USS Chandeleur AV-10

Description

(From the Foreword) The Japanese Combined Command, superior strategists who had conquered virtually all of Asia, made one fatal mistake in their designs on the United States; their sneak surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Until that below-the-belt lick, America was divided on whether to enter WWII and even which side we might join. Overnight, all doubts were erased...before the month was out, many of the prospective crew members of the USS Chandeleur had joined, underwent three weeks medical quarantine plus recruit training and were at Receiving Ships and Stations awaiting assignment; hopefully aboard ship because we knew "It won't take long to whip those sneaky little bastards." (Almost four years later, we certainly proved it!)

Sujets

• WW2
• Armada de los Estados Unidos
• Segunda Guerra Mundial
• USS Chandeleur (AV-10)
• Biography
• Military airbase
• World War II
• Autobiography
• Jezper Söderlund
• United States Navy
• Pearl Harbor
• Seconde Guerre mondiale

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 1994
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781681624341
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Clockwise from left: Captain Tracy holds personnel inspection .

Operations Department, USS Chandeleur, July 1945. First row: W.W. Walker, AerM2c; R.D. Swartalender, AerM1c; LC. Gold, AerMIc; C.T. Thames, Rdm3c. Second row: Lt. R.W. Young, Aerological Officer; Lt.(jg) R.E. Lovell, O Division Officer, Radar Officer; Lt. R.M. Woolard, Operations Officer; Lt.(jg) G.R. Anderson, Asst. Operations Officer. Third row: D.S. Fruchey, CPhoM; F.A. Burke, PhoM2c; J.C. Dickerson, PhoM3c; J. W. Helms, Jr., PhoM2c; J.J. Nordmann, Rdm2c; H.E. Gunderson, Rdm3c; G.D. Platt, Rdmlc. Fourth row: A.T. Rushing, Rdm3c; R.A. Schmidt, Rdm3c; W.A. Maloy, Radm 3c; D.B. McCune, Rm2c; P.H. Oglesby, Rdmlc; A.J. Rozell, Sp(G)2c; C.E. Hardin, Y2c .

Tender Topics Staff .

Commander Morehouse relieves Captain Sinton .
USS CHANDELEUR
AV-10
Sailing Airbase for Flying Boats
T URNER P UBLISHING C OMPANY
T HE F RONT L INE OF M ILITARY P UBLISHERS
Copyright 1994 Turner Publishing Company All rights reserved.
USS Chandeleur Editorial Staff:
Charles A. Owen, Editor - Tender Topics II
Turner Publishing Company Staff:
Pamela G. Wood: Project Coordinator
Ina F. Morse: Designer
This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced without the written consent of the Publisher.
This publication was compiled using available information. The publisher regrets it cannot assume liability for errors or omissions.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 94-60148
ISBN: 978-1-56311-103-7
Limited Edition
Additional copies may be purchased directly from the Publisher.

Cover Photo: The USS Chandeleur is welcomed home after a long, hard war. Note sign ahead of ship on hillside. Photo at right: Launching the USS Chandeleur
While underway, the AV-10 receives a patient who needs an appendectomy .
T ABLE OF C ONTENTS
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Publisher s Message
USS Chandeleur (AV-10) History
Chandy Lou s Boomerang Swabbie
Swim-A-Ways
Three Wars and 26 Years of Service
The Day VPB-216 s Hashmark 2 Died
An Overhaul For Stiles
We Meet Again
Seaplane Tenders
Patrol Bombers Rescue
Ship s Paper Lives On
Photo Album
USS Chandeleur Sea Stories
Fire Aboard the Chandy Lou
Only Kidding
Heading Out
Bless You Peter Rabbit
The Shipyard: Western Pipe and Steel Co
Heading Home
Bogies at 500 Feet
USS Chandeleur s Skippers
USS Chandeleur s USNR Commanders
USS Chandeleur s Officers at Commissioning
Plank Owners
VPB-21 Chronology
USS Chandeleur Roster
USS Chandeleur AV-10 Reunions
USS Chandeleur Veterans
Index
F OREWORD

The Japanese Combined Command, superior strategists who had conquered virtually all of Asia, made one fatal mistake in their designs on the United States; their sneak surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
Until that below-the-belt lick, America was divided on whether to enter WW II, and even which side we might join.
Overnight, all doubts were erased. The next morning long lines formed at every recruiting station in the nation as thousands of angry young men volunteered to revenge the deaths and destruction suffered at the hands of Japan, who had proved instantly that she was a full partner in the dastardly deeds being committed by the Axis of Germany, Italy and Japan.
Before the month was out, many of the prospective crew members of the USS Chandeleur had joined, underwent three weeks medical quarantine plus recruit training and were at Receiving Ships and Stations awaiting assignment; hopefully aboard ship because we knew, It won t take long to whip those sneaky little bastards. (Almost four years later, we certainly proved it!)
A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Charlie and Hazel Owen
This chronicle has been more than two years in the making, but that is a short time compared to the 50 years that have elapsed since the events to be examined occurred.
The history of this ship has many contributors, and they include those with whom I have visited into the wee hours at our annual reunions. Especial thanks go to Dewey Wilson and Bus Stiles, who managed to preserve their diaries and share them with me; James Helms, combat photographer on the Chandeleur , then later with the Marine Corps in Korea, including the Chosin Few s long cold stroll; all the other shipmates who have loaned pictures for this book and for Tender Topics II; Paul Kingston of VPB-21 and Bob Smith, VPB-216; the Naval Historical Center, Ships Historical Branch, Navy Department. My gratitude to all of you, then to my ever supportive and indispensible wife, Hazel.
- Charles A. Owen
D EDICATION

This book is dedicated to the United States of America - The greatest nation the world will ever see and the avowed enemy of Man s Inhumanity To Man and those who would tolerate it. Always peace loving, this nation will fight again and again to defeat dictators, despots and damn fools who do not honor the dignity of each and every person.
The USS Chandeleur is welcomed home after a long, hard war. She is loaded with happy soldiers, marines, sailors and airdales .
USS C HANDELEUR (AV-10)

USS C HANDELEUR (AV-10)
by Charles A. Owen
An all-volunteer organization at the time, the US Navy found itself inundated with angry recruits on Monday, December 8, 1941, the day following the day that will live in infamy.
Naval Training Stations throughout the nation reduced boot camp training from 90 days to just the three weeks necessary for the new personnel to receive inocculations that would protect them from everything except homesickness.
Before the beginning of 1942, this first batch had moved on to Receiving Stations for assignments to ships and shore stations where they were needed the most.
One of the new ships under construction at San Francisco was the USS Chandeleur . Her keel was laid in March, 1941 and she slid off the ways on November 19 at the shipyard of Western Pipe and Steel in South San Francisco.
Early in 1942 she was moved to Pier 27, between the Ferry Building and the Golden Gate for outfitting. (At the next pier, an identical hull was being outfitted as an escort carrier for the British Navy.) Exactly one year later, on November 19, 1942 she was commissioned and accepted by Captain William Sinton, USN, her first Commanding Officer.
The Navy required the skippers of all aircraft carriers and seaplane tenders to be, No. 1 - a graduate of the Naval Academy and, No. 2 - A Naval aviator. The Chandeleur was captained by five such stellar leaders during World War II. Under their guidance, this ship performed well, earned plaudits and contributed to our victory in World War II. The personal biographies of these fine men are featured elsewhere in this memorial book.

Bluejackets in San Francisco on liberty months prior to comissioning. From left: Bud Red Slater, Ray Kennison, Clem Argo, Sam Marconi, and an unidentified Coast Guarder. Persian Room, Hotel Sir Francis Drake, San Francisco. (Courtesy of Clem Argo)

Lucky s in Oakland was a watering hole for many, including: I.J. Amann, Chief Kingfish Long, Chief Sammy Arnott, F.G. Nordman and E.R. Zoeter. (Courtesy of Chief Long)

The USS Chandeleur on her shakedown cruise December, 1942 .
Those officers and enlisted men who were aboard that day, 19 November 1942, are Plank Owners a title they still proudly wear.
Survivors of ships damaged or destroyed by the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor were among the seasoned seamen who made sailors out of the raw recruits, many of whom had never seen a sea-going vessel, nor even a sea!

Torpedoes going to planes - then to Japs. (Courtesy of Jim Helms)

The ship s laundry was hotter than topside. (Courtesy of Jim Helms)
Some of those assigned to the Chandy Lou early in 1942 were sent directly to the ship, if their specialties were usable as the craft was a-borning. They received housing allowance and lived ashore, reporting for duty each morning as did the day shift of shipyard workers who were putting her together.
Most of the crew was gathered on Treasure Island Navy Base. Many of them attended technical schools during this period, and all were endoctrinated in Navy protocol, Ways and Means of Surviving, etc.
Captain Sinton was quoted: Every officer and man must know how to swim before we go to sea. O. G. Pete Peterson, regular Navy and Storekeeper, is the only man known to have dodged swimming instruction. He retired years later after a full Navy career, and never did drown, except in beer!
As Commissioning Day approached, an incident occured which demonstrates just how thin were the ranks of experienced personnel. As then-Ensign E. H. Gamage reports, 50 years later: At the time of commissioning, Capt. Sinton got all the officers in the wardroom and asked how many topside watch standers he had. No one raised his hand. Then he asked if anyone had ever been to sea. Wolf and I raised our hands.
I had sailed a boat on the Maine coast, and Wolf said he had been in the Merchant Marine. So Capt. Sinton stood watch with me and the Executive Officer with Wolf until we learned how and could get some others broken in!
Once in commission, the Chandeleur learned Navy Air s immediate need was for a fast cargo vessel. The day after Christmas, 1942, we were underway for San Diego, where we filled the holds and covered the topside decks with a great variety of materiel and rolling stock desperately needed in the South Pacific. With a stop at Pearl Harbor, we were then underway for Esperitu Santo in the New Hebrides. This was a forward base supporting the Marines invasion of Guadalcanal. While in mid-ocean, we loaded one passenger: King Neptune, in full regalia. He came over the side as we neared the equator, demanding homage from all, especially the Polliwogs who would soon cross that 0 Latitude line for the first time. Because the Polliwogs on this new vessel far outnumbered the shellbacks, the initiation was rather mild.
Off-loading rapidly at Esperitu, we were underway for the best example of South Seas Paradise we wou