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Japan’s Underwater Aircraft Carriers – conclusion
American naval personnel inspect the hangar of a Japanese submarine aircraft carrier. The hangar tube was sealed by a two-inch-thick rubber gasket, and the hatch could be opened hydraulically from inside
By early 1945, the Japanese Navy had only 20 modern submarines left, including those in the Sen-toku squadron. Problems arose as the two available I-400 subs began test launching their Sieran planes. Each submarine was required to surface and get its three planes unlimbered and aloft within 30 minutes, but actual training showed that it took some 45 minutes.
Because of an increasing sense of urgency, the Japanese further modified their plans. A torpedo attack was ruled out because the pilots had not yet acquired the requisite skills. It was decided that each of the 10 planes designated for the Panama Canal mission would carry one 1,760-pound bomb, the largest in the Navy’s arsenal and similar to the one that sank the battleship USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor
The departure date was set for mid-June. The Seiran pilots made practice bombing runs in Nanao Bay against a full-sized replica of the Gatun gates.
The fall of Iwo Jima in March 1945 and the American attack on Okinawa increased the angst among the Japanese planners as the Americans closed in on the home islands. The war had leaped ahead of the planners, and the slated attack on the Panama Canal was canceled. As noted, there were discussions about possibly using the planes in a surprise attack on San Francisco or Los Angles, but those, too, were put aside in favor of a plan to attack enemy carriers at Ulithi, a large staging area near the island of Truk in the Carolines that was used by the Americans.
Mail call on Ulithi, 1945
The two large subs were to proceed toward Ulithi independently for safety and then rendezvous near the target and launch the attack in mid-August. The I-13 never made it to Truk and was correctly presumed lost. The I-14 arrived at Truk on August 4, and its planes flew over Ulithi the following day.
Shortly thereafter word reached the submarines that an atomic bomb had destroyed Hiroshima, and on August 15 the Japanese seamen heard the broadcast from the emperor asking his warriors to lay down their arms. Subsequent orders from the homeland were confusing, with one commanding all submarine captains to execute their predetermined missions. On August 16, the underwater aircraft carriers received explicit orders that their planned attack on Ulithi had been canceled just hours before the I-401 was to launch its planes. The subs were ordered to Kure, and the I-401 turned course toward its fateful encounter with Lt. Cmdr. Johnson and the Segundo.
The Japanese eventually surrendered the I-401 and the other two remaining underwater aircraft carriers. Commander Ariizumi, the developer of the top secret subs, took his own life aboard the I-401 and was quietly buried at sea by the crew. Before encountering the Americans, Nambu had meticulously followed orders from Japan to raise the black flag of surrender and dispose of the vessel’s weapons, including the planes that were catapulted into the sea. Logbooks, code-books, and the like were loaded into weighted sacks and tossed overboard. The torpedoes were jettisoned, with one causing alarm as it circled back toward the large submarine before disappearing harmlessly into the depths.
The Japanese aircraft carrier submarines I-14, I-400, and I-401 are shown in Tokyo Bay at the end of the war. The submarines were destined to be sunk in Hawaiian waters during U.S. Navy torpedo tests.
The three submarines drew considerable attention when they made it back to Tokyo Bay. Many Americans initially believed the large hangars atop the subs had been designed to haul supplies to troops on distant islands despite the clearly observed catapults. The Americans did receive some assistance from the Japanese crews as they tried to comprehend the purpose of the extraordinary submarines, and by the end of September the Americans had taken the submarines out for cruises. However, none was taken underwater.
The submarines were then taken to Hawaii for further study. The U.S. Navy gleaned what it could from them, and then all three were deliberately sunk by early June 1946 to keep them away from the prying eyes of the inquisitive Soviets.
One of the Seirans did make it to the United States after the war and was eventually restored at an estimated cost of $1 million. It is now on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Although the U.S. Navy was somewhat dismissive of the massive submarines, it did take a keen interest in the sound-protective coatings used on the vessels.
There is little doubt that the I-400s were the strategic predecessors to today’s ballistic submarines, especially to the Regulus missile program begun about a decade after World War II that carried nuclear warheads inside waterproof deck hangars. In short, Yamamoto’s plan lived on with “new and improved” versions that helped the United States win the Cold War.
This has been condensed from: Phil Zimmer is a former newspaper reporter and a U.S. Army veteran. He writes on World War II topics from Jamestown, New York.
The wreck of IJN !-401 was located in March 2005.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Ronald D. Brown – Pembroke, KY; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT
They stand on the line for us.
Richard E. Cole -(103) – Comfort, TX; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Doolittle’s co-pilot, Lt. Colonel (Ret. 26 y.)
Robert Hendriks – Locust Valley, NY; USMC, Afghanistan, Cpl., 25th Marine Reg./4th Marine Division, KIA
Benjamin Hines – York, PA; USMC, Afghanistan, Sgt., 25th Marine Reg./4th Marine Division, KIA
Delmar Jones – Sesser, IL; US Army, WWII
Venizelos Lagos – Culpepper, VA; US Coast Guard, WWII
Virgil Patterson – FL; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Christopher Slutman – Newark, DE; USMC, Afghanistan, SSgt., 25th Marine Reg./4th Marine Division, KIA
Ly Tong – VIET; South Vietnam Air Force, Black Eagle Fighter Squadron, pilot, POW
Bryan Whitmer – Grand Rapids, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, HQS/457 Artillery/11th Airborne Division
Japan’s Underwater Aircraft Carriers – part one
Lieutenant Commander Stephen L. Johnson had a problem on his hands; a very large problem. His Balao-class submarine, the Segundo, had just picked up a large radar contact on the surface about 100 miles off Honshu, one of Japan’s home islands, heading south toward Tokyo. World War II in the Pacific had just ended, and the ensuing cease fire was in its 14th day. The official peace documents would not be signed for several more days.
As Johnson closed on the other vessel, he realized it was a gigantic submarine, so large in fact that it first looked like a surface ship in the darkness. The Americans had nothing that size, so he realized that it had to be a Japanese submarine.
This was the first command for the lanky 29-year-old commander. He and his crew faced the largest and perhaps the most advanced submarine in the world. The Japanese I-401 was longer than a football field and had a surface displacement of 5,233 tons, more than three times the Segundo’s displacement. More troubling though was the sub’s bristling weaponry that included a 5.5-inch gun on her aft deck, three triple-barreled 25mm antiaircraft guns, a single 25mm gun mounted on the bridge, and eight large torpedo tubes in her bow.
During a brief ceremony aboard one of the aircraft carrier submarines, the Japanese naval ensign is lowered and replaced by the Stars and Stripes as the vessel is turned over to the control of the U.S. Navy after Japan’s surrender
The large sub displayed the mandatory black surrender flag, but when the Segundo edged forward, the Japanese vessel moved rapidly into the night. The movement and the continuing display of the Rising Sun flag caused concern. Johnson’s vessel pursued the craft that eventually slowed down as dawn approached. He brought his bow torpedo tubes to bear on the craft as the two vessels settled into a Mexican standoff.
Johnson and his crew had received permission by now to sink the reluctant Japanese vessel if necessary, but he realized he had a career-boosting and perhaps a technologically promising prize in his sights. Much depended on this untried American submarine captain and his wily opponent in the seas off Japan.
Little did Johnson know that the Japanese submarine was a part of the I-400 squadron, basically underwater aircraft carriers, and that the I-401 carried Commander Tatsunosuke Ariizumi, developer of the top-secret subs initially designed to strike the U.S. homeland in a series of surprise attacks. Ariizumi was considered the “father of the I-400 series” and a loyal follower of the emperor with years of experience in the Japanese Navy, so surrender was a disgrace he could not endure
Johnson also had to contend with Lt. Cmdr. Nobukiyo Nambu, skipper of the I-401, who traced his combat experience back to Pearl Harbor. He now commanded the world’s largest submarine designed to carry three state-of-the-art attack planes in a specially built hanger located atop the vessel. These secret Aichi M6A1 planes were initially designed for “a second Pearl Harbor” or another surprise attack, possibly even against New York City or Washington, D.C. The I-400 series submarines were themselves full of technological surprises. They were capable of traveling around the world one and a half times without refueling, had a top surface speed of 19 knots (or nearly 22 miles per hour), and could remain on patrol for four months, twice as long as the Segundo.
Neither Nambu nor Commander Ariizumi readily accepted the emperor’s surrender statement when it was broadcast on August 15. The subsequent communiqués from Tokyo were exceptionally confusing, especially Order 114, which confirmed that peace had been declared – but that all submarines were to “execute predetermined missions and attack the enemy if discovered.”
It was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of Japan’s Combined Fleet and developer of the Pearl Harbor attack, who called for the construction of the I-400 series some three weeks after Pearl Harbor. Once Japan was committed to war, he believed that submarine aircraft carriers dropping bombs “like rain” over major U.S. cities would surely cause the American people to “lose their will to fight.” A second surprise attack with even more to come would prove psychologically devastating to the Americans.
Yamamoto called for the construction of 18 of the massive submarines carrying a total of 36 attack planes. The name of the special submarine class was abbreviated to Sen-toku.
The attack planes had to be designed from scratch. The need for speed, range and a decent sized bomb payload required tradeoffs. The wings had to be foldable to fit inside the tube, or hangar, atop the submarine. The design work, testing, and building of the plane was outsourced to the Aichi Aircraft Company.
The I-400 program did have its detractors in the heavily bureaucratic Imperial Japanese Navy. After the defeat at Midway in early June 1942, Japan became more focused on defending the homeland and far less on possible attacks on the U.S. mainland using the large submarines. The death of Yamamoto in mid-April 1943, played further into the hands of conservative Japanese commanders. Cutbacks were ordered in the number of submarines to be built. .
The first test flight of the Aichi attack plane occurred on November 8, 1943. The plane, called Seiran or “storm from a clear sky,” reportedly handled fairly well as the world’s first sub-borne attack bomber. The Japanese began compiling limited available information on the heavily fortified Panama Canal. Their analysis showed that destroying the gate opening onto Gatun Lake would create a massive outpouring of water, destroying the other gates in its path while rushing toward the Caribbean Sea.
After weeks of planning, the Japanese came up with a strategy to attack the Gatun locks at dawn when the gates were closed and presumably the defenses were lax. The planners had nearly a full year to formulate the attack for early 1945. But there were problems ahead because none of the submarines were complete and the planes were not yet in the production stage.
I-400 Class submarine
The Japanese labored on, and by the end of 1944 the I-400 and the smaller I-13 were completed and turned over to the Navy. In early January 1945, the I-401 was commissioned and the I-14, the last of the underwater aircraft carriers, was put into service by mid-March 1945.
As an important aside, it should be noted that while preparations for the attack on the Panama Canal went forward, Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, vice-chief of the Naval General Staff, floated another idea for the use of the Sen-toku submarines. He suggested arming the Seiran planes with biological weapons to be unleashed against a populated area on the West Coast of the United States.
Dr. Shiro Ishii, Japan’s top virus expert and head of the Army’s notorious 731 unit in Manchuria, was consulted. He recommended that the planes drop plague-inflected fleas, something he had tested with success in China, on the United States with San Francisco, Los Angeles, or San Diego suggested as targets. The plan was discarded in late March by the head of the Army’s general staff who called it “unpardonable on humanitarian grounds.”
In effect, the Japanese Army, which had led the development of biological weapons and had tested them on Chinese and American captives, nixed the idea of using the weapons late in the war on American civilians, perhaps in the belief that the war was already lost.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Ernest Bargiel – Trafford, PA; US Army, WWII, medic
Alzena McNabb Bibb (99) – Corbin, KY; US Navy WAVE, WWII
Paul Copenhaver – Syracuse, NE; USMC, WWII, 3rd Marines
Ewell Foglemann – Dallas, TX; US Army, WWII, ETO, Pfc, Co. C/112/5th Engineer Corps
Ada Kirk (100) – Waipukurau, NZ; RAF # 895704, WWII, Cpl.
Donald Lawson – Elgin, KS; US Navy, WWII
Meddie Mojica – Asis, Cavite, PI; Filipino guerrilla & US Navy, WWII
William T. O’Keefe – Broad Channel, NY; US Navy, WWII
Mark Smith – Indianapolis, IN; USMC, Iraq, Colonel (Ret. 32 y.)
Jesse Weber – Arvada, CO; US Army Air Corps, WWII, pilot
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Current News – USS WASP – WWII Wreck Located
A port bow view of the ship shows her aflame and listing to starboard, 15 September 1942. Men on the flight deck desperately battle the spreading inferno. (U.S. Navy Photograph 80-G-16331, National Archives and Records Administration, Still Pictures Division, College Park, Md.)
The discovery of sunken wrecks seems to hold an eternal fascination. Although the quest to find them takes a huge amount of resources and technical skills, the quest goes on. Many searches have focused on the wrecks of warships lost during the Second World War. One of the most recent successes, despite many difficulties, was the discovery of USS Wasp (CV-7) deep in the Pacific Ocean.
The story of Wasp‘s end begins in September 1942. The aircraft carrier set out with 71 planes and a crew of more than 2,000 men on board to escort a convoy of US Marines to Guadalcanal, one of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. In the middle of the afternoon, Wasp was hit by Japanese torpedoes which caused serious damage.
The worst part was that the torpedoes had hit the magazine, setting off a series of explosions. The fire quickly spread, and the ship was also taking on water from the torpedo damage. Soon it began to tilt, and oil and gasoline that had spilled were set ablaze on the water. Captain Sherman had no choice but to give the order to abandon ship.
Wildcats & Spitfires on the USS Wasp, 7 April 1942
Those who were most seriously injured were lowered into life rafts. Those who could not find a place in a life raft had no choice but to jump into the sea. There they held on to whatever debris they could to keep them afloat until they were rescued.
Captain Sherman commented later that the evacuation of the ship was remarkably orderly under the circumstances. He also noted that sailors had delayed their own escapes to ensure that their injured comrades were taken off the ship first.
The first torpedoes had been spotted at 2:44 PM. By 4 PM, once he was sure that all the survivors had been removed, Captain Sherman himself abandoned ship. In that short time, Wasp had been destroyed along with many of the aircraft it was carrying, and 193 men died.
Despite the danger involved, the destroyers which had accompanied Wasp carried out a remarkable rescue operation and managed to bring 1,469 survivors to safety.
The ship drifted on for four hours until orders were given that it should be scuttled. The destroyer USS Lansdowne came to the scene, and another volley of torpedoes eventually sank the ship into the depths of the Pacific Ocean.
The discovery of the wreck was largely due to the philanthropy of the late Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. Allen had a lifelong enthusiasm for underwater exploration and a fascination with WWII wrecks. He provided the substantial sums required to fit out the Petrel exploration ship through his undersea exploration organization.
View of 5 inch gun from online room. Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc.
The quest to find Wasp looked likely to be one of their more difficult tasks. The wreck lay 2.5 miles down in an area known as an abyssal plane. There is no light and little animal life as well as massive pressure, making it one of the most inhospitable and inaccessible areas of the ocean.
Kraft and his team recalculated the possible location based on the distance between Wasp and the other two ships at the time of the torpedo attack. They realized that they needed to look much further south. It seemed that the navigator on Wasp had provided the most accurate location information after all.
Bridge of the USS Wasp
The crew once again sent out drones to scan the area and on January 14, 12 days after their mission began, they located the wreck. Despite the massive damage, Wasp could be seen clearly in the underwater photographs, sitting upright on the seabed and surrounded by helmets and other debris that served as reminders of its dramatic history and tragic end.
The exact location of the wreck remains a closely guarded secret to avoid the risk of scavengers looking for valuable relics from the ship. There are no plans to attempt to raise the wreck, but its discovery has brought satisfaction to the few remaining Wasp survivors and their families.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Chauncy Adams (101) – NZ; RNZ Army, WWII, 25th Wellington Battalion/3rd Echelon
James Baker – Farmersville, TX; US Army, WWII,PTO, Infantry, Chaplain (Ret. 20 y.)
Joseph Collette – Lancaster, OH; US Army, Afghanistan, 242 Ordnance/71st Explosive Ordnance Group, KIA
John Goodman – Birmingham, AL; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Willie Hartley – NC; US Army, Vietnam, 82nd Airborne Division
Richard Kasper – Brunswick, GA; US Army, WWII, PTO, Bronze Star
Will Lindsay – Cortez, CO; US Army, Afghanistan, Sgt., 2/10th Special Forces (Airborne), KIA
Stanley Mikuta – Cannonsburg, PA; WWII, PTO, Co. E/152nd Artillery/11th Airborne Division
Leonard Nitschke – Ashley, ND; US Army, Korea, Co. G/21/24th Infantry Division
Charles Whatmough – Pawtucket, RI; US Navy. WWII, PTO, Troop Transport cook
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The Forgotten Fleet
Five British aircraft carriers at anchor at war’s end: HMS Indefatigable, Unicorn, Illustrious, Victorious, and Formidable
The Royal Navy was struggling to overcome its failure earlier in the Pacific, but during 1945, this forgotten fleet fought back dramatically to stand with the U.S. Navy against a storm of kamikaze attacks.
British naval operations in the Far East in World War II started badly and went downhill from there. Years of underfunding in defense meant that Britain simply did not have the means to defend its huge empire, and for 18 months prior to the Japanese attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, it had stood alone against Nazi Germany.
Barracks at Tokishuma airfield, Shikoku Province, in the Japanese home islands, under attack by British naval aircraft, July 24, 1945. The planes were launched by HMS Victorious, Formidable, Indefatigable, and Implacable.
The Royal Navy was primarily committed to the Battle of the Atlantic, keeping open the all important sea lanes upon which the island nation’s survival depended. In the Far East, there were only token naval forces available to meet the Japanese attack, and in that part of the world Britannia’s claim to rule the ocean waves was immediately exposed for the empty rhetoric it had become.
The Pacific Ocean had never been a main operating area for the Royal Navy, so it was not geared or experienced for that sea’s vast distances in the way the U.S. Navy was; its vessels did not have the same cruising ranges and could not remain on station as long as the Yanks. So Task Force 57 started its operational life at a distinct disadvantage. This was compounded by having an inadequate supply fleet.
An auxiliary ship of Task Force 57 (center) refuels a British destroyer at sea. The Royal Navy struggled with logistics and resupply over the vast distances of the Pacific.
Because of the nature of the war it had been fighting in the Atlantic, the Royal Navy also had relatively little experience in large-scale carrier operations against land targets, which were the bread and butter of the U.S. Navy. For that reason, Task Force 57 practiced against targets in Sumatra when en route to the Pacific to gain experience and at the same time wreck some Japanese oil refineries.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the senior American naval officer in the Pacific, gave Task Force 57 a gracious welcome, signaling, “The British Carrier Task Force and attached units will increase our striking power and demonstrate our unity of purpose against Japan. The U.S. Pacific Fleet welcomes you.”
A British-marked Grumman TBM Avenger aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm, returning from an attack on Sakishima Gunto, flies above the HMS Indomitable in March 1945.
It was certainly not a token contribution. The combat elements of Task Force 57 at that time comprised four fleet carriers embarking 207 combat aircraft, two battleships, five cruisers, and 11 destroyers. There were also six escort aircraft carriers guarding the fleet train and ferrying replacement aircraft.
Commanding this formidable naval armament was Vice Admiral Sir Henry B.H. Rawlings. He and Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey, at the helm of the American Fifth Fleet and directly in charge of all naval forces at Okinawa, worked well together.
By the end of April, the verdict on Task Force 57’s actions so far was generally considered “not bad.” The British were on a steep learning curve, getting used to a type of operation for which they were not properly equipped or trained. It had to refuel and resupply more frequently than the U.S. Navy and were still having serious problems with replenishment at sea.
An obsolescent Fairy Swordfish torpedo bomber approaches the HMS Victorious during operations. The ship was hit by three kamikazes during the Okinawa operation but survived.
In late May 1945, Task Force 57 broke off after 62 days at sea, returning to base to refit, resupply, and repair battle damage. Its first major missions of the Pacific War were over.
There would be more action to come, including Operation Inmate (June 14-16), involving air attacks on the main Japanese naval bastion at Truk in the western Caroline Islands, as well as raids on Japan itself in the run up to the planned invasion.
The British raids—both by air and shore bombardment—continued right up to August 15, 1945, and the Japanese surrender to the Allies; the second British task force, built around another four fleet carriers and one battleship squadron, arrived too late to take part in the fighting. By VJ Day, the Royal Navy Pacific Fleet had 80 principal warships (including nine large and nine escort aircraft carriers), 30 smaller combat vessels, and 29 submarines.
Click on images to enlarge.
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British Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Gerald Ballard, Scranton, IA; US Coast Guard, WWII / USNR (Ret.)
Philip Corfman – Bowie, MD; US Navy, WWII, PTO / World Health Org. & FDA
Paul Gifford – Troy, NY; US Navy, WWII & Korea, corpsman, USS Shangri-La & Tranquility
Joe Jackson – Kent, WA; US Air Force, Vietnam, Medal of Honor
Charles Kettles – Ypsilanti, MI; US Army, Vietnam, Medal of Honor
Fernand Martin – Debden, CAN; Canadian Army, WWII, ETO
Gabriel Nasti – St. Augustine, FL; US Army, WWII, PTO, 20th Infantry/6th Division
Svend Nielsen – Copenhagen, DEN; Civilian, Danish Resistance, WWII, ETO
Jan-Michael Vincent – Hanford, CA; Army National Guard / beloved actor
Allen Wright (102) – Red Willow City, NE; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, MSgt., Chemical Corps / USAR, Major (Ret. 31 y.)
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PT Boats – August 1945
PT boat operating at Guadalcanal
In mid August, 30 squadrons of PT’s were in commission. Nineteen were in the 7th Fleet.
Admiral Kinkaid could not foresee a need for patrol boats around Japan and Korea, so The 7th Fleet boats became the Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons Philippine Sea Frontier. The shooting was over but there were still jobs where they could be useful.
25-26 August – at Morotai, 16 PT’s under Lt.Comdr. T.R. Stansbury and Gen. Johnson got underway for a rendezvous with the commanders of the Japanese forces on Halmahera. The Japanese commanding general was not there. That was unacceptable.
PT boat w/ native scouts aboard
(possibly PT-171)
The following day, BGen. Warren McNaught went with 6 PT boats and this time Lt.Gen. Ishii and Capt. Fujita, IJN commander were waiting. The boats carried them to the 93rd Div. headquarters on Morotai. It was here that they surrendered 37,000 troops, 4,000 Japanese civilians and a very large quantity of equipment. This was the force that the PT boats had held at bay for almost a year. The garrison commander, Col. Ouchi, reported that since 12 May, when 3 barges brought sorely needed supplies from Halmahera, not a single barge had crossed the 12-mile strait between the 2 islands. Two of those barges were destroyed by PT boats when they attempted to return.
PT-174 at Rendova, Solomons, Jan. 1944
In the central Philippines, Pt 489 and 492 of Squadron 33 carried U.S. Army personnel and members of the Japanese surrender commission to isolated enemy outposts on Samar, Masbate and Romblon to accept the surrender of more than 500 enemy troops.
The Navy Depart. properly got rid of most of the PT’s; their job was done. Because of their light wooden construction they could not be stored away for future use as the steel-hulled ships were.
All the boats in the western Pacific were carefully surveyed. It was found that 118 hulls were defective due to broken frames, worms and dry rot, broken keels, cracked longitudinals * or battle damage. These boats were stripped of all salvageable material and the bare hulls were burned on the beach at Samar.
Squadrons 4, 41 and 42 were being saved for training purposes and experimental work.
Behind the decision to cut the PT force so drastically, besides the obvious reason of economy, there was a realization that in the end of the old boats was the beginning of a new PT boat. There were no major changes in design in the 80-foot Elco and the 78-foot Higgins, but with the war’s end, they could afford to take their time to redesign in light of 4-years worth of experience.
In 1951, the Navy accepted the first post-war PT’s. They were all aluminum hulls and powered by 4 Packard engines of considerable higher horsepower than the original. The first one built, PT-809 was built by the Electric Boat Co. The overall length of the boat was 98 feet and the max beam was 26 feet. PT-810 by Bath Iron Works; PT-811 by John Trumpy & Sons and the last experimental one, PT-812 was built by Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and equipped with gas turbines. These boats operated as Motor Torpedo Squadron-1 from 1954-59.
* Longitudinals – (a system for framing vessels in which light, closely spaced, longitudinal frames are connected by heavy, widely spaced transverse frames with deep webs.)
Information derived from: “At Close Quarters, PT Boats in the United States Navy” by Robert J. Bulkley
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Anthony Bosico – Haverstraw, NY; US Navy, WWII, submarine service, USS Grouper & tender Proteus
Jerry Cruce – Grayson, GA; US Merchant Marine, WWII
William Duncan – Tofield, CAN; RC Army, WWII, 5th BC Coat Brigade/25th General Pioneers
Frank Greco – Hendersonville, NC; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Korea & Vietnam (Ret. 30 y.)
Charles Heath Gauley Bridge, WV, US Navy, WWII, USS Wyoming
George Johnson – Terre Haute, IN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division, artillery
William Lewis – McGuffey, OH; US Navy, WWII, PTO, radioman, USS New Orleans
Jack Meyers – Seattle, WA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-29 mechanic
Stanley Szuba – Linden, NJ; USMC, WWII
John Widelski – New Bedford, MA; US Navy, gunner’s mate, USS Wingfield & Bronstein
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Poems
I think we are all in need of a more light-hearted post by now …..
A FRIEND, YOUR AMERICAN M.P.
When soldiers go out and have some fun,
They always forget about some other one.
That someone’s on duty every day,
To see that these soldiers are safe at play.
They call him names that we can’t print,
But they should sit down and try to think.
These men are detailed for this tough job,
So why go around and call him a snob?
When a guy’s in trouble, and things look bad,
They call on this fellow, and then he’s not bad.
At the end they will say, “this fellow took up for me.”
And the fellow that did it was your American M.P.
One thing to remember fellows when you’re down and out,
There’s a fellow that will help you if he hears you shout.
He will stand beside you and fight like hell.
So do the right thing, and treat him well.
Just remember fellows on your holiday,
One of your buddies can’t go out and play.
You call him an outcast, and other names,
But he’s your buddy, just the same.
We envy no one, try never to do harm.
We’re here to keep you safe, in every form.
So if you see us on duty, please don’t get mad.
Remember we’re here for you, and that M.P.’s aren’t bad.
– S/Sgt. GODFREY J. DARBY
WAR AND HELL
When reception is poor and the signal stinks
And you think of bed and your forty winks
And the PE coughs and pulls high jinks
That ain’t war, that’s hell.
When your grease is cold and your rear guns fails
With a Zero riding each of your tails
And you curse your luck and bite your nails
That ain’t war, that’s hell.
When you’ve hiked all night and your feet are sore
And your throat’s all parched and your clothes are tore
And the C.O. says just ten miles more
That ain’t war, that’s hell.
When you’re climbing a hill and the motor’s hot
And the left read blows like a pistol shot
You hope its a back fire but you know it’s not
That ain’t war, that’s hell.
When the whistle blows for the day’s mail call
And you’re sweating a letter from your butter-ball
And Jones gets a card and they say that’s all
That ain’t war, that’s hell.
When the chow bell rings and you hope for ham
But the guy who cooks don’t give a damn
So all you get is a slab of Spam
That ain’t war, that’s hell.
But when the war’s been won by your nation
And you dream of home with anticipation
But the order says Army of Occupation
Brother that will be hell.
– Sgt. CARL BROOKMAN
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More Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Bennie Adams Jr. – Barnwell, SC; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Korea & Vietnam, SM Sgt., Bronze Star
H. Carl Boone – Atlantic City, NJ; US Navy, WWII, ETO, LST, Purple Heart
Andrew Curtis Jr. – Yakima, WA; US Army Air Corps, WWII,B-24 pilot, 15th Air Force
John Eilerman – Fort Laramie, OH; US Navy, WWII
George Fuchs – Pinehurst, NC; US Army Air Corps, WWII, 152nd Artillery/11th Airborne Division
Allan Goodwin – Houston, TX; US Merchant Marines, WWII
Michael Hession III – Harwich, MA; US Coast Guard, WWII, PTO
Eileen “Gertie” Joyner – NYC, NY; US Army WAC; WWII, nurse
Ernest Reid – Toronto, CAN; RC Air Force, WWII, Flight Sgt.
Shirley Zumstag – Bradenton, FL; US Navy WAVE, WWII
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August 1945 – James Fahey’ Diary
USS Montpelier
From: The Secret Diary of an American Sailor, Seaman First Class, James J. Fahey aboard the USS Montpelier :
2 August – All hands rose at 4:30 am because of storm warnings, the ships turned back 110 miles from Shanghai. A typhoon is heading towards our position. We will then travel south and patrol around until the danger passes. The sea was full of enormous swells today.
3 August – It was very chilly on the midnight to 4 am watch. The sea was very rough. All hands were up for sunrise General Quarters at 4:30 am. We were to refuel the destroyers today but could not because of the condition of the ocean.
The radio reported that 820 B-29 super forts hit Japan — 819 planes returned to their home bases. It was the largest raid in history. They dropped 6600 tons of bombs.
Clement Attlee defeated Churchill in the election for Prime Minister of England. The Detroit Tigers are in first place by 3 games in the American League. A B-25 medium bomber crashed into the Empire State Building in NYC. Fourteen were killed and many suffered injuries.
The weather cleared and we headed up the China coast again. Capt. Gorry spoke over the loudspeaker informing us that we were 140 miles from Shanghai. We will advance north of the mouth of the Yangtze River and then proceed to the one fathom curve. The battle cruisers, Guam and Alaska will not go up as far as us.. We will return and join the cruiser at approximately 2:30 am.
It will be a very dangerous mission because of the many reefs we could be grounded upon. I wonder what Fleet Admiral Nimitz has in mind when he made plans to send us up there. This is a very bold undertaking.
4 August – We cruised up the Yangtze River in the heart of Jap-held territory. The only ship we came across was a Chinese fishing schooner. It was very chilly on watch again. During the day we patrolled about 150 miles from Shanghai. We refueled a destroyer in the morning. In the afternoon we fired at sleeves that were towed by our carrier planes.
5 August – We left the Yangtze River. Last night we came close to ramming a 1000-pound mine, but we detected it in time. A destroyer blew it up with machine-gun fire. The explosion was terrific.
Our practice was interrupted today because of Jap airplanes. Our CAP combat air patrol planes from our carriers went after them. The Japs dropped their bombs in the water and ran for home, but our fighters caught up to one and shot it down. Our fighters shot down a couple more around 4:30. It must have burned the Japs to see us having practice in their own backyard. Sunday mass was held in the crew’s lounge.
James Fahey
6 August – The weather was very clear and sunny as we went to General Quarters. Jap bombers were overhead at 30,000 feet. We held our fire. They looked like little white spots in the sky. It took some time to locate them. They were directly overhead and remained there for some time. But as they positioned themselves in formation, they headed away from the fleet.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
“AND WHAT’S MORE, YOU CAN EXPECT A PRETTY STRONG LETTER FROM MY MOTHER, SO THERE!!”
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Farewell Salutes –
Walter Ashley – Bristol, CT; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-26 tail gunner, 320th Bomb Group
Arthur Bleecher – Denver, CO; Merchant Marine, WWII, radio operator / US Army, Korea, Antiaircraft , Bronze Star
Malcolm Foster – Milford, DE; US Army, WWII
Clarence Helgren – Elgin, TX US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co G/511/11th Airborne Division
William Matthews – Brewster, MA; US Navy, WWII
Wendell O’Steen – Meigs, GA; US Army, WWII, ETO, Interpreter / Korea
William Pollard – Pleasantville, KY; US Army, WWII, ETO, 1st Lt., antiaircraft
Kenneth Stetson – CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-29 pilot
Charles Troeller – Lehigh Acres, FL; US Navy, WWII & Korea
Thomas Zinglo – Hollywood, FL; USMC, Korea
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Dexter – The Last US Naval Horse
Naval Square, Philadelphia, PA, the 24-acre plot of land on Grays Ferry Avenue has been associated with the Navy since 1827 and has the unusual distinction of being the final resting place of Dexter, the Navy’s last working horse.
The Philadelphia Naval Asylum, a hospital, opened there in 1827.
From 1838 until 1845, the site also served as the precursor to the U.S. Naval Academy, until the officers training school opened in Annapolis with seven instructors, four of them from Philadelphia.
In 1889, its name was changed to the Naval Home to reflect its role as a retirement home for old salts, as they used to call retired sailors.
It was in the service of the Naval Home that Dexter came to Philadelphia.
Originally an Army artillery horse foaled in 1934, Dexter was transferred to the Navy in 1945 to haul a trash cart around the Naval Home.
Despite his lowly duties, the men — only men lived there — loved him.
“That horse was more human than animal,” Edward Pohler, chief of security at the home, told the Inquirer in 1968. “He had the run of the grounds and would come to the door of my office every day to beg for an apple or a lump of sugar.”
The chestnut gelding was retired in 1966 and sent to a farm in Exton, but that did not last long. Naval Home residents who missed him committed to paying the $50 monthly bill for his feed and care.
For two years he grazed on a three-acre field that residents dubbed Dexter Park.
But on July, 11, 1968, Dexter, who had stopped eating and was not responding to medication, died at the age of 34 in his stall with a little human intervention to make it pain-free.
The next day, 400 people, including Navy men in dress uniform, turned out for a burial with full military honors.
Dexter was placed in a casket measuring 9 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 5 feet deep, with an American flag draped on the top. Retired Rear Adm. M.F.D. Flaherty, the home’s governor, offered final words, saying, “Dexter was no ordinary horse.”
As the casket was lowered by a crane into the 15-foot-deep grave, Gilbert Blunt rolled the drum and Jerry Rizzo played “Taps” on his trumpet. Members of the honor guard folded the flag into a triangle of white stars on a blue field and presented it to Albert A. Brenneke, a retired aviation mechanic and former farm boy from Missouri who was Dexter’s groom.
Brenneke recalled Dexter fondly, saying the horse was “very gentle and playful” and “liked to nibble on you,” according to news coverage of the funeral.
Three acres of the grounds were designated “Dexter Park” and Dexter was buried there. The naval home was re-located to Mississippi in the 1970’s.
According to the December 1968 issue of the Navy magazine All Hands, a retired 16-year-old Fairmount Park Police horse named Tallyho took up residence at the Naval Home after Dexter’s death.
But, unlike Dexter, Tallyho, a bay gelding, was a gift to the home’s residents and did not receive an official Navy serial number.
“As was the case with Dexter, Tallyho’s only duty will be to contribute to the happiness of the men who share their retirement with him at the U.S. Naval Home,” the magazine said.
What happened to Tallyho after he went to the Naval Home is not clear.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
UH_OH !!
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Farewell Salutes –
Howard Acord – Frankfort, OH; US Navy, WWII, PTO, LST-1135
T. Moffit Burris – SC; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO
William Davis – Scottsdale, AZ; US Army, WWII, ETO
Lawrence Greenhouse – Syracuse, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Alva Jackson Cremean – Madera, CA; USMC, WWII, KIA (Pearl)
Charlene Kelly – Spokane, WA; Civilian, aircraft dispatcher, Spokane Army Air Field
Willie Lawrence – Camden, AL; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS St. Louis, (Ret. 20 y.)
Joseph Pigeon – Wausau, WI; US Army, WWII, ETO, 555th Heavy Pontoon Batt/Corps of Engineers
Sheldon ‘Mike’ Rosenkranz – Miami, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Dorothy Weichman – Plainfield, NJ; Civilian, Red Cross, WWII
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CHRISTMAS DAY
TO ALL THOSE THAT BELIEVE IN FREEDOM AND PEACE: MERRY CHRISTMAS!! FROM: PACIFIC PARATROOPER!!
PLEASE… REMEMBER THOSE THAT FOUGHT FOR US IN THE PAST…
AND THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO PROTECT US TODAY!!!
AND FOR THOSE SPECIAL PEOPLE WHO WAIT PATIENTLY AT HOME…
TO ALL THOSE WHO DO NOT CELEBRATE THIS HOLIDAY … I WISH YOU THE WARMTH AND PEACEFUL CONTENTMENT THAT IS REPRESENTED BY THIS SEASON !!!
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Military Humor –
Humor from deployed Marines
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Farewell Salutes –
Gerard Azemar – Lafayette, LA; US Army, WWII
Dick Bowersox – Tiffan, OH; US Merchant Marines, WWII
Darrell Dilks – Temple, OK; US Army, WWII, 2 Bronze Stars
Merlin Hicks – Iron Mountain, MI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division
Dwight “Bud” Hudson – Berry, AL; US Navy, WWII, PTO, gunner’s mate, USS Charrette
J.B. Jones Sr. – Miami, FL; US Army, Korea, Purple Heart
Albert Kane – Dallas, TX; US Navy, WWII, Fireman 1st Class, KIA (Pearl Harbor)
Margaret McKillop – Port Austin, MI; US Army WAC, WWII
Karl Peterson – Warren, PA; US Army, WWII, ETO, 461st Antiaircraft Batt./69th Infantry Division, Communications Tech.
Jack Schultz – Laguna Hills, CA; USMC,Korea & Vietnam, Major (Ret. 21 y.)
John T. Williams – Windsor, VT; US Army, Korea
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Submarine Warfare – July 1945
Submarine tender, USS Anthedon, Australia 1945
From: the true story of America’s “wolf packs” and “life guard” teams – “Sink ’em All”. by Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood Jr., USN. “Uncle Charlie” spent 39 years in submersibles.
My long-delayed visit to Admiral Fife’s command finally got underway in a PBM from Saipan, 20 July 1945. Cavite and Manila were pitiful to behold. These once beautiful and picturesque Spanish-built cities lay in ruins.
On the north shore of Subic Bay, 60 miles up the coast, I found Jimmie Fife building a submarine base and rest camp in jungles where, in bygone days, we hunted wild pig and deer. Two pile-built piers extended into the bay, while 2 American and 2 British tenders with submarines alongside, lay at anchor farther out.
Aboard the tender Anthedon, anchored off the Base, I found Cmdr. Dick Hawes, an old friend from earlier submarine days. Even this fine, new tender command was not big enough to absorb Dick’s energies, so he had salvaged a small Japanese freighter and had it moored alongside. Repair crews worked elbow to elbow on the decks and in machinery spaces preparing her to run rations and materials up from the Fleet Base at Leyte Gulf.
Welcome sign for Subic bay, estab. July 1945
That afternoon, I went aboard the British tender Bonaventure with Captain Fell in order to take a dive in one of the XE midget submarines. The midgets were training for a break into Singapore Harbor to lay mines and limpets under the heavy cruisers, IJN Myoko and Takao, which had taken refuge there after being heavily damaged by USS Darter and Bergall. They also intended to cut the Hong Kong-Singapore cable off Saigon.
When I arrived on Guam, Admiral Nimitz sent for me and again warned me to be prepared to divide up the Sea of Japan with Russia, as she was coming into the picture on 15 August. I took a poor view of the impending situation. We had skimmed the cream off the Sea of Japan and there would not be much of a job for anyone in those waters except to pick up dunked *zoomies, smuggle in commando troops and land secret agents. Already an OSS officer had approached me with a proposition to put agents ashore on the west coast of Korea.
British XE-Midget submarine
Cmdr. “Tiny” Lynch, during a patrol in June and July, played a dangerous game of ‘Hide and Seek’ with 2 Japanese frigates. On 1 July, on the west coast of Korea, in dense fog about noon, an enemy convoy headed for Japan headed straight for his submarine. He distributed 8 torpedoes among the 4 leading ships. The frigate passed firing “full battle practice” and somehow missed the sub.
While Tiny dove for deeper water, all 8 torpedoes were heard to hit and high periscope reported mushrooms of smoke. But the situation was far from being in hand. He had only 2 torpedoes left, and one of them was a new hush-hush weapon, this seemed an excellent opportunity to test it. It was sent on it’s way.
Time dragged by and nothing happened. Tiny was ready to head for more shallow waters, when back from the fog, came the sound of a heavy explosion, followed by depth charge explosions. The torpedo had missed the first target, but hit the second and as she sank, all her depth charges exploded. Two freighters and a frigate – not bad for 15 minutes work. The mine-detecting gear worked!
Japanese midget subs in dry dock, 1945
*zoomies – Aviator. Usually applied to USAF pilots. Stems from the USAF Academy – the “blue zoo” where civilians observe formations march to lunch daily from the chapel wall
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
‘I joined the navy to see the world and I spent four years on a submarine!’
Farewell Salutes –
George Herbert Walker Bush – CT, ME, W.TX; US Navy, WWII, PTO, youngest pilot, USS San Jacinto Avengers, D.F.C. / CIA / 41st President of the United States of America
Dominic Calabrese – Bronxville, NY; US Army, 1st Lt.
Herbert Davidson – Pittsburgh, PA; US Navy, corpsman
Troy Fultz – Green Forrest, AR; US Army, WWII, Bronze Star
Hub Gray – CAN; RC Army, Korea, LT., 6/C Co./ 2nd Batt./Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
James Harvey – New Haven, CT; US Navy, WWII / US Army, Korea
Carl King – Norwalk, OH; US Merchant Marines / US Army, WWII
Thomas (Bucky) O’Brien – Broad Channel, NY; US Army, Vietnam
Scott Stearney – Chicago, IL; US Navy, Middle East, Vice Admiral, Commander of Naval Forces Central Command
Edward Vetting – Manitowoc, WI; US Army, WWII, ETO
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