1 JAN 44
Ladies and Gents,
Today I am starting a day-to-day reading of the 1944 War Diary of USS Princeton. I will send emails every now and then when something interesting happens. Some of the entries will likely be unremarkable but I will include them just to provide context and scale to the magnitude of national treasure invested by a mighty nation as well as to highlight the incredible human effort put forth by a thousand or so of its citizens manning one small ship flying her flag.
Here we go...
79 years ago today USS Princeton left Pier 3 at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington after taking on 120,044 gallons of fuel oil. At 1453 she dropped anchor in Sinclair Inlet, within sight of the Navy Yard, and proceeded to onload aircraft torpedo warheads (36 in total). At 2340 she commenced loading aviation gasoline and bombs in preparation for her eventual departure west across the vast Pacific to join the “Fast Carrier” fleet in what would become the last phase of the war against Japan.
Note: Sinclair Inlet is about 45 miles south as the crow flies from NAS Whidbey Island and I have flown directly over it more times than I can recall.
Carl
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