Dreadnought

The Maine Potato Episode

By Ernest A. Herr


On April 5th, 1943, the U.S. Navy's Destroyer Squadron 21 was returning from a night of shelling Japanese shore installations deep in the New Georgia area of the Solomon Islands. Our destroyer, the USS O'Bannon, as part of this force, picked up a radar contact that turned out to be a large Japanese submarine cruising on the surface and apparently unaware of our presence. The Japanese lookouts undoubtedly were fast asleep.

We approached rapidly and were preparing to ram the sub. Our captain and other officers on the bridge were trying to identify the type of sub and decided, at the last minute, that it could be a mine layer. Not wanting to blow up ourselves along with the sub, the decision was made that ramming was not a wise move. At the last moment, the rudder was swung hard to avoid a collision and we found ourselves in a rather embarrassing situation as we sailed along side of the Japanese submarine.

On board the sub, Japanese sailors, wearing dark shorts and dinky blue hats, were sleeping out on deck. In what could be considered a rude awaking, they sat up to see an American destroyer sailing along side. Our ship however, was far too close to permit our guns lowered enough to fire and since no one on deck carried a gun, not a shot was heard. Ditto on the Japanese sub, no one there had a gun either. In this situation, no one seemed sure of the proper course of action and it probably would not have been covered in the manual anyway. Therefore everyone just stared more or less spellbound.

The submarine was equipped with a 3 inch deck gun and the sub's captain finally decided that now was probably a good time to make use of it. As the Japanese sailors ran toward their gun, our deck parties reached into storage bins that were located nearby, picked out some potatoes and threw them at the sailors on the deck of the sub. A potato battle ensued. Apparently the Japanese sailors thought the potatoes were hand grenades. This kept them very busy as they try to get rid of them by throwing them back at the O'Bannon or over the side of the sub. Thus occupied, they were too busy to man their deck gun which gave us sufficient time to put a little distance between our ship and the sub.

Finally we were far enough away to bring our guns to bear and firing commenced. One of our shells managed to hit the sub's conning tower but the sub managed to submerge anyway. At that time our ship was able to pass directly over the sub for a depth charge attack. Later information showed that the sub did sink. When the Association of Potato Growers of Maine heard of this strange episode, they sent a plaque to commemorate the event. The plaque was mounted in an appropriate place near the crews mess hall for the crew to see. Well, it was the crew's battle.

The story was picked up by the papers back in the States and, shortly thereafter, a full blown account of the event was covered by a story in the READERS DIGEST. Conversations with a crew member that served years later revealed that, while the plaque was still located in the crew's mess hall, no one seemed to pay much attention to it nor knew much about it. I guess the crew was interested in making history but not particularly interested studying it.

Couldnt resist posting this one thought you may enjoy

Man they would have loved to have my potatoe cannon

TopHatter

Yes, I did

Something similar happened to some Taffy 3 survivors floating in the water after Samar.
A Japanese warship passed very close by a group of survivors, making for a tense situation. The Americans were waiting for the Japanese to open up with automatic weapons when suddenly the Japanese sailors started flinging grenade shaped objects at them. There was an initial panic until the American's realized what they were: Potatoes.


Another destroyer story (sort of):
A somewhat distorted version of what actually happened has been posted on a few different naval websites, among them my old favorite Warships1 though it's not there now.
Here is the original and the follow-up from the skipper involved

During the Vietnam War, USS Turner Joy, a destroyer with 5-inch naval guns, spotted a target off the coast of North Vietnam. Assuming it friendly, a radio call was put out:

"This is the USS Turner Joy, Please identify yourself."

No response.

Signal lights were used:

"This is the USS Turner Joy, identify yourself, friend or foe."

No response.

Signal lights again:

"This is the USS Turner Joy, identify yourself or we will commence firing"

Answer: "This is battleship USS New Jersey, you may fire when ready!"

The captain of New Jersey, J. Ed Snyder Jr., says what really happened was this:

"...the other warship was not Turner Joy, but a smaller vessel commanded by a lieutenant. There were two inquiries by signal light from the smaller craft, both of which New Jersey ignored."

Snyder later wrote:

"My policy was not to release messages without my personal O.K. My OOD [officer of the deck] ignored the first two messages from the small naval vessel since they had her on radar and the visual call sign identified the sending ship but when the flashing light message saying "unknown vessel identify yourself or we will open fire" my OOD called me right away. The reason I had our signalmen use the 24 inch searchlight is that I was slightly ticked that the other naval vessel (the sending ship) should have been able to tell the difference between a Battleship on radar and a north Vietnam gun runner or fishing boat."

"I was in the habit of not signing messages with our name since the message always had a heading telling who sent it and to whom it was addressed. I admit my reply was rather tense and not in the best naval tradition but we on the New Jersey felt nothing could hurt us and the crew enjoyed my reply which was, "OPEN FIRE WHEN READY. FEAR GOD. DREADNOUGHT." (DREADNOUGHT having a double meaning, i.e., fear not and the name the British gave to the first large battleships.)
http://www.usspennsylvania.com/NewJersyReply.htm

I will add that FEAR GOD AND DREADNOUGHT was also the ship's motto for HMS Dreadnought

I loved how Captain Snyder used a 24-inch searchlight as a signal lamp
Kind of like using an the biggest airhorn you've ever seen instead your car horn

__________________
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
~John Quincy Adams

sparten

Great story Top Hatter

I seem to remember a "battle" where the two wings of the Austrian Army, thinking ieach other to be the Turks attacked and tore pieces out of each other and get this both wings got routed and ran in terror leaving about 10,000 casualties on the field. The Turks came about a couple of days later and no doubt had a good laugh about all this.

I would give, well someone elses right nut to have been with the Turks when they came upon the scene.

__________________
"Any relations in a social order will endure if there is infused into them some of that spirit of human sympathy, which qualifies life for immortality." ~ George William Russell

Dreadnought

Just think of what Jersey may have done to her..lol Jersey was probably already at general quarters when the captain replied with his intentions..lol they would really have proven to have been "tin can " sailors against her. More like swiss cheese : )~

RustyBattleship

The ship that challenged New Jersey in Viet Nam was the USS Barbey (FF 1088). Ed Torres, a draftsman who worked in our office at the shipyard, was a crew member aboard Barbey at that time. He said the bridge crew were doubled over in laughter when they realized they had just challenged a BATTLESHIP.

Barbey was later assigned to be a test bed for a new design of variable pitch propeller. Though most ships were still steam powered, the Navy knew that gas turbines would soon take their place. Gas Turbines run at a constant RPM so variable pitch propellers would be needed on Turbine powered ships.

After a year or so working on a design with the private company designing and building the propeller, we mounted it on Barbey. We also put in a small water tight compartment with a port light (circular, non- opening window) to photograph the propeller with a movie camera.

Murphy said, "If ANYTHING could possibly go wrong -- it will."

One, single, solitary, all by itself bolt securing one of the movable propeller blades broke. When it broke, the blade was out of balance just enough to shear out the remaining bolts. The loss of the blade totally unbalanced the entire prop and shaft which then twisted the rest of the blades off with one of them smashing the glass port light with the camera behind it. Thank goodness the compartment was small and water tight.

Now, a Knox Class FF (as Barbey was) has only one propeller shaft. So she had to be towed back to Long Beach and dry docked for inspection and replacement of a standard shaft and propeller.

Needless to say, the turbine powered ships today use variable pitch propellers of a much sturdier design.

TopHatter

Are you sure about that one Dick? The Barbey wasn't commissioned until November 1972.

Captain Snyder's account doesn't name the ship, merely calling it a smaller vessel commanded by an LT.

RustyBattleship

You know, checking that out, it may have been an earlier clsass DE that Torres was on. You just have to forgive the memory of an old man. Unfortunately, I can't recheck with Ed because he died of cancer a couple of years ago (or so I've heard).

But the controllable pitch propeller problems are true because I was on the sidelines of our machinery design section listening to all their confidence about the new propeller system. Val Pena was the head of the machinery design section then and every day he was perked up and always with a smile. That smile disappeared when the propeller broke up and he never smiled again until we were assigned to reactivate the New Jersey. He was well past retirement age by the time we got Missouri out and underway. Then he finally retired and opened up a gas station. Yeah, I'm still scratching my head over that choice too. Anyway, he has since gone to that great shipyard in the sky as well as many of my other yardbird friends (two of them dying in just this past week).

Anyway, I'll recheck the names of DEs (FFs) who were on VN patrol in '68 to see if I recognize the one Ed Torres told me about.

Thanks for catching that goof.

DAMN I hate getting old. But the alternative (dying young) ain't so good either.

RustyBattleship

Okay. Got it straightened out now (I think). I checked with a couple of other people who were in the office when Torres told us about the incident. It was the USS Bronstein (FF 1037) he was on, not the Barbey.

Anyway, the story is true that a DE challenged the New Jersey in 1968. Though Captain Snyder was ticked off at the ship mistaking him for a North Vietnamese gunboat is uncalled for in my estimation. The ship could have been a large cargo ship or oiler carrying military supplies or fuel to Haiphong. At worst it could have been a seemingly innocent looking ship but actually armed as a secret raider like the German Atlantis in WW II. The Bronstein was only doing its job and checking out all ships in the area. Why New Jersey's bridge crew did not give the proper recognition in the first place is also questionable.

As for Snyder saying he didn't think anything could hurt the Battleship is also incorrect. When we were getting the ship ready at Long Beach adding the last of the antennas, overside lighting, etc. I was on the 04 level bridge with some planners and estimators. Captain Snyder was pointing out the fact that the original heat treated windows that were to crank up over the peep holes of the 19 inch thick armor of the conning tower were missing. He did say, "They have nothing that can sink this ship. But they can hurt it. A missile hitting in this area would have the fireball go right through those peepholes and kill somebody. Is there anything we can make to go over these openings?"

Well, we were not alloted any funding to replace the windows with the proper crank ups or even a jury rigged system. When we reactivated the New Jersey again in 1982 I pulled the plans out and tried to get them issued, but Type Desk said "We don't have enough money for that". So she never had the peephole protection the other three ships had.

Dreadnought

You mean like umm this bridge and those vision slits? I took this shot last summer while on New Jersey with any luck they will allow me to give tours of her this summer. Thus I may be able to get some really good shots of her.
By the way I have one of Mo's bridge as well but from the other side.

Attached Images

NJbridge.jpg (124.5 KB, 160 views)

RustyBattleship

Yes, those vision slits. I have a better one from the outside I took on board Missouri in 1982 when we were checking her out for reactivation in Bremerton. Exactly where that photo is now is buried somewhere in one of my file cabinets.

Three of the BBs had the crank up windows of treated glass to cover the slits. For some reason, New Jersey did not though the crank handle shaft bushings were in place under the slits.

One of my theories is that Missouri was the only ship of the four that was not decommissioned between WW II and Korea. Somewhere along the line she needed her slit covers replaced and they were cannibilized off New Jersey.

Dreadnought

Quite possible I would say.

Dreadnought

I also have a very cool shot of being on the river beside the New Jersey when they first brought her back to Philadelphia. Not many have seen an Iowa class at night with her mooring/anchor lights on. (But I bet you have ) I have another of the very same shot with us being so close to her anchor that if it would have dropped it would have gone right through our boat.

RustyBattleship

[quote=Dreadnought] Not many have seen an Iowa class at night with her mooring/anchor lights on. (But I bet you have ) QUOTE]

Yes I have. The best night shots was aboard Missouri when Cher did her video on it straddling a 16-inch gun barrel.

Ytlas

I liked the Missouri and Jersey tied up side by side on Pier 6 with Christmas lights from the bow to the main mast to the fantail. With Herman the German nearby and it's large lit star, it would have made for a nice photo.

RustyBattleship

That's true. The Christmas displays were terrific.

My answer above about Cher was more for humor. There was an uproar by some straight-laced people that her video was "too" sexy and demanded an apology from the Navy for allowing her to do that. When I was asked what I thought about it, I unabashadly answered that "she can straddle my gun barrel anytime she wants."

Sorry TopHatter. If you feel you need to censor it, I'll understand.