Princeton would remain "moored as before" from the 14th to the 20th of March, Ship's Company and Air Group personnel undergoing the never-ending cycle of training, maintenance and resupply. At the same time, Task Group leadership and staff, along with the Commanders of ships and squadrons would use this time to plan upcoming operations.
14 MAR 44
By early 1942 Espiritu Santo had been identified as an ideal location for a logistics hub and within months that development had begun, with both land and sea-based aircraft facilities, fuel depots, repair shops, ammo dumps, hospitals, warehouses and the myriad of other infrastructure required being planned and constructed.
At 0230 the Naval Ammunition Depot had completely replenished Princeton's magazines with bombs and bullets, to include 253,750 rounds of .50 caliber and 236,000 belt links. Interestingly, 55,650 rounds of defective .50 caliber were offloaded.
Adding some excitement to the normal routine, "at 0412 Condition RED set in Espiritu Santo. Went to General Quarters. At 0512 received Condition GREEN signal from shore station and secured from General Quarters. At 0524 again received signal from shore station that Condition RED was set. Went to General Quarters. A visual message to shore station indicated that Condition GREEN was in effect, and that the Condition RED had been occasioned by unidentified aircraft in the vicinity. No further details were available, and since regulations prohibited the use of this vessel's radar, no details were known at any time--no information whatever being received over the TBS circuit."
One can sense a frustrated undertone in the War Diary. The 0412 GQ - 0512 secure from GQ - 0524 back to GQ - 0609 secure from GQ harassment program reminded me of a humorous description of how to simulate life on a Navy Ship which includes this gem:
12. Set your alarm to go off at ten-minute intervals for the first hour of sleep to simulate the various times the watchstanders and nightcrew bump around and wake you up. Place your bed on a rocking table so you are tossed around the remaining three hours. Make use of a custom clock that randomly simulates fire alarms, police sirens, helicopter crash alarms, and a new-wave rock band.
15 MAR 44
"At 1450 received orders from CommTaskGroup 36.2 that ships of this Task Group would provision to capacity from USS SERPENS and SS SAN BRUNO*, topping off with provisions from shore prior to departure. Loaded aviation stores including full supply of fighter plane belly tanks. At 2225 completed landing 10 tons of fresh provisions from SS SAN BRUNO."
* SS San Bruno was a 3,627 ton merchantman built in 1920 and sailed under the UK flag while working as part of the United Fruit Company fleet. In 1931 she was transferred to Panamanian registry and in 1942 put under War Shipping Administration Control. As a non-military ship she uses the prefix "SS" which stands for "Single Screw" and/or "Single Screw Steamship."
16 MAR 44
"At 1110 completed taking on ... 720 rounds 40 mm. BLNT" which, if I'm not mistaken, is simply blunt-nosed (aka: not explosive) ammunition for the Princeton's 24 40 mm. Bofors anti-aircraft guns.
A gun crew on board the USS Hornet (CV-12) fires its quad-mount Bofors 40-mm in 1945.
"At 1218 the Commanding Officer left the ship to proceed by air to Noumea, New Caledonia, for the purpose of calling on Commander Third Fleet."
"At 1515 received orders from ComTaskGroup 36.2 that ships of the Task Group except the USS LANGLEY are to be placed on 6 hours' notice to get underway. At 1625 received order...calling for a conference of all unit commanders, division commanders, commanding officers, air group commanders, squadron commanders, communication officers and air combat information officers of Task Group 36.2 aboard the USS YORKTOWN at 0900 on 17 March 1944."
17 & 18 MAR 44
NSTR - Nothing Significant To Report
19 MAR 44
"At 0830 held personnel inspection and presentation of awards by the Commanding Officer."
"At 1315 the Commanding Officer left the ship to attend an official conference aboard the USS YORKTOWN."
"At 2000 received visual despatch from ComDesRon* SIX designating USS KIDD and USS BLACK to accompany this vessel on operation planned for 21 March 44."
*ComDesRon - Commander, Destroyer Squadron
20 MAR 44
March 20th saw Captain Buracker visit Yorktown once again in the morning. After returning in the afternoon, the Skippers of USS Kidd and USS Black visited Princeton to brief upcoming operations.
The fact that only two destroyers are involved indicate that perhaps the upcoming event will be training related, rather than a combat operation. (Recall the two-day training event back at Pearl Harbor, which included carrier qualification, commonly referred to as "CQ," and ship gunnery and which was escorted by two destroyers)
Sure enough: "At 1830 received orders from ComTaskGroup 36.2 directing that Task Unit 36.2.3, consisting of the USS PRINCETON, USS KIDD, and USS BLACK, with Captain W. H. BURACKER, USN, in USS PRINCETON as Task Unit Commander, sortie at daybreak 21 March 1944 to conduct carrier qualification landings, returning to Second Channel Anchorage, Espiritu Santo, prior to sunset the same day."
Of note, it appears the P will be serving as the CQ platform for pilots from Yorktown and Langley as well as her own Air Group 23:
"Pursuant to verbal orders of the Commanding Officer, USS YORKTOWN, a qualifying group of 13 pilots and one landing signal officer reported aboard from that vessel, at 1935, and 4 pilots and one landing signal officer from the USS LANGLEY similarly reported aboard at 2015."
Langley, being the same class ship as Princeton, should pose no unique problems for her pilots. Princeton, whose flight deck was 200 feet shorter and 50 feet more narrow than Yorktown, might pose somewhat challenging for pilots used to her bigger deck.
It's difficult to describe but one gets used to a certain sight picture, in this case the size of the flight deck during approach, and when that sight picture is changed - even if you know it has changed - it is difficult to convince your brain of that fact.
All the workups for my second cruise, which were approximately 15 months give or take, were conducted aboard USS Independence (CV-62). A day prior to flying to San Diego for CQ before leaving for the Middle East, "Indy" had a catapult malfunction which rendered her temporarily unable to get underway. Because flexibility is the key to airpower, we were quickly notified that CQ would take place as scheduled, except aboard USS Nimitz (CVN-68).
Indy was a Forrestal class boat and she displaced 60,000 tons.
Nimitz was the lead boat of the US Navy's first nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and displaced 100,000 tons.
Which is to say that we felt as if we were landing on a dry lake bed at Edwards instead of a little boat on the rolling sea. Easy peasy.
That said, our transition from USS Constellation (CV-64) to Indy a year and a half prior...was a complete shit show. (I was standing directly behind the author of this excellent tale on this particular evening and it was, by far, the most exciting time I ever had on the LSO platform)
But back in 1944 none of this mattered in the least to the Ensigns of Air Group 23, because like it or not, CQ was happening tomorrow.
NNNN
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