Admin Note: I have been remiss recently and have failed to welcome aboard a few folks who have joined our 1944 war cruise. First is Dad's true and loyal friend Ron Buckley, who has become an equally true and loyal friend to my sisters and me. Also along for the ride are my friends Elizabeth Burnham who, when she is not teaching America's youth is a Major in the Army Reserve (Hooah!), and Paul Bunge, former A-6E Intruder Bombardier Navigator extraordinaire, lawyer and pilot for a major airline. Welcome aboard "Buck", "E" and Paul!
28 FEB 44
Referencing yesterday's nerdfest, particularly the part about props taking "bites" of air, I meant to include this awesome image of an F6-F in the initial stage of a deck launch from USS Lexington, taken by the incredible Edward Steichen:
In layman's terms, and in my world there is no other option, these propellor vapor trails are caused by the pressure of the air being lowered due to the speed of the propeller moving through it. This lowered pressure acts to lower the air temperature. If there is water vapor in the air, as the temperature is reduced to the dew point, it causes said moisture to condense and create — standby because I am about to make up an amazing term — "prop circles." 💥
Monday the 28th of February saw a resumption of CAP and ASP missions with 16 VF and 4 VT being launched at first light. Upon recovery at 1114, the Hellcat CAP over Engebi reported seeing VF aircraft (similar to the F-4U Corsairs pictured yesterday) from a Marine squadron on station over the island as well. As a result "Commander Task Group 51.11 informed Commander Task Group 58.4 that air cover was no longer required." Rear Admiral Ginder promptly sent out word that all ships of 58.4 prepare accordingly to depart for Majuro Atoll, 260 miles southeast of Kwajalein, for resupply.
Over the years that became decades, Dad mentioned Majuro often during conversations about his time in Princeton. My imagination made it exotic and mysterious, its allure enhanced by the way it rolled off the tongue — muhzhouroh — but I was also intrigued by its every-other-consonant-vowel pattern (alas, I am no engineer but it is possible I am a "word nerd.") Ulithi Atoll, its name similar in construction and a place we will visit in the future, had a similar grip on my mind.
By mid-afternoon, with the recovery of Saratoga's last patrols, "fleet course was set at 100˚ and fleet speed changed to 17 knots. Commenced steaming en route to Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands."
During the day Princeton had suffered two casualties to its gyro compass system, the first a short circuit in the navigational transmitter and the other involving the starboard steering repeater in the pilot house. The War Diary noted that "These casualties can probably be traced to the fact that no opportunity was available for routine cleaning and upkeep on the gyro compass system since 19 January 1944, the ship having been underway or on 15 minutes notice since that time."
Ten days can be a lifetime when men and equipment are being ridden hard.
Speaking of which, I had the opportunity to help Dad tour the 6th Princeton (CG-59) at Pearl Harbor in 1990. A Ticonderoga class missile cruiser having been commissioned barely a year earlier (she is still in service today) she was in glorious condition. That said, our Navy was in glorious condition back then. Today?
"...the superficial condition of a ship does more than just give you an indication of how corrosion control and preventive maintenance – and the required manpower to do the same – is on a warship, it has a deeper meaning.
Except when in an active shooting war – and even then – a primary mission of a navy is presence; showing the flag. To the citizens of its nation, the condition and performance of their navy does two things; first it shows that the navy is a good steward of taxpayers’ investment, and second it gives them piece of mind that if their navy sorties forward to defend the nation, odds are they are trained, manned, and equipped to do so.
No one hires a defense attorney whose hair is a mess, wears flip-flops, and shirt is stained with yesterday’s salsa – so too a nation will not be comfortable trusting its security to a navy that looks like it just came from the back corner of the mothball fleet of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick.
Likewise, no coastal nation will be impressed with an ally or a competitor who huffs and puffs about the power of its navy, and then it shows up off the coast looking like a discarded ’58 Buick with a tree growing out of the wheel well."
CDR Salamander is not wrong. He continues, with visual aids:
"Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1): Sailing with ships from the Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Spain, and Turkey - the USS GRAVELY (DDG 107) is representing the USN. GRAVELY is only 8.5 years old and she is sailing with the 38-year old Polish frigate KAZIMIERZ PULASKI (nee USS CLARK FFG-1), so she should be showing the flag well in all the high profile visits and exercises SNMG1 does. Right? Oh.:"
USS Gravely (DDG-107) 8 1/2 years from her commissioning, is in the foreground. Polish frigate Pulaski, 38 years old, is in the far background.
The commentary above was written in 2019 and if you're hoping since then things have taken a turn for the better, I am sorry to report that is not the case. This is as close as I hope to come to editorializing in this forum, but as Americans living in an increasingly hostile world, you should be concerned.
Our people and our equipment, in our naval service especially, are getting ridden hard and they aren't getting put away wet. Because they are not getting put away at all.
Don't think the rest of the world, friend and foe alike, isn't noticing.
NNNN
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