There is an old sailor that lives 1/2 mile down the road. A Kansas kid who joined the Navy late in the war. He was assigned to a Sumner class destroyer. I remember the model of his ship displayed in a glass case and I always coveted it as a child. I stopped by to visit the old man a year ago to pick his brain about his experience on board. He replied that the extra guns made the Sumner class bow heavy resulting in the ship's poor handling.
I asked if he had considered staying in the Navy. He replied that he had but after the war ended all the officers returned to a peacetime navy attitude. In an attempt to get him to define what he meant by peacetime attitude, he only replied that it was little to crisp for him to say in as an enlisted man ????
In reference to GG's recital of LTC Evans turning the USS Johnson toward a superior naval force, what can one say?
Obviously the Commander knew the abilities of his ship and was determine to open a great big can of whoop a - - !!
Looking at the size of the screws and the power of B & W boilers on a Fletcher I recently read a passage on another website of a sailor knowing in a instant that the enemy had been sighted... the give away was the sound coming from the updrafts and the taletell event to follow of more steam being produced.
I asked if he had considered staying in the Navy. He replied that he had but after the war ended all the officers returned to a peacetime navy attitude. In an attempt to get him to define what he meant by peacetime attitude, he only replied that it was little to crisp for him to say in as an enlisted man ????
In reference to GG's recital of LTC Evans turning the USS Johnson toward a superior naval force, what can one say?
Obviously the Commander knew the abilities of his ship and was determine to open a great big can of whoop a - - !!
Looking at the size of the screws and the power of B & W boilers on a Fletcher I recently read a passage on another website of a sailor knowing in a instant that the enemy had been sighted... the give away was the sound coming from the updrafts and the taletell event to follow of more steam being produced.
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