Torpedo Man remembers when JJ Clark risked it all
by turning on the lights on the night flight deck
to save stranded US Navy pilots
After torpedo man's school, the Navy assigned me to an aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV10) out of Norfolk Va. Our barracks were what is now part of Old Dominion College. I set up Torpedo Shop with other Torpedo men and we got to design it like we thought it should be, such as lathes, drill presses, cabinets, all tools and drawings for each minute part for a torpedo. These fish were Mark 13, aerial torpedoes. They were just as complicated as the Mark 14, used on Destroyers.
Well guess what, off to Yorktown Mine Depot, located in Yorktown Va. We had 50 torpedoes that had to be ready by the 15th of April 1943. Of course we had civilians working with us, most were women and they did a good job. We finished putting the "fish" together a 100 I think.
We finally returned to the Yorktown and went through a commission ceremony. Mrs. Roosevelt launched the ship which was to be Bon Homme Richards but since the Yorktown(CV5) was sunk at Midway they renamed this one the Yorktown.
We got underway for Trindad, for shakedown cruise. The ship performed real well, but one aircraft, the dive bombers were lost in practice. They were Curtis SB2C they were nicknamed "son-bitch-second-class " because of designation and problems they were having. Jocko Clark our skipper got rid of them and got Douglas SBD dive bombers (Dauntless) We had a torpedo bomber, the Grumman TBF, (Avengers). I got to fly in this plane a few times on shakedown.
Our fighters were Grumman F6F (Hellcats). Trip to Trinidad was OK, if you liked fighting British Sailors. They seemed to pick on "Yanks" for some reason. Three of us pitched one through a plate glass window, of which we had to pay for. The sailor was not hurt bad a few scratches we all shook hands and went back to ship.
On the way back on Liberty boat I fell off and had to be rescued because I wanted to show how torpedo men set depth charges on a destroyer. These depth charges were outside of lifeline and I was a little under weather. Sobered up real fast after hitting water. No harm done.
We did 37 knots coming back to Norfolk and destroyers could not keep up, not that they were too slow but would have used up all of their fuel.
In Norfolk we got our new squadron of SBDS to replace SB2Cs and left for the Panama Canal. On board we had 37 F6F Hellcat fighters, 36 SBD Dauntless dive bombers, and 18 TBF Avenger torpedo bombers.. The Hellcat could reach 375 MPH and could carry bombs and rockets. TBF's could travel at a speed of 270 MPH and carry one MK13 torpedo or a 2000 lb. blockbuster bomb. I made 2nd class petty officer real fast and that was the best rate in the navy, but only lasted a six months., my Warrant officer Nick Norstine said I would have to take exam for 1st Class and I said I didn't want it. He said you take it or go back to 3rd class. What was I to do but take it?
Rebel tried to pass it twice before and didn't make it. He took the class with me and when I finished my test he grabbed it and put his name on it and shoved his over to me. Being a lot of true and false questions I must have put one down different and he made a better grade than I did but we both passed and were promoted to !st Class Petty Officers.
Click here for the free previews of the Academy Award Winning Movie about
the USS Yorktown, "The Fighting Lady.
We lost our new high rating when we had overnight liberty in Honolulu , and got back two days later. We got a deck court martial and restricted Christmas day and a six month probation. I sent Lucille a engagement ring and my father "POP" gave it to her on bended knee and she accepted, this helped me get through all the war out there.
We only made three torpedo battle runs the whole time I was aboard. I flew turret gun on TBF when they took up torpedoes. My job was to see how they performed when fired at enemy, this was the only exciting job I had . With all equipment on , I didn't have to much trouble sliding through the radioman's compartment and crawl up to turret gun and hook up my chute and let my legs hang down until I needed to use gun. I then had to pull up a plate that locked in place. The gun turret would rotate in what ever direction you pointed with the pistol grip. It would fire all the time except when you rotated by tail section or any other part of plane, this was controlled by a cam plate that locked off gun when you passed these positions. If you had to bail out the whole side of turret would push out when you pushed a lever toward the front of turret.
The Yorktown was the ship the Japs were looking for because they thought that they didn't sink it at Midway. They did, but this ship was named Yorktown. I remember. They sent a 100 torpedo bombers at us one night, it lasted 7 1/2 hours before we or our escort shot nearly all 100.
They would drop flares and Jocko knew where they would come, so he steered right into flares surprised the planes and they would miss us, although one hit the new USS Lexington in the steering engine room and they had to take some escort and return to Pearl.
We supported our troops on some more landings. The one at Tarawa was a tough one for our Marines. We bombed the Japanese emplacements for 6 hours and battleships fire at them also. We thought we had knocked most of them out, so Marines proceeded to land but to their surprise the Japs were dug in pretty tight and the Marines lost a lot of their men before taking the island. The Japs had put bamboo logs and palm trees as protection from our bombs, and it worked, our bombs and shells bounced off before exploding. Our marines are a tough and brave group, and secured the island anyway.
That night, the Liscome Bay (a converted carrier) was sunk, leaving some of their planes in the air. This created a problem, no place to land and it was getting dark. Jocko said turn on landing lights an let these pilots land on us. He didn't worry about subs and didn't care, he wanted those pilot aboard safe and sound. Everything went according to plans but, one plane, a F4F Wildcat, did not take a wave off and crashed down on one of our Torpedo Bombers, with a radioman checking his radio, and the plane exploded setting the flight deck on fire. The plane handling crews put out fire, after about an hour.
Ammunition exploding didn't help the crew. We lost about 6 men that night, but the pilot of the F4F was found next morning at far end of flight deck badly burned but he survived. All burning planes were pushed off deck into ocean , we lost 5 aircraft of ours, this was not a good night. The skipper of the lost carrier was Crommnlin a brother to our fighter squadron leader.
We hit Truk Island. a Japanese stronghold, a second time, and lost our Torpedo Squadron leader, Comdr. Dick Upson. I hated this because he was the one I flew with and liked him very much. A shell exploded in his cockpit while he was in a dive to release bombs and never pulled out. A tremendous loss to our ship. I have a great picture he gave me sometime ago and I still have in today.
My Warrant Torpedo Officer talked to me today and said he had transfers for three First Class Torpedo men for advanced torpedo school at San Diego. He also said if I turned it down he would give me Chief Torpedoman's rate at that exact moment. I thought about it, but getting shot at all the time and returning to states for more schooling was not a big choice, and I told him I hated leaving the Yorktown but would like to see my family and my true love Lucille.
Jack
So, this sailor shows up after liberty and the Officer of the Deck sees he's got two bottles of whiskey with him. The OOD says, "look sailor, if you try to come aboard the Yorktown with whiskey you know you'll go to Captain's Mast and get put into the brig. So I'm going to turn my back on you for a minute and i want to hear two splashes in the water...got it?"
The sailor says "yes sir." The OOD turns his back and hears "splash...splash." He turns back around to see the sailor carrying the whiskey but now walking away from the quarterdeck in his stocking feet.
Don Wheeler Ame3 Vaw-11 1957
Liberty with our skipper
Wed Jun 16, 2004
Being a white hat and young at 20 I got to take a flight off the USS Yorktown while we were outside of the P.I.
Islands. It was my first deck launch, and I was a little scared. All went well until we finished our flight and we had
to return to the ship.
This was also my first recovery landing on the ship. We came in for the landing and hit the deck and my buddies in the island structure said my eyes we as big oranges but what they didn't know is I wet my pants.
The skipper being the great guy he was said, "ah we all sweat a little." The moral is even tough guys pee their pants.
The day the USS Yorktown lost her anchor and we ran...
On the USS Yorktown I was first a seaman and later BM3, I served in 1st Div. I worked on the foc'sle and handled the mooring lines, including frapping. I also handled the lines on the pier.
We were responsible for the weighing or lowering of the anchor(s) and the wire rope that went out the bullnose. I was on the foc'sle when we lost the anchor in Manila.
The line holding the spare anchor to the wire rope parted and the anchor fell into the bay. Then the wire rope started whipping off the capstan and we headed for safety in the angleirons, up the sloping sides of the bow. The ship's bos'n, thirty years older than I was, was just ahead of me.
We came back to Manila after a storm and had to send hard hat divers down to retrieve it.
Lucky Strike and American Tobacco Company
gave thanks to the boys on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown
Don Cole, V-7 Div., ABAN, 1952-'55
I was aboard Yorktown in 1953.
As you all know, we had to have red lenses in our flashlights on the flight deck and those lenses always seemed to get
lost. So many of us would cut out the Red circle from our Lucky Strike cigarette packs and stick it inside the clear lens. It worked really well. Then one of the guys in our division got an idea. We got about a dozen guys together and took a picture with all of us showing our Lucky Strike flashlight lenses. The Red Circle, for those who may not know, had the words LUCKY STRIKE printed in black. So we were walking Lucky Strike Ads.
We sent the picture to the American Tobacco Company, the manufacturer of Lucky Strikes and about a month later, we received a full case of Lucky Strike cigarettes - FRESH cigarettes, not like the years old wax coated "Sea Stores" we were buying at the geedunk.
A case of cigarettes didn't mean much to American Tobacco Company, but meant a lot to us Yorktown airdales. A case of coffee wouldn't mean much to Starbucks either, but times are different now. Nobody but the Sailors, Soldiers, Marines and Airmen and their families have to make any sacrifices in this war we have on our plate today. Half of the civilian population never give a thought to what our military is doing and don't much care as long as they can stop in at Starbucks for their daily $3.75 Latte fix.
I liked it better the way it used to be, when people AND companies would go out of their way to bring a little cheer to our troops when they had the chance.