American Sea Power in View

 

The 48-star battle ensign of the destroyer escort USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413). The USS Samuel B Roberts (DE-413) was part of Task Unit 77.4.3, radio signal Taffy 3, a group of escort carriers and destroyers patrolling the coast of Samar in support of the US Army’s landings on Leyte in the Philippines. The Japanese fleet of 23 warships, initially thought to be in retreat from earlier battles in Leyte Gulf, had instead turned and were coming around the coast of Samar directly for Taffy 3. On 25 October 1944, the USS Samuel B. Roberts, knowing the odds, charged into battle at 0810. Closing on the heavy cruiser Chokai, USS Samuel B. Roberts opened fire, causing damage to the conning tower of the heavy cruiser emptying nearly its entire magazine matching the Chokai in battle blow-for-blow. The battleship Kongo turned its fire on the US destroyer, landing heavy damage at the waterline, the main deck, and a gun handling room, rendering her dead in the water. Receiving more fire from Japanese vessels, the Samuel B. Roberts continued fighting until 0910 when Captain Copeland gave the order to abandon ship. As her crew abandoned ship, Chief Torpedoman Rudy Skau retrieved her battle ensign and tucked it safely away. The ship went down and her crew floated for nearly three days awaiting rescue, with many survivors perishing from wounds and shark attacks. Years later, Skau passed along the tattered flag to his employer, James Massick, a 1954 graduate of the University of Washington. While a student at the University of Washington, Massick met Captain Robert Copeland, who had commanded the USS Samuel B. Roberts during the battle. Copeland was a 1935 graduate of the University of Washington’s Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) and he encouraged Massick to apply for the program, which he did. Massick eventually graduated and was commissioned as an Ensign. Early in 2013, Massick contacted Captain David Melin, Commanding Officer of the school’s NROTC unit, and offered to return the priceless battle ensign to the Navy.

USS Yorktown (CV-5) at Naval Air Station, North Island, San Diego, California, in June 1940, embarking aircraft and vehicles prior to sailing for Hawaii. Aircraft types on her flight deck include TBD-1, BT-1, SBC-3, F3F-2, F3F-3, SB2U, JRF, J2F and JRS-1. Some of these planes were on board for transportation, while others were members of the ship's air group. Three Torpedo Squadron Five (VT-5) TBDs at the after end of the flight deck are painted in experimental camouflage schemes tested during Fleet Problem XXI.

Aichi E13 wreck on the beach at Palawan, Philippines, as LST 806 unloads, March 24, 1945.

USS LSM-224 and USS LSM-168 unloading men and supplies on the jetty at Puerto Princesa, Palawan Island, Philippines, 28 or 29 February 1945. In the foreground soldiers and sailors inspect a downed Japanese Aichi E13A float plane destroyed in the initial landings; most likely the same Jake as seen in the previous photo. (U.S. Army Signal Corps SC 271126)

The Enterprise in action, battle of Santa Cruz, October 26, 1942. Japanese bomb splashes astern of the U. S. carrier as the enemy plane pulls out of its dive directly above the carrier. Another enemy plane is pictured (center) after making an unsuccessful dive on the carrier. A flash of the battleship’s batteries may be observed, and a destroyer can be seen astern of the battleship. The cruiser from which this picture was taken leaves a curving white wake as she turns rapidly. The Enterprise, known in the fleet as the “Big E,” established a proud fighting record.

Battle of Midway, June 1942. Diorama by Norman Bel Geddes, depicting the attack by USS Nautilus SS-168 on a burning Japanese aircraft carrier during the early afternoon of 4 June 1942, as seen through the submarine's periscope. Nautilus thought she had attacked Soryu, and that her torpedoes had exploded when they hit the target. Most evidence, however, is that the ship attacked was Kaga, and that the torpedoes failed to detonate. The ship shown in this wartime diorama does not closely resemble either of those carriers.

A vertical aerial view of the drydock area of the U.S. Navy Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, 28 July 1942. Floating drydock YFD-2 is at left, with USS Alywin DD-355 inside. The small drydock in center holds USS Growler SS-215 and USS Nautilus SS-168. USS Litchfield DD-336 and an ARD floating drydock are in Drydock No. 2, in the right center. Drydock No. 1, at right, contains USS West Virginia BB-48. The submarines partially visible alongside 1010 Dock, in the extreme upper right, are USS Trout SS-202 and USS Pollack SS-180. Note anti-torpedo nets and booms protecting this area.

SS A. J. Cassatt on delivery from Bethlehem-Fairfield in August 1944.

Early morning photograph showing two Lapwing class minesweepers in the foreground, closest being USS Bololink AM-20 as the crews watch the submarine V2 ( later re-named USS Bass SS-164 in 1931 ) pass on its way outbound. Undated photo, but before March 1931 and no location given.

USS Alabama (BB-60) in Casco Bay, Maine, during her shakedown period, circa December 1942. Note her Measure 12 (modified) camouflage scheme.

USS Alabama (BB-60), 1 December 1942, in camouflage. Note trunked tower foremast and funnel, similar to that used in the design of the later Iowa-class battleships.

The U.S. Navy battleship USS Alabama (BB-60) under construction at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia, circa 1941.

Launching, at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 16 February 1942.

In Casco Bay, Maine, during her shakedown period, circa December 1942. Note her Measure 12 (modified) camouflage scheme.

Close-up view of the left 16/45 gun of her after turret, with her superstructure beyond. Photographed during her shakedown period, circa December 1942. Note: Ladders on turret faceplate; Mk.8 and Mk.4 fire control radar antennas atop her after gun directors.

The forward 40.6 cm/45 guns of the U.S. Navy battleship USS Alabama (BB-60) train to starboard during a North Atlantic battle practice. Photographed during her shakedown period, circa December 1942 - January 1943. Note the ice and snow on turrets and decks.

View of the ship's forward superstructure, looking up from the port side during her shakedown period, circa December 1942. Note: Signal flags; Mk.8 fire control radar on Mk.38 main battery gun director (at top); Mk.4 fire control radar on Mk.37 secondary battery gun director at right; radio direction finder loop at left.

USS Alabama during her shakedown period, Casco Bay, Maine, December 1942.

Anchored in Casco Bay, Maine, circa December 1942.

The U.S. Navy battleship USS Massachusetts (BB-59) seen from the after deck of USS Alabama (BB-60), in Casco Bay, Maine (USA), January 1943. The muzzles of Alabama's after 40.6 cm/45 guns are in the foreground.

View looking aft from the bow, during a shakedown period high speed run, January 1943. Note telephone "talker" at edge of photo.

View looking aft from the bow during a snowstorm. Taken during her shakedown cruise, circa January 1943.

Fireman puts on a burner on one of the ship's boilers. Taken during her shakedown cruise, circa January 1943.

Off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 7 February 1943, following post-shakedown availability and repainting.

The U.S. Navy battleship USS Alabama (BB-60) firing her 40.6 cm guns during combined British and American fleet exercises. The photograph was taken from the Royal Navy battleship HMS Anson (79). Alabama and USS South Dakota (BB-57) operated with the British Home Fleet in 1943. In June 1943, the ships, together with HMS Duke of York (17) and HMS Anson took part in Operation Gearbox (to Spitsbergen).

Escort carrier rolling in heavy weather. Note no one in the picture seems frightened.

Kamikaze Oscar about to impact on the Savo Island (CVE-78) at about 5 p.m. on 5 January 1945.

The U.S. Navy escort carrier USS Long Island (AVG-1) underway on 8 July 1941, with two Brewster F2A fighters parked at the forward end of her flight deck. Note flight deck markings: LI. The ship is painted in Camouflage Measure 1, with heavy weathering of paint evident on the hull side.

The flight deck of the carrier Ticonderoga burns after being struck by the one kamikaze (out of eight launched) that was not shot down by Navy gunners and fighters. East of Formosa, 21 January 1945.

Surviving crew members of the Indianapolis are transported back to the United States aboard the escort carrier Hollandia.

Wisconsin in her two-color paint scheme towards the end of the war. The ship's name on the stern transom has been painted over. Note the two 40mm anti-aircraft mounts on the sponsons on either side of the aircraft handling crane. The SK radar antenna is carried on her foremast, the SC-2 and SG antennas are installed on her aft pole mast.

20mm gun crew, Wisconsin, 1945.

5 March 1945 after Iowa's last wartime overhaul. She has just received the new enclosed bridge, some new electronics, and she now carries SC-1 Seahawk aircraft.

Cover of the V-J Day Booklet issued for the Iowa (BB-61) on 2 September 1945.

Iowa (BB-61) at Pier #91, Seattle, Washington. Photographed on 17 October 1945. Maryland (BB-46) is across the pier.

The Chester was one of a class of heavy cruisers (CA) of about 9,050 tons standard displacement completed in 1930-31. The class consisted of the Chester, Augusta, and Louisville. They had a length of 569 feet, a beam of 66 feet, a speed of 32.7 knots, and a wartime complement of 1,200 men. They were armed with nine 8 inch and eight 5-inch guns, plus thirty-two 40mm and twenty-seven 20mm anti-aircraft guns.

Honolulu (CL-48), pre-war photo without radars.

Whether a destroyerman gets wet all over or just gets wet feet may depend on his ability to dart across a deck before an onrushing wave swamps it with white water. This destroyerman, shown making a run for it, is aboard the USS Helm as she rolls through heavy seas while en route from the Palm Islands to Sydney, Australia.

USS Laffey (DD 724), 8 August 1944, location unknown.

A view of where one of the kamikaze’s ripped through the thin waist-level shield around the three 20-mm guns on Laffey's fantail, killing and wounding many, destroying the guns, and wrecking the mount before it continued on to impact against 5" twin Mount 53.

U.S. Navy repair ship anchored at a Pacific island.

Three ships in Darwin Harbour just prior to the first Japanese raid on 19 February 1942. Identified from left: The Sloop, HMAS Swan; the transport ship, SS Mauna Loa, which was sunk during the Japanese air raid; the Sloop, HMAS Warrego. Both Sloops survived the war and are seen here camouflaged.

Survivors of a landing craft sinking are rescued at Normandy, June 6, 1944.

USS Wahoo (SS 238) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, July 14, 1943.

The fleet submarine Tang, one of the most successful U.S. submarines. Tang was lost after being hit by one of her own torpedoes.

USS Cavalla SS-244 was called “The Luckiest Ship in the Submarine Service” because of her outstanding performance during her short time at the end of World War II. Her greatest sinking, during six war patrols, was the Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku that had participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

American troops in British LCA landing craft seen near Weymouth in June 1944 while preparing for the landings in Normandy.

The U.S. Navy light cruiser USS Concord (CL-10) off Balboa, Panama Canal Zone, on 6 January 1943. USS Concord was assigned to the Southeast Pacific Force, escorted convoys, exercised in the Canal Zone, and cruised along the coast of South America and to the islands of the southeast Pacific, serving from time to time as flagship of her force.

The sole surviving Yorktown class vessel, Enterprise CV-6, decommissioned and headed for scrapping in 1958.

Flight deck crew aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) listening to instructions during the US Navy's Pacific Fleet maneuvers around Hawaii in 1940.

Langley CVL-27 was an Independence-class light aircraft carrier named for the Navy’s first carrier which saw service across the Pacific during World War II.

Pilots of F6F-3 Hellcats who shot down 21 Japanese enemy planes in less than 15 minutes over Truk Atoll, 29 April 1944, aboard USS Langley (CVL-27).

Massachusetts somewhere at sea during World War II.

Massachusetts resting at her last berth near Fall River, Massachusetts. Note her haze gray peacetime painting, large-sized pennant number, and SK-2 radar antenna on her tower mast.

USS Oklahoma during scrapping at Pearl Harbor.

This drawing shows the damage to the Oklahoma caused by the Japanese torpedoes. It also shows the Oklahoma capsizing, and how she came to rest.

USS South Dakota underway sometime during World War II.

Hull test model for the BB-57 (South Dakota) class battleships. Hull model number 3536, photographed at the Experimental Model Basin, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., in 1938. Note the widely spaced skegs, supporting the outboard propeller shafts, that were a unique feature of this battleship class.

USS Texas, view of Bofors and aft group of 356mm main caliber turrets.

Repair job. During the early phase of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the enemy torpedo planes launched their fish at the ships tied up in Battleship Row. Among those hit was the West Virginia. She sustained heavy damage and slowly settled in her berth. To put the West Virginia back in the fighting line involved a major salvage job. The repair parties worked night and day to float the West Virginia and return her to the fighting line. It was discovered that during the attack six to eight torpedoes hit her port side, and subsequently, it was decided that to float the ship would require a wooden side or blister placed over the holes made by the warheads of the Japanese torpedoes. Here are shown the caissons on the West Virginia’s port side six months after she was hit.

Setting broken bones. Another photo showing the port side of the West Virginia. To repair the damage the ship was fitted with a wooden side extending two-thirds the length of the hull and covering all the torpedo holes. This “blister” consisted of two sections, of which the forward part covered one torpedo hit and the after part the middle portion of the ship’s side, where she had suffered two hits on the armor, one above the armor, and possibly three below the armor. A hit in the stern took off her rudder. Each rectangular metal frame along the bottom of the blister held four tons of lead for sinking the section into place. Each section of the blister was 12 feet wide. It was by such indefatigable work as this giant repair job that the Navy finally got even with the Japanese.

Port side looking aft. After sections were built on the dock a large floating crane lowered them on to the ship’s side which rested in the mud. Since this work was done entirely under water, it called for considerable courage and ingenuity on the part of the divers and repair crew. This photo shows the middle section after the forward patch had been removed. Most of the after patch has been cut away except for the forward and after sections and the lower part which is located near the turn of the bilge. This was filled with cement and refused to come away. Finally, after months of effort, the job was completed, and the West Virginia sailed from Pearl Harbor to bring her power to bear against her arch enemy, the Imperial Japanese Navy, the culmination of months of work.

West Virginia BB-48 during scrapping. All that is left is the bottom of her hull.

Seabees monument completed in 1974 in Arlington, Virginia.

U.S. landing craft at beachhead on Guadalcanal.

Bombardment of Kamaishi, Japan, 14 July 1945: Battleships and heavy cruisers steam in column off Kamaishi, at the time they bombarded the iron works there, as seen from South Dakota (BB-57). Indiana (BB-58) is the nearest ship, followed by Massachusetts (BB-59). Cruisers Chicago (CA-136) and Quincy (CA-71) bring up the rear.

A quad 40-mm gun position in action on an American ship during a kamikaze attack.

Aerial photo of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard taken 10 December 1941 showing the intact dry docks (center), repair shops (lower right) and a portion of the oil storage facilities (lower left).

Huntington (CL-107), Dayton (CL-105) and South Dakota (listed from left to right). Laid up in reserve at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Pennsylvania, 24 August 1961.

USS Bass (SS-164), outboard, and USS Bonita (SS-165) with civilian visitors on board, at San Francisco, California, May 1932.

USS Bonita (SS-165) underway, circa the middle 1930s. Note that her original 5"/51 deck gun has been replaced with a 3"/50.

USS Argonaut SS-166.

Lieut. Comdr. W.M. Quigley, who is in command of the V-4. Washington Navy Yard, 1928. Renamed the USS Argonaut.

The V-4 (later USS Argonaut), Washington Navy Yard, 1928.

V4 (SS-164), reclassified as minelaying type SM1 and renamed the Argonaut. November 1928.

U.S. Navy submarine V5, renamed USS Narwhal SS-167, underway 20 January 1931.

USS Narwhal SS-167 (V5) half-finished in Portsmouth Navy Yard, 1927.

USS V-5 (SC 1) crewman A. L. Rosenkotter exits the submarine’s escape hatch wearing the "Momsen Lung" emergency escape breathing device during the submarine’s sea trials in July 1930. The emergency breathing device was named for its inventor, U.S. Navy submarine rescue pioneer Cdr. Charles "Swede" Momsen. The submarine V-5 was later renamed USS Narwhal (SS 167).

USS Narwhal (SS-167): View taken on the bridge while underway, 24 July 1930, shows ship's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander John H. Brown, Jr., USN (center).

The U.S. Navy submarine tender USS Holland AS-3 with seven submarines alongside, in San Diego harbor, California, on 24 December 1934. The submarines are (from left to right): USS Cachalot(SS-170, USS Dolphin SS-169, USS Barracuda SS-163, USS Bass SS-164, USS Bonita SS-165, USS Nautilus SS-168, USS Narwhal SS-167.

Pearl Harbor attack, 7 December 1941, looking toward the Navy Yard from the Submarine Base during the attack. The submarine in the left foreground is USS Narwhal SS-167. Visible directly behind Narwhal is the destroyer USS Bagley DD-386. Moored to the right of Bagley are the cruisers USS Honolulu CL-48, USS St. Louis CL-49, USS San Francisco CA-38 and USS New Orleans CA-32. In the distance is 1010 Dock in the right center. Note the sailors in the center foreground, wearing web pistol belts with their white uniforms.

The U.S. Navy submarine N2 USS Nautilus SS-168 underway in the early 1930s.

Cutaway of USS Nautilus SS-168.

USS Nautilus SS-168 off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 15 April 1942, following modernization.

USS Nautilus SS-168 off Mare Island, 1 August 1943.

USS Dolphin (SS-169) underway, circa 1932.

USS Dolphin SS-169, at the Underwater Sound School, Hawaii, circa 1940. Note motor boat aft of the sail.

USS Cachalot SS-170 leaving the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, for a 5000-mile endurance test, 7 March 1934.

V2 (SS-166), renamed the Bass. 23 August 1935.

USS Pike SS-173 underway off New London, Connecticut, while serving as a training submarine, 5 May 1944.

USS Porpoise SS-172 off the Mare Island Navy Yard, 13 October 1942.

USS Porpoise SS-172. 17 August 1936.

USS Astoria CA-34 heavy cruiser heading for Pearl Harbor December 1941, during an operation to deliver carrier aircraft. The photo is taken from the heavy cruiser USS Portland CA-33.

Heavy cruiser USS Astoria before upgrading in 1941.

Heavy cruiser USS Astoria before upgrading in 1941.

USS Indianapolis CA-35, a Portland class cruiser.

USS Indianapolis CA-35 underway in 1939.

U.S. destroyer in very stormy South China Seas in January 1945 alongside USS Taluga AO-62.