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Total Run: 550
Nautical Miles from Puget Sound's Blake Island
Total Average Speed: 5.85 Knots
Hours From Departure: 94 Hours
Distance To Go This Leg: 632 Nautical Miles to Long Beach for re-fueling
Estimated Time Of Arrival: 8:00 a.m., Tuesday, September 21
Present Course: 180 Degrees due South until Latitude 40 degrees when Sea
Victory will alter course to conform to the eastward bend of the California coastline
Seas & Swells: Combined at 12 Feet
Wind: 25 Knots from the North
Barometer: 1019 Millibars, Steady, Remaining High Pressure
Air Temperature: 56 Degrees
Visibility: 10 Miles, Hazy
Skies: Clear with a Hazy Horizon Position:
At 3:30 a.m. this morning, USS New Jersey passed the
latitudinal parallel separating the states of Oregon and California. Presently, she is due
west of the Klamath River, and west by south of Crescent City, California, just south of
the famous Point St. George. We are 57.5 nautical miles from the nearest northern
California land mass.
Projections, Corrections & Miscellany...
One month from today, USS New Jersey is scheduled to
arrive in Panama, a lengthy 2,948 nautical miles from our immediate destination of Long
Beach, California.
The total distance from our original Bremerton,
Washington departure to Long Beach will be 1,190 nautical miles. The combined
Pacific Ocean segment of the voyage will be 4,138 nautical miles. Then, from
Panama's Atlantic port of Cristobal to the waters of New Jersey on the Delaware River, USS
New Jersey will travel more than 2,000 additional nautical miles, just about half the
distance of the Pacific journey.
From time to time, we trust not often, there may be a
need to correct or clarify references in our reports. Such a time presents itself
now, courtesy of a former veteran who served aboard the destroyer USS Hale (DD-642).
In our 8:00 p.m. Position Report of Tuesday, September
14, our story called: "Storms East and West, Now and Then" contained a probable
error. We wrote, referring to the three destroyers which capsized in that vicious
typhoon, that: "Each destroyer had a crew of some 500 men." That number appears
high for those vessels, even though WWII conditions sometimes called for higher than
designed for crew sizes.
Bill Mansfield of Braintree, Massachusetts, notified us
by email that "the size of the crews was not 500 as stated, but in the 350
range."
We thank Mr. Mansfield for his contribution, and will
reflect his clarification in the story.
Ray Mann, resource historian at the Ship's History Branch
of the Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C., generally confirmed Mansfield's
information this morning.
The three destroyers involved were the USS Hull, the USS
Monagham -- both Farragut Class destroyers built in the 1930s -- and the USS Spence, a
Fletcher Class destroyer built later and bigger than the others.
The Design specifications for the crew of the two
Farragut Class ships was 160. For the USS Spence it was 273. Mann cautions us
not to assume the crew sizes -- higher or lower -- of any of the vessels at that time
without referring to records available at the National Archives and Records Administration
in Washington, access to which we obviously do not have at this writing.
Let it be stated, then, that for purposes of our report,
the 500 crew size has not been verified. Therefore, we must conclude that the size
was something shy of that, more likely approximating the design requirements of the ships.
Whether the ships' crews in December 1944, under severe wartime conditions,
contained more than the designs called for remains the question. We will pursue this
information as best we can.
Thank you, Mr. Mansfield.
And our thanks as well to the Naval Historical Center in
Washington, which has been the fountainhead resource for much of the historical references
to BB-62, as well as much of the photography. Their courtesy, professionalism and
dedication under a deluge of public requests, inspires confidence in the term "public
service."
We enjoyed baked albacore tuna for dinner last night,
thanks to Able Seaman Fred Davis's bait and line, and Cook C.J. Good's culinary expertise.
It was delicious, according to everyone.
Two nights ago, a fleet of more than 40 west coast tuna
trollers were scouring our area for their own catches. Most boats reported in a 7:00
p.m. short-wave conference call that they were successful.
Their assessments indicated the combined catch was more
than 1,000 tuna, varying in size and quality from good to so-so. Most of the
fishermen and women referred to catching "schoolies," but we were not able to
learn the definition of that reference. Our conclusion was that it probably meant
"juvenile," or smaller than desirable.
Submitted by Bob Wernet onboard the Sea Victory.
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