November should be Tender Month.
It is great to see USS Frank Cable (AS 40) underway for a nice Pacific Island tour and catching up on a lost art.
Watching that and reading up on our latest ponderings on the People’s Republic of China had me thinking of a Fullbore Friday from October – an outline of the great Captain Cassin Young, USN and his penultimate command USS Vestal (AR-4).
Let’s set the table by reviewing what she did in 10-months after she left Pearl Harbor.
….Vestal received orders on 12 August 1942 to proceed to the South Pacific. She set sail for Tongatapu in the Tonga Islands. She arrived there two weeks later, on 29 August, at a key time – less than a month after the launching of Operation Watchtower, the invasion of the Solomon Islands. Over the months that followed, the Japanese would contest the Americans and their Australian and New Zealand allies with skill and tenacity.
Note where Tongatapu is.
During Vestal’s 60 days at Tongatapu, she completed 963 repair jobs for some 58 ships and four shore activities. Included were repairs to warships such as Saratoga (torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-26 on 31 August); South Dakota (damaged from grounding at Lahai Passage, Tonga Islands, on 6 September); and North Carolina (torpedo damage suffered on 15 September).
Next, Nouméa.
Vestal subsequently sailed for the New Hebrides on 26 October, but a change of orders brought her to New Caledonian waters instead, and she reached Nouméa on 31 October. Her arrival could not have been more timely because the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands had occurred just a few days before. South Dakota and Enterprise, two of the most heavily damaged ships, were at Nouméa. … Even though Vestal repair parties were busy with Enterprise’s urgent repairs, they also went to work on the damaged South Dakota, listing her over to patch the hole on the battleship’s starboard side at the waterline. Her craftsmen repaired the wardroom (removing Mahan’s anchor in the process), patched shrapnel holes, and put sprung hatches and damaged fire mains in order. She was back in action in a scant five days. …During her time at Nouméa, Vestal completed 158 jobs on 21 ships; she departed that port on 13 November…
Note where Nouméa is;
Next, Espiritu Santo
… (she) reached Espiritu Santo three days later; and began a year’s schedule of repair service. During the next 12 months, Vestal tackled some 5,603 jobs on 279 ships and 24 shore facilities. Some of the outstanding repair jobs were on combatants, ships damaged during the bitter naval engagements in the Solomons in late 1942 and early 1943. There were: San Francisco, ripped by heavy caliber hits during the night battle off Savo Island on 13 November 1942; New Orleans and Pensacola, the latter with a torpedo hole measuring 24 by 40 feet (12 m), a flooded after engine room, and two propeller shafts broken; the New Zealand light cruiser HMNZS Achilles, which, besides shrapnel and collision damage, had taken a direct hit on her after turret; and the torpedoed and fire-damaged cargo ship Alchiba.
In addition, she performed repairs on the torpedoed light cruiser St. Louis, the torpedoed Australian light cruiser HMAS Hobart; the bomb-damaged transport Zeilin; and others, including Tappahannock and HMNZS Leander. She also corrected battle damage to and performed alterations on 12 LST’s and a large number of miscellaneous lesser ships. Only once during that time, from 27 May to 2 June 1943, did the ship herself undergo repairs.
Note where Espiritu Santo is.
Let’s come back to 2021 and see where the major US Navy bases are where we might be able to find some repair work, might.
We’ve heard a lot as of late about the threat from Chinese conventional ballistic missiles. Let’s throw those range rings out there.
Now look back at what VESTAL did and where she did it.
In the next war – where will we repair our ships and who will do it?
At the outbreak of the last great Pacific war, the US Navy had a dizzying capability to service the fleet with repair ships like VESTAL (AR), in addition to destroyer tenders (AD) and submarine tenders (AS) along with other speciality auxiliaries that gave the fleet the ability to fight forward, repair, and get back in to the fight without traveling far distances to already fully utilized shore repair facilities.
Today, we have no repair ships. We have no destroyer tenders. We do have two submarine tenders, both are 42 years old.
Is this a Navy that is ready for war at sea in the western Pacific against an opponent who will target fixed facilities on day 1 – or is this a navy that has become a bit complacent and entitled?
Why we have ignored this “unsexy but important” requirement is one story … but in 2021 what we need to be asking is, “When will we have our new tenders and repair ships ready?”
We are already years late.
