Challenge Update

I've finished the USS Enterprise Guadalcanal Damage Report other than the final proof reading. That is doable barring big blow-ups at work.

It's been interesting and sobering to read through as I work on it; her Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships Entry just says, " On 24 August a strong Japanese force was sighted some 200 miles north of Guadalcanal and TF 61 sent planes to the attack. An enemy light carrier was sent to the bottom and the Japanese troops intended for Guadalcanal were forced back. Enterprise suffered most heavily of the United States ships, 3 direct hits and 4 near misses killed 74, wounded 95, and inflicted serious damage on the carrier. But well-trained damage control parties, and quick, hard work patched her up so that she was able to return to Hawaii under her own power" but the report highlights more details that paint this in a bit more of a serious light to me:

This bomb detonated almost against the armor plate protecting the ready torpedo and warhead stowage, but no fragments penetrated the armor.

Had this armor not held and the torpedoes been exposed to the blast, what would have happened to the war?

If History happens and no one remembers, did it ever really happen?

My wife and I ate lunch yesterday on the cuise ship MS Rotterdam of the Holland America line. She was docked at Pier 91 in Seattle, former site of US Navy Base Seattle. While I was there, I shot some photos of the USS Green Bay LPD-20 getting under way and heading north. It was a hazy day, so the first shot is much hazier than we'd all prefer, but just imagine it clear in your mind:



As she headed west she became less back lit and stood out in better detail:



However, as I researched to provide some extra information in this post, it became apparent that Navy Base Seattle has been largely forgotten; The first two hits were from images I sent to Navsource some time ago, such as their LST-817 page showing the ship loading for the invasion of Okinawa.

In fact, it's not until you start looking for Smith Cove that you really start finding information out, such as that the house I shot below is known as the Admiral's House:



Looking South from the "Lido Deck" (deck 8) stern, we had a great view of the bulk carrier Tian Du Feng loading grain at the Port of Seattle 'Bulk Marine Terminal':



Other than my wife's iPod disappearing aboard ship, it was a pleasurable morning.

A Challenge!

While looking for some information this morning I came across a damage report that I had on my list, but lower down priority wise. However, I noticed this time that it was for action this month in 1942. So here is my challenge: to see if I can post and proofread 24 pages of text in 13 days! You can follow my progress here!

Update from way high up!

Greetings from 34,00 feet, where I'm winging my way north. I just uploaded the latest update using the in-flight wi-fi as a fun little thing to do.

So, without further ado:

Interview of

LIEUTENANT COMMANDER J. R. LEE, USN
Formerly VS-10 ENTERPRISE, now C.O. AIR GROUP

With Additional Comment By

LIEUTENANT COMMANDER L. J. KIRN, USN
Commanding VS-3

in the
Bureau of Aeronautics
14 April 1943

The Flag goes up at 0700

I'm sitting outsite the San Bruno Archives on my last day here; a half hour before they open. Building facilities just raised the American flag for the day, and 200 feet away the 380 is broadcasting the morning commute to the neighborhood. I'd like to thank John and his team members Mike & Nick for allowing me to tag along with them, without John's invitation this trip wouldn't have been possible. A thanks you as well to Robert Glass of the National Archives, San Bruno, who is "the man" for navy archival holdings here, and the staff, who always make the research here as fun and efficient as one could expect. I'd also like to give a thanks to a new contact, Jerry, who has started researching here and was kind enough to share some information with me; I'm hoping we can collaborate on projects in the future to bring everyone more great documents to read.

So far this trip, like most of them, has not seen the results I was hoping for, but at the same time has exceeded expectations. Fans of Pearl Harbor will be happy as I came across and scanned in many reports and information regarding the attack & its aftermath. Fans of Guadalcanal will be happy as well. I will be busy for many months stitching damage plates back together and posting reports.

Twenty minutes until opening... I'm going to see if I can stitch a damage plate back together before then....

Interesting factoid

Cab fare between The San Francisco Airport and the San Francisco branch of the National Archives is roughly $15, or $45 if you realize when you arrive at the archives that you left your laptop on the plane and have to go back for it.

Thanks to Marcus and Joy and whomever else was in the background of Alaska Airlines for aiding me in its recovery. Thankfully I realized it within about 20 minutes of touch down so it didn't have a chance to get far into the lost & found system.

Only cost me $30 in cab fare and about an hour and 15 minutes of time, which I consider a bargain cost for the lesson, as opposed to loosing a laptop and a week's research time!

I've been stuck in a battleship quagmire... so much good stuff it's hard to get out. Damage reports for California, Nevada, Tennessee, and hopefully Vestal will hopefully be scanned in by the end of the day. Many photos of the ships of Pearl Harbor and the divers that I have not seen before have been scanned in; a section on the salvage divers is probably in the future now.

Time for breakfast and to head to the archives!

The Dangers of Airshows

I have a hereditary pre-disposition to shutter-bugging I got from my Dad; yesterday is a case in point. It was the "Joint Base Lewis McChord" (nee McChord Air Force Base) air show; in something like three hours I shot over 1,000 images. Hooooo boy am I glad I'm digital!

We bopped around, trying to see both the static aircraft and the air show... occasionally when caught by surprise I would shoot from the static aircraft area, which can lead to little oopses like:



Another hazard is weather; in our case we were lucky that the marinelayer of clouds burned off by about 12:30-1PM, but while it was doing so there were times I shot photos like this:



I'm still going through and deleting the blurry shots... my auto-focus hasn't worked well for a while and my skills of keeping a fast-moving aircraft in-focus are still shaky at times, but I had a few nice ones....







Wake-up for tomorrow's flight down to San Francisco is 0-dark-300.