Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 14:07:26 -0400 From: Dawn Marie Estlow Stillings Subject: Navy Yard Hi y'all I did make it the Washington Navy Yard..... As some already anticipated, there is a bit of bad news, most of the World War II records have JUST been transferred to the Archives at College Park. Oh, and this was a disappointment-- I brought cash and a credit card for backup. Naturally, the policy was checks and money orders only. But that's okay, there is plenty of good news, too. On Adm. Rickover---- consider writing a book. His biography folder was THREE folders. The Navy Yard's Operational Archives keeps biography folders on officers. (They use to have a Biography Branch, but it got cut.) For Rickover, they have one folder dedicated to Navy biographical info, one of summaries (!) and one of every newspaper article, quote or mention of his name. I didn't know how much info was needed. I would have picked up one of the summaries, if I had a CHECK. However, I wrote down the info on how to request it. The cost may be about $3. I also began writing down some info, which I will e-mail later. I learned so much about this guy. I had no idea of the extent of his significance. I know he wrote a few books, which I am interested in reading now, but someone ought to look into his autobiography if it hasn't been written already. Oh, I should explain the Navy Yard to those of you who have not been there. It is a real working Navy Yard. I thought it was going to be more of a pomp and circumstance, office building, museum kind of place. It is all that but so much more. To get in, I really had to show a driver's license from which a great deal of info was written. Then I was asked why I was driving a car with Virginia license plates since I was from Maine. I had to explain which buildings (they're numbered) I would be visiting and why. The guard was very polite, yet VERY serious. Civilians can only park in blue or white marked spaces. Naturally, I could only find red, yellow and green marked ones. I kind of thought the Ships' History, Operational History and Archives would be like a big library----WRONG. I'm glad I went into this with an open mind and acceptence of this as a fact finding mission. I came away feeling like a got a great deal accomplished and got really excited about some findings. I can't wait to go back again when I have more time. For those of you willing to read this novel, I'll continue--- The building is being renovated. I knew that because there was info available on the WNY web page. Also, those areas are closed on Wednesday which made my visit more difficult. (We had a lot of other plans and family members in for a reunion/surprise party.) The Ships' History branch was a bit of a bust. The woman wasn't very helpful and I didn't have time to deal with her. She sent me up to the Operational Archives. Once I got all signed in and gave them everything but a blood sample, things got moving. They issue you a handful of pencils, NO pens in the archives or work rooms. I'm still not sure why. No food, no beverages, no smoking, I was however quietly chewing a piece of gum. They issue you pads of paper and check all of your notes when you sign out. No materials can be taken from the work room and you can't roam the archives looking for a cool report. You have to know what you want. Well, I didn't have a clue. The items that I had specifics on were at the National Archives, so I had to try to wing it.... A guy in civilian clothing (he was the only one not in uniform and I'm not sure what his story is) was quite helpful. First he explained that most of what I wanted had just been shipped to the Archives at College Park and gave me the phone number. When he found out that I was doing research for a group of people putting info on the Internet, he got excited. He wished that we could get EVERYTHING on!! He brought me into a room where civilians don't usually go. His first thought was the damage reports. These were unlike some summaries I've already seen on other web-pages. The "books" have extensive reports of every scratch each ship received. Then it has fold out (to about legal size) pages of blue print-style drawings which pin point damage. Then it has drawings of how the metal was bent or twisted or missing. They looked like photos - tremendous work. There are damage books for each ship and then summary type books for wider time periods including all ships at that time. I copied (by hand) some of these damage reports for Light Cruisers. He (the guy that was helping me) thinks that we should get all of these scanned and onto the Interent. I am not a veteran, but he told me that this is the stuff guys talk about at the reunions and that there is a lot of interest in these damage reports. This is where I get excited. Many things are on fiche there. He said reels of fiche can be copied by them for $20 a reel. If we go through the national Archives is is like $.30/page and thus VERY expensive. So his first thought is to go through his branch. But- since we'd like a lot of information, it makes more sense to try to work out a deal with the Navy to get this stuff either for free of for an even more nominal cost. They probably can't afford a staff to get this stuff on the interent or they would do it themselves. With all of our defense cut-backs, the general public would probably not be happy increaing spending for Internet buffs. However, I think they would like the information to be accessible. This guy was really excited about these web-sites. I think we could prepare a good case to work out a deal. I also got very pumped up when I went to the Navy Art Gallery. At first I was a little down. It was a tiny one-room exhibit with mabe fifty paintings/sketches on the walls. I squeezed through the "Authorized Personnel Only" door and found someone to ask questions about the Combat Artists. Shepler was on the San Juan on his way to Guadal Canal. I wanted to see the pictures. I also knew almost nothing about the Combat Artist program. For those of you who care..... there were 8 combat artists in WW II, I think 5 in Korea, 2 for a period after that and barely 1 during Vietnam. During Vietnam, the combat artist's role was changed dramaticly and he took along a civilian. Back to WW II- I was amazed to see the extensive work of the Combat Artist. I few drawings are in my grandfather's Cruise Book, but I didn't understand the program. Like the paintings I've seen of the Civil War, the Comabt Artist replaces the camera. They document everything- from portraits, to entire battles, to village civilians, to damaged church steeples, to hands pulling on rope. I'm sure you all know. Their work is in every genre - charcoal, water colors, pencil, oils, everything. Most are in storage, there are thousands! I couldn't see Shepler's orginals, so I was given a few hundred documentation cards to flip through. This was very exciting. Each card documents the art work in great detail: the artist's name, rank, etc.., where he was stationed, his artwork task, what the subject matter was, details such as dimension and genre, a black and white phot of the artwork and then some artist's notes. This was really neat. Example, I knew from the San Juan Cruise Book that early on they had detroyed a Japanese PT boat and taken 16 prisoners. Shepler painted the rescue from the sea and sketched the interrogation of one of the prisoners. On the documetation card there are additional notes regarding info not in the cruise book: the prisoners were surprised at how well they were treated by the enemy. The "commander" or highest ranking prisoner tried to commit hari-kari in his cell and took off half of his scalp. I would never have know this. Well, this is the type of insight I got by reading a few hundred of these cards! I asked if these painting are shown at galleries. While the response was "yes", it seems that they don't get out much. I am looking into showing them at our gallery, here in Portland. The Bath Iron Works is an intregal part of our economy and way of life around here. During the War, the Portland Yard (Fore River Yard) fitted many ships that were built at other Yards. The San Juan was built by Beth Steel but was fitted here in Portand! I thought it would be interesting for our local gallery to show the ships that came through Portland. We could see what was the result of our hard labor and at the same time learn new things about the War and the people in it. The work is extensive. Maybe we could even sponsor a tour of Light Cruisers. It is not as narrow as one may think. There are thousands and thousands of pieces of art encompassing so many aspects of the war. I don't have with me right now the info I brought back from the Navy Yard. I will pass that along later this week. My time was quite short. I only had a four hours and nearly two of them were dedicated to driving. Some may view this as a bust, but I had a great time being there and am very excited about the future. "Talk" to you later....... Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 16:07:43 -0400 From: Dawn Marie Stillings Subject: Damage Reports / Adm Rickover / Fiche These are not those wonderful detail reports I described a few days ago. These are all of the Light Cruiser reports from two summary books I was assigned. You may have this info already... ATLANTA 11/13/42 Guadalcanal * Gunfire - 49 * Surface Torpedo - 1 * Sunk by demolition charges * 8" AP 5 1/2" HE 5" common 3" projectile damage topside * 1 destroyer torpedo struck forward engine room, por tside * Moderate flooding JUNEAU 11/13/42 Guadalcanal * Surface Torpedo - 1 * Sub Torpedo - 1 * Blew up after 2nd torpedo hit * Damaged by destroyer torpedo hit on port side forward fireroom during night action * Blew up & disappeared in approx 60 seconds when sub torpedo hit on port side * Little info - conflicting reports MARBLEHEAD 02/02/42 Java Sea (War Damage Report #34) * Bomb - 3 * First bomb struck starboard side upper deck at frame 46 * Second bomb struck port side main deck at frame 125-1/2 * Near miss on port side bow at frame 25-plating dished and ruptured BOISE 10/11/42-10/12/42 Savo Islands (War Damage Report #24) * Gunfire - 8 * Gunfire damange forward of bridge - forward 3 turrets put out of action by magazine powder fire SAN JUAN 10/26/42 Santa Cruz * Bomb - 1 * Bomb hit at frame 128 passed through ship with minor damage to rudder HELENA 11/13/42 Guadalcanal *Gunfire - 5 * Minor projectile and fragment damage topside ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To request the biographical info on Adm. Rickover from the Navy Yard: These reports are in the biographical folder stamped: "Filed in Bios/Smooth" * 6 page biographical "smooth" summary (typed) * 1 page military medals * 2 page officer biography sheet submitted 10/31/56 (personnel) * 3 page transcript of Naval Service Rickover ID # Pers-E24-1K 57728/1400 As I mentioned before, there is a whole file dedicated to just newspaper/magazine clippings. The above referenced info is easy to ask for and is actually already copied for distribution. I began writing info by hand until I realized that it was a futile attempt. This is what I got down, but it's included in the above referenced material... Hyman George Rickover * born 01/27/00 * John Marshall High School, Chicago * 1918 Annoplis, Ensign 06/02/22 * 07/01/53 Rear Adm, 10/24/58 Vice Adm, 12/03/73 Retired Adm list * Consecutive duty 04/27 LoVallette & Nevada * return Annopolis for electrical engineering at USN Post Grad School * Master of Science in Electrical Engineering 12/29 Columbia, NY * 01/30-06/30 submarine training at New London * Consecutive duty S-9, S-48 * Qualified to command subs 08/04/31 * 07/33-04/35 Office of Inspector of Naval Material, Philadelphi * Sea Duty Engineering Office, New Mexico * 1937 Command Finch on Asiatic Station * Later in 1937, selected for engineering duty at Navy Yard, Cavite, Philippine Islands * 08/39 Bureau of Ships, DC through WWII * 02/07/46 Legion of Merit as Head of Electronics Section Bureau of Ships * 11/09/45 British made him Honorary Commander of Military Division of Most Excellent Order of the British Empire * 04/45-07/45 Temporary duty Staff of Commander, Service Force, US Pacific Fleet "'That's all she wrote"...... By this time, I decided that transcribing his life was NOT an efficient task. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FICHE is requested from a series of pink cards. My "helper" at the Operational Archives gave me some cards that would probably pertain to us. I wrote down the info. These can be copied by the Navy Yard for $20. They send the whole role of fiche to "some place" to be printed. I think it is worth our while to figure out what we'd like and negotiate for free copies or a reduced price. Chances are that $20 doesn't even cover their costs! Anyway...... Cruiser Ops * NRS 1972-25 BuSHips Summary of War Damage Series Cruisers 1941-45 * NRS 1974-4 USF-75 Current Tactical Orders & Doctrine Cruiser Aircraft Cruiser/Destroyer Flotilla 3 * NRS 374-OpOrder 301A-61-Evaluation of NTDS * NRS 653-RVN support cruise 1967 Cruisers, Scouting Force * NRS 1973-11 WWII Diary Cruisers, Task Force 17 * NRS 1973-45 WWII Diary Cruisers, US Pacific Fleet * NRS 1971-17 Midway Battle Report I Have to run, but there's more..... Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 09:01:46 -0400 From: Dawn Marie Stillings Subject: Fiche Continued.... Sorry to end so abruptly. I forgot to pick up my daughter from play practice and had to literally RUN to my car. So, here is the complete list of fiche recommendations from "my helper" at WNY. I believe they are requested by the NRS number. Cruiser Ops * NRS 1972-25 BuSHips Summary of War Damage Series Cruisers 1941-45 * NRS 1974-4 USF-75 Current Tactical Orders & Doctrine Cruiser Aircraft Cruiser/Destroyer Flotilla 3 * NRS 374-OpOrder 301A-61-Evaluation of NTDS * NRS 653-RVN support cruise 1967 Cruisers, Scouting Force * NRS 1973-11 WWII Diary Cruisers, Task Force 17 * NRS 1973-45 WWII Diary Cruisers, US Pacific Fleet * NRS 1971-17 Midway Battle Report Cruiser Division 2 * NRS 1971-61 Blockade Runner Reports Cruiser Division 6 * NRS 1971-17 Midway Battle Report Cruiser Division 7 * NRS 657 Cherbourg Bombardment Report Comments & Report * NRS 1984-30 War Diary March-November 1942 Cruiser Division 12 * NRS 1975-7 Empress Augusta Bay Battle AR Cruiser Ops (Individual cruisers/code desig cruiser strikes) * NRS II-320 CINCPACFLT Monthly Ops * NRS II-514 COMINCH Battle Experience Series Well, that's that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For those of you interested in some of the works of Combat Artists, there is a book called "Images of War" that the Gallery recommended to me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The phone number for the National Archives at College Park, where WWII files have been transferred: (301)713-7250. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Admiral Rickover wrote: "Eminent Americans" (short essays) "How the Battleship Maine was Destroyed" (He contends that the damage was characteristic to an internal explosion and not the result of "external" enemy fire.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now that's all folks.... My journey was more fruitful as a fact finding mission. If I can answer any questions, let me know. "Talk" to y'all later...................

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