CHAPTER 3

ARCHIVE INDEX

From Jan 1943 to September, Hanley served as a command pilot with ZP 21 based at NAS Richmond, Florida. He was also the squadron Gunnery Officer and later Assistant Maintenance Officer. He points out that ZP 21 rapidly built up to nine K-type airships.

Hanley points out that the U-boats had moved into the Florida Straits, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico, and often remained on the surface to shoot it out with attackers. He recounts one episode during which an airship piloted by Lieutenant Nelson Grills was shot down at night by a submarine in the Florida Straits. One man was lost but the rest of the crew was rescued. (Note: Hanley adds some forgotten details to this episode.)

Hanley recalls that the "blimps, with their excellent radar, were effective at night in detecting snorkeling or surfaced subs, and we generally had at least two out on night patrols every night. He describes a mid-1943 incident involving an all night patrol in the Florida Straits tracking a U-boat that had sunk a ship about fifty miles east of Key West. Having acquired a radar contact, Hanley prepared to drop depth charges, but instead of coming upon a U-boat he discovered that the contact was an old Pan Am seaplane which had just made an emergency landing in the water. He then helped to rescue that aircraft.

In early 1943, an advance base was opened up on the Isle of Pines, south of Cuba, to support a blimp, owing to the southward movement of U-boat operations and the need to patrol the Yucatan Channel. Hanley took command of this airship in May 1943 and operated over the nearby waters. (Note: "Looking back on this year, our blimps played a key role in suppressing the U-boats in the vital shipping lanes that we patrolled or escorted convoys. Most flights were long, 14-18 hours, and there was lots of boredom. But on night patrols, when you got a contact where no friendly ships were supposed to be, boredom vanished.)

On 1 September, Hanley was ordered to report to the staff of Commander, Fleet Airship Wings, Atlantic, in Lakehurst. Hanley describes the command and staff set-up and some of his duties as Assistant Operations Officer. He recalls one meeting on 14 November 1943 concerning the airdropped Mk 24 acoustic homing torpedoes only recently developed by the Navy. He also recalls a false alarm on either Christmas 1943 or New Years Day 1944 when headquarters received a message warning of a Graf Zeppelin attack on several East Coast cities. "It was always my opinion that the Nazis had a lot of fun in setting us up for this incident.

Hanley includes a section on "A Perspective on the US Air ASW Effort in the Atlantic." He points out that when he entered the ASW program in 1942, "the beaches in New Jersey were literally black in color from the many tankers sunk. The same was true for a lot of the US eastern seaboard."

"The Admiral's Revolt alias The Fight to Save the Carriers 1948-1950." Explains Hanley's view of the "Revolt of the Admirals" and his work monitoring USAF propaganda during the Vinson Hearings.

Letter reports made by Hanley as Commander Air Group 181, embarked in CVA RANDOLPH during 6th Fleet deployment 1954-55.

Seven (7) letter reports cover M.J. Hanley as CO THETIS BAY (LPH 6), from 30 Mar 1963 - 20 Feb 1964. THETIS BAY is the Navy's first helicopter carrier and operated often at Onslow Beach, North Carolina. In July 1963, THETIS BAY took President Kennedy's Marine helos to Europe. In mid-1963, THETIS BAY went to Haiti with helos and Rangers as a result of PapaDoc threatening to kill his political opponents.

Detached on 20 Feb 1964 to take command of FORRESTAL. Reported to FORRESTAL with experience in two carrier squadrons, an Air Group, as Air Officer on a big carrier, was Ops Officer and Training Officer on ComNavAirLant Staff, and deep draft command of THETIS BAY, the Navy's first helo carrier.

Took two months to find out what most of the material problems on the ship were and became used to surprises. After Hanley was relieved, the Board of Inspection and Survey inspection reported that FORRESTAL did not need to go into the yard.

Took FORRESTAL to the Windward Passage to stabilize political unrest in Brazil. Gave Ed Sullivan a tour on deck and was on television the next day, along with a film clip of FORRESTAL.

Went to a soccer game in Valencia, Spain, with a Spanish Army Colonel and Chief of Police in Valencia. Gave a firepower demo to high ranking Israeli government officials.

Raised morale of ship in the following ways: Installed comment box on the mess deck, had lunch with the CPOs once a month, assembled the 2nd and 3rd class petty officers and talked to them about leadership, wanted to recognize 10% of the crew for their performance with letters of commendation, and sent out a FamilyGram to parents or wives of crew members every six weeks.

Prevented an explosion in the gasoline pump room when the D.C. officer stopped an airman who was about to start a gasoline motor, with a spark, to help ventilate the ship because of gasoline leaks on deck.

Gets purple in the face when someone suggests that it is not necessary to have an experienced carrier aviator as C.O. of a carrier. "I now say that I agree and would consider that an experienced carrier aviator could command a nuclear attack sub and depend on his subordinates for advice." (14 pages).

Report, "Mediterranean Highlights, USS FORRESTAL (CVA 59)" Table of Contents:

Administrative Maintenance Transportation Air Control Medical Air Operations Operations Communications Ordnance Electronics Personnel Engineering Public Relations Funds Supply Mail Training

A complete detailed account of Hanley's tenure on board the FORRESTAL through his personal collection of papers. An excellent orginal source of information on carrier life.

Suggested historical research project focusing on the 1978 decision by President Carter that dropped a Navy program to build seagoing vessels that could attain 60-80 knots, the "Wave Walker." The following Hanley enclosures claim to tell the story. 3-page introduction included. A). Newspaper article "Dropping the `Wave Walker' Angers Navy," provides an overview at the Surface Effect Ships program that was dropped and why. [Evening Capital, 30 Aug 1978.] B). "Surface Effect Ships," article written by Hanley and published in Nov 1966 of The Naval Institute Proceedings. A primer on SES and instigated subsequent programs. C). Specifications on the 2000 ton SES which was scrapped and is in the Smithsonian. D). Specs on the proposed 3000 ton SES which was canceled. E). Notes obtained by Hanley from NAVSEA. F) Possible knowledgeable contacts obtained by Hanley from NAVSEA.

Attack Carrier Air Group Command, Command Air Task Group 181, 9 Nov 1953 - 29 July 1955. First assignment was at Oceana (ATG 181), went down to Guantanamo in early 1954, was involved in the flight time record of 3 hrs. and 45 mins. by three F9F6s from San Diego to New York on 1 Apr 1954, escaped injuries caused by use of mineral oil in the catapults on board the Bennington, and instrumental in CAG Alley which Hanley reported to call to attention the need for a TOP GUN program. 16 pgs.

"From Annapolis to Pearl Harbor," Commentary, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 7 December 1989, p. F2.2. Copies of misc. correspondence, including President Bush to Hanley, 21 Nov 1989 (thanking Hanley for copy of article on Class of 1940 experiences at Pearl Harbor); and Hanley to Classmates and Widows, 28 Nov 1989, regarding invitation to Bush at attend 50th Reunion.

Assigned to HELENA (CL 50), for his first sea tour since graduation from USNA. In 1941, Hanson was reassigned to JACOB JONES (DD 130), and believed to be Gunnery Officer of the ship. On 28 Feb, 1942, while enroute from New York to Norfolk, JACOB JONES was sunk off the Delaware Capes by German submarine U 578 in a night torpedo attack.

Harris reported to the PENNSYLVANIA in July 1940. Reassigned to the pre-commissioning details of WASHINGTON in Philadelphia, in Mar 1941. Was junior officer in the Engineering Dept of both ships.

"The WASHINGTON was at anchor in Hampton Roads on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, on a weekend break in its trials and training schedule." "The rest of the month we continued and expedited our tests and trials...The WASHINGTON finished in February, and was ordered across the north Atlantic to join the British Home Fleet."

Harris served in the fast battleship WASHINGTON in early 1943. She was operating out of Noumea, and Harris points our that "the early months of the year were pretty quiet. There were occasional sorties to make sure the Japanese failed to take over the Guadalcanal area, but that was about it."

Harris was Fueling Officer, and he gives an interesting account as to how underway refueling was accomplished and some of the difficulties it involved.

In early April, Harris left the ship and flew back to the United States headed for the Naval Construction and Engineering postgradate Course at MIT. Harris describes his experiences as a wartime student taking a compressed three-year MIT course in two years.

Rear Admiral Official Navy Biography, from Bio Branch

Jul 40-Aug 42: In USS ASTORIA (CL), Hawaiian detachment; then in mid-41 escorted troops to Manila. In 1942, Coral Sea, Midway, and then sunk off Savo Island. Healey spent the night on a raft and was rescued the next morning by an American destroyer. Dec 42-Sep 43: USS BEALE (DD 471) prospective gunnery officer. Sep 43-Apr 44: Staff, Comdr Op Training Cmd, Pac Flt, San Diego, Gunnery Officer. May 44-Jun 45: XO USS AULT (DD 698); participated in several actions in Pacific including Okinawa, Iwo Jima, and shelling of Japan. Jul 45-Jun 46: CO USS DYSON (DD ?). Jul 46-Jul 47: Nav PG School, Annapolis Ord Eng Student. Jun 47-Jun 49: MIT MS (EE). Jun 49-Jun 51: Readiness and Training Off, Staff, ComCarDivFour. Jun 51-Jun 52: CO USS GYATT (DD 712). Jun 52-Jun 53: Head, Underwater Fire Control Section, BuOrd. Jul 53-Jun 55: Head, Fire Control Branch, BuOrd. Jun 55-Jul 57: Rdns & Trng Officer, Staff, ComBatCruLant. Aug 57-Jun 58: XO USS NORTHAMPTON (CLG-1), flagship for Com2ndFlt Jun 58-May 59: ICAF. Jun 59-Dec 59: Dir of LR Plans for R and D, BuOrd. Dec 59-Jun 60: Dep Dir of LR Research and Dev and Dep to Asst Ch, BuWeapons. Jun 60-Jun 62: Dir of Dev for ASW, BuWeps. Jul 62-Oct 63: CO USS PYRO (AE-24). Oct 63-Mar 65: ComDesRon Three, Long Beach, then Japan in June 64. Operated with 7th Fleet off Vietnam from Jul 64 to Mar 65. Assigned as CO of DeSoto Patrol in preparation for emulating MADDOX and TURNER JOY operation in that patrol. Apr 65-Oct 67: Plans and Programs Officer, Dep Program Mgr for ASW Office of CNO. Oct 76-Jun 69: ComCruDes Flot Six, Charleston. July 69-Jun 71: Dir of Stategic and Undersea Warfare Dev, OpNav. Jul 71-Jun 72: Dep Dir of R and D, staff of CNO. Jul 72: retired as Rear Admiral, Upper Half.

Submitted by widow Loretta. Biographical information on Theodore Hechler, Jr. "Like Swatting Bees in a Telephone Booth" appeared in PROCEEDINGS, U.S. Naval Institute, December 1980, by T. Hechler. This is Hechler's account of the Pearl Harbor attack when he was an ensign aboard the PHOENIX.

Classmates serving in cruiser NASHVILLE (CL 43) in early 1942 included Carlson, Dickes, Micheel, and Shaffer. NASHVILLE escorted convoy to Iceland in late 1941 and returned to Norfolk on 3 Jan 42.

Story about classmate Walter Schafer.

Recounts incidents on SEADRAGON's 9th war patrol in the area north of Truk during January 1944. This was Hemley's second war patrol. (Exciting story relates how Hemley and a Chief were nearly left topside when the boat dived to evade an early morning Betty on patrol from Truk.) (See Eckert for a similar operational experience.)

"During the years of the Korean War I was in the Navy Heavy Attack program helping establish an aircraft carrier delivery capability for atomic weapons. The Heavy Attack squadrons in those years were a part of the Atlantic Fleet and the deployments were to Port Lyautey from which base we sent detachments of aircraft to the carriers in the Mediterranean on call from COMSIXTHFLT. The only connection we had with the war in Korea was one brief flurry of activity to prepare crews to proceed to Korea to drop one or more atomic weapons to stop the enemy advance at the time the UN forces' ability to do so was in serious doubt...."

Hill entered flight training in October 1942, and this account concerns his experiences while learning to fly in 1943. This is a vivid, detailed account of Navy flight training in 1943. Hill points out that his class first soloed after about 10 hours of instruction in the "Yellow Peril," which was really two types, either the Stearman N2S or the Naval Aircraft Factory N3N. He points out that many of the instructors were ensigns many of whom had just completed flight training themselves.

Hill traveled to Pensacola in February for intermediate training where he was introduced to low-wing monoplanes, more formation flying, instrument flying, cross-country flying, aerial gunnery, and dive bombing tactics. Hill earned his wings in May after successfully completing this phase of the program.

Hill chose, or was selected for, dive bomber training at NAS Daytona Beach, which, he points out, was one of the few places in the US where there was surplus housing. It was also near a large WAC training base. Hill trained in war weary Douglas SBDs which had been replaced in the fleet by newer planes. "They were a rather motley bunch of flying machines but got the job done. Most of our work was dropping miniature bombs on land targets with an occasional opportunity to drop on an armored target boat which operated on a nearby lake."

Re lost classmates: Memo from Hill concerning (1) Ulmont I. Whitehead, Jr., (2) Thomas B. Earle, (3) Henry T. Graham, (4) Robert C. Stimson, and (5) Hugh Wood, Jr. (NOTE: Copies of this memo may be found in the above sections of the Archive.)

Narrative re pre-World War II and postwar Navy until 1949. Hiller's first assignment was to the light cruiser CONCORD which was stationed at Pearl Harbor in the summer of 1940. He served as Junior Division Officer in Deck, Communications, and Fire Control.

In August 1941, Hiller was ordered to attend the first Radar Officers School at Bowdoin College and later at the NRL in Anacostia.

Hiller stayed in the Navy after World War II until July 1949, when he resigned to accept a position at NRL. He served on the staff of SURASDEVDET, Key West. When he left the Navy, he was XO of the destroyer SARSFIELD, an experimental ASW destroyer.

In 1949, he was attracted by research and worried about "a decline in our Navy" as a result of postwar budget cuts. He continued in the Naval Reserve, eventually retiring with the rank of Captain.

Re VP service in peacetime. Hinman was XO of VP-2 flying P2Vs from 1948 to 1950 based at NAS Whidbey Island. The squadron deployed to Kodiak, Alaska, and flew the "Chain Patrol" along the Aleutians to the end, up the International Date Line to Point Barrow, Alaska, and back to Nome and Kodiak, looking for Soviet ships or submarines and acting as an ice patrol.

Thereafter, Hinman served as CO of VP-28 at the end of the Korean War. Hinman compares his "primitive" gear with that of the VQ aircraft. His patrols ran up the west coast of Japan, down along the Soviet coastline and Korea, and into the South China Sea.

In 1961, Hinman became CO of VX-1 at Key West which, as part of OPTEVFOR, was assigned to evaluate the P3 Orion and the S2 Tracker ASW aircraft. During this tour of duty, the Bay of Pigs affair and the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted.

On the Cuban Missile Crisis: "This was the most frustrating experience I have had -- many facets of the operation directed from Washington with no real knowledge of the situation. We tracked the Soviet ships bringing missile supplies into Cuba and later monitored the supposed departure of the missiles from the island. All that could be seen on the departure was the missile crates and, though one magnetic detection equipment signaled the presence of steel, the steel hulls of the ship have signaled that anyway. Probably the missiles are still there, for neither the Red Cross nor UN was allowed to check." "I never will forget that it took me five days of phone calls to COMNAVAIRLANT for rules of engagement. Finally, we got the word that if a Cuban fighter got on one tail, we could take "defensive action," a bit too late one would think.

As senior Squadron CO, I was involved in launching the several daily photo "Sandflower" planes. We tried to get permission for simultaneous launch so as not to alert Cuban defenses to successive flights. No luck. I would be on the phone with an admiral in Norfolk, who would say, "Launch Number One," and after a while, "Launch Number Two." Of course, all the radars in Cuba were alert as soon as Number One closed on the coast." "That was just one aspect of the whole scenario that was frustrating and was a sort of precursor of the way the politicians, with newspaper and TV help, ran the Vietnam conflict."

Destroyer story. 3 items enclosed. a. "The Death of a Tactic," an article which appeared in SHIPMATE, June 1984 (all information is accurate). b. "Brush Up on Your Homer!" an article which appeared in SHIPMATE, June 1982, written from memory. c. "Comments of a Black Shoe About Carrier Command," written as a thought that midshipmen might enjoy the mental exercise of jousting against windmills. d. A recollection of Hundevadt's naval career, "Spindrift" [Oct 1983, 267 pgs.] is available from Nimitz Library.

"The '40 Story" is a good summary of the experiences of members of the Class of '40 in Pearl Harbor, WW II, and the Korean War. Statistics are provided for ranks achieved and decorations earned in the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Army. Number of deaths and POW experiences are also described. 6 pages. (Included as Chapter 2 of this 60th anniverary account.)

Note on file: This record consists of three (3) files. The third file is in two separate parts."Because I was attached to the USS VINCENNES when it was sunk at the Battle of Savo Island off Guadalcanal on August 9, 1942, my papers from graduation from the Naval Academy on June 6, 1940 until the sinking are necessarily missing." (The documents of this file are in chronological order, starting from the bottom of the file.)

Submission by widow. 1. Memo written by widow describing Hunker's civilian life after retirement from the Navy. 2. Notice of Seperation from the U.S. Naval Service. 3. Letter of Commendation, signed by Capt Felix Baker, RANDOLPH (CV 15). 4. Secret Letter of Commendation, signed by Capt Felis Baker, RANDOLPH (CV 15). 5. Certificate of Satisfactory Service, signed by Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal for the President, 10 Dec 1946.