April 1938 USS Nashville CL43
As
an ensign I served my sea going apprenticeship in Mississippi BB 41. In April 1938
transferring to Nashville CL43 I began my gunnery career in one of the new 6
inch rapid fire turrets. During my nearly four years aboard, in 1939 our class
was promoted to lieutenant junior grade by examination. By the time I left the ship in 1942 the
class moved up to Lieutenant without examination. Promotion exams were
suspended during the war. (Note: In 1940
Nashville was in the Valejo Naval Ship Yard for overhaul. The Yard demonstrated the removal and
replacement of the new six inch guns.
The barrels were removed and replaced by rotating as a bayonet
joint. During lulls in the operation the
group agreed that the United States surely would enter the war but promotions
would not be accelerated. Like many pollsters this prediction missed by a
country mile.)
Note: The 6"/53
caliber gun (spoken
"six-inch-fifty-three-caliber") formed the main battery of United
States Navy light
cruisers andsubmarine cruisers
built during the 1920s. United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun
fired a projectile 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter, and the barrel was 53 calibers long (barrel length is 6 inch x 53 = 318 inches or 8
meters.) The gun with side swing Welin breech block and Smith-Asbury mechanism weighed about 10 tonnes and used
a silk bag containing 44-pounds (20 kg) of smokeless powder to give a 105-pound (47.6 kg) projectile a velocity of
3000 feet per second (900 m/s). Early Marks were built-up guns with a liner, tube, full-length jacket, and 2 hoops; but
the Mark 14 gun was of monobloc construction. Useful life expectancy was 700 effective full charges (EFC) per liner.
Shipmate November 2004
We
are familiar with change-of-duty and temporary additional duty orders. In most cases they were executed with out
problems. However, I have been haunted
by several transfers that were more involved than normal. Samples follow.
Toward
the end of my two yesr tour in Mississippi BB43 BuPers asked for volunteers for
the commissioning detail of Philadelphia CL 41, one of the Brooklyn class of new six inch light cruisers. I applied
only to be informed that the compliment was filled. Shortly there after, I got orders to
Goldsborough DD188, a 1920 four- piper destroyer, being converted to AVP 5/APD
32 in Philadelphia. I was
disappointed but it was fate. The night
before I was detached some friends invited me to dinner. On returning aboard I found that my orders
had been cancelled. Later in 1938 I got
orders to Nashville CL 43
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