The First Sealion Submarine (SS-195)

The Sealion (SS315) that sank the Japanese battleship Kongo was the second submarine by that name.  It replaced this one.

From Wikipedia.

It was a Sargo-class submarine.  Her keel was laid down 20 June 1938 by the Electric Boat Co. of Groton, Connecticut.  Launched on 25 May 1939 and commissioned  27 November 1939.

GEBERAL CHARACTERISTICS

LENGTH:   310' 6"

BEAM:  26 feet 10 inches

SPEED:  21 knots surfaced, 8.75 submerged

TEST DEPTH:  250 feet

COMPLEMENT:  5 officers, 54 enlisted

ARMAMENT:

Eight 21-inch torpedo tubes:  four forward, four aft

24 torpedoes

One 3-inch deck gun

four machine guns

--GreGen

WW II Veteran Celebrates 103rd Birthday: Technical Sgt. Raymond Kenney

From the August 28, 2021,  Fox 23 News  Tulsa, Oklahoma.

World War II Veteran Technical Sergeant  Raymond Kenney celebrated his 103rd birthday at the Tulsa VFW on Saturday.

When Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, he was working at  the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in New Haven, Connecticut.  He immediately wanted to enlist, but couldn't because he was working  in a defense plant.  he told his employer that he wanted to be a Marine and that he would train a replacement if they would release him to serve.

Kenney joined the Marine Corps on August 20, 1942, and shipped off to Parris Island, South Carolina,  for boot camp.  While there, he was asked if he had any flight training, which he had,  so he was shipped off to flight training school and awarded his Naval Aviator Wings.

He was then ordered to Cherry Point, North Carolina, to join MAG (Marine Air Group) 35 of the 2nd Marine  Aircraft Wing.

He flew both  the Douglas SBD (Scout Bomber Douglas) Dive-bombers and  the F4U3 Corsairs.

After the Japanese surrender, he served with the occupation forces of Japan until April 22, 1946, when he returned home.

--GreGen

Floyd Welch, Pearl Harbor Survivor on the USS Maryland, Dies at Age 99-- Part 1

From the August 18, 2020, West Hawaii  "Floyd Welch, survivor of Pearl Harbor, dies at 99" by Pat Eaton-Robb.

Floyd Welch, who is credited with saving  the lives of fellow sailors in the attack, has died at age 99 on August 17 in East Lyme, Connecticut.

He was born in February 1921 in Burlington, Connecticut and was serving on the USS Maryland that December 7, 1941.

He said he was coming out of the shower when he heard the first alarm and later the explosions from bombs and torpedoes.  Coming deckside, he saw a raging fire and the USS Oklahoma, tied up next to the Maryland, was turned over.  He first started helping pull Oklahoma survivors out of the water.

"By using blueprints of the Oklahoma, so as not to burn into a fuel void, we began the long and extremely difficult process of  cutting holes through the bottom steel plates of the Oklahoma," he said in his remembrance of the battle.  "When we could see the planes coming, we would try to find cover.  We would cut near where we heard the trapped crewmen tapping.  In all, I believe 33 men from the Oklahoma were rescued through these holes."

--GreGen

B-17 Crash Raises Questions About Vintage Plane Safety-- Part 3: Twenty-One Accidents with WW II-Era Bombers Since 1982

Arthur Wolk continued:  "No one alive went through the military training program for these aircraft. The engines are old with no new parts being manufactured for decades.  Even in service, these planes needed the resources of a government to keep them flying.  The aircraft and engines were never intended to last this long so intense maintenance and inspections are vital to continued safety."

Since 1982, the National Transportation Safety Board has investigated 21 accidents involving World War II-era bombers.  They resulted in 23 deaths.  Three of those accidents involved B-17Gs, not counting the one that crashed Wednesday.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, asked that the NTSB during its investigation of the Connecticut accident look at the inspection and maintenance requirements on vintage planes and whether they need to be more vigorous.

--GreGen

B-17 Crash Raises Questions About Safety-- Part 2: A Fiery Crash Killed Seven

But a deadly crash in Connecticut last week of the same B-17 that Gloria Bouillon rode in has cast a pall over the band of brothers and sisters who enjoy riding in vintage planes and raised questions of whether machinery over 70 years old should be flying passengers.

The propeller driven 1945 bomber crashed Oct. 2 at the Hartford airport, killing seven of 13 people aboard after a pilot reported engine trouble on takeoff.  The cause of the fiery wreck is under investigation.

Arthur Alan Wolk, a lawyer who specializes in crash litigation in Philadelphia, said Friday that the accident shows the risks associated with flying old planes:  They break.

He said the rules for operating vintage aircraft are stringent, but he questioned whether compliance and training are adequate.

"No one alive ever flew or maintained one of these aircraft in service," he wrote in a blog post.

--GreGen

Shorpy Home Front Photos: Making Parachutes

JUNE 19, 2014  PIONEER PARACHUTE: 1942:

August 1942.  "Production.  Parachute making.  As these two girls thread shroud cords through the material, these yards of silk become more recognizable as one of the parachutes turned out by this eastern plant.  Pioneer Parachute Co., Manchester, Ct."  William Ritasse, OWI.

COMMENT:  The company became Pioneer Aerospace Corporation and in 1988 was purchased by Zodiac Parachute and Protection and still makes parachutes and aerial delivery systems.

COMMENT:  Manchester was a major center of silk production for over a century.  It is nicknamed "Silk City."  The first silk factory opened in 1804.  It had been in decline during the years preceding World War II, but the war gave it a great boost.

--GreGen

Pearl Harbor Survivor Jack Stoeber Dies

From the Jan. 21, 2016, Milford (Ct.) Mirror by Jill Dion.

Jack Stoeber, 98, died Jan. 16, 2016.  he graduated from Milford High School in 1936 and was on the USS Whitney during the attack.  Afterwards he was Chief Carpenter's Mate on the USS Pickens at Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the Philippines.

At Pearl Harbor, Mr. Stoeber was 21 and wasn't supposed to even be on board the Whitney as he was supposed to meet his uncle on Saturday night, but the plans changed and he returned to his ship.

He had just gotten out of the shower when the attack came.  The Whitney suffered no damage, but he said, "A loader got hit with shrapnel in the arm, but that was it.  They were going after the battleships."

Reporting to a gun on his ship, he said, "I hit one plane flying down low, and he crashed."

--GreGen

Another Pearl Harbor Survivor Dies, Harold George Slater, 94

From the jan. 14, 2016, NBC Connecticut "Pearl harbor, World War II Veteran Dies at 94."

Died jan. 13, 2016.

Born in Connecticut in 1921.  Joined the Army at age 16.  Stationed at Fort DeRussey, Battery C, 64th Coast Artillery Division.  Then it became Fort Shafter.

He was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked and later landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy after D-Day.   Mr. Slater moved across France, Belgium, was at the Battle of the Bulge and then into Germany.

He trained recruits for 18 months during the Korean War.

Past president of the Nutmeg Chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association for about twenty years until it disbanded.

--GreGen