All Hands Naval Bulletin - Jun 1944

8/3/2019 All Hands Naval Bulletin - Jun 1944

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BUREAU OFaJ U N E 1944 NUMBER 327

VICE ADM IRAL RAN DAL L JACOBS, U SNThe Chief of Naval PersonnelREAR ADMIRAL L. E. DENFELD, USNThe Assistant Chief o f Naval Personnel

Table of ContentsPage

T h e N a v y Loses a Leader ........................................ 2James Forrestal Named New SecNav.................. 5Teamwork Wins Emirau and Hollandia ............ 6Enlisted Promotion Rules Tightened .................. 8Do You N eed Extra Vitamins? ............................ 10Midway and the Two Years After ...................... 11V-Discs for the Navy .............................................. 16Achievements of V -12 Pr ogr am ............................ 18Sailing Vessels of the Atlantic.............................. 20Ships Service .......................................................... 22Wha t Happens Wh en a D D Goes Down ............ 25Cruiser X Comes of Age ...................................... 26AOL-AWOL and What To Do About It ............ 32Submarine Rescues U. S. Flyers at T r u k ............ 35Editorial .................................................................. 36Letters to the Editor .............................................. 36The Months News ............................................. . 37T h e War at Sea: Communiques....................... ..... 44Decorations and Citations .................................... 52BuPers Bulletin Board ............................................ 67[ndex ........................................................................ 72

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Thi s magazine is published monthly in Washing-ton, D. C., by the Bureau of Naval Personnel for theinfo rma tion an d interest of t he Naval Service as awhole. By BuPe rs Circular Letter 162-43, distri bu-tion is to be effected to allow all hands easy accessto each issue. All activities should keep th e Bureauinform ed of how ma ny copies are required. A lloriginal material herein may be reprinted as desired.

PASS THIS COPY ALONGAFTERYOU HAVE READ IT


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G U A R D OF H O N O R : A sailor and a marine stand guard atthe f lower-banked co f in of the la te Secretary K n o x in MoulztPleasant Congregational Church, Washington, D . C .

Official U. S. Xavy PhotographsH O N O R A R Y P A L L B E A R E R S a r e s h o w n utthe church, where the funeral service washeld 1 May preceding burial .

THE NAVY LOSES AEarly in the afternoon of 28 April1944 radio messages to all Navy shipsand stations carried the news of t hedeath at 1308 in Washington of Sec-retary of the Navy Frank Knox.Death came virtually without warn-ing to the veteran soldier before hecould witness the ultimate victorywhich only recently he had so con-fidently predicted.Colonel Knox, who fought as a pri-vate at San Juan Hill with Theodore

Roosevelt in 1898 and who was in thebloody hell of St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne in 1917, was named Secre-tary of the Navy in 1940. In thesubsequent four years as its civilianhead, he supervised the naval expan-sion program, saw the Navy fightback from the bit ter defeats of th efirst months of actual war , and ledit to its present power as the mighti-est sea force in history.William Franklin Knox was born 1

Tribute to Frank K n o xT h e following i s t l ie s ta tement of Ad m i r a l Er n e s t J . K i w , usx,Cominch and Ch ie f of Naval Opera t ions :The nation has lost a great patriot, th e Navy a great leader.From the day Frank Knox became Secretary of the Navy he con-tributed without stint, of his vision, of his enthusiasm, of his judgment,and of his fighting spirit, to prepare the Navy and the country for whatfew men saw more clearly than he, that America was about to be putto the test.The Navy will long remember his strength and confidence during thecritical days of the w ar ; and his driving force, his foresight and hiswisdom dur ing the better days t ha t have follou#ed. But most of all, we

shall remember his deep devotion and utter loyalty to his Navy and hiscountry. His leadership will ever serve as a n inspiration to the nationsmen and women, in and out of uniform.H e understood th e Navy, not only its problems, its achievements, andits personnel, but i ts shortcomings. He leaves us secure in the knowledgethat his energy and farsighted vision have been responsible, in greatmeasure, that we are so f a r advanced on the road to victory.Of all his great qualities, I should place first his stout and valiantheart. H e was a strong and fearless fighter, and he always foughtfairly and resolutely for his convictions. Throughout the wa r he ha sbeen a stout reliance to all those charged with the conduct of militaryoperations. He has given strength to our Army and Navy whereverthey fight. He ha s given inspiration to our country at home, and to o u rallies abroad .Every man and woman in the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guardwill sorely miss him. All han ds bow our heads in deep esteem andheartfelt sorrow. He has given his life fo r his country. We say to him,Well done, Fr an k Knox. We dedicate ourselves, one and all, to wh atwould surely have been his last order--Carry on.

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LEADERJanuary 1874 in Boston, Mass. Hi:youth was typical of many self-mad6men. He worked first as a newspapeldelivery boy, as a $2-a-week grocer)clerk and at other small jobs. Determined to educate himself, he entered and worked his way througtAlma College at Alma, Mich.He was graduated in 1898, barely i1time to enlist in the famed RouglRiders which Col. Theodore Roosevelwas then recruiting for service in tbSpanish-American war.A rugged redhead of 24, the younlKnox followed Roosevelt through thCuban campaign. The two me1formed a fast friendship which wato car ry on fo r many years. Knoxadvice and suppo rt of Col. TheodorRoosevelt ultimately played a vitapart in shaping the latters politicaphilosophy and career.When only 27 , he borrowed monefrom an employer with which to founth e Saul t Ste. Mari e (Mich.) DailNews. With his first newspaper hembarked on a series of crusadewhich were to be characteristic of hinewspaper career. Displaying phy:ical as well as mental courage, hifirst crusade eventually cleared t hUpper Peninsula of Michigan of manpolitical and economic evils.In 1912 he was a co-founder of t hManchester Leader in Mancheste

~~* Left to right in foreground: JamForrulital then Acting Secretary of t tNavy, aAd Artemus L. Gates. ASslStdrSecretary for Air : next behind themRalph A. Bard, Assistant Secretary, anAdmiral Ernest,J..King. USN : near Cent6of steps : Vice Admiral Randall JacobUSN, Vice Admiral F. J. Horne. USN, ViCAdmiral R. R. Waesche. USCQ, Lt. GelA. A. Vandegrift, USMC, and Vice AdmircR S. Edwards USN: at to p O f StepsRear Admiral g.L Cochrane. USN ReaAdmjral W. J. Caker (SC). USN: ViCAdm!ral Ben Moreell (CEC). USN. ReaAdmiral G. F Hussey Jr US N Rear ACmiral D. C. kamsey us; Re& AdmirrT L. Qatch VSN. a& Vick Admiral RoeT: McIntire (MC). USN.


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DEPARTiMENT personnel l ine Const i tut ionAuenue as pap-draped cof in passes slowly by onArmy art i l lery caisson drawn b y seven wh i te horses .FU N ERAL PRO CESS10N enters Ar l ington Nat ional. Cemetery , across the Potomac f ro m Wa shington ,seen dim ly in background.

H., and later obtained control ofM r. Knox was 43 years old whenfirst World Warhis business

shire Infantry . He was assignedo officers training, commissionedCaptain and went overseas with thePromoted to the rank of major, he153d Artillery a-ndwith that unit fought through thebloody battles o f St. Mihiel andse-Argonne. He was mustered outof the Army in 1919 wit h the rank

of Lieutenant Colonel. Aft er holdinga reserve commission for severalyears, he was retired as colonel of theStjjth Field Artillery Reserve.After the war, Col. Knox returnedto his newspapers and growing partic-ipation in politics. He became gen-eral manager of th e vast Hear st news-paper chain in 1927 and headed stateRepublican delegations and worked ac-tively in party councils. In 1931 hesevered his connection with t he Hea rstpapers and bought the Chicago DailyNews, from which he was on leave ofabsence since accepting the Navy post.In 1936 Col. Knox was the unsuccess-

fu l candidate fo r Vice President of t heUnited States on the Republicanticket.Secretary Knox was a firm advo-cate of compulsory mili tary tra ini ngin peacetime as insurance against fu-ture wars and he advocated a strongtwo-ocean Navy long before he ac-cepted responsibility for his belief. Heurged physical training in publicschools and lent his full support tothe physical training and fitness pro-grams which are currently a part ofNavy routine.Although 66 years old when he firstbecame Secretary, Col. Knox lived upto his own teachings with amazingenergy and vitality. He was out ofbed at 6.30 every morning for anhours walk and persistently wentthrough setting up exercises and mas-sage before breakfast. For years hehad a standing offer of a suit ofclothes to a ny of his newspaper asso-ciates who would follow his own ex-ercise routine for 30 days. Only onesuit was ever claimed.

On many occasions Col. Knox flewt o war fro nts to inspect Navy shipsand shore establishments. He tra v-eled to London, Italy and NorthAfrica to see the war at first hand

and confer with Allied and Govern-ment military heads actually on thebattle sites.He also flew to naval bases in theCaribbean and to Pearl Harbor onseveral occasions.In the early days of the UnitedStates offensive in the South Pacific,he toured the Navy front lines inthose areas and underwent enemybombings on several occasions.In his first months as Secretary,before war actually arrived, he wasa strong backer of the Selective Ser-vice Act and sought tirelessly t o con-vince the nation of its imminent dan-ger. He called up naval and marinereserves as fas t as they could beassimilated and supported unlimitcidaid to Britain.The attack on Pearl Harbor cameas a shock to Secretary Knox as itdid to millions of other Americans,but his reaction was characteristicand prompt. At 7 a.m. on 8 December1941 he boarded a plane at Washing-ton and flew to the scene of the at-tack to estimate damage,A week later he reported to thePresident. The next day he sum-moned the press to his office andissued a frank appraisal of our losses.

Official U. S. Navy photographsC O M M I T T A L services are conducted at the grave.Kneel ing at right are Mrs. K n o x altd C apt . LymanS . Perry , U S N , aide t o the late Secretary.MILITARY ESCORT leads process ion through ceme-tery . In foreground: Rear Admiral Louis E . Denfeld ,U S N , escort commander, and me mb ers of his staff.


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Throughout his tenure of office Col.Knox dealt frankly with unfavorableaspects of naval operations throughthe months of early and costly de-feats.The heart attack which ended Col.Knox's service to the Navy was oneof only three illnesses which ever suc-ceeded in forcing him to a sickbed.Th e first of a series of heart attackshad occurred several days previouslywhile he was attending the funeral ofa publishing partner in New Hamp-shire. Typically, he chose to treat hisillness lightly until his doctors in-sisted upon a t least a brief rest.Mrs. l h o x , the former Annie Reid,was in attendance when he died aswere Assistant Secretary of the Navyand Mrs. Ralph Bard and other Navyand business associates.Funeral services were held in theM o u n t CongregationalChurch, Washington, at 1400, 1 May,while Navy Department personnel at-tended simultaneous memorial servicesa t the east end of the Reflecting Poolat the Lincoln Memorial, Washing-ton, and at the Navy Arlington An-nex. Messages of condolence were re-ceived from the President, who wasunable to attend the burial service, and

P 1ea s a n

fr om Col. Knox's business and Navy Ross T. McIntire, ( M C ) USN; Viassociates, as well as leaders of Al- Admiral Ben Moreell, (CEC) USNlied nations. Rear Admiral D. C. Ramsey, U SThe militarv Drocession fo r the Rea r Admiral W. J. Carter ( S Ofuneral comp1e"ted formation at 1510with th e arri val of t he hearse, honor-ary pallbearers, body bearers andretinue at Constitution Avenue.Trans ferra l of t he ,casket from thehearse to an Army caisson drawn byseven white horses was accomplishedimmediately while the Navy Bandrendered four ruffles and four flour-ishes, and all military personnel stoodat attention.With Rear Admiral Louis E. Den-feld, USN, as Escort Commander, theprocession slowly filed past the Navybuildings where for four years theSecretary had served his country soucswervingly and well.Honorary pallbearers included theActing Secretary, James Forrestal ;the Assistant Secretary, Ralph A .Bard; the Assistant Secretary fo rAir, Artemus L. Gates; Admiral Ern-est J. King, USN; Vice Admiral F. J.Horne, USN; Vice Admiral R. S. Ed -wards, USN; Vice Admiral R. R.Waesche, USCG; Lt. Gen. A . A.Vandegrift, USMC; Vice AdmiralRandall Jacobs, USN; Vice Admiral

Photoarauhs from Chicago Daily News

USN; Rear Admiral T. L. GatcUSN; Rear Admiral E. L. CochranUSN, and Rear Admiral G. F. HusscJr., USN.Every branch of the nava l servic-was represented in the cortege whichpassed slowly out of Washington an don to the Arlington National Ceme.tery.A guard of honor consisting of fourNavy bluejackets, four Marines and

r fou r Coast Guard bluejackets marched' beside the caisson.At the National Cemetery, burialservices were conducted by Capt. s,W. Salisbury, (ChC) USN.Among the hundreds of tributes andcondolences which poured in from AI-

' lied leaders, his former military asso-ciates, and prominent Americans,were these words (published in fullon page 2 ) by Admiral Ernest J.King, Commander in Chief U. S.Fleet . Said Cominch:"Well done, Frank Knox. We dedi-cate ourselves, one and all, to whatwould surely have been his last order-'Carry on'."

Official U. S. Navy uhotojirmh.F R A N K K N O X IN T H R E E W A R S : H e star te d a s ap r i vat e ( l e f t ) n Theo d o re Ro osevel t' s Ro ug h Rid ersin the Sp a n i sh -Am erican W a r . In W o r l d W a r I , heenlisted again as a private, rose t o the rank ofl ieutenant-colonel (center picture shows h im as nm a jo r . H e b ecam e SecNau a f ter Wo r ld W a r I1 h d .

already beg un i n Europe; seeing clearly that i t w ouldengulf the United States, he worked ceaselessly t oprepare for i t and , when i t came, to prosecz l te i t .Picture at right shows him at Pearl Harbor on on eof his many inspection trips to the f ighting zones;he believed in f inding out first hand.Page 4


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James'Forrestal Named New SecNavAs UnderSecNav, HeSupervised ExpansionOf Navy Since 1940

James Forrestal, 52, who enteredthe Navy in 1917 as a seaman secondclass and became Under Secretary ofthe Navy in 1940, was nominated Sec-retary of the Navy by PresidentRoosevelt on 10 May 1944 t o succeedthe late Col. Fr ank Knox. The Sen-ate confirmed the appointment on 17May.Mr. Forrestal officially became the48th Secretary of the Navy a t 0900 on19 May when Rear Admiral Thomas L.Gatch, USN, Judge Advocate Generalof the Navy, administered the oath atceremonies in the office of the Secre-tary. Although he is the 48th Secre-tary of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal isactually the 47th person to hold theoffice. John Y. Mason was appointedt o two separate terms, 1844-45 and

For four years the "right handman" to the late Secretary Knox, Mr.Forrestal as Under Secretary super-vised the procurement of ships andmunitions for the expansion programwhich was to build the Navy to itsmightiest strength in history. A form-er top-flight business executive, he hadretired from private pursuits t o ac-cept a confidential position as wartimeassistant to the President.The new Secretary was born 15February 1892 in Beacon, DutchessCounty, New York. He attended localpublic schools and completed one yearat Dartmouth before transferring toPrinceton, where he was a member ofthe class of 1915.In college he took an active part insports, notably boxing, and edited theundergraduate paper, the DailyPrincetonian. Like Secretary Knox,he was a working newspaperman inhis youth, reporting for papers inPoughkeepsie, Beacon and Mount Ver-non, N. Y.After graduation he ultimately'joined the investment firm of DillonRead and Company, New York, andwas selling bonds for that bankinghouse when America entered the firstworld war.Mr. Forrestal enlisted in the NavalReserve 5 Jul y 1917 as seaman 2c. Hewas soon transferred to Toronto, Can-ada, for flight training with the RoyalFlying Corps. He was commissionedensign and assigned to recruitingwork at Boston.Later, he was transferred to dutywith the Office of Naval Operations atWashington, D. C.,and while on dutythere completed his flight training andwas designated naval aviator.In June 1918 he was promoted to

1846-49.

Official U. S. Navy photograph'James Forrestallieutenant (jg ) and was released war and war periods when the Navyfrom active dut y the following Decem- gre w fro m 200,000 to more than 3,-ber. He resigned from the naval ser- 000,000 men and the strength of itsvice in December 1919 with the ra nk fighting ships increased from that of aof lieutenant and returned to civil one-ocean to a seven-ocean Navy. Onelife and to the employ of his old firm, of his first official acts was t o signDillon Read and Co. the contracts let under the two-oceanSuccessful in financial work, he be- authorization law. As Under Secre-came president of that firm in 1931. tam he was also Acting Secretary inBut war again threatened and he once COl. &OX'S absences.more pu t business behind him to en- Repeatedly described as one of thete r the government as assistant to busiest men in the Government, Sec-President Roosevelt. re ta ry For res tal was charged with

He was named Under Secretary of Procurement for the growing Navy-the Navy when Congress created tha t Most recently he has been engaged inpost and he took office 22 August 1940. a drive, which included flying trips toseven shipyards, to speed productionAs Under Secretary he was next-in-command to Col. Knox during the pre- (Cont inued on Page 5 1 )Page 5


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Guns belching smoke and f lame, Navy task force blasts Kauieng in 31/2-hour dizlersion attack.BB-Amphib Teamwork Wins Emirau .Battleships and amphibious forces, operating many milesapart, combined to bring about the swift capture on 20March of Emirau Islands, within 60 0 miles of Truk.While BBs diverted enemy attention with a terrific 1000-ton bombardment of Kavieng, Jap stronghold far to the

southeast, Marine raider forces swept ashore at Emirau.

Possession of the eight-by-five mile island cleared theway f or surface sh ips to move around th e Bismarcks freely,an d also trapped Jap forces remaining in the Bismarcksand Solomons. With th e Admiralties held to the west, theSolomons in the south and Green Island to the southeast,seizure of E mir au put the stopper in the northern end.M i le s a w a y , m a r h e s i n landiszg craft hit the beach at Emirau. OfRcial U. S. Navy photographs


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N a v y s h i p s a n d p l an e s p r o v i d e a c c ur a te c u r t a i n o f f ire just a h e a d of It5.t w a v e s g o i n g in aga ins t . laps.I

m e a Army-Navy Teamwork Wins HollandiaAchieving complete surpr ise, Army and amphibious announced by Army-Navy commands in the Pacific, th eforces of the Southwest Pacific Command, covered by uni ts opera tion feinted elsewhere, then hi t Hollandia and Aitape.cf the Pacific Fleet, poured ashore along a 150-mile stretch Caught off-balance, the Ja ps fled, abandoning breakfastsof northern New Guinea on 22 April, cut ting off the Ja p on the beach. Moving quickly inland, the U. S. forces18th Army and jumping 420 nautical miles toward Tokyo. captured th e main J a p airfields, 1,110 miles southeast ofA dramat ic example of the completely integrated plans Davao in the Philippines.A r m y t r o op s le a p into surf a n d r ac e a s h o re a t H u m b o l d t B a y . Official U . S. Navy photographs


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Enlisted Promotion Rules TightenedNew Directive Reduces Ratings Open toAdvancement in Excess of Complement

Important and far-reaching changesin regulations for advancement andchange in ra ting of naval enlisted per-sonnel are contained in a new direc-tive just issued by BuPers.In general, the directive authorizesadvancements only to fill vacancies incomplement, thus reducing substan-tially the number of ra tings open toadvancement in excess of complement.It eliminates the total-service re-quirement formerly permitted for ad-vancement to pay grades 3 and 2,thereby placing all advancements topetty officer ratings upon a basis oftime served in present rate.The directive modifies the require-ments for promotion from CPO(AA)to CPO (P A) , making fully qualifiedCpOs, chief cooks and chief stewardseligible for permanent appointmentupon completion of 12 months contin-uous active service under an actingappointment.Other highlights of the directive:It authorizes changes of specifiedratings to certain new ratings, suchas Ptr V, Ptr M and SKV, to fill va-cancies in complement.

, It requires BuPers approval ofchanges to any specialist rating andadvancement to specialist third class.Advancement to specialist ratingsabove third class may be effected bycommanding officers to fill vacancies incomplement.It defines sea duty and other fun-

Ratinas OpenTo Advaniernent IIn Excess of ComplementAdvan cemen ts in excess of comple-ment are authorized only in cases ofaualifled general service candidates.exclusive c \--IO personnel. except as

noted : Construction Battalion, ShipRepair, Intelligence. Censorship, Pub-lic Relations. Security and Communi-cation Security personnel.The following ratings are open toadvancement in excess of complementof all eligible, fully qualified candi-dates in general service: *S2c. *Sic,F2 c Flc. StM2c, Sthllc. **ARTZc,**kRTlc, **ACRT, **RT2c. **RTlc.*Also open to advancement in ex-cess of complement of Class V-10 per-sonnel.* * Open for advancement in excessof complement of advanced radio ma-teriel school graduates only.The following ratings are open toIdvancement in excess of complement>f all eligible. fully qualified candi-Sates in general service who are serv-ing in a sea-duty status: Cox, BM2c.EMlc, CBI\I. QM3c. Qhl?c. QMlc,,QM, FC3c. FC2c. FC l c CRT, RdM3c.RdM2c. RdMlc, Y3c. Y2c. Ylc. CY,C C S . St2c, Stlc , Cktc., Cklc.The authority contained in an en--losure to the new directive to effecttdvanc ement s in exces s of comple-ment is not to be construed as per-mitting any waiver of other require-ments prescribed by the new directiveand its enclosures.

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damental terms, such as advancementin rating, rati ng group, change in rat-in g and sea service (see box).It cancels the basic advancementletter, BuPers Circ. Ltr. 110-43, andthe open rating letter, BuPers Circ.Ltr. 77-44, and holds in abeyance pro-visions of the BuPers Manual in con-flict with the new directive.The directive, dated 13 May 1944 , isissued as BuPers Circ. Ltr. 134-44(N.D.B., 15 May 1944, -4-569). It isnow or shortly will be available in theexecutive officers office or the per-sonnel office of every ship and station.Answers to questions regarding anyprovision of this directive may be ob-

tained from those sources.Complements represent total person-nel requirements of an activity as wellas proper proportions by pay gradesand are, therefore, the basic consid-eration in effecting all advancements.In determining vacancies in comple-ment, each rating group must be con-sidered, as in the following example:Comple- On Actual Vacancies forRate ment Board Vacancies AdvancementCB M 1 2( 1 xcess) -l=A 0I < M l e 3 1 ?=li 1 (SlJm Of .k

RM?c 4 Ico x 5 4

and l3)3= C 4 (sum of A.B and C)I=D B(sum of A ,B,C and D)In computing number on board,all personnel permanently attached forduty are to be counted, including re-tired men, reservists of all classifica-tions and regular Navy personnel.The provisions of Article D-4007,BuPers Manual, will be followed indetermining on board and not onboard status of personnel.Commanding officers are authorizedto effect advancements of fully quali-fied personnel, except Class V-10, tothose ratings open to unlimited ad-vancement, without regard to vacan-cies in complement. Class V-10 person-nel will no t be advanced to an y ratin gsexcept S2c and Slc, other than to fillvacancies in complement.Administrative commands-such asnaval districts, air functional trainingcommands and sea frontier, force,type and squadron commanders-areauthorized to pool the complements ofunits unde r their jurisdiction fo r th epurpose of effecting advancements tofill vacancies in combined complementsof their administrative commands, ex-cept to those ratings which requireBuPers approval (see Special In-structions fo r Specific Ratings, page50) . I n no cases may complements fo rconstruction battalions, intelligence,censorship, public relations, ship re-pair units, etc., be pooled.

DefinitionsSea Duty . fo r purposes of adva nce-ment in rating, is deflned as follows:(1) Duty in vessels prescribed bythe Commander-in-Chief U. S. Fleetas a Dart of th e oreanizatio n of tht:sea-gohg forces. -

limits of the United States.Force.

( 2 ) Duty beyond the continental( 3 ) Duty with the Fleet Marine( 4 ) Duty as members of ArmedGuard crews or communication-liaisonpersonnel aboard merchant vessels., ( 5 ) Duty in sea-going vessels as-signed to naval districts which. in thenormal performance of duties, operateat sea a maj or par t of th e time.Duty in shore-based fleet activitieswithin the continental limits is notcounted as sea duty for advancementpurposes ex cept in the cases of per-sonnel who, in the normal performanceof dutie s, are engaged in operatio ns atsea a major part of the t!me.Sea pay is not a governing f act or indetermining whether or not a Particu-lar type of duty is considered,sea duty

f o r purposes of advancement in rating.Definitions of other terms commonlyused in connection with changes ofstatus of enlisted personnel ar e as follows :A rating group includes all petty of-flcers in pay grades 1 to 4, inclusive,in a particular rating.Advancement in rating is an in-crease in pay grade within a ratinggroup. Example : yeoman third classto yeoman second class.A change in rating is a change fromone rating group to another. Example :yeoman third class to storekeeper thirdclass.Although all changes. advancementsand reductions in rating are changesin status the latter term is normallyapplied i o changes from CPO. actingappointment, to permanent appoint-ment.

Advancements for meritorious conduct in action still may be effecteonly by flag officers as authorized bAlnav 163 of December 1941.Survivors of vessels lost in actiowho ar e awaiting assignment; men itemporary duty status, in schools urder instruction except Class A schooland in receiving ships and stationawaiting assignment or transfer; anpersonnel se rving in activities not ha\ing a regular assigned complemenmay, if in all respects qualified, badvanced t o ratings declared open tunlimited advancement ashore. Sepzrate instructions have been issued tClass A schools (see page 5 0 ) .Men hospitalized as a result of eremy action, and who were in all rfspects qualified for advancement athe time, may be advanced by conmanding officers of hospitals o r horpita1 ships upon recommendation cthe commanding officer of t he command from which transfe rred. Wheirecommendation from th e for mer commanding officer is impracticable, deserving cases may be referred tlBuPers.Advancement of air bombers ma:be effected when they become in all respects fully qualified for their nexhigher ratings. Air bombers ar e carried as such, rather than in their in


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dividual ratings, in the complement ofunits to which assigned and, there-fore, do not affect the sta tus of vacan-cies in their particular ratings.BY BuPers Circular Letter No. 11-42, commanding officers were autho-rized to effect changes in status fromacting to permanent appointment inthe cases of fully qualified chief pet tyofficers, chief cooks an d chief ste-wards. The eligibility requirementsfor such changes have been revised asshown in Service, Sea-Duty andMarks Requirements, (see at right).Bureau authorit y is required f or allchanges from one rati ng g roup to an-other, except as provided for by Ar-ticle D-5114, BuPers Manual, and bycurrent circular letters or other direc-tives which may be published fromtime to time. Commanding officers a reauthorized by th e new directive to ef-fect changes of rat ing within th e samepay grades of qualified personnel asindicated below. Class V-10 personnelare eligible for changes only t o thoseratings marked by an asterisk.

e From machinists mate to motor ma-chinists mate:(1) Upon graduation from Diesel orother internal-combustion engineservice schools.(2) If serving in motor machinistsmate billets in vessels to fill va-cancies in complement.e To fill vacancies in complement:

From ToPtr PtrVSK SKV*Prtr PrtrM*Various AR

e To fill vacancies in complement, ef-fective upon receipt of the qualifica-tions for rates concerned:From T oTM TMESK SKD*SK SKT*Prtr PrtrL*

Reductions in ra ti ng fo r lack of pro-ficiency are to be effected under theProvisions of Article D-5113 (3) of Bu-Pers Manual. The new directive invitesattention to the fact that reductjonseffected by commanding officers, forIack of proficiency must be substan-

Service, Sea-Quty and Marks RequirementsSERVICE REQUIREMENTS MARKS REQUIREMENTS

ProficiencyRating Present Pa y Gr a d e in Rating Co n d u c tPay Grade 6 No specifled time. None None

Above 3.0 4.0 for 3 mos.ay Grade 5Above 3. 0 4. 0 for 3 mos.ay Grade 4

Pw Grade 3 6 mos. [ln pay grade 4 1 (h service may be waived Above 3 .0 4.0 fo r 3 mus.for nutstanding personnel).Pay Grade 2 g mas. [in pay grade 31 ( % service ma y be waived Average 3.9 4. 0 f u r 6 mos.fo r outstanding personnel). or higher f o r and no mark0 mos. less than 3. 0

pa y Gr;rde 1-.4 18 mos. ( s ervice ma) be waived for outstan ding Average 3.5 4 .0 for 6 mos.or higher for ;tnd no markless than 3 .0for 1 yr .As prescribed by Art . D-5111 of

fo r 3 rnos. .fo r 3 mos.

for 3 mos.

No specified time.No spedfled time.

for 9 mos.personnel).and/or 3, except US noted below.8 Sea duty of a t least 6 mos. in pay grades 2 1 yr.

p trade 1 12 mos. continuous active service in PB Y grade I-.\. Bupers llanuai.

NOTES:1. *Sea. du ty is not required for: .(a ) Aviation branch ratings andV - 1 0 personnel.(b ) Male specialists. V - 4 . BMA,cable censor Personnel and per-sonnel classifled permanently byBuPers as mobilization ashoreor limited duty-but in suchcases the prescribed normalperiod of 1 8 months service znpay grade 8 must be completedprior to advancement to paygra de 1-A. (Thos e who fulfillthe sea-duty requirement areeligible for waiver of one-halfthe normal service in rate re-quirement.)2. The sea-duty requirement is ,modifledfor advancement to the ratlngs listed be-low to the extent that it may be fulfllledby s ix months sea d uty in pay grades 2to 4 inclusive:

CMoNMCRMCYCSKCSKD CRTCSKT ccs

3. Prevfous active naval service, and-s ea duty in the required pay grades, maytiated by marks entered in service rec-ords. Any mark in proficiency in rat -ing less than 2.5 for a 3 monthsperiod substantiates reduction in rat-ing. Marks for quarte rs between semi-annual marking periods may be en-tered in service records for purposesof effecting reductions.

Examining boards will be set upunder provision of Article D-5105,BuPers Manual. Where practicable,qualifications in certain subjects maybe established by observation of thecandidate during his performance ofassigned duties. Examination may be

be counted toward fulfillment of serviceand sea-duty requirements-.4. The period of time listed underMarks Requirements in the table abovewill be that immediately preceding thedat e of advancement. In cases wheremarks for the period required are not en-tered in service records, the marks thatwould have been earned to the date ofadvancement will be considered. xyith dueregard to Article D-8020. BuPers Manual.The conduct marks listed in Paragraph 4of tha t ar t icle ar e mandatory as set forththere in and will not be exceeded. Wheremarks were lowered for reasons of con-duct the date of the offense and not theend of the semi-annual marking periodwill be used to determine earliest datcof eligibility for subsequent advancement.5 . Except fo r those advanced for meri-torious conduct in action and for menhospitalizes as a result of enemy action,all personnel must be physically qualifledt o perform all the duties of their ratingin order to bo eligible fo r advancement 01

change in status to permanent appoint-ment. &:,en classifled m o b i l i z a t i o nashore limited duty and special as-signm&t must be physically qualifled toperform duties commensurate with theirrating in billets to which assigned.either written or oral, except thatwritten examinations are prescribedfo r chief pharmacists mate, .pharma-cists mate first class, chief aerograph-ers mate and aerographers mate firstclass. N o examinations will be re-quired for advancement to seaman,fireman and stewards mate ratings,pay grades 5 and 6, provided the can-didates employment is such as to fithim for th e rati ngs to which advanced,making it possible to determine hisqualifications in the requirements ofthe rating by observation during thecourse of regular duties.

Special Instructions Applicable to Certain ClassificationsNone of the provisions contained inthe new zeneral directive is aDPlicableto advancement oP enlisted personnel ofthe Naval Reserve in Classes V - 5 . v-8.

V-9 an d V-12. inasmuch as personnel SOClassified are not advanced in ratfng.Except for sea duty Class V - 4 . Per-sonnel will be requirkd to meet therequirements prescribed f or genera l-ser-vice personnel including Art. D-5237.BuPers Manual. The sea-duty reauire-merit is-modiiied a s indicated in Ser-vice. Sea-Duty and Marks Reauire-ments I above. Advancem ent of Classv - 4 pkrsonne1 will not be effected exceptto f l l l vacancies in complement.BuPers Circ. Ltr. 26-42 contains SUP-

plementary instructions fo r advancementin rating and changes from acting ap-pointment to permanent appointment inpermanent enlisted status of men hold-ing temporary warrant or commissionedrank. Comm anding officers have beendirected to insure that changes in statusar e effected as authorized. and that tem-porary officers concerned are informed% q th the Drovisions of that letter. .-A-qmed- Guard personnel may be ad-vanced in accordance with BuPers ltr.Pers-67-Hn/P17-2. 26 Jan. 1944.. Pro-visions of this letter which confllct withprovisions of the aforementioned ArmedGuard letter ar e held in abeyance.Class V-10 personnel will not be ad-

vanced to ratings other than those listedin BuPer s letter Pers-67-sa QR8/P17. 5Ma y 1 9 4 4 . or any subsequent revisionthereof.Provisions for advancement of men ofthe Navy serving with Coast Guardunits and men of the Coast Guard serv-ing kith the Navy, are contained inBuPers Circ. Ltr. 1 1 5 - 4 4 .Except for sea duty, yeomen perform-ing cable-censorship duties will be re-quired to meet all the requirements ofthe new directive and qualify in accord-anc e with the qualifications contained inArt. D-5237, BuP ers Manual. The sea-( C o n h u e d on Page 50)

page 9


12/76

M A Causes before the drug storedisplay. Yep, hes tired all right.Irri table, too-hed almost slugged th atmarine for calling him a swab-pusher.Nervous? Sure thing. Must be heneeds vitamins. Cant hur t anything,he figures, and it might help. So heforks over his good money and gets afancy box of capsules. Mac isnt SOsure. Hes still tired. Irritable too.Everything seems to get on his nerves.It finally gets so the C P O sends him tothe medical oficer. Then the real stor ycomes out.Mac has been working hard at atough job, living off the station and notget tin g regular or well-balanced meals.And hes not been hitting the bunk asear ly as he should. Thats enough, themedical officer points out, t o make any-one tired, irri table and nervous. Theprescription: proper rest and exercise,and balanced meals regularly. Indis-criminately adding vitamins will nothelp and may be harmful unless thereis a deficiency and t he specific vitamin,in the proper dosage, is added. Butthe person to decide tha t is the physi-cian, and he does it only after thor-oughly looking into all angles.Vitamins, the doctor explains to Mac,are not energy-supplying food-noteven substitutes for energy-bupplyingfood. A vitamin really is the sparkwhich sets off the powder: energy-supplying food. But -if the particu larfood (th e powder) is not present inthe body, the vitamin is generallywasted. Likewise, if the needed vita-min is absent, the particular food isdifficult for the body to use.

Vitamins ar e not cure-alls. They donot provide energy, calories, or body-Page IO

, Well, maybe it helps.

building materials. Their function ist o regulate the use by the body of th evarious food elements. No amount ofvitamins is helpful without the essen-tial foods. The average person whoeats a properly balanced diet has nobusiness and no need for taking extravitamins.After all, anything can be overdone.Even too much milk or too muchorange juice can cause you trouble.Overeating in general is bad. Andwhen you add extra synthetic vitaminpreparations-which are very highlyconcentrated to begin with-you ar eoverdoing it in a big way. Then thereis this angle: When you start to relyon extra vitamins to keep your bodymechanisms in balance, you tend t o letother health and diet matters slide abit. Vitamins do not provide any ofthe proteins, fats, carbohydrates, min-erals and the numerous accessory fac-tor s which ar e essential fo r the mainte-nance of health.Doctors prescribe vitamins only whenthere is a definite lack, and then theselection of the part icular vitamin iscarefully made to bring about the ex-act correction necessary. In otherwords, doctors have patients use vita-min preparations merely as a tempo-rary measure to get the body back onits proper vitamin and nutritional bal-ance., After that balance is reached, aproper diet is all tha t is needed.The Navy ration provides a balanceddiet. It gives you all the foods to pro-vide your body with the proper amount%he Bureau of Medicine and S u r -This article wccs prepared b y

of energy and body-building materials,Ias well as vitamins. And in specialcases, where the ration may be un-avoidably weak in fresh foods-as issometimes the case in submarines onextended patrols-the medical officermay prescribe specific vitamins to s u ppor t the diet. But in general, thats notnecessary. At one of the big trainingcenters the medical department feltthat the diet needed a bit more in theway of vitamins. But instead of vita-min pill dosing, a raw bar was setup where the men could take theirpick of raw vegetablesycarrots, rad-ishes, onions, turnips. It has turnedout to be quite a success.Much misinformation has been spread

I

about the value and functions of vita-mins. Night blindness ha s come info r a lo t of taIk recently. It is truethat if there is a lack of Vitamin Ain the diet over an extended periodyou will not be able t o see well in thedark. But there is enough Vitamin Ain the ordinary Navy ration t o insuretha t you will see as well in the darkas your individual eyes will let you.No amount of extra vitamins will helpyou see an y better. Training , prac-tice and a well-balanced diet ar e thereal answers. Extra vitamins helponly when there is a definite vitaminlack in the diet o r some conditioncausing faulty absorption o r utiliza-tion of food vitamin. Vitamin A is nohelp in color blindness, either.Self-dosing with vitamins is unwise.An intelligent person doesnt try todiagnose and treat himself if some-thing goes wrong with his body. Yo ugo t o the medical officer not to tellhim what t o do, but to let him applyall of his many years of training andexperience to your problems and comet o a scientific decision. If the doctorprescribes vitamins, its because thereis a particular deficiency o r need. Themedical officer fits his prescription toyour bodys needs. And if he findsyou dont need vitamins, you certainlydont want him t o prescribe them justbecause of the current fad and be-cause you think you would like them.

Vitamin concentrates are potentsubstances and, when misused, can doharm. Excessive dosage of VitaminB may, for example, actually make aperson nervous and irritable and in-terfere with sound sleep. While Vita-min D in proper dosage acts as a pre-ventive of deformity of bone due torickets in young children, in excessthis vitamin may actually produce de-formity in a babys bones and joints.Its another case of th e old adage,Enough i s good, too much is poison.1. E x t r a vitamins in the f o r m ofconcentrates are primarily for thesick, and only a physician can de-termine which persons will benefitfrom an es t ra supply.2, Self-dosing with ex tra vitamins(Cont inued on Page 50)

Summing it all up:


13/76

@ MIDWAY andttheTwo Years After

Second Anniversary offpacific Turning PointFinds Navy Of lense inHigh; Battles ReviewedTW O years ago, on the morning ofJune 1942, Japanese forces weredway, on an easterly course. The

of the Pacific. When it wasver, we had lost the Yorktown andny planes: But the Jap s carr iersand warships had been smashed, theirttack shattered and put to flight.In his report to SecNav on the war ,Admiral Ernest J. King, USN, Cominchand CNO, terms Midway the firstecisive defeat suffered by the Japa-nese Navy in 350 years. It put anend t o the long period of Japanese of--fensive action.The two years since have seen theNavy launch its o w n offensive, inmounting intensity. The followingpages briefly review that era, withcomments (i n quotes) from AdmiralKings report.

AT MIDWAY, burning oil tanks send flame and smokeskyward after being hit by planes from enemy carriers.Japs struck morning of 4 June, suffered heavy losses.

On the next 4 pages. . . A pictorial re-view of the Navyswar in the Pacificsince Midway

AT LEFT: Navy planes strike, smash-ing Jap heavy cruiser, Moga.mi class.Midway restored balance of navalpower in the Pacific.OfRcial U. .Navy photographsPage 11


14/76

cTHE OFFENSIVE -DEFE NSIVEPHASE IN TH E PACIFICAdmira l ty Is ..lz 3 , *-

Y

.Q

Q BAT T L E OF E A S TE R N SOLOMONS0 BATTLE OF SANTA CRUZ IS.

BAT T L E OF SAVO ISLANDBAT T L E OF GUADALCANALB A T T L E OF CAPE ESPERANCEB A TT LE OF TASSAFARONGA

@ SantarCrm

u. S. L A N D I N G S I N SOLOMONS, our first real1. offensive in force, were made 7 August 1942. Bargeswhich carried reinforcements to Guadalcanal lie off LungaPoint. Airfield seized f rom Japs is in rear.

B A T T L E O F T H E E A S T E R N SOLOMONS, 23-253. August 1942, all but stripped Japs of carrier sup-port. During action, planes from E n t e r p h s e , here aflameunder attack, sank an enemy sub, downed 30 planes.Page 12

B A T T L E OF C A P E E S P E R A N C E , 1 1 - 1 2 October,4. saw U. S. cruisers, destroyers surprise Jap force atnight off Guadalcanal. Boise superstructure shows score:2 J a p CAS, 1 CL, 3 DDs. Omcia1U.S. Navy photographs


15/76

BATTLE OF TASSAFARONGA, 30 November 19427. represented last ma jor J a p att emp t to relieve Guadal-canal, was broken up by heavy cruiser forces led by Min ,neapolis , shown camouflaged fo r repa irs af te r battle.

_ I ~BATTLE OF GUADALCANAL, 13-15 November6. 1942. Japs massed f or decisive invasion attempt.Despite heavy- losses, U. S. forces including San F ~ a n c i s c oand. later, South Dako ta (above), smashed threat.

-~FIRST BATTLE OF KULA GULF, 6 July i943,8. helped derail th e highly touted Tokyo express, bu tcost us cruiser Helena. Group of her survivors, pickedup by destroyer, ar e here transferr ed to another ship.

- ISECOND BATTLE O F KULA GULF, 7 days later.9. Again we hit Tokyo express as it tried to reinforceMunda. Kula bat tles were costly, but they removed athreat. Above: Munda field af te r rai ds by Navy bombers.

Page 13


16/76

was taken by Japs in June 1942, at time ofAttu Midway battle; reoccupied by U. S. a year later.Bit te r fight virtually annihilated enemy. Above, land-ing force hits Massacre Bay on 11 May 1943.

Following Central Solomons cam-Bougainville paign, U. s. offensive starts roll-ing Ja ps back. Above, Navy cruisers gun s bombard Bukaairfield at night to aid Bougainville landing 1 November.

Official U. S. Coast Guard photographLargest offensive yet sent hugestMarshalls fleet world had ever seen against Mar-shalls on 30 January 1944. Kwajalein fell 5 February,

was retaken in August. Ja ps had fled. (Pre-Kiska vious battle of Komandorski Islands saw out-numbered U. s. force foil Jap reinforcement attempt.Above, fog obscures coast as landing force moves in.

Eniwetok (above) two weeks later.Page 14

Capture of Gilberts, a necessary partGilberts of any serious thrust at the JapaneseEmpire, was achieved 21-24 November in bloodiest a s s , d t ,in Marine Corps history. Above: Tar awa on D-Day.

Gllberts and Truk Photographs f rom Flying MagazineIn a bold and sensational blow, powerful carrierTruk task forces raided great Jap naval base at Trukon 17-18 February, sank 23 ships, damaged 11, and de-stroyed 201 planes in partial payment for Pearl Harbor.


17/76


18/76

Kits of Latest RecordsNow Available MonthlyTo Ships and Stations

SAILORS with a taste for %boogiewoogie and those who prefer Bach,sailors at desolate Aleutian bases andthose in a tin can in the South Pa-cific can now hear the kind .of musicthey like by the orchestras and artiststhey prefer.Through an arrangement betweenBuPers and the Army Special Ser-vices Division, leading orchestras andartists of the nation will make tran-scriptions especially for the armedforces. The Navy will distribute thesedouble-faced 12-inch V-Discs monthlyin ki ts of 20 records t o 2,500 ships andnaval activities outside the continentallimits. Ki ts of records will be availa-ble for hospitals within the conti-nental limits where battle-woundedare being treated.You couldnt buy a set of record-ings like these in a U. s. music shopfo r a million dollars becaude theyarent for sale commercially-cantPage 1G

even be distributed a t activities insidethe continental limits, as a matter offact, except in service hospitals wherecombat casualties are being treated.The V-Disc idea was put in mo-tion last September by the Army togive soldiers up-to-the-minute re-cordings of their favorite orchestrasand artist s. A staff of experts in therecording field was assembled and ar-rangements were made to record songsby all the leading dance bands usingth e facilities of the Columbia, Victorand World studios in New York a ndHollywood. I n the first few releasessent abroad, a questionnaire was en-closed asking fo r suggestions. Whatartists did the boys want to hear,what kind of music did they want?An avalanche of mail came back, andfrom these suggestions the Army com-piled its monthly Hit Para de of re-cordings.G Is in Italy apparently were fed up

on local music. As one doughboywrote, 0 Sole M i0 will never replaceStardust.Requests came in by the hundreds,from buck privates to generals. Gen-eral Eisenhower, for instance, wantedt o hear Benny Havens, an old WestPoint song dedicated to a friendly bar-tender near the Military Academy.Because of the generous cooperationof music publishers, the AmericanFederation of Musicians and the ar-tists themselves, every popular requesthas been filled.The Navy now has joined the Armyin this recording enterprise, and sail-ors will have an equal voice in de -termining what selections -will beoffered in the monthly kit. Whilethe Armys staff of recording expertswill continue to handle the production,any suggestions from naval personnelwill be considered in compiling themonths ki t of records. If you wantt o hear Bing Crosby sing Its Love,

Love, Love-and you have enoughsupport from other Macs-then thatwill be included in a forthcoming kit.A questionnaire t o be enclosed inthe first kits will ask for comments,such as:What five V-Discs do you likebest in this release? What five v-Discs do you like least? What artistsand selections would you like to hearon future releases? How many recordswere received broken? How many un-playable? What type machine are YOUusing to play these V-Discs?From replies to these question-naires, a decision will be made onfu tu re recordings. All activities areurged to send in comments, via Bu-Pers, toV - Disc Department, Attention:Navy Representative Music Sec- ,tion, special Services Division,


19/76

205 East 42nd St., New York,V-Discs are made from a new plas-as Vinylite which,its raw state, is a by-product ofl gas. Since this plastic is atical mate ria l, only about 22,00050,000 records,s available monthly. However, a newaterial similar to Vinylite has been

developed and may be used in theVinylite records are practically un-breakable (dont tr y pounding themwith a sledge hammer) and they makepossible a reproduction of transcrip-tion quality. In other words, you dontget the rasping static so reminiscentof old-time phonograph records. Arecord can be played a t least 200times before it starts to deteriorate.It can be used on any phonograph orrecord player a t the st anda rd speedof 78 RPMs. Each side of th e record

plays for about three minutes, whichmeans that a kit of 20 recordings willgive two hours of recorded music.V-Discs will be shipped in sturdybrown cartons which are water re-sistant, and able t o withstand 500pounds of pressure. They will beshipped direct from a central dis-tributing agency to ships and stations.Kits will not be sold to individuals-only to welfare and recreation activi-ties.The best 12-inch shellac recordscost, at retail, 75 $ and up. V-Discswill cost $12 fo r a ki t of 20, or 60Qeach.Actually, it costs about twice asmuch to manufacture a V-Disc as itdoes to make an ordinary commercial

N. Y.

future.

How to Order V-DiscsCommands afloat o r those outsidethe continental limits may order kitsof recordings by writing t o BuPerson a form letter, samples of whichhave been distributed to all navalactivities eligible.These orders should include the

name and activity and the numberof kits desired, together with themethod of payment. Kit s may bepurchased with funds from theWelfare and Recreation, Navy o r17x8723 Ships Stores Profits ap-propriations, or from the ship o rstation welfare fund. If paid fromappropriated funds, authority mustbe granted BuPers to debit the costof the kits fro m the activitys allot-ment. If paid from ship o r stat ion manding officer.

Records wi l l a r r i ve k packagelookirtg l ike this.welfare fund, a check must be en-closed to cover the amount of th eorder.Orders must be signed by the com-

record. The Vinylite goi2;lg into a rec-ord costs 188, about lo@more than thematerial used in an ordinary record,and it takes about twice as muchlabor e0 turn out a V-Disc. The lowprice is made possible by the fact thatall the musical talent is donated andV-Discs are sold at cost.The sky is the limit when it comest o choosing the music to be recordedon V-Discs. Classical, religious, folkmusic-anything the services demand-will be furnished upon popular de-mand.Soldiers demanded and got theserecordings: Aint Misbehawin, TWOS l e e p y P e o p l e , S l i g h t l y L e s s T h a nW o n d e r f u l and Theres a Gal in MYL i f e by the late Fats Waller; 1-2-3-4J u m p and I n a Mel low Tone by Red

Norvo; Henderson S tomp, L imel touseB l u e s and D i n a h by Benny Goodman;S q u a d r o n S o n g , T a i l - end Charlie,Dont B e T h at W a y and B l u e Cham-p a g n e by Capt. Glenn Miller. Anotherpopular number was Paul Whitemansrendition of R h a p s o d y in B l u e , withOscar Levant at the piano. For thosewith a more classical ta ste, the re wereexcerpts from Carmen and the over-ture to Ma rriag e of Figar o by theFirst Service Command SymphonyOrchestra. Back issues of V-Discswhich previously have been distribu-ted at Army activities are not availa-ble, bu t some of these numbers maybe repeated by popular demand. Nosong is too old or too new if there isa demand fo r it. The entire worldof music is open t o V-Disc customers.

The harrowing first night spent onNamur Island in the Marshalls, whenhis detachment was cut o f fby the .laps,i s described below b y Pfc. R . P . H o l t ,USMC. He was on e of the three sur-vivors of a 20-man demolition team.Both of th e other two survivors we-rewounded. This grou p of marines 4 ~ -counted fo r at least 50 Japs, peryapsmore.

Armed with flame-throwers, dynamitecharges, Browning automatic rifles, gren-ades, and Garand rifles and carbines, our20-man team moved more than halfwayacross the island, hurling concussion bombs,blasting pillboxes, and firing into smallgroups of enemy. Most of the tim e weyere in advance of the front l ine of theInfantry group we were working with. Wegot so far ahead, in fact, t ha t word wassent fo pul l back closer t o the landingbeach for the night.

Realizing that we were practically alone,the l ieutenant in charge of the groupordered us t o head back t o th e fro nt line.Several times we were fire d on by the enemyand once 8 tank rolled up to within 100

Harrowing F i r s f Night On Namurfeet and failed t o se e us, but providentiallymoved out o f the area.We had reached the blockhouse whenthe machine-gun fire f i r s t caught us at dusk.They caught US between the crossfire oftwo machine guns, nailed us down on theground behind the concrete blockhouse,rolled grenades over the t op of us, and then

picked us off when we moved back from theblasts. There was enemy fire on al l foursides of us, so we had to hole in for thenight.I dug a foxhole t o one side and in fro ntof the blockhouse, and three o f us es-tablished an advance guard spot here.Small groups tr i ed t o rout us out, bu t weknocked them off. Each of my two com-panions had a BAR and Garand. On e ofthe BARS and b ot h of the regular infa ntryrifles had been doused in the land ing andrefused t o operate. I was able to fire mycarbine only by pounding the side leveropen and shut with the handle of my hunt-ing knife.

About 0330 the Japs moved up a ma-chine gun behind a barrier just in front ofus. I had run out of ammunitton, and wehad t o m ove back behind th e blockhouse.Three Japs moved in cautiously from theleft. We killed them and then yelled t o

our sentry who had been posted out there.There was no answer, so a couple o f us wentout t o investigate. We found his body.His throat had been sli t . H e hadnt evenmade a sound.One o f us asked the lieutenant what timeit was. H e said 4 oclock. Less than fiveminutes later he was dead. The bulletcame from a tree behind the blockhouse,so we each fired a couple o f shots intothe three. Fire from this spot ceased. Butthe enemy kept moving in, i n small groups.It was awful. They woul d laug h and ye l land then rush in. We kept mowing themdown, bu t they ke pt trying t o force us outfrom behind the house.

Finally they started rolling grenades overth e top. Those o f us who were left-eight,I hink it wa-ran out t o other embank-ments. The machine guns then opened up.W-four now-moved back, bu t the gren-ades started again.I hid behind a small concrete box withone fellow. H e looked over the top t o fre+he machine gun to the right. A bullet h ithi m in the. head and he dropped dead be-side me.

Somehow we held out until just beforedaylight, and the n slipped back t o our line.

Page 17


20/76

O n V-12s First Birthday:*Achievementsof Program in a YearMake Possible CurtailmentNext FallIn an address reviewing V-12s firstyear and looking into the programsfuture, Vice Admiral Randall Jacobs,

USN, Chief of Naval Personnel, an-nounced last month that present V-12quotas in all colleges and universitieswould be maintained during the termfrom 1 July to 1 November but thatthere would be an over-all decrease on1 November of about 25 percent.The curtailment, he told a confer-ence on the Navy V-12 program held12 May at Columbia University, NewYork City, will be in line with a de-crease in the Navys over-all require-ments for additional young officers.No V-12 units will be eliminated atthat time, he added, unless a collegerequests such elimination or is unableto fulfill its obligations under theNavy contract, and no unit will be de-creased below a minimum-rough1 y250-necessary for efficient operation.The first principle laid down forthe V-12 program was that it shouldbe solely and exclusively a programfor the training of naval officers, hepointed out. There has been no devi-ation from th at principle. By th efirst of July of this year the programwill have delivered to reserve mid-shipmens schools, supply corps schools,and Marine officer candidates schoolsmore than 23,000 qualified officer can-didates, in addition to 2,600 officerscommissioned directly f r o m t h eNROTC and 1,400 from medical anddental schools. . . . The reportsof the quality of the-men have beenuniformly favorable.The 5roportion of officer candidatesin the V-12 program with previousactive service is steadily ri sing, andhundreds of promising enlisted menare being returned from the Mediter-ranean, the Atlantic and the Pacificfar such training.Page 18

These are being brought back be-cause they are considered of morevalue t o the Navy as officer candidatesin training on shore than as enlistedmen in combat at sea. The Navy can-not fight a war with enlisted menalone, and officers must continually betrained for the fleet and, in smallernumbers, for specialized duty in hos-pitals, navy yards and other shoreestablishments.The end of the war may well findin every V-12 unit an overwhelmingmajority of men who have been calledback to college after combat service,Admiral Jacobs said. But if, as weall pray, the war ends a t such anearly date that many V-12 traineeshave never seen a ship, let no one im-pugn thei r patriotism. They ar e serv-ing the Navy where the Navy hasordered them to serve. They are serv-

FV-12 STUDENTS, at le ft , s tudy inl ibrary at Universi ty of Idaho,Southern Branch.ing where the Navy needs them most.The Navy is not keeping them fromcombat to protect them from danger;it is keeping them in college to manships which will later join the fleet.While the numbers of marines andNROTC trainees have been diminish-ing, t he number of aviation candidatescoming into the V-12 program hasbeen increasing. The success of V-12 a) trainees in subsequent aviationtraining has been so marked tha t it isnow proposed to substitute terms inthe V-12 program for the work pre-viously done by V-5 candidates in flightpreparatory schools and the CAA-WTSprogram.The years most serious problemgrew out of the democratic basis onwhich V-12 students were selected.Several thousand young men who wentthrough high school expecting to gono farther, and who therefore tookterminal courses such as businessarithmetic and accounting instead ofalgebra and plane geometry, wereselected as V-12 students. With re-latively few exceptions, these are menof high intelligence and excellentcharacter, fit for college in every wayexcept in specific preparation for theprescribed academic courses.The Navy has been specially inter-ested in these men, as officer can-didates, and has been gratified at theinterest shown in them by the collegefaculties. The V-12 college facultieshave met a real educational challengewith success, without any significantimpairment of academic standards.The flexibility of the V-12 programhas proved to be of inestimable Valueto the Navy as well as to the colleges,Admiral Jacobs said.I t would have been much simpler

RESERVE M I D S H I P M E N , many of w h o m n o w are V-12 graduates, learflf rom ship model aboard USS Prairie State in Hudson River at N e wY o r k Ci ty . Offlcial U. S . Navy photographs


21/76

HOW V-12 WORKS " eCIVILIANS (I7 AND UNDER 20 )

c ~ L E G E STUMWTS 1 HIGU SWWL GRAOWTESI I I 1ENLISTED (I 7 AND UNDER 23)

MARINEHN mo m S 1 . GUAR0

l lM R l C U .5:..............

Y.l* ,.I

-...... ........CnEW T U C * I Liul

I

.....4 P b2m L l

t o have had several college tra ini ng spr ing ; at the same time, the actionsprograms," he explained. "We might, were taken withput any appreciablef o r example, have had a sepa ra te effect on the colleges involved, sinceNROTC and a separate Marine Corps quotas of Marine trainees were re-program, each with it s own college plenished fr om oth er sources.units. We might even have put the ''The Same emergency which createdformer V -1 an d v-7 students into the need f o r changing 60 0 Marineseparate un its, distinct f rom those trainees into midshipmen caused US oselected to offer the new V-12 cur- commission three classes of NROTCricula. The decision to combine all instead of one on the f irst of March.these programs into a single V-12 The Navy thus secured 1,500 ad-program was taken af te r long and ditional ensigns without seriously af -careful thought; and the wisdom of fecting the over-all quotas of a nythat decision cannot, in the ligh t of colleges in the program. If the NROTCthe records, be doubted. had been abandoned a t the beginning"The Marine corps, f or example, ' of the war, there would have been nodiscovered only a few months a ft e r the students w ith sufficient tra inin g ininauguration of the program thfit it, naval science and tactics t o be eligi-

had more than enough Class 111 (d ) ble for commissions without fourstudents t o meet it s officer needs. months fu rt he r trai ning in midship-Within the framework of the V-12 men's schools. And if the NROTCprogram, it was possible to abandon units h ad been continued under athe projected screening of V-12 ap- separate program, 27 colleges and uni-prentice Seamen into upper-level Ma- versit ies would have lost, on a singlerine trai ning, to hold some Marine day, appreciable numbers of theirstudents f o r additional terms, to re- naval trainees, without hope of im -lease 600 volunteers fo r naval trai ni ng mediate replacement.in reserve midshipmen's schools and to "The V-12 program is complex, buteliminate entire Marine detachments its complexity makes possible a morea t several colleges. These changes effective use of manpower. Becausesolved a serious problem fo r the Ma- the fundamental educational require-Pine Corps and made available to th e ments for all kinds of mechanizedNavy a splendid group of officer can- warf are ar e so similar, and becausedidates t o fill an emergency need this that similari ty ha s been recognized in

th e V-12 curricula, students whoentered with the idea of becomingmarines have had no difficulty in quali-fying as deck officers; engineering anddeck officer candidates have found i tpossible to use all their college train-ing in aviation; and pre-medical can-didates, when th e needs of the servicedemanded, have qualified themselvesfor general deck duties."Therefore, because the V-12 pro-gram makes possible quick readjust-ments in advanced phases of training,the Navy has been able to use moreeffectively the individual abilities oftrainees, to satisfy more accuratelythe shifting needs of the service, andto use more efficiently the instructionalfacilities of the colleges and universi-ties in the college program."I wish I could foresee the status ofth e V-12 program a year from today,"Admiral Jacobs said. "But if I coulddo that, it would mean that I couldalso foretell the crucial events that ar ecertain to come both in Europe and inthe Pacific and to prophesy their fulleffects on the Navy. All I can say atthis time is that the V-12 program willcontinue so long as the Navy needsadditional young officers to fight thewar, and that the size of the programwill depend upon the magnitude of theneed.

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IA M E R l C A N F O U R - M A S T E D S C H O O N E R : O n e of t hlast of her kind, this wessel has all sail se t except forema in and mi zze n gaff topsails. A few such schooners s t i l..carry bulky products .


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Offlcial U. S. Na vy photograpkCustome rs get service wi th a smile at th e ships service soda founta in, Nav al A ir Statio*, Ot tum wa , Ia .If It Is Run So That Every Apprentice Seaman Can Take Full Advantage ofIts Entire Operation, Then All Naval Personnel Will Be Properly Served

SHIPS service, a former stepchildof the Navy, has so mushroomedand grown in service since its vaguebeginnings tha t today it i s a n integraland necessary pa rt of every naval ac-tivity. Regulated t o work exclusivelyfor the welfare of naval personnel,the modern ships service departmenthas come a long way from the bum-boat sales which may have plantedthe first seeds, or the financially hap-hazard canteens which were a fore-runner.

So far , in fact, that it is almost takenfor granted. But behind the servicesprovided ar e stories of initi ative bypersonnel locally and also assistancefrom BuPers in Washington to insurethe best service possible.

With th e expansion of t he wartimeNavy, and the corresponding increasein personnel and personal needs,ships service quickly developed toPage 22

such proportions that BuPers, underwhose jurisdiction ships serviceashore is operated, saw that addi-tional advisory guardianship was ad-visable. The Bureau accordingly es-tablished a new Ships Service Sectionas part of its Welfare Division.BuPers is accordingly in a positionto act as an advisory and coordinatingunit for guidance of ships servicedepartments ashore, regardless of size.Its services also are available to forcesafloat whenever required.To find overall policies and methodsfor the vast and dissimiliar shore de-partments, BuPers has provided offi-cers whose business training, experi-ence and talents equip them forspecialized duties in connection withships service merchandising and re-lated problems. I

Ships service departments run thegam ut in size an d scope. One may

serve the needs of two officers and 5(men. Another may be an integrate1chain of activities catering to the personal needs and wants of thousandof men at a huge training station.

Quite aside from the ships servic,activities afloat, there are 413 shipservice departments ashore, and Ila rge number of branch department!Each department is established localland individually. According to Navregulations, the commanding officer 0any naval activity is directly responslble and completely in charge of it!ships service department or branch.Especially under wartime conditions, the procurement, merchandisinlan d general business problems of thescstores can sometimes become fair]:involved. The Bureau, however, 1,prepared to help solve those problemsIf for instance, one ships servicldepar tment finds itself in need of 81


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,

Official U. S. Navy photographsTh is huge laundry is operated b y th e ships service dep artm ent at the Naval A ir Stat ion, Jacksonvi l le , Flu.

article which is on a high priority list,it often happens that BuPers can fur-nish the otherwise unavailable item.This is possible because the Bureau,working with WPB, can obtain accesst o large quotas o r released priorityitems and thus be in a position t o as-sist in redistribution to individualstores.

Potential shortages often can beavoided as well as current shortagescorrected for individual or group: ofshore ships service departments, If,for instance, a cigar shortage loomsbecause of labor scarcity or othermanufacturing bottlenecks, BuPershopes to be able t o insure ships ser-vice stores everywhere of their legaland fair share of cigars. Similarly, itcan come t o the aid of a ny departmentfalling behind its proper quota Ofother essential commodities,Its a system which works t d securefor the Navy man everywhere the bestavailable products a t the lowest pos-sible cost.BuPers has a representative in theNew York office of the Arm y EX-

change Service who sees to itthatavailable supplies are as accessible t othe Navys ships services as they areto post exchanges.One of the centra l services now of-fered t o men of the armed serviceseverywhere is the recent g if t- planwhich enables the fighting man over-seas or at sea t o send presents homet o family or loved ones. Eve ry shipsservice department or store now has

the opportunity to have a standardgift catalogue which lists availableitems. The individual selects his gift,pays for it in his own ships servicestore. At home the supplier wra psand delivers the chosen gift with amessage from the sender.Under BuPers regulations, shipsservice ashore must forward semi-an-nuaI financial reports for checking andfiling. In BuPers audi tors carefully

Ships Service Fund EstablishedA Ships Service Contingent Fund, curren tly to assi st in liquidation ofBureau of Naval Personnel, t o help ships service activi ties will be a re-liquidate and otherwise assi st ships volving fund, t o be used, in the Giscre-service activities, ha s been established tion of the Chief of Naval Personnel,by BuPers. for loans t o assist in establishing newThe fund, t o be administered by the ships service activities; loans, subse-Chief of Naval Personnel, will derive quent to establ ishment, fo r purchaseits income from monthly payments of of equipment, where no t provided1% of monthly sales volume of goods from official funds, and stock or OP-and services by ships services within er at ing supplies; and advances in pre-continental U. s. and 1/2% per month payment of invoices fo r merchandiseon the same basis by ships services purchases.ashore within naval distri cts outside (F or details, see BuPer s Circ. Ltr.the continental limits. No. 117-44 N.D.B., 30 April 1944,Any part of the fund not required 44-489.).

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S H O P FOR WAVES at a large shore stat ion i l lustrates the versati l i ty ofcheck all such reports for any faul ty Today a new package insurancemathematical o r bookkeeping techni- program designed specifically forque. ships service ashore within the U. S.

Until recently, insurance was one of has been made available. It is drawnthe prime headaches for all ships ser- so as to enable every ships service tovice officers. An insurance policy is an obtain adequate protection to meet theintricate contract. Only a few ships individual requirements of his activityservice officers could be expected t o at the lowest possible premium cost.have a thorough o r comprehensive The new package policy may beknowledge o f what type and how much placed through whatever local agen-insurance they needed fo r proper cov- cies or brokers and with whatever in-erage. With the tremendous expansion surance companies the CO desires.of ships service activities, insurance A self-insurance plan for activitieswas often inadequate or overlapping. afloat or overseas to protect them with

shipss service ilz meetilzg the changilzg Heeds of naval personnel .

ASHORE: Customers jam aew ships service store att h e N A T T C , J a c ks o nv il le , Fla.

1a practicable means of obtaining a&.quate coverage- ncluding wartimehazards- lso has been made avail., able. Such a policy previously wasalmost impossible to obtain from corn.mercial carriers.Thi s self-insurance plan i s known asthe Ships Service Mutual InsuranceFund to which each activity overseasand afloat will pay premium assess.ments based on the loss experience ofall par ticipating activities. Protectionis provided against all risks of lossand damage.Because of the personnel problemsinvolved, BuPers is prepared t o pro.vide advice and guidance t o shipsservices faced with labor o r employ.ment problems. Manuals and treatiseson this subject have been preparedand will be distributed.A particular appeal is being madeto wives and relatives of Navy mento accept employment in ships servicedepartments. The use of uniformedpersonnel in ships service depart-ments is being minimized, and it isplanned that eventually most uni-formed employees will be limited-dutymen o r disabled veterans returnedfrom combat zones.Above and beyond these specializedservices, BuPers is concerned with theadoption of a specific general policyand attitude of each department in itsdealings with its customers. It hasattempted to impress on ships serviceofficers everywhere th at thei r mainproblem is simple but sometimes over-looked.It is :[Run every ships service depart-ment primarily for the benefit of na-val personnel. If i t is run so thatevery apprentice seaman can take fulladvantage of i ts enti re operation, thenall naval personnel will be properlyserved and the ships service depart-ment will be fulfilling its mission.

OfAcial U. S. Navy photographsAFLOAT: Rush hour at soda fountah opera ted byships service d epartm ent i n BTZ.airc raft currier.


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Whai -Happens When a DD Goes DownIandsdale SurvivorsLaud Ships Gunners,Skipper, Coast Guard

survivors accounts of the sinkingthe uss Lansdale on 20 April inwith praise f o r their

and theirAlthough their searchlights, sweep-the water a s beacons fo r the swim-

f o r the enemy, the CoastGuard D ES stuck to their job forSaid Lt. ( jg ) Jame s E. Bever,of Bellingham, Wash., assistant

:1 was at my battle station. Sud-

denly we saw two planes coming infrom starboard, about 15 feet off theater. A torpedo whizzed pas t o u row- nd a second lat er another one-

RESCUED by a Coast Guard ship, survivors are frairedaf ter removal oftheir oi l-soaked clothing. T h e rescued me n sbent several hours ilz theagainst the rail, then back and myhead hit the bulkhead. The lightscame on again. Then the re was a sec-ond explosion and the ligh ts we nt out.This time, for good.The ship started t o settle. Thenpare t o abandon ship. And believeme, he sounded calm. . . .Yeah, I know everybody says thesame thing who has been on a deallike this, but I mean it. He (Lieut.Comdr. Douglas McK. Swift, USN, ofPortsmouth, R. I.) was calm and sowas everybody else. There wasnt a nycommotion or anything . Why, al l thistime those fellows on deck were shoot-ing a t the planes. They g o t the firstone-the one that missed us with atorpedo. And another, too.We had colored mess attendantsfiring f r o m one antiaircraft gun andthey were firing while the decks wereawash. Why, they were firing untilthey were ordered over the side.Of the men on the antiaircraf t guns,Lt. (jg) Frederick Gehlmann, U$NR,of River Forest, Ill., said:Well, they just listened to the cap-tain saying Abandon ship, sort ofhalf-mumbled Yes, sir and went righton shooting, thats all.Taking up the story again, Lieuten-ant Bever said :I was in the water about three a nda half hours before a Coast Guard de-stroyer escort picked me up. Andthat crew jumped over the side as soonas he saw us. H~ Swam around andPulled u s Over t o the side of the shipand the rest of the crew hauled USaboard.

. water. Said orte suruiu&: rrDont e t anyb od j ever c l a i m t he M ed it e r-The lights went out. I bounced Tameanis warm im

What service! Why one member of O f k i a l U. S . Coast Guard photographsSAFE ilz a N o r t h A f r ic a n port , survivors leave a Coast Guard DE. A m o n gthem was the Lamdales executive of ice r , Liea t . Rober t M. Morgelzthau,USNR, so@ of th e Secretary of the Treasu ry. Hes at l ower l e f t here ,s tandieg on do ck , hatless and w it h ha.nds im coat pockets.

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Salvos from the cruisers heavy guns test th e ship fo r structural weaknesses.Shakedown Cruise Is New WarshipsFinal Exam Before She Joins FleetLETS go aboard Cruiser X on her

An air o f expectancy has hung overth e ship fo r weeks. Everyone knows-or thinks he knows-when she willshove off, but only the skipper and hiskey officers know the itinerary, andthey arent talking.

The sounding of the ships siren al-ways is a prelude t o something. Inthis instance the siren marks the de-parture on a cruise that will make o rbreak our ship. Nothing so f ar hascompared with this tense moment.Even the thrill of hearing the blast onthe bugle signaling the first line i sfas t o r the anchor let go after an ex-tended cruise does not compare withthis.For this ship is our home, and wemust prove the X worthy of becominga combatant unit in the greatest fleeton earth. This will show whether ourtraining has been adequate, whetherwe are good enough to man thismighty man 0war. .

At last we cast off and head for anarea that has been designated for ourshakedown maneuvers. While there islittle likelihood that any enemy sub-marines are lurking about, a man 0war never takes anything for granted.Watches are posted, in accordancePage 26

shakedown cruise.with the watch quarter and stationbill.The ship is scarcely under way whengeneral qua rte rs is sounded. Menscurry for their battle stations and,despite many previous practice drills,there is a certain amount of confusion.The general quarters l asts for severalhours while divisions officers person-ally instruct every man in his duties.Each of u s must know not only hisown duties, bu t the duties of othershipmates nearby. If one man iskilled o r wounded, other men stationednear him must be able to take over.Men must know the ship so thor-oughly that they can find their way t obattle stations in the darkness, or bythe feeble gleam of battle lights. Theymust know every possible avenue oftravel about their own parts of theship, f o r an enemy shell may block apassageway or flood several compart-ments.One of the first te st s is for struc-tural firing. It must be determinedwhether the cruiser can take the shfockof her own gunfire before she prac-tices dishing it out. One of the tough-est strains a warship undergoes iscaused by the salvos from her heavyguns. S o the ships heavy guns aretrained a t maximum elevation andfired in salvos at various angles. Per-

haps one forward turret is swungaround to the limit of train and fired-testing the terrific blast effect onthe superstructure.

After this structural firing practice,damage-control part ies tes t every com-partment to see if any weaknesseshave developed.Day and night the! cruiser steamsahead on a zigzag course. There area number of zigzag plans, and theseare used alternately so that no subcould possibly forecast where the shipwould be at a certain time. Thenav i-

gator keeps a plot of the ships courseby dead reckoning and continuallychecks it by celestial navigation(shooting th e sun or stars). Duringthe entire cruise the navigator prob-ably never is more than 1 0 secondsrunning distance from the pilot house.He sleeps whenever he can steal a fewwinks in the service bunk near thebridge.

Crewmen and officers alike soonlearn that a shakedown is no picnicFrom three to four general quartersar e held every day, a t least one ofthem each day always extendingthrough the morning o r evening twi-light. The routine is watch-in-three,but in their off hours the men mustkeep up their routine work. Watchand watch is seldom imposed exceptin known danger areas because it ha sbeen found that humans just cant takeit; they get groggy after a few days.


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SHELL H AN D L ERS m u s t s te p l i v e l j t o k e ep this 40-mm.quad firingcolztilzuously.There is firing practice nearly everyday and battle problems to work out.The first lieutenant runs a probleminvolving damage control. For a halfhour before, the time periods remain-ing before the zero-hour are an-nounced over the public-address sys-tem. Then, at various times, the menare handed slips of paper containingthe problem.The problem notifies them. of hypo-thetical shell hits, torpedo hits andother casualties which have occurredto the ship, each one involving a formof damage which will affect not onlythe local are a hit, bu t th e supply linesto other par ts of th e cruiser. AI1 ofthese individual problems must beevaluated by th e force in th e immedi-ate location and remedial action insti-tuted, such as shoring up buIklj%ads,isolating portions of t he ship , startingsubmersible pumps, counter-flooding,manual control of communications andpowder and shell-handling devices,local control of individual batteriesand tur ret s, etc. This indoctrinatesall hands with t he necessity f or initia-tive and affords them a thorough

grounding in what action will be ne-cessary in actual combat.The problem might simulate the ap-proach of a squadron of torpedo anddive bombers from 40 degrees on theport quarter, flying at 20,000 feet. Theantiaircraft guns begin barking atImaginary planes and throw up a cur-

OfRcial U. $. Navy photographstain of flak. Then a torpedo wake isdiscovered, and the skipper ordersleft ful l rudder. The cruiser avoidsthe first tin fish but another one, un-noticed, crashes into the port quarterbelow the water line.Then its up to the damage controlofficer to assess the damage and decidewhats to be done. Several compart-ments must be closed off. Compart-ments on the starboard side may beflooded to correct the list. Electricpower lines probably have been rup-tured and must be repaired. Possiblyfires have broken out.Tugs o r destroyers of the servicecommand always are available in thisare a to tow t arg ets f or firing practice,and planes can be obtained to towsleeve targets for antiaircraft drill.Occasionally a five-inch gun will sendup a star shell and the 40- and 20-mm.guns will cut loose, usually taggingthe tiny parachute before it falls intothe ocean.The black gang always looks for-ward to the full-power run,which de-termines just how fast the vessel cantravel under full power. All new shipshave a certain rated speed. If theycan attain that, they a re acceptable tothe Navy. In most cases new shipsexceed this rated speed.A full-power run in wartime startswith a four-hour period when thespeed is gradually stepped up, thenfour hours at full power, and four

.... -. - . .__.~._--.._.. _ -sary because the new machinery can-not be subjected too suddenly to thetremendous temperatures and pres-sures of ful) power.After some weeks of daily practicewe head back to th e fitting-out ya rdfor th e final exam-a full-dress re-hearsal before a naval board of in-spection. This time the battle prob-lem is propounded by a board ofinspection and no one, not even theczptain, knows wha t i t will be. Everyeffort is made to simulate actual bat-tl c conditions. The inspecting officersgo about pulling switches, disconnect-ing oil lines, etc., during th e battle.A shell presumably has hit abreastNo. 2 turret. Actually, a switch hasbeen pulled, cutting off electric powerto the turret, throwing o u t its controlmachinery and putting i t out of auto-matic control. The tu rr et officerquickly shifts to manual power,pointer fire, and local control if neces-sary.On the bridge an inspecting officerpoints at a telephone talker, says,Youre dead. The man sits down,leaving his telephone unattended. An-other telephone talker near him grabsup the telephone and handles bothphones, one at each ear.Suddenly the communication be-tween the bridge and the engineroomis cut off; so a chain o f men i s estab-lished to a point where the ships ser-vice system is still operative. Thusthe captain is able to transmit his or-ders and obtain such information ashe requires until emergency communi-c,ations are established.These are only a few of the thingsa crew undergoes during the inspec-tion. Upon th e findings of the boardrest the result of months of trainingand practice. Will we be found fit tojoin the rest of our fleet? All handsare strained, keyed to a pitch wherethe least dereliction on the part of

one man brings down the recrimina-tions of hi s shipmates. We realizethat everyone makes mistakes, but wefeel that nothing but the best is goodenough for our ship.The inspection is over. We havebeen tested in every way except underbattle conditions. In leaving, the in-specting admiral congratulates thecaptain, tells him th at he has a clean,sma rt and taut ship. In theory, wear e outstanding. The days and nightsof watches, hardships and drills haveproduced what everyone worked andprayed for.In just a short time now we will beheading back out to sea-out to jointh e fellows who have been be aring th ebrunt of atta ck while we have beenfitting out th e X. Our reputation pre-cedes us. . We are welcome as a shipready, willing and able.

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A Navy Yeoman Gets Action:and What to DO About ItBase Co mm anders g ive cause andO -AVVO cufe opinions o n the problem

The following article is the resultof a letter written bg a N a v y gee-man, who was distuvbed by the prob-lem euused by shipmate8 going AOLand AWOL. H e suggested severalpositive steps t o counteract theproblem. A co p y of the tetter wasJo r w a r d e d t o the Commandant, U. .Marine Corps, who sent copies toMarine Corps base commanders re-questing comment. The answerswere compiled into this article, re-printed here from U. S. MarineCorps Headquarters Bulletin.-EQ.H Y does a marine go over thewhill?What can be done about it?

A study of these two importantquestions, recently concluded by the

ity of analysis and agreement in th ecomments and suggestions.Approximately seventeen causes forAbsent Over Leave, Absent With-out Leave and finally Desertionwere listed. And ju st about as manyremedies were suggested or consid-ered. Briefly, however, the y could beclassified as follows:

PRINCIPAL CAUSE: Lack of complete in -doctrination, o r preventive mea-sures; andPRINCIPALEMEQIES: More thoroughpreliminary instruction and under-standing, and a more strenuouscombined hardwork and trainingprogram for offenders.Most interesting and significant ofall, however, is the fact that Head-

quarters records in the Discipline Di-vision show that percentage of deser-tions have decreased tremendouslv inthe past year, though the Corps hasapproximately doubled its strength.Actually, there was a difference ofonly four (4)desertions in the corre-sponding period, during which theCorps had doubled in size.s o definite reason is forthcoming byauthorities for the heavy decline in de-sertions, except that the average indi-vidual in the armed forces today ismore deeply impressed by the overallpicture of the progress of the war,and his own responsibility toward ser-vice.The principal causes or contributingfactors to a ny of the three offenses(AOL, AWOL and DESERTION)

naval organization, whether in peaceor war. It also discloses some inter-esting facts regarding the decrease indesertions that have come t o Head-

analysis of present circumstances andconditions affect ing wartime servicepersonnel were reflected in statementsmade by these commanding officers.While several vary as t o causes andantidotes, there is a striking similar-

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All Hands Naval Bulletin - Jun 1944