2 APR 44
The Palau-Yap operations lasted only three days and before the 1st of April had become the 2nd, Task Group 58.3 was leaving the Caroline Islands behind and en route to a fueling rendezvous with units of Task Group 50.15. Fleet course and speed were 160˚ and 20 knots respectively. The only break to the anti-submarine zigzagging through the night and into the early hours came shortly after local sunrise, when the Task Group maneuvered to avoid USS Case (DD-370) which had suffered a loss of steering control at 0742, and which was repaired by 0755.
At 0840 Princeton's lookouts sighted Task Groups 58.1 and 58.2 at her 11 and 1 o'clock positions, 12 miles distant. ASP missions were launched in alternating cycles from the decks of Princeton and Lexington to scout ahead of the Task Force. The P's morning ASP aircraft were recovered at 1227, coincident with the refueling Task Group coming into sight on the distant horizon.
"At 1230 commenced approach on port side of USS CHENANGO, three inch wire rope tow line secured from this vessel to USS CHENANGO at 1259, steady on fueling course 105˚ at fueling speed 10 knots."
Fleet Oiler USS Chenango (AO-31) began life in 1938 as SS Esso New Orleans, built in Chester, Pennsylvania and owned by Standard Oil Company.
Acquired by the United States Navy at the end of May, 1941, along with 4 other Cimarron-class oilers (Sangamon, Suwannee and Santee) she was converted to a Sangamon-class Escort Carrier.
USS Chenango (CVE-28) operating in the Pacific, circa 1944
USS Chenango (CVE-28) was launched in September, 1942, just in time to ferry a deckload of Curtiss P-40 Warhawks across the Atlantic to participate in Operation TORCH, the invasion of Northwest Africa in November.
USS Chenango (ACV-28) en route to North Africa in the Operation Torch convoy, November 1942, loaded with P-40Fs of the 33rd FG.
Today she would be filling a role as a tanker and in exactly one hour, from 1354 to 1454, she transferred 132,000 gallons of fuel oil into Princeton's voids. The War Diary notes that "This was the first time that this vessel had had occasion to fuel from a converted tanker, but no difficulties were encountered."
"At 1535 by order of the OTC all ships half-masted colors until 1540." I presume this was to recognize and honor Lt(jg) Syme and possibly other aviators lost from the Task Force, but the War Diary does not expound.
"At 1655 USS STANLY came alongside starboard quarter and transferred VF pilot, Lieutenant (jg) J.M. WEBB, A-V(N), USNR, who had been rescued after water landing on previous date."
Shortly after completing the UNREP, Princeton continued flight operations as the Task Groups headed southeasterly, to where, no indication is given.
A commonly repeated phrase in the War Diary is "turned into the wind to conduct flight operations." Apart from the simple aerodynamic laws required for flight, using mother nature's prevailing wind, which is free, allows the aircraft carrier to save fuel by reducing the amount of speed necessary to create wind over the deck, which is needed in order to validate Orville and Wilbur's work. America's current aircraft carriers are all powered with the help of colliding isotopes, but Princeton, like the carriers I served in, was powered by dinosaurs and dead plants. (Recall that back on 27 February we mentioned that USS Constellation (CV-64), got an impressive 12 inches of travel for every gallon of fuel.) At 1837 when The P, just 30 miles or so north of the equator, turned into the wind, the Diary made mention of the fact that "During aircraft recovery it was necessary to make 30 knots, 300 RPM, because of almost flat calm conditions."
Related to the phrase "turning into the wind" is a term which has a unique meaning in carrier aviation: Charlie. Charlie in this instance does not refer to your uncle or even to the phonetic description of the letter "C." In the carrier world it means the time you are expected to land your airplane. It can be communicated via a radio transmission directive from the Air Boss such as "(callsign), Your Signal Charlie," meaning c'mon down here and land. If the Boss is in a bossy mood (most of the Boss's I knew survived on coffee and 4 hours of sleep a night for weeks and often months on end), he may just get your attention with a gruff "You're late!" It can also be a predetermined time based on a published Air Plan and it is the pilot's responsibility to watch the flight deck from above and be in position to land at the right time (see yesterday's EMCON discussion for how not to do it properly. 😬)
At this point, you may be asking why I am droning on about this insignificant minutiae. Well, it is solely so I can share with you a cool photo of USS Constellation, underway in the Gulf of Oman in the Fall of 1999.
You may notice that she is turning into the wind and thereby carving the letter "C" in the water, which stands for "Charlie," which means the boat is turning into the wind, which is the universal signal to generations of Naval Aviators to "c'mon down and land!"
And now you know.
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