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Posted on 11/02/2004 10:54:39 PM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.
Where the Freeper Foxhole introduces a different veteran each Wednesday. The "ordinary" Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine who participated in the events in our Country's history. We hope to present events as seen through their eyes. To give you a glimpse into the life of those who sacrificed for all of us - Our Veterans.
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and the SS Ohio Save Malta In mid-1942, the war was going badly for the Allies. During the first six months U-Boats sank 3,250,000 tons of shipping in the Atlantic (an average freighter was 7,000 tons). Rommel rolled through Northern Africa, threatening the Suez Canal, but stopped 35 miles short of Alexandria, Egypt, because of a shortage of supplies. The Nazi war machine reached Stalingrad, with plans to head through the Caucasus for the Middle East oil fields. The Allies had Gibraltar, Malta, and Egypt. The Axis controlled France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, and most of northern Africa. A few countries were neutral (Turkey), or pro-Axis (Spain).  Malta's strategic airfield was key to holding the Mediterranean, but food and oil had to get through past German and Italian bombers. The 250,000 Maltese and 20,000 British defenders were dependent on imported food and oil. In September of 1941, 8 of 9 merchant ships arrived in Malta bringing 85,000 tons of supplies. A February 1942 convoy of 3 ships from Alexandria was unsuccessful -- no supplies reached Malta.  A March 1942 convoy of 3 merchant ships plus a Navy oiler, was accompanied by 4 cruisers and 16 destroyers, while another cruiser and its covering force sailed from Malta to meet them. This escort succeeded in keeping an Italian battleship carrying nine 15-inch guns, 3 cruisers and 10 destroyers away from the convoy, but the freighters faced Germans bombers near Malta. One ship was sunk just 20 miles from Malta. The oiler sank within 8 miles of Malta. The remaining two ships arrived to cheers by the Maltese, but were sunk in the harbor with only a fraction of their cargo unloaded. Great Britain had no tankers capable of 16 knots, so President Franklin Delano Roosevelt turned over the SS Kentucky and SS Ohio to Britain for use in supplying Malta.  SS Ohio in peacetime colors The tanker SS Ohio was launched on April 20, 1940 at Sun Shipbuilding Yard in Chester, Pennsylvania for Texas Oil Company (now Texaco). In anticipation of war and due to unofficial conversations between the American military and the oil company, the Ohio was the largest tanker built at that time. At 9,263 tons, 485 feet long, she and her sister ships, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Colorado, Montana, Georgia, Delaware, Indiana held 170,000 barrels of oil. With 9,000 shaft horsepower Westinghouse turbine engines, they were rated at 16 knots, but in sea trials Ohio made 19 knots.  HMS Indominatable and HMS Eagle in a photo taken from HMS Victorious during Operation Pedestal 10-15 Augaust 1942. A June 1942 convoy sent 6 ships including SS Kentucky, escorted part way by a battleship, 2 aircraft carriers and 4 cruisers east from Gibraltar, Simultaneously, 11 merchant ships escorted by 8 cruisers and 40 others headed west from Alexandria. The capital ships withdrew before the narrow channel between Sicily and Africa, leaving the anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Cairo and 13 escorts. The results: 6 merchant ships sunk, 3 damaged, 7 turned back to Alexandria, 2 supply ships arrived in Malta; British Navy - 5 cruisers damaged, 4 destroyers sunk and 1 damaged. No fuel oil got through.  Operation Pedestal in August 1942 was the final effort to supply Malta before she was forced to surrender.
August 10-11 night  OPERATION PEDESTAL - EMPIRE HOPE AND WAIMARAMA IN THE CENTRE OF THE PICTURE
 HMS Eagle sinks
 OPERATION PEDESTAL. UNDER ATTACK. 1942. August 12 
 A torpedo hits the Ohio August 13 
 August 14  The heavily damaged Brisbane Star arrives in La Valetta
 Two destroyers "sandwich" Ohio as she is towed in the Grand Harbour August 15  Ohio towed in the Grand Harbour.
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In case you aren't already watvchung it, PBS has a show called "Beyond the Medal of Honor" on tonight. Good stuff!
God will get me for this but I will tell the story anyways.
In one of my previous lifes I did maintanence for a resturant chain. I acquirred several Drive Thru intercom units. The short version is that I had run a concealed speaker out to the back corner of my yard for nefarious purposes. Anyways I had just finshed making the connections in the house when I noticed a church lady and her two children coming up the street. The kids were about 5 and 7 years old. When they got about even with where the speaker was stashed I open the circuit and growled.
Now I live on a corner lot and the side street is reasonbly steep. Anyways the churchlady ran up the street with a kid clamped to each leg.
Like I said I will pay for this some day but when Mrs alfa6 returned home about 20 minutes later I was still laughing.
I have a bunch of stories about the Intercom stories, most have to do with Halloween.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Thank you all for your kind thoughts and wishes.
You're a bad boy. :^)
During the battle of Crete, when the Italian Navy could have finished off the British in the Eastern Med., their excuse for not sailing was that the German airmen had not been trained in ship recognition, and were likely to bomb anything they saw. There was some truth underlying the excuse, as I think the Germans did manage to take out an Italian destroyer by mistake.
The Italians were no match for the British in night operations, since they lacked radar and the larger British ships had it. And compared to the British, the Italian gunnery was second rate. With German air cover, however, they should have been able to take care of daylight operations.
Thanks PE.
I hope they're showing it here.
LOL! I'm sure God has a sense of humor. ;-)
The Brits consistantly out fought the Italian Navy in the Med.
The smaller craft, mainly torpedo boats, but in some cases destroyers, had some success against the British ships evacuating Crete (I think they got at least one larger British warship), but the Luftwaffe gets credit for that victory.
Yeah, but the main Italian battle fleet, BB's And CA's really performed poorly.
Good evening, Foxhole!
Falling in late but have had a marvelous day gloating at my office. Sorry for the late report :) .. very nice thread today as always!
"Forbes dead in Ohio". . .
LOL!!!!!
Good evening Colonel. Isn't gloating fun. Everywhere we drove today and saw a car with a kerry sticker we'd holler "LOSER". ha ha ha
Evening Colonel.
We deserve to gloat after how "mean spirited" this campaign has been. :-)
My condolences to you, Gail, for the loss of your husband. His last act of serving his country, an inspiration.
"Our fearful trip is done; the ship has weathered every wrack, the prize we sought is won."
The Foxhole accounts of those giving their last full measure of devotion are a continuing inspiration.
Now we have defeated an evil challenger, one who, having fought on behalf of the enemy in Vietnam at a cost of millions of lives, then vigorously promoted the nuclear freeze project created and directed by KGB Active Measures, betrayed our POW-MIAs for his Communist cronies' agenda and his cousin Forbes' fortune, fought to weaken our national security even as he promised nuclear material to the premier terrorist state in the world today.
In concession the great slanderer of our president seemed relieved he would not have to bear that burden. And certainly his decision to curb his lawyer dog from Ohio stemmed from a Swift Boat offer he could not refuse, a secret so shameful in the keeping of a former secnav aide named Mark Sutton, he paled under his orange tan, and butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.
Even the AP awarded NM to Bush, though the Crisco Kid has his crooks working feverishly to manufacture enough fraudulent Kerry votes to reverse that.
A friend who did legal work for the multiple-chinned pol said he figures in the Clinton's future plans. Craig Livingston is busy running a limo service and they need someone with a goiter to steal FBI files.
When Professor Peabody and Sherman get the Way-Back machine overhauled, we'll send a few Phalanx close-in weapons systems to aid our Malta-bound convoys.
Well, Stuka-punk, do you feel lucky?
Just in: It's over.
I'd say a LOT of folks' moods improved over the day. LOL!
I've sure had happy feet. 
We have never met, but in a way I know your late husband. I have known good men, and have been with them as they died. We cannot afford the loss of a good man. Not one, ever.
My sincerest best wishes for the living. Your husband is in the best of hands. Prayers are always appropriate. You have mine.
Gotcha beat. Went to bed at 6:15 AM. What a night! Snippy told me that Ohio was in the bag, but I couldn't sleep anyway.
"Pray that the President will prevail over our enemy."
"to protect the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic."
My oath is forever. May God help me do my duty.
You know, the President is a young man. He could readily hack another forty years on the job. This is a project worth doing. How about a Constitional Amendment correcting the mistaken anti-Rossevelt amendment, so that two terms is the limit only for Democrat Prty members,and enemies of the Republic?
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