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Of the 115 small
coastal transport hull numbers which were authorized by the Navy, 100 were
built...If each went to sea served only by its original contingent of 25
officers and men, and returned with no replacements, there would still be 2,500
stories to tell of at least 2,500 individual experiences...However, not all of
them came back, and crew replacements and transfers were common...There were
shipboard deaths and disappearances...Some ships were undermanned, while others
had extra crewmembers for specialized duties...Passengers were taken on, and
some even jumped ship, deserting their duties...
Still the tales of
wartime service aboard these tiny vessels are not forthcoming as they are in
the case of larger warships with storied histories...It is my belief that the
common preoccupation by writers with concentrating their narrations on the
clash of arms between mighty warriors, and the horrors of war which are
unfathomable except to those who have been there, has caused other contributors
to the efforts to bring peace to somehow believe their duties were not worthy
of the telling...
Some APc crews,
through orders binding their journeys to larger warships, encountered enemy
forces bent on the destruction of all Allied shipping, and these ships and their crews instinctively lent
their support in extricating as many friendly forces from peril as possible, regardless of
the danger...APc-1, the class-leader of the small coastal transports, went to
sea October 1, 1942, under command of Lt. (jg) Francis E. Shine, Jr. USNR...Some
confusion exists as to its powerplant as NavSource tells of it being fitted
with a 300 HP NSC six cylinder diesel, while Herreshoff Marine Museum lists a
more standard 400 HP diesel engine manufactured by Superior...Whether of which
engine was onboard as it went to war, it is to be assumed that there would be
times when the crew fervently wished for more power, as it's top speed was
listed at 10 1/2 knots...
Neal Ash of Colorado
graciously offered some previously unpublished information concerning his own
grandfather's service as a crewman aboard APc-1 during its assignments in the Pacific
War...Like many young men of the era, he was interested in avoiding service as
an Army infantryman, since a classmate had already been killed in action as
such...
He and his lifelong
friend, Fred "Red" Filer, enlisted together in their hometown of
Clarkston, Michigan, at the outset of hostilities with Japan, but did not
receive specialized training until his graduation from Naval Station Great
Lakes, the Navy's oldest and largest training facility, where his initial
training took place...Clarkston is a village established in 1830, but not
incorporated until 1992 when it was feared the city's boundaries would be
absorbed by the surrounding Township of Independence...The incorporation
preserved its self-determination and its own government...By the time Stanley
Ash was properly trained, and deemed ready by the US Navy to join his nation's
fighting force, APc-1 was already at sea...
The two served together
during the entire war, and, as in the case of F1/C Johnson, were not discharged
until 1946...It is assumed here that they, like many others, were also assigned
to the occupation forces briefly, and were discharged shortly after APc-1's
arrival in San Francisco
As next of kin, Neal
Ash was able to petition the Navy for his grandfather's military records,
including his DD214 and the medals awarded for his service...He was able to
provide this author with anecdotal experiences related to him by Stanley Ash...Boatswain's Mate Ash initially went to sea aboard an escort carrier, the USS Admiralty Islands (CVE-99) in July 1944
where he is listed on a duty roster, and joined his permanent assignment, APc-1
in the latter half of 1944 during the ongoing Solomon Islands Campaign...At the
age of 24, he was the oldest member of APc-1's crew...Boatswain's Mates were
commonly addressed as "Boats" when onboard ship as a concession to
brevity...
This was also the first
deployment for the AI, a Casablanca class escort carrier, one of the most
mass-produced and versatile ships of WWII with 50 being produced...Following
its sea trials and commissioning, the AI took on a load of bunker fuel for its
boilers and a full supply of aviation gasoline for use by its aircraft at sea
in San Francisco...It then picked up additional crew in San Diego, presumably
including Boats Ash, before deploying to the Southwest Pacific...Boats Ash was
said to be appreciative of the relative comfort enjoyed by the crew on the
brand new vessel, as compared to what was endured by the crew of APc-1 later...
In a story related to
his grandson, Boats Ash told of incurring the wrath of his ship's commanding
officer, Lt. (jg) Shine shortly after joining the crew...The ship had returned
to San Diego to pick up the fleet's mail (a regular duty), and they were five
minutes back at sea...At this time Ash failed to answer a General Quarters call
due to the fact that he was performing an otherwise important duty call to
Mother Nature in the ship's head, and given the close proximity to home port,
Boats Ash knew it had to be a drill...Lt. Shine did not see that duty as superseding
a Navy duty call, and arrested him...Not having a brig aboard the tiny ship,
Lt. Shine ordered Boats Ash locked in the ship's paint locker instead, until
the ship reached its duty station several days later...Ash reportedly used this
idle time to inspect the contents of the paint cans stored within, and in an
obvious attempt to save time later, mixed all the paint together until all cans
contained paint of a uniform shade of gray, upon which he then resealed them
without identifying the new colors...
Having now identified
himself as a prominent member of the commander's S-list, Ash was later assigned
a permanent duty on the ship's bow gun, a dual-mount .50 Caliber installation,
probably a purloined item as previously discussed being obtained by many enterprising
crews...Unlike the builder-installed 20mm gun mounts, no provision was made for
shade of any kind to shelter the .50's operator from the sweltering Pacific sunrays...Boats Ash then merely accepted the situation as part and parcel of
being placed so highly on Lt. Shine's personal S-list...
At some point later,
while on duty with the bow .50 at his fingertips, Boats Ash observed an already
crippled and smoking Japanese Betty bomber cross his sights, and a quick burst
of 750 grain projectiles from his guns finished the aircraft which then crashed
in flames into the ocean...Lt. Shine was said to be initially proud of the
feat, but later displayed his wrath as Boats Ash was awarded a personal battle star to
add to his campaign ribbons, without a subsequent battle star being awarded the
ship under Shine's command...But it is believed the Lieutenant found it
difficult to further reprimand a crewmember credited with being the only APc deck
hand in the war to shoot down a Japanese Betty bomber...Such are the problems
faced by commanders who place such a high value on discipline...
One incredible fact
brought to light by Boats Ash's grandson is his grandfather's revelation that
APc-1 crossed the Pacific seven times during its deployment, many times on
solitary mail runs...One journey included a trip to South Carolina to repair
typhoon damage to the ship...These voyages all took place at the princely speed of 10 1/2
knots...
Like many other
survivors of a terrible and hard-fought war, Boats ash managed to ship a few souvenirs
of his adventures to his home, before his tour ended...These included his
issued M-1 Carbine which he apparently forgot to turn in...His wife received it
in good order by US Mail...
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