Below is the cover page of the 457-page 4th Edition of "Joining the War at Sea 1939-1945"
-------
While serving as Gunnery Officer on the USS Edison, Dailey was confronted with the aviation technology used by German bombers attacking his ship and others. After transitioning to naval aviation, he experienced first hand many of the innovations in instrument flight that led to the book below.
Now, for illustrated readings, see linked pages:
Aircraft of World War II-"friendlies"
USS West Point AP23 War Cruise-part 1
USS West Point AP23 War Cruise-part 2
Ships and Aircraft of World War II
Supplies critical for Allies in WW II: Ships and Aircraft Delivered
Copyright 2009
The photo above was taken from the walkway behind the Holiday Inn in Portsmouth, Virginia after Y2K. I could not read her hull numbers or stern lettering. One can see from the clean lines and superstructure of this ship that it is a modern, Navy, auxiliary ship. The ship above is part of the U.S. Navy's modern auxiliary fleet, likely built from the keel up for Navy needs.(I have italicized the ending of this paragraph that I wrote in 2005, but see the correction in the next paragraph)
(T. J. Tropea of Ft. Meade, Maryland, 20755, on 11/29/2007, provided my first identification for the ship above, and a correction as to her source. She was built in the UK and purchased to become USNS Spica T-AFS 9 for the U.S. Her British name was RFA Tarbatness. The class was named "Lyness" after the British name of the first in the series of three that the U.S. acquired. Tropea served in the first, T-AFS 8, USNS Sirius, and there is a T-AFS 10, USNS Saturn, original British name RFA Stromness. Sirius is now in service as a training ship for Texas A&M, Spica is being deactivated too, and Saturn is due for inactivation in 2009. Tropea informed the author by e-mail that Spica above was immediately identified by him because of black boot strap on top of the smoke stack. Tropea was the first to report aboard Sirius in January 1981.) Now resume my 2005 discourse.
One feature of the merchantmen of World War II to a sea novice like me, were kingposts. In fact, our recognition cues for such ships went "MKKFKM" or variations. Decoded, on fore and aft centerlines, the letters mean "Mast,Kingpost,Kingpost,Funnel,Kingpost,Mast." A kingpost would consist of a vertical member like a short mast, to which would be attached a boom that could be elevated or lowered depending on cargo lift progress, and in the cruising mode, would be elevated to form the upper arm of the letter K. I see no kingposts in the modern auxiliary above. Those verticals rising from the ships sides, connected by a horizontal overhead member, may relate to cargo. MFM for Mast, Funnel, Mast would still be relevant. Aft of the after mast is a helicopter landing platform. Underneath may be a hangar.
The most memorable auxiliary ship I can recall from World War II was the USS Vulcan. She was a repair ship and my association with her was when she was berthed alongside the breakwater at Mers El Kebir at Oran, Algeria. My ship, the destroyer Edison, was berthed in the space next to her probably 100 times during World War II when Vulcan was the support ship for ComDesMed or Commander Destroyers 8th Fleet. She had the lines of an ocean liner of that era, a good looking ship. Even at a distance one could see two 5"38 cal. guns and a Mk 37 Director mount up forward that told she was not likely fitted out for passenger service. Once aboard, the cavernous machine shops and storage spaces told of her Navy connection. E-mail correspondents who served on her up until the 1990s were testimony to her length of commissioned service, over 50 years by my reckoning. The contours of merchantmen do not change radically from age to age. The USS Ancon and the USS Cristobal were trim liner-conversions of World War II to task force communications ships. The two, sisters ships, would pass for good looking ships in any age.
In this photo, the USS Vulcan, AR-5, is the backdrop for Kelly Hall and Joe Dwyer, DD-439 Edison's Eng. Off. and Asst. Eng. Officer l-r, respectively
Getting troops and material to the battle scenes in World War II required more than warships. From the Maritime Commission and other sources, the Navy purchased, acquired, requisitioned, leased, took out of red lead fleets anchored in rivers, you name it, passenger liners and cargo vessels, and add tankers to support the insatiable thirst for energy. Passenger liners could be converted to troopships and with some upper deck alterations, nests of landing craft could be cradled. These would often become APs or APAs. The USS Doyen served in the war in the Pacific and was designated APA-1. Cargo ships were also obtained from maritime registry shiplines and their superstructure modified to hold even larger landing craft for long oversea transits. When Navy commissioned, these became AKs. Their hulls were suited for supplies that troops would need. As fast as Liberty ships could be built, and they reached a level of one launch a day, they joined the wartime merchant fleet. My destroyer, the USS Edison convoyed many a Liberty with aircraft fuselages, steam locomotives or even motor torpedo boats lashed to the main deck. Liberty ships and the later Victory ships usually went port to port with cargo and in my experience were not used for direct amphibious landings. Liberties were used for ammunition ships right in the offshore landing zones and at Gela Beach at Sicily, the SS Robert Rowan, was hit by a German aircraft. Multiple spectacular explosions followed. At Anzio, Libertys came right into the little port, dropped anchor, and lighters were used to offload them. German heavy artillery shells launched into the harbor made this a harrowing day for any Liberty ship crew.
C-5s and C-17s now shuttle troops and vehicles to remote places. For the Gulf War, the nation tried to get available shipping into action for a major movement of troops and supplies to Kuwait. Saddam Hussein could read in the papers and watch television as one delay after another told the world that this was a poor way to prepare for battle. The U.S. no longer has available a ready source of shipping from maritime sources. The need to convey troops and materiel to a scene of action now demands fast reaction times. This page of this series is simply my way of remembering the Joseph Hewes (she was AP-50), Tasker Bliss, Hugh L. Scott and Edward Rutledge, all of which were sunk in Fedhala Roads Nov. 11,12, 1942. I saw them all go down. I saw many other courageous troopships, supply ships, bulk cargo ships and tankers go down from submarine and aerial torpedoes, and from Luftwaffe standoff weapons. We'll see those weapons in a future page of this series. Two early transport friends, SS Awatea and SS Marnix VanSint Aldegonde, were "conventionally bombed" to the bottom of the Mediterranean.
The ship above is a passenger ship, put into wartime service to move troops from a port of embarkation to a port of debarkation. My destroyer, the Edison escorted this ship many times in World War II. We became attached to the ships we escorted frequently, combatant and non-combatant. We rarely got non-combatant ship names or registry, and I did not obtain the name of this one. But I could never forget a ship with square stacks. I raced for my Kodak-35 camera and did not get all of her, but I got her stacks. The 35mm positive in my possession is marked, "Supreme Pan." I do not know if this vessel survived the war.