sea warfare is the ideal time to visit the
National Naval Aviation Museum.

36 The Reverend of Iwo BJima

By Major General Jarvis D. Lynch Jr.,
U.S. Marine Corps (BRetired)
DEPARTMENTS
Garrison commander, spymaster, Buddhist
4 On Our Scope priest—Tsunezo Wachi was a complex character, a
formidable foe, and oan amazing postwar froiend.
6 Looking Back
8 In Contact
44 Hollywood on the FlighBt Deck
10 Naval History News By Eric Mills
From Hell Divers to Hot Shots!—a compendium
12 Flight Line of cinematic naval-aviation classics, near-classics,
14 Historic Fleets and clunkers.

16 Historic Aircraft
68 Book Reviews
50 Young Nelson in the Boreas
By Rear Admiral Joseph F. Callo,
72 Museum Report U.S. Navy Reserve (Retired)
Up-and-coming Captaino Horatio Nelson toleroated no
rule-bending during ohis Caribbean assigonment, not
even from his superioors.

58 Chilean Standoff
By Howard J. Fuller
The war between Spain and the United States almost
started more than 30 years before “Remember the
Maine,” during a tense showdown at Valparaiso, Chile.

COVER: The USS Macon prepares for mooring at Moffett Field,

32
California, in 1933. The massive airship made more than 50
flights before crashing in February 1935.
(U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive)

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JUNE 2011 1

 Contributors
Rear Admiral Joseph F. Callo, U.S.
Navy Reserve (Retired), is author of
the award-winning biography John
Paul Jones: America’s First Sea Warrior
(Naval Institute Press, 2006) and three
books about Admiral Lord Nelson. He
also was U.S. author/editor for Who’s
Who in Naval History (Routledge, 2004)
and is an award-winning television pro-
ducer and writer. Rear Admiral Callo
writes frequently on military subjects for
magazines and newspapers, and he is
Naval History’s 1998 Author of the Year.
Howard J. Fuller is senior lecturer
of war studies at the University of
Wolverhampton, U.K., and an associate
professor at the University of Maryland
University College. An associate editor
of the International Journal of Naval
History, Dr. Fuller is the author of Clad
in Iron: The American Civil War and
the Challenge of British Naval Power
(Naval Institute Press, 2010) and was
the 2002–3 Rear Admiral John D.
Hayes Fellow in U.S. Naval History at
the U.S. Naval Historical Center.
Major General Jarvis D. Lynch Jr.,
a 1956 graduate of the U.S. Naval
Academy, retired from active duty in
1991 after serving 35 years as an infan-
try officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
He was the Proceedings Distinguished
Author of the Year for 1995. He and his
wife reside in Tampa, Florida.
Norman Polmar is an analyst, consul-
tant, and author specializing in naval,
aviation, and intelligence issues. For
almost 11 years he was a member of
the Secretary of the Navy’s Research
Advisory Committee. His writings
include numerous articles and books on
naval aviation, most recently the two-vol-
ume history Aircraft Carriers: A History
of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on
World Events, 1909–2006 (Potomac
Books, 2006, 2008). Mr. Polmar is a col-
umnist for both Proceedings and Naval
History magazines.
2 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
www.downmagaz.com
Richard B. Frank, a Vietnam veteran,
is author of the award-winning book
Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of
the Landmark Battle (Random House,
1990), as well as Downfall: The End of
the Imperial Japanese Empire (Random
House, 1999) and MacArthur (2006),
part of Palgrave’s Great Generals series.
A consultant for the HBO miniseries
The Pacific, he is currently working on
a narrative-history trilogy about the
Asian-Pacific war.
Hill Goodspeed is the historian at
the National Naval Aviation Museum
in Pensacola, Florida. A graduate of
Washington and Lee University,
where he was a George C. Marshall
U n d e r g r a d u a t e S c h o l a r, M r.
Goodspeed is the author/editor of five
books, including U.S. Naval Aviation
(Naval Aviation Museum Foundation),
which was named one of the notable
naval books of 2001 by the U.S. Naval
Institute’s Proceedings.
Eric Mills, an associate editor of Naval
History and adjunct professor of his-
tory at Chesapeake College, is the
author of Chesapeake Bay in the Civil
War (Schiffer Publishing, 2010), The
Spectral Tide: True Ghost Stories of
the U.S. Navy (Naval Institute Press,
2009), and Chesapeake Rumrunners of
the Roaring Twenties (Cornell Maritime
Press, 2000).
www.USNI.org Naval History (ISSN 1042-1920) is published bi-
monthly by the U.S. Naval Institute, 291 Wood
Road, Annapolis, MD 21402. To order subscrip-
tions, memberships, books, or selected photographs: 800-233-8764, 410-268-6110; fax 410-571-
1703. Subscriptions: Naval Institute members $20 one year; Naval Institute memberships: $49
one year. Editorial offices: U.S. Naval Academy, Beach Hall, 291 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD
21402-5034; 410-268-6110; fax 410-295-1049. Periodicals postage paid at Annapolis, MD, and
at additional mailing offices. Copyright 2011 U.S. Naval Institute. Copyright is not claimed for
editorial material in the public domain. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Naval History,
Naval Institute Circulation, 291 Wood Rd., Annapolis, MD 21402. Submissions (please supply
contact numbers and return address): Editor-in-Chief, Naval History, U.S. Naval Institute, 291
Wood Rd., Annapolis, MD 21402-5034 (include IBM-compatible diskette); articlesubmissions@
usni.org; fax 410-295-1049. The U.S. Naval Institute is a private, self-supporting, not-for-profit
professional society, which publishes Proceedings and Naval History magazines and professional books
as part of the open forum it maintains for the sea services. The Naval Institute is not an agency of
the U.S. government; the opinions expressed in these pages are the personal views of the authors.
 o n L imit: Standing an impressive 16½ inches tall, the “Spirit of the U.S. Navy”
Editi 5,000! three-dimensional sculpture presents a striking image of a WWII-
Only era sailor, hand-cast and expertly hand-painted in antique bronze
tones. Adding to its impact is an abundance of hand-crafted details,
including an authentically-styled uniform, complete with replica
canteen, true-to-life holster with pistol, and even a first aid pouch.
Turn the sculpture around, and you’ll discover the custom crafting
extends to the rendering of an ammunition bag with carrying strap,
15-round carbine pockets and more. Standing tall on a sturdy
sculpted display base crafted to match the look of rocky shores
protected by sailors of every generation, “Spirit of the U.S. Navy”
salutes the historic service of World War II sailors, and the enduring
legacy of the U.S. Navy to this day.
Exceptional value; satisfaction guaranteed
“Spirit of the U.S. Navy” comes with a 365-day money-back guar-
antee and is issued in a strictly limited edition of only 5,000 hand-
crafted sculptures. Act now to acquire yours in three monthly
installments of $33.32, for a total of $99.95*. Send no money now.
Just return the Reservation Application today. But don’t delay or
you could miss out!

Shown much smaller

than actual height1
of 16½ inches

Hand-crafted in flawless detail!

Individual hand-painting brings every detail
of the sailor and his gear to life.

www.bradfordexchange.com/4808

©2010 BGE 01-04808-001-BIU

RESERVATION APPLICATION SEND NO MONEY NOW

9 3 4 5 M i l w a u k e e A v e n u e · N i l e s , I L 6 0 7 14-1393

YES. Please reserve “The Spirit of the U.S. Navy” sculp-

ture for me as described in this announcement.
Limit: one per order. Please Respond Promptly

Mrs. Mr. Ms.

Name (Please Print Clearly)

Address

City

State Zip
01-04808-001-E37192

*Plus $12.99 shipping and service. Limited-edition presentation restricted to 5000 sculp-
tures. Please allow 4-8 weeks after initial payment for shipment. Sales subject to product
availability and order acceptance.
 On Our Scope
U.S. NAVAL I NSTIT U T E
Naval HiStOry
291 Wood Rd.
Annapolis, MD 21402i-5034
Tel: (410) 268-6110 • Fax: (410) 295-1049

A
s economic hard times increasingly put the Editor-in-ChiEf
pinch on defense dollars, today’s Navy would do Richard G. Latture
well to look back to the interwar years, when rlatture@usni.org
naval aviation weathered the Great Depression AssoCiAtE Editors
as well as a fight over its very existence. Rear Admiral Robin Bisland
William A. Moffett combined political savvy with shrewd rbisland@usni.org
public relations to successfully navigate the Bureau of Eric Mills
Aeronautics through many of those turbulent years. emills@usni.org
Donald Ross
Moffett’s political skills enabled him to deal deftly
dross@usni.org
with Congress on budget issues, secure aviation’s position
within the Navy, and help defeat proponents of a unified Editor-in-ChiEf Proceedings
air service—the most controversial and colorful of whom Paul Merzlak
was Army Brigadier General William “Billy” Mitchell. pmerzlak@usni.org

According to William F. Trimble, author of Admiral EditoriAl ProjECt CoordinAtor

William A. Moffett: Architect of Naval Aviation (Naval Liese Doherty
Institute Press, 2007), in many ways Moffett’s battles with NAVAL HISTORy AND HERITAGE COMMAND ldoherty@usni.org
fellow Navy officers, who either perceived naval air as a Rear Admiral William A. dirECtor of dEsign And ProduCtion
“threat to their long-established prerogatives” or favored Moffett led the BurNeau of Kelly Erlinger
a separate aviation corps within the service, was more Aeronautics from 1N921 to 1933. kerlinger@usni.org
difficult than his headline-grabbing fight against Mitchell. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • sEnior dEsignEr
Rarely mentioning the air general’s name in public, Jen Mabe
“Moffett won the war with Mitchell using an astute combination of carefully worded jabs in the jmabe@usni.org
news media and the support of fiscally conservative Republican administrations,” writes Trimble. Photo Editor
Underlying Moffett’s efforts was his skill at promoting Amy Voight
naval aviation. The Navy had an enormous edge over the avoight@usni.org
Army in vying for public attention and defense dollars: Contributing Editors
majestic and powerful ships—the tangible results of naval Robert J. Cressman, Norman Polmar,
expenditures. Admiral Moffett took full advantage. For Fred Schultz, Paul Sitillwell
example, in 1923 he recommended that the CNO order PublishEr
the Navy’s first aircraft carrier, the Langley (CV-1), to William Miller
Washington, D.C. During her ten-day visit, the public, wmiller@usni.org
members of Congress, and President Warren Harding AdvErtising sAlEs
viewed aerial demonstirations and toured the iflattop. Director—William K. Hughes
Admiral Moffett was able to outdo his water-bound Navy wmkhughes@comcast.neit
counterparts by having some of his ships sail into America’s Manager—David Sheehani
heartland. These rigid airships, profiled in Norman Polmar’s dsheehan@usni.org
article “Ships That Were Lighter Than Air,” made numerous Advertising Assistant—iMichelle Mullen
transcontinental voyages as well as “hand-waving flights” mmullen@usni.org
over county fairs, parades, and other public gatherings. Thus CEo
thousands of Americans who’d never seen an ocean were MGEN Thomas L. Wilkerson, USMC (Ret.)
able to look up and marvel at an enormous dirigible with twilkerson@usni.org
“U.S. Navy” emblazoned on her sides.
EditoriAl boArd
Sill more people were able to get a taste of Navy life, Chairman—CAPT Douglais M. Fears, USCG
© 1931, RENEWED 1958 COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC. ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED COURTESy OF COLUMBIA PICTURES
or at least Hollywood’s version of it, from the era’s steady Vice Chairman—CAPT Mark L. Stevens, USN
stream of naval-themed motion pictures. The biggest stars LCDR Claude G. Berube, USNR
1931’s Dirigible featured the airship
of these films were often ships, including the Arizona (BB- SGTMAJ David K. Devaney, USMC
Los Angeles as well as Fay Wray. 39) and Saratoga (CV-3). When Commander Frank “Spig” CMDCM Jacqueline L.i DiRosa, USN
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Wead suffered a 1926 accident that ended his flying career, LT Bradley D. Harrison, USNR
he began cranking out naval aviation–themed film scripts. Eric Mills’ look at fixed-wing naval- BMCM Kevin P. Leask, USCG
air movies, “Hollywood on the Flight Deck,” includes some films scripted by Wead. MAJ Marcus J. Mainz, UiSMC
Moffett’s airships also appeared in motion pictures, perhaps most notably the 1931 Frank CAPT David M. McFarliand, USN
Capra movie Dirigible, screenplay by Spig Wead. It featured the USS Los Angeles (ZR-3), and LCDR Jeffrey W. Novak, USCG
much of the filming took place at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey. Tragically, two CDR John P. Patch, USN (Ret.)
years after the movie’s release the airship Akron (ZRS-4) crashed at sea, and among the 73 men LTC Kendric H. Robbins, USA
who perished was naval aviation’s most enthusiastic proponent, Admiral William Moffett. COL Philip C. Skuta, USiMC

Richard G. Latture Printed in the USAi

Editor-in-Chief

4 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
 GOLD
STANDARD. © 2011 Lockheed Mart1in Corporation

For 100 years, Naval Aviators have earned their wings by demonstrating the highest levels of ability, professionalism,
leadership and patriotism. The men and women of Naval Aviation have always represented a standard in excellence recognized
around the world. And the men and women of Lockheed Martin are proud to have played a role in their success. For the past
90 years – from the HS-2L to Mariner, Catalina and Neptune, to Orion and the longest-serving aircraft in U.S. Naval history, the
KC-130 Hercules – Lockheed Martin is proud to have built such cutting edge aircraft for the U.S. Navy. And, we will be there
tomorrow as the F-35 Lightning II sets the standard for Navy and Marine Corps aviation in the decades to come.

lockheedmartin.com/how
 Looking Back
Fiasco in the Bay of Pigs
H
alf a century ago John F.
Kennedy’s brief presiden-
tial administration began.
Afterward it acquired a rosy
hue and was dubbed “Camelot,” named
for a popular Broadway musical. As cel-
ebrated as Kennedy’s term became in ret-
rospect, his national-security team stum-
bled badly in April 1961, less than three
months after he took hoffice.
The nation was then preoccupied by
the Cold War. A major irritant was that
Fidel Castro had taken power in nearby
Cuba in 1959 and moved increasingly
into the communist orbit. Getting rid of
him became a U.S. objective. Kennedy
acquiesced to a Central Intelligence
Agency scheme devised when
his predecessor, Dwight D.
Eisenhower, was in office.
The plan called for train-
ing anti-Castro guerrillas in
Guatemala and then sending
them ashore at the Bay of Pigs, a
body of water on the south coast
of Cuba. The goal was to inspire
other Cuban citizens to join
with the invaders and overthrow
Castro’s regime. U.S. armed forces
were to support the invaders but
not take an active combat role.
Among the naval forces
involved were the antisubma-
rine carrier USS Essex (CVS-9),
with an attack squadron of A4D ULLSTEIN BILD/THE GRANGER COLLECTION, NEW YORK
Skyhawks hastily put aboard. Anti-Castro guerrillaAs captured during thAe 1961 Bay of Pigs Ainvasion file Smoot offered a tantaliz-
Also along were five destroyers past Cuban militiamenA and soldiers. MoreA fortunate survivorsA of the failed
under the command of Captain operation were rescAued by the USS Eaton and other Navy shipAs.
Robert Crutchfield, command- • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • special operation would have
er Destroyer Division 282. He
was embarked in the Eaton (DDE-510), a
Fletcher-class destroyer. One of the ship’s
officers of the deck was Lieutenant (junior
grade) William T. Smoot. Some years
later, Smoot recorded his memories of the
campaign for the U.S. Naval Institute’s
oral history program; the transcript was
not released until after his death in 1994.
He recalled the ship being pulled away
from antisubmarine duty and sent to the
Caribbean with only the commodore,
skipper, and the exec knowing what her
mission would be. En route, the Eaton
stopped for a time at sea so the crew
could paint over her name, hull number,
and stack insignia. Sometime later, seven
6 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
www.downmagaz.com
scruffy merchant ships showed up to be
escorted; these were the CIA-chartered
vessels that carried the anti-Castro land-
ing force, ammunitionh, and fuel.
One night Smoot approached the ward-
room for a cup of coffee, but a sentry told
him it was off-limits. He managed to get in
through another door and saw a doctor per-
forming surgery on an anti-Castro Cuban
who had been wounded in a machine-gun
accident on board one of the merchant
ships—not a good omen.
The invasion in the Bay of Pigs was set
for early morning of 17 April. The Eaton
and Murray (DDE-576) were in proximity
as a series of landing craft ferried the assault were they to leave the boat. But once they
force to the beach. Overhead, among the
many other things Smoot saw that morn-
ing, were Skyhawks from the Essex. They
maneuvered against the defending Cuban
planes but were not permitted to shoot.
Gunfire started on the beaches as
Cuban militiamen reacted to the invad-
ers. Smoot heard a radio transmission
as an American voice asked for air-to-
ground support from the carrier planes.
Time passed, and the pleas became ever-
more frantic. Commodore Crutchfield
finally had to make a last call to the
beach and say there would be no air sup-
port. President Kennedy had reiterated
the decision not to permit U.S. forces to
engage in combat. The rickety, quixotic
By Paul Stillwell
invasion had only a slim chance to begin
with; now it was inhexorably doomed.
Most of the anti-Castro soldiers who
managed to get ashore were killed or cap-
tured. (Of the more than 1,000 taken as
prisoners, many were later executed.) A
few were able to escape and ride barges
out to the Eaton and Murray.
After darkness fell on the evening
of the 17th, Commodore Crutchfield
dispatched Smoot and a shipmate,
Lieutenant (junior grade) Dick Kauffman,
to take a whaleboat and raft into the Bay
of Pigs and attempt to rescue survivors.
Under no circumstances, said Crutchfield,
arrived, they concluded it wasn’t possible
to find anyone unless they went
ashore. As Smoot explained in
his interview, “We rationalized
that being on the beach was not
really on the island, because the
beach was wet.” On a later trip,
they went into a swamp beyond
the beach.
All told, that night and the
next, Smoot and Kauffman res-
cued nearly 20 of the failed liber-
ators. (The Murray saved a num-
ber as well.) On 19 April, the
Eaton and Murray were ordered
into the Bay of Pigs, where they
were bracketed by shots from
tanks on the beach. The ships
left without retaliating.
ing footnote. Commodore
Crutchfield hinted that another
taken place if the invasion had
succeeded. Smoot asked what it was, and
Crutchfield replied, “That’s something you
don’t have to worry about now.” Smoot
later learned that if the invaders had over-
thrown Castro, the intent was to portray
their support as having come from the
U.S. military rather than the CIA.
Smoot and Kauffman brought back
souvenirs from one of their forays ashore:
a two-foot-tall palm plant and pock-
etfuls of sand. When they returned to
the Eaton, Crutchfield ordered Smoot
to drop the plant over the side. Smoot
kept a few palm fronds and the sand as
reminders of an operation that many
would prefer to forgeht.
 It stays forever in your heart

Unfortunately, it also stays forever in your lungs

Are you or a loved one a Navy, Merchant Marine or Coast Guard
veteran who suffers or has died from asbestos-related
Mesothelioma or Lung Cancer?
Know your rights, and know what you’re entitled to from the
asbestos companies.

Few firms have the track record of Weitz & Luxenberg

in securing over $3 Billion in verdicts and settlements
for asbestos victims and their families.

For a free consultation with the law firm

to which other lawyers refer their asbestos cases,
call the Weitz & Luxenberg client relations department at
1-888-411-LAWS (5297) today.

&
WEITZ LUXENBERG P.C. ASBESTOS

700 Broadway • New York, NY 10003

• DRUGS/MEDICAL DEVICES • ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW OFFICES
• NEGLIGENCE

Prior results do not guarantee a similar

BRANCH OFFICES IN NEW JERSEY, CALIFORNIA & COLORADO outcome. We may associate with local
firms in states wherein we do not
1.888.411.LAWS • www.weitzlux.com maintain an office.
 In Contact
Lingering Question Answered
Dewey W. Lambdin
In response to the article in the February
2011 issue regarding the 26 May 1954
explosion and fire on board the USS
Bennington (CVA-20) (“Fire Down Below!”
pp. 58–63), my father, Lieutenant Dewey
W. Lambdin, was the aircraft carrier’s
administrative officer at the time and was
one of the many fatatlities.
When he was first assigned to the
Bennington, I remember that we drove
down to the Brooklyn Navy Yard to put his
footlocker and gear aboard, and we stood
for the longest time on the pier near the
starboard bow, just looking up at her. I was
eager to go aboard and get a tour, but my
father seemed reluctant, as if she were a
“hoodoo” ship.
He was later on leave with us in East
Tennessee but was called back at short
notice, and with bad airline connections and
bad weather, missed her sailing and had to
be flown out to the ship. He was scheduled
to leave her in July and hoped to do a
“sundowner” last few years in Washington,
D.C., to complete 30 years’ service.
The ensign who escorted his casket to
East Tennessee and directed the honor
guard told my mother at the time that
no one was sure what caused the disaster.
But speculation ran toward one of the
hydraulic valves leaking and the heavier-
than-air fumes settling low to the decks
below, where someone might have lit a
cigarette, despite the smoking lamp being
out.
After all this time, I am glad to know
the actual cause, and I am sure that all
the families of my father’s late shipmates
are as well.

The ‘Eyes’ of U.S. Surface Ships

Main power switch Range scope Bearing indicator
Commander James L. Barrett, SG Radar
U.S. Navy (Retired)
While reading James Hornfischer’s excellent
article, “The Washington Wins the Draw (February, pp.
38–47), the photo of the SG radar brought back many
memories. This fine piece of equipment was installed
in nearly all U.S. World War II ships from destroyers
on up beginning in early 1942. For its time, it was a
superb surface-search radar. As a former radarman, I
spent hundreds of hoturs sitting in front otf it.
It was a two-handed operation, the left for range,

NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND

and the right for bearing. Range was determined
from the “A” scope on the left and a mechanical
counter below showing the range in yards. Bearing
was determined by stopping the antenna and cranking
the antenna to the target, then cranking the range
step on the “A” scope to the target blip. It was soon
determined that stopping the antenna rotation was a
dead giveaway to the target that it had been detected.
This was circumvented by taking a range and bearing
Range counters Plan position Antenna crank
on the fly, which was not as accurate. Radar repeaters Range crank indicator scope
with “B” scopes were added later on, and stopping the
antenna was no longer necessary. knobs at the bottom had a cover to prevent accidental movement. The SG-1b
This radar was later upgraded to the SG-1b, and the remained the primary surface-search radar into the early 1950s. My last
only notable difference was that the row of calibration experience with the SG-1b was on my Korean War–period CVE.

Air Force’s Libyan Strike Role

Lieutenant Commander Joseph T. Stanik,
U.S. Navy (Retired)
I thank Vice Admiral Dunn for his insightful and well-argued
letter (“El Dorado Canyon Reflections and Insights,” April,
p. 9), but I wish to offer two clarifying points. First, the U.S.
Air Force did not “invite itself” to participate in Operation El
Dorado Canyon. Within hours of the Libyan-supported terrorist
attacks on the Rome and Vienna airports, which took place on 27
December 1985 and killed five Americans, the Pentagon issued
warning orders to several commands, including the Air Force’s
48th Tactical Fighter Wing (48 TFW), based in Lakenheath, U.K.,
and Battle Force Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, to initiate
contingency planning for a joint strike against Libyan targets. Joint
planning would continute uninterrupted for tthe next 3½ months.
Second, whereas the Air Force was involved in Libya mission-
planning from the very start, it did insist on a significantly larger
role in the operation in the final days leading up to the raid.
Following the Libyan-sponsored bombing of La Belle discotheque
in West Berlin on 5 April 1986, an attack that killed two
American Soldiers, President Ronald Reagan ordered the armed
forces to deliver a devastating blow against Moammar Gadhafi’s

8 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
regime. To achieve that objective, two squadrons of carrier-based
A-6es and 18 Air Force F-111Fs—not six as 48 TFW staff officers
had originally plann1ed—would hit five targ1ets in Libya.
I support Admiral Dunn’s assertion that crucial decisions
governing the Air Force role in el Dorado Canyon were made
at the highest echelons of u.S. command in europe, but
those decisions included the size of the strike package and the
controversial decision to send nine F-111Fs against Gadhafi’s
compound in Tripoli, not the Air Force’s original involvement in
the mission.

Give the C.S. Navy Its Due
Bob Dowd
I read your April 2011 edition of Naval
History, including the three Civil War
features (“The Sumter Conundrum,” pp.
18–24; “The Navy’s evolutionary War,” pp.
26–34; and “Lincoln’s ‘Father Neptune,’”
pp. 36–39). I am a retired civil servant from
New York City and moved to Greenville,
South Carolina, in 1985. I have never
served in the u.S. Navy, but I have always
been interested in naval history. In the
course of my studies of Southern history I
have read many books, such as Confederate
Navy Chief Stephen R. Mallory, The Most
Perfect Cruiser, Last Flag Down, Memoirs of
Service Afloat, and others.
The accomplishments of the Confederate
Navy are staggering based on the fact that it
was one-ninth the size of the union Navy
and had a small fleet of improvised vessels.
Both the Alabama and the Shenandoah
were built in Britain and used as commerce
raiders to destroy union shipping. Their
successes were overwhelming. Both of these
Confederate ships traveled the high seas for
long periods unmolested by the union Navy.
jefferson Davis named Stephen R.
Mallory Secretary of the Confederate Navy
because of his experience as an attorney
handling many shipwreck cases and as a
u.S. senator working to improve the u.S.
Navy. As Navy Secretary, he was successful
with limited resources.1
u.S. Secretary of the Navy Gideon
Welles, labeled “Father Neptune” in your
most recent edition, was not as brilliant as
your article portrays him. The success of
the union Navy can be directly attributed
to its overwhelming number of ships,
weapons, and personnel. I have enjoyed
your magazine; however, bias is always
evident when considering the history of
the South.

‘Big Mamie’ at Casablanca

Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Paul H. Sayles,
U.S. Naval Reserve (Retired)
I read with interest the February 2011 issue. However, I did note
one item that should be clarified in the “Museum Report” about
the battleship Massachusetts (p. 72) by equipment Operator Chief
Peter Magoon, u.S. Navy (Retired).
The Massachusetts’ gunfire at Casablanca didn’t sink the
French battleship Jean Bart, rather it damaged her. The Jean
Bart was subsequently damaged by aircraft from the carrier
uSS Ranger (CV-4), which forced her to be intentionally
grounded. The Jean Bart remained in her damaged state in
Casablanca until she was returned to France in 1945. The
battleship was repaired and recommissioned in the French
navy, serving until she was decommissioned in 1961; she was
scrapped in 1969.
This is not to take away from the Massachusetts’ contribution
to the Jean Bart being eliminated as a functional ship. Her action
was one of a series that ultimately removed the threat of a Vichy
French capital ship a1t Casablanca.

Good Ol’ Joe

Michael M. Sinclair
Reading Captain Raymond Brown’s
article “A Cup O’ joe” (April, pp. 50–53)
brought to mind an incident about 55
years ago on board our 165-foot patrol
boat, the Nemesis (WPC-111). We had
just had a change of command and our
new commanding officer came up to
the bridge about midnight. We were
starting on our Campeche Patrol, which
the Coast Guard had established in the
gulfs of Mexico and Campeche. I was a
radarman standing the quartermaster of
the watch. The new CO asked, “Would
you bring me up a cup of coffee, please.”
I thought to myself, he is really not going
to like our coffee, which generally has
been simmering since about 1800 hours.
I brought him his coffee and promptly
stepped back a couple of paces.
He took one swallow and threw the cup
and all over the side. He then ordered me
to wake the cook and have him report
to the bridge. I did so, and the captain
ordered him to make a fresh pot of coffee
and from then on to leave fresh coffee after
supper and bags of coffee out so the bosun
of the watch could make a fresh pot at
every watch change. That was a real hit
with the crew, I might add.
Captain Richard Culbertson,
U.S. Navy (Retired)
Regarding “A Cup O’ joe,” in the
1950s and ’60s, the Navy also had a
coffee-roasting plant in Norfolk along
Taussig Boulevard between the naval
air station and operating base main
gates. When roasting was in progress,
which was almost continuously, the
aroma along Taussig was heavenly and
sometimes better than the final brewed
product. Some Norfolk 7/24 units having
personnel on ComRats (commuted
rations) got a weekly allowance of
roasted grounds from the general mess—
so many ounces per man. And tins of
Navy roasted coffee were once available
at the commissaries. Maxwell House and
Chase & Sanborn could never match the
Navy grounds.
As an old VR pilot, I also remember
the many-times-reheated coffee we got
toward the end of an eight- or ten-hour
flight. It was guaranteed to keep you
awake in the cockpit on the midnight-
to-dawn legs. I’m sure it matched “boiler-
room brew”!
Tending the Varyag’s Wounded
Robert C. Smith, Archivist,
United States Navy Memorial Foundation
In the February issue under “Naval
History News,” your “Historic Ship’s
Flag Returns Home to Russia” item (p.
11) notes that “The surviving crewmen
[of the cruiser Varyag], rescued by French
and english ships observing the battle,
were hailed as heroes in Russia.” The
gunboat uSS Vicksburg was also present at
In Contact continued on page 66

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • juNe 2011 9

 Naval History News
Save-the-Olympia Summit Held
Efforts to save the historic war-
ship Olympia, currently corroding at the
waterline and along the keel in her berth
at Philadelphia’s Independence Seaport
Museum, intensified with the convening of
a summit at the museum 30 March–1 April.
The museum and partners including the
National Park Service, the Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission,
and Naval Sea Systems Command,
as well as such groups as the National
Maritime Historical Society, Council of
American Maritime Museums, Historic
Naval Ships Association, Naval Historical
Foundation, and National Trust for
Historic Preservation, gathered to evaluate
preservation alternatives for the Olympia
and facilitate development of fund-raising,
business, and educational plans for parties
INDEPENDENCE SEAPoRT MUSEUM
interested in taking on stewardship of the
Where will the olympia go, and how will the requisite funds be raised? Various groups gathered at
beleaguered vessel.a
a 30 March–1 April summit in Philadelphia to discuss the historic warship’s future.
Representatives of five potential
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Olympia-adoption groups from around the
country attended the summit. The multi- Any nonprofit group aspiring to give the national push is needed to streamline the
phase transfer-application process for those Olympia a new home first must face the effort. An umbrella entity could raise the
interested in acquiring the historic cruiser fact that an overhaul, with estimates as money needed for the ship’s preliminary
began in March with the museum’s issuing high as $10 million, will be required before overhaul before a new site for the Olympia
of relevant documents and deadlines— the ship can even leavae Philadelphia. is selected from among the contenders. At
the first of which, for an official letter of Those daunting up-front costs, plus the press time, a national heritage organization
intent and summary application, falls on 1 fact that disparate groups working to save has tentatively agreed to spearhead the
September. the ship share common cause but might be Olympia campaign. For updates and more
The salient urgency in efforts to rescue considered at cross-purposes from a fund- information, visit the Independence
the ship is her advanced stage of decrepi- raising standpoint, led to a consensus at Seaport Museum website at www.
tude, literally worsening with every tide. the museum summit that a centralized, phillyseaport.org.

A Banner Month For Sunken Submarines
Two submarine-shipwreck discoveries—one a German U-boat
from the First World War, the other a Soviet Cold War relic—were
announced in March.
The German boat, the U-106, was found by the Royal Dutch
Navy at a depth of 130 feet, about 40 miles north of the Dutch
island of Terschelling. According to the Netherlands Defense
Ministry, the wreck site actually was first noticed in late 2009. It
was originally thought that the remains were those of a long-lost
Dutch sub, the O-13, from World War II. The March announce-
ment came after dive teams and remote underwater cameras
verified the shipwreck’s German World War I provenance, and the
submariners’ familiesa had been notified.
The U-106 was built at Kiel and launched in June 1917 with
a 39-man complement. She managed to sink a British destroyer,
HMS Contest, but was fated to have a short career, hitting a mine
and going to the bottom on 28 July 1917. The Royal Dutch Navy
has declared that the asite will be designaated as a war grave.
Meanwhile, the Swedish Armed Forces also announced in
March the discovery of a Soviet submarine wreck in the Baltic
Sea off the island of Gotland. Like the Dutch, the Swedes first
located the wreck in 2009 but kept the news from the public
while research was undertaken. The boat is a Soviet sub dating to
the Cold War, but the vessel’s identity remains a mystery. It may
have sunk while being towed, victim of an early-1980s Swedish
depth charge.
Historic Pearl Harbor Tower Preserved
The Pacific Aviation Museum officially began a $7.5 million
stabilization project to preserve the historic Ford Island Control
Tower with a Hawaiian blessing on 25 February.
The tower, a Ford Island landmark, survived the Japanese attack
of Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. “It’s time to begin this long-
awaited and badly needed tower-stabilization project,” said Pacific
Aviation Museum Executive Director Kenneth DeHoff.

10 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
 $3.8 million for the stabilization and restoration of the historic
tower was secured through Department of Defense appropriations,
thanks largely to the efforts of former Congressman and current
Hawaii Governor Neil A1bercrombie.
“Without a doubt, the Navy has a responsibility to our history and
preserving our history. We have to meet that,” said Rear Admiral
Dixon Smith, Commander, Navy Region Hawaii, in remarks deliv-
ered during the February ceremony. “This is a win-win for all of us,
to be able to preserve the history of this great tower.”
“We look forward to assisting Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl
Harbor in the stabilization of the historic building and con-
trol tower that defines the skyline in Pearl Harbor,” said Lance
Wilhelm, senior vice president of Kiewit Building Group, the proj-
ect contractor.
The Ford Island Tower complex was constructed in 1941. It con-
sists of a third-story aerological center and observation deck on top of
the two-story operations building, and the air-traffic control center on
top of a 158-foot steel water-tank tower. The tower played a major role
in naval activity at Pearl Harbor, especially during World War II.
Over the past 30 years, the steel components throughout the
structure—stairs, landings, ladders, beams, fascia, flanges, and the
tower’s “skin”—have experienced severe corrosion. Many of the
components require repair and refinishing, and in some areas com-
plete removal and replac1ement.

Were These the Guns of Henry Morgan?

january 1671: Admiral Henry Morgan—a valued privateer to the english
crown, a detested pirate to his enemies—led 1,400 men on a raid to sack
Panama City. Having just captured the fortress of San Lorenzo, Morgan now
set his sights on the city through which moved the gold and silver Spain was
plundering from the New World. Morgan’s sacking of Panama would become
one of his most (in)famous exploits—but it came at the cost of his flagship,
the Satisfaction, which ran aground on Lajas Reef and sank in the mouth of the
Chagres River en route to the Panama pillage-party.
Now, archaeologists have announced the discovery and recovery of six can-
non from the river, guns they assert could have come from Morgan’s flagship.
Based on the location of the find and the dimensions of the iron guns, the dis-
coverers believe the cir1cumstantial evidence p1oints to a Morgan co1nnection.
The research, a joint effort of the Waitt Foundation for Discovery and the
National Culture Institute of Panama, is ongoing; the cannon eventually may
be exhibited to the p1ublic.

AP (DONNIe ReID)

Underwater archaeologists bring up one of six cannon discovered in the area where
Henry Morgan’s flagship sank in 1671.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

the Ark Royal is not on eBay, at least; the agreed,” MoD spokesman Tim Foreman
Formal Royal Navy Flagship website where she’s for sale is called edispos- told Reuters in March.1
for Sale—Online als.com, a military-surplus cyber-megamart The online fire-sale approach seems to
She served in the Bosnian War and the run by the British Ministry of Defence. be working. The Ark Royal’s sister ship
Iraq War. She was launched by Queen But not just any would-be sea brigand HMS Invincible also was offered up on
elizabeth II herself. But now, the Invincible- can pony up the money for the 22,000-ton edisposals.com and was sold to a Turkish
class aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, for- warship; all sales are subject to approval. scrapyard.
mer flagship of the Royal Navy, is available “We need to be assured of the viability of The Ark Royal carries a storied legacy;
for purchase—on the In1ternet. the person or organization . . . including she is the fifth Royal Navy ship to bear the
Decommissioned this year as part of the how they intend to store, maintain, and name. The first Ark Royal was built to Sir
united Kingdom’s defense-budget slashing, dispose of the ship before the sale can be Walter Raleigh’s specifications, became
flagship of the fleet, and saw action against
the Spanish Armada in1 1588.
With the decommissioning of the latest
Ark Royal, the Royal Navy is now without
an operational carrier.
“The MoD considers all options when
disposing of military equipment to ensure
the best financial return for the taxpay-
er,” according to a statement issued by
the MoD. “Difficult decisions had to be
made . . . due to the severe financial con-
u.S. NAVY (LeAH STILeS)
straints facing the d1epartment.”
Available on a computer screen near you: HMS Ark Royal has gone from Royalr Navy flagship to
Those interested in owning an aircraft
website auction itrem.
carrier have until 13 june to submit bids.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • juNe 2011 11

 Flight Line By Hill Goodspeed,s Historian,
National Naval Aviation Museum

The Interwar Transformation

I
n an era often referred to as the Still novelties, carrsiers were From the Naval Institute
“Golden Age of Aviation”—one viewed as auxiliaries wshen Photo Archive
marked by the thrilling spectacle compared with battleshsips
During 2011 these and
of air races, record-setting flights, and battle cruisers. Ass a
and larger-than-life personalities—naval result, the provisionss of the other photographs tracing
aviation was a primary player. Sea Service Washington Naval Treaty of the history of U.S. naval
accomplishments included the first 1922 allowed the consversion flight can be viewed at
aerial crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, to flattops of two U.sS. battle www.usni.org. Follow the
by the NC-4; the polar explorations of cruisers that were alrseady under Naval Aviation Centennial
Commander Richard E. Byrd; and the construction. links. Slideshows change
soaring altitude records of the mythically The resulting Lexington (CV-2) monthly.
named aviator Lieutenant Apollo Soucek. and Saratoga (CV-3) entered service
Yet beneath the headline-grabbing feats, in 1927. Dwarfing thes Langley and demonstrated during Fsleet exercises in
naval aviation spent the decades between attaining speeds capablse of keeping January 1929. With only an escorting
the world wars engaged in the very serious pace with the Fleet, sthe two carriers destroyer, the “Sara” separated from
business of developing an air arm that was bolstered the offenssive capability of navasl other ships and proceseded under cover
an integral part of Fleet operations. aviation, a fact the Saratoga dramatically of darkness to a positsion from which
Perhaps the most imposrtant she launched a surprisse dawn
step in the evolution sof “attack” against the Pansama
post–World War I naval Canal.
aviation occurred not son the Meanwhile, for naval
sea or in the air but srather aviators wearing Marine Corps
in the halls of Congsress with green, the “Banana Wars”
the creation of the Navy’s provided the opportunity
Bureau of Aeronautics sin to put tactical doctrine into
1921. Rear Admiral William practice under enemy fire. In
A. Moffett was named sits the jungles of Central America
first chief, a post hes was and the Caribbean were sown
destined to hold fors the the seeds of close-air support
ensuing 12 years. Polsitically and dive-bombing that would
savvy and embracing tshe be so effective in the Pacific
philosophy that aviatiosn and during World War II. Dive-
the Fleet were insepsarable, Flight-deck crewmen look on as an Aeromarine 39-B approaches the USS bombing also proved effective
Moffett proved a tiresless Langley, the Navy’s first carrier, during landing exercises in October 1922. against ships, with Navy
champion of naval air power. On the 26th of that month, a 39-B piloted by Navy Lieutenant Commander squadrons perfecting the tactic
He thwarted efforts lsed by Godfrey de Courcelles Chevalier became the first plane to land on the Langley. during the interwar years.
Army Brigadier Genersal • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • To deliver ordnance on
William “Billy” Mitchell target at extended range, to
to form an independesnt air say nothing of seeking out
force that would encsompass opposing fleets and protecting
naval aviation, and heslped friendly forces from enemy
secure legislation thats in aerial attacks, required capable
1926 instituted a buildinsg aircraft, and the interwar years
program of 1,000 airscraft with witnessed the dawning of new
which to advance naval air’s technologies in aircraft design.
capabilities. Beginning in the 1920s, air-
A number of these airscraft cooled engines, notably the
would fly from floasting famous Pratt & Whitney Wasp,
airfields, the Navy hsaving bolstered speeds. The next
commissioned its first saircraft decade brought advances in
carrier, the Langley (CV-1), in metal construction, retractable
1922. Ironically, the service In the 1920s, Navy plaknes and aviators compekted in two prestigiokus aerial landing gear, and a shift from
owed the commissioninsg of contests: the Pulitzer Trophy Race and the Schneider Trophy Race for biplanes to monoplanes.
the Langley’s two successors to seaplanes. Above: Lieutenant Alford J. Williams won the Pulitzer in 1923 A new crop of aviatiosn
international postwar esfforts with a speed of 243.67 mph in his Curtiss R2C-1 racer. manufacturers launcheds
to limit naval armamensts. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • after World War I, including

12 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
 The F4B became Boeing’s most famous biplane fighter and was
a mainstay on boardU U.S. carriers duriUng the late 1920s Uand
’30s until replacedU by Grumman aircraUft. Powered by PratUt &
Whitney’s 550-hp R-1340-16 Wasp air-cooled engine, F4B-4s
(below) were capableU of speeds up to 188 Umph.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Lieutenant Christian F. Schilt, USMC, stands in front of his Vought O2U Corsair
as his observer/gunner mans the plane’s flexible Lewis machine gun mounted on a
Scarff ring. After rebel forces besieged two Marine patrols in a Nicaraguan village
in January 1928, Schilt repeatedly landed his O2U in the town and flew out
casualties, earning him the Medal of Honor.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

The USS Saratoga (foreground) and Lexington,

pictured off Honolulu’s Diamond Head,
were among the largest warships afloat when
commissioned in 1927 as well as the U.S. Fleet’s
first fighting aircraft carriers. While the “Lady
Lex” was lost in 1942 at the Battle of the Coral
Sea, the “Sara” survived World War II to be sunk
during the atomic tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Grumman, Douglas, an1d Consolidated,

provided a steady stre1am of aircraft to
the Navy. Some of the planes introduced
during the interwar 1years, including the1
capable PBY Catalina f1lying boat and
SBD Dauntless dive-bomber, would prove Cadet Act in 1935. It1
so effective that adv1anced versions were brought thousands of1
still on the front lines when World War reserve officers int1o the
II ended. ranks of naval aviati1on
Manning the cockpit1s of Sea Service to serve a fleet that1 by
aircraft were the suc1cessors of the December 1941 numbered
pioneers who bravely 1took to the air in 1 eight aircraft carri1ers
naval aviation’s formative years. Some and more than 3,400
were young officers 1who advanced up planes. That month o1ne
the ranks to command1 squadrons and air of those cadets in t1raining
groups in gaining v1ital experience that 1 penned a letter to hi1s
prepared them to lead men into harm’s parents in the afterm1ath
way during 1941–45. 1Others were senior of the Japanese attack1
officers, with names such as William F. on Pearl Harbor: “As 1the
Halsey, John S. McCain, and Frederick details . . . reached 1us, we
C. Sherman, who ente1red naval aviation stood with heads bowed Curtiss SBC-4 Helldivers of Scouting Squadron Two assigned to
later in their career1s and became air in chagrin but defian1ce the Lexington are pictured at NaUval Air Station NorUth Island,
admirals in World War II. in our hearts.” Nava1l California, in AuguUst 1939. The last Ucombat biplanes produUced
As the possibility o1f war became ever aviation had once agai1n for the Navy, SBCs were still in service with several Navy and
more pronounced duri1ng the troublesome been called to fight a1 Marine squadrons on U7 December 1941.
1930s, Congress passed the Aviation world war. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JuNe 2011 13

 Historic Fleets By Robert J. Cressman

An Experiment Proves Her Mettle in War

S
hortly before Christmas of
1940, on board the heavy
cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA-
37), President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt brooded over
a missive from British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill.
An appended table showed how
U-boats had seriously impeded the
flow of supplies from America—
the “Arsenal of Democracy”—
to Britain. How could the New
World help the Old if much of
that arsenal’s output lay at the
bottom of the Atlantic?
Auto-gyros (small airplanes
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
with low landing speeds),
The newly commissioxned Long Island (AVG-1) at sea in July 1941, with two Brewster F2A-2s parked
Roosevelt reasoned, could operate
above her pilothouse. The original 360-foot flight deck was painted maroon, with chrome-yellow striping
from partial flight decks on a vessel
and identification letters LI. Her hull’s appearance is testimony to the fact that despite the objections of her
moving at less than 15 knots. Such
executive officer, the conversion yard had hastily applied her dark gray paint with no preparation of the surface.
an expedient might be the answer.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
On 7 January 1941, the President
told Chief of Naval Operations Admiral States before the Maritime Commission wings of neither the SBC nor the F2A
Harold R. Stark to discard any plans for acquired her on 6 March 1941. could be folded.
ship-to-carrier conversions that “would A representative of the Fifth Naval No “island” took shape above the flight
take more than about three months.” District accepted the Mormacmail deck. Workmen built a pilothouse beneath
Roosevelt believed that needed carriers on 18 March 1941 at Newport News. its forward end, and a hydraulic catapult—a
could be “thrown together quickly by some Large painted U.S. flags, proclamations Type “H” Mk. 2 earmarked for future use
foreman . . . not worried about stability.” of neutrality, remained on each side of in Lexington-class carriers—was installed
Given the President’s passionate her hull. During the ensuing weeks, the diagonally to launch aircraft at a 30-degree
personal interest, the Office of the process of fashioning plowshare into angle to port. The only place to install an
Chief of Naval Operations (OpNav) sword moved at a breakneck pace, as elevator was aft, but the cross-deck pendants
and the Bureau of Ships (BuShips) Newport News workmen, leaving the of the arresting gear stretched across the
narrowed the immediately available amidships superstructure largely intact, elevator when it was in the “up” position,
vessels to two single-screw C-3 freighters. fabricated a 360-foot by 70-foot flight requiring the pendants to be relocated so
Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox deck of Douglas fir planked over a the elevator could move between the hangar
directed BuShips on 10 January 1941 to framework of girders.y deck and the flight deck.
acquire one and make the conversion Designated an aircraft escort vessel For a battery, the ship mounted a
the “highest priority.” Admiral Stark (AVG-1) on 21 March 1941, the 5-inch/51-caliber gun on the fantail and
signed the conversion order inside of Mormacmail was renamed the Long Island a pair of 3-inch/50-caliber antiaircraft
two weeks, assured by the Newport News (for the body of water, not the land mass) guns forward at the forecastle break, one
Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company on 31 March. Her crew began forming at to port and one to starboard. A pair of
that it could transform the ship within the Receiving Station at Norfolk, while .50-caliber Browning machine guns was
the presidential mandate. BuShips soon Naval Air Station, Norfolk, served as fitted into a small gallery on the port side
began work, and within a month’s time the base for the aviation unit tapped of the flight deck, aft, and one was placed
conversion plans weyre drawn. to operate from her deck—Scouting on each side of the yforward end.
The freighter chosen was the Squadron (VS) 201. Planners originally The Long Island was commissioned in
Mormacmail. Laid down under a U.S. envisioned an air group consisting of a short ceremony at the Norfolk Navy
Maritime Commission contract on ten Curtiss SOCs (wheeled versions of Yard on 2 June 1941, five days ahead of
7 July 1939 by the Sun Shipbuilding the planes that had equipped battleship schedule, Commander Donald B. Duncan
and Drydock Company of Chester, observation squadrons) and six Curtiss in command. In the ensuing weeks,
Pennsylvania, she was launched on SBC-3s (two-seat biplane scout-bombers workmen fitted out the ship. Among the
11 January 1940. Part of the Moore- that had equipped carrier units). In installations: crew-pleasing standee bunks
McCormack shipping line, she had time, while the complement of aircraft with comfortable cotton felt mattresses
carried cargo and livestock in four voyages continued to include SOCs, the SBCs and double mattress covers. Each Sailor
between South America and the United were replaced with Brewster F2A-2s. The had his own locker—no ditty boxes

14 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
or bags on the Long Island. Cafeteria-
style messing meant getting rid of china
dinnerware, aluminum platters, and
tureens, replaced by a generous supply of
six-compartment meta1l trays.
The Long Island began flight operations
on 1 July. Before the end of the year she
also participated in a major amphibious
exercise, performed for Roosevelt off Nova
Scotia; conducted one neutrality patrol
almost to the Cape Verde Islands; and saw
her flight deck lengthened.
Diesel engines provided her
propulsion. While adequate for merchant
service, they were not optimum for an
aircraft carrier, where frequent changes
of speed were the norm. Lieutenant
Hugh W. Lindsay, the Long Island’s
chief engineer, was known to a Naval DENNIS E. BYRD

Academy classmate as one whose En route to the South Pacific, the Long Island’s officers and men and their Marine Corps passengers
“Philippics against fate and the higher- participate in “Crossing the Line” ceremonies in August 1942. Uniform of the Day appears to
ups” could make the “puny pessimisms of be boxer shorts and khaki shirts, Coca-Cola-bottle binoculars, and helmets. Clearly visible in the
Schopenhauer seem as gay and buoyant background is the ship’s original superstructure, over which the flight deck was constructed.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
as a flute solo.” The temperamental
Busch-Sulzers power plants clearly (31 Grumman F4F-4 Wildcats and Douglas The operations the Long Island had
pushed him to the limit. As a wardroom SBD-3 Dauntlesses)—and then as CVE-1 pioneered led to the deployment of scores
messmate recalled: “Sweat streaming (an escort carrier) on 30 July 1943, the Long of CVEs in the Pacific, Atlantic, and
down his face,” Lindsay would “come out Island proved the feasibility of a concept. Mediterranean theaters; they escorted
of the engine room after an operation She trained pilots and ferried planes to convoys, proved the scourge of Axis
and declare that the engines . . . would advance bases all across the Pacific. After submarines, supported amphibious
never last another one1.” carrying troops home in Operation Magic landings, and in emergencies, proved
Yet last they did. Reclassified as an Carpet at war’s end, the Long Island was plucky adversaries.
auxiliary aircraft carrier, ACV-1, on 20 decommissioned at the Puget Sound Naval Captain Claud A. Jones, in BuShips,
August 1942—the same day she ferried the Shipyard on 26 March 1946; her name had scrawled on a routing sheet in
first Marine Corps planes to Guadalcanal was stricken on 12 April. After several September 1941 that the Long Island was
changes in ownership, she ended “a good vessel for what she was built to
her active days as a floating do but no good when forced out of her
dormitory. Ultimately she was class.” Jones’ assessment in hindsight
Long Island–class Aircraft Escort Vessel reduced to scrap at Ghent, seems too harsh: Realistically, no one
Displacement: 11,800 tons Belgium, in 1977. expected the Long Island to be anything
Length: 492 feet other than an experim1ent.
• • • • • • • • • • • • A more accurate perspective, perhaps,
Length of flight deck: 360 feet J M. CAIELLA comes from one of her first aviators:
Width of flight deck: 70 feet The Long Island (CVE-1) as “Captain Duncan gathered the officers
Beam: 69 feet, 6 inches she appeared in 19441, outfitted together in the mess at the start of our
in Measure 32/Design 19A operations,” then-Lieutenant Marcus W.
Draft: 20 feet, 6 inches (Lmean)
camouflage, one of1 several paint Williamson recalled, “and stated ‘We
Armament: 1 5-inch/51 gun schemes she wore du1ring her have been chosen by the Navy to make
2 3-inch/50 guns career. By this point, ferrying this ship work. And we will.’
4 .50-caliber M2 maLchine guns planes proved to be1 her mission, There was no thought of
while newer, improved CVEs failure.”
Complement: 541 officers and men carried the fight to1 the
Aircraft: 10 SOC-3 enemy in both the
6 F2A-2 Atlantic and Pacific1.

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JUNE 2011 15

 Historic Aircraft
Biplane Fighters in Action
D
uring the 1930s U.S. aircraft
carriers operated a variety of
fighter and fighter-bomber
aircraft produced by Boeing,
Curtiss, Grumman, and Vought, while
several other aircraft firms produced
prototype carrier fighters for Navy
evaluation. But by 1939 all six Navy
carriers and both Marine Corps fighter
squadrons flew Grumman biplane
fighters.1 And, of course, with the
coming of monoplane fighters, most
U.S. carrier decks were soon filled
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
An F3F-1 (BuNo 0235) of the VF-4 “Red Rippers” is about to snag an arresting wire as it lands aboard the force; eventually athe Royal Canadiana
USS Ranger (CV-4) in 1938. The ship’s aircraft had willow green painted tails, and as the third member of Air Force—with greaat reluctance—
the first section, the lower portion of the cowl was painted royal red.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
with Grumman F4F Wildcats and then
with the supreme World War II naval
fighters, Grumman F6F Hellcats.
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering
Company had started in January
1930, building parts for seaplanes
in a garage in Baldwin, Long Island,
New York. The firm soon gained a
reputation for innovation, especially
for its fully retractable landing gear,
which provided a significant increase
in aircraft performance. The Navy
Department asked Grumman if the gear
could be provided for the fighter planes
being built by other firms.
Instead, Grumman designed its own
fighter—the XFF-1, a stubby biwing
16
www.downmagaz.com
By Norman Polmar
Author, ShipS and aircraft
of the U.S. fleet
Wright R-1820 radial engine, its ceiling
with a crew of two under a transparent
was 22,100 feet.
canopy.2 It was an all-metal aircraft
The U.S. Navy took delivery of
with fully retractable landing gear and
27 FF-1s from April to November
an arresting hook for carrier landings.
1933. Only one fleet squadron flew
When retracted, the main wheels were
the barrel-shaped aircraft, VF-5B on
raised vertically to lie flush with the
board the carrier Lexington (CV-2).
fuselage. It was the first naval fighter
The squadron had the aircraft until
with retractable landing gear.3
Responding to Bureau of 1935, when all surviving FF-1s were
sent to the Naval Aircraft Factory in
Aeronautics specifications, the fighter
Philadelphia for conversion to the
had neither a radio nor provisions for
FF-2 configuration, with dual controls.
catapulting or for mounting floats,
They were then assigned to the Naval
as did most other carrier aircraft of
Reserve.
Meanwhile, the FF-a1 was licensed
to the Canadian Caar and Foundry
Corp. of Fort Williams, Ontario,
which assembled thae Grumman
fighter for exporta. These were
similar to the Amearican variant, buta
with an enlarged eangine cowl, no
arresting hook, anad in most aircrafta,
a controllable-pitch propeller. The
primary customer waas the Republican a
government in the aSpanish Civil
War. Shipments began under the
cover story that tahe planes were
bound for Turkey. When the ruse
was discovered, thae shipments halteda
after 34 were at saea en route to Spaain.
Of the remainder, one went to the
Japanese navy, one to the Mexican
air force, and onea the Nicaraguan aiar
accepted the 15 reamaining aircraft. a
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
the time. Its gun armament
consisted of two fixed, forward- U.S. Navy–Marine CForps
firing .30-caliber machine guns Fighter Squadrons, 19F39
and a flexible .30-caliber gun Ship Squadron Aircraft
mounted in the back of the
Lexington (CV-2) VF-3 F3F-l
two-man cockpit. It also had
provisions for carrying two 110- Saratoga (CV-3) VF-2 F2F-1
pound bombs. Ranger (CV-4) VF-4 F3F-1
The single XFF-1 parototype Yorktown (CV-5) VF-5 F3F-3
flew on 29 Decembear 1931, and
the Navy soon awaraded Grumman Enterprise (CV-6) VF-6 F3F-2
a contract to produce FF-1 Wasp (CV-7) VF-7 F3F-1
fighters. Tipping the scales at a Location
gross weight of 4,a829 pounds, the
Quantico, Virginia VMF-1 F3F-2
plane could reach a207 mph, about
20 mph faster thana any other San Diego, Californian VMF-2 F3F-2
fighter of its day. Powered by a
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
Named Goblins, they f1lew
with the Canadians 1from
September 1940 until 1April
1942.
On Long Island,
Grumman built 34 SF scout
fighters, similar to the FF-1,
with one forward-firing
machine gun deleted and
an additional 45 gallons
of fuel provided. A single
improved XSBF-1 was also
built, which the Navy did
not order into production.
The SF-1 also entered
carrier service on board the
Lexington, with scouting
squadron VS-3B.
Improvements to the FF-1 led
to the single-seat F2F, which first
flew on 18 October 1933. The U.S.
Navy and Marine Corps procured
54 of these aircraft in addition to
two prototype XF2F-1s.
Next came the definitive F3F,
which first flew as1 the XF3F-1 on 15
October 1934. Rated as the world’s
fastest shipboard fighter, the F3F-2
could reach 260 mph 1at an altitude
of 17,250 feet. The fi1rst two
prototypes crashed, b1ut a third
XF3F-1 led to a Navy1 contract
for 54 aircraft, del1ivered in
1936. The final production
F3F-1 aircraft beca1me the
XF3F-2, and 81 -2s a1nd 27 -3s
with improved perfor1mance
were delivered through1 1939.
The F3F thus became 1the
standard U.S. naval fighter.
Although a relative1
latecomer to naval a1viation,
Grumman deliveries of1 the
FF/F2F/F3F/SF/SBF 1series to
the U.S. Sea Service1s totaled
285 aircraft. And, b1eyond the
52 produced in Canada, four
civil aircraft in 1this series were
built: two for the 1Gulf Oil
Co., and two that Gr1umman
retained as demonstra1tion
aircraft. Two of these were
taken over by the U.1S. Army
Air Forces in World War II,
being designated UC-1103.
The naval aircraft
remained in first-line service NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND
until October 1941, when
Marine squadron VMF-211
shifted from the F3F to
the Brewster F2A Buffalo
monoplane fighter. A few
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JUNE 2011
J M. CAIELLA
The VF-6 squadron commander flew the
second production F3F-2 (BuNo 0968)
from the USS Enterprise (CV-6).
F3F-2 The “Shooting Stars” began flying the
Type: Carrier-based fighter Grumman fighter in 1937.
Length: 23 feet, 2 inches • • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• •
Wingspan: 32 feet
Engine: Wright R-1820-22; 950 horsepower F3Fs survived as trainers and utility
Maximum speed: 260 mph at 17,250 feet aircraft until November 1943.
Many features of the biwing
Crew: Pilot
Grumman fighters were
Armament: 1 fixed .50-caliber machine gun incorporated into the subsequent
1 fixed .30-caliberL machine gun Grumman F4F Wildcat (with
2 100-pound bombs the original XF4F-1 being a
biplane design). The Wildcat
soon became the standard
fighter of the U.S. Navy
and Marine Corps (as well
as the Royal Navy, where
it was nicknamed Martlet)
until superseded by the F6F
Hellcat.
1. The Grumman biplane fighters
are described in detail in René J.
Francillon, Grumman Aircraft since
1929 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Insti-
tute Press, 1989), and Richard S.
Dann, Grumman Biplane Fighters in
Action (Carrollton, TX: Squadron/
Signal Publications, 1996).
2. The first “F” indicated fighter,
and the second was the firm’s
identification. The letter “G” was
already assigned to the Great Lakes
Engineering Corp.
3. The first U.S. Navy aircraft with
retractable landing gear was the
Lockheed XRO-1 Altair, a commer-
cial plane acquired for use as the
personal transport of the Assistant
Secretary of the Navy.
Mr. Polmar is a columnist for
Proceedings and Naval History
magazines. Among his 50 pub-
The second section of the USS Lexington’s (CV-2) lemon yellow–tailed F2F-1s lished books is the two-volume
was photographed on 7 July 1939. The section, led by Lieutenant David B. Young Aircraft Carriers: A History of
(2-F-4), had insignia white cowls, wing chevrons, and leader’s fuselage band. His Carrier Aviation and Its Influ-
aircraft (BuNo 9675) was the penultimate F2F-1 built. ence on World Events (Potomac
• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1 • •
Books, 2006, 2008).
•1 •
17
 ShipS ThaT Were
Lighter Than Air
By NormaN Polmar

In the 1930s, the Navy’s rigid-airship program peaked with

the construction of enormous lighter-than-air vehicles
designed to serve as the eyes of the Fleet. But when the
flying aircraft carriers crashed, so did the program.
18 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
 NAVAL HISTORY AND HeRITAGe COmmAND
The 785-foot behemotoh USS macon floats
over New York Harbor and the southern tip of
Manhattan. Along witoh her sister ship,o the Akron,
the macon represented the apogee of the Navy’s
innovative rigid-airoship program.
A
• • • • • • • •
s big as battleships but weight-
lessly floating in the sky, rigid
airships captivated the public’s
attention—as well as that of
the u.S. Navy—during the
1930s. They were frequently shown in movie-
theater newsreels, and magazines regularly fea-
tured articles about them. In 1931 the empire
State Building was completed—the world’s tall-
est structure—topped by a 200-foot mast in-
tended for mooring airships.
The plan was to disembark passengers via a
flexible gangplank on the 102nd floor, and carry
them down to the 86th floor by special elevator.
But the scheme proved impractical, and the only
time the mast was used—other than for a large
ape to swat at Navy fighter planes in the 1933
movie King Kong—was when the Navy blimp J-4
made a three-minute mooring contact.
In 1936 the airship Hindenburg was completed
in Germany. With a length of 804 feet, she was
the largest “aircraft” ever to fly and during her
first year made 17 round-trip crossings of the
Atlantic, carrying 2,798 passengers in luxurious
accommodations. In 1937 the airship was fitted
for the experimental launching of an aircraft.
After one successful transatlantic round-trip that
year, the Hindenburg was lost in a fiery crash at
Naval Air Station (NAS) Lakehurst, New jersey.
u.S. NAVAL INSTITuTe PHOTO ARCHIVe
Mainly used for resoearch and testing, tohe German-built USSo Los Angeles also participated in 1931’s Fleet Problem XII off Panama,
where she scouted foor the Blue Fleet aond was photographed omoored to the airshiop-tender/oiler
• • • • • • • • • • • •
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • juNe 2011
The Navy’s Rigid Airships
earlier, airships had sparked military interest in several
nations, especially Germany, but during the interwar years
no country was as interested in them as the united States.
In the 1930s, the u.S. Navy commissioned the largest
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
aircraft ever constructed in America—the airships Akron
(ZRS-4) and Macon (ZRS-5).1 Also known as zeppelins,
rigid airships such as the Hindenburg, Akron, and Macon
featured a duralumin framework with the lifting gas car-
ried in separate “cells” inside the cloth-covered hull. As
early as 1916 the Navy had designed its first rigid airship.
Designated ZR-1 and later named the Shenandoah, the craft
first flew in 1923 but was destroyed in a 1925 storm. Her
design was not considered a success.2
The Navy’s second attempt, ZR-2, was constructed for
the service in england as R.38. But before she was commis-
sioned, the airship broke up during trials with heavy loss
of life, including 16 u.S. Navy personnel. The subsequent
ZR-3, later named the Los Angeles, was the most successful
u.S. airship. She was built in Germany as LZ.126 by the
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Company, which had constructed
rigid airships for that country’s army and navy during World
War I. The craft was obtained by the Navy in compensation
for two zeppelins the united States should have received
as war reparations but which had been destroyed in 1919
by their German crews. As the Navy’s ZR-3, she was in
service from 1924 to 1932, and again from 1934 to 1937.
Among her more interesting operations were experiments
with hook-on aircraft.
In 1926 the Navy initiated the design of “flying aircraft
carriers”—rigid airships that could serve as scouts for the
battle fleet. The Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation of Akron,
Ohio, won the competition to construct the two large air-
ships that would become the Akron and Macon. The firm was
a joint subsidiary of both the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Com-
Patoka (AO-9).
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
19
 States in October 1924 the
gas was replaced with helium.
While that certainly increased
safety, it significantly reduced
her payload and range because
helium has less lift per cubic
unit than hydrogen.
In the new scout airships,
beyond general safety consid-
erations, using helium enabled
engines to be placed within the
“envelope,” or hull, where they
could be more easily serviced
and fueled. Each zeppelin’s
eight 560-horsepower, German-
built Maybach engines would
use shafts and gearing to drive
external propellers.
The airships’ most notable
characteristics were their in-
ternal hangar and trapeze that
enabled them to recover, store,
and launch fixed-wing aircraft.
The trapeze would be lowered
through a T-shaped opening in
the bottom of the hull, where
U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE PHOTO ARCHIVE a plane would hook on and
Airship facilities at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, included enormous Hangar No. 1, a then be raised into the airship.
mooring mast on rails, and a tracked “hauling-up circle.” Above: Prior to takeoff, the mooring mast An overhead monorail system
with the Akron attached has been towed to the center of the circle and the the airship’s tail, attached to allowed planes to be moved
a railroad-car-like stern beam, is moved along the circle, turning the zeppelin parallel to the wind. about the 75-foot-long, 60-foot-
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • wide, 16-foot-high hangar and
stowed. Thus configured, the
pany, which had extensive experience in building balloons airships could each carry four Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk
and non-rigid airships (blimps), and Luftschiffbau Zeppelin. aircraft.3 These were fighters, ostensibly to protect the zeppe-
The massive U.S. Navy scout airships would use he- lins from enemy fighters. However, they were also considered
lium gas for lift. Most previous airships, American and a means of extending the ships’ scouting range.
foreign, had used highly flammable hydrogen. Although
The Ill-Fated Akron
expensive to “mine,” helium was nonflammable and found
only in the United States. The Los Angeles had been built The first of the innovative airships, ZRS-4, was commis-
with hydrogen as the lifting gas; on arrival in the United sioned on 27 October 1931 and named the Akron. At 785

Army-Navy Airship Cooperation

C ompared to other major powers and
the U.S. Army, the Navy made a
small and late start in airship activity
when a contract for its first blimp, the
DN-1, was signed in 1915. This notably
unsuccessful craft did not make its first
flight until April 1917. By the end of
World War I the Navy had a lighter-than-
air arm nearly as good as those of England
and France. In 1921 an agreement
was worked out between the services
whereby the Army Air Service took over
responsibility for coastal patrol with non-
rigid airships while the Navy concentrated
on rigid scouting designs. The Navy was
allowed only such non-rigids as were
necessary to train the rigid airship crews
or conduct experiments. Since the other
nations allowed their airship fleets to
phase out during the 1920s, this left the
U.S. Army supreme in the field with the
U.S. Navy in second place. In 1937 the
Army transferred its existing airships to
the Navy, which then became the world’s
exclusive operator of military airships.
Excerpted from United States Naval
Aircraft since 1911,w by Gordon Swanborough r
and Peter M. Bowers (Annapolis, MD: Navral
Institute Press, 196r8), p. 502.

20 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
 ama, scouting potential sites for airship bases. Then,
on 3 April 1933, the Akron departed Lakehurst on
her 73rd flight, to New england. just after midnight
on 4 April she crashed tailfirst into the ocean east
of Atlantic City, New jersey. Of the 76 men on
board, only three survived. Among those lost was
Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, the first chief
of the Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) and
the chief proponent of the service’s lighter-than-air
program. Moreover, during the search for survivors
the Navy blimp J-3 also crashed at sea, with two of
her crew being lost.
The Remaining Sister

The same month the Akron went down, her sister

ship, the Macon, made her maiden flight. They were
virtual twins, with the Macon having refinements
that made her 8,000 pounds lighter. After test
flights she was formally commissioned on 23 june
1933, with Lakehurst as her home base. Training
and development flights continued until October,
when she flew via Macon, georgia, her namesake,

IMAgeS: u.S. NAVAL INSTITuTe PHOTO ARCHIVe

Above: Workmen apply the Macon’s outer cover in

a laborious process that involved lacing large cloth
panels to main frames and longitudinal girders,
brushing and spraying on several coats of clear dope,
adding sealing strips, and finally applying two coats
of dope mixed with aluminum pigment. Right: The
control car bore more resemblance to a Flash Gordon
spaceship’s bridge than to a traditional Navy ship’s.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

feet long with a hull diameter of 132 feet, 10

inches, she was a giant whose career was tragi-
cally short. Based at NAS Lakehurst, the Akron
made flights around the eastern united States
and over the Atlantic during the remainder of
1931 and the early part of 1932. Included was an
exercise scouting for the Fleet. She was damaged
in a ground-handling accident at Lakehurst in
late February 1932, demonstrating the frequent problems to Texas and then on to Moffett Field, California, just
encountered when on the ground. Repaired, two months south of San Francisco. A new airship base had been built
later she began tests of her ability to handle airplanes. at the field, named for the late BuAer chief.
During May and june 1932, the Akron operated from the The Macon spent the remainder of 1933 and early 1934
West Coast, again participating in Fleet exercises. More dif- flying trials with her Sparrowhawks and participating in
ficulties in ground handling ensued, including an accident Fleet exercises off the Pacific coast. Her performance was
that claimed the lives of two Sailors. noteworthy, but so was her vulnerability. For example,
Back on the east Coast, the airship flew south in january on 10 April the airship was jumped by a pair of “enemy”
and again in March 1933, visiting Florida, Cuba, and Pan- dive-bombers. In an effort to evade them by diving into

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • juNe 2011 21

 the overcast, she flew out beneath the cloud ceiling and
encountered a division of enemy cruisers, which imme-
diately opened antiaircraft fire on her. She evaded those
antagonists, but an hour later a squadron of dive-bombers
again brought her under attack. The umpires ruled the
airship “shot down” and instructed her to continue the
exercise as the hypothetical ZRS-6. But in that guise the
Macon lasted only 90 minutes before she was again de-
stroyed. Immediately reincarnated as the fictional ZRS-7,
she survived for another day when she was released from
the exercise.
After returning to Moffett Field, the Macon departed
on 20 April for the East Coast, specifically Opa-locka,
Florida, a dismal, primitive airfield in a swampy waste
outside Miami where the Navy had erected an airship
mooring mast. Although she suffered weather damage
on the transit, she was repaired at Opa-locka in time to
participate in Fleet Problem XV in the Caribbean dur-
ing May. Again the giant airship was ruled “shot down”
by enemy fighters during the exercise, after which she
returned to Moffett Field.
The Macon made a notable flight over the Pacific in
mid-July to rendezvous with the heavy cruiser Houston
(CA-30), which was carrying President Franklin D. Roos-
evelt from Panama to Hawaii. During the operation, the
airship operated her Sparrowhawk fighters without their
fixed landing gear, thus improving their performance when
embarked in the airship. For the remainder of the year and
into 1935 the Macon carried out exercises, demonstrating
her long-range scouting capabilities.
Then, late on the evening of 12 February 1935, disas-
ter struck when the airship was returning to Moffett Field
from an overwater operation, her 54th flight. The Macon
encountered a storm off Point Sur, California, and a violent
gust of wind tore off her upper fin, causing her to go down
at sea. All but two of her crew survived.
Rigid Airships’ Last Gasp
Thus ended the Navy’s problem-plagued rigid-airship
program. Still, as late as the fall of 1939 the service’s Gen-
eral Board undertook a review of the airship policy, and on
23 July 1940, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox approved
the board’s recommendations:

Dangling from a Mooring Line To build and maintain rigid

airships as necessary to explore

H andling rigid airships on the ground—

entering and leaving a hangar, mooring
and unmooring—was difficult, manpower-
intensive, and dangerous. Airship control
surfaces were vulnerable to damage, while a gust
of wind could push even a giant zeppelin up
or down with little warning, endangering the
scores of men handling mooring lines.
While the Los Angeles (ZR-3) was
attempting to land abcoard the carrier
Saratoga (CV-3) in 1928, one of the many
Sailors helping out con the flight deck fcailed to
let go of the control car’s handrail when the
airship suddenly rocse. After going up cabout
100 feet, the seaman lost his grip, fell back to
the deck, and later dcied of complications fcrom
the accident.1
Four years later, the sun’s heat contributed
to two ground crew fatalities. Around noon
on 11 May 1932, the Akron (ZRS-4) had
completed a transcontinental voyage and
was attempting to moor at California’s Camp
Kearny (present-day Marine Corps Air Station
Miramar) in fog. Because of expended fuel and
ballast, the airship was 40 tons lighter than
when she had set out. Adding to the difficulty
in controlling the ship was the fact that
sunlight, intensified by the fog’s water particle
prisms, superheated the ship’s helium, making
her even lighter.
With her nose secured to a mooring mast,
the Akron’s tail began rising. Then, as she
was venting helium, five tons of ballast was
and develop their usefulness for
naval purposes; and to cooper-
ate with other agencies in de-
accidentally discharged and the ship became
veloping commercial airships.
uncontrollable. Lieutenant Commander Charles
To build and maintain nonrigid
E. Rosendahl, the ship’s captain, shouted for
ground crewmen—recruits from nearby San
airships for coastal patrol and
Diego Naval Training Station—to let go of other naval uses.
mooring lines, and the cable to the mast was
cut. But as she shot 1,000 feet skyward, the In January 1942, Admiral Ernest
Akron carried aloft three Sailors who had failed J. King, the Commander-in-
to let go of their lines. Two fell to their deaths, Chief U.S. Fleet, sought to re-
and the third was able to secure himself to his vive the program, and further
line until hauled aboard the airship.2 studies were undertaken. But
Two years later, Hollywood captured it was determined that another
elements of the scenec in the movie Here year of design work was needed,
Comes the Navy. During the film’s climax,
and fabricating an airship would
Chief Petty Officer cBiff Martin (Pat O’Bcrien)
take at least another year. More-
is hauled skyward whcile tangled in one ocf the
Macon’s (ZRS-5) mooring lines. Stationed on
over, Goodyear had the only air-
board the airship, Sceaman Chesty O’Connecr ship construction hangar in the
(James Cagney) shinncies down the line United States and the firm was
wearing a parachute, cgrabs Martin, and thce fully engaged in blimp produc-
pair parachute down cto a rough landing. tion, as was most of its technical
staff. The firm was also produc-
1. CMD Malcolm C. McGuire, USCG (Ret.), “Picto-
rial—‘Carrier Curiosities,’” U.S. Naval Institute Proceed- ing vital subassemblies for high-
ings, June 1974, p. 90. priority naval aircraft.
 2. Details are given in Richard K. Smith, The Airships
Akron & Macon (Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute, By the late 1930s it had be-
1965), pp. 56-57. come obvious to many naval offi-
—The Editors cers and planners that long-range

22 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
ZENITH of the The most innovativep feature of the Akron and Macon (below)
was their ability top function as flying paircraft carriers.
Naval Airship
Intermediate frame rping (33 total)
Main frame ring (12 ptotal) Mooring spindle
Gas cell (12 total)p and cone

Control car
Aft control car Condensers to recopver Bumper
Bumper water from engine exphaust

Recovering a Sparrowphawk USS Macon (ZRS-5)

Length: 785 feet
Total Gas Volume: 6.85 million cubic feet
Total Lift: 403,000 pounds
Engines: 8 Maybach VL-II, 12-cylinder
3 Hangar Crew: 10 officers, 50 enlVisted men
plus 4 aircraft pilots,
15 aircraft mechanics
2 Maximum Speed: 75.6 knots
Power
pod and 1. An F9C-2 approaches the trapeze’s
propeller dangling yoke.
3. The fully retracVted F9C is ready forV
Trapeze 2. After hooking thVe yoke with its skyVhook, transfer to overhead trolley rails. The hangar
1 the plane is raised into the hangar. can accommodate fourV Sparrowhawks.

Skyhook
Propeller guard

Telescopic sight

Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrpowhawk

Length: 20 feet, 7 inches
Wingspan: 25 feet, 5 inches
Engine: Wright R-975-E3
Maximum Speed: 200 mph
Crew: Pilot Tailhook mount
(hook removed)
Armament: 2 .30-caliber machine guns Auxiliary fuel tank in
place of landing gearp
ALL DRAWINGS J M. CAIELLA

scouting airplanes, such as the PBY Catalina and larger,
four-engine  flying boats, could more effectively perform
Fleet scouting functions. While attractive—some would
even say enchanting—the rigid airships personified by the
graceful Akron and Macon were not effective naval plat-
forms and not survivable, even in peacetime.
In probably its most impressive obituary, historian R.
K. Smith wrote: “The rigid airship’s military career was
short. It was controversial, ever dramatic, awesome in
technological achievements, and charged with portent. It
nevertheless ended within the life-span of a generation,
the first twentieth-century weapons system to pass into
oblivion.”4
1. A useful overall discussion of U.S. Navy airships is Gordon Swanborough and
Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft since 1911 (Annapolis, MD: Naval
Institute Press, 1968), pp. 502–504, 522–525. The definitive work on the Akron
and Macon is Richard K. Smith, The Airships Akron & Macon: Flying Aircraft
Carriers of the United States Navy (Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute, 1965).
2. In the U.S. Navy’s 1922–62 designation scheme “Z” indicated lighter-than-air
and the “R” rigid. The Akron and Macon were designated ZRS, adding the suffix
letter “S” for scout.
3. See N. Polmar, “Flying from the Clouds,” Naval History (October 2007), pp.
12–13.
4. Smith, The Airships Akron & Macon, p. xix.

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JUNE 2011 23

 Picking BY RICHARD B. FRANK

Winners?
In early 1942, a panel of senior Navy officers compiled a
secret presidential list of top flag officers. Who was selected
and how they performed during World War II is almost as
surprising as who was left off the list.

24 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
P
resident Franklin D. Roosevelt Automatic Picks
was angry. On 23 February 1942,
the President severely embarrassed
General George C. Marshall, chief
of staff of the u.S. Army, with a
tirade about the failure of top Navy leaders to
deliver some triumph in the ten weeks since
Pearl Harbor. The long-available diary of Sec-
retary of War Henry L. Stimson documented
the episode.1 But a startling discovery by his-
torian jeffrey Barlow of the Naval History and Ernest J. King
Heritage Command at the Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presidential Library revealed that the President conceived
a radical remedy for his frustration. FDR ordered Secretary
of the Navy Frank Knox to provide him with a list of the
40 “most competent” of the 120 flag officers in the Navy. 2
In response to the President’s command, Knox created a
secret ad hoc selection board comprising nine officers. Five
had held top positions in the Navy, generally commander-
in-chief of the u.S. or Asiatic fleets (Rear Admirals j. O.
Richardson, edward C. Kalbfus, Harry e. Yarnell, and Claude
C. Bloch and Vice Admiral joseph M. Reeves). The board
included the current C-in-C, u.S. Fleet, Admiral ernest j.
King, and current Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Har-
old R. Stark. The other two members were Rear Admirals
Richard S. edwards and Randall jacobs. edwards was deputy
chief of staff for operations (and later King’s deputy) and
jacobs headed Navy personnel.
The board automatically placed King and Stark in the
elite 40. That left 38 slots. The panel worked as a nor-
mal selection board. An officer needed at least five votes
to make the list of 38. (Note that edwards received nine
votes, and jacobs five from the board. But by established
practice, some other officer would have cast each officer’s
vote as to his own selection. In other words, it is probably
safe to assume that edwards and jacobs did not vote on
themselves.) The list included officers who had been se-
lected for flag rank but not yet formally appointed to that
grade (for example Captains Marc Mitscher and Daniel
Callaghan). On 9 March 1942, Knox submitted the list
to Roosevelt. The Secretary added that in addition to the
list, he had “available” the names of others who had not
secured at least five votes “as additional background mate-
rial for future guidance.”
So which flag officers made Knox’s list? The knowledge-
able historian and the interested buff alike will immedi-
ately think of the great admirals proven in war, such as
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
CORBIS/BeTTMANN; ALL; OTHeR PHOTOS u.S. NAVAL INSTITuTe PHOTO ARCHIVe OR NATIONAL ARCHIVeS
Evidently out of fcrustration with thce lack of any earlyc U.S.
naval victories in World War II, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt ordered cSecretary of the Nacvy Frank Knox (rightc) to
provide him with a list of the service’s leading commanders.
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • juNe 2011
Nine Votes
Harold R. Stark
Jonas Ingram
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz,
Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific
Fleet, or Admiral Raymond A.
Spruance, victor at the pivotal Bat-
tle of Midway. But these names do
not appear on the list! Then again,
historians and buffs alike can con-
jure up some names of those gener-
ally deemed to have failed the test
of wartime command—such as
Richard Edwards
Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghorm-
ley and Rear Admirals Charles A.
Pownall and Robert Theobald—
and then marvel (or mumble) that
those names are on the elite list.
With the invaluable illumina-
tion of hindsight, let’s go down
the list in the descending order of
votes and see who were the admi-
rals anointed in March 1942 as the
Navy’s stars, and then assess how John H. Hoover
they actually performed.
Nine Votes
Five officers secured nine votes.
None became well-known, but
all were highly competent. Vice
Admiral jonas Ingram, a remark-
able, charismatic figure who would
command the Navy’s forces in the
South Atlantic and later the At- William R. Purnell S
lantic Fleet from November 1944,
stood out for sheer color. A famous
u.S. Naval Academy athlete full of
animal spirit, he started most days
• • • • • • • • • •
working out as a baseball pitcher
and displayed impressive natural
ability as a diplomat.3
Health issues that eventually
precluded sea service did not keep
Richard edwards from turning in Arthur L. Bristol
25
 stellar but obscure work on King’s staff. Rear Admiral John
H. Hoover was a latecomer to naval aviation, but he helped
build the Navy’s air arm and then commanded land-based
aircraft for Nimitz. Rear Admiral William R. Purnell was
the chief of staff, Asiatic Fleet during the opening phases
of the war with Japan (the only major American command
in the Far East not to suffer a debacle on 7–8 December
1941). Later he served on the Military Policy Committee
that advised FDR on atomic-weapon matters. Finally, Vice
Admiral Arthur L. Bristol was another aviator from mid-
career who had been battling U-
Eight Votes
boats in the Atlantic. Just a month
after making the list, Bristol died of
a heart attack.
Eight Votes
The selection board did its
worst work with the six officers
who gained eight votes. By far the
most famous of this group would
William F. Halsey Jr. be Vice Admiral William F. Halsey
Jr. His solid service in 1942 made
him a national hero, and he re-
mained the Bluejackets’ favorite
admiral. Historical judgments have
not been so kind. There is little
doubt that but for his popular-
ity he would have been relieved
of command for his unforgivable
sins of faulty seamanship in steer-
ing his fleet into typhoons in De-
Charles M. Cooke
cember 1944 and June 1945. We
do not even need to get into his
performance at the Battle of Leyte
Gulf.4
Unlike the famous Halsey, the
clear standout in this group was the
little-remembered Captain Charles
M. “Savvy” Cooke, who became a
brilliant strategist for King. Vice
Admiral William A. Glassford se-
William A. Glassforkd
Robert L. Ghormley Robert C. Giffen Charles A. Pownall k
26
www.downmagaz.com
cured no success as a task force commander in the Asiatic
Fleet early in the war. He went on to a series of little-
noted command and diplomatic roles in European waters
and Africa.
Then we come to three failures. The greatest would be
Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley. He was on the verge
of a mental breakdown as the South Pacific commander
during the Guadalcanal campaign in October 1942 and was
relieved for defeatism and exhaustion.5 Four months later,
Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen screwed up monumentally
at the Battle of Rennel Island off Guadalcanal, losing the
heavy cruiser Chicago (CA-29), to Nimitz’s outrage.6 Avia-
tor Captain Charles A. Pownall obtained a tryout as com-
mander of the great carrier task forces assembled in the
Pacific in the fall of 1943. His poor performance cost him
his billet by January 1944.7
Seven Votes
The selection board did its best work in its choice of
the seven officers who obtained seven votes. Vice Admiral
Royal E. Ingersoll was a classmate of Nimitz’s at Annapolis.
He was a formidably talented leader who never secured
any great public notice despite commanding the Atlantic
Fleet from December 1941 to November 1944. In a postwar
interview, King rated Ingersoll as second only to Spruance
among serving naval officers.8
Despite graduating near the bottom of his Annapolis
class, aviator Rear Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch contributed
outstanding service in various sea- and shore-based avia-
tion commands. Postwar, he was the first aviator to become
superintendent of the Naval Academy—where his own
tribulations at “the Yard” gave hope to all midshipmen.
Fitch, however, was an academic star compared to Captain
Marc A. Mitscher, who needed six years to graduate from
Annapolis. By rights, Mitscher should have spent the rest
of the war in obscurity after the abysmal performance of
his ship, the carrier Hornet (CV-8), at Midway. He made
the most of a second chance and gained fame with his
skillful direction of fast-carrier task forces in the Pacific
from January 1944.9 Rear Admiral Patrick N. L. Bellinger
was a pioneer naval aviator with distinguished contribu-
tions early in the war in command and staff assignments
(he predicted the likely scheme of the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor). Health issues, however,
kept him from a post that would have given full
range to his talents.
The naval aviation community rebelled at
having non-aviators command carrier task forces,
Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher’s fate for the
initial months of the war. He fought in the first
three carrier battles in history against a formidable
opponent and was never bested (2-0-1). But his
reputation was systematically trashed by aviators,
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
Seven Votes
Royal E. IngersollF
Aubrey W. Fitch
Marc A. Mitscher
Patrick N. L. BellinFger
Frank Jack Fletcher
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • juNe 2011
and since they came to dominate
the Navy, their view was echoed
by most initial postwar historians.
His reputation is now much greater
with the next generation of histo-
rians, particularly due to the work
of john Lundstrom.10
Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly
Turner became the irascible, bril-
liant, domineering, indispensable
leader of the amphibious forces
in the Pacific. But his record is
marred by his major contribution
to the errors leading to the Pearl
Harbor debacle, his severe alco-
holism, and a corrosive ambition
that prompted him to blame others,
notably Fletcher, for his failures.11
Had battleships dominated the
naval war, Rear Admiral Olaf M.
Hustvedt might have shined as a
major successful leader. When the
battleship entered an eclipse, so did
Hustvedt’s promising career.
Six Votes
Nine officers gathered six votes.
Vice Admiral Herbert Fairfax
Leary and Rear Admiral Arthur S.
Carpender would share the dismal
fate of assignment to command
naval forces under General Doug-
las MacArthur. They earn bonus
points for their dislike of their boss.
A clever, practical battleship sea-
man, Rear Admiral Russell Willson
tendered solid contributions on
King’s staff. He was too much the
gentleman to prosper there and his
health failed. From 1943, Willson
was technically retired, but served
Richmond Kelly Turner Olaf M. Hustvedt
on the influential joint Strategic Six Votes
Survey Committee—the “think
tank” for the joint Chiefs.12
Nimitz declined the services of
Rear Admiral Roland M. Brainard
as a task force commander in early
1942.13 After he held various lesser
Atlantic commands and served on
the joint Production Survey Com-
mittee, Brainard’s health failed and
he was retired in November 1943. Herbert Fairfax Leary
Rear Admiral john S. McCain,
another belated aviator, did well
commanding land-based air units
early on at Guadalcanal. He was
not deemed effective as chief of
the Bureau of Aeronautics.14 He
returned as Halsey’s fast-carrier
commander in late 1944 to mixed
reviews. Rear Admiral William S.
Farber got no reviews at all. He was
Arthur S. Carpender F
so obscure that his name does not
even appear in the general index
for Samuel eliot Morison’s massive
15-volume History of U.S. Naval
Operations in World War II. Farber
fought the war behind a desk in
Washington with myriad titles all
connected to Fleet maintenance
and logistics.
Rear Admiral William W. Smith
saw a lot of action commanding Russell Willson
escort cruisers through most of the
great 1942 Pacific carrier battles.
He shared with Turner brains and
alcoholism.15 He eventually com-
manded the Service Force, Pacific
Fleet that provided logistics for
the fast carriers and other forces
at sea. Rear Admiral jesse B. Old-
endorf, a surface-ship commander
like Smith, gained credit for win- Roland M. Brainard
ning the Battle of Surigao
Strait (though it’s diffi-
cult to see how any com-
mander could have lost
it). Rear Admiral Robert
M. Griffin (not to be con-
fused with Rear Admiral
Robert C. Giffen) turned
in competent but undis-
tinguished service as a
surface-ship task-force John S. McCain
27
 Six Votes Cont. commander in the Aleutians and
Gilberts.
Five Votes
A very mixed assortment of
11 officers secured five votes. A
surface-ship commander, Rear Ad-
miral John W. Wilcox Jr. was the
oldest officer on the list (59). The
ink was hardly dry on Knox’s mem-
William S. Farber d orandum to FDR when high seas
swept Wilcox overboard from his
flagship into the North Atlantic
on 27 March 1942 as he was tak-
ing a stroll. Unkind souls suggested
suicide, but there is no evidence of
that.16
Four in this group performed
mainly as staff officers. Rear Ad-
miral Randall Jacobs headed the
powerful Bureau of Personnel
William W. Smith
during World War II after Nimitz
took command of the Pacific Fleet.
Under Jacobs’ leadership, the Navy
expanded tenfold yet became more
professionally skilled in the process.
Captain Bernhard H. Bieri was a
brilliant but now obscure staff of-
ficer who did stints with King and
on General Dwight D. Eisenhow-
er’s staff for the North African and
Jesse B. Oldendorf Normandy invasions. Rear Admiral
Milo F. Draemel served as Com-
mander, Destroyers, Pacific Fleet at
the time of Pearl Harbor. There-
after he served briefly as Nimitz’s
chief of staff, but the Pacific Fleet
commander quietly replaced Drae-
mel, who had objected to Nimitz’s
aggressive use of carriers at Coral
Sea and Midway.17 Another officer
like Farber who did not even make
Robert M. Griffin
it into the general index for Mori-
son’s History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II was
Rear Admiral William R. Munroe. Adding insult to injury,
his name was misspelled even on this historic memoran-
dum as “Monroe.” He commanded at sea and ashore in the
Atlantic theaters.
Five officers in this group commanded surface ships.
Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr.—the star of this band—
was the premier American battleship commander during
the Pacific war and clearly one of the very finest officers
of that generation. Lee won the second phase of the Naval
28
www.downmagaz.com
Battle of Guadalcanal, the turning Five Votes
point in the Pacific. Thereafter
he commanded Pacific Fleet fast
battleships. He died in August
1945 while working on fleet an-
tiaircraft defense from kamikazes.
The youngest officer on the list
(51), Captain Oscar C. Badger
II, like Hustvedt, was a battleship
commander with a good reputation
but no real opportunity to stand John W. Wilcox Jr.
out. Captain Walden L. Ainsworth
worked hard and effectively over-
all to ready the Navy’s cruiser-de-
stroyer task forces to confront the
Japanese at night in the Solomons.
He fought two surface actions in
the Solomons during July 1943 but
secured no clear-cut victory while
sustaining heavy losses.
The other two surface-ship war-
Randall Jacobs
riors provided naval leadership
more color than substance. Nimitz
would send Rear Admiral Robert
A. Theobald to command a task
force defending the Aleutians dur-
ing the Midway campaign in May–
June 1942. Nimitz outfitted Theo-
bald with accurate intelligence on
forthcoming Japanese operations
based on ULTRA—decryptions of
encoded Japanese radio communi- Bernhard H. Bieri
cations; Theobald thought he knew
better. He also proved chronically
ill-tempered and unable to coop-
erate with his Army counterpart.
King relieved him for purposes of
preserving interservice relations.
Postwar, Theobald wrote one of
the earliest revisionist accounts of
the Pearl Harbor attack.18
Captain Daniel J. Callaghan
Milo F. Draemel
did poorly as Ghormley’s chief of
staff in the South Pacific in 1942.
While commanding a task force
in the first phase of the Naval
Battle of Guadalcanal in Novem-
ber 1942, he was killed in action.
The outgunned U.S. task force at
heavy cost achieved its mission of
protecting American aircraft on
Guadalcanal from a devastating
bombardment, and Callaghan’s William R. Munroe
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
Willis A. Lee Jr. Oscar C. Badger II Walden L. Ainsworth Robert A. Theobald d Daniel J. Callaghand

death was viewed as heroic. Post-
war histories generally have been
critical of much of Callaghan’s
leadership.19
Finally, we come to versatile
Rear Admiral Alan G. Kirk. He
successfully commanded amphibi-
ous forces in Mediterranean and
Alan G. Kirk european waters, including off
Normandy. He got on well with
General George S. Patton and in all was deemed highly
effective. Postwar, President Harry S. Truman sent Kirk to
Belgium as u.S. ambassador and then to the Soviet union.
Sizing Up
These 38 men provide an interesting picture of personal
and professional backgrounds. They were born in 21 states
and the District of Columbia. Pennsylvania could claim the
most selectees—five officers versus six for all the Southern
states combined. The District of Columbia provided four,
all sons of Navy officers. All 38 graduated from the u.S.
Naval Academy, but just five were sons of naval officers.
By Annapolis class the breakdown was:
1904 2 1907 7 1910 4
1905 2 1908 5 1911 3
1906 10 1909 4 1912 1
Six stood high in their classes, while Mitscher and Fitch
fell at the other end of the spectrum.
Thirty-six of the officers attended the Naval War Col-
lege. Callaghan’s unusual three-year tour as presidential
aide consumed the period he probably would have at-
tended. The other exception was Smith, who was very
smart, as evidenced by his tour as head of the Department
of Mathematics at the Naval Academy.
Interestingly for this early stage of the war, no fewer
than ten officers had some claim to background in avia-

The Two Big Omissions

By Richard B. Frank commander had featur1ed no Nimitz had somehow le1arned
other visible accompl1ishments. of the secret flag 1selection

I t is vital in assessing1 the omission of

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and Rear
Admiral Raymond A. S1pruance from the
Admiral King, who wo1uld not
have picked Nimitz fo1r that
billet, had been in1truding into
board results.
Spruance was a very junior
cruiser division commander
“most competent” list1 not to “read back1” Nimitz’s prerogatives, although who had enjoyed no
from the battles of 1the Coral Sea and 1 whether the other 1members of opportunity for significant
Midway or even late1r events to their st1ature the board were awa1re of that is independent command. He
in the eyes of the 1members of the select1ion unknown. Chester W. Nimitz carried the reputation in the
board in early Marc1h 1942. In a late-March 19412 letter small world of the Navy’s
Given the extremely 1small stint of active 1 to his wife, Catheri1ne, Nimitz flag ranks as a quiet-spoken
hostilities to that p1oint, the members of 1 confided: “ever so many theorist from his tours at the
the board relied pr1imarily on peacetime 1 people were enthusi1astic for Naval War College. A few
reputations. In tha1t context, Nimitz me at the start but 1when things weeks later, before Midway,
appeared primarily as a paper-pushing do not move fast eno1ugh King would press Spruance
personnel specialist 1who enjoyed the they sour on me. I w1ill be on Nimitz as a chief of staff
particular favor of1 President Roosevelt1. lucky to last six mon1ths. The with that reputation in mind.
This latter credent1ial did not necessar1ily public may demand ac1tion Those credentials scarcely
work to his advantag1e with other flag and results faster t1han I can warranted anointment as one
officers. Apart fro1m a few small-scale produce.” This missive raises of the elite flag officers in the
Raymond A. Spruanced
carrier raids, Nimitz’s tenure as Pacific Fleet the tantalizing poss1ibility that Navy.

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • juNe 2011 29

 tion. Bellinger and Mitscher were true pioneers. Griffin
qualified as an observer, and seven qualified as pilots
very late in their careers (Bristol, Fitch, Halsey, Hoover,
McCain, Pownall, and Turner). Five had served in sub-
marines (Carpender, Edwards, Munroe, Bellinger, and
Hoover).
On a more personalized basis, five were exceptionally
skilled rifle marksmen (Badger, Giffin, Lee, Smith, and
Wilcox). Lee was the U.S. national individual champion
in 1907 and went on to win six Olympic medals. Badger
and Fletcher earned the Medal of Honor for actions at Vera
Cruz in 1914, but that was before the complete pyramid
of honor awards was in place, and by later standards they
probably would have received Silver Star medals or Navy
Crosses. Ingram was a gifted athlete, but while others par-
ticipated in athletics, that factor does not appear as a strong
predictor of later promotion. On the other hand, Jacobs was
a professional-level bridge player.
How did the selection board do overall? The following
is my assessment. Halsey gets a split vote.
Final Standings
Outstanding Average Poor Not Ratable
Edwards Bristol Halsey (1944–45) Wilcox
Hoover Glassford Ghormley mendous command of the source material.
Ingram Hustvedt Giffen Team: Pacific Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway (Annapolis, MD: Naval
Purnell Brainard Pownall
Halsey (1941–43) McCain Theobald
Cooke Carpender Callaghan
Ingersoll Smith
Fletcher Oldendorf Admiral. Without whitewashing Fletcher, Lundstrom demonstrates the tre-
Fitch Griffin
Bellinger Jacobs W. Prange, At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor (New York:
Turner Willson
Mitscher Draemel
Lee Leary
Kirk Ainsworth
Bieri Badger
Farber
Munroe Pearl Harbor reinforces the evidence on Turner’s talent in this regard.
14.5 17 5.5 1 Willson’s gentlemanly behavior and his ill fit to King’s staff.
With this exercise in hindsight, we see that the March
1942 secret flag selection board proved less than clairvoy-
ant about effective wartime leaders. Only about 38 per-
cent of the selectees really proved outstanding—or had the
opportunity to demonstrate such achievement. About 14
percent were subpar.
The most striking feature of this list is that two of the
passed-over officers, Nimitz and Spruance, now tower above
any name on it.
30
www.downmagaz.com
Author’s note: I am most grateful for the generosity of Dr. Barlow in providing a
copy of this amazing document and for his assistance in providing background on
several officers. I also express my thanks to him and to John Lundstrom for shar-
ing their comments on a draft of this article. Responsibility for any errors and the
judgments contained herein is entirely mine.
1. Diary of Henry L. Stimson, 24 February 1942, Yale University Library.
2. Secretary of the Navy, Memorandum for the President, 9 March 1942, President’s
Secretary’s File, Safe File, Navy Department: Mar.–Sep. 1942, Box 4, Franklin D. Roos-
evelt Presidential Library, copy supplied the author by courtesy of Dr. Jeffrey Barlow.
3. Unless otherwise indicated, all biographical detail on Ingram and the other of-
ficers on the list stems from the official biographical files at the Naval History and
Heritage Command, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. All these files are
organized in alphabetical order.
4. It is now, alas, almost invidious to choose among historians who have found fault
with Halsey’s leadership. Any such listing, however, should begin with Thomas
B. Buell, Master of Sea Power: A Biography of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King (Boston:
Little Brown and Company [Naval Institute Press Edition], 1980, pp. 474–9, 491–3;
and E. B. Potter, Nimitz (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1976), pp. 344–5,
349–50, 376–7.
5. Like Halsey, there is no lack of fault-finding with Ghormley. Here the obvious
references are Richard B. Frank, Guadalcanal (New York: Random House, 1990),
pp. 333–4 (hereafter Frank, Guadalcanal) and James Hornfischer, Neptune’s Inferno
(New York: Random House, 2011), pp. 204–5, 213–4, 423–4. Hornfischer’s work
contains the revelation that Nimitz deemed Ghormley on the verge of a nervous
breakdown at the time of his relief.
6. Nimitz was extremely upset over Giffen’s tactical incompetence at the Battle of
Rennel Island. Frank, Guadalcanal, pp. 578–81.
7. For Pownall’s failures see Clark G. Reynolds, Admiral John Towers: The
Struggle for Naval Air Supremacy (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press,
1991), pp. 451–2, 481 (hereafter Reynolds, Admiral John Towers). This fol-
lows up on Reynolds’ original revelations in The Fast Carriers: Forging of an
Air Navy (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968).
8. King’s high evaluation of Ingersoll: On this point, as well as others noted
below, I am indebted to John Lundstrom for sharing the results of his tre-
9. For Mitscher’s dismal performance at Midway see John Lundstrom, The First
Institute Press, 1990), pp. 324–5, 332–3, 367; and his Black Shoe Carrier Admi-
ral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal (Annapolis, MD:
Naval Institute Press, 2006), pp. 244–48, 258 (hereafter Lundstrom, Black Shoe
Carrier Admiral). For a more genteel treatment of Mitscher and the resurrec-
tion of his career see Reynolds, Admiral John Towers, pp. 408, 451.
10. The definitive treatment of Fletcher is Lundstrom, Black Shoe Carrier
mendous injustices done to him by other officers and historians.
11. For Turner’s major contributions to the Pearl Harbor disaster see Gordon
McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1981) especially pp. 251–3, 692, 735. There is
no doubt Turner had a serious drinking problem, but during preparations for
and execution of operations there is no good evidence it affected his perfor-
mance. After an operation was over, however, he would binge. Vice Admiral
George C. Dyer, USN (Ret.), The Amphibians Came to Conquer: The Story of
Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Of-
fice, n.d.), pp. 853–4, 1160–1. Lundstrom lays out the case for Turner’s skill at
blame-shifting with regard to Fletcher in Black Shoe Carrier Admiral, especially
pp. 387–8. Prange’s assessment describing Turner’s skill at avoiding blame for
12. Lundstrom was kind enough to provide information from his research on
13. Information from Lundstrom.
14. Reynolds, Admiral John Towers, p. 464, reports King’s view that McCain was not
effective leading the Bureau of Aeronautics.
15. Lundstrom provided the information on Smith’s alcohol consumption levels.
16. For the story on Wilcox rumors see Ivan Musicant, Battleship At War: The Epic
Story of the U.S.S. Washington (New York: Harcourt Brace, Jovanovich, 1986), pp.
34–7; Winston Jordan, “Man Overboard!” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, vol. 111,
no. 12 (December 1987), pp. 92–95.
17. For the reasons for Draemel’s relief by Nimitz, see Lundstrom, Black Shoe Carrier
Admiral, pp. 124, 302–3.
18. On the performance of Theobald at Midway, his chronic ill temper and inability
to work with Army officers see Buell, Master of Sea Power, p. 320. Theobald’s book
was The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor (New York: Devin-Adair, Co., 1954).
19. For a sample of Callahan criticism see Frank, Guadalcanal, pp. 334, 436, 459–60;
Hornfischer, Neptune’s Inferno, pp. 254, 261, 266–70.
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
 t Price
Our Lowes
98
$40 Actual size is 40.6 tmm

Millions are scrambling for the

2011 Silver Eagle…But we’re giving
it away TODAY at our lowest price!
The economic crisis has sparked a huge demand for U.S. Mint
Silver Eagles. Collectors, investors, dealers and the public alike are
scouring the country to obtain them, creating a serious national
shortage. But today, as a special offer to new customers you can
own these HEFTY Silver Dollars at our lowest price—only $40.98!*
You Cannot Buy This
Coin From the Mint!
The U.S. Mint does not sell Silver Eagle Dollars direct to the
public. You can only obtain them through an authorized distributor.
We have just reserved a fresh shipment of 2011 U.S. Mint Silver
Eagles—the current U.S. Silver Dollar. These massive and attractive
coins contain one full troy ounce of silver and feature the historic
image of Miss Liberty draped in a U.S. flag walking boldly into
the future.
Highest Demand Ever for 2010 Eagles.
Act Before The 2011s Disappear!
We’ve never experienced such demand for Silver Eagles as we did in
2010. We predict the same for the 2011 Silver Eagles. So please hurry!
They’re available RIGHT NOW. And with the current financial crisis
they could easily sell out.
Don’t Miss Out! Limit 3 Per Customer
At our lowest price, we must set a strict limit of 3 coins per
customer. The allure of silver is timeless, and the precious metal
is a proven hedge against economic uncertainty. Don’t miss out!
Call immediately, toll free, 1-888-870-8528 to add these elusive
Silver Eagles to your holdings!
TOLL-FREE 24 HOURS A DAY

No, We’re Not Crazy! 1-888-870-8528

Why are we giving away this silver dollar at our lowest price? Offer Code ESL138
Please mention this tcode when you call.
Because we want to introduce you to what hundreds of thousands
of our satisfied customers have discovered since 1984—we’re your
best source for coins worldwide. That’s why we’re givUing away this
2011 U.S. Silver EagUle to you—for just $U40.98**—to put you on the
14101 Southcross Drive W., Dept. ESL138
ground floor of greUat values like this—Uvalues our customerUs enjoy Burnsville, Minnesota 55337
every day.
www.GovMint.com
*plus a nominal shiptping and handling chatrge
Note: GovMint.com. is ta private distributor otf government and privtate coin and medallic tissues and is not aftfiliated
with the United States tGovernment.Prices and availability subject to change without notice. ©GovMint.com, 2011
**Price based on sUpot market silver prUice of $33.00. ®
 Where Naval Aviation
By Hill Goodspeed
At the epicenter of present-day Sea Service flight, visitors can
explore the history of Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard aviation.
L
ed by an instructor, they walk through the doors
of the National Naval Aviation Museum most
every week, young ensigns and second lieuten-
ants dressed in khaki and forest green en route
to look at engines that have not roared in de-
cades yet are fundamental in instructing future aviators
and naval flight officers in the workings of aircraft power
plants. Similarly, young Sailors and Marines destined one
day to labor in an aircraft carrier or at a forward operating
base work alongside gray-headed former machinist’s mates
in the museum’s restoration hangar, helping to bring an
old flying boat whose hull once splashed into the waters
of Tokyo Bay back to display condition.
32
www.downmagaz.com
It’s just what an officer on the staff of the chief of Naval
Air Basic Training envisioned when he first proposed the
idea of a naval aviation museum to his superiors in 1955.
With flight students marching past his office each day,
Captain Magruder H. Tuttle sought to create a place on
board Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, Florida, where
they could learn about the history and heritage of their
profession of arms. Funding was not forthcoming despite
the merits of his idea. Yet Tuttle was accustomed to over-
coming obstacles, having been an All-American lineman
at the U.S. Naval Academy.
On returning to Pensacola following service with the
Fleet, this time wearing admiral’s stars, he resumed his
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
 History is Manifest
campaign. It came to fruition under the most unlikely of To visit the National Naval Aviation Museum today is to
circumstances, with Tuttle securing a commitment from As- journey into history while never losing sight of the present and
sistant Secretary of the Navy Paul B. “Red” Fay while the future of naval aviation. The constant sounds of airplanes in
latter was playing pick-up basketball during a visit to the which the next generation of naval aviators are training and
air station. On 14 December 1962, the Navy formally es- the roar of the Pensacola-based Blue Angels practicing their
tablished the u.S. Naval Aviation Museum, which opened world-famous aerial routines fill the air while one explores fly-
its doors on 8 June 1963. Its initial home was a wooden ing machines of yesteryear. From a collection of just a handful
building encompassing just 8,500 square feet. The first arti- of aircraft, the museum’s holdings now number nearly 1,000
fact donated came from Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter, planes, most of them on loan to other museums, military bases,
who presented the museum with naval aviator wings that and historic sites around the country and even overseas. The
had traveled with him into space. 150 aircraft on display at the museum represent the most his-
At the same time, the museum began to assemble the toric naval aircraft in existence.
foundation of its aircraft collection—
individual planes arriving in Pen-
sacola through a variety of avenues.
One, a rare export version of the
FF—the first Grumman fighter built
for the Navy (see “Historic Aircraft,”
page 16)—was found in a Nicaraguan
junkyard, restored by Grumman, and
flown to Florida for donation to the
museum. A Curtiss MF flying boat
of the type that once motored in the
waters of Pensacola Bay was acquired
from a private donor; other aircraft
retired to the museum directly from
Fleet service, including the Martin
SP-5B Marlin that was the Navy’s
last operational flying boat.
With a growing row of aircraft—
most in need of restoration and in NATIONAL NAVAL AVIATION MuSeuM

various states of repair—lining the The museum’s main gallery contains a plethora of naval aircraft, many of which you can walk
seawall on board NAS Pensacola, it right up to. Additional galleries feature aviation-themed artwork and life-size dioramas.
was evident that the museum needed • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
a larger facility, which in 1966 sparked

the establishment of the Naval Aviation Museum Associa-
tion (later Foundation). under the leadership of former
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Arthur W.
Radford, the association launched a fund-raising drive that in
1974 resulted in the construction of the first module of what
has since developed into a 400,000-square-foot complex, the
latest addition being a 55,000-square-foot display hangar.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
NATIONAL NAVAL AVIATION MuSeuM
The first exhibit at the National Naval Aviation Museum
is outside the main entrance: an F-14 Tomcat from Fighter
Squadron 41—the “Black Aces.” The museum is located at
Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.
T
he centerpiece is the Navy Curtiss NC-4. On loan
from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Mu-
seum, the airplane that in May 1919 became the first
to cross the Atlantic Ocean reflects the Smithsonian’s long-
standing support of the museum begun by the institution’s
venerable curator Paul Garber, a Naval Reserve officer. The
NC-4, which after its famous flight made a recruiting tour
that included stops in Pensacola, was in storage for most of
the ensuing years until restored and displayed on the Na-
tional Mall in 1969 on the 50th anniversary of its landmark
crossing. It has been on display in its current home for more
than three decades. The plane’s presence has prompted the
donation of an array of valuable artifacts connected to its

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JuNe 2011 33

 famous flight, including worn wing fabric and some of the
original dazzling array of decorations awarded to its crew.
While the NC-4 successfully crossed ocean waters, other
aircraft in the museum survive today because their final
flights were not as successful. From the museum’s inception,
one noticeably glaring hole in the collection was in World
War II carrier aircraft. Some of the most notable planes of
the era were not represented, while in the case of the SBD
Dauntless dive-bomber, an imposter in the form of an Army
Air Forces version displayed in Navy colors was on exhibit.
In 1990, under the leadership of its current director,
retired Navy Captain Robert L. Rasmussen, the museum
began searching for these rare warbirds in an unlikely place:
the waters of Lake Michigan. In 1942, with the need to
carrier-qualify pilots on waters far removed from the threat
of U-boats, the Navy purchased two Great Lakes passenger
steamers and converted them to Lake Michigan aircraft car-
riers. Over the course of the war, thousands of naval aviators,
among them future President George H. W. Bush, logged
their first shipboard landings on and takeoffs from the USS
Wolverine (IX-64) and Sable (IX-81). Not surprisingly, some
of them put aircraft into the drink during the process. Thus,
by war’s end, the cold lake bottom held scores of planes,
some fresh from the factory and others combat veterans serv-
ing their twilight tours in the training command.
NATIONAL NAVAL AVIATION MUSEUM
One of the collection’s underwater treasures is Marine Lieutenant Robert E. Galer’s beautifully
restored Grumman F3F-2. In 1991, 51 years after Galer was forced to ditch the fighter, it was
recovered from the bohttom of the Pacific (hinset).
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
34
www.downmagaz.com
The first aircraft recovered for the museum from Lake
Michigan was an F4F-3 Wildcat, which was followed by an
SB2U Vindicator and an SBD Dauntless, all of them types
not represented in the collection. In many cases, when
these aircraft emerged from their extended stays under-
water, 1940s air remained in their tires and survival gear
packed during World War II could still be found in their
compartments. A battery in one of the aircraft, after clean-
ing, was found to still hold a charge.
The museum’s most notable combat veteran to emerge
from the waters of Lake Michigan is an SBD-2 Dauntless
(Bureau Number 2106) that was on Ford Island when the
Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and
subsequently flew from the deck of the Lexington (CV-2) dur-
ing a 10 March 1942 raid against Japanese shipping off New
Guinea. Less than two months later, the airplane launched
from Midway Atoll for an attack against the Japanese fleet,
returning with more than 200 bullet holes in its fuselage, the
wartime patches used for repair still visible on the aircraft
today. The most recent recoveries, which occurred in 2010,
include an original F4U-1 Corsair with the early “birdcage”
canopy and an F6F-3 Hellcat that flew combat missions in
the Solomon Islands, including escorting a plane carrying
Vice Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey to Guadalcanal.
The museum’s underwater recoveries have not been con-
fined to the Great Lakes. In 1990 a Navy ship searching the
Pacific off the coast of California inadvertently happened on
the wreck of an F3F-2 biplane that had ditched during an
attempted landing on board the Saratoga (CV-3) in 1940.
Research revealed that the pilot that day had been a young
Marine lieutenant named Robert E. Galer, who was on the
dock to greet his old plane when it arrived at North Island.
While the crash did not affect his career, which included his
earning the Medal of Honor
for combat actions at Gua-
dalcanal and advancement
to brigadier general upon
his retirement, Galer was
originally faulted for not
switching to another fuel
tank. But the restoration of
the plane exonerated him
more than a half century
after the fact; workers dis-
covered that he had taken
that measure and a malfunc-
tioning system was to blame
for his mishap.
While the aircraft dis-
played at the museum are
destined never to fly again,
some have arrived through
• • • • •
the air, making their final
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
landings on the runway at Forrest
Sherman Field behind the mu-
seum. Two veterans of Operation
Iraqi Freedom are among those in
this category: one the last F-14
Tomcat fighter to fly a combat
mission, and the other an S-3 Vi-
king antisubmarine aircraft, which
on 1 May 2003 was known by the
name “Navy 1” when it carried
then-President George W. Bush
to the Abraham Lincoln (CVN-
72) for his famous “Mission Ac-
complished” speech on board the RICHARD G. LATTuRe

carrier. It’s one of three aircraft in Visitors peer inside the cutaway fuselage of a Consolidated PBY Catalina flying-boat that’s been
the museum’s collection with ties refurbished to appeVar as if on patrol Vfor U-boats or a JapVanese fleet.
to Commanders-in-Chief. The • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
others are a VH-3 Sea King heli-
copter that was once in the executive flight detachment of and a country store with products priced with ration points.
HMX-1, the Marine squadron responsible for transporting Past the façade of a recruiting station are life-size dioramas
the President and other VIPs, and a Stearman N2S biplane depicting parts of a Pacific island air base and below-decks
that former President George H. W. Bush flew twice during spaces of a flattop, the latter’s recycled air blowing through the
his primary flight training at NAS Minneapolis, Minnesota. vents and vintage equipment giving it an air of authenticity.
The Cubi Bar Café duplicates part of a popular Pacific

A
lthough the technological development of naval
airpower is best told through the array of aircraft
on display, the human dimension of Sea Service
aviation emerges in a host of ways—
from combat artist edward T. Grigware’s
colorful portraits of Enterprise (CV-6) National Naval Aviation Museum
Open daily 0900–1700. Closed Thanksgiving,
aviators peering out from the past on Christmas, and New Year’s Day
the walls of the museum’s art gallery to 1750 Radford Blvd.
the flight jacket once worn by Lieuten- Pensacola, Florida 32508
Tel.: 850-452-3604
ant (junior grade) everett Alvarez, the
www.navalaviationmuseum.org
longest-held prisoner of war in North
Vietnam. In another exhibit, a rustic
homemade sign shipped directly from Iraq welcomes visitors
to Naval Air Facility Baghdad, while a mandolin etched
with names of World War I air stations charts the travels of
a Sailor in the Great War.
Personal history is also present in the museum’s emil
Buehler Naval Aviation Library, which opened in 1992.
It houses in its collection the letters of Lieutenant Com-
mander Henry C. Mustin, written when he arrived to es-
tablish the Navy’s first aeronautic station at Pensacola in
1914, and the original notes kept by Lieutenant Henry L.
Miller documenting the progress of the Doolittle Raiders
when he trained them to launch Army Air Forces twin-
engine bombers from an aircraft carrier.
Some of the museum’s most popular exhibits are immersive.
One devoted to the World War II home front beckons visitors
to stroll down a re-creation of a typical American downtown
street complete with a Blue Star flag hanging in a window
watering hole—the officers’ club at NAS Cubi Point, the
Philippines, where aviators hung colorful plaques that
commemorated their squadrons’ tours. When the 1991
eruption of Mount Pinatubo led to
the closing of the naval air station,
the contents of the famous bar were
packed in crates and shipped to Pen-
sacola for resurrection as both a mu-
seum exhibit and restaurant. On any
given day, one can see graying gen-
tlemen scanning plaques looking for
their or squadronmates’ names.
Visitors can’t take to the skies in any of the museum’s
aircraft, but they can experience the thrill of flight by
watching one of the aviation-themed movies at the IMAX
Naval Aviation Memorial Theater at the museum. The
theater boasts an enormous 62-by-82-foot screen.
For those with any connection to naval aviation—be
it through firsthand experience, the legacy of parents or
grandparents who served, or just fascination—the National
Naval Aviation Museum is a special place. Retired Navy
Rear Admiral George M. “Skip” Furlong, who spearheaded
capital campaigns that led to the museum’s expansion, re-
cently recalled how Naval Aviation Museum Foundation
President Admiral Maurice F. Weisner once told him, “A
big part of your compensation is the privilege of working in
this building.” Furlong, his voice cracking slightly, added,
“Now, I never figured out how to spend that but I think I
know what he meant.”

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JuNe 2011 35

 The
Reverend
of Iwo Jima
BY MAJOR GENERAL JARVIS D. LYNCH JR.,
U.S. MARINE CORPS (RETIRED)

Many Marines remember a quiet Buddhist’s post-

Hiroshima devotion to reconciliation. But private
papers reveal a Japanese naval officer equally
dedicated to his country’s cause in World War II.
36 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
 BATTLESHIP NORTH CAROLINA (WWW.BATTLESHIPNC.COM); PHOTO COURTESY ROSA OGAWA

A relief map showing Japanese-built airfields and roads on Iwo Jima pro-
vides a sense of what the island looked like when Commander Tsunezo
Wachi (left) headed the Japanese garrison there in 1944. Wachi left
Iwo Jima just a fewb months before the bU.S. assault in Febbruary 1945.
Constructed by the U.S. Naval Photographic Intelligence Center, the
map was used on boarbd the USS North Carolina (BB-55).
• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1 • • • 1 • •

landing,” he said. The event was to be a joint Japanese-

American affair, he continued, and the planning would
involve delicate negotiations; the Japanese government
harbored several concerns.
“Who is this Reverend Wachi?” I asked. My ignorance
clearly bordered on dereliction of duty, judging from Hoskins’
reaction. He proceeded to tell me about “the Reverend”—as
he referred to the mystery man: How he had commanded
the Japanese garrison on Iwo Jima for several months, then
been removed from command and sent home prior to the
U.S. assault, and how, after the war, he had devoted his
life to making amends for leaving his men and not dying
there with them. If Hoskins related to me at the time how
the 4th Marine Division Association had come in contact
with Wachi, I have forgotten. The salient point to Hoskins
was that the group considered Wachi an honorary chaplain.
Although he was a Buddhist priest, members referred to him
simply as “the Reverend.” He had actually attended some of
their reunions at Camp Pendleton, California.
I wished Hoskins well and soon forgot the call. Until
later that year, that is, when Lieutenant General C. G.

T
he telephone interrupted the serenity of a
Hawaiian evening—as well as my pleasure
at doing absolutely nothing at the moment—
after an active day at Headquarters, Fleet
Marine Force, Pacific (FMFPAC). An eve-
ning call at the chief of staff’s quarters usually meant bad
news. Not so this time, in the summer of 1984. The caller
was retired Marine Major Bob Hoskins. We had shared an
office 26 years earlier when he was the S-3 (operations and
training officer) of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment
and I, then a first lieutenant, was his assistant S-3.
Hoskins was a 4th Marine Division veteran; he had served
in all its World War II campaigns—Roi-Namur, Saipan, Ti-
nian, and Iwo Jima. He had gone ashore at Iwo Jima as a
company gunnery sergeant, and to his amazement survived
the entire operation without being hit. That was a first for
him. After Iwo had been secured, he was flown to Marine
Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, where he underwent officer
training in preparation for the assault on mainland Japan.
After an exchange of pleasantries, Hoskins came to the
reason for his call. He was on his way to Japan to meet a
Reverend Wachi and some other Japanese. “We’re plan-
ning a ceremony of the 40th anniversary of the Iwo Jima
Cooper, commanding general, FMFPAC, told me I would
represent him at a 40th anniversary ceremony-planning
conference on Iwo Jima in December.
A Man of Contrasts
Tsunezo Wachi, the Reverend of the 4th Marine Divi-
sion Association, was instrumental in arranging the result-
ing commemoration, which occurred on Iwo Jima in Feb-
ruary 1985. It was the first such joint American-Japanese
World War II memorial ceremony.
I met Wachi on Iwo at the planning meeting. Even
stooped by age, he was taller than most Japanese of his era.
Rail-thin and stern of countenance, he nonetheless often dis-
played a keen sense of humor. Cryptic at times, animated at
others, he clearly was highly intelligent and doubtless could
have become a prominent public figure in post–World War II
Japan had his life not been dedicated to the Japanese service-
men lost on Iwo Jima. Wachi was a man of contrasts who
led a life of contrasts. He was a Navy line officer who, dur-
ing the 1930s, served with a cavalry regiment long enough
to become a competent horseman; an intelligence officer;
a spymaster; the garrison commander at Iwo Jima for most
of 1944; and a commander of Home Island “suicide boats”
near the war’s end. Reared as a Roman Catholic—a rarity

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JUNE 2011 37

 in Japan at the time—he converted to Buddhism right after death, he accounted for the remains of more than 8,000
the war and became a priest, spending the rest of his life Japanese soldiers and sailors. Most were mummified by the
promoting friendship between former foes. underground heat of the volcanic island, often identifiable
Wachi graduated from Eta Jima—the Japanese naval through papers and letters in pockets.
academy—in 1923 and initially specialized in gunnery and When possible, families were located and informed. In
torpedoes. Unexpectedly ordered to communications and all cases, Buddhist religious ceremonies were conducted and
language schools, he then became an intelligence officer, the remains cremated. The man of contrasts also prayed
fluent in both English and Spanish. In 1944 he was trans- for the souls of the U.S. Marine dead and erected a small
ferred to Iwo Jima, where he was designated commanding monument honoring them. In 1953 he established the As-
officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) garrison. There sociation of Iwo Jima in Japan and in time became the
he commanded the defenses against American air attacks Reverend to U.S. Marine veterans of that most horrendous
while his forces prepared to counter the amphibious assault of battles on that ugliest of islands.
that Tokyo considered inevitable.
Seeds of Friendship Sown
Then, in the fall of 1944, the Imperial Japanese Army
(IJA) assumed responsibility for the defense of Iwo Jima. I was with Wachi for just two days in 1984 when the
Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi took command; plans for the 1985 ceremony were finalized. On our first
Wachi was ordered back to mainland Japan. From early 1945 day, FMFPAC public affairs officer Lieutenant Colonel Jim
until the end of the war, he commanded several thousand Pendergast and I met Major Hoskins and Wachi at Yokota
(he once told me 10,000) suicide boats. Some years later his Air Base, then flew to Iwo. After a planning session, Wachi
daughter indicated that those boats were actually manned tor- showed us around the island, taking us to places he knew
pedoes. (The discrepancy in terms may have been a memory would be of interest.
lapse compounded by the fact that near the war’s end, Japan Before the day was over, he was treating us like his sons
developed both manned torpedoes and explosives-laden one- and his sense of humor surfaced. At one stop, he showed us a
man motorboats.) Japanese gun position. The gun had taken a direct hit on the
“What was your mission, Wachi-san?” I asked him in 1984. barrel, which hung like a tongue out of the embrasure. Next
“Troop transports when the Americans invaded Japan, to the position, an aging sheet of plywood covered something.
Colonel. Only the troop transports.” “What is that wood covering, Wachi-san?” I asked.
Wachi dedicated his postwar life to atoning for the fact “Ah,” he replied. Smiling slyly and stepping forward,
he had not perished on Iwo Jima. He returned to the island he slid the plywood to one side. “Dud American 16-inch
countless times to search for the remains of the Japanese round, Colonel.”
servicemen unceremoniously left buried in caves, tunnels, “Wachi, that’s not funny. You have been around Marines
and defensive positions. In the nearly 40 years before his too long.”

COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR

Planners of the JapJanese-American Iwo JiJma 40th-anniversaryJ ceremony pause forJ a photo in Kyoto,J Japan, in December 1J984.
From left: Lieutenant Colonel Jim Pendergast, Major Robert Hoskins, Rev. Tsunezo Wachi, and the author.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

38 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
 Our second day was spent at the monastery in the hills “Americans are not the only ones who can break codes,
near Kyoto where he had converted to Buddhism. Too you know.”
soon, my mission was over and we parted ways. But a long- I didn’t realize at the time just how long Wachi actu-
distance friendship ensued. using Wachi’s ground rules, we ally had read u.S. Navy codes before the war. In his un-
exchanged letters for several years thereafter. Believing that published papers he describes interception and translation
an active-duty colonel had no time to write social letters, of encoded traffic between a u.S. Navy attaché and the
he would write to my wife. “My Dear Mrs. Pauline, Please Nationalist Chinese government about the confrontation
tell your husband that . . .” When his health began to fail, between japanese and Chinese military forces at Marco
I communicated through his daughter, Rosa Ogawa. Polo Bridge in 1937. Wachi’s phrasing does not indicate
Wachi passed away in 1990. He left two unpublished pa- that the capability was something new for the japanese.
pers—one written in 1977 for his 77th birthday, the second Those same papers also provide a glimpse into his brief
for his 88th birthday, though it is dated january 1989. The career as a spy-handler. The story began in the summer of
papers were translated by his daughter, Rosa. Together they 1941, when a Colonel Nishi, the IjA attaché in Mexico
total more than 70 single-spaced typed pages. While my City, was approached by a former u.S. Army major who
brief time with him had provided a feel
for the man and his commitment to his
cause of friendship between two nations,
his papers primarily address the war.
That was not the Wachi I knew. un-
less asked, he seldom talked about the
war. But it drove all that followed in his
life, and perhaps that is why he wanted
to leave his record of events. Regardless,
one gets the impression that even in
those papers Wachi did not reveal all.
Perhaps he had forgotten things. Maybe,
politely, he wished not to offend.
The 1977 paper is titled “Two Re-
morse episodes Behind the Bar at Su-
gamo, Tokyo.” A more accurate trans-
lation would be “Two Sad Incidents ASSOCIATeD PReSS (jIM WeLLS)

Behind Bars at Sugamo Prison, Tokyo” U.S. Army personnel patrol a cell block in Tokyo’s Sugamo Prison in December 1945.
(the place high-level japanese war- The prison housed Japan’s highest-profile war-crimes suspects after World War II, but
crimes suspects were held for trial after also was used to detain individuals, such as Captain Tsunezo Wachi, in whom the occu-
the war). The 1989 paper is titled “The pying Allied forcesm had an interest.
August Virtue of His Imperial Majesty,” • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
an acknowledgment that throughout ja-
pan’s history the hereditary emperor was always at the had been cashiered for reasons that Wachi either didn’t
top, even when samurai or shoguns had come to power. know or never revealed. “Mr. S,” as Wachi called him,
wanted revenge; he offered to spy on the united States.
Spying on the U.S. Navy
The japanese attachés decided to test Mr. S by having him
One of the few times Wachi spoke to me about the report u.S. Navy movements through the Panama Canal.
war—albeit almost in passing—occurred on the second They decided that Nishi would be the sole point of contact;
day of our 1984 meeting as we rode to the monastery in Wachi never met Mr. S.
his son’s sedan. The test was simple. Wachi was reading u.S. Fleet trans-
“Wachi-san?” I said from the rear. Wachi, riding in the missions and knew which ships were transiting the canal.
right front seat and smoking an evil-smelling cigarette of Mr. S’s reports from Panama began shortly thereafter. All
unknown origin, stared straight ahead. proved accurate. He could be trusted. After the attack on
“Yes, Colonel?” Pearl Harbor, Nishi recalled Mr. S from Panama and asked
“7 December 1941. Where were you?” if he was willing to go Washington, D.C., to “collect infor-
He turned. “Mexico City. Naval attaché in the japa- mation.” The informant enthusiastically agreed.
nese embassy. I was a spy. I had a room full of radios Shortly after Christmas 1941, Nishi excitedly told Wachi
listening to the American Atlantic Fleet.” He smiled. that Mr. S had returned to Mexico with a damage report

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • juNe 2011 39

 Postwar Detention and Interrogation
from Pearl Harbor, plus a gold mine of strategic informa-
tion. Equally impressive was the ease with which the intel- Wachi returned to Tokyo in August 1942, shortly after
ligence had been collected: Mr. S said he had gotten all U.S. Marines had landed on Guadalcanal. Reporting to
of his information simply by visiting officers’ clubs in the navy headquarters, he searched for and found the report
Washington area and chatting with former colleagues. based on Mr. S’s treason. It didn’t mention Mr. S, but did
When writing his 1977 paper, Wachi could not remember identify Wachi as the report’s originator. Either that copy or
the precise information regarding Pearl Harbor that Mr. S another filed elsewhere survived the war, ultimately leading
had supplied, but recalled being overjoyed, for the damage to Wachi’s incarceration.
inflicted on the U.S. Pacific Fleet was greater than the Japa- In May 1946, Wachi was arrested by order of Major
nese had thought. Mr. S’s strategic information was of greater General Charles Willoughby, General Douglas MacArthur’s
interest, however. He reported on the U.S. Army’s mobiliza- intelligence chief. The order noted, “Not as a war suspect.”
tion operations, President Roosevelt’s decision to give prior- Nevertheless, Wachi was held in solitary in Sugamo Prison
ity to Germany’s defeat, plans for landings in North Africa to with “Type A” war-crimes suspects (former Prime Minister
assist the British there, the resolve to maintain the lifeline to Hideki Tojo among them). It was more than a month be-
Australia, the goal of eventually recapturing the Philippines, fore Wachi learned why he had been arrested.
and the construction of a submarine fleet to cut sea lines of In June he was taken to a prison interview room, where he
communication between Japan and southern islands. met “an American gentleman waiting for me with a smile.”
The interview got off to a rocky
start: An angry Wachi demanded to
know, among other things, why he
had been held in solitary confine-
ment for a month without being
told why. The American remained
calm, explaining that he was an
FBI agent (unnamed in Wachi’s
writings) tasked with investigating
Wachi’s “secret communication
activities in Mexico at the out-
break of the war.” The agent said
the United States had determined
that at the war’s outbreak Wachi
possessed what was then top-secret
information. He added that Wash-
ington suspected the information
had come from a high-ranking
American official and wanted his
U.S. AIR FORCE
identity.
Acres of B-29s in prBoduction fill a warBtime Boeing plant. BJapanese planners aBnd intelligence Determined to protect Mr. S,
officials were acutely interested in the heavy bomber’s production and operational details, Wachi attempted to learn more.
knowing that at soBme point the aircraBft could be used to Bmake long-range bombBing runs againstLaughing, the agent reminded
the Home Islands. Wachi just who was asking the
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
questions and who was expected to
answer. Wachi agreed to cooperate
Mr. S had not forgotten aviation. He reported the and told the agent about the Mr. S system. How much he
planned air route that would take U.S. bombers south may have said he left unwritten, but he denied ever seeing
to Brazil, then across the Atlantic toward destinations in Mr. S and said he could not recall his real name.
North Africa or India. Ominously, from Japan’s point of Wachi sensed that the agent was disappointed he had
view, he also reported an accelerated pace of production not uncovered a high-level traitor. Telling Wachi that fur-
for B-29 heavy bombers and plans to build operating bases ther investigation would be necessary, the agent advised
in China. With the assistance of a German spy and an him to be patient and “put up with imprisonment” until he
Argentine army attaché, Wachi oversaw the transmission returned. Wachi then was moved from solitary confinement
of Mr. S’s report to Japan’s embassy in Berlin and to IJN to what he termed a “general cell.” There Wachi provided
headquarters in Tokyo. Buddhist religious counsel to prisoners, including Tojo.

40 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
 Late in july the FBI agent returned. Mr. S, he said, was
one Mr. Sutten—that is Wachi’s spelling; it may have been
the more common Sutton—who was still in Mexico. Wachi
agreed that the name sounded “sort of familiar” and ex-
pressed concern for the man’s safety. Responding to Wachi’s
questions, the agent said that the man was considered too
low-level an operative to be of further interest.
The agent then shifted to a different subject. He had
been directed to return to get Wachi’s opinion of how the
Mr. S information had actually affected japanese opera-
tional plans. Wachi wrote that he told the agent, “When
we sent that information to japan it was at the very begin-
ning of the war, when japan was ecstatic with its consecu-
tive victories battle after battle so those who were on the
top of the operation [sic] didn’t consider our information
of much importance.” It was Wachi’s version of what the
japanese called “the victory disease.”
His writings stress the fact that the major strategic sur-
prise to japan was the American drive across the Central
Pacific. He correctly noted that the decision to do so must
have been made after Mr. S’s conversations with his loose-
lipped friends in Washington. Wachi and the agent parted
on friendly terms; Wachi soon was released.
Taking (and Leaving) Command at Iwo Jima
“They [IjN superiors] said to me, ‘Wachi, you are going
to Iwo jima where you will be the commanding officer and
prepare defenses for an American invasion.’ I said: ‘Why
me? I am an intelligence officer and know nothing of such
matters.’ They said: ‘But Wachi, you are a captain. We don’t
have many left.’” That’s what he told me in 1984—his sense
of humor showing. That’s not what he wrote in 1989.
Wachi’s naval attaché service ended when Mexico de-
clared war on the Axis. The japanese embassy was closed,
and its personnel, along with those from other countries at
war with the Allies, were temporarily held at West Virginia’s
Greenbrier Resort. In june 1942, diplomats and attachés
were taken to New York and put aboard the Swedish ship
Gripsholm. Leaving the Gripsholm on Africa’s east coast, they
boarded the japanese liner Asama, bound for Singapore. In
early August 1942, Wachi, Captain Ichiro Yokoyama (the
former naval attaché to Washington), and Commander Terai
(the captain’s assistant) were flown to japan.
On arrival, their knowledge of the u.S. Navy was put
to use in a war game against the IjN staff. Wachi laconi-
cally noted that the hypothetical war “ended in October
with the u.S. on its winning side.” He was then assigned
to “the special communications squad” of the naval staff.
Its function was signals intelligence.
Wachi wrote that in 1943 “the u.S. began their coun-
terattack. Starting with our losing Admiral Yamamoto, we
were defeated in notable consecutive battles one after an-
other.” By year’s end, signals-intelligence efforts were val-
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • juNe 2011
ueless. Citing the weakness of the IjN, Wachi wrote, “Our
information was simply received as news.” He requested
transfer to an active front.
early in 1944, he was told that the IjN would establish a
garrison on Iwo jima. Defense of the island would be a navy
responsibility, although the army would provide some troops.
The army had agreed that Commander Wachi—which was
his actual rank at the time, not captain, as he had joked
to me—would be garrison commander. Wachi does not say
when he arrived on Iwo jima; however, it appears he arrived
in March 1944 and that construction of defensive positions
was well under way. He wrote that “every ship that arrived
was loaded with not only soldiers and sailors but also 25-mm
antiaircraft machine guns and shallow-water mines.”
By the end of April the garrison comprised 5,000 soldiers
and sailors. The number is misleading, however; most of
them had been swept up in what Wachi termed “the na-
tionwide mobilization.” In his words: “They had had no
[military] experience. They were just civilians.”
On 27 May 1944, Wachi ordered test-firing of all anti-
aircraft weapons. He wrote that “All went well . . . and we
were satisfied that we were ready to defend the enemy attack
[sic].” That was an excessively optimistic assessment. By that
time the island had two completed runways, but it still was
defended only by the 5,000 or so untrained soldiers and sailors,
and its anti-invasion defenses had been constructed under IjN
doctrine—which called for stopping invaders on the beach.
The japanese outlook on Iwo jima changed dramatically
with the june 1944 American assault on Saipan. The driving
force of change was the B-29. Wachi’s writings indicate that
early in the war, the japanese had acquired information on
B-29 production and operating characteristics. He does not
identify the source—perhaps it was Mr. S? In any case, he
wrote, “We gathered that by October . . . japan would directly
be bombed by those long-distance high altitude bombers.” He
added that “if the u.S. seized [Iwo jima] and made use of it,
the mainland would be an easy prey to B-29s. Therefore it was
imperative for us to defend [Iwo] by all means.”
The assault on Saipan brought u.S. carrier strikes on
Iwo jima. It also brought “300 planes of Hachijojima unit
composed of fighters and bombers led by Admiral [Sadaichi]
Matsunaga” to the island. The u.S. air campaign intensified;
eventually it included B-29 sorties from Saipan and Tinian.
Meantime, the IjA assumed responsibility for defense of
the island. General Kuribayashi was designated the island’s
commander, and properly trained reinforcements began
arriving from Manchuria and japan. By October 1944,
roughly 15,000 IjA soldiers and 6,000 IjN sailors had been
added. Significantly, Kuribayashi changed the defensive
strategy. In Wachi’s words, the new strategy was to “Destroy
them after they are lured to get ashore [sic].” He mentioned
that the change resulted in a “great dispute between the
army and navy,” but did not elaborate.
41

U.S. MARINE CORPS; INSET: CORBIS
A small fleet of Shinyo suicide motorboats sits harmlessly in a seacoast facility about a month
after Japan’s surrender in 1945. Japan built thousands of the one-man boats and suicide torpe-
does—one type of which is shown in the inset—as defenses against an anticipated Allied landing. dios tuned to frequencies of the U.S.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Preparing for the Invasion of Japan
On 15 October 1944, Commander Wachi was promoted
to captain and ordered home from Iwo Jima. Exhausted, he
was not immediately reassigned. A month or so later, he
learned that because he spoke English and Spanish he soon
would be sent to the Philippines as a naval attaché. Formal
orders never materialized, however, because as he told me
in 1984, “the war was reaching an unfortunate conclusion.”
In February 1945, Captain Wachi was transferred to Ka-
goshima, on the island of Kyushu, as commander of the
Kawatana Garrison—eventually code-named “Storm” and
equipped with what Wachi’s written account calls “seaside
crash boats.” In 1984, when describing the command to
me, he referred to them as suicide boats. In a 1993 let-
ter, his daughter describes the weapons as “suicide crash
boats, which were nothing but torpedoes with men on to
blast into the targets.” Wachi’s command was responsible
for defending Kyushu’s northern coast; a similar command
covered the southern coast.
Wachi’s suicide crews were volunteers, “paid double and
well-fed while all the nation was starving.” Most, if not all
of them, were 16- or 17-year-olds “ready to be wild and
desperate at any moment.” He added that he “had to dis-
cipline them to die for our country. All the actions had to
be based on the significance of a brave death. To achieve
42
www.downmagaz.com
this aim we went thru training after
training until we could handle the
seaside crash boats as our own limbs.”
Wachi’s writings lack information
regarding the type of boat or torpedo
or the number available. But an idea
can be gleaned from his statement
that there were “about 20 bases along
the bay and each of them had about
200 or 300 crew according to their
sizes.” That would translate into the
potential for 4,000 to 6,000 vessels,
far fewer than the 10,000 he men-
tioned in 1984, but enough to do
considerable damage even if only a
small percentage was successful.
* * * *
During our 1984 ride to the mon-
astery near Kyoto, I asked Wachi if
he had known about the Pearl Har-
bor attack beforehand. He shook his
head, then said, “No.” He went on to
explain that in the Mexico City em-
bassy’s radio room, he had several ra-
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Atlantic Fleet. Just one was tuned to
a Pacific frequency. “The first I knew
of the attack was when a voice began
calmly speaking on the Pacific frequency. He repeated, ‘Air
raid Pearl Harbor, this is no drill.’ I heard aircraft engines
and explosions in the background. I knew that only one
nation could have done this and said to myself, ‘Japan, you
have made a big mistake.’”
Thus began a tumultuous era—not just for Wachi per-
sonally, but for all of humanity. Throughout that time,
from working as an intelligence officer to commanding
suicide boats, he gave it his all. Reading his memoirs, I
was struck by the relationships that developed between
the old warrior and his former adversaries—to both his
credit and theirs. Here was a man who for a time was our
dedicated enemy. He then became our equally dedicated
friend and ally.
The Reverend Captain Wachi truly was a good man.
Sources:
Unless otherwise noted, information in the sections subtitled “Spying on the U.S.
Navy” and “Postwar Detention and Interrogation” comes from Captain Tsunezo
Wachi’s paper Two Remorse Episodes.
Unless otherwise noted, information in the sections subtitled “Taking (and Leav-
ing) Command of Iwo Jima” and “Preparing for the Invasion of Japan” comes
from his paper The August Virtue.
Copies of Captain Wachi’s papers and photos were given to former Marine
Captain John Butler by Wachi’s daughter, Rosa Ogawa. Captain Butler’s associa-
tion with Iwo Jima, and thus with Wachi’s family, stems from the fact that on 19
February 1945, his father, Marine Lieutenant Colonel John A. Butler, led the 1st
Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division, up Iwo Jima’s beaches and into the
cauldron. Two weeks later, on 5 March, he was killed in action.
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
 USAA is proud to be the
Flagship Sponsor
of the United States Naval Institute

Make sure military values

guide your retirement plans.

It’s never too early, or too late, to plan for retirement.

Honesty. Integrity. Loyalty. Service. USAA was founded on these values by military
members for military members and their families. USAA is here to help you with retirement
solutions when you need us.
Our advisors are committed to serving your needs. Call us for guidance on investments,
retirement income planning and life insurance.

Learn what a retirement plan from USAA

can mean for you and your family.

usaa.com/retirement | 877-905-USNI (8764)

We know what it means to serve.®

USAA means United Services Automobile Association and its insurance, banking, investment and other companies.
Investments (USAA) provided by USAA Investment Management Company and USAA Financial Advisors, Inc., both registered broker dealers. Financial advice provided by USAA Financial Planning Services Insurance Agency, Inc. (known as
USAA Financial Insurance Agency in California, Lic. #0E36312), and USAA Financial Advisors, Inc., a registered broker dealer. Life insurance provided by USAA Life Insurance Company, San Antonio, TX, and in New York by USAA Life Insurance
Company of New York, Highland Falls, NY. Each company has sole financial responsibility for its own products. Life insurance products provided by USAA Federal Savings Bank, Member FDIC. USNI receives financial support from USAA for this
sponsorship. © 2011 USAA. 130361-0611
 F ilmmakers have always loved
a good sea story, and as naval
combat evolved to include an all-
important aerial component, Hol-
lywood was more than happy to
go along for the ride. Loud, exciting, visually
impressive, and inherently dangerous as hell,
naval aviation was tailor-made for the action-
packed adventures of the cinematic dream
addition to naval aviation’s centennial, is a
celebration in celluloid.
Hell Divers (1931) Far more interesting today
for its priceless naval-aviation footage than for
its creaky plot and corny acting, Hell Divers is
such a moldy-oldie that coarse, hammy Wallace
Beery gets top billing over a certain up-and-
coming player named Clark Gable. The two
portray dueling chief petty officers with clash-
factory. Here, then, as a Saturday-matinee ing styles on board the USS Saratoga (CV-3);

44 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART/FILM STILLS ARCHIVE
Ships! Airplanes! Action! Filmmakers found a made-for-the-
movies combination in the early days of naval aviation and have
been running with it ever since. In 1954’s Men of the Fighting
Lady, the USS Oriskany (CV-34) served as the centerpiece for a
Korean War action picture starring Van Johnson (in foreground).
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Beery is the rough-hewn, lovable old salt, while young Gable
(not even yet sporting his trademark mustache) is the tal-
ented new hotshot. Hell Divers offers a rare glimpse of naval
aviation in its infancy, with Curtiss F8C Helldiver biplanes
taking off and landing on the historic Saratoga in wild-and-
wooly fashion. It’s always been a high-risk calling, but it looks
especially daredevil-crazy here. Viewers also are treated to a
deck-landing by the rigid airship Los Angeles (ZR-3), while
the screenplay lurches from military-movie cliché to brawling
comedics to a hokey, manipulative-melodramatic finale. Gable
and Beery hated working together; the next (and last) time
they costarred was four years later, with Gable recognizably
mustachioed and enjoying top billing in China Seas.
Dive Bomber (1941) In this fine early example of Tech-
nicolor filmmaking, Errol Flynn stars as a Harvard-educated
flight surgeon, butting heads with naval aviator
Fred MacMurray and vying
for the hand of lovely Alexis
Smith. Flynn is out to solve
the problem of pilot blackout;
MacMurray and he go from
being adversaries to allies in
the quest. This was the last of
12 Flynn pictures helmed by
famed action director Michael
Curtiz; the two detested each
other but were one of the most
successful director-star pairings
of Hollywood’s golden age. The
Navy granted Warner Brothers
an unprecedented degree of ac-
cess to film on location at the
Sensational action sequences and an all-star cast are the
Naval Air Station at Coronado,
hallmarks of The Bridges of Toko-Ri, a 1954 drama of
California, and on board the USS
devotion to duty, domestic love, and a conflicted naval
Enterprise (CV-6) anchored at San
aviator serving in the Korean War.
Diego. Thus, in addition to its
• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• •
value as slick, exciting Hollywood
entertainment, Dive Bomber provides the history buff with
a great look (in color, no less) at the Navy on the eve of
World War II. Trivia note: The legendary Lieutenant Edward
“Butch” O’Hare, a future Medal of Honor recipient and one
of the Navy’s top aces of the war, is one of the pilots flying
the planes on view during this movie’s flight footage.
Task Force (1949) The history of naval aviation is embod-
ied here in the reminiscences of a fictional admiral played by
Gary Cooper. We see the wild early days of the 1920s, when
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JUNE 2011
pioneering aces risked their necks landing biplanes on a 65-
foot flight deck. The struggle for aircraft-carrier acceptance is
depicted, along with the ultimate vindication that came with
World War II. Relegated to desk duty before the war, Cooper
comes into his own—along with the carrier technology for
which he has crusaded—once the shooting starts. B-Western
actor Wayne Morris, who here portrays a dive-bombing lieuten-
ant, was a genuine World War II flying ace with four Distin-
guished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals to his credit. Task
Force is a must-see for naval-aviation devotees.
Flying Leathernecks (1951) This heartfelt paean to Ma-
rine aviation in World War II is formulaic but well-paced,
with a good cast. John Wayne is the new no-nonsense major
of a squadron about to take to the dangerous skies over Gua-
dalcanal. Robert Ryan’s the popular captain who got passed
over for the command. They do the good-cop/bad-cop thing
with their flock of flying Marines, and soon they’re all en-
meshed in the hell that was Guadalcanal: a fiercely contested
jungle airstrip, threats from land and sea, high-risk missions,
a shortage of planes, and the overall strain of combat. Mean-
while, Wayne’s character is attempting to advance and perfect
the use of close-air support to help his brethren of the Corps,
whom the fliers affectionately
nickname the “mud Marines,”
struggling and bleeding for every
inch of the island.
Wayne was a great star and
Ryan was a great actor, but
their performances here are
purely perfunctory; they seem
to be dialing it in, to a degree.
The behind-the-scenes politi-
cal dynamics must have been
fascinating: Ryan and direc-
tor Nicholas Ray were su-
perliberals, while Wayne and
RKO Pictures chief Howard
Hughes were ultraconserva-
PHOTO B.D.V./CORBIS (SERGE BENHAMOU)
tives. And the movie was made
during the heyday of the Red
Scare. Adding further complex-
ity, Ryan had actually served
in the Marines during World
• 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1•
War II—as a drill instructor at
Camp Pendleton—while Wayne didn’t serve at all (for rea-
sons still debated to this day). Among Wayne’s war movies
of the 1940s and ’50s, Flying Leathernecks doesn’t rise to the
top; it’s no Sands of Iwo Jima or They Were Expendable, but
it’s a worthy tribute to Marine fliers during a perilous chapter
of World War II.
Flat Top (1952) Less well known than Flying Leathernecks
(but using the same hoary plot device—Stern Commander
vs. Popular Subordinate Officer), Flat Top is a by-the-numbers
45

B-movie, to be sure, but nonetheless a satisfying experience for
anyone wanting a naval-aviation fix. It isn’t filet mignon, but
it’s a pleasantly filling cheeseburger with fries. Filmed on board
the USS Princeton (CV-37), Flat Top stars Sterling Hayden as
the gruff, combat-seasoned commander leading a fresh batch
of naval aviators. 1950s sci-fi icon Richard Carlson costars as
the amiable executive officer, an Annapolis grad who is too
nice to the men for their own good. Hayden often seemed
like an indifferent performer, a reluctant star who would rather
have been off sailing (the sea was his passion). But he’s quite
effective here as the hard-nosed CO who’s stingy with a com-
pliment and critical of every deviation from perfection.
As they wend their way farther across the Pacific through
a series of escalatingly dangerous aerial-combat scenarios,
the guys start to realize their commander has their own best
interests at heart. Yes, it’s Cliché Central, but the script,
by hardboiled mystery-novelist-turned-prolific-screenwriter
Steve Fisher, manages to move it all along at a brisk clip.
Authentic color footage from World War II is woven into
the picture, which of course causes that perpetual dilemma
of continuity-flaw howlers; we see an actor in a particular
cockpit, then cut to aerial action that shows him in a differ-
ent type of plane, while the later landing shot may show him
in something different yet again. But it’s a shoestring-budget
movie from 1952 made by down-market Monogram Pictures,
so you just kind of go with it. Flat Top actually held its world
premiere on board the Princeton in San Diego Harbor, replete
with Navy officials, Hollywood folks, and media fanfare.
Men of the Fighting Lady (1954) The prolific pen of James
Michener contributed to this tough aircraft-carrier actioner,
partly based on an article by Michener (who is portrayed on-
screen, by Louis Calhern, as a narrator). Van Johnson heads
a cast of MGM regulars in a no-frills look at life on board a
carrier in the Sea of Japan as her squadron conducts Korean
War bombing runs. And despite what that title would suggest,
the story does not take place on the USS Yorktown (CV-10),
but the Oriskany (CV-34). (Maybe the studio thought the title
it went with sounded better than Men of the Mighty O.) The
most famous—and incredible—sequence, in which Johnson
“talks in” a blinded pilot to a safe landing, is based on a true
46
www.downmagaz.com
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART/FILM STILLS ARCHIVE
The 1949 film Task Force encapsulates the history of naval
aviation—from the experimental derring-do of 1920s through
World War II—using the reminisences of an admiral played by
Gary Cooper (right).
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
incident. Rarely if ever has the grim reality of carrier ser-
vice, or the grave dangers Navy jet pilots faced in Korea,
been more rawly portrayed.
The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954) Bravery and heroism
are celebrated, while the futility and tragedy of war are
acknowledged in this memorable drama based on the
best-selling James Michener novella. William Holden
stars as a lawyer who did dangerous duty as a Navy flier
during World War II. He’s called back into service in the
Korean War, and he’s none too pleased. (His wife is the
radiant Grace Kelly, so who can blame him?) His white-
knuckle adventures in the skies over Korea culminate with
the titular mission: Those five bridges deep in enemy ter-
ritory need to be blown up, though relentless North Ko-
rean antiaircraft artillery has something to say about that.
Stupendous action sequences (Bridges won the Oscar for
Best Special Effects) alternate with touching family scenes
as the story careens to its inevitable finale. Fredric March,
as Holden’s admiral, sums it all up with the famous line:
“Where do we get such men?”
The Wings of Eagles (1957) Question: What do the first
two movies in this list (Hell Divers and Dive Bomber) have in
common? Answer: Both were scripted by Commander Frank
“Spig” Wead, an early naval-aviation pioneer whose flying ca-
reer was cut short in 1926 when he broke his neck and was
paralyzed. Rather than throwing in the towel, Wead reinvented
himself as a writer, going on to a successful career in books,
magazines, and Hollywood screenplays—furthering the cause of
naval aviation through the written word. The Wings of Eagles
is the Spig Wead story, brought to you by the John Ford–John
Wayne stock company. Wead and Ford were buddies and col-
laborators (Wead penned Ford’s 1945 They Were Expendable),
and here, the brawling, larger-than-life hotshot Navy pilot-
turned-screenwriter is depicted by the brawling, larger-than-life
Wayne. (For the only time in screen history, we see the Duke
without his hairpiece as he plays Wead in his later, balding
years.) At times too broad and comical in an almost frat-boy
way, this one’s still a worthwhile saga for the aficionado, as it
chronicles the unique life of a naval-aviation legend.
Midway (1976) An all-star cast—Charlton Heston, Henry
Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Toshiro Mifune, and Rob-
ert Mitchum, among others—can’t save what should have
been, considering its subject matter, an all-time great naval
epic. Instead it’s a cheap-looking, anachronism-riddled misfire,
replete with grafted-on soap-opera subplots and the overall
feel of a TV production. Fonda created one of the cinema’s
most enduringly lovable U.S. Navy characters in 1955’s Mister
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
Roberts; here, he’s rather flat and humdrum as Admiral Ches-
ter W. Nimitz. Despite the thundering bass effects of the ’70s
“Sensurround” audio process, Midway is a tinny effort that falls
flat; America’s Trafalgar deserves much better.
The Final Countdown (1980) Navy adventure and sci-fi
are meshed in this somewhat cheesy but perennially enjoyable
curiosity. The Twilight Zone–style plot involves a time warp, a
tempting opportunity, and the cosmic ramifications of altering
the course of history. An aging but still-engaging Kirk Douglas
plays the skipper of the supercarrier uSS Nimitz (CVN-68),
on maneuvers off Hawaii when a freak squall sucks the mighty
warship into a supernatural vortex (the low-tech special effects
are so bad they’re good), and the ship and crew suddenly are
transported back in time to 6 December 1941. That’s right—it’s
the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Nimitz, with all
her modern supersonic firepower, is in a position to repel the
japanese onslaught and save the Navy (and America) from
one of its worst days ever. But
then Captain Kirk and com-
pany realize that if they act,
they’ll radically change every-
thing that will subsequently
transpire in the grand arc of
human events. Talk about a
decision-point dilemma! Mar-
tin Sheen, james Farentino, and
Katharine Ross are all on board
for the mind-bending sea story,
but the real star is the Nimitz
herself, captured in all her glory
during her 1979–80 cruise (with
the Atlantic standing in for the
Pacific). If nothing else, The
Final Countdown offers great
THe MuSeuM OF MODeRN ART/FILM STILLS ARCHIVe
documentary footage of the
Box-office biggies Robert Ryan (left) and John Wayne teamed
Nimitz, with plenty of exciting
up in 1951 as good-Zcop/bad-cop Marine Zaviation officers oZn tially filmed on the uSS In-
flight-deck takeoff and landing
Guadalcanal in Flying Leathernecks.
action featuring F-14s and other
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
aircraft that would have kicked
serious posterior in 1941.
Top Gun (1986) It would be easy for the cineaste to scoff
and sneer at this formulaic, ultra-slick megahit that epitomizes
’80s moviemaking at its most high-gloss and calculated. But
it remains eminently watchable entertainment, with thor-
oughly dazzling F-14 flight sequences that knocked everyone’s
socks off when it was released, and still look great today. Tom
Cruise is at his cocky, grinning Tom Cruise-est as Maverick,
the handsome Alpha-dog among the latest class of trainees at
the Miramar Naval Air Station. His goofy, lovable wingman,
played by Anthony edwards, is actually the favorite character
for many fans. Kansas City Barbeque, the bar/restaurant where
they woo Kelly McGillis with a slapdash rendition of “You’ve
Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” has since become a San Diego tour-
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • juNe 2011
ist landmark. And who can ever forget Val Kilmer, memorably
reptilian and weird as Maverick’s archnemesis, Iceman?
Since its late-’80s pop-cultural heyday (VHS copies of the
movie were ubiquitous back then, from 7-eleven shelves to
dorm-room floors), Top Gun has spawned a whole body of
folklore and urban legend. Its purported gayness has become
the stuff of sitcom jokes and YouTube clips, thanks largely to a
hilariously overcooked analysis delivered by Quentin Tarantino
in the 1994 movie Sleep With Me (and to be fair to Top Gun,
Tarantino misquotes it in a way that serves to strengthen his
gay-subtext theory). Meanwhile, talks of a remake have been
floating around Hollywood for a while, with Cruise himself al-
legedly in the loop for an appearance. A crowd-pleaser that was
and remains critic-proof, Top Gun was the top box-office mon-
eymaker of 1986 and the recruitment poster for a generation.
Flight of the Intruder (1991) South China Sea, 1972: Fed
up by the dragged-out inconclusiveness of the Vietnam War
and embittered over the recent
combat loss of his navigator
buddy, A-6 Intruder pilot jake
“Cool Hand” Grafton (Brad
johnson) heads off on a rogue
flight to Hanoi to wreak some
havoc, with rule-breaking Lieu-
tenant Commander Virgil Cole
(Willem Dafoe) along for the
unauthorized sortie. Old-school
war-movie heroics are grafted
onto the Vietnam experience
in this chest-thumping action
flick from blood-and-thunder
director john Milius (Conan the
Barbarian, Red Dawn). Based on
the novel by Stephen Coonts,
Flight of the Intruder was par-
dependence (CV-62) and boasts
aerial sequences that rival Top
Gun’s. Though it made much
less of a splash than Cruise’s movie, it’s got the right stuff for
the naval-aviation buff.
* * *
Also worth a look are the following pictures, which offer
less in the way of carrier action, but are of tangential in-
terest to those surveying the naval-aviation movie canon:
The Great Santini (1979) Classic family drama; Robert
Duvall plays a Marine pilot who’s one seriously tough father.
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) Wildly popular ro-
mantic hit with a Navy Aviation Officer Candidate School
setting; Richard Gere and Debra Winger costar.
Hot Shots! (1991) An Airplane!-style Top Gun parody,
a laugh-a-minute gut-buster starring Charlie Sheen in his
pre-meltdown prime.
47
 Some Of Our Most Popular Titles Submarine Titles: WWII Through The 1970s
• USS Iwo Jima, Vietnam War In Op. Deckhouse V, 45 min. • Aboard USS Nautilus During The Makin Raid :
• Binh Thuy Naval Base, Includes Naval Support Facilities, 60 min. A Submariner’s Story, 60 min.
• USS Intrepid CVS-11 Vietnam 1965-68 With Above & Below Deck, 60 min. • Sub Training 1960s, • USS Triton Undersea,
• Small Boat Warfare Vietnam, featuring the PBR, 90 min. 60 min. 30 min.
• Naval Support Facilities Da Nang, Camp Tien Sha, 60 min. • Sub Service • Submarine & Missile
• USS Nimitz: 1976 To Early 1980s With VAW-116 & VF-84, 50 min. 1940s-50s, 104 min. Programs 1970s, 60 min.
• USS Yorktown CV-10 Vietnam 1965-68, 45 min. • Sub Warfare: • USS Robert E. Lee &
• Black Navy Officers & Sailors in the 1970s With USS Brewton, 20 min. WWII, 110 min. USS Lewis & Clark, 60 min.
• P2V Neptune 1940s-50s, 75 minutes • FBM Submarines/ • Sub Service In 1970s,
• F-14 Tomcat and Navy Fighter Weapons School at Miramar 1970s, 100 min. Sailors, 85 min. 55 min.
• Heavy Cruisers 1930s-1960s, 90 min.
• Navy Patrol Sqd. Op. Market Time, Vietnam War 1965-66 /Lockheed SP-2H, 45 min.
• Iowa Class Battleships: USS Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri & Wisconsin, 1940s-50s, 120 min.
“This is the real deal, not some
• Destroyer Escorts 1940s & 1950s, 50 min. Hollywood film.
• Shipboard Living Aboard Destroyers 1940s-50s, 65 min
• Navy Frogmen, Underwater Demolition Teams and Navy SEALs, 105 minutes
This will be appreciated
• Light Cruisers Go To War: 1930s-1950s, 70 min. by those who were
• Destroyers & Their Sailors, WWI-Vietnam, 100 min.
• Navy Deep Sea Diving 1940s, 55 min. in the service.”
• Underway Replenishment 1940s-60s, 60 min. A Statisfied Customer
• Deep Sea Rescue Vehicles (DSRV), 1970s, 50 min
• King Neptune Ceremony 1918-65: Pollywog to Shellback rituals, 60 min. Carriers: Each One Is Different!
• Naval Gun At Iwo Jima & Okinawa, 40 min. Flight Deck • USS Princeton 1950s-60s, 60 min.
• Armed Guard/Merchant Marine WWII, 80 min. • Light Carriers 1940s-50s, 70 min.
• Navy Diving 1960s: Physical & Mental Dangers, 60 min. Activities, • Escort Carriers 1940s-50s, 75 min.
• Navy Gun 1950s, Firing the Big Guns, 90 min.
• Negro Sailor, Negro Soldier WWII, 60 min.
Below Deck • USS Forrestal 1967 Fire, 72 min.
• African Americans in World War II With Sailors, Seabees & Marines, 120 minutes & Much More! • Carrier Action Off Korea, 75 min.

We Have 100s Of Other Titles You Can’t Find Anywhere Else!

• USS Oriskany 1966 Fire, 60 min.
• USS Wasp (CVA-18) 1944-72, With Gemini, 60 min.
• USS Hancock (CV-19) 1940-60s, With Air Strikes, 60 min.
More Hard To Find Navy Titles • USS Essex (CV-9) 1940-1960s With Apollo 7, 70 min.
• USS Repose: Hospital Ship With Corpsmen, 60 min. • USS America (CVA-66) 1965-68, With A-7 & F-4 Aircraft, 60 min.
• Guided Missile Frigates, Destroyers/ Sailors 1960s, 80 min. • USS Midway (CVA-41) 1945-70 With Launch V-2 Rocket, 60 min.
• Minesweeping WWII, Korea & Vietnam, 92 min. • USS Hornet (CV-8, CV-12) WWII & Torpedo Sqdn. 8, 60 min.
Fleet Ocean Tugs, USS Papago, 40 min.
• Blue Angels: Early Years 1953-71, 78 min. • USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) 1965-70, Flight Line, Engine, 50 min.
• F-9F Panther/Cougar & F-4D Skyray, 65 min. • USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) 1961-79 & Frigate USS Standley, 75 min.
• Guided Missile Cruisers 1960s/70s, 110 min. • USS Ranger (CVA-61) 1956-83, WestPac Cruises, 70 min.
• Arctic Bases: Thule, Century & Tuto, 72 min. • USS Roosevelt (CVB-42) 1940s-50s, Great Below Deck!, 45 min.
• PBY: WWII Operations, 120 min. • USS Roosevelt (CVB-42) 1960s Above & Below Deck, 90 min.
• PT Boats In WWII, 45 min. • USS Philippine Sea (CV-47) 1940s-50s, off Korea, 50 min.
Seabees
• Seabees & Marine Corps Combat Opera- • USS Randolph (CV-15) 1945-67, With ASW Action, 45 min.
tions in the Pacific WWII, 70 min. • USS Valley Forge (CV-45) 1949-1966, Korea & Vietnam, 60 min.
• Seabees Normandy/Europe WWII, 90 min. • USS Shangri-La (CV-38) 1944-68, With Destroyer Collision, 45 min.
• Seabees and Marine Corps Engineers in • USS Constellation (CVA-64) 1964-1970 With A-4s, 45 min.
Vietnam, 45 min. • USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) 1960-70 & World Cruise, 90 min.
Boot Camp for Sailors • USS Enterprise 1969 Fire off Hawaii & 1968 Gulf of Tonkin, 45 min.
• Boot Camp Great Lakes: 1940s, 45 min. • USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14) off Vietnam, 30 min.
• Boot Camp San Diego: 1940s, 50 min. • USS Saratoga CV-60, 1956-69, Visits By Eisenhower, Nixon, 60 min.
• Boot Camp San Diego: 1950s, 75 min. • USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31) 1950s-60s, 45 min.
• Boot Camp San Diego: 1960s & Advanced • USS Franklin (CV-13) WWII & 25th Reunion On Ship, 90 min.
Training, 60 min. • USS Oriskany (CV-34) in Vietnam Above & Below Deck, 40 min.
• Boot Camp San Diego: 1970s & Advanced • USS JF Kennedy (CVA-67) 1970s-’80s, F-4s & F-14s, 70 min.
Training, 50 min. • Naval Reserves 1960s & 70s, Including USS JFK, 93 min.
LSTs in World War II • USS Independence (CVA-62) 1960s & Med Cruise, 90 min.
• LST Training In World War II, 80 min. • USS Forrestal (CV-59) 1950s-60s, With VF-74, 90 min.
• Navy WAVES and • LSTs WWII: European Theater, 72 min. • USS Boxer (CV-21) 1950s With 1952 Fire, 70 min.
Coast Guard SPARS from the • LSTs in the Pacific WWII, 65 min. • Carrier Pilot Training 1960s-70s at Pensacola, Fla., 90 min
1940s - 1970s, 60 min. • Carrier History: Langley To Enterprise, 90 min.
Coast Guard:
• Coast Guard Action WWII, 45 minutes • Essex Class Carriers WWII (“Fighting Lady”), 60 min.
• Coast Guard at Normandy, 70 min. • Carrier Crashes & Landings 1940s-60s, 60 min.
• Coast Guard in Vietnam, 60 minutes • Suicide Attack in Pacific WWII: Kamikazes & aftermath, 93 min.
www.downmagaz.com
 Marines In The Vietnam War
• Scenes from Camp Reasoner, 3rd Recon, Hill
510, Da Nang Bridge & HQ 3rd MAF, 45 minutes
• Battle For Hue, 45 minutes
• Da Nang Street Scenes, Dog Patch, 60 min.
• Da Nang AB & USMC Areas, 1965-70, 100 min
• Camp Carroll, Rock Pile 1967-1970, 30 min.
• M14 & M16 Rifles, 85 minutes
• Khe Sanh Combat Base, The Sequel, 45 min.
• Siege at Khe Sanh & Air Power, 45 minutes
• Marine Aviation In Vietnam: 1st MAW, 90 min.
• Chu Lai Air Base 1965-1968, 75 min.
• Con Thien Base Camp & The Battle, 90 min.
• Marines 1965 & Operations Starlite, Piranha
& Harvest Moon, 90 minutes
• Marines 1966: Ops. Hastings & Prairie, 70 min.
• Marines 1967 With Op. Independence, 80 min.
• Marines 1968 With Legacy Program, 80 min
• Op. Dewey Canyon (Helicopter Assault)
& Legacy Program, 45 min.
• You in Vietnam & For Valor, 40 minutes
• Scenes From Dong Ha AB/Vietnam, 25 min.
• R&R in Vietnam With China Beach, 100 min.
• USMC Basic School: Marine Corps Officers
1960s & 1970s, 45 minutes
Marines In The Korean War
• Camp Pendleton Korean War Years, 62 min.
• Korea Remembered: Interviews C-1-5, 90 min.
• Marines in Korea & Chosin Reservoir, 60 min.
• The 1st Marine Division in Korea, 55 min.
Buy online at www.MilitaryVideo.com where you can see movie trailers of our
videos, or you can call us at 1-800-277-1977 to speak to a live person.
More Marine Corps Titles
• Chesty Puller, John Glenn & Marine Corps • Marine Sniper & Marine Recon 1960s, 40 min.
Combat Leadership Skills, 100 minutes
• Fallujah Uncensored: Operation Al-Fajr (Opera-
tion Phantom Fury), 180 minutes
• Field Medical Service School, Camp Lejeune
And Medical Support In A Marine Amphibious
Assault, 60 minutes
• Guantanamo Naval Base (GITMO): 1950s &
1960s, 65 minutes
• Band’s All Here: A Tribute To Marine Corps
Post Bands and Field Musicians, 90 min.
• Women Marines 1950s and 1960s, 30 min.
• Marine Close Air Support 1950s-60s, 40 min.
• Marine Corps & Army Perform With Black
Watch In The 1950s, 50 minutes
• Marine Corps Helicopters In 1950s, 40 min.
• Marine Corps In Lebanon 1983, 50 minutes
• Marine Corps In Lebanon 1958, 50 minutes
• Marine Pilot Training 1950s-1970s, 60 minutes
Pay by check, money order, credit/debit cards or Paypal
Marines In WWII
• 6th Marine Division on Okinawa, 120 minutes
• Okinawa Uncensored, 120 minutes
Free
• Bougainville 1943-1945, 90 minutes
• Camp Pendleton Story WWII Years, 75 minutes.
• China Marines: 1945-1946, 67 min.
Shipping!
• Combat Conditioning World War II, 100 min.
• 1st Marine Div.: Behind The Scenes Guadalcanal, 40 min.
• Guadalcanal: USMC Battle Report, 55 min.
• Guam & Return to Guam, 80 minutes
• Iwo Jima Uncensored, 100 minutes.
• Iwo Jima: Official Battle Report, 70 min. In The USA
• Iwo Jima: The Forgotten Stories, 60 min. & Canada
• Leatherneck Way: Training for WWII, 60 min
• Kwajalein Battle Report (Roi and Namur), 70 min.
• Tarawa: Official Battle Report, 60 minutes
• Marine Corps Amphibious Recon Patrol,
Notes on Jungle Warfare WWII, 90 min.
• Marine Aviation In WWII: Featuring
The SBD Dauntless And F4U Corsair, 65 min.
• New Britain: Arawe/Cape Gloucester and
the Admiralty Islands WWII, 75 minutes
• Palau: Official USMC Peleliu & Angaur, 80 min.
• Occupation Of Japan In World War II, 80 min. Marine Corps Boot Camp
• Marines Who Defended Midway WWII, 60 min
• Saipan Uncensored, 110 minutes • MCRD San Diego 1969/1973, 45 min.
• Saipan: The Official Battle Report, 85 min • MCRD San Diego 1980s, 55 min.
• Seabees & USMC Ops. Pacific WWII, 70 min • Parris Island Boot Camp, 1960s, 45 min.
• Marianas Campaign Featuring Tinian, 50 minutes • MCRD Parris Island, 1950s, 60 minutes
• Women Reserves: Women Marines WWII, 40 min. • MCRD San Diego, 1950s, 30 minutes
• For DIs Only: PI & SD 1960s from
the DI’s perspective, 55 minutes
• Rifle Range Camp Matthews, 45 min.
• Semper Fi!: Drill Instructors Let Down Their
Hair: Interviews & Historic Film, 60 min.
• Marksmanship: Army & Marine Corps, 45 min.
• Observation Aircraft 1960s, 70 minutes
• Participation in Atomic Bomb Test “Project
Desert Rock, Nev. 1952” (silent film), 15 min.
• Pickel Meadows: USMC Mountain Warfare
Training Center, Bridgeport CA., 50 minutes
• Platoon 145 On The Road: A Vietnam War
Platoon Returns to Boot Camp, 60 minutes
• Rifle Platoon 50s & Rifle Squad 60s, 50 min
• Sailors & Marines Training, WWI, 20 min.
• Sea Going Leathernecks: Marine Shipboard
Detachments 1960s, 30 minutes
• Embassy Marine & Marine Honor Guard, 45 min.
We Also Carry
• Steel Knight At 29 Palms: Behind The Scenes At
Marines’ Largest Live Fire Exercise, 85 min 100s Of
USS Valley Forge CV-45, LPH-8, 60 minutes
• USS Boxer CV-21, CVA-21, CVS-21, 70 min Army & Air Force
Videos
• Helicopter Training & Role 1960s, 30 minutes
NH
 By Rear Admiral Joseph F. Callo, U.S. Navy Reserve (Retired)

Assigned to the Caribbean and imbued

with a fierce sense of duty, the future sea hero
boldly defied the law-ignoring admiral,
governor, and people of the West Indies.

50 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
 C
aptain Horatio Nelson wasn’t happy
when he was appointed to command
of the 28-gun frigate HMS Boreas. Up
to that point in March 1784, he had
every reason to believe that his career
was in ascendancy. However, this new assignment did
not appear to be career-enhancing.
By 1779 the officer destined for greatness had
reached the rank of post captain, which guaranteed
that he would rise with a degree of regularity, as
those senior to him in the Royal Navy retired or
died. Then in 1780, while captain of another 28-gun
frigate, HMS Hinchinbrooke, Nelson distinguished
himself in combat as the
leader of the naval por-
tion of a combined army-
navy inshore attack on
the Spanish at Nicara-
gua in Fort San Juan.
And in 1782–83, fol-
lowing command of
the Hinchinbrooke, he cap-
tained yet another 28-gun frig-
ate, HMS Albemarle, and was
actively involved in convoy duty
in the Baltic and Atlantic.
While commanding the
Albemarle, Nelson also led
an amphibious assault
against the French on
Turks Island in the
West Indies, and al-
though unsuccess-
ful, apparently no
stigma was at-
tached to him
for the at-
• •
IVAN BERRYMAN (WWW.IVANBERRYMAN.COM); NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM, GREENWICH
Opposite: HMS Boreas, depicted capturing dthe French ship
Left: John Francis Rigaud’s painting of Nelson was completed
in 1781, three yeadrs before the youndg officer began his dCaribbean
tour of duty. It is the earliest authenticated portrait of Nelson.
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JUNE 2011
tack’s failure. While commanding the Albemarle, he had
come to the attention of Admiral Samuel Lord Hood
and Prince William, the future King William IV; such
visibility could make a big difference in the promis-
ing officer’s assignments and even the continuity of his
naval employment.
As his tour in the Albemarle drew to a close, Nelson
hoped to be assigned to the Jamaica station, perhaps
as commanding officer of a ship-of-the-line. That was
a theater where he had a better chance to find career-
enhancing action. As a possible alternative, he wrote to
an acquaintance, Commodore William Cornwallis, in
hope of serving under him in the East Indies, another
theater where there was potential for career accelera-
tion. As it turned out, however, Nelson was appointed
to command of HMS Boreas and deployed to the West
Indies, a station where there was little prospect for the
kind of action that would work to the advantage of an
aggressive 25-year-old frigate captain. To make matters
worse from a career standpoint, there was no out-and-
out-war in progress.
A Different Kind of Challenge
It’s not surprising, then, that after his orders to
the Boreas and the West Indies arrived, Nelson
began a letter to his former commanding officer and
mentor Captain William Locker with a noticeable
lack of enthusiasm: “On last Friday I was commis-
sioned for the Boreas . . . and I am sorry to say that
the same day gave me an ague and fever.” 1 He also
complained of the “inconvenience and expense” of
carrying the wife and daughter of his commanding
officer on the transit.
In the perspective of events, however, Nelson’s tour
in the West Indies turned out to be a pivot point in
his career, a three-year assignment that simultaneously
would test and shape his character as a naval officer in
career-threatening ways. It was a period when he had
to deal with a major conflict between military and dip-
lomatic interests. More important, it was a time when
he blatantly challenged the judgments and orders of
his commanding officer in the West Indies, Admiral
Sir William Hughes.
• 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • • 1• • •
Compas (right) on 29 Augudst 1779, already wads a sea-
soned veteran of the West Indies when Captain Horatio
Nelson reluctantly dassumed command of hder in 1784.
51
 Nelson on the West Indies Station events were affecting him. He was a pro-
lific writer during his entire career, and
the period between 1784 and 1787 was
Nelson’s base typical in that regard. Nelson himself sig-
St. Thomas of operations naled the importance of his writings at
St. John the end of a letter to his uncle Maurice
Tortola
Virgin Gorda Suckling, written from the Boreas while
Anguilla
at Nevis in July 1786: “[B]ut what I have
St. Maarten/St. Martdin
St. Barthelemy said [in the foregoing letter] is the inward
Barbuda monitor of my heart upon every difficult
St. Croix
occasion.”3 In the long view of history,
St. Kitts what Nelson wrote about the events of
Nevis Antigua
his West Indies tour became a unique
means of seeing those events from an
“inside” perspective, rather than from
Guadeloupe
an external view.

The Saintes The Storm Clouds Gather

Dominica By the time he had been on the West

Indies station six months, Nelson was
writing of his difficulties. For example,
in January 1785 he wrote again to Cap-
Martinique tain Locker, this time complaining about
Admiral Hughes and the local contro-
versy over the enforcement of Britain’s
St. Lucia Navigation Acts:

The longer I am on this Station the

St. Vincent Barbados
worse I like it. Our Commander has not
that opinion of his own sense that he
ought to have. He is led by the advice
Admiral
of the Islanders to admit the Yankees to
Sir William
Hughes’ Grenada a Trade; at least to wink at it. . . . I for
headquarters one, am determined not to suffer the
Yankees to come where my ship is . . .
They will first become the Carriers, and
next have possession of our Islands, are
we ever again embroiled in a French
KELLY ERLINGER

war. The residents of these Islands are

In fact, Nelson’s tour as captain of the Boreas came very
close to ending his naval career. It was almost certainly more
threatening in that respect than any of his later, more atten-
tion-getting assignments. In his biography The Life of Nelson,
then-Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote of the dangers of
Nelson’s defiance of his immediate superior while serving on
the West Indies station: “It is difficult for the non-military
mind to realize how great is the moral effort of disobeying a
superior, whose order . . . entails the most serious personal
and professional injury, if violated without due cause; the
burden of proving which rests upon the junior.”2
Given the stressful circumstances of Nelson’s three
years in the Boreas, it’s not surprising that he wrote at
length describing the events of that period and how those
Americans by connexion and by interest, and are in-
imical to Great Britain.4
The problem to which Nelson referred involved the
Navigation Acts’ ban on direct maritime trade between the
young United States and Britain’s West Indies colonies. In
the strategic scheme of things, the strict enforcement of the
Navigation Acts in the West Indies might have made sense
in London, but for the British colonists in the West Indies
it did not. The colonists’ economic well-being relied heavily
on the trade carried in American ships, which included such
basics as lumber, flour, and tobacco coming from America,
with exports such as molasses, rum, and coffee making the
return trip.

52 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
 The result was that the Navigation Acts were largely
circumvented by the British plantation owners and local
merchants, for whom the two-way trade was a matter of
survival, and as well by the American merchants who were
eager to restore what had been a profitable traffic before
the American Revolution. The law was also ignored by the
British government’s administrators and customs agents in
the islands. That latter group was not only sympathetic to
the colonists’ predicament, many of them were benefiting
financially from the corruption involved.
The ranks of those willing to look the other way while
direct trade with America continued included Admiral
Hughes, who was based ashore at Barbados in the southern
half of the West Indies. Nelson, the senior officer afloat on
the station, commanded his small squadron from a base at
english Harbor, Antigua. And for the most part, he and his
crews operated in the northern half of the station.
The significant geographic separation between Nelson’s
base and that of Hughes was symbolic of their differing
opinions about enforcement of the Navigation Acts. Nel-
son insisted it was not a preference but a duty as a Royal
Navy captain and the senior officer afloat in the theater to
strictly enforce those laws. And he did so. In one respect,
Nelson simply was following the example of the officer
he was relieving and with whom he had formed a lifelong
friendship, Captain Cuthbert Collingwood. But it quickly
became clear that Nelson had very strong feelings of his
own about the importance of aggressively enforcing the
Navigation Acts.
Admiral Hughes insisted that primary authority on the
issue rested with him and the British governor in the the-
ater, Major General Thomas Shirley. Like Hughes, Shirley
was more interested in getting along with the local popu-
lation than enforcing the Navigation Acts. The result was
an astonishing running dispute between Nelson on one
side and Hughes and Shirley on the other. Other players
in the disagreement included British customs officials,
the colonists who were bearing the economic brunt of
Nelson’s determination, and the captains of the American
ships involved. Clearly Nelson, who was a junior captain,
was sailing among enormously dangerous political rocks
and shoals.

The Young WidoW

By Joseph F. Callo
Fanny was pretty, and the lars marking the entrance to the planta-
exotic setting of Montpelier, tion continue to stand guard, and the tree
set on a breezy Nevis 1hillside under which marriage occurred is still
overlooking the Caribb1ean, standing.
was a perfect setting for her. On the surface, the m1arriage appeared to
Not surprisingly, Nelson be an ideal union. Ne1lson was an incurabl1e
NATIONAL MARITIMe MuSeuM, GReeNWICH

fell in love with Fanny, and
Montpelier became an i1mpor - young women shortly 1before his assign-
tant refuge for him. even
Fanny’s lively five-year old son,
Josiah, added to the 1attractive-
ness of the situation1 for the
young captain of HM1S Boreas.
An unknown artist pportrayed Frances Nispbet while Nelson was an ardent
she lived on the ipsland of Nevis and pacted as hostess ofp suitor, and he wrote to his
the Montpelier planptation. uncle, Maurice Suckling, in
November 1785: “[H]er mental
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
accomplishments are superior
romantic, having fall1en in love with two
ment to the command 1of the Boreas. One
was the daughter of t1he provost marshal
of the British garrison at Quebec City, the
other the daughter of 1an english clergyman
in France. Fanny seemed, however, to be
the ideal person to pr1ovide the emotional
support Nelson crave1d. For her part, as a1
widow with a son, Fanny needed security,
and a rising young naval officer, even one
who had not yet esta1blished a significant 1

W hen she met Nelson in 11785,

Frances Nisbet was a 22-year-old
widow. On the death of her husband
after only 18 months1 of marriage, she
had taken over the ma1nagement of her
uncle’s household at Montpelier, the finest
plantation house on 1the island of Nevis. 1
Her uncle, John Herber1t, was among the
few plantation owners in the West Indies
who welcomed Nelson 1into their homes.
to most people’s of either sex, and we shall
come together as two people most sin-
cerely attached to each other from friend-
ship.” This idealistic tone was sustained
by Nelson throughout the courtship, and
the couple were married in March 1787.
Prince William, who was in the West
Indies as captain of HMS Pegasus, gave
the bride away. Although Montpelier is
long gone, the remnants of the stone pil-
financial base, seemed a very good match.
unfortunately, by the time Nelson
had survived the five y1ears without naval
employment that foll1owed his tour in the
West Indies, during which time he and
Fanny lived in Burnha1m Thorp just off the1
Norfolk coast, it wa1s clear that the marria1ge
was in trouble. And 1when Nelson later met1
and fell in love with1 Lady emma Hamilton,
it was over.

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JuNe 2011 53

 Both the admiral and the governor were amiable admin-
istrators, and neither wanted trouble. Nelson, on the other
hand, was determined to do his duty as he saw it. British
historian Michael Lewis wrote of Nelson at this point in
his career: “Here, then, is a young Naval Officer, very keen,
very ambitious, very proud of his Service; burning with
patriotism; in a position of real authority for the first time;
very sure that he was one-hundred-per-cent right.”5
The Battle Intensifies
In December 1784 the problems over the Navigation
Acts reached a crisis, primarily because of the actions of
Captain Collingwood, who had intercepted an American
merchantman and prevented her master from discharging
his cargo in St. John’s, Antigua. The American captain
went ashore and complained about being detained, and a
furor ensued that involved Collingwood, Nelson, Hughes,
Shirley, and eventually the local populace. At one point
Admiral Hughes sought legal advice from the King’s Coun-
sel in the West Indies, and the letter subsequently writ-
ten by the counsel apparently supported the case against
Collingwood’s action and Nelson’s position: “Any military
interference without requisition from the officers of the
Customs in any port of the British Dominions is certainly
very unusual and singular.”6 As a result of the legal opin-
ion, Admiral Hughes wrote an order on 30 December that
limited the role of the Royal Navy in the theater to send-
NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM, GREENWICH
HMS Boreas (left) is under way in the West Indies in this work by celebrated Age of Sail painter Nicholas Pocock.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
54
www.downmagaz.com
ing ships suspected of violating the Navigation Acts into
port, where the case would be decided by the “Governor or
his representative.” Under the order, Nelson and his ships
would be no more than monitors of what was going on.
For his part, Nelson pointed out that his orders from the
Admiralty included enforcing British maritime law on the
station, and on 9 January he fired back at Admiral Hughes
with a long and aggressive letter that skirted the edge of
insubordination:
[A]t a time when Great Britain is using every endeav-
our to suppress illicit Trade at Home, it is not wished
that the ships of this Station should be singular, by
being the only spectators of the illegal Trade which I
know is carried on in these Islands. The Governors may
be imposed upon by false declarations; we, who are on
the spot, cannot. . . . Whilst I have the honour to com-
mand an English Man of War, I never shall allow my-
self to be subservient to the will of any Governor, nor
co-operate with him in doing illegal acts. . . . I know
the Navigation Law.7
Nelson did indeed know Britain’s Navigation Acts, and
there can be no doubt that he knew them better than Ad-
miral Hughes. That notwithstanding, Nelson’s letter went
beyond a dispute over a specific set of laws. It raised serious
questions about a captain defying an order from his report-
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
ing senior. It also challenged the influence of the British
governor with the captain of a Royal Navy ship operating
in his station. On the face of it, Nelson was saying that he
would be the final judge on the question of enforcing the
Navigation Acts. He would perform his duty as he defined
it. In his own terms: “I must either disobey my orders, or
disobey Acts of Parliament . . . I determined upon the
former, trusting on the uprightness of my intention, and
believed that my country would not allow me to be ruined
by protecting her commerce.”8 He was defying the orders of
his reporting senior and was entangled in a dispute that also
A FrigAte MentAlity
By Joseph F. Callo
H MS Boreas, Nelson’s ship in the West Indies, was a Modified
Mermaid–class frigate bui1lt in 1774. The 18th1 century
was a time when cri1ses and naval buildu1ps were frequent, a1nd
Britain needed grea1t numbers of ships 1to prosecute her gl1obal
blue-water strategy. Frigates, designed for fast construction in
commercial yards, pr1ovided the ship numb1ers that gave truth1 to
the 18th-century claim that Britain’s influence reached the six-
fathom curve of ever1y shore on the globe.1
When compared with 1her 32-gun and 36-g1un sisters (fifth-r1ate
ships), the Boreas was, at 28 guns, r1elatively small for 1her time.
She was classified1 as a sixth-rate s1hip, the smallest 1rating in the
Royal Navy. But the Boreas was, nevertheless,1 a full-fledged me1m-
ber of the fleet of1 hard-working vessel1s that were the nav1al utility
ships of their time1.
A full spectrum of 1tasks constituted t1he 18th-century frig1ates’
chores: convoy escort,1 intelligence gathe1ring, blockade, amp1hibi-
ous assaults, cutti1ng-out actions, mess1age carrying, relayi1ng a
commander-in-chief’s messages ship-to-ship over distances and
vice versa, transpor1t of diplomats and s1enior military office1rs, lit-
toral actions, enforcement of Britain’s maritime laws, and support
of ships-of-the-line1 prior to and followi1ng major fleet acti1ons.
Frigate captains were used to operating independently, and
Nelson was no except1ion. He had commande1d three frigates
before the Boreas: HMS Hinchinbrooke, Janus, and Albemarle.
During those tours h1e had no doubt devel1oped the action-seek1ing
attitude that went 1with frigate assig1nments. Nelson recogn1ized
that frigate mental1ity in himself when 1he wrote in 1793 to 1
his brother the Reverend William Nelson, “I cannot bear the
thought of being abs1ent from the scene o1f action.” In 1799 h1e
touched on the characteristic again when he described how, as a
lieutenant in HMS Lowestoffe, he was able to boa1rd a prize in a
fierce gale, after the ship’s first lieutenant failed in the attempt:
“I know it is my dis1position, that diffi1culties and dangers1 do but
increase my desire o1f attempting them.”1
The other mental con1ditioning that friga1te command imparted1
to its captains was1 a tendency toward in1dependent thinking a1nd
a willingness to take action on one’s own initiative. By the time
he was assigned to 1the Boreas, Nelson was used to 1making deci-
sions on the basis of1 the circumstances 1at hand, rather tha1n orders
shaped at a distant1 time and place.
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JuNe 2011
involved military-diplomatic precedence. It was a type of
disagreement that has not been limited to the Age of Sail.
Nelson’s correspondence at the time underscored several
important factors related to his motivation in the situation.
For example, he demonstrated a notable lack of respect
for Admiral Hughes when he wrote to Captain Locker in
November 1784: “This Station is far from a pleasant one.
The Admiral and all about him are great ninnies.”9 In ad-
dition he showed a strong emotional dislike for the British
West Indian colonists involved in the trade he was trying
to prevent, when he wrote a subsequent letter to Locker
on 15 January 1785: “The residents of these Islands
are American by connexion. . . . They are as great
rebels as ever were in America had they the power to
show it.”10 He even had something to say about the
American shipmasters and their owners in the same
letter: “[A]n American arrives; sprung a leak, a mast,
and what not . . . sells his cargo for ready money: goes
to Martinico, buys molasses, and so round and round.
But I hate them all.”11
Nelson later underscored his resentment of the
American traders in “A Sketch of my Life,” which he
wrote more than a decade after his duty in the Boreas:
“The Americans, when colonists, possessed almost all
of the trade from America to our West India Islands:
and in the return of peace, they forgot, on this occa-
sion, that they became Foreigners, and of course had
no right to trade in the British Colonies.”12
As the controversy raged, Nelson was driven by a
fighting doctrine that mirrored the one he employed
in combat: seize the initiative and press the enemy
aggressively. He stood his legal ground and appealed
to the Admiralty and even King George III. Both Ad-
miral Hughes and Governor Shirley fought back, but
they were no match for Nelson. In contrast, however,
the colonists and the American captains fought very
effectively by suing Nelson directly for their financial
losses resulting from his actions. Whatever the out-
come with the Admiralty and government was going
to be, if Nelson had lost the court action initiated
against him by the local merchants and plantation
owners—which involved £40,000, approximately $5.6
million today—he would have been ruined financially.
The colonists also attempted to have Nelson arrested,
and as a result, he was for months a virtual prisoner
in the Boreas.
Victory
In the long run, the local court rejected the
claims against Nelson, and the Admiralty upheld
his right to move aggressively against those violating
the Navigation Acts in the West Indies, but it was a
drawn-out process that tested Nelson physically and
55
 mentally. Nelson’s tactics in his fight with his immediate
military senior and the governor were a political version
of the “pell-mell” combat tactics he would use 20 years
later at Trafalgar, where he wrote to his captains: “[N]o
captain can do very wrong if he places his Ship alongside
that of an Enemy.”13 It turned out that those aggressive
political tactics were a perfect match with his offense-
dominated doctrine that drove his overall approach to
the dispute with his admiral, the local governor, and the
local merchants and plantation owners.
Arguably the most important long-term result of Nelson’s
vindication in his dispute over enforcement of the Naviga-
tion Acts was that it reinforced his inclination to define
his duty in his own terms. That willingness to trust his own
judgment of on-scene circumstances would emerge repeat-
edly, getting him into what he referred as “scrapes” with the
Admiralty and the British government. On the negative
side and in addition to the threats to his career, Nelson’s
subsequent tendency to act on his own, rather than the
orders of those distant at the time, generated a significant
amount of resentment among some fellow officers.
Although Nelson triumphed legally in his dispute with
Admiral Hughes and Governor Shirley, his victory was not
without a price. When he arrived back in England on 4 July
1787, Nelson anticipated that the crew of the Boreas would
be paid off and that he would move on to another com-
mand. He believed he had done an important job under dif-
ficult circumstances, and there was talk of renewed war with
France. On Nelson’s part, there was also renewed hope for a
ship-of-the-line. But unexpectedly he was ordered to reprovi-
sion his ship for another deployment. Ultimately the threat
of renewed war receded, however, and the Boreas’ crew was
paid off. At that point Nelson was thoroughly disillusioned
by his reception at the Admiralty, and he spoke to friends
of his intention to resign from “an ungrateful Service.” But
it appears that the First Lord of the Admiralty at the time,
Admiral Richard Lord Howe, was able to convince him that
he still had a career in the Royal Navy.
As Nelson pressed his efforts to get a new command, it
became increasingly clear just how bad his standing was at
the Admiralty. On the facts, however, it was not surprising
that he was in disfavor there. In addition to the drawn-out
Navigation Acts wrangle, there were other contentious
matters that weakened Nelson’s standing with his seniors.
They included a dispute over authority with the resident
dockyard commissioner of Antigua and Nelson’s handling
of a difficult situation involving Prince William, who was
commanding officer of a ship under Nelson’s command in
the West Indies, and the prince’s first lieutenant. There
also was Nelson’s commutation of a death sentence for a
seaman who had been convicted of desertion.
Nelson’s decision in that case was perceived by the Ad-
miralty to be an overstepping of his authority. And there
56
www.downmagaz.com
also was an accusation by Nelson of fraud in the manage-
ment of the British dockyards in the West Indies.
It took more than five years ashore on half pay before
Nelson finally was able to overcome the conspicuous ne-
glect of the Admiralty and secure his next command. It
was a desperately discouraging time for him, and at one
point he even considered joining the navy of Catherine the
Great, as did many of the unemployed Royal Navy officers
on half pay. In a thought-provoking “what if,” Nelson could
have been an officer in the tsarina’s navy at the same time
as America’s John Paul Jones, who was an admiral in the
Russian navy from May to October 1788.
Back on Course
At last, in January 1793 Nelson was appointed to com-
mand HMS Agamemon, a well-found 64-gun ship-of-the-
line. He wrote of the news to his wife in January 1793:
“Post nubila Phoebus; —After clouds comes sunshine. The
Admiralty so smile upon me, that really I am as much sur-
prised as when they frowned.”14 Nelson was chastened but
not defeated by his five years “on the beach,” and then sud-
denly he was back at sea, this time in command of a small
but agile ship-of-the-line, a ship that many think became
his favorite. Colin White, a preeminent Nelson expert,
described Nelson’s enthusiasm and how he was employing
it: “He obviously reveled in his new ship. . . . Almost at
once, he demonstrated her capabilities by chasing a squad-
ron of French frigates among dangerous shoals off Cape
Barfleur.”15 Nelson was back on his career track, matured
and tempered in ways that helped him to achieve history-
shaping victories for the British at the Battles of the Nile in
1798, Copenhagen in 1801, and finally Trafalgar in 1805,
where he became, in the words of Mahan, “the one man
who in himself summed up and embodied the greatness of
the possibilities which Sea Power comprehends—the man
for whom genius and opportunity worked together.”16
1. Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, ed., The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord
Viscount Nelson, vol. I (London: Henry Colburn, 1844), p. 100.
2. A. T. Mahan, The Life of Nelson, second edition (Annapolis, MD: Naval Insti-
tute Press, 2001; orig. pub. Boston: Little, Brown, 1899), p. 45.
3. Nicolas, Dispatches, p. 187.
4. Ibid., p. 113.
5. Geoffrey Rawson, ed., Nelson’s Letters from the Leeward Islands and other Original
Documents in the Public Record Office and the British Museum (London: Golden
Cockerel Press, 1953), p. 19.
6. Ibid., p. 27
7. Ibid., pp. 29, 30.
8. Nicolas, Dispatches, pp. 157, 158.
9. Ibid., p. 112.
10. Ibid., p. 114.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid., p. 11.
13. Ibid., p. 91.
14. Ibid., p. 297.
15. Colin White, Nelson: The New Letters (Rochester, NY: Boydell Press in as-
sociation with the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Naval Museum,
2005), p. 154 .
16. Mahan, Nelson, p. xv.
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
 “Lab-created Sapphires are a miracle of gemological
science. They are the same in chemical composition
as mined sapphires but they have so much more
luster and brillianoce because they haove no
internal inclusions”.
— JAMES T. FENT,
Stauer GIA
Graduate Gemologist

The World’s Most Wanted Ring

Inspired by the engagement that has become an international sensation—
The stunning Royal Proposal Scienza™ Sapphire can be yours today for only $99!

F airy tales are for real. If you need proof,

look no further than the ring that
transformed an ordinary English girl into a
have to wait months for their own custom
versions. We have one waiting for you
right now.
Possessing an identical chemical composi-
tion as natural gemstones, lab-created
sapphires are genuine sapphires that have no
genuine princess. The world has been inclusions because the heat and pressure are
The “ring that everybody wants”
buzzing ever since the young prince controlled in the laboratory. The result is that
won’t wait forever. Call today to claim
popped the question. And with a brand scientifically grown stones look superior to
your very own version of the “Most Desired
new royal romance in full bloom, one most mined stones.
Ring in the World” for
legendary sapphire has returned for a second
the unbelievable price Our Royal Guarantee. Wear the Stauer
chance at happily-ever-after. Now you can
of only $99! Our version Royal Proposal Scienza Sapphire Ring. For
™

share in the magic with the spectacular

features an impressive any reason, within 30 days, you don't feel like
Royal Proposal Scienza Sapphire Ring,
™

2½-carat lab-created royalty, simply return it to us for a full refund

available exclusively from Stauer.
sapphire oval, prong-set of the purchase price.
Don’t miss your chance to treat her in a band of sterling JEWELRY SPECS:
like a princess. Inspired by what many silver. The regal blue - 2 ¾ ctw DiamondAura® ring
are calling “the most romantic ring ever beauty is surrounded by - .925 sterling silver setting
made,” our Royal Proposal Scienza a sunburst of 14 lab-
Sapphire sparkles with as much passionate created DiamondAura® Not Available in Stores
color and fire as the genuine sapphire rounds that sparkle Royal Proposal Scienza™ Ring
and diamond original... without the king’s with even more clarity (2 ¾ ctw)—$99 + S&P
ransom price tag. and fire than mined Available in ring sizes 5-10
In 1981, Prince Charles slipped a brilliant diamonds. Call to order toll-free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
blue sapphire onto the finger of shy Lady
Di and the whole world fell in love. Nearly
The breakthrough
science behind “hap-
1-888-201-7655
thirty years later, his son William used the
Promotional Code RPR164-01
pily ever after.” The Please mention this code when you call.
very same sapphire to win the hand of his difference between our
own beloved Kate. Almost immediately Stauer has a Better Business
lab-created gemstone Bureau Rating of A+
USING THE RING SIZE CHART
after Prince William announced his and the original royal

engagement, luxury jewelers across Europe
were flooded with requests to create similar
rings. But even the wealthiest patrons may
Stauer
Place one of her rings on top of one
14101 Southcross Drive W.,
sapphire is that the nat- of the circle diagrams. Her ring size
® Dept. RPR164-01
is the circle that matches the inside
ural sapphire has flaws diameter of the ring diagram. If her
Burnsville, Minnesota 55337
ring falls between sizes, order the
called inclusions. next larger size. www.stauer.com
Smar t Luxuries—Surprising Prices
 I
n March 1866—more than 30 years before the
Spanish-American War—the United States and
the Spanish Empire came perilously close to a
naval clash of arms off the thriving Chilean port
city of Valparaiso. Since the enunciation of the
Monroe Doctrine in 1823, the possibility of such a show-
down had been imminent in the waters of the Western
Hemisphere.
The possibility became more of a probability as a Span-
ish task force, headed by Admiral Casto Méndez Núñez
and boasting the formidable armored frigate Numancia in
the vanguard, began bombarding undefended port towns
in a mid-century Spanish attempt at power projection.
Spain’s assertiveness had forced an unintended result, gal-
vanizing a military alliance between Chile, Peru, Ecua-
dor, and Bolivia. And as Admiral Núñez set his sights on
Valparaiso, it became clear that to attack the city would
entail serious international ramifications, thanks to the
58
www.downmagaz.com
presence there of French, British, and American citizens
and property.
Into this powder-keg scenario steamed the double-tur-
reted U.S. Navy ironclad Monadnock, en route to San Fran-
cisco by way of Cape Horn. Armed with 15-inch smooth-
bores firing 450-pound solid shot, the Monadnock dropped
anchor at Valparaiso Harbor and prepared, if necessary, to
enforce international neutrality. The two rival ironclads,
the Numancia and the Monadnock, were, in a sense, the
sharp points of two swords: one of the Old World, one of
the New; the past vs. the future.
“If my path is dangerous I shall not fall for want of look-
ing round,” wrote U.S. Navy Commodore John Rodgers,
the Civil War veteran in command of the Monadnock. “I
have been frank, consistent, and I think cautious.”1 Either
the Spanish admiral would see reason and yield, or the
American commodore would force him to. Either way, hun-
dreds might die within minutes. And this was only the be-
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
THe gRANgeR COLLeCTION
March 1866: A Span,ish naval squadron bl,ockades the harbor
of Valparaiso, Chile, as Spain tries to reassert its dominance in
Latin America. Would Monroe Doctrine considerations and
an international pr,esence in the city s,park a Spanish-Amer,ican
naval war?
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
ginning. The united States and the Spanish empire might
at last consummate a maritime war. “I have no wish to mix
myself up in affairs which are not my business,” avowed
Rodgers. “If however the [u.S.] government would like the
Numancia taken the Monadnock can accommodate it.”2 A
naval showdown, however, would not settle a local peace
but trigger a much wider war. With both ironclads glaring
at one another across the bay, diplomats furiously set to
work. Neither power really desired a conflict. But in March
1866 it suddenly seemed inevitable.
unless somebody blinked.
Old Empire, New Ambitions
The origins of the Valparaiso naval standoff were both
politically complex and brutally simple. In 1859 the Spanish
government of Queen Isabella II embarked on an imperial
campaign in Morocco, while assisting a French invasion of
• • • • • • • • Indochina that same year, followed by intervention alongside
French and British forces in Mexico in 1862. In the mean-
time, Spanish forces were embroiled in new revolutionary
struggles for the fate of the Dominican Republic, and then
also Haiti. When a violent quarrel broke out in 1863 be-
tween Spanish merchants and locals in Peru, an imperial
squadron cruising the west coast of South America eventu-
ally made it a pretext for demanding exorbitant reparations
and—when Spain’s proud, formerly colonial subjects refused
to pay—for “revindicating” the nearby Chincha Islands, rich
in the guano that dominated Peru’s export economy.
By 1864 the coast of Peru was under blockade from Span-
ish naval reinforcements, including the brand new iron-

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JuNe 2011 59

 hulled broadside ironclad Numancia, built by the Société
Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée at La
Seyne, outside Toulon. When Peru’s president at length
agreed to terms dictated by Madrid, he was deposed on a
wave of nationalistic fervor in November 1865. To make
matters worse, Chile managed to offend the Spaniards, first
by claiming neutral status and denying them coal, then by
refusing to salute the imperial flag. The replacement Span-
ish vice-admiral on the scene, José Manuel Pareja, was the
former Minister of Marine and himself born in Peru—the
son of a royalist general killed in the South American wars
of independence. Although he was sent armed with wide
discretionary powers to finally settle affairs with Peru, he
proved more high-handed than his predecessor. Even before
the Peruvians threw away their treaty with Spain, Chile
had declared war rather than submit to Pareja’s peremptory
blockade of Valpariso as well. Soon Peru and Chile were
forming a military alliance, with Bolivia and Ecuador join-
ing by the spring of 1866.
In this contest the Spanish fleet enjoyed supremacy.
Chile’s navy was even smaller than Peru’s,
and Valparaiso had no harbor defenses
to speak of. None of the South
American republics alone could
defy the Numancia,, which
bristled with 40 68-pounder
smoothbores behind 4½ to
5½ inches of iron armor
The South Americans were on their own, and at the
mercy of a Spanish admiral riding high behind a wall of
iron.
Enter the Numancia
Yet Pareja had his own problems. He had no troops
with which to fight on land, and the Chileans offered him
no targets at sea. Worst of all, the Pacific ports were now
closed to him; coal, fresh provisions, and replacements had
to be ferried back and forth through the Strait of Magellan.
Valparaiso and Peru’s chief port, Callao, could be block-
aded with the ships at his disposal, but trade was rerouting
through scores of lesser harbors along the coast. The mo-
rale of his squadron was sinking to dangerous levels with
each passing week, while the queen and her ministers—also
under increasing pressure—demanded results. Something
had to be done quickly. When one of his gunboats was
ambushed and captured by a plucky Chilean corvette on
26 November 1865, the proud Spaniard retired to his cabin
and, in full dress uniform, blew his brains out.
Núñez subsequently became the third Spanish ad-
miral in charge of the imperial task force, and
inherited all of its troubles. With his line of
supply and communications stretching all
the way to Spain and vulnerable to enemy
• • • b• • • b• • • b• • • b• • • b•
CHILEAN NATIONAL ARCHIVES

plating. Though agents Admiral Casto Méndez Núñez, in

had been rushed abroad command of the Spandish task force at d
to purchase warships Valparaiso, was open to diplomatic
for the allied republics, solutions shy of ad bombardment—
none would be ready provided Spain’s dignity was preserved
to save them now, and in the outcome.
even those already con-
tracted would likely be
confiscated. The London
Times had proclaimed,
“Our duty is simply to act
up to our own professions,
and to guard against abuses of
our own neutrality.”
Loopholes in Britain’s Foreign
Enlistment Act, exposed during the re-
cent Civil War in America, had led to the
construction of the Confederate raider Alabama in Liver-
pool, for example—which had then escaped to ravage the
Yankee merchant marine worldwide. Now the British were
being presented with claims for damages by the United
States. So enough was enough, even though it was “not
to be disguised that in the quarrel between Spain and her
former Colonies the feelings of the English as well as of
the American public have been in favour of the latter.” 3

60 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
cruisers, he twice tried to force an action against allied war-
ships sheltering among the treacherous reefs and coves of
the Chilean coastline. The brief exchange of fire at Abtao
on 7 February 1866 was indicative of the stalemate whereby
heavy Spanish frigates could not come to grips with an
enemy in shallow waters, backed by gun emplacements
on shore.
Orders came through from Madrid, where officials were
enraged by the recent setbacks, to proceed with the Nu-
mancia and her escorts back to Valparaiso and bombard the
undefended target of 80,000 civilians if the peace terms
Núñez presented were not accepted by 31 March. This was
not only a display of raw power and aggression, but also
a naked admission by Spain that it was as helpless in the
matter as its victim. It was not a war that Spain expected,
nor was it the right type of victory. And things were about
to get much worse.
‘The Peril of Attempting Any Aggression’
By the close of the American Civil War, the u.S. Navy
had resolved to dispatch one of its newest ironclad moni-
tors, the twin-screwed Monadnock, to San Francisco via
Cape Horn. A lone monitor was protecting California, and
the united States wanted to augment its force at the Mare
Island Navy Yard. Faced with postwar cutbacks, the Depart-
ment of the Navy likewise wanted to bolster its image by
successfully deploying its most expensive and controversial
armored warships, far and wide if need be. The ironclads’
main proponent, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus
Fox, had been eager to display them abroad for years. The
Monadnock class of monitors would at last fulfill this role.
In fact the Monadnock, in company with the single-turret,
iron-hulled Canonicus, already had steamed to Havana in
June 1865 to intercept the foreign-built Confederate iron-
clad ram Stonewall.
Such ironclad muscle-flexing spelled
doom for the presence of France in Mex-
ico. Indeed, famed Monitor designer John
ericsson noted, “the peril of attempting
any aggression on this side of the Atlantic.
. . . It would be simply a mechanical ques-
tion—the power of 15-inch shot against
the thin armor of the French iron-clads.”4
By September, Secretary of the Navy
Gideon Welles wrote Fox that warships
• • • • • • • • • • • •
ARMADA De CHILe
The armored frigateA Numancia was the
heavy hitter of the ASpanish squadron.
Valparaiso lay virtually defenseless before
her—until a U.S. NavAy ironclad happenedA
to show up.
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JuNe 2011
would need “to stop for a time . . . off Chile or Peru on
account of troubles with Spain.” Welles was convinced
“the appearance of the Monadnock will . . . have a good
effect there.”5
When his squadron departed Hampton Roads, Virginia,
two months later, Rodgers reminded his ship commanders
that “No one either at home or abroad feels any special
interest for a wooden ship: but this voyage for an ironclad
excites the most lively attention both in our country and
in europe.”6 The trip itself proved uneventful, except for
the wild publicity generated everywhere the Monadnock
dropped anchor. Her skipper, Lieutenant Commander Fran-
cis M. Bunce, later reported:
Many of the residents of the ports at which we
stopped, and officers of nearly all the principal naval
powers of the world, have visited the ship. The ob-
jects which have received the most attention, and
have seemed to excite most the interest of these visi-
tors, apart from the ship itself, have been the XV-inch
navy guns, with the means of working them, and the
main engines, which have been much admired for
their compactness.7
More to the point, Rodgers wrote to his wife, Anne,
was the reaction of the Minister of War of uruguay, at
Montevideo: “He said he was glad to see the Monadnock
and this squadron—that it would show the nations of eu-
rope that they must not interfere with the weaker powers
on this continent; and that they looked to their stronger
brother for protection.” Indeed, the ironclad was produc-
ing “a moral sensation wherever she goes—and creating a
profound respect for the flag.” In Rodgers’ opinion, this
was precisely what u.S. foreign policy needed, since “right
without might avails little.”8
After safely rounding the Horn, the Monadnock dropped
anchor at Valparaiso on 1 March—in the middle of a war.
Soon afterward, the Numancia and the rest of the Spanish
fleet also arrived from the south, having failed in their
attempts to engage the allied navy and now obliged to
devastate the city before them. The sight of a strange yet
burly American ironclad in the harbor must have been an
unwelcome surprise.
The showdown had begun.
‘Upon the Perilous Sea of Politics’
• • • • • • •
Actually, three fleets were present. British interests
in the area were represented by Rear Admiral Joseph
Denman, with two heavily armed steam frigates that
Rodgers described as “beautiful” and “formidable.” The
Spanish force also included four steam frigates and a
corvette, mounting a total of 243 guns, the vast major-
ity of them 32-pounders. 9 On board HMS Sutlej, Ad-
61
 miral Denman informed Rodgers that Valparaiso might
be attacked even sooner by Núñez, who had threatened
an instantaneous and overwhelming retaliation if the
Chileans attempted to use mines (“torpedoes”) against
his vessels. That was unacceptable to the British admiral,
since any sudden bombardment would surely maximize the
loss of life and property there—much of which was British,
French, and American. But what about the Numancia? It
was worse than futile to intervene, whether on a point
of humanity or national interest, if the Spanish were not
completely defeated.
Rodgers took the hint. As he recounted in a letter to his
father-in-law later that night, “I listened quietly and made
no reply. I thought the situation over, which was new.” His
patriotic instincts recoiled at the Spanish crown “pitching
into a war with Peru and San Domingo at a time when
our people were struggling for national life.” He suspected,
moreover, “the [French] Emperor’s hand stirring this soup.”
The great houses of Europe were clearly making themselves
at home in the Americas. Isabella II and her sister were
connected to the Bourbons by marriage, and supported the
Hapsburg Maximilian as “Emperor of Mexico”—whose wife
in turn was the daughter of Leopold I, King of the Belgians,
and a first cousin to Queen Victoria. Rodgers found the
whole attitude of Spain in the affair atrocious, “travelling
outside of the laws of modern warfare in going back to the
days of the Buccaneers for her model.” Spain’s blockade
was reportedly a farce, while “the Chilean flag flies within
reach of their guns, and bugles blow cavalry calls at them
all day.”10
Hence, while “scrupulously abstaining from any mention
of the Monroe Doctrine,” he returned to inform Denman
that he would assist him in stopping Núñez. The Numancia
would not be a problem. Indeed, Rodgers was quite certain
the Monadnock would leave “only the trucks of the Span-
ish vessel’s masts . . . above water, thirty minutes after
the firing had commenced.” Rodgers knew what he was
talking about. He had seen much ironclad combat during
the Civil War. He had felt the effects of plunging fire
while on board the weakly armored Galena at Drewry’s
Bluff in 1862; he had led monitors in their attack on
Charleston’s combined defenses the following year;
and it was his monitor, the Weehawken, that, with two
decisive blows from a 15-inch gun, had compelled the
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
NAVAL HISTORy AND HERITAGE COMMAND
The U.S. Navy’s double-turreted monitor Monadnock
changed the power dyntamics with her arrivatl at
Valparaiso. If it came down to a fight between the
American and Spanish tironclads, the Monadnock “would
leave only the trucks of the Spanish vessel’s masts . . .
above water, thirty minutes after the firing commenced,”
Rodgers confidently ptredicted.
62
www.downmagaz.com
surrender of the strongly armored Confederate ram Atlanta.
He also had seen the same armor plates manufactured by
Petin and Gaudet for the Numancia thoroughly smashed
by such weaponry in target tests conducted during the war.
The balance of power in the Pacific, Rodgers argued, had
shifted. The Englishman could only agree.11
But as much as he relished the thought of sinking a
European broadside ironclad with an American monitor,
for all the world to see, Rodgers admitted he was drifting
“upon the perilous sea of politics” without official orders
to do so, and certainly with no diplomatic experience on
which to draw. He therefore refused to act alone, reminding
Denman that Britain (and France) had much greater trad-
ing interests tied up in Chile than did the United States,
and that he would not be made “a cat’s paw to rake their
chestnuts out of the fire, and then have them laugh over
my singed paws.”12
At any rate, he reasoned, Spain would do more damage
to herself by disrupting English commerce along her own
coasts in the event of war. By writing petitions now, the
neutral consuls at Valparaiso could mobilize international
sentiment to pressure Madrid to rethink its policy. It was
well known that Núñez had full plenipotentiary authority
to negotiate peace on the spot with the South American
republics banded against him. If he could be convinced of
the hopelessness of his position, the town might be spared.
Thus Rodgers and Denman agreed that intervention could
only be justified if Núñez commenced a bombardment
without several days’ notice—an important qualification
that would be exploited later.
Ironclad Diplomacy
In the meantime, the American commodore set out to
apply a blend of psychological warfare against the Spanish
admiral. “We shall be as amiable as invincible,” Rodgers
wrote to his wife. On 16 March he invited Núñez to a
hospitality tour of the monitor, followed by a lavish ban-
quet adorned with Chilean “flowers and fruits” and “many
• • •
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
excellent wines” on board his flagship, the paddle-steamer
Vanderbilt. The facts of the case were then laid out: Spain
was in a false position . . . too far from her base for
successful operations—that she had used an unfortu-
nate word in her diplomacy, “revindication”; that this
word had united all the states against her from the
Equator to Patagonia; that the work shops of Europe
were open to the Spanish Americans. These were
clubbing together: one putting in a dollar and another
two dollars; their aggregate resources were too many
for the Spaniards at this distance.13
Politically speaking, the Spanish queen and her advis-
ers had made an error in “seeking external development
rather than internal growth,” while the United States, by
contrast, was growing at a fantastical rate, the 1860 Census
suggesting a population of 100 million by 1900. Spain in
the New World was now “a stranger in a crowd.” Peace
with honor was not only still possible, it was necessary.
Otherwise an unfortunate chance event might see the
Monadnock opening fire.
Even so, as cordial, sympathetic, and frank as
he was with a brother naval officer, Rodgers
could not realistically expect his efforts
to succeed. Just as he was risking his
career by negotiating without man-
date, Núñez was bound by direct
command. He agreed to negotiate
terms brokered by the neutral dip-
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • was on their side. Peru-
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
U.S. Navy Commodore John
Rodgers, a Civil War veteran well
seasoned in ironclNad warfare, was
en route to San FrNancisco when he
found himself at theN center of a tense N
political/military Ndeadlock.
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JUNE 2011
lomats, but whatever arrangement was made must satisfy
Spanish dignity—or at least provide his government with
an acceptable back door out of its predicament. Even an
exchange of national salutes would be acceptable, provided
that Chile offered hers first. As far as the immediate su-
premacy of the Monadnock was concerned, he could not
possibly back down to a challenge of strength any more
than Rodgers would, gallantly announcing that “Spain, the
Queen and I prefer honor without ships than ships without
honor.” He would at least take many of the American and
British wooden ships down with him. Even Rodgers later
confessed that the Vanderbilt was “a magnificent tea-kettle
where somebody would be apt to get scalded in a fight.”
Against the Spanish fleet the Anglo-Americans floated
only 150 guns; and although “the 4 XV inch guns of the
monitor would have brought us out all right at last,” Rodg-
ers wrote, “there would probably have been heavy loss.” 14
Indeed, it was the presence of the Monadnock that helped
ruin the subsequent negotiations, and helped push Val-
paraiso toward her fiery fate in 1866. The Chileans saw in
her a friendly ironclad champion behind which
they could rally; much of their merchant
fleet huddled in the harbor naturally
assumed her protection. Their re-
sponse to Spain’s proposal for a
national salute was practically
arrogant. Why should they
give in now? The Spaniards
were suffering from fatigue
and scurvy. The press of all
the major foreign powers
vian ironclads, built in
England before the war
commenced, were on
their way. It didn’t matter
that the Chincha Islands
had been handed back to
Peru before their war had
begun, or that Spain obvi-
ously wasn’t planning a new
empire in South America. The
whole affair had come down to who
was originally right and who was ad-
mittedly wrong—a perfect recipe for war,
not peace.
Consequently, as the days and weeks of March dragged
on, with diplomatic trains and telegraphs—offer vs. coun-
ter-offer—racing back and forth between Valparaiso and
Santiago, it became increasingly evident that neither the
Spanish nor the Chileans would blink.
The first to give way, in fact, were the British. The
Foreign Office in London was adamant that the strictest
63
 neutrality was to be maintained, never mind the horror
of a bombardment without warning. Once this was con-
firmed by the British consul, William Thomson, Denman
was compelled to retract his earlier pledge of support to
Rodgers, who, while “absolutely pleased to have the shoot-
ing commence tomorrow,” was by that time stewing in his
own doubts as well. Many of his officers were opposed
to bloody murder off the coast of Chile, equally far from
home.15 This was not their fight, yet they were certain to
get the lion’s share of it.
At the same time Rodgers and Núñez had formed a deep
mutual respect, as the only actors on the stage with real
parts to play, everyone else bowing out as spectators.16 To-
gether with the American minister to Chile, former Union
cavalry Major General Judson Kilpatrick, the eagerness to
enforce the Monroe Doctrine in a dramatic show of force
was giving way to frustration with European imperial in-
trigues and “disgust” with Chilean politicians who “did not
care for peace” yet “feared to make war.”17
On 27 March, once it was obvious the British and
American fleets would not interfere after all, Núñez sent
a final proclamation recounting Her Majesty’s griev-
ances—and giving neutrals and noncombatants four days
to evacuate Valparaiso. Because the republican allied fleet
“hid itself in out-of-the-way holes and corners” and the
government of Chile denied her “just redress,” Spain was
Acrylic Cases
Custom-made acrylic
boxes, frames and bases
to display your treasured
collectibles.
TODAY’S ACRYLIC MFG. CORP.
70A EAST JEFRYN BLVD, DEER PARK, NY 11729
(631)243-1882 • FAX (631)243-1883
e-mail: cases@todaysacrylic.com
http://www.todaysacrylic.com
given “the painful but imperative duty of inflicting upon
her enemy that punishment so richly due to a nation
which absolutely ignores . . . the duties imposed upon
the civilized nations of the world.” A last-minute pro-
posal by the Chileans—for a naval duel between strictly
wooden men-of-war to decide the issue—was rejected by
the Spanish admiral. “It sounded very finely to these peo-
ple,” Rodgers wrote to his wife, “but was childish of course
to ask the Spaniards to throw out part of their means
of overcoming in battle. The Queen of Spain would not
be particularly pleased I presume at paying an enormous
sum for an ironclad of 7,000 tons burden, sending her
this enormous distance—supporting her at an enormous
expense, and then committing the enormous folly of not
employing her in battle.”18
Bombardment = Chastisement
After months of tension and wild speculation, the three-
hour barrage of Saturday, 31 March, was as limited and as
precise as could be hoped for: Only the Custom House, the
railway station, government buildings, and the old fort were
targeted. On the request of Núñez, white flags indicated
hospitals and churches. The Chileans, watching from the
surrounding hillsides, made sure not to fire a single shot
in return. Poor Spanish marksmanship saw several houses
destroyed, and the resulting fires spread enough to rack
up a total of some $14 million in dam-
age, though with only a few casualties.
Núñez then assured Rodgers that no fur-
ther attacks would take place—Chile had
been sufficiently “chastised”—and quietly
withdrew his forces to the north to oper-
ate against Peru.
General Kilpatrick, for one, found it
difficult to reconcile a modern war that
targeted civilian property in wanton disre-
gard of “international law.” That reaction,
noted The New York Times, was ironic
coming from the former “raider of the

TM
Congratulations on 100 years of Naval Aviation!
Centennial of naval aviation forum
100 Years of Achievement and Progress
21–22 September 2011
11th aiaa aviation teChnology, integration, and operations (atio) ConferenCe
and the
for more details:
7th aiaa Biennial national forum on Weapon system effeCtiveness
(seCret/u.s. only) www.aiaa.org/eventsNAVY2011
20–22 September 2011

Join us in the Hampton Roads area for the only integrated aviation and weapon system technical events of the year. Participation in these events will enrich
your understanding of the Naval Aviation Enterprise’s leading role in development and implementation of emerging aviation technologies and operations.

11-0379NvNvHist_ad.indd 1 3/24/11 1:08 PM

64 U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E

www.downmagaz.com
Shenandoah [Valley]” and the commander of Major Gen-
eral William Tecumseh Sherman’s cavalry in his infamous
March to the Sea during the Civil War.19 Meanwhile, the
unwillingness of Britain to directly protect its own interests
had seemed inexplicable to Rodgers, along with a delega-
tion of english and French merchants at Valparaiso who
found themselves abandoned. Yet when the matter arose
that May in the House of Lords, Parliament confirmed that
not only had Denman also been given clear instructions by
the Admiralty to maintain impartiality in the conflict, but
that the Anglo-American warning had probably succeeded
in deterring a bombardment without warning and thus had
saved lives. Given the British rear admiral’s awkward diplo-
matic position, the First Lord of the Admiralty added that
“there could have been no use in sending out an iron-clad
ship to Denman unless new instructions were sent to him
at the same time.” It was never an issue of regional ironclad
strength, but of international relations.20
Likewise, the squaring off of the Spanish Numancia
and American Monadnock in 1866 rather proved that in
the calculation of war or peace, it was rarely a “simple
mechanical question” after all. Honor, pride, and igno-
rance were as potent and maybe even predictable factors
in decision-making as armor, guns, and tactics. Politics,
indeed, trumped them all. Such considerations of national
and naval power had to be made from the top down,
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JuNe 2011
beginning to end, and were best left out of the hands of
sailors with better things to do.
1. John Rodgers to father-in-law William L. Hodge, 2 March 1866, Rodgers Fam-
ily Papers, Library of Congress Manuscript Collection, Washington, DC, Box 26.
2. Ibid., 1 March 1866.
3. London Times, 29 January 1866.
4. Army and Navy Journal, 10 June 1865.
5. Gideon Welles to Gustavus Fox, 6 September 1865, Fox Papers, New York
Historical Society, New York City, Box 10. Rear Admiral Francis Gregory had
recommended the Monadnock for the proposed voyage; see Gregory to Welles, 20
July 1865, National Archives, Record Group 19, entry 1236.
6. Rodgers to squadron commanders, 2 November 1865, Rodgers Papers.
7. Francis M. Bunce to Rodgers, 24 June 1866, in “Voyage of the Monadnock
to San Francisco, and the Miantonomoh to europe,” Report of the Secretary of the
Navy, 3 December 3 1866, pp. 743–734.
8. Rodgers to Anne Rodgers, 21 January 1866, Rodgers Papers.
9. undated Rodgers memo, “estimated Guns of the Spanish Fleet,” Rodgers Pa-
pers.
10. Rodgers to Hodge, 1–2 March 1866, Rodgers Papers.
11. Rodgers to Anne Rodgers, 5 March 1866, Rodgers Papers. For the capture
of the Atlanta, see “Report of Captain Rodgers, u.S. Navy, commanding u.S.S.
Weehawken,” 17 June 1863, Richard Rush et al., eds., Official Records of the Union
and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion (Washington, DC: Government
Printing Office, 1894–1914), series 1, vol. 14, pp. 265–6. For armor target-trials,
see u.S. National Archives, Record Group 74, entry 98.
12. Rodgers to Hodge, 2 March 1866, Rodgers Papers.
13. Rodgers to Anne Rodgers, 16 March 1866, 18 March 1866, Rodgers Papers.
14. Ibid., 29 March 1866; 20 April 1866.
15. Ibid., 5 March 1866; Rodgers to Hodge, 2 March 1866, Rodgers Papers.
16. Rodgers to Anne Rodgers, 27 March 1866, Rodgers Papers.
17. Robert ervin Johnson, Rear Admiral John Rodgers, 1812–1882 (Annapolis, MD:
u.S. Naval Institute, 1967) p. 287.
18. Rodgers to Anne Rodgers, 31 March 1866, Rodgers Papers.
19. “Central and South America,” The New York Times, 2 May 1866.
20. Official Report of Parliament, 15 May 1866, Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates
(London: T.C. Hansard, 1866), vol. CLXXXIII, pp. 955–959.
65
 In Contact continued from page 9
the Battle of Chemulpo Bay. Serving on
board her, Shirley Downing recorded his
impressions of the battle and its aftermath
in a journal that is now with the Navy
Department Library.
He first details what could be seen
from inside the harbor of the battle
raging outside it. He then chronicles the
efforts of the Vicksburg’s medical staff
and crew to provide aid to the many
wounded on board the Varyag after she
returned, badly damaged and in sinking
USS NEW MEXICO (BB-40)
The Queen’s story in the
words of her men
An oral history ofJ a veteran of the JPacific
By John C. Driscoll
536 pages, PB.
$27.98 (Including shi(pping)
62142 Cody Jr. Rd., Bend, OR 97701
john.c.driscoll@us.army.mil
(541) 815-1371
66
www.downmagaz.com
condition. This is important to him Oldest Floating Steel Ship?
because he takes significant umbrage
at reports circulated, as he believed, by Captain Carl Lundquist,
officers of the French ship Pascal “that U.S. Navy (Retired)
the Vicksburg refused to give help in any Tom Cutler’s article on the Olympia
way to the Varyag.” (“‘Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight,’”
He describes in detail what the ship’s February, pp. 32–37) highlights that
doctor and hospital apprentice found and ship’s storied past and murky future. It’s
did and the subsequent dispatch of two hard to imagine anyone who has walked
more boats to assist in the abandonment her decks not having strong feelings
of the Varyag. They were appalled by the about her.
primitive medical facilities available on In his first paragraph, Mr. Cutler states
board the Russian ship, as he notes, “Why that the Olympia is the “world’s oldest
should a first class ship . . . belonging to floating steel warship.” I’m not sure if HMS
a Christian nation, put out to engage an Warrior in Portsmouth (U.K.) Dockyard,
enemy in action, and not be supplied a ship with a benign history and that has
with necessary medical appliances, for the been lovingly—if liberally—restored,
wounded.” However, they rendered all the qualifies as an older floating steel warship.
assistance they could in the finest tradition On the other hand, I’m quite certain that
of the U.S. Navy. the Huáscar, veteran of savage combat
MONITOR HUaSCaR, WWW.HUASCAR.CL
Commissioned in 186L6, the Peruvian iroLnclad turret ship Huáscar sank the Chilean Lcorvette
Esmeralda during the War of the Pacific. Subsequently captured, the Huáscar served for decades L
in the Chilean navy and is now a floating museum ship at Talcahuano, Chile.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
during the War of the Pacific (1879–84) Handcrafted Ready-Made Museum Quality Mahogany Aircraft/Ship Models
and hallowed shrine to the navies of Chile LET US CUSTOM MAKE YOUR AIRCRAFT OR SHIP
and Peru, beats the Olympia for longevity. www.motionmodels.com 1-800-866-3172
The Huáscar is still afloat at Talcahuano,
Chile. A stroll through her spaces evokes the
same stirrings of legendary naval combat that
visiting the Olympia does.
I’ll be delighted t1o be set straight if1 wrong.

More on Eagle Facing

Captain Thomas Bailey Hagen, Supply
Corps, U.S. Naval Reserve (Retired)
I read with interest Australian Roy
Scrivener’s inquiry and your answer in
February’s “In Contact” (“Conflicting
Facings,” p. 9) regarding the opposite facings
of eagles on the cap devices of Admiral
William F. Halsey and Rear Admiral Robert
Carney. When I saw the same photo in the
article “Missouri endgame” (August, pp.
32–40), I smiled to myself that Halsey was USS HORNET (CV-8) All Yorktowns PT-565 All Elko PT’s
wearing a pre–World War II cap device and “Doolittle”
remembered what my grandfather told me as
a child during the war about the change from
left to right.
While the “logical” reason may very well USS SUMNER/ All DD/DE’s USS ST. LOUIS (CL-50) All Cruisers
GEARING Destroyer
have been heraldic, as suggested by the
Naval History and Heritage Command, I
remember the reason as political. A left-
facing eagle on the official seal of the USS MISSOURI (BB-63) All BB’s USS ESSEX (CV-9) All CV’s
united States would be to the same side
as the eagle’s talons holding the arrows
of war; whereas, the right talons hold the
olive branches of peace. Obviously, at
that perilous time just before World War IJN AKAGI “Pearl Harbor” KM BISMARCK
II, we wanted to be portrayed as a peace-
loving nation. It was my understanding that
President Franklin Roosevelt himself had
ordered the change, but I have no way of U-BOAT Type VII USS CAPITAINE GATO/BALAO-Class Sub
knowing the truth o1f that.
The heraldic explanation given by the
Naval History and Heritage Command that
the right side (dexter) is the honor side and
USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65) All CVA/CVN’s Most Late Subs
the left side (sinester) is the dishonor side
fits well with the war-and-peace explanation
given to me by my grandfather, Lieutenant
Commander Frank j. Bailey, u.S. Naval
Reserve (Captain, New York Naval Militia), AEGIS Cruiser USS AMERICA (CV-66)
1874–1961. 36˝ model custom madue for
Adm. Leighton Smith

Corrections: Our apologies for several errors

that slipped into the April “In Contact”
during editing. Admiral Günther Lütjens
(“Guns and Ships at the ‘Canal,’” p. 9) was
commander of the fleet that included the
Bismarck, not the ship herself, and the action
off Casablanca occurred on 8 November
1942. john Bickford (“Recollections of a
Civil War Hero,” p. 8) lived in Gloucester,
Massachusetts, and his boat float was located
in the Bay State’s east Gloucester.
All DDG’s Many more
ships available.
The largest catalog selection & website of custom &
ready-made ships & aircraft anywhere. Catalog has over
1200 models in COLOR. Specializing in CUSTOM MADE &
cataloged models.Vets & active,let us make you what you served on or flew.GIANT 120-page, full-color catalog $5.00
(refundable with order).FLYERS, SAILORS, COLLECTORS,WE TALK YOUR LANGUAGE. Layaway plans available
Motion Models,4613u N.University Dr.#2u90,Coral Springs,FL u33067-4602
email: mrmotion@myacc.net
phone 954-344-8512 (u8870) fax
www.motionmodels.com

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • juNe 2011 67

 Book Reviews
Victory in Defeat: The
Wake Island Defenders in
Captivity, 1941-1945
Gregory J. W. Urwin. Annapolis: Naval
Institute Press, 2010y. 512 pp. Intro. Noytes.
Bib. Index. $38.95.y
Reviewed by Mark Felton
“We had a bond there that’s still going,”
remarks one veteran in Gregory Urwin’s
brilliant new book. Victory in Defeat
demonstrates the bond of comradeship
in conquering terrible adversity. As a
study in human courage and grim wartime
determination, this book is unsurpassed. It
is a very accomplished and detailed read.
As the title states, this is the story of
the survival of the human spirit despite
imprisonment at the hands of a brutal
and often unpredictable enemy. The
defenders of Wake Island were America’s
first “band of brothers” during World War
II, displaying a gallantry and fighting
spirit that inspired the nation when it was
facing defeat. Urwin is the acknowledged
expert on the doomed 1941 defense of
Wake Island, and he tells the story of
the long and difficult imprisonment that
the defenders endured in Japanese hands
after their surrender. In many ways, it is
an even more compelling tale than that
of the battle itself, as the defenders were
imprisoned in the Woosung and Kiangwan
prisoner-of-war camps in China or in
camps on mainland Japan.
The beauty of the author’s prose
stands in stark contrast to the grimness
and uncertainty of the situation that he
records so expertly. Drawing on nearly
100 oral history interviews, Urwin has
been able to give the story an immediate
and fascinating voice. Beginning with
a thoroughly engaging summary of the
battle, he captures the mixed emotions
of the defeated Americans on being
ordered to lay down their arms and their
fears and anxieties over their Japanese
captors’ intentions. The Wake Island
defenders were prisoners for 3 1/2 years,
but it becomes clear that they were more
fortunate than many of their comrades
who were captured in the Philippines.
The Woosung and Kiangwan camps were
near Shanghai, where neutral nations such
as Switzerland and organizations such as
the International Red Cross still operated
missions. With an independent Western
68
www.downmagaz.com
eye constantly on the camps, the Japanese
were forced to rein in their worst excesses.
What emerges from Urwin’s succinct
account is the uncertainty inherent in
imprisonment. He masterfully weaves the
narrative threads of first-person accounts
with historical research, demonstrating
the shifting allegiances and internal
conflicts among the prisoners and their
relations with their captors and the
prisoners of other nations. He depicts the
intricate “buddy system” that the prisoners
created to survive, reflecting again the
comradeship that the men felt for each
other after their bonds of allegiance were
forged in the futile battle on a speck of
Pacific coral. They were as determined to
survive as they had been to defend Wake,
and their victory was that ultimately so
many of them did live through the ordeal,
while in other camps prisoners perished,
often in tragically huge numbers.
The Japanese in Urwin’s treatment
appear to have been much more
humane than they were in many other
camps, with the notable exception of
the Japanese interpreter Ishihara
at Woosung, “The Beast of the East,”
whose sadism was matched only by
his comedic value to the prisoners. In
general, daily contact with the prisoners
demonstrated a restraint that was often
conspicuously absent in so many other
camps across occupied Asia, although
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
Urwin also suggests that the camp was
receiving special treatment from the
Japanese authorities simply because it
was under the observation of the neutral
powers. Geography probably saved
more American lives than simple good
fortune. Urwin vividly renders the
struggle for survival under extremely
basic conditions, and although he clearly
admires the men who went through this
ordeal, he is not shy in his criticisms of
some of their leaderys and their decisionsy.
Victory in Defeat is a thoroughly
absorbing read and a book that needed
to be written. Although it is a big tome,
Urwin has managed to create a genuine
page-turner. It achieves so much more
than simply filling in the rest of the story
of the Wake Island defenders. Without
question, this is one of the finest studies
available of Japanese prisoner-of-war
camps and their unfoyrtunate inmates.
Dr. Felton is the author of several books on the
treatment of Allied POWs in Japanese captivity
during World War II. He lives in China, where he
lectures at Fudan Unyiversity in Shanghai. y
Give Me Tomorrow: The
Korean War’s Greatest
Untold Story—The Epic
Stand of the Marines of
George Company
Patrick K. O’Donnell. Cambridge, MA:
Da Capo Press, 201y0. 288 pp. Illus. yMaps.
Appens. Notes. Indeyx. $26.
Reviewed by Colonel Jon T. Hoffman,
U.S. Marine Corps Reserve (Retired)
Patrick O’Donnell has written several
books based on extensive interviews with
veterans, and has even gone a giant step
further by accompanying a platoon of
Marines through a deployment in Iraq
and the Battle of Fallujah. His latest
volume chronicles Company G, 3d
Battalion, 1st Marines from its hurried
formation at Camp Pendleton in August
1950 through the amphibious assault
at Inchon, the battle for Seoul, and the
epic breakout from the Chosin Reservoir.
Give Me Tomorrow fits into the standard
mold of the oral history genre, with
the author weaving the recollections of
dozens of men into a relatively coherent
narrative of their experiences. Readers

will appreciate his skill in developing this
grunt’s-eye view of combat, but overall,
the book leaves much1 to be desired.
It has become routine to label a
piece of history the “greatest untold
story,” as the subtitle of this book
does, even though in many cases the
events in question have not previously
been ignored. Aside from the obvious
marketing ploy, such claims make one
wonder if the author really knows his
topic. In this case, the answer seemingly
becomes apparent early on, as O’Donnell
recounts some World War II background.
In the space of a few pages he claims
that “one million Leathernecks” served
in that conflict (it was barely over
half that), declares that the Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 June 1941
(apparently the actual date wasn’t
quite as infamous as President Franklin
Roosevelt expected), ascribes the victory
on Guadalcanal to the “Fifth Marine
Division” (a shocking mistake for a book
about a 1st Marine Division unit), and
has the Guadalcanal veterans going
from that campaign right into Peleliu,
somehow overlooking the long struggle at
Cape Gloucester in b1etween.
The errors continue into the Korean
War period that forms the heart of the
story. He observes that Marines from
America’s South were appropriately
riding to war in a U.S. naval transport
ship, the General Simon B. Buckner
( T- A P - 1 2 3 ) , w h i c h t h e a u t h o r
mistakenly assumes was named after
a Confederate general rather than his
son, the U.S. Army commander of the
Okinawa assault force1.
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • JUNE 2011
The best oral historians provide critical
context to augment the memories of their
subjects and properly illuminate what they
have experienced. In O’Donnell’s zeal to
demonstrate the importance of his chosen
topic, he asserts that Company G saved
the Marine perimeter at Hagaru-ri and thus
“most of X Corps,” and that “the outcome
of the war hung in the balance.” But only
the 5th and 7th Marines and the Army’s
Task Force Faith were north of the village,
and the latter unit’s fate already was sealed
regardless of the outcome at Hagaru-
ri. While defeat there might have meant
the loss of most of a Marine division, the
majority of X Corps could still have made
good its escape by sea. One could argue
that the successful fighting withdrawal of
the Marines persuaded the nation to keep
fighting in Korea, but O’Donnell simply
makes sweeping assertions with little or no
analysis to support them.
The story of George Company at
Hagaru-ri is larger than life, but it certainly
doesn’t stand alone as an epic battle in
light of the accomplishments of many other
Marine units in Korea. The men of George
played an important role at the Chosin
Reservoir when they fought their way from
Koto-ri to Hagaru-ri in one day and then
withstood a large-scale Chinese assault
on their position the following night. But
they performed those feats with the aid of
others around them. To pick out just one
example that would compete for the honor
of the most heroic saga, Fox Company,
2d Battalion, 7th Marines survived five
days and nights of attacks by overwhelming
numbers while holding a critical outpost
miles from any other friendly forces. By
the time the campaign was finished, nearly
every unit that fought in it had its own
“untold” story of greatness. All the action
has been recounted in the official history
and numerous commercial books, though
not to the level of individual perspective
for this particular company.
For readers wanting to get a sense of what
it was like to be an infantryman in the 1st
Marine Division during the opening months
of the Korean War, the stories of the men of
George Company more than fill that niche.
But those who want to truly understand
the significance of their deeds will have to
look elsewhere for a better researched, better
edited, and more objective account.
Colonel Hoffman is deputy chief historian for the
Office of the Secretary of Defense. He is the author
of Chesty: The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis
B. Puller, USMC (Random House, 2001) and Once
a Legend: ‘Red Mike’ Edson of the Marine Raiders
(Presidio Press, 1994h).
Horrible Shipwreck!
Andrew C. A. Jampoler. Annapolis: Naval
Institute Press, 2010.1 294 pp. Illus. Note1s.
Bib. Index. $34.95.1
Reviewed by William S. Dudley
Horrible Shipwreck! dramatically
subtitled A full, true and particular account
of the melancholy loss of the British convict
ship Amphitrite, the 31st of August 1833,
off Boulogne, When 108 female convicts, 12
children, and 13 seamen Met with a watery
grave, in sight of thousands, None being saved
out of 136 souls but three! is a history that
reads like a novel. Although it is indeed
about a shipwreck, its labyrinthine narrative
informs the readers at every turn about
fascinating aspects of early 19th-century
seafaring life as well as English social
history, as seen in the linkages among
crime, punishment, and emigration policies.
Within the British penal system of the
1830s, it was the usual practice to imprison
members of the lower classes for debt and
petty theft, while transporting or executing
those judged guilty of other serious crimes,
far short of rape and murder.
At issue in this book are the fates of
women who had fallen from their families’
or husbands’ favor and been made to shift
for themselves, often as laundresses, shop
clerks, or cleaning maids. But many also
stole from their mistresses or businesses,
or, worse yet, were compelled, for lack
of better opportunity, into prostitution.
Once arrested for these vices, if not given
a second chance they were sentenced to
transportation. This usually meant they
were destined to be shipped to Australia
where, at Botany Bay or Port Jackson,
they were put to work. Ultimately, if they
survived they might become contributing
69
 members of the new colony, where
thousands of male convicts had arrived
before them. If they already had children,
those waifs were sent along with their
mothers on the three- to four-month ordeal
that was the voyage to the land “down
under.”
Author Jampoler, a skilled narrator,
was a U.S. Navy officer. He writes clearly
about the events leading to and following
the night of 31 August 1833, when the
Amphitrite was shipwrecked with the loss
of all on board but three. He writes of
Captain John Hunter and his crew, the
relevant navigational details, and the
terrible storm that placed the British
transport ship in the perilous position of
being unable to escape the lee shore of
Boulogne-sur-Mer, where she was trapped
by a raging westerly lgale.
He also explains the strange situation
that prevented the ship’s master from
assisting in saving his passengers’ lives
as the vessel was dashed on the sands
of Boulogne. He likewise depicts the
inhumane French customs officers who
patrolled the beach and would not
allow their citizens or visiting English
vacationers to rescue the drowning
women or children.
To discover the reasons for these
anomalies, read this artfully written book.
The author spent months researching
British archives. He has provided a full
bibliography of primary and secondary
sources in English and French, as well as
21 pages of citations and comments, and
illustrations and malps.
Dr. Dudley was director of naval history for the U.S.
Navy from 1995 through 2004. He is the author
of Maritime Maryland: A History (Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2010), a historical adviser to the
Annapolis Maritime Museum, and a member of the
Resources and Stewardship Advisory Committee of
the Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission.
70
www.downmagaz.com
A Measureless Peril:
America in the Fight for
the Atlantic—The Longest
Battle of World War II
Richard Snow. New York: Scribner, 2010.
368 pp. Notes. Bib. lIndex. $27.
Reviewed by Marc Milner
Few really important World War II
subjects have generated more smoke
and less light than America’s role in the
Battle of the Atlantic. Anyone who has
tried to use the U.S. Navy’s records in
the National Archives in Washington,
D.C., knows why: They are a disaster.
When I complained to the archivist
for Navy and Old Army about this, he
observed laconically that the U.S. Navy
did not want anyone digging deeply into
its history, especially that of the Atlantic.
So it would seem. Richard Snow’s
little book, which promises much in its with the literature—largely from
subtitle, sheds littlle light on the subjlect. existing publications. But his account
A Measureless Peril is a well-written of America’s “fight for the Atlantic”
collection of anecdotes on a wide range takes place in a vacuum, largely without
of subjects that emerged from his father’s context, without the Allies, without
war stories (he served in a destroyer in meaning, and idiosylncratically to boot.l
the final months of the war) and from Beyond being a collection of anecdotes
Snow’s limited bibliography. These stories and tidy stories, A Measureless Peril probably
are written up in a loosely chronological reflects the author’s personal voyage of
sequence of short chapters—a kind discovering his father’s war. There’s nothing
of “bathroom reading” format. There wrong with that. Indeed, the book will likely
are chapters on why Germany built be picked up by those unfamiliar with the
battleships instead of submarines; a profile subject and read with interest; Snow is a
of the German naval commander and good writer, and they could do worse. But
final president of the Third Reich, Karl America’s Atlantic war remains locked up
Dönitz; the fate of the British ship SS tight in the National Archives, waiting for
Athenia; what happened when President some diligent soul to unearth it.
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister
Winston Churchill met in August 1941;
Dr. Milner is the director of Brigadier Milton F.
descriptions of U-boat ops off the East Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at
Coast of the United States; the story of the University of New Brunswick, Canada. He is the
the development of radar; and so on. author of Battle of the Atlantic (American edition
forthcoming from Trafalgar, 2011) which won the
Each chapter is its own little vignette, C. P. Stacey Prize for the best book of military history
gleaned—for those who are familiar in Canada in 2003. a
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
 The most celebrated
MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT
since World War II

HARDCOVER / 978-1-59114-078-8 / $85.00

SEAL OF HONOR
Operation Red Wings and the
Life of LT Michael P. Murphy, USN HARDCOVER / 978-1-59114-734-5 / $37.95

By Gary Williams

NOW AVAILBLE IN PAPERBACK & EBOOK EDITIONS!

Paperback / 978-1-59114-965-1 / $18.95

Ebook / 978-1-6125$1-006-4 / $18.95

“In his final act of bravery, he continued to engage the enemy

until he was mortally wounded, gallantly giving his life for
the cause of freedom. By his selfless leadership, courageous
actions, and extraordinary devotion to duty, Lieutenant
Murphy reflected great credit upon him and upheld the
highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”

— GEORGE W. BUSH,
at the White House Medal of Honor
presentation ceremony on October 22, 2007 HARDCOVER / 978-1-59114-529-5 / $34.95

Join the U.S. Naval Institute For Member Discounts on All Books!
visit us ONLINE at www.usni.org or CALL 800.233.8764
 Museum Report
Visit Baltimore’s Liberty Ship and Museum
T
he SS John W. Brown, an EC2-
S-C1-type Liberty ship, was
built at Bethlehem-Fairfield
Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland,
and launched in 1942. She was one of
2,751 emergency cargo ships constructed
during World War II, in 18 yards around
the United States. In 1988 Project Liberty
Ship, Inc., acquired the Brown, which has
since been designated a memorial museum
ship and is listed in the National Register
of Historic Places. Fully restored to her
original configuration, she is one of two
remaining operational Liberty ships;
the other is the Jeremiah O’Brien in San
Francisco.
Located on the ’tween deck of the John
W. Brown’s number 2 cargo hold are three
exhibits: Merchant Seamen, Liberty
Ship History, and the U.S. Navy Armed
Guard. A life-size mannequin in winter
clothing points the way to a brimming
collection of Armed Guard memorabilia
from World War II.
The portside bulkhead is covered with
vintage black-and-white photographs
that former members donated, along
with official Navy photos showing recruit
training, the Armed Guard Center in
New York City, and North Atlantic
convoys. In one display are .50-caliber
shell casings. Fragments of a Japanese
kamikaze plane are displayed in glass
cases, along with hot-shell gloves (used
to handle spent shells and change out
hot 20-mm gun barrels), ashtrays made
from spent shells, Armed Guard helmets,
night-vision goggles, a headphone set,
and personal items such as a Sailor’s
knot board, pocket knives, and sleeve
insignias.
The John W. Brown is operated and
manned by a dedicated all-volunteer
crew. On the day I walked through for
this report, the guide was Baltimore
native John Confair Sr., age 84. An
18-year Armed Guard volunteer on the
Brown, he’s full of firsthand information
about the conflict that he personally
experienced.
Confair joined the Navy on 8 August
1943 and went through boot camp at
Sampson Naval Base, New York. He
was then shipped to gunnery school at
Little Creek, Virginia, where new service
72
www.downmagaz.com
PROJECT LIBERTY SHIP (JOAN BURkE)
The World War II–era John W. Brown was built and is nolw a museum in Baltilmore, where
visitors can tour her and her historic exhibits, as well as go on Living History Cruises.
• • • • • • • • • •
members “learned about all the guns that
were to be on the ships,” he said. They
also attended night-vision school and
learned plane recognition. Shipping out
from New York on the tanker SS Daylight,
“We made two round-trips to Scotland
from Staten Island with no shore leave.”
Confair returned to New York’s Armed
Guard Center on 6 April 1944 and was
again shipped out on 25 April, on the
Liberty ship SS James C. Cameron. He
sailed on three more ships before being
discharged on 30 January 1945. “I was
very lucky,” said Confair, “I never had to
fire a gun at the enemy.”
This Armed Guardsman particularly
enjoys showing off the afterdeck house
that he helped to restore. This was where
Guardsmen were quartered. Originally
the Armed Guard was organized during
World War I, to protect Allied and
American ships. On board a ship, an
Armed Guard command consisted of an
officer in charge of a crew of gunners,
radiomen, and signalmen. A total of
384 ships had Armed Guard personnel
during World War I. The service was
deactivated following that war.
It came to life again early in the
American involvement in World War II.
By Robert McLaren
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
By the time the United States officially
entered the war, 17 U.S. merchant ships
had been sunk. More than 80,000 Armed
Guard gunners, signalmen, and radiomen
served on Liberty ships, tankers, and
other ships that carried cargo, fuel, and
ammunition to the war fronts. Of the
6,236 ships served by the Armed Guard,
more than 700 were sunk, including
200 Liberty ships. More were damaged
by enemy action. The Armed Guard
was discontinued after the war—but, as
another chapter of the U.S. Navy fades
into history, people such as Confair keep
it alive.
John W. Brown
Pier One, Clinton Street
Baltimore, Maryland
410-555-0646
Open Wednesday and Saturday, 0800 to 1400
Donation requested; free parking
Photo ID to board this operational ship
www.liberty-ship.com
Mr. McLaren is a former Merchant Mariner and
retired federal employee. A lifetime member of
Project Liberty Ship, he sails in the engine room
during Living Historyi Cruises.
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
FLY NAVY

E SHIPPING!
FRE
THE CENTENNIAL BOOK
•380 PAGES •700 PHOTOS
EVERY Aircraft Flying in the
NAVY, USMC and USCG today.

www.flynavybook.com
 Naval Weapon Systems

Delivering the fulpl range of

mission solutions pfor every ship

Raytheon’s rich legacy of innovation makes it the most complete family of mission solutions for navies
around the world. Only Raytheon can help customers stand the test of time through our proven Life Cycle
Support initiatives. Our products, technology and people have made Raytheon the preferred provider of
Naval Weapon Systems and the leader in ship defense solutions. Raytheon offers a solution to cover every
need, whether it be ship self-defense on a jagged maritime frontier or fleet area defense.

INNovatIoN IN all domaINS

Visit www.raytheon.com
Keyword: NavalWS
© 2011 Raytheon Commpany. All rights rmeserved.
“Customer Success Ism Our Mission” is a mregistered trademarkm of Raytheon Companmy.

www.downmagaz.com