Day 1

Greetings everyone. Above is a photo of where I'll be spending the next four days.

This is not a complaint, mind you, but researching isn't as fun as it might initially seem. Unless you are completely retired and without obligation, time is always a factor that rears it's head. Five days isn't that much time. And when you find records that are interesting, but "off topic" you have to strike a balance. Get too off track and you won't get what you came for, but it's possible you won't find it anyway and it's good to at least have something, even if it's not what you originally came for.

I compensate somewhat by creating a process to scan things in as quickly as possible. Photos are kept in individual mylar sleeves.. .while one is scanning, I take the next one out and keep it ready. When the scan stops, I switch photos, laying the one just scanned down outside of its mylar until after the next one starts... I figure I save maybe 2-3 seconds off each scan that way, but it can certainly add up over time. I also use the scan time to update noes, create folders, etc.. I treat it like any other OODA loop and work to decrease the time each evolution takes.

Enough theory, time for some fun pictures.



The US Navy labeled its camouflage designs as "measures" in WWII, with some of the official wild dazzle schemes defined in "patterns." I think I have discovered a previously unknown Measure, that of "Measure Van Gogh."

Certainly looks impressionistic, doesn't it? I only wish I'd found a color shot so we could see how she looked in real life. That's APD-6 Stringham in December 1942 at Mare Island, by the way.

This next shot was part of a series of 4 that were marked "USS San Francisco" on the back, in a folder for CA-38 San Francisco. This one was simply captioned, "Cabin:"



I don't buy it. Sure, she was commissioned in 1934 when things weren't quite as spartan as wartime regulations, but that's a bit over the time, and I think this is from an earlier ship, probably C-5 San Francisco.

Last one for today, another miss-file, this one humorously so. This popped up in a folder for CL-48 USS St. Louis:



That's right folks, an F-18 HORNET. Who knew the Navy wanted to operate them from WWII cruisers?