THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
WASHINGTON
The Secretary of the Navy takes pleasure in commending the
THE UNITED STATES SHIP AMMEN
for service as follows:
"For outstanding heroism in action as a fighter direction ship on radar picket station during the Okinawa Campaign, from April 1 to June 24 1945. A natural and frequent target for heavy Japanese aerial attack while occupying advanced and isolated stations, the U.S.S. AMMEN defeated all efforts of enemy Kamikaze and dive-bombing planes to destroy her. Constantly vigilant and ready for battle, she sent out early air warnings, provided fighter direction and with her own gunfire assisted in downing two hostile planes, routed many others and rendered valiant service in preventing the Japanese from striking in force the Naval Forces off the Okinawa Beachhead. A gallant, fighting ship, the AMMEN, her officers and men withstood the stress and perils of vital Radar Picket duty, achieving a distinctive combat record which attests the teamwork, courage and skill of her entire company and enhances the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service."
All personnel attached to and serving on board the U.S.S. AMMEN from April 1 to June 24, 1945, are authorized to wear the NAVY UNIT COMMENDATION Ribbon.
/s/ James Forrestal
Secretary of the Navy
Then the incident in 1960..
"Scenes of the damage from July 19 1960, while making the transit between Seal Beach and San Diego for decommissioning Ammen was struck by Collett (DD-730). The collision killed 11 Ammen sailors and injured 20 others. She was initially towed into Long Beach and, later, from there to San Diego where she was decommissioned on 15 September 1960. "
Picture 1 : 1944 the aftermath of a Betty Bomber slicing off the forward stack. Note both boats still on their davits.
Picture 2 : 1960 Are those Frame #'s painted on the port side ? They appear to be a little to frequent.
Picture 3 : Only 1 person wore a shirt and tie at LBNSY ?
Last edited by blidgepump; 22 Feb 12, at 13:32.
Photo PageOriginally Posted by blidgepump
ty Salty.
Do you recall what the white paint lines would represent on the port side of the Ammen?
Last edited by blidgepump; 22 Feb 12, at 23:33.
Never seen anything like it. Change of mind........... I just looked at an old picture of the USS Duncan in drydock and the frame markings were about a foot apart. I guess those markings are frames...
Last edited by Ytlas; 23 Feb 12, at 02:12.
The photo was taken after the ship was in dry dock. The frames were painted on at 21" intervals -- which is the frame spacing of most Destroyers of that era. Also you will notice that jagged chunk of metal below. I went down into the dry dock the following night and was surprised to find that it was the bottom third of the bow of the Collett, jammed in like a broken arrowhead.
The plane that hit Ammen in the photo above was a FRANCIS bomber, not a Betty. Floyd Bevis (one of my working buddies and hunting partner) was in Mount 53 trying to take that bomber out. Its right engine was out and the pull of the left engine denied the pilot the ability to plow into the bridge, but did take out the stack.
The plane broke in two. The forward two thirds fell into the sea but the co-pilot could still be seen moving around. The 20 mm's took care of that. Amazingly, the tail section that was barely dangling on the ship still had the tail gunner and he was raking the ship's quarterdeck with his machine gun. That section of plane also wound up in the ocean with a lot of 3/4" diameter holes in it.
I've written this before and I don't mind writing it again:
When Ammen came into the yard after being struck by Collett, Floyd and I were standing on the quay wall. Tears were in his eyes and he said, "That's MY ship. She sinks HARD".
That night the swing shift, Floyd and I were on in the ship fitter shop, was busy cutting out bodies. But we kept Floyd busy somewhere else until it was cleaned up. At least one, perhaps two, bodies were wrapped in canvas mangled into the bow of Collett.
The next day, Floyd asked if he could do some work on the ship. He was assigned as material expeditor to log in all repair parts as they came aboard. It was a purposely set up "phoney" job by our personnel officer, our shop master and with the silent nod of the shipyard commander. That was Floyd's ship and he deserved to be there under any sort of cover story.
Last edited by RustyBattleship; 23 Feb 12, at 03:57.
Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.
Thank you for the recollections Dick!
That definitely brings home how even in the stateside shipyards the horrors of war are experienced. Even if it was a result of an accident. The humanity of it is the same as when the damage was done in the war!
To Floyd and his shipmates!
I didn't know of the Stolen Valor Act and Organizations that go after the phonies. Couple of links.
Hall of Stolen Valor - Military Times
Welcome To ReportStolenValor.org
[QUOTE=RustyBattleship;862509]The photo was taken after the ship was in dry dock. The frames were painted on at 21" intervals -- which is the frame spacing of most Destroyers of that era. Also you will notice that jagged chunk of metal below. I went down into the dry dock the following night and was surprised to find that it was the bottom third of the bow of the Collett, jammed in like a broken arrowhead.
Thank you Mr. L that confirms the logic for the paint stripes as seen in the photo. Salty's photo of the USS Duncan is easier to read ( less damage ) compared to the Ammen.
The plane that hit Ammen in the photo above was a FRANCIS bomber, not a Betty. Floyd Bevis (one of my working buddies and hunting partner) was in Mount 53 trying to take that bomber out. Its right engine was out and the pull of the left engine denied the pilot the ability to plow into the bridge, but did take out the stack.
The plane broke in two. The forward two thirds fell into the sea but the co-pilot could still be seen moving around. The 20 mm's took care of that. Amazingly, the tail section that was barely dangling on the ship still had the tail gunner and he was raking the ship's quarterdeck with his machine gun. That section of plane also wound up in the ocean with a lot of 3/4" diameter holes in it.
I appreciate you clearing up the record about the plane hitting the Ammen.
The recital of the Betty bomber came from another post.
Salty, the number of incidents logged during 2011 is surprising. Some of these fellows have to be a little bit off the normal path.
Some of the guys are veterans so I wonder if some are suffering from PTSD. I knew a lot of combat vets in the shipyard (so they claimed) and a lot had odd quirks.
Story behind the USS Duncan explosionNever seen anything like it. Change of mind........... I just looked at an old picture of the USS Duncan in drydock and the frame markings were about a foot apart. I guess those markings are frames...
USS Duncan
Plus a late add.... The L. A. Times article of the Ammen/Collett collision
http://framework.latimes.com/2011/06...newport-beach/
Last edited by Ytlas; 23 Feb 12, at 19:39.
Salty, the earlier link you provided and Mr. L's recital about the bow appears that a crossing the T event accurred and with the shear of the Duncan's bow coming with in inches of the No. 4 boiler, as well as depositing the Duncan's starboard anchor on the Ammen. This accident could of been worse?
I was looking at the pictures again and it looks to me like the Ammen was hit outside the after engine room.
or
http://abbot.us/DD629/plans/dd502.shtml?item=04
It could have been a lot worse if it hit a boiler or any main steam piping in the fireroom. The 600# main steam line runs at 850-860 degrees so a ruptured boiler or main steam line would probably scald everyone on watch. There would also be the possibility of fire from the black oil/fuel oil that feeds the burners on the boilers.
Looking at the pictures of the port side of the Ammen with it's scratches on the hull, to me it looks more like a glancing blow rather than anything close to a "T bone" hit. Oh well. Your guess is as good as mine. I spent most of my time inside the ships.
Last edited by Ytlas; 24 Feb 12, at 04:41.
Ytlas is right. It was NOT a "T"-bone ramming. Collett went into a hard turn to Stbd when it came out of the fog and saw it was heading for Ammen. The angle of impact was still very severe. The lower third of the Collett's bow actually penetrated through Ammen's hull plating, bent to port and broke off. The bending to port gives the false impression it was a T-bone collision.
The middle third of the bow littorly crinkled over to stbd causing the massive denting into the hull. The upper third thrust across the main deck into the superstructure and bent to port.
We had a hell of a time taking the dead men off. It was heart breaking to see one sailor with his arms up over his face and crushed to death in the corner of the compartment by a filing cabinet. Another sailor in the engine room was impaled on some steel angle framing. Rod (last name purposefully omitted) had to use his chipping gun to cut the angle off the deck. Then the sailor's body started to fall on him and he held it back with his chipping gun while calling for help.
The bow of Collett was cut off and put up on the north end of the outside assembly slab of shop 11. Though the bodies had been removed, you could still see blood stains where they were. Collett's bow was replaced with the bow from the unfinished DD-791). She was in dry dock 3 from 3 August 1960 to 24 August.
Ironically, Ammen was also in the same dry dock previously from 20 July 1960 to 3 August. A cofferdam (basically a steel water tight "blister") was built over the damaged area and she was later sold for scrap.
Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.
Salty, the prints of a Fletcher DD reproduced by Ed Zajkowski help illustrate Mr. L's recollections of the USS Ammen. Thank you for the link.
The midship cross section of a Fletcher details the engine room location with a better appreciation of how close the rupturing the steamlines nearly happened, too.
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