It was a cold January day in Virginia and the multitude that gathered to view
the ceremony pressed politely against each other to share their body heat and
block the biting sea breeze.
Macie Vance stood with Nora and Derek. She had a good vantage point but still
had to stand on her toes to get an unobstructed view of the platform erected
near the stern of the floating city towering before them.
Today was the day the USS
Yorktown (CV-10) would be christened and it was a particularly festive occasion
for the thousands who built her. Macie was anxious to see the ship’s sponsor,
the person who would christen her.
Derek was right again, she thought. Back in September, this ship was originally
to be named the Bon Homme Richard. But after the USS Yorktown (CV-5) was sunk at
Midway in June, the Navy Department decided the ship under construction would
be named the Yorktown. The huge ship’s crew would be larger than the population
of Bedford.
After two weeks in welding school, Macie was assigned to a sub-assembly building
welding components. She did this for two months and watched as other young women
were trained and brought online into the shipyard’s workforce. Macie attained
seniority quickly and was promoted to welding plates and bulkheads on the ship.
She often felt like a worker bee in a busy hive as she, along with thousands of
other workers and welders, showed up each day to add to this rapidly growing
ship.
Derek treated her differently since Jake had come to Newport News back in the
summer but there was no doubt in her mind that he still liked her. As a
supervisor higher up on the management chain, he looked out for her and made
sure she was treated fairly. Macie was still confused by her interest in Derek.
Like a moth near a flame, she was attracted to the light but dared not get too
close.
Her personal growth in 1942 mirrored that of the country. She bought an old but
functional tabletop Philco radio at a flea market and listened to every
Presidential “fireside chat” she could. She read the newspaper daily and was
coming to grips with understanding the complex war news.
As 1942 came to a close, a year of transition for the United States, the
American people were clearly more at ease than when the year began. For the most
part, great victories still eluded the Allies but massive defeats no longer
plagued them. The unstoppable war machines of Germany and Japan had finally been
slowed. During the course of the year there were many turning points upon which
the American people could take encouragement.
Japan’s thrust to outflank Australia was blunted in the Battle of the Coral Sea
in May. In August the Americans took the initiative in the South Pacific by
invading and occupying the islands of Guadalcanal and Tulagi at the southernmost
tip of the Solomon Islands chain. The raid on Makin Island a few weeks later by
a small group of Marine Raiders along with the United States Army’s initiative
in New Guinea, signaled that it would be the Americans who would dictate the
time and place of every new battle in the Pacific.
The destruction of most of the Japanese Imperial Carrier Fleet at Midway in June
demonstrated that U.S. aircraft carriers could hand the Japanese serious naval
defeats. That Japan seized Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian chain, the first
invasion of American soil in 128 years, did not panic anyone as it might have
earlier in 1942. The Americans had even bombed Tokyo and other Japanese cities
in April in the famous Doolittle Raid. The earlier setbacks in the Pacific,
notably Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, had all but been eclipsed by the
rising tide of better news. The American people began to sleep less anxiously.
Macie knew that all the news was not good. Precious American aircraft carriers
had been lost in the Pacific staving off Japanese efforts to retake Guadalcanal.
Along with the previously lost Lexington (CV-2) and Yorktown (CV-5), the Wasp
(CV-7) and Hornet (CV-8) were sunk supporting the Marines defending Guadalcanal.
The Enterprise (CV-6) had also been damaged and the Saratoga (CV-3) crippled.
This news gave additional urgency and energy to Macie’s work at the shipyard.
In the Atlantic, the U-Boat attacks that had been an almost daily occurrence in
early 1942, a period that German submarine commanders called the “Happy Time”,
were on the decline. The Americans had instituted a better convoy and escort
system and more effective air patrols rendering the coastal waters of the
eastern seaboard extremely dangerous for German submarines. American merchant
ships were no longer easy pickings. In July, Admiral Donitz ordered all of his
U-Boats back from their patrol zones near the American coast. The U-Boat menace
had not been totally defeated but a small tactical victory had been achieved.
Allied merchantmen could now navigate in and out of American ports in relative
safety.
On the Russian front, the awesome power of the colossal German land and air
forces were stopped in December. The German Wehrmacht and its partners, who once
numbered over 166 combat divisions and over 4,300,000 men, had been whittled
down by the brutal Russian winter of 1941-1942. The fierce counterattacks by
suicidal yet effective Soviet forces finally dealt Hitler’s supermen a severe
defeat at Stalingrad. The German army was still dangerous but no longer able to
mount large-scale offensive operations against the Soviet Union or anyone else.
Macie witnessed first hand the conversion of the American economy from peaceful
to wartime production. Tanks and planes were coming off the assembly lines where
automobiles had previously been built. Ships of all shapes and sizes were
sliding off of the ways of newly constructed shipyards all over the country.
Rifles and ammunition were being manufactured instead of refrigerators. Uniforms
and equipment came out of the sewing shops instead of gowns and suits. Combat
boots were being made in shoemaker shops instead of shoes. Meatless Tuesdays and
ration books helped fill the small tin cans in the C-ration and K-ration kits
carried by GIs. Small businesses all over the nation became subcontractors to
the huge companies that were fashioning the implements of war in grander numbers
than could have ever been imagined. Every facet of the American economy and
production capacity was coming on line. They included small machine shops,
manufacturing companies, coalmines, oil wells, transportation and mom and pop
businesses of all shapes and sizes. Mothers, young and old, took in sewing and
knitting and fabricated the sweaters, scarves and ski hats for the military and
the sailors of the Merchant Marine. The American industrial war machine reached
down into every nook and cranny of everyday life and tapped into the unrelenting
ability and ingenuity of the American people who were coming together like
orphans who finally found their parents.
Most Americans realized by the end of that worrisome year it was merely the
momentum of the War that had shifted in their favor. They were too frightened in
early 1942 to become complacent too easily. There was much more to do and the
price was already high. Thirty-five thousand husbands, sons and fathers would
never come home again. Americans would be called upon to make many more
sacrifices in the coming years. A great many more gold stars would be hung in a
great many more windows across the vast landscape of America before victory.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt had proclaimed the Allies would accept nothing
less than unconditional surrender from the Axis Powers. There would be no peace
negotiations or political settlements. The enemy could either submit or be
destroyed. No one had any illusions about how difficult it would be to bring the
Axis Powers to their knees. The end was still a long way off down a violent and
bloody road.
Macie eyed the massive aircraft carrier rising up before her. It was the fourth
Essex-class aircraft carrier to be launched after the Essex (CV-9), Lexington
(CV-16) and Bunker Hill (CV-17). Her cheeks were red from the stinging wind and
her eyes were tearing from the cold. She leaned closer to Nora Lee to block the
wind.
Nora had also moved up the career ladder in the shipyard. She finally got her
promotion to Mechanics Helper in the Joiners Department as a Drill Press
Operator. She had become somewhat interested in Jonah Cash and then furious when
he joined the Marines. She didn’t understand the stigma that young American men
felt when they weren’t in uniform. Jonah had to do his part and so he tore up
his 2-B draft status slip, quit his draft-exempt job at the shipyard and joined
up.
Nora finally heard from the War Department. The first telegram came in July,
three months after the fall of Bataan. It said only that Corporal Gilbert
“Butch” Blair was missing in action. Then Nora received a telegram just before
Christmas that stated, based on a reliable report from the Swedish Red Cross,
Corporal Blair was a prisoner of war, whereabouts unknown.
She was fully aware of the terrible stories of torture perpetrated by the
Japanese during the Bataan Death March. She had almost accepted his death and
was beginning to move on. But now, with this latest news, she had two men to
worry about and not at all sure either one of them would ever come home again.
The possibility of someday having to make a choice between them troubled her. It
was all too much for her to deal with. She decided she would write both of them
and free them from any obligation they may have felt to her. If either or both
of them survived and decided to come home to her, she would deal with that
situation then. In the meantime, she had to unburden herself from the emotional
strangulation of being a “widow-in-waiting”.
As Nora trolled the shipyard and USO Clubs for replacement companions, Macie
warned her that she was one step away from becoming a “Victory Girl”. V-Girls
were known to be promiscuous with servicemen, particularly before overseas
deployment. But Nora had reached a point where she simply did not care what
people thought. She would never be alone again and would never again endure the
broken heart she felt when she was advised that Butch was missing in action in
the Philippines. Nora Lee would avoid romantic entanglements. She would seek out
the comfort and companionship that only a man could give. And she would do it
one man at a time.
In spite of Nora’s moral failings, Macie loved her like a sister. She would
never judge her and would be her best friend through thick and thin.
The ceremony was about to begin as the dignitaries climbed the steps to the
platform. Macie finally saw who she was looking for. First Lady Eleanor
Roosevelt was the sponsor for the Yorktown and would christen her. The assembled
shipyard workers erupted in a hearty cheer as Mrs. Roosevelt slowly ascended the
steps up to the platform.
The President’s wife was known as the people’s first lady. Wherever there was a
just cause that needed a conspicuous leader, she was there. She was tireless in
her support of women in the workforce and in the military. She was a major
catalyst in getting women pilots engaged in the war effort by ferrying planes
from factories to air bases. Black America respected her for her outgoing stand
on the inclusion of Negroes into the armed forces in combat roles. Poor people
everywhere believed she was the back channel to the President for the social
programs of the thirties that helped sustain lower class Americans with public
service jobs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps. While she was a lightning
rod for criticism of her social positions, she was immensely popular with the
working class people of the country, especially women.
Mrs. Roosevelt was dwarfed by the immensity of the ship’s huge mass. Above her
on the wide gray stern hung red, white and blue bunting from port to starboard.
Under the bunting was a huge banner, which simply read, “Newport News Shipyard
presents The Yorktown.”
Finally, the first lady stepped up to the microphone. “I christen thee, USS
Yorktown. Long may you serve the great people of your country.” She threw a
magnum of champagne, which swung in a wide arc on a long ribbon suspended from
the deck. The bottle smashed loudly into the steel stern of the great ship
leaving a white foamy blanket dripping down the hull. The gathering erupted in a
magnificent cheer, which lasted nearly a minute. During that time, the cheer was
sustained by the slow passage of the great hull out of dry-dock and into the
James River. It would be months before the Yorktown would be completed with her
armament and crew and commissioned into the United States Navy but this was the
day the USS Yorktown (CV-10) was born.
Nora looked at Macie and smiled proudly. “Look at that. Look at what we did!”
There were emotional tears streaming down her face.
Wiping back her own tears, Macie kissed Nora on the cheek. She turned to Derek,
leaned in and hugged him tightly. “We did it.”
John E. Nevola is a feature writer for Guns and Patriots. He is the author of
The Last Jump, and his website is: www.thelastjump.
Roosevelt christening the USS Yorktown CV 5 in 1936
21 January 1943 –
Christening Day
Eleanor Roosevelt is seen here christening USS Yorktown, CV-5,
in 1936.
Eleanor Roosevelt christens the first carrier Yorktown,
CV-5, in 1936.
When CV-5 was sunk at the battle of Midway in June 1942,
the Navy decided to rename CV-10 from USS Bon Homme Richard
to Yorktown.
Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox asked her if she would
sponsor the new Yorktown. The First Lady responded in a
letter, “I wonder whether I should sponsor the new USS
Yorktown inasmuch as the one I sponsored met such a sad
fate? I know there are superstitions in the Navy, and would
want to be sure that it was wise for me to do this before
making any definite promise. Would you please be
frank?” She accepted after SecNav Knox allayed her
fears and the date of 21 January 1943 was set for the
ceremony.
Principal speaker was Admiral Buckmaster, former
commanding officer of USS Yorktown, CV-5. He was making
remarks to the shipyard workers, “Your efforts to weld
together the natural resources of America that go into the
construction of such magnificent fighting craft is beyond
praise…”
At the instance of the word “praise,” the 27,000 ton
aircraft carrier began to shake and began to slip off its
stocks, 7 minutes ahead of schedule!!! Eleanor jumped out of
her seat and swung the champagne bottle at the hull, only to
have it bounce off with a dull thud! Not an auspicious start
for a warship, but Eleanor caught the bottle on the rebound
and gave it a harder swing, which resulted in a perfect
impact and champagne sprayed her, Admiral Buckmaster and the
Yorktown as her momentum built taking her into the James
River and on into history!