In the War of 1812, that indefatigable leader, Commodore Thomas Macdonough, faced with the problem of gaining control of Lake Champlain in order to stop an invasion from Canada, took his fighting men into the virgin forests on the shores of Lake Champlain. There they exchanged the musket for the axe and out of green timber fashioned the vessels which later bore them to victory. Such a pioneer feat in wood cannot be duplicated today, yet its modern counterpart has been accomplished by the destroyer squadrons of the battle fleet.[1]
For nearly a year all normal operations and training of these squadrons ceased. In the place of such operations was substituted the functions of a seagoing navy yard in modernizing and recommissioning thirty-four destroyers from destroyers in reserve. No precedent existed for such an undertaking. Nevertheless the two squadrons immediately discarded “seagoing” habits and liberty blues to organize for the colossal task in hand. They have completed it and in the words of the commander in chief, U. S. Fleet,
The recommissioning operation and the extent of work ordinarily done at navy yards which has been done by the forces afloat, including the Medusa, and the Destroyer Base, San Diego, form the most extensive program ever undertaken by the fleet. The manner in which the work has been carried forward and the quality of the work performed are commendable to the highest degree. The above remarks apply equally to the destroyers recommissioned on the East Coast.
How the recommissioning program was carried out adds an interesting page to the glorious history of the American Navy. It was in September, 1929, that such serious defects developed in thirty-four of the forty-two war-time destroyers assigned to this force as to cause the Navy Department to decide that these vessels had reached the limit of their usefulness. The department had a difficult situation to face in consequence of this decision.
In the first place the budget did not provide for anything more than the normal upkeep expenditures at the navy yard. In the second place, the absence of thirty-four destroyers from the battle fleet meant that it was gravely handicapped as an effective unit in the national defense. During the period of replacement the fleet would have been at the mercy of a major opponent with a balanced fleet. Replacement at the earliest possible date and at a minimum of cost was mandatory. The problem presented was somewhat similar to that confronting Macdonough in the War of 1812. But little money and no navy yard was available to him and time was valuable. Again, the Navy Department decided to rely upon the fighting forces to carry through another major pioneer undertaking. Macdonough had accomplished it in wood, could it be repeated now in steel?
As soon as it became apparent that the department might make some such decision, the squadrons’ commander appointed a fact-finding board to obtain the necessary information for a proper estimate of the situation. This board examined the seventy-eight destroyers held in reserve at the destroyer base since the World War and listed all salient facts in regard to engineering, gunnery, and construction and repair. It was found that the ten-year wave of progress since the World War had not touched these destroyers. They had endured a Rip van Winkle sleep from which thirty-four were soon to be rudely awakened. While these thirty-four had been peacefully slumbering in the graveyard of the destroyer base the vessels which they were later to replace had received the benefits of numberless modern improvements. These improvements, however, had had no effect on staying the hand of time which had gradually sapped the vitality of their boilers and engines.
When the decision of the Navy Department was finally made the instructions issued involved the shifting of masts, bridges in whole or in part, searchlight towers, radio installations, gyros, gun carriages and slides, torpedo tubes, torpedo and fire-control equipment, and pumps from the old destroyers to the new ones. Besides this shifting of equipment, the orders called for the wiring of torpedo and fire-control systems, the installation of ship’s wiring, the installation of voice tubing, the retubing of condensers when required, the rearranging of magazines, the lifting of turbine casings, and finally the overhaul and conditioning of all machinery in addition to all the construction and repair alterations. The amount of welding, brazing, and ship fitting was beyond the conception of anyone. Even then, the job was not completed until the chipping, red-leading, and painting from stem to stern, of all ships inside and out, was accomplished.
Upon the receipt of the orders for the fighting forces to proceed with the modernization and recommissioning work, the commander in chief, battle fleet, called a conference with the squadrons’ commander to discuss the situation. One of the general conclusions reached at this conference was that a tremendous job was being undertaken and that all possible help was to be given to assist the forces afloat. Immediately after this consultation the squadrons’ commander called a conference of his principal subordinates. The general plans were laid, the allocation of vessels to the repair facilities, and the working hours for all hands were specified. Leave was to be discontinued except in emergencies and the hours of work were lengthened. Recommissioning was to be the paramount work of the force and every other activity was to be made subordinate to it. While the Navy Department had specified that all the time necessary was allotted for the work in hand, the admiral made it quite clear that the big job was to be accomplished as rapidly as efficient planning, removal of lost motion, and careful, thorough workmanship would permit. This idea was consistently followed.
The battleship divisions relinquished the services of the U.S.S. Medusa which was sent immediately to San Diego. The Destroyer Base was diverted from its customary routine of upkeep, and with personnel augmented from the flagship Omaha, the destroyers, and the fleet, was thrown into the active job of recommissioning. The crews of the tenders were augmented by specialized mechanics from the crews of the destroyers, and also by destroyer working parties and by additional men made available by the commander in chief, battle fleet. Later in the recommissioning period the Omaha took on many of the functions of a tender in addition to furnishing men to other activities.
The forces outside of the destroyers as finally mobilized for the recommissioning program consisted of the U.S.S. Melville, the U.S.S. Altair, the Destroyer Base, the U.S.S. Medusa, and the U.S.S. Omaha.
The Navy Department in announcing its decision for the forces afloat to carry out the recommissioning program allocated the replacement squadrons. The Sixth Squadron in reserve was assigned to replace the Eleventh Squadron and the Tenth to replace the Twelfth. Once the decision was known, action by the forces afloat proceeded rapidly along lines which had been planned in anticipation of the department’s decision. The first step was to assign each vessel of the old squadrons a new mate from the new squadrons and to pair one old with one new for recommissioning.
With the pairings announced, the next step was to separate the thirty-four selected ships from the seventy-eight at the Destroyer Base and place them with their mates where the work could be most expeditiously begun. Some were to go alongside the tenders to begin the recommissioning operation while other pairs were to remain at the buoys for ship’s work while awaiting their turn at the tender. In order to save time the decision was made for each old destroyer to proceed to the Destroyer Base and to tow its new mate to its assigned location. There was a touch of pathos when on September 21, 1929, the first two destroyers, clean and immaculate, paintwork new and bright work shining, unmoored and under their own steam got under way for the four mile trip to the Destroyer Base. There they were to get their mates out of the graveyard and transfer all that was good to them before being put themselves on the dump for disposition and sale. Off the Destroyer Base the active destroyer went alongside her new mate and took her in tow. The contrast between the two vessels was most marked. The active destroyer, a shipshape man-of-war, with commission pennant flying, was a thing of beauty. The new mate from reserve was dirty and unkempt, spotted like a leopard with daubs of red lead, paint cracked, faded, and weathered by years of the action of the elements, a dejected-appearing ship seemingly without hope or future aspirations.
The unfavorable impressions of the reserve ships later proved to be largely unwarranted. While the external appearance was distinctly gloomy, there was but little corrosion within. Below decks, the ships were clean and dry and in an excellent state of preservation; much the same as when they had been placed out of commission. All compartments had been habitually kept closed; pans of unslaked lime in the compartments, renewed at intervals, had removed moisture from the air and retarded corrosive action, but much of the preservative employed in the machinery required many hours of labor to remove.
The routine upkeep of ordnance and engineering materials had kept these parts in much the same condition as when the ships had been decommissioned. A few defects of generally infrequent occurrence later revealed themselves during the recommissioning period. In most cases they were probably present when the vessels were put out of commission. Some typical defects were defective condensers; turbine blading damaged and turbine bearings so badly worn as to require extensive repairs; and reduction gears either out of alignment, or actually needing replacement.
One curious manifestation of nature’s workings developed which had not been foreseen. During the years that the ships had been lying inactive, marine calcareous plants crept in from the sea into the small space between the propeller shafts and the bearings in which they revolve and left thin coatings of abrasive-like lime deposits on the composition journals. These deposits were first noted in the case of the Badger which developed a vibration during a trial run, which remained unexplainable until a second docking after running less than a thousand miles showed a wear of the strut bearings equal to about that produced in three years’ normal operation. The homing instincts of the marine plant necessitated a second docking of every ship and the cleaning of every strut bearing, and in some cases, the renewal of the lignum-vitae bearings. Also, eleven of the ships assigned to the Sixth Squadron had a type of boiler built during the war in which the steam and water drums were butt welded. Subsequent experience had indicated the desirability of strengthening this type with riveted plates over the welds. This reënforcing was beyond the capacity of the forces afloat and was the major job accomplished in the navy yard. The necessity of sending these eleven ships to the yard for this work resulted in considerable inconvenience, and delayed their completion.
The remedying of defects found in the new ships, however, was but a small part of the work done. The main job was to take the reserve destroyers, install all modern improvements, and put them in first-class running condition, with a minimum of work to be done at the navy yard.
The problem of organizing for the work was a colossal one. How to turn men trained for operating ships into welders, molders, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, electricians, and machinists of ability within a minimum of time and make rapid progress on the whole job while so doing required vision and planning of high order.
To save time, jobs requiring the least skill and knowledge were begun at once. While the work was being started, the commander destroyer squadrons, and squadron commanders, listed the jobs and alterations to be accomplished and the priority in which they were to be undertaken. They were further divided into tender jobs and ship’s force jobs. The tender jobs for construction and repair, and engineering were further subdivided into different priorities. It was also decided to give each vessel two tender overhauls. At the first overhaul all jobs necessary for safe operation under way were to be accomplished as well as such of lower priorities as time permitted. The remaining jobs were to be accomplished at the second overhaul. Engineering and construction and repair jobs were listed by numbers. Ordnance work to be accomplished was covered by numbered job orders which went into considerable detail. As an indication of the magnitude of the work in hand, it is of interest to note that the alterations and repairs to be done by the forces afloat totaled approximately 8,000 items for the thirty-four vessels exclusive of items incident to cleaning and making the vessels shipshape.
One of the biggest alterations was the successful installation of the torpedo and gun fire-control wiring. It, like all the others, was conquered by vigorous concentrated effort and the instruction and supervision of unskilled men until they became skilled. After a few months, seamen, second class, were pulling wire and making electrical connections who previously had had no knowledge whatever of the work. A great many unskilled men in this and other jobs thus had an opportunity to satisfy the ambitions for which many of them had enlisted, that of learning a trade. Bureau of Navigation training courses were of much advantage in the combining of theory with practice.
The removal of 108 Dow pumps from six destroyers and their replacement by Worthington pumps was another alteration of major size. The bending and shaping of hundreds of feet of large copper pipe up to seven inches in diameter was another outstanding achievement.
The accomplishment of these alternations and all the others was made possible by a liberal application of the principle of “learning by doing” which became a watchword during the recommissioning program. Under this policy seamen, second class, and firemen, third class, were doing all manner of things after the work had been under way for a few months, accomplishments which formerly had been the exclusive prerogatives of petty officers. Petty officers and officers likewise measured up to enlarged responsibilities.
The full display of initiative of the officers and men was developed. Ships were encouraged to undertake every job they possibly could to relieve the load from the tenders. The use of unskilled men from the destroyers under the guidance of tender petty officers was frequent. Instruction of officers and men in connection with the wiring installation was held in advance of the receipt of wire and material, ordered from navy yards all over the United States.
The ships responded energetically to the call for initiative. Jobs were accomplished which had hitherto been considered impossible. In fact, some jobs that at first were considered beyond the capacity of the tenders ultimately were found to be within the capacity of the destroyer personnel, themselves. As a consequence, the expression “beyond the capacity of the forces afloat” has taken on a new meaning. Lack of welding equipment was the neck of one bottle which held up much other work. On one ship an electric welder was devised in which a searchlight rheostat was used for resistance, and a pair of insulated pliers was used for holding the welding rod. A description of this device was broadcasted and it was used elsewhere with considerable success for other than strength welding.
It was found that fire-control instruments would be disconnected for some time and a warming device to energize the instruments was needed. A fire controlman, first class, developed a simple device which met all the needs, and ships were informed. Other instances of initiative occurred, too numerous to mention, all of which contributed toward the completion of the big job.
A rather amusing instance of initiative happened on one ship on which an enlisted man of an engineer rating had the misfortune to suffer one of the infrequent injuries which occurred. His right arm was hurt while at work. After the doctor had given him treatment and put the arm in a sling the man was sent up on deck as the ship was so cluttered up and busy with work below decks there was no room for him there. Later, on deck, the man volunteered to stand gangway watch, because as he said, he was perfectly able to carry messages with one hand even if he did not know much about deck watches. His desire to serve permitted an able bodied man to be relieved and put on useful work. Shortly after this the admiral came on board and received a left-handed salute.
“What’s this! What’s this!” he said to the commanding officer, “Are you working the cripples, too!”
For several months each commanding officer had two ships under his command. Having two ships thus under one commanding officer gave the same injured engineer a problem which he solved in his own way. The old ship happened to be on one side of a tender and the new one on the other. The injured engineer was still on watch when the commanding officer temporarily left his old ship, still in commission, to go to the new ship. The engineer was nonplused what to do with the captain’s absentee pennant. The problem was out of his usual line of work. The captain was off one ship but still he was on the other. He finally compromised and half masted the absentee pennant as being the best answer, since, as he said, “The captain was half gone anyway.”
Safety of personnel through careful attention to details was emphasized. Security watches were established. The efficiency of the measures adopted is shown by the freedom from injuries. None resulted save of a minor nature except in one unusual accident where the evidence indicated that the hose to an acetylene tank was accidentally pulled loose while an operator was using a torch. The escaping gas ignited, inflicting injuries from which one seaman subsequently failed to recover.
With the energetic work of all hands the reconditioning program proceeded rapidly. The first ship was commissioned on January 8, when amid appropriate ceremonies the ensign on the old ship was hauled down and the colors run up on her successor. Thereafter from time to time one reserve ship after another emerged from its chrysalis and spread its wings in the form of a commission pennant until on June 4 the last vessel was commissioned.
The work that has been done on these ships compares very favorably with that done in a navy yard. It has been done with much less additional charge to the Navy than if done in a navy yard. The work afloat, including navy yard work required, was accomplished within the allowance that had been made for the navy yard repairs of the old vessels for the current fiscal year.
Now, as the recommissioning program has reached its end, ships whose decks had not been trod since the war are preparing to outdo their predecessors. Disguised in their resplendent coats of paint and again trim and shipshape appearing one cannot detect the mangy-looking vessels that were towed from the Destroyer Base last fall.
To give credit for the successful accomplishment of the gigantic undertaking represented in the recommissioning program it would be necessary to list the name of every officer and man who took part in this work. They have all served with unusual energy, loyalty, and devotion.
Now that the recommissioning work is a memory, to those who have taken part in it will remain the remembrance of a new experience. It has been one broadening in its nature to the hundreds of officers and thousands of men who have participated. It has brought difficult problems which have been met enthusiastically and conquered. In overcoming them, non-rated men, petty officers, and officers have measured up to enlarged responsibilities. They have a new conception of what can be undertaken and successfully accomplished. This knowledge will be a perpetual source of inspiration to those having taken part, when in the future, some one says, “such and such can’t be done.” Then will be recounted the tale of what was done on the U.S.S. so and so at San Diego 1929-1930 during the recommissioning program of the destroyer squadrons, battle fleet, and how the Navy Department, as in the days of Macdonough, had decided wisely when the problem was placed in the hands of the fighting forces. The accomplishments of the destroyer squadrons in carrying through to a successful conclusion the modernization and recommissioning of the thirty-four vessels has added another page to the records of brilliant accomplishments which have ever characterized the American Navy.
[1] The Ninth Squadron of the Scouting Fleet had a much similar problem in modernizing and recommissioning the Seventh Squadron.