USS Montgomery (DD-121) (DM-17)-- Part 4: Fort Fisher and War of 1812 Connections at Pearl Harbor at Time of Attack

At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS Montgomery was in Middle Loch in the harbor, tied up along with the Ramsay, Gamble, Trever, Breese, Zane, Perry and Wasmuth. They were across from Ford Island where the USS Utah was at anchor.

The USS Breese (DD-122) (DM-18) was named after Captain Kidder Breese who was Porter's Fleet Captain and commander of the naval column attack on Fort Fisher.

The USS Ramsay (DD-124) (DM-16) was named for Rear Admiral Francis Ramsay.  He commanded the USS Unadilla at Fort Fisher and operations on the Cape Fear River.

The USS Wasmuth (DD-338) (DMS-15) was named for Henry Wasmuth USMC who was part of the Naval Column at Fort Fisher and carried Ensign  Robley D. (Fighting Bob) Evans to safety after he was wounded and died doing so.

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The USS Gamble (DD-123) (DM-15) was named after Peter Gamble, killed at the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812.

The USS Perry (DD-340)  (DMS-17) was named after Oliver Hazard Perry.

So, three of the ships at Pearl Harbor had a Fort Fisher connection and two of them a War of 1812 one.

Interesting.  --GreGen

USS Montgomery (DD-121)-- Part 3: Pearl Harbor

With tensions increasing before the start of World War II, the Montgomery was reactivated and recommissioned  25 September 1939.  She trained for possible war service and completed several towing assignments on the West Coast until 3 December 1940 when she sailed to her new home port of Pearl Harbor.

She was at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attack came December 7, 1941. The Montgomery and other minelayers put up a huge anti-aircraft fire and  believed to have shot down up to six enemy planes.    Within 45 minutes the ship was ready to get underway.  An hour and a half later she and the others were ordered to get underway to establish an anti-submarine patrol off the entrance to Pearl Harbor.

Lt.Cmdr. R.A. Guthrie reported that his ship received no damage or casualties, but its crew fought with "coolness during the attack and their speed in making anti-aircraft fire effective."

Continuing with his after action report:  "During attack, civilians reported two Japanese swimming around plane capsized in the water near Pearl City dock.  Ship's motor whale boat investigated and found one, the pilot, still afloat.  He was motioned to get into the boat several times, but refused to obey, instead reached inside his jacket.  At this action, CALKINS, D.F.,  Sea. 1c, USN,  shot him.  He immediately sank."

At 3:14 PM,  she dropped eight depth charges at  a sound contact three miles off the harbor entrance.  On Jan. 8 at 2 AM, she dropped four more depth charges.  No contact was made in either case.  Then from December 9 to 12 the Montgomery patrolled the  Western area, but no contacts.

--GreGen

USS Montgomery (DD-121)-- Part 2: WW I and Interwar Years

After her shakedown cruise, the Montgomery left Hampton Roads August 25, 1918, for her first anti-submarine cruise in World War I and then alternated these and escort duty to the end o the year,  Then she took part in training and fleet maneuvers from Maine to Cuba, when she departed for duty on the West Coast.

She arrived in San Diego and  joined Destroyer Squadron 4, Pacific Fleet.  For the next three and a half years the Montgomery took part in fleet operations from Alaska to Panama.  Then she went to San Diego, was deactivated and decommissioned on 6 June 1922.

Re-designated DM-17 on 5 January 1931, the Montgomery was converted to a light minelayer and recommissioned  20 August 1931.  She then sailed to Pearl Harbor where she was based until 14 June 1937, when he went to San Diego and was decommissioned again 7 December 1937 and put in reserve.

--GreGen

USS Montgomery (DD-121)-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

The USS Montgomery was a Wickes-class destroyer that participated in World War I and World War II.  It was named for Rear Admiral John B. Montgomery who served in the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the Civil War.

The Montgomery was built by Newport news  Shipbuilding  & Dry Dock Co. and was launched on  23 March 1918.  Mrs. Andrew Jones, a descendant of Rear Admiral Montgomery sponsored the ship.

Commissioned 26 July 1918 with Lieutenant Commander  W.R. Purnell in command.

It was reclassified as a light minelayer (DM-17) on 5 January 1931.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

LENGTH:  314 feet 5 inches

BEAM:  31 feet 8 inches

DRAFT:  8 feet 8 inches

SPEED:  35 knots

COMPLEMENT:  113 officers and enlisted

ARMAMENT:  four 4-inch guns, two 3-inch guns, twelve 21-inch torpedo tubes, two depth charge tracks.

--GreGen

USS Montgomery (DD-121): Six Ships Named the USS Montgomery

From Wikipedia.

This month, the 2021 Paralyzed Veterans of America is featuring the current U.S. Navy warship USS Montgomery (LCS-8).  

This is the 6th ship in the American Navy to feature this name.

The first one was in the American Revolution, the second one in the War of 1812, the third one in the Civil War, the fourth one in the Spanish-American War and the fifth one in World War II.

I wrote about the first, fourth and sixth ships in my Cooter's History Thing blog.  The second one was featured in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog and the third in my Running the Blockade:  Civil War Navy blog.

This would be the place for information about the fifth USS Montgomery since it served in World War II.

It's a Blog Thing, You Know.  --GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 6: Operations Around the Philippines

1944

After screening aircraft carriers during the attacks on Okinawa and Formosa,  the Gridley joined the American forces for the Philippines Campaign.  While protecting large ships off Luzon 28 October 1944, she and the destroyer USS Helm detected and sank the Japanese submarine I-51 with a series of devastating depth charge attacks.

In the following days. the Gridley fought off Japanese kamikazes and returned to Ulithi with damaged carriers Franklin and Belleau Wood  on 2 November.

1945

The Gridley was soon at sea again, clearing Ulithi 5 November with the fast  carrier task force for the Leyte operation.  She later joined a group of escort carriers and served as a bombardment and patrol ship during the landings at Lingayen Gulf  until 10 February 1945.

After stopping again at Ulithi, the Gridley escorted the battleship USS Mississippi en route to Pearl Harbor and then sailed via San Diego and the Panama Canal for New York, where she arrived 30 March 1945.  She entered New York Navy Yard  the next day for much-needed repairs and after finishing her overhaul, departed the United States 22 June 1945 and served in Europe from July 1945 to January 1946.

She was decommissioned  on 18 April 1945 and sold for scrap in August 1947.

During her service, the Gridley earned ten Battle Stars.

--GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 5: Action in the Marianas, Battle of the Philippine Sea, Iwo Jima and Peleliu

1944

On 7 June 1944, the Gridley sailed with the  the USS Hornet  Task Force 7 to take part in the invasion of the Marianas, where the attacks were made on  Saipan, Rota and Guam.  In all these engagements the Gridley and other destroyers protected the U.S. carriers from Japanese air and submarine attack.

The Gridley was also at the pivotal  Battle of the Philippine Sea 19-20 June 1944, when four waves of Japanese  torpedo bombers and escort fighters were decimated by  fleet air and surface units.  Gridley's anti-aircraft fire and protected the carriers.  As a result of this battle, Japanese air strength virtually ceased to exist.

The ship departed Eniwetok Atoll 30 June 1940 bound with the carriers for strikes on Iwo Jima, Guam, Yap, Ulithi,  and the Volcano Islands.  She directly supported the American landings on Peleliu 15 September 1944, shooting down at least one Japanese plane.

--GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 4: Operations in the Pacific

In the fall of 1942, the Gridley performed escort duty  in the Fijis and New Hebrides  On 13 July 1943, she  guarded high-speed transports rescuing survivors of the cruiser USS Helena.  Next, the ship was involved with the attacks on Tambatuni, New Georgia, where  she bombarded shore installations near the landing areas.

Next the Gridley  and six other destroyers destroyed Japanese landing barges at Vella Gulf 10 August then screened the carrier USS Saratoga during air operations in the Solomons until 25 August,  Then back to Pearl Harbor and San Diego where much needed repairs were made from 11 September to  26 October 1943.

Next destination were the Gilbert Islands and the attack on Makin Island.

In 1944 she was involved in the offensive operations in the Marshall Islands acting as a screening ship for the Saratoga again.  The islands of Wotje and Eniwetok and then to the New Hebrides and on to the developing  New Guinea offensive.

--GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 3: Back and Fort, Pearl Harbor and Alaska

The Gridley was built at Boston Navy yard and fitted out there before cruising in the Caribbean and then through the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean.  Then back to the east coast and then back to the west coast again in 1939, where she became the flagship of destroyer Division 11.

In April 1940, the ships of Division 11 moved to Hawaii and operated in those waters.

The Gridley left Pearl Harbor on November 28, 1941, as part of the anti-submarine screen for the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise out to Wake Island and then were going back to Pearl Harbor and approaching it  on the morning of December 7 when they heard the base was under attack.

The Gridley entered the harbor the next day to protect against further attacks.

During the next five months, she was involved with escorting transports and repair ships to and from Pearl Harbor and areas in the South Pacific.  In June 1942, the Gridley operated in Alaskan waters and participated in the bombardment of Kiska 7 August 1942.

While there, she served as the flagship of noted destroyerman  Commander Frederick Moosbrugger.

--GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 2: General Characteristics

LAUNCHED:    1 December 1936

COMMISSIONED:   24 June 1937

DECOMMISSIONED:   18 April 1946

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GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

LENGTH:  340 feet 10 inches

BEAM:  35 feet 10 inches

DRAFT:   12 feet 9 inches

SPEED:  38.5 knots

COMPLEMENT:  158

ARMAMENT:

four 5-inch guns, four .50 caliber machine guns, sixteen 21-inch torpedo tubes

--GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 1: The Gridley Class of Destroyers

The USS Gridley (DDG-101) was the featured current U.S. warship for the month of October 2021.  It is the fourth Navy ship named for Charles Vernon Gridley (of the "You may fire when ready, Gridley" fame).

The first USS Gridley was a Wickes-class destroyer (DD-92) launched in 1918 and decommissioned  in 1922.  I wrote about that one in November's Cooter's History Thing blog.  The USS Gridley (DD-380) was the second ship to bear the name.  I will write about it here since it fought in World War II.

The USS Gridley (DD-380) was the lead ship of her class of destroyers.  There were just four destroyers in her class.  The other three:

USS Craven (DD-382)  1937-1946  (Named after Tunis Craven USN, killed at Battle of Mobile Bay)

USS McCall  (DD-400)  1938-1945  (Named after Edward McCall who fought in the War of 1812)

USS Maury  (DD-401) 1938-1945  (Named after Matthey Maury, USN and CSN)

--GreGen

Pennsylvania Military Museum Creating New Mounts for USS Pennsylvania Guns

From the November 12, 2021, WJAC 6 NBC News by Gary Sinderson.

Staff at the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg have given an update on the project to build new mounts for the pair of the battleship USS Pennsylvania's 14-inch cannons.

The guns are huge, each weighing in at close to 70 tons.  When it first sailed over 100 years ago (1916), it was one of the largest warships in the world.  It did not see action in WW I, but did see a lot in WW II and was damaged at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked.

It was finally sunk after being involved with nuclear testing during Operation Crossroads in 1948.  Two of its 14-inch main guns were removed during a 1945 overhaul and were found in storage in 2009 and transported to the museum.

The guns are not damaged, but need a new concrete mount.  This is expected to happen at some point next year.

--GreGen

80 Years On,the Told and Untold Stories of Pearl Harbor-- Part 6: The Burial of Frank R, Carbiness, USMC

A picture accompanied the article of the burial of  Pfc Frank  R. Carbiness, USMC, at the USS Arizona Memorial.

As National Park Service historian Daniel Martinez salutes,  Jerry Carbiness hands the remains of his father to divers t be interred  inside the USS Arizona, Friday, December 23, 2011, in Honolulu.

Pfc. Carbiness, whom was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, narrowly  avoided getting hit by  machine gun fire, and luckily his only injury was  from friction burns suffered when he slid down a ladder while rushing to get off the ship.

Carbiness died in 2002, and is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona.

--GreGen

80 Years On, the Told and Untold Stories of Pearl Harbor-- Part 5: A Marine Rejoins His Shipmates on the USS Arizona After His Death

Survivors of the USS Arizona have their stories too.

One of those is that of Marine Pfc Frank R. Cabiness.

He was one of the Arizona's  337 survivors and went on to survive the war and live a long life.

He died at age 83 in 2003.

As a crew member of the Arizona, he was at his battle station manning a machine gun when he was forced to abandon the burning ship.

His family said that he wanted his remains placed in the stricken vessel to be with his shipmates when he died.

And, so he was.

Four Navy divers placed the urn containing his ashes in Turret 4 in the aft part of the USS Arizona, which lies about 15 feet below the water.

--GreGen

80 Years On, the Told and Untold Stories of Pearl Harbor-- Part 4: The Story of Stephen Pepe of the USS Oklahoma

While Eugene Marchand was watching the attack unfold from the hospital, another sailor in the harbor was doing all he could to save his shipmates on the USS Oklahoma.

His name was Stephen Pepe.

He was a water tender/fireman on that ship, responsible for stoking the boilers to keep the ship moving.

His niece, Terry Kovaks, 90,  remembers him as a big man with a big heart.

Then in 2018, she learned that he was coming home for internment after his remains were unidentified after recovery from the stricken ship.  But Terry and her daughter  Barbara Kovaks gave DNA which led to his identification.

Stephen Pepe did not live to tell his story, but the Kovaks received a packet of information from the Navy including a story from one of Stephen's shipmates on the Oklahoma, Finch Stowell.  His widow, Lida, had told a reporter what he had told her about that day.

It said that Pepe had put himself in danger to save his buddies and paid the ultimate price.

When the ship was hit by all the torpedoes and began to capsize, it began filling up with water.  Finch Stowell was outside a porthole and pulling men to safety.  Unfortunately, Pepe was too big to fit through it, but he didn't try to find another way out, but stayed by the porthole and pushed the men out.

--GreGen

80 Years On, the Told and Untold Pearl Harbor Stories-- Part 3: Eugene Marchand, Survivor

Some of the 40 Pearl Harbor survivors have told their stories.  Others may not have.  It is a personal decision and often a hard one.

Horror is hard to repeat.

This was the case with Eugene Marchand, one of the survivors no longer with us.    A few years before his death, with the 60th anniversary approaching, he told in an interview with the Sun Chronicle that for many years after the war he could not bring himself to buy anything made in Japan.

At the time, he was a carpenter's mate  first class  on the destroyer USS Cassin, in drydock.  It was hit by bombs.  He wasn't on board at the time, but in a naval hospital recovering from appendicitis.

He watched the attack from the hospital roof and what he was seeing defied any description.  He could see the chaos in front of him and hear the hundreds of wounded below him in pain and agony.

--GreGen

It Was 80 Years Ago-- Part 2: The Attack on Pearl Harbor

It was 80 years ago that the United States was suddenly attacked at Pearl Harbor.

In commemoration of it, this blog will be about the event this whole week.  I will also write about it in six of my other seven blogs.

Judging from the number of alerts I have been getting on Yahoo this past week, it is not something that has been forgotten.  This I am extremely happy about.

I was born ten years after the attack in 1951.

And, I worry that the younger generations will forget about it or not have the opportunity to learn about it.

Anyway, this is my small attempt to avoid this happening.

The GreGen I use as a sign off is short for Greatest Generation.  Though I am not a member of it, I sure respect them for all that they did.  Living through both the Great depression and then World War II.  That was something.

Not Forgetting Whatsoever.  --GreGen

80 Years On, the Told and Untold Stories of Pearl Harbor-- Part 1

The December 4, 2021, Sun Sentinel  by George W. Rhodes.

"It's 80 years on and they're almost gone."

According to a National Park Service news release earlier this month,  150  veterans of World War II, including 40 who were there at Pearl Harbor that day in 1941, will be attending the annual day of remembrance in Pearl Harbor tomorrow.

If not 100 years old, Pearl Harbor survivors are near it.  Those who were 20 years old back then are now 100.  Some were younger, some older.

Those 40 sure have some stories to tell about that day and some have told them.

--GreGen

'Dog Tag Man' on Biak-- Part 2: Fred W. O'Connor's Dog Tag

For decades, Mr. Wakum and others have combed the Biak battlefields and nearby islands, recovering weapons, munitions and bones of soldiers.

Mr. Wakum says he has found the dog tags of 30 Americans and wears some around his neck.  He sold others years ago to help pay for his brother's education and now regrets doing so.

There is a photo accompanying the article of the dog tag of Fred W. O'Connor, who survived the war, but lost it on the island.

Last year, the U.S. and Indonesian governments  agreed to establish a joint operation to find and repatriate the remains of American soldiers lost in action across the vast archipelago which is Indonesia.  Biak is a heavily forested island about he size of Maui that lies off the northwest coast of New Guinea.

He and a cousin recently explored an area of coral outcroppings where American soldiers had camped during the battle and that is where they found the dog tag of Fred W. O'Connor of Schenectady, New York.  Soldiers losing their dog tags was fairly common.

The O'Connor family was notified and quite astounded by the news.  Mr. O'Connor served in the infantry in Papua, New Guinea and the Southern Philippines campaigns and participated in major assaults without ever being wounded.

He died in California in 2004 at age 83.

--GreGen

'Dog Tag Man' on the Island of Biak, Indonesia-- Part 1

Until a few weeks ago, I don't think I'd ever heard of the battle that took place here.  However, it was one of the battles the destroyer USS Russell (DD-414) took part in and there was an article in a recent World War II magazine on it.

It was part of the Western New Guinea Campaign.

From the December 2, 2021, New York Times  " 'Call Me Dog Tag Man':  Pacific island is full of relics and human remains" by Dera Menra Sijabat and  Richard C. Paddock.'

On a remote coral island in Indonesia, a history lover who keeps a collection of old bombs in his living room scours the jungle for war relics -- and sometimes finds human bones, too.

"People call me  Dog Tag Man," said Alberth Wakum, who hopes one day to open a museum showcasing his discoveries.  "I preserve evidence of history and keep it from perishing."

The island of Biak, where Mr. Wakum, 58, has spent nearly his entire life, was the scene of a fierce battle in World War II as General MacArthur campaigned to wrest the western Pacific from Japanese forces.  There were thousands of casualties on both sides.

The remains of about 150 American soldiers who died there have never been found.  They are among the 1,900 American service members believed to have been killed  in Indonesia over the course of the war whose remains have never been found.

--GreGen

British Woman Captures German Aviator on Home Soil

From the November26, 2021, Daily Mail (UK)  "Story of Yorkshire woman who was the first to capture a German airman on home soil" by Harry Howard.

When farmer's wife  Evelyn Cardwell spotted a German aviator parachuting down after his Junkers  88 was shot down by a RAF Hurricane fighter plane, she marched toward him and ordered him to put his hands up.

When the story broke in July 1940,  she was awarded an MBE by King George VI for her bravery.

And, she was unarmed.  She walked right up to him, pointed at the pistol on his hip and ordered him to give it up.  He smile wryly and handed it to her and she marched him along the road until the police arrived.

His Junkers 88's pilot had been killed, but the other three crew members survived and parachuted down.

I imagine since he knew he was on British soil further efforts to escape or defend himself would have been useless.

A Brave Woman Nonetheless.  --GreGen