Another reprint...

OK call me lazy if you wish...This was recently posted by me on USS APc-1 WWII...

I just finished watching "The Fighting Lady," a conglomerate of WWII combat and promotional footage presented as a feature film about an unnamed aircraft carrier (actually USS Yorktown CV-10)...I was hoping to see some glimpses of the smaller auxiliaries like our coastal transports, but as usual the big boys hogged the glory...Only one Hollywood star was listed in the credits, Robert Taylor as narrator, but listed as Lt. Robert Taylor USNR...All other cast members were also presently in Navy service including Adms. JJ "Jocko" Clark and John S. McCain Jr...Also seen was the legendary Captain Dixie Kiefer, who made the first-ever night takeoff from a warship...He served as XO of the the original USS Yorktown (CV-5) in the Battles of the Coral Sea and then Midway where the Yorktown was shot out from under him, shattering his right leg and knee...He recovered sufficiently in time to take command of the new USS Ticonderoga which was attacked by Kamikaze pilots during action in the Pescadores...

The first caused massive fires in the hangar deck...Kiefer immediately improvised by flooding port side compartments (an action unheard of until that moment), inducing a 10 degree list and causing the flaming debris to slide overboard...He then steered his ship upwind away from the floating flames where the second kamikaze hit near him leaving him with 65 separate shrapnel wounds and a broken arm...Disregarding his injuries, he stayed on the bridge in command another 11 hours...SecNav James Forrestal, after Kiefer's award of a second Distinguished Service Medal to offset his previous DSM and Navy Cross, called him "the Navy's indestructible man"...

Kiefer had also previously broken his left ankle and kneecap playing football, in addition to having a shattered elbow from being hit by the wingtip of a passing seaplane flown by a fellow pilot showing off by buzzing him a mite too closely...No word on the following aviation career of the showoff aviator...Kiefer's crew on the Ticonderoga said he had so much metal in his body that the ship's compass followed him wherever he walked on deck...

Even without any APc's in the supporting cast, "The Fighting Lady" is well worth an hour of your time...

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Reprint...

Since I have been lax in my duties as a source of information for my loyal fans, I wanted to publish the following posts I wrote for Neal Ash's "USS APc-1 WWII" Facebook group...This group can only be accessed by joining, but it is well worth it for the information contained within concerning Small Coastal Transports...

Today's discussion of aircraft carriers prodded my memory of a few items...One often hears the term, "four and a half acres of sovereign US territory" in reference to the size of the flight decks of our largest carriers, but is it really treated as such?...The answer is yes, by international law...The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea gives US flagged warships not engaged in commercial trade the same status as land within US borders...It flies the US flag only, is bound only by US law and is immune to search and seizure by other powers, even when docked in a foreign port...  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_ships…

And foreign ports can be particularly welcoming of our carrier fleets when disaster strikes...Our nuclear powered aircraft carriers can produce enough electricity to power a small city, or essential services for a larger city...It's sick bay is actually a hospital which can act as an emergency room, and its helicopters can act as flying ambulances:

http://cimsec.org/flattops-of-mercy/23912

As a final item in my jogged memory, there have been times when a passing ship sighted by a pilot in distress has become a convenient flattop of opportunity: 

 http://1truckman.blogspot.com/2016/09/lost-at-sea.html

Another sometimes wondered about question concerns the aircraft carrier's traditional placement of the superstructure (or island) on the starboard side of the ship...Although bluejackets will tell you that the superstructure on any ship only exists to give sailors something to paint, the first carriers to have a superstructure were the British HMS Glorious and Courageous, both converted from cruisers...Their placement had to do with the original ships' boiler and stokehold air intakes and the fireroom's exhaust...Subsequent A/C's kept it on the same side to avoid confusion for pilots landing on a ship from which they did not take off...Other stories insist the propeller powered aircraft had a strong torque-steer toward the left, and since landing aircraft were kept under full power until forward motion was halted, larger disasters were avoided in the rare case when an arrestor cable broke under tension sending the aircraft back out to sea in an unwanted direction...For this reason the extremely powerful F4U Corsair, with its 13 foot propeller had to be kept under 3/4 throttle on arrested landings, otherwise it could flip over at full stop...The Japanese carriers Akagi and Hiryu were built with their superstructures portside to operate with their sister ships, Kaga and Soryu which had starboard side islands...The theory was one would fly left-hand circuits, and the other right-hand circuits, effectively splitting the air and sea lanes...Innovative thinking, but they lost the war anyway...In any event, the unwieldy width of the carrier with the superstructure mounted far to one side means other heavy equipment, including propulsion units, fuel and water tanks, ammunition magazines, and hangar decks with their spare parts and machine shops, must be proportionately distributed to achieve an even balance, preventing capsizing in emergency high-speed turns...

At some point soon I hope to have the loads lifted from my shoulders which have been thrust on me by the fortunes of life, at which time I can resume my previous direction in research and writing my blog articles and books...Thank you for your patience...

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