Not long ago I asked Jesse for a list of the ships he's worked on since he started at the shipyard. The idea was for me to learn a little about them because I know nothing about the Navy except for the ship he was stationed on. He rattled off 17 names - about 10 more than I remember ever hearing about! Lotsa learning to do :)
I was amazed to learn there have been three Seawolf subs, and shocked to learn the first Seawolf was sunk by planes from a US carrier(s) in WWII.
USS Seawolf SS-197
Then I began to see that many ships have been renamed for ships no longer in the fleet. I knew Jesse's ship, USS Bridge was one of them but I didn't realize at the time that its a common practice. Except for the nuclear carriers I guess, because they're all fairly recent US Presidents -- except John C Stennis wasn't a president....no clue who he was but he must have carried some pretty heavy water. Like I said, still got lots to learn!
Somehow or other I got interested in the USS Houston, the first one.
USS Houston, Heavy Cruiser
Perhaps it was because the ship was described as FDR's "personal" ship and I've read a lot about him since 1996. I'll share the story with you as soon as I've finished the 2nd book. Do I sense eyes rolling out there!?
If you want to jump ahead the books are The Last Battle Station (1985) and Ship of Ghosts* (2006). Thank goodness I can find really cheap used copies on Amazon.com, I use it a lot! The 2nd book took longer to get ahold of but I finally snagged a used copy from ebay. It's twice as long as the older book, has lengthy notes - indicating that more has come to light I hope - and different pictures.
*"...Eight thousand miles from home, trapped on the wrong side of the tear that Imperial Japan rent in the fabric of the Pacific Ocean's realm, they ran a gauntlet through the war's first eighty-four days that would have been an epic unto itself in another time. And yet the history books scarcely report it. Any number of histories of the Pacific war pass over the story of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet and her redoubtable flagship as if they had never existed..."
I can tell you right now that what was done to them was and is shameful.
To be continued...
If you want to jump ahead the books are The Last Battle Station (1985) and Ship of Ghosts* (2006). Thank goodness I can find really cheap used copies on Amazon.com, I use it a lot! The 2nd book took longer to get ahold of but I finally snagged a used copy from ebay. It's twice as long as the older book, has lengthy notes - indicating that more has come to light I hope - and different pictures.
*"...Eight thousand miles from home, trapped on the wrong side of the tear that Imperial Japan rent in the fabric of the Pacific Ocean's realm, they ran a gauntlet through the war's first eighty-four days that would have been an epic unto itself in another time. And yet the history books scarcely report it. Any number of histories of the Pacific war pass over the story of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet and her redoubtable flagship as if they had never existed..."
I can tell you right now that what was done to them was and is shameful.
To be continued...
