The U.S. Navy After the War, Nuclear Testing-- Part 5: Carriers Saratoga, Independence and Battleships Arkansas and Nagato

Among the warships targeted  in the Bikini Atoll  Nuclear Target Fleet were two aircraft carriers and five battleships.

They included the  Lexington-class carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3),  which survived the first  blast, but was damaged beyond repair in the second one and the light aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVL-22), which survived both tests. Her radioactive hulk was later taken to San Francisco for further tests and was finally scuttled off the coast of  San Francisco, California.

The battle wagons used at the tests included the USS Arkansas (BB-33), a Wyoming-class  dreadnaught battleship that was crushed by the first test, and the Japanese battleship HIJMS Nagato, which was heavily damaged in the July 25 bombing and sank five days later.

--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 Dent (APD-9)-- Part 2: Lightning Strike Forces

The USS Dent was at San Diego during the attack on Pearl Harbor and immediately got underway to screen the USS Saratoga in a high speed run to Pearl Harbor.  It returned to San Diego 29 December 1941, and then did convoy duty along the West Coast and then went to Alaska until January 1943 when it was converted into a high speed transport 7 March 1943.

It was at New Caledonia 20 April 1943.  Landed troops for assaults on New Georgia, Rendora, Vella Lavella, and Cape Torokina, Bougainville.

It then had an overhaul in Sydney, Australia.

It next landed the 4th Marines on Emirau Island 20 March and then it was at the Altape Islands.  It patrolled off Saipan and Tinian.

From 8 November 19444 to the end of the war, the dent served in San Diego as part of the Amphibious Landing Force.  20 October 1945, it sailed to the East Coast of the U.S. and was decommissioned 4 December 1945 and sold 13 June 1946.

--GreGen

USS Arizona Survivor John Anderson Dies-- Part 1: On the Ship with His Twin Brother

From the Nov. 18, 2015, Twin Cities.com (Minnesota)  "former Minnesotan, oldest survivor of USS Arizona attack, dies at 98" by Helmut Schmidt.

John Anderson was born in Verona, North Dakota and had a twin brother named Jake.  The family moved to Dilworth, Minnesota, where they grew up.  John was one of 355 survivors of the Arizona that day.  His twin brother Jake was one of the 1,177 who did not.  He is also one of the 900 still entombed in the ship.

John began his Navy career on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, then served on a destroyer.  In 1940, he was transferred to the USS Arizona where he joined his twin brother Jake.  Both were turret gunners, though on different turrets.  John also had the additional duty of setting up chairs for Sunday morning worship and had just finished and was eating breakfast when the attack began.

--GreGen

Pearl Harbor Guns Used to Defend Oahu After the Attack

From the Defenses of Pearl Harbor and Oahu 1907-1950.

On July 1945, the guns at Battery Pennsylvania were proof-fired, the last fixed-gun emplacement completed on Oahu.  The work on Battery Arizona was suspended.

In 1948, all armament except the largest permanent batteries were removed from Oahu.

After Pearl Harbor, the Army was desperately looking for ways to augment its coast defense on Oahu.  The Navy offered excess turret mounts to them.

Guns from the USS Arizona's wreck were used as were eight dual 8-inch guns scheduled for removal from the aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga in February 1942.

--GreGen

Navy Pilot Sought and Destroyed Submarines

From the February 6, 2012, Canton (Ohio) Rep "World War II Then and Now: Navy pilot sought and destroyed enemy submarines" by Gary Brown.

MARVIN BLAIR FISHER was a 26-year-old graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and enlisted in the Navy a month before Pearl Harbor. He already had his private pilot's license.

He flew a torpedo bomber off aircraft carriers in the Pacific after getting his Navy Wings July 20, 1942 and flew off several carriers, including the USS Saratofga, before it was sunk.

His job was to protect the fleet and especially its aircraft carriers. Otherwise, he had nowhere to land. He dropped torpedoes and bombs and went after Japanese submarines. "We dropped a lot of depth charges" as well, he said. (Most often I regard depth charges as being dropped by surface ships.)

He added that once, "I actually saw two kamihaze planes hit each other before they could hit their target."

A problem faced by the crews of torpedo bombers was their slow speed and another was that they had to fly a straight course during attacks, making them easy targets: "They were huge planes...we were sitting ducks when we went that slow. And, you can't maneuver well with the load we carried." He recalls meeting Joe Kennedy, JFK's older brother, before he was killed.

Not All Fun and Games. --GreGen

U.S. Aircraft Carriers With a War of 1812 Connection

In my War of 1812 Blog, "Not So Forgotten," I am writing about the USS Ticonderoga, a ship that was sunk and later raised and in danger of falling apart if something is not done.  If memory serves me, I believe there was a World War II aircraft carrier by that name.

I also came across s sister ship of the War of 1812 vessel by the name USS Saratoga, which also was an aircraft carrier.

I'll Have to Do Some More Research.  --GreGen