The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Maj. Gen. William "Wild Bill" Donovan

When Donovan put forth this plan to Roosevelt, a storm of protest broke about his head from U.S. military leaders. General Sherman Miles, head of the Army Intelligence (G-2) wrote to Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall that he considered the formation of a new super-intelligence agency "very disadvantageous, if not calamitous." J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI was enraged at the thought that Donovan might create an agency competitive with the FBI. He personally went to Roosevelt to complain about the idea.

Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson wrote in his diary that Hoover "goes to the White House… and poisons the mind of the President" about Donovan's plans. General Marshall noted Hoover's incessant badgering of Roosevelt to discard any notion of activating Donovan's plan, calling the FBI Director "very childish," "petulant," and "more of a spoiled child than a responsible officer."

Virginia Hall of Special Operations Branch receiving the Distinguished Service Cross from General Donovan, September 1945.

Actually, Hoover had planned to have just such an intelligence agency spring from his own FBI domain, one in which he would create a worldwide system of "legal attachés" (FBI officers) in every U.S. embassy, consulate and legation. As it was, when the OSS came into existence over his vitriolic objections, Hoover had to be content with getting all areas of the Western Hemisphere only as his absolute jurisdiction in gathering information, although the FBI was ordered to cooperate with the OSS (and its successor, the CIA), providing all intelligence it had on hand in those areas to the OSS when requested to do so.

This was easier said than done, particularly when dealing with the possessive, self-aggrandizing Hoover who became incensed at anyone who thought to enter the criminal investigation or intelligence fields which he believed were his private fiefdoms. He remained the eternal foe of Donovan's for his invasion into the intelligence field, albeit much of the FBI's early work in the area was woefully incompetent, inept and non-productive. Hoover was so envious of any OSS activity that he made ridiculous accusations against Donovan.

In 1942, Hoover carped that Donovan had more than ninety OSS agents operating in South America when Donovan had but one and that agent had been given permission to pick up some papers in Mexico by the New York branch of the FBI. Hoover had his agents put together dossiers on all of those who might exercise authority over him, from Presidents to members of Congress, from cabinet members to agency directors. He maintained a very large file on William Joseph Donovan that was crammed with rumor and gossip but not a single indictment of misbehavior.

In an article appearing in a 1941 edition of Collier's Magazine, an FBI spokesman reassured citizens that the FBI was cooperating with the OSS by sending it all the intelligence it had collected. Said the FBI agent in a snide fashion: "Donovan knows everything we know except what we know about Donovan." This, of course, clearly implied that the FBI was maintaining a file on Donovan. Hoover nervously followed up this article by sending a letter to Donovan in which he flatly denied that the FBI maintained a dossier on the OSS director. This was a lie, but J. Edgar Hoover's entire career was pockmarked with inconsistencies, misrepresentations and outright lies. Such conduct was his hallmark.

General Donovan addressing Jedburghs in England, 1944.

Roosevelt was very much in favor of a super-intelligence agency, but, at first, he thought to name his boyhood chum, Vincent Astor to head such an agency. The wealthy Astor had been Roosevelt's social spy in Washington for years, reporting the gossip and rumor of cocktail parties and fetes. He was totally unqualified for such a position. Donovan, on the other hand, was one of the few Americans who had a perfect grasp of world matters, and the best intelligence system in the world at that time, SIS. He had the support of Frank Knox, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morganthau, Jr., and Winston Churchill, along with all of the leading British intelligence chiefs (with the exception of the venomously anti-American Claude Dansey).

Donovan had already submitted his concepts of the proposed intelligence agency. He insisted that "intelligence operations should not be controlled by party exigencies. It is one of the most vital means of national defense. As such someone appointed by the President, directly responsible to him and no one else should head it. It should have a fund solely for the purpose of investigation and the expenditures under this fund should be secret and made solely at the discretion of the President." With this statement, Donovan had laid the cornerstone idea for not only the OSS but also the CIA that was to follow.

The organization Donovan envisioned came into being as the Office of Coordinator of Information (COI) on June 18, 1941, when Roosevelt announced its formation and Donovan at its head. Donovan recruited agents and workers for this new service from the Ivy League, Wall Street and media. His first lieutenant, so to speak, was playwright Robert E. Sherwood, who was a friend of Donovan's. Sherwood was made head of propaganda arm of the new organization, called Foreign Information Service (FIS) and large offices in New York were rented. Within a year more than 800 journalists, writers and broadcasters were employed by FIS.

Another branch of the COI, the Research and Analysis department, had as its chief recruiter Archibald MacLeish. He drew heavily from the Academy and from the field of journalism. James P. Warburg, the New York banker, joined this staff, as did Wallace Deuel, correspondent for the Chicago Daily News. Donovan recruited Thomas A. Morgan from the Sperry Corporation; James Roosevelt, one of the President's sons; Estelle Frankfurter, sister of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter; Atherton C. Richards, who owned a goodly portion of Hawaii; film director John Ford and film producer Mirian C. Cooper.

Letter from William Donovan to returning OSS personnel

Six months after the U.S. went to war with the Axis Powers, the COI came under the supervision of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on June 13, 1942, and its name was changed to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). As Roosevelt had warned Donovan, the military commanders tried to absorb the various branches of the OSS but Donovan was able to resist such moves and kept his organization intact and under his direct control. Before the OSS was disbanded, more than 60,000 persons would be employed in its many services.

Many OSS agents performed the same duties as the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), going behind enemy lines to work with underground and resistance fighters, in Europe, the Middle East and throughout Asia and the Pacific. OSS agents swarmed into French North Africa in advance of the Allied invasion, preparing the way by meeting with Vichy French officers and convincing many to welcome rather than resist the Allies.

One of those resisting OSS overtures was French Admiral Jean Darlan. He had earlier told the Allies that if they appeared with a well-equipped force of 500,000 men, he would abandon Vichy and side with them. When learning that the Allies were headed for Algiers, Darlan did just the opposite, ordering his men to resist. The embarrassing situation was settled when Fernand Bonnier de la Chapelle, shot and killed Darlan in his offices on December 24,1942.

An investigation by French officials soon had it that the OSS was behind the assassination. Suspicion was cast upon William A. Eddy, OSS chief in Algiers, and his right-hand man, Carleton S. Coon whose job it was to train Free French fighters in the ways of sabotage. These Frenchmen belonged to a paramilitary organization called Corps Franc. Bonnier, Darlan's assassin, had been a member of the Corps Franc. Though neither OSS man was accused openly of being involved with Bonnier's murder of Darlan, both quickly left Algiers. Coon went to work with a British SOE operation in Tunisia, using the identity of a British officer who had recently been killed. When he returned to the U.S. he met with Donovan, submitting a report that urged political assassination as an OSS procedure, one that was not adopted.

Crew members of a B-24 bomber flown by OSS on special missions over Central Europe pose beside their plane at Area T.

Though accusations were flung about, the assassination of Admiral Darlan was never proven to be an OSS-sponsored act. Bonnier, who was a Gaulist and monarchist, had apparently acted out of his own accord. At the same time the North African invasions took place, Donovan's best spymaster, Allen Dulles, arrived in Bern, Switzerland (with two un-pressed suits and a $1 million letter of credit) to organize OSS operations there. He was to provide invaluable information on military and political operations inside Italy and Germany.

Dulles was indirectly in touch with Germany's spymaster, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, and he established a spy network equal to and eventually superior than the long-standing British networks headquartered in Switzerland. The American spymaster was also in contact with most of those inside Germany's underground, euphemistically called the Black Orchestra. It was Dulles who accepted Fritz Kolbe as a genuine top spy inside of Germany after the British spymaster Claude Dansey denounced Kolbe as a Nazi "plant." Kolbe proved to be the most important German spy working for the Allies during World War II.

At the same time that Donovan was supervising worldwide OSS operations behind enemy lines, operations in neutral countries such as Switzerland, Portugal, Sweden, he was also directing a host of operatives in Washington, D.C. who spied upon the embassies of many countries who were reportedly neutral. Few persons could devote as much time, sixteen hours a day, to his exhausting tasks, as did Donovan, then in his sixties. Moreover, he had to contend at the same time with sniping from military intelligence chiefs such as the vainglorious, back-shooting General George Veazey Strong, head of Army Intelligence and General Marshall's handpicked hatchet man.

This OSS "Beano" grenade exploded upon impact.

This uniform button is really a compass.

Strong was forever writing sarcastic and demeaning memos about Donovan and the OSS He had at his disposal, where the OSS did not, the military intelligence services of Magic, the American computerized system of intelligence analysis which was to break the Japanese codes, and Ultra, the British counterpart, which had broken the German codes almost at the beginning of World War II and continued to superbly analyze information through its computer system Colossus, developed toward the end of the war.

To discredit OSS efforts at every opportunity (and waste valuable time doing it), Strong compared Donovan's intelligence data with that produced by Magic and Ultra to show OSS failings. He could not, however, replace the human factor which was the hub of OSS operations and which produced, in the end, raw information from which genuine high-level intelligence was gleaned.

Donovan continued to be personally on hand to oversee many OSS operations. He was present at the Allied invasion of Sicily and at the OSS operations around Bari, Italy. He was present at the Normandy invasion in 1944 and closely supervised his massive OSS operations carried out behind German lines shortly before the Allies landed. Donovan's agents, many of them spectacular heroes, felt that they could do no less than "the chief." One of these was the courageous Moe Berg, former baseball player, who parachuted into Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia for the OSS to meet with Yugoslavian partisan Tito and report that the Allies should support the guerrilla leader which they did.

The easily concealed ‘Liberator’ pistol.

Caltrops were designed to puncture tires.

The OSS had proven its worth countless times over during World War II, and, given the Communist aims at the end of that conflict, Roosevelt believed that there was a future for the organization in the years to come. On October 31, 1944, he sent a note to Donovan, asking that he provide a report on an American intelligence agency in the postwar period. Donovan drew up a plan for a revamped OSS to continue its intelligence gathering duties and submitted this to Roosevelt. The President's death the following year, however, delayed these plans.

When President Harry S. Truman came to power, he believed that there was no need to have a world-wide American spy network now that the war was over, a view he would later change when confronted with the Russian menace. Truman disbanded the OSS on September 20, 1945, a month after the Japanese surrender and the official end of the war. Donovan retired a major general.

The OSS went silently out of business but by the time of its demise, it had earned the respect of intelligence communities throughout the world. Of its 16,000 agents and subagents in the combat zones, more than 2,000 of them had won medals for gallantry. Donovan had lost only 143 men and women. About 300 had been captured and imprisoned. It was a remarkable record of limited casualties, far many less than Donovan had lost in World War I. Donovan's personal contribution was vast, and, as usual, valiant.

A deck of playing cards conceal a map which would be revealed when the top layer was soaked off.

Donovan retired to private life but helped to create the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1947. He served as Ambassador to Thailand in 1953-54 before going into permanent retirement. In January 1959, a huge portrait of Donovan was hung in the lobby of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The oil painting showed an erect, commanding figure wearing the uniform of a major general, his chest bedecked with ribbons topped by the blue Congressional Medal of Honor. Donovan attended the ceremony. He was ill at the time; in fact, he was dying.

"Wild Bill" gazed at his portrait and suddenly his bent frame came to life. One report had it that "the bowed head came up, the jaw hardened, the sagging body stiffened to attention. Straight as a soldier, the general about-faced and strode down the corridor and through the foyer, and climbed without help into the car. He died a month later, on February 8, 1959. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower heard the news he remarked: "What a man! We have lost the last hero!"

OSS
Office of Strategic Services

U.S. Intelligence Service in World War II
(1942 - 1945)

Prior to World War II, America had no overall intelligence system beyond that operated by the armed forces. To coordinate secret information of all types at the start of U.S. involvement in World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), on January 13, 1942, created the Central Office of Information and placed General William "Wild Bill" Donovan at its head. Donovan, a World War I hero, quickly organized a vast network of experts in all intelligence fields. The organization's title was changed a short time later to the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS. The agency was responsible for espionage and sabotage in countries occupied by the Germans, Italians, and Japanese. It became legendary through the feats of its agents.

OSS Insignia WWII

Donovan was a tolerant spymaster, allowing his agents a great deal of freedom in accomplishing their missions. He encouraged inventiveness, even recklessness. More than 13,000 men and women worked for the OSS during World War II. They parachuted or were smuggled into all the countries occupied by the enemy to work closely with underground units, the SOE, and the SIS, as well as other national intelligence agencies operated by Allied countries.

One of the most effective operations conducted by the OSS was its preparations for the Allied landings in North Africa in 1942. OSS agents deftly negotiated terms with Vichy French officials to make sure that no French warships in African ports would be given over to the Germans who then occupied most of France. Moreover, they were able to place scores of agents in North Africa, ostensibly as monitors of foodstuffs going to refugees. These agents spent most of their time recording the movements of German warships and aircraft through the Mediterranean, while placating indecisive French officials and military commanders in preparation for the Allied landings.

When American and British troops did storm the beaches, OSS agents were waiting for them to lead them through minefields and direct them to the strategic objectives, OSS agents performed the same kind of incredible feats in preparation of the 1944 Normandy landings. The agency's agents were also effective in China, 1943-1945, working with Chiang Kai-shek in discovering weaknesses in the Japanese war machine.

In 1943, OSS agents, with Donovan's approval and without informing the Joint Chief of Staff, broke into the Japanese Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, in search of documents and codebooks. They managed to obtain information that was, for the moment, valuable, but in the long run, this covert operation, which was quickly discerned by the Japanese, was devastating to U.S. military intelligence.

Though U.S. military intelligence had broken the Japanese "Ultra Code" in early 1942 and continued to monitor all important military and diplomatic messages throughout the war, the OSS break-in caused the Japanese to change its entire military attachß code, or that used by its intelligence service.

General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of South Pacific Operations, refused to allow the OSS to operate in his theater of war, preferring to rely upon the intelligence provided to him form the Army's G-2. The most truculent opponent facing the OSS was J. Edgar Hoover, chief of the FBI, who thought Donovan's OSS to be and upstart agency that might usurp his own power and the jurisdiction of the Bureau, even though FDR constantly assured Hoover that the OSS mandate was to operate outside the Western Hemisphere, a regulation that later applied to the CIA, which succeeded the OSS.

"To those of us here today, this is General Donovan's greatest legacy. He realized that a modern intelligence organization must not only provide today's tactical intelligence, it must provide tomorrow's long-term assessments. He recognized that an effective intelligence organization must not allow political pressures to influence its counsel. And, finally, he knew that no intelligence organization can succeed without recognizing the importance of people—people with discretion, ingenuity, loyalty, and a deep sense of responsibility to protect and promote American values."

>From DCI William Webster's remarks
at the dedication of the statue of
Gen. William J. Donovan,
CIA Headquarters, 28 October 1988.

British intelligence during World War II was, on the other hand, extremely cooperative with Donovan who visited SIS chiefs in 1940 to confer about his aims in establishing the OSS. He was shown the complete operations of the SOE (Special Operations Executive), which worked with the underground resistance fighters in occupied Europe. So impressed was Donovan that he modeled the OSS organization after the SOE. The British gave Donovan full cooperation, much more than might otherwise have been given in any other time, in that England was then desperate to draw the U.S. into the war against Germany.

At the end of World War II in 1945, President Harry Truman disbanded the OSS, believing that America had no more need of a super intelligence agency. This attitude quickly changed, however, when the Soviet Union was perceived to be a very real threat to the security of the U.S. and the world, causing the creation of another intelligence agency in 1946, the CIA.

Additional Sources:

www.larrystonebooks.com
www.homeofheroes.com
www.cia.gov
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk
www.arlingtoncemetery.net
aia.lackland.af.mil
www.joric.com
graphics.boston.com
www.randomhouse.com
www.thebattlezone.com
www.worldwar1.com

The President of the United States
in the name of
The Congress
takes pleasure in presenting the
Medal of Honor

to

DONOVAN, WILLIAM JOSEPH

Rank and Organization: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 165th Infantry, 42d Division. Place and Date: Near Landres-et-St. Georges, France, 14-15 October 1918. Entered Service At: Buffalo, N.Y. Born: 1 January 1883, Buffalo, N.Y. G.O., No.: 56, W.D., 1922.

Citation:
Lt. Col. Donovan personally led the assaulting wave in an attack upon a very strongly organized position, and when our troops were suffering heavy casualties he encouraged all near him by his example, moving among his men in exposed positions, reorganizing decimated platoons, and accompanying them forward in attacks. When he was wounded in the leg by machine-gun bullets, he refused to be evacuated and continued with his unit until it withdrew to a less exposed position.

Good Monday morning everyone.

FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!

Good Monday Morning Everyone

If you would like added to our ping list let us know.

Good morning feather.

Good morning Sam.

Good morning, Sam and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole. it looks like we have a chance for snow, sleet and freezing rain tommorow and Wednesday.

Morning Aeronaut

Morning E.G.C. Sounds like now you're getting more "rain" than you wanted now.

Some areas have actully had more than others. There was flash flooding in the Ft. Worth Texas are the other night. The sun is out today but it's bone chilly out there.

Don't miss that kind of cold. I hope it doesn't get too bad for you, ice and snow is a bad combo.

The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. —James 3:18

O Prince of Peace, keep us, we pray,
From strife and enmity;
Help us to speak with loving words
That calm hostility

The best peacemakers are those who know the peace of God.

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on January 19:
0570 Mohammed Islamic prophet (Koran)
1095 - St Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester (ended sale of slaves at Bristol)
1200 Dogen Kigen Japan, Zen teacher, 1st patriarch of the Japanese Soto
1544 Francis II de Valois-Angoulême king of France (1559-60)
1736 James Watt Scotland, inventor (steam engine)
1749 Isaiah Thomas US, printer/editor/publisher/historian
1798 Auguste Comte philosopher/founder (sociology & positivism)
1807 Robert Edward Lee Stratford VA, General-in-Chief (Confederacy)
1809 Edgar Allan Poe Boston, author (Pit & the Pendulum)
1813 Sir Henry Bessemer engineer/inventor (Bessemer engine)
1816 Henry Gray Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1892
1820 John Haskell King Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1888
1830 George Blake Cosby Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1909
1839 Paul Cézanne France, impressionist painter (Bathers)
1863 Werner Sombart German fascist (Juden und das Wirtschaftsleben)
1892 Olafur Thors Icelandic PM (6 times, 1942-63)
1905 Oveta Culp Hobby government official/newspaper publisher/CEO (Houston Post)
1914 Lester Flatt country musician (Flatt & Scruggs-Ballad of Jed Clampett, Rocky Top)
1920 Javier Pérez de Cuéllar Lima Perú, 5th Secretary-General of UN (1982-91)
1922 Guy Madison [Robert Moseley], Bakersfield CA, actor (Wild Bill Hickok)
1924 Jean François Revel French journalist/author (Ni Marx ni Jésus)
1931 Robert MacNeil Montréal Québec Canada, news anchor (NBC Weekend News 1965-67)
1931 Ron Packard (Representative-R-CA, 1983- )
1932 Richard Lester movie director (Hard Day's Night, Help!, Petulia)
1935 Tippi Hedren Minnesota, actress (The Birds, Marnie, Bold & Beautiful)
1936 Ursula Andress Switzerland, actress (She, Dr No)
1938 Phil Everly Brownie KY, singer (Everly Bros-Wake Up Little Susie)
1942 Shelly Fabares Santa Monica CA, actress (Donna Reed Show, Coach)
1943 Janis Joplin Port Arthur TX, blues rock singer (Down on Me)
1943 Joe Butler rocker
1944 Richard [Erskine Frere] Leakey Nairobi Kenya, anthropologist
1946 Dolly Rebecca Parton Sevierville TN, country singer (Dolly, 9 to 5)
1953 Desi Arnaz Jr Los Angeles CA, actor (Craig-Here's Lucy, Fakeout, Joyride)
1954 Steve DeBerg NFL quarterback (Broncos, Chiefs, Bucs, 49ers)
1954 Katey Sagal Los Angeles CA, actress (Peg Bundy-Married with Children)
1969 Junior Seau NFL inside linebacker (San Diego Chargers)
1969 Luc Longley NBA center (Chicago Bulls)
1971 Shawn Wayans actor (In Living Color)
1976 Claire Grech Miss Malta-Universe (1997)

Deaths which occurred on January 19:
0639 Dagobert I king of Austrasia/Soissons/Burgundy/Neustrië, dies
1479 Johan II king of Aragón/Navarra, dies at 81
1547 Henry Howard Earl of Surrey, army commander/poet, beheaded at 29
1576 Hans Sachs composer, dies at 81
1629 Abbas I Shah of Persia (1588-1629), dies at 57
1885 Fred Burnaby English Colonel/balloon pioneer, dies in battle
1965 Frank Reicher actor (King Kong, Nazi Agent, Son of Kong), dies at 89
1975 Thomas Hart Benson US artist, dies at 85
1980 William O Douglas member US Supreme court (1939-75), dies at 81
1990 Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh Indian guru, dies at 58
1995 Eugene Fuller polymath/linguist, dies at 80
1997 James Dickey poet/novelist, dies at 84
1998 Carl Perkins singer/songwriter(Honey Don't), dies at 65

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1967 ASHBY DONALD R. SR.---NEWPORT NEWS VA.
1967 BRADY ALLEN C.---NORFOLK VA.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1967 EHRLICH DENNIS MICHAEL---POMPTON PLAINS NJ.
1967 JAYROE JULIUS S.---GEORGETOWN SC.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1967 KRAMER GALAND D.---NORMAN OK.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1967 YARBROUGH WILLIAM P. JR.---ABILENE TX.
[REMAINS RETURNED 08/14/85]
1968 JOHNSON WILLIAM D.---ROCKY MOUNT NC.
1968 MURRAY PATRICK PETER---ST PAUL MN.
[REMAINS RETURNED 04/10/86]
1968 WALLACE HOBART MCKINLE JR---SHARON WV. 1974 KOSH GERALD E.
[01/31/74 RELEASED HONG KONG]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0379 Theodosius installed as co-emperor of East Roman Empire
0973 Pope Benedictus VI elected
1419 French city of Rouen surrenders to Henry V in Hundred Years War
1493 France cedes Roussillon & Cerdágne to Spain by treaty of Barcelona
1668 King Louis XIV & Emperor Leopold I sign treaty dividing Spain
1714 You don't want to know (trust me)
1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie's troops occupy Stirling
1770 Battle of Golden Hill (Lower Manhattan)
1793 French King Louis XVI sentenced to death
1795 Democratic revolution in Amsterdam ends oligarchy
1806 Britain occupies the Cape of Good Hope
1825 Ezra Daggett & nephew Thomas Kensett patent food storage in tin cans
1829 Johann von Goethe's "Faust, Part 1" premieres
1839 Aden conquered by British East India Company
1840 Antarctica discovered, Charles Wilkes expedition (US claim)
1853 Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore" premieres, in Rome
1861 Georgia becomes 5th state to secede
1861 MS troops take Fort Massachusetts an Ship Island
1862 Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky (Fishing Creek, Logan's Crossroads)
1863 General Mieroslawski appointed dictator of Poland
1865 Union occupies Fort Anderson NC
1871 1st Negro lodge of US Masons approved, New Jersey
1886 Aurora Ski Club, 1st in US, founded in Minnesota
1898 Brown defeats Harvard 6-0 in 1st intercollegiate hockey game
1899 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan forms
1903 1st regular transatlantic radio broadcast between US & England
1903 New bicycle race "Tour de France" announced
1915 1st German Zeppelin attack over Great Britain, 4 die
1915 Neon Tube sign patented by George Claude
1917 Silvertown Essex's ammunition factory explodes; 300 die
1918 Soviets disallows a Constitution Assembly
1920 US Senate votes against membership in League of Nations
1922 Geological survey says US oil supply would be depleted in 20 years
1923 WMC-AM in Memphis TN begins radio transmissions
1925 -48ºF (-44ºC), Van Buren ME (state record)
1927 British government decides to send troops to China
1929 Acadia National Park, Maine established
1934 Kenesaw Mountain Landis denies Joe Jackson's appeal for reinstatement
1937 Cy Young, Tris Speaker & Nap Lajoie elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1937 Millionaire Howard Hughes sets transcontinental air record (7h28m25s)
1938 GM began mass production of diesel engines
1939 Ernest Hausen of Wisconsin sets chicken-plucking record-4.4 seconds
1942 Japanese forces invade Burma
1942 Titus Brandsma (Carmelite priest) arrested by German occupiers for speaking out against Nazism as a "lie" and "pagan"
1950 Maiden flight by Canada's Avro Canada CF-100 military plane
1952 PGA approves allowing black participants
1955 "The Millionaire" TV program premieres on CBS
1955 1st Presidential news conference filmed for TV (Eisenhower)
1955 "Scrabble" debuts on board game market
1956 Hoboken dedicates a plaque honoring achievements of Alexander Cartwright in organizing early baseball at Elysian Field
1957 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test
1961 1st episode for "The Dick Van Dyke Show" is filmed
1966 Indira Gandhi elected India's 3rd prime minister
1970 Nixon nominates G Harrold Carswell to Supreme Court (fails)
1971 Beatles' Helter Skelter is played at the Charles Manson trial
1972 Sandy Koufax, Yogi Berra, & Early Wynn elected to Hall of Fame
1977 President Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (Tokyo Rose)
1977 World's largest crowd-12.7 million-for Indian religious festival
1977 Ernie Banks elected to Hall of Fame
1978 Eddie Mathews elected to Hall of Fame
1978 Judge William H Webster appointed head of FBI
1979 John N Mitchell (former AG) released on parole from federal prison
1981 Muhammad Ali talks a despondent 21 year old out of committing suicide
1981 US & Iran sign agreement to release 52 American hostages
1983 Klaus Barbie, SS chief of Lyon in Nazi-France, arrested in Bolivia
1984 California Supreme Court refuses to allow quadriplegic Elizabeth Bouvia to starve herself to death in a public hospital, she appeals and is later granted the right to die
1985 "Born In The USA" by Bruce Springsteen peaked at #9
1986 Spain recognizes Israel
1987 Guy Hunt becomes Alabama's 1st Republican governor since 1874
1989 President Reagan pardons George Steinbrenner for illegal funds for Nixon
1991 Sergeant Slaughter defeats Ultimate Warrior for WWF championship belt
1992 IBM announces a nearly $5B loss for 1992
1992 Nature Boy Ric Flair becomes WWF champ at Royal Rumble
1992 Rowdy Roddy Piper beats Mountie to become WWF Intercontinental Champ
1993 Israel recognizes PLO as no longer criminal
1993 Oakland A's unveil new elephant logo
1994 -20ºF (-29ºC) (5 32 AM) coldest day ever recorded in Cleveland OH
1994 -36ºF (-38ºC) in New Whiteland IN (state record)

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
World : Kiwanis Week (Day 2)
Southern US : Robert E Lee Day
Texas : Confederate Heroes' Day
US : Martin Luther King Jr Day (1929) (Monday)
Virginia : Lee-Jackson Day (Monday)
US : Horror Novels Are Horrendous Day
US : Junk Food News Alert Day
US : Cuckoo Dancing Week (Day 2)
National Oatmeal Month

Religious Observances
Orthodox : Commemoration of God (Epiphany) (Manifestation)
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of SS Marius, Martha, Audifax & Abachum, martyrs
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Canute, king of Denmark
Anglican : Feast of Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester, end Bristol slave sale
Lutheran : Commemoration of St Henry, bishop of Uppsala Finland/martyr

Religious History
1563 The Heidelberg Catechism was first published in Germany. Written by Peter Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus, it comprised a balanced statement of Calvinist tradition, and was soon after accepted by nearly all of the Reformed churches in Europe.
1568 Death of Miles Coverdale, 80, publisher of the first printed English Bible. He completed the translation of the Old Testament which William Tyndale had left unfinished at his death in 1536.
1774 Pioneer Methodist bishop Francis Asbury wrote in his journal: 'Lord, ever draw my heart after thee! May I see no beauty in any other object, nor desire anything but thee!'
1804 Anglican missionary to Persia Henry Martyn wrote in his journal: 'To be made fit for the work of a missionary I resigned the comforts of a married life, ...and that was a severe struggle. Now again will I put forth the hand of faith, though the struggle will be far more severe.'
1889 The Salvation Army split, as one faction within the denomination renounced allegiance to founder William Booth. Booth's son Ballington and his wife Maud led the American splinter group, which in 1896 incorporated itself as a separate denomination known as the Volunteers of America.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Middle age is having a choice between two temptations and choosing the one that'll get you home earlier."

Question of the day...
Why do people who know the least know it the loudest?

Murphys Law of the day...(Zymurgy's Law of Volunteer Labour)
People are always available for work in the past tense.

Hmmm...
Baseball's home plate is 17 inches wide.

Hiya Sam. Cool thread today.

spy ping

Today's classic warship, USS Washington (BB-56)

North Carolina class battleship
displacement. 35,000
length. 729'
beam. 108'
draft. 38'
speed. 27 k.
complement. 1,880
armament. 9 16", 20 5", 16 1.1" mg.

The USS Washington (BB-56) was laid down on 14 June 1938 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard; launched on 1 June 1940; sponsored by Miss Virginia Marshall, of Spokane, Wash., a direct descendant of former Chief Justice Marshall; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 15 May 1941, Capt. Howard H. J. Benson in command.

Her shakedown and underway training ranged along the eastern seaboard and into the Gulf of Mexico and lasted through American entry into World War II in December 1941. Sometimes operating in company with her sistership North Carolina (BB-56) and the new aircraft carrier Hornet (CV-8), Washington became the flagship for Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox, Commander, Battleship Division (ComBatDiv) 6, and Commander, Battleships, Atlantic Fleet.

Assigned duty as flagship for Task Force (TF) 39 on 26 March 1942 at Portland, Maine, Washington again flew Admiral Wilcox' flag as she sailed for the British Isles that day. Slated to reinforce the British Home Fleet, the battleship, together with the carrier Wasp (CV-7) and the heavy cruisers Wichita (CA-45) and Tuscaloosa (CA-37), headed for Scapa Flow, the major British fleet base in the Orkney Islands.

While steaming through moderately heavy seas the following day, 27 March, the "man overboard" alarm sounded on board Washington, and a quick muster revealed that Admiral Wilcox was missing. Tuscaloosa, 1,000 yards astern, maneuvered and dropped life buoys while two destroyers headed for Washington's wake to search for the missing flag officer. Planes from Wasp, despite the foul weather, also took off to aid in the search.

Lookouts in the destroyer Wilson (DD-408) spotted Wilcox' body in the water, face down, some distance away, but could not pick it up. The circumstances surrounding Wilcox being washed overboard from his flagship have never been fully explained to this day; one school of thought has it that he had suffered a heart attack. Another is that Wilcox, who had a reputation as a martinet, was pushed overboard by disgruntled sailors.

At 1228 on the, 27th, the search for Wilcox was abandoned, and command of the task force devolved upon the next senior officer, Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen, whose flag flew in the cruiser Wichita. On 4 April, the task force reached Scapa Flow, joining the British Home Fleet under the overall command of Sir John Tovey, whose flag flew in the battleship HMS King George V.

Washington engaged in maneuvers and battle practice with units of the Home Fleet, out of Scapa Flow, into late April, when TF 39 was redesignated as TF 99 with Washington as flagship. On the 28th, the force got underway to engage in reconnaissance for the protection of the vital convoys running lend-lease supplies to Murmansk in the Soviet Union.

During those operations, tragedy befell the group. On 1 May 1942, HMS King George V collided with a "Tribal"-class destroyer. HMS Punjabi, cut in two, sank quickly directly in the path of the oncoming Washington. Compelled to pass between the halves of the sinking destroyer, the battleship proceeded ahead, Punjabi's depth charges exploding beneath her hull as she passed.

Fortunately for Washington, she suffered no major hull damage nor developed any hull leaks from the concussion of the exploding depth charges. She did, however, sustain damage to some of her delicate fire control systems and radars; and a diesel oil tank suffered a small leak.

Two destroyers, meanwhile, picked up Punjabi's captain, four other officers and 182 men; HMS King George V then proceeded back to Scapa Flow for repairs. Washington and her escorts remained at sea until 5 May, when TF 99 put into the Icelandic port of Hvalfjordur to provision from the supply ship Mizar (AF- 12). While at Hvalfjordur, the American and Danish ministers to Iceland called upon Admiral Giffen and inspected his flagship on 12 May.

Task Force 99 subsequently sortied on the 15th to rendezvous with units of the Home Fleet and returned to Scapa Flow on 3 June. The next day, Admiral Harold R. Stark, Commander, Naval Forces, Europe, came on board and broke his flag in Washington, establishing a temporary administrative headquarters on board. The battleship played host to His Majesty, King George VI, at Scapa Flow on the 7th, when the King came on board to inspect the ship.

Soon after Admiral Stark left Washington, the battleship resumed her operations with the Home Fleet, patrolling part of the Allied shipping lanes leading to Russian ports. On 14 July 1942, Admiral Giffen hauled down his flag in the battleship at Hvalfjordur and shifted to Wichita. That same day, Washington, with a screen of four destroyers, upped-anchor and put to sea, leaving Icelandic waters in her wake. She reached Gravesend Bay, N.Y. on 21 July; two days later, she shifted to the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., for a thorough overhaul.

Upon completion of her refit, Washington sailed for the Pacific, on 23 August, escorted by three destroyers. Five days later, she transited the Panama Canal and, on 14 September, reached Nukualofa Anchorage, Tongatabu, Tonga Island. On that day, Rear Admiral Willis A. "Ching" Lee, Jr., broke his flag in Washington as Commander, Battleship Division (BatDiv) 6, and Commander, Task Group 12.2.

The next day, 15 September, Washington put to sea bound for a rendezvous with TF 17, the force formed around the aircraft carrier HORNET. Washington then proceeded to Noumea, New Caledonia, and supported the ongoing Solomons campaign, providing escort services for various reinforcement convoys proceeding to and from Guadalcanal. During those weeks, the battleship's principal bases of operation were Noumea and Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides.

By mid-November, the situation in the Solomons was far from good for the Allies, who were now down to one aircraft carrier-Enterprise (CV-6)-after the loss of Wasp in September and Hornet in October, and Japanese surface units were subjecting Henderson Field on Guadalcanal to heavy bombardments with disturbing regularity. Significantly, however, the Japanese only made their moves at night, since Allied planes controlled the skies during the day. That meant that the Allies had to move their replenishment and reinforcement convoys into Guadalcanal during the daylight hours.

Washington performed those vital duties into mid-November of 1942, On 19 November, she learned that three groups of: Japanese ships-one consisting of about 24 transports, with escort-were steaming toward Guadalcanal. One enemy force sighted that morning was reported as consisting of two battleships, a light cruiser, and 11 destroyers.

At sunset on the 13th, Rear Admiral Lee took Washington, South Dakota (BB-57), and four destroyers and headed for Savo Island-the scene of the disastrous night action of 8 and 9 August-to be in position to intercept the Japanese convoy and its covering force. Lee's ships, designated as TF 64, reached a point about 50 miles south-by-west from Guadalcanal late in the forenoon on the 14th and spent much of the remainder of the day trying-unsuccessfully-to avoid being spotted by Japanese reconnaissance planes.

Approaching on a northerly course, nine miles west of Guadalcanal, TF 64-reported by the Japanese reconnaissance planes as consisting of a battleship, a cruiser, and four destroyers-steamed in column formation. Walke (DD-416) led, followed by Benham (DD-397), Preston (DD-377), Gwin (DD-433), and the two battleships, Washington and South Dakota.

As the ship steamed through the flat calm sea beneath the scattered cirrus cumulus clouds in the night sky, Washington's radar picked up a contact, bearing to the east of Savo Island, at 0001 on 15 November. Fifteen minutes later, at 0016, Washington opened fire with her 16-inch main battery. The fourth battle of Savo Island was underway.

The Japanese force proved to be the battleship Kirishima, the heavy cruisers Atago and Takao, the light cruisers Sendai and Nagara, and a screen of nine destroyers escorting four transports. Planning to conduct a bombardment of American positions on Guadalcanal to cover the landing of troops, the Japanese force ran head-on into Lee's TF 64.

For the next three minutes, Washington's 16-inchers hurled out 42 rounds, opening at 18,500 yards range, her fire aimed at the light cruiser Sendai. Simultaneously, the battleship's 5-inch battery was engaging another ship also being engaged by South Dakota.

As gun-flashes split the night and the rumble of gunfire reverberated like thunder off the islands nearby, Washington continued to engage the Japanese force. Between 0025 and 0034, the ship engaged targets at 10,000 yards range with her 5-inch battery.

Most significantly, however, Washington soon engaged Kirishima; in the first head-to-head confrontation of battleships in the Pacific war. In seven minutes, tracking by radar, Washington sent 75 rounds of 16-inch and 107 rounds of 5-inch at ranges from 8,400 to 12,650 yards, scoring at least nine hits with her main battery and about 40 with her 5-inchers, silencing the enemy battleship in short order. Subsequently, Washington's 5-inch batteries went to work on other targets spotted by her radar "eyes."

The battle, however, was not all one-sided. Japanese gunfire proved devastating to the four destroyers of TF 64, as did the dreaded and effective "long lance" torpedoes. Walke and Preston both took numerous hits of all calibers and sank; Benham sustained heavy damage to her bow, and Gwin sustained shell hits aft.

South Dakota had maneuvered to avoid the burning Walke and Preston but soon found herself the target of the entire Japanese bombardment group. Skewered by searchlight beams, South Dakota boomed out salvoes at the pugnacious enemy, as did Washington which was proceeding, at that point, to deal out severe punishment upon Kirishima-one of South Dakota's assailants.

South Dakota, the recipient of numerous hits, retired as Washington steamed north to draw fire away from her crippled sister battleship and the two crippled destroyers Benham and Gwin. Initially, the remaining ships of the Japanese bombardment group gave chase to Washington but broke off action when discouraged by the battleship's heavy guns. Accordingly, they withdrew under cover of a smokescreen.

After Washington skillfully evaded torpedoes fired by the retiring Japanese destroyers in the van of the enemy force, she joined South Dakota later in the morning, shaping course for Noumea. In the battleship action, Washington had done well and had emerged undamaged. South Dakota had not emerged unscathed, however, sustaining heavy damage to her superstructure; 38 men had died; 60 lay wounded. The Japanese had lost the battleship Kirishima. Left burning and exploding, She later had to be abandoned and scuttled. The other enemy casualty was the destroyer Ayanami, scuttled the next morning.

Washington remained in the South Pacific theater, basing on New Caledonia and continuing as flagship for Rear Admiral "Ching" Lee. The battleship protected carrier groups and task forces engaged in the ongoing Solomons campaign until late in April of 1943, operating principally with TF 11, which included the repaired Saratoga (CV-3), and with TF 16, built around Enterprise.

Washington departed Noumea on 30 April 1943, bound for the Hawaiian Islands. While en route, TF 16 joined up; and, together, the ships reached Pearl Harbor on 8 May, Washington, as a unit of, and as flagship for, TF 60, carried out battle practice in Hawaiian waters until 28 May 1943, after which time she put into the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for overhaul.

Washington resumed battle practice in the Hawaiian operating area upon conclusion of those repairs and alterations and joined a convoy on 27 July to form Task Group (TG) 56.14, bound for the South Pacific. Detached on 6 August, Washington reached Havannah Harbor, at Efate in the New Hebrides, on the 7th. She then operated out of Efate until late in October, principally engaged in battle practice and tactics with fast carrier task forces.

Departing Havannah Harbor on the last day of October, Washington sailed as a unit of TG 53.2-four battleships and six destroyers. The next day the carriers Enterprise, Essex (CV-9), and Independence (CVL-22), as well as the other screening units of TG 53.3, joined TG 53.2 and came under Rear Admiral Lee. The ships held combined maneuvers until 6 November, when the carriers departed the formation. Washington, with her escorts, steamed to Viti Levu, in the Fiji Islands, ar riving on the 7th.

Four days later, however, the battleship was again underway, with rear Admiral Lee by that point Commander, Battleships, Pacific-embarked, in company with other units of BatDivs 8 and 9. On the 16th, the battlewagons and their screens joined Rear Admiral C. A. "Baldy" Pownall's TG 50.1, Rear Admiral Pownall flying his two-starred flag in Yorktown (CV-10), the namesake of the carrier lost at Midway. The combined force then proceeded toward the Gilbert Islands to join in the daily bombings of Japanese positions in the Gilberts and Marshalls- softening them up for impending assault.

On the 19th, the planes from TG 50.1 attacked Mili and Jaluit in the Marshalls, continuing those strikes through 20 November, the day upon which Navy, Marine, and Army forces landed on Tarawa and Makin in the Gilberts. On the 22d, the task group sent its planes against Mili in successive waves; subsequently, the group steamed to operate north of Makin.

Washington rendezvoused with other carrier groups that composed TF 50 on 25 November and, during the reorganization that followed, was assigned to TG 50.4, the fast carrier task group under the command of Rear Admiral Frederick C. "Ted" Sherman. The carriers comprising the core of the group were Bunker Hill (CV-17) and Monterey (CVL-26); the battleships screening them were Alabama (BB-60) and South Dakota. Eight destroyers rounded out the screen.

The group operated north of Makin, providing air, surface, and antisubmarine protection for the unfolding unloading operations at Makin, effective on 26 November. Enemy planes attacked the group on the 27th and 28th bur were driven off without inflicting any damage on the fast carrier task forces.

As the Gilbert Islands campaign drew to a close, TG 50.8 was formed on 6 December, under Rear Admiral Lee, in Washington. Other ships of that group included sistership North Carolina (BB-55), Massachusetts (BB-59), Indiana (BB-58), South Dakota, and Alabama (BB-60) and the fleet carriers Bunker Hill and Monterey. Eleven destroyer screened the heavy ships.

The group first steamed south and west of Ocean Island to take position for the scheduled air and surface bombardment of the island of Nauru. Before dawn on 8 December, the carriers launched their strike groups while the bombardment force formed in column; 135 rounds of 16-inch fire from the six battleships fell on the enemy installations on Nauru; and, upon completion of the shelling, the battleships secondary batteries took their turn; two planes from each battleship spotted the fall of shot.

After a further period of air strikes had been flown off against Nauru, the task group sailed for Efate, where they arrived on 12 December. On that day, due to a change in the highest command echelons, TF 57 became TF 37.

Washington tarried at Efate for less than two weeks. Underway on Christmas Day, flying Rear Admiral Lee's flag, the battleship sailed in company with her sistership North Carolina and a screen of four destroyers to conduct gunnery practice, returning to the New Hebrides on 7 January 1944.

Eleven days later, the battleship departed Efate for the Ellice Islands. Joining TG 37.2-carriers Monterey and Bunker Hill and four destroyers en route, Washington reached Funafuti, Ellice Islands, on 20 January. Three days later, the battleship, along with the rest of the task group, put to sea to make rendezvous with elements of TF 58, the fast carrier task force under the overall command of Vice Admiral Marc A. "Pete" Mitscher. Becoming part of TG 58.1, Washington screened the fast carriers in her group as they launched air strikes on Taroa and Kwajalein in the waning days of January 1944. Washington, together with Massachusetts and Indiana, left the formation with four destroyers as screen and shelled Kwajalein Atoll on the 30th. Further air strikes followed the next day.

On 1 February, however, misfortune reared her head; Washington, while maneuvering in the inky darkness, rammed Indiana as she cut across Washington's bow while dropping out of formation to fuel escorting destroyers. Both battleships retired for repairs; Washington having sustained 60 feet of crumpled bow plating. Both ships put into the lagoon at Majuro the next morning. Subsequently, after reinforcing the damaged bow, Washington departed Majuro on 11 February, bound for the Hawaiian Islands.

With a temporary bow fitted at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, Washington continued on for the west coast of the United States. Reaching the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Wash., the battleship received a new bow over the weeks that followed her arrival. Joining BatDiv 4 at Port Townsend, Wash., Washington embarked 500 men as passengers and sailed for Pearl Harbor, reaching her destination on 13 June and disembarking her passengers.

Arriving back at Majuro on 30 May, Washington again flew Admiral Lee's flag as he shifted on board the battleship soon after her arrival. Lee, now a vice admiral, rode in the battleship as she headed out to sea again, departing Majuro on 7 June and joining Mitscher's fast carrier TF 58.

Washington supported the air strikes pummeling enemy defenses in the Marianas on the islands of Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Rota, and Pagan. Task Force 58's fliers also attacked twice and damaged a Japanese convoy in the vicinity on 12 June. The following day, Vice Admiral Lee's battleship-destroyer task group was detached from the main body of the force and conducted shore bombardment against enemy installations on Saipan and Tinian. Relieved on the 14th by two task groups under Rear Admirals J. B. Oldendorf and W. L. Ainsworth, Vice Admiral Lee's group retired momentarily.

On 15 June, Admiral Mitscher's TF 58 planes bombed Japanese installations on Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands and Chichi Jima and Haha Jima in the Bonins. Meanwhile, marines landed on Saipan under cover of intensive naval gunfire and carrier-based planes.

That same day, Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, commanding the main body of the Japanese Fleet, was ordered to attack and destroy the invasion force in the Marianas. The departure of his carrier group, however, came under the scrutiny of the submarine Redfin (SS-272), as it left Tawi Tawi, the westernmost island in the Sulu Archipelago.

Flying Fish (SS-229) also sighted Ozawa's force as it entered the Philippine Sea. Cavalla (SS-244) radioed a contact report on an enemy refueling group on 16 June and continued tracking it as it headed for the Marianas. She again sighted Japanese Combined Fleet units on 18 June.

Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commanding the 6th Fleet, had meanwhile learned of the Japanese movement and accordingly issued his battle plan. Vice Admiral Lee's force formed a protective screen around the vital fleet carriers. Washington, six other battleships, four heavy cruisers, and 14 destroyers deployed to cover the flattops; on 19 June, the ships came under attack from Japanese carrier-based and land-based planes as the Battle of the Philippine Sea commenced. The tremendous firepower of the screen, however, together with the aggressive combat air patrols flown from the American carriers, proved too much for even the aggressive Japanese. The heavy loss of Japanese aircraft, sometimes referred to as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," caused serious losses in the Japanese naval air arm. During four massive raids, the enemy launched 373 planes-only 130 returned.

In addition, 50 land-based bombers from Guam fell in flames. Over 930 American carrier planes were involved in the aerial action; their losses amounted to comparatively few: 29 shot down and six lost operationally without the loss of a single ship in Mitscher's task force.

Only a few of the enemy planes managed to get through the barrage of flak and fighters, one scoring a direct hit on South Dakota-killing 27 and wounding 29. A bomb burst over the flight deck of the carrier Wasp (CV-18), killing one man, wounding 12, and covering her flight deck with bits of phosphorus. Two planes dove on Bunker Hill, one scoring a near miss and the other a hit that holed an elevator, knocking out the hanger deck gasoline system temporarily; killing three and wounding 79. Several fires started were promptly quenched. In addition, Minneapolis (CA-36) and Indiana also received slight damage.

Not only did the Japanese lose heavily in planes; two of their carriers were soon on their way to the bottom-Taiho, torpedoed and sunk by Albacore (SS-218); and Shokaku, sunk by Cavalla. Admiral Ozawa, his flagship, Taiho, sunk out from under him, transferred his flag to Zuikaku.

As the Battle of the Philippine Sea proceeded to a close, the Japanese Mobile Fleet steamed back to its bases, defeated. Admiral Mitscher's task force meanwhile retired to cover the invasion operations proceeding in the Marianas. Washington fueled east of that chain of islands and then continued her screening duties with TG 58.4 to the south and west of Saipan, supporting the continuing air strikes on islands in the Marianas, the strikes concentrated on Guam by that point.

On 25 July, aircraft of TG 58.4 conducted air strikes on the Palaus and on enemy shipping in the vicinity, continuing their schedule of strikes through 6 August. On that day, Washington, with IOWA (BB-61), Indiana, Alabama, the light cruiser Birmingham (CL-62), and a destroyer screen, was detached from the screen of TG 58.4, forming TG 58.7, under Vice Admiral Lee. That group arrived at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshalls to refuel and replenish on 11 August and remained there for almost the balance of the month. On 30 August, that group departed, headed for, first, the Admiralty Islands, and ultimately, the Palaus.

Washington's heavy guns supported the taking of Peleliu and Angaur in the Palaus and supported the carrier strikes on Okinawa on 10 October, on northern Luzon and Formosa from 11 to 14 October, as well as the Visayan air strikes on 21 October. From 5 November 1944 to 17 February 1946, Washington, as a vital unit of the fast carrier striking forces, supported raids on Okinawa, in the Ryukyus; Formosa; Luzon; Camranh Bay, French Indochina; Saigon, French Indochina; Hong Kong; Canton; Hainan Island; Nansei Shoto; and the heart of the enemy homeland-Tokyo itself.

From 19 to 22 February 1945, Washington's heavy rifles hurled 16-inch shells shoreward in support of the landings on Iwo Jima. In preparation for the assault Washington's main and secondary batteries destroyed gun positions, troop concentrations, and other ground installations. From 23 February to 16 March, the fast battleship supported the unfolding invasion of Iwo Jima, including a carrier raid upon Tokyo on 25 February. On 18, 19, and 29 March, Washington screened the Fleet's carriers as they launched airstrikes against Japanese airfields and other installations on the island of Kyushu. On 24 March, and again on 19 April, Washington lent her support to the shellings of Japanese positions on the island of Okinawa.

Anchoring at San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on 1 June 1945 after an almost ceaseless slate of operations, Washington sailed for the west coast of the United States on 6 June, making stops at Guam and Pearl Harbor before reaching the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 28 June.

As it turned out, Washington would not participate in active combat in the Pacific theater again. Her final wartime refit carried on through V-J Day in mid-August of 1945 and the formal Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay on 2 September. She completed her post-repair trials and conducted underway training out of San Pedro, Calif., before she headed for the Panama Canal, returning to, the Atlantic Ocean. Joining TG 11.6 on 6 October, with Vice Admiral Frederick C. Sherman in overall command, she soon transited the Panama Canal and headed for Philadelphia, the place where she had been "born." Arriving at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 17 October, she participated in Navy Day ceremonies there on the 27th.

Assigned to troop transport duty on 2 November 1945-as part of the "Magic Carpet" operations Washington went into dockyard hands on that day, emerging on the 15th with additional bunking facilities below and a crew that now consisted of only 84 officers and 835 men. Sailing on 16 November for the British Isles, Washington reached Southampton, England, on 22 November.

After embarking 185 army officers and 1,479 enlisted men, Washington sailed for New York. She completed that voyage and, after that brief stint as a transport, was placed out of commission, in reserve, on 27 June 1947. Assigned to the New York group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Washington remained inactive through the late 1950's, ultimately being struck from the Navy list on 1 June, 1960. The old warrior was sold on 24 May 1961, and was scrapped soon thereafter.

Washington (BB-56) earned 13 battle stars during World War II in operations that had carried her from the Arctic Circle to the western Pacific.

Mornin' Sam!!

"although the FBI was ordered to cooperate with the OSS (and its successor, the CIA), providing all intelligence it had on hand in those areas to the OSS when requested to do so."

This co-operation has not always happened.
Inter-office rivalry and pettiness still occurs.
*snort*
Thanks for posting this stuff, interesting read.

Good morning, SAM! Today's thread is interesting! I didn't know Donovan had received the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Robert Kaplan talks about intelligence in his book Warrior Politics....

From Sun-Tzu we learn that "[F]oreknowledge cannot be had from ghosts and spirits...It must come from people who know the enemy's situation." Kaplan says: "A society like our own, which often heaps scorn on espionage and thus fails to attract its best people to the intelligence profession, is a society destined to stumble periodically into unnecessary wars." Could September 11 have been avoided had our intelligence agencies not been reduced over the past decades by Democrats in Congress and a scornful liberal media, to risk-averse, chair-bound, blind-folded bureaucrats?

There has to be oversight of such a powerful agency, of course, but the foolish liberals decided that any faults in it meant they should get rid of it! Or hamstring it, which is what they did. Hopefully, that is changing now.