Original text by Jack Greer
Updated Fall 2009 by Jack Sprague
Summary
USS Block Island was the first of two escort carriers to serve in World War II. She was named after the island and surrounding sound located off the northeast coast of the United States that is now part of the state of Rhode Island. The USS Block Island was constructed by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation and launched on 6 June 1942 by Mrs. H. B. Hutchinson. The Block Island was commissioned on 8 March 1943, with Captain Logan C. Ramsey in command. Originally classified AVG-21, she became ACV-21 on 20 August 1942, and CVE 21 on 15 July 1943.
After two trips to Ireland and England during the summer of 1943 with cargos of aircraft, she operated as part of a task group designated to find and destroy German submarines. During four combat cruises, the Block Island Task Group sank two submarines and shared credit for the sinking of two additional submarines. She earned the nickname of “FBI” for Fighting Block Island.
CVE 21 was hit by three torpedos off the Canary Islands on 29 May 1944 by German submarine U-549. The carrier was sunk with all but six crew members surviving. Of the six aircraft in the air at the time of the sinking only two airmen were recovered. Supporting destroyers sank the U-Boat and rescued the CVE 21 crew. The USS Block Island received two battle stars for her service.
Need for Escort Carriers
The need for escort carriers came early in the war when German submarines and aircraft were taking a devastating toll on convoy shipping. The heaviest losses occurred far out at sea where land-based aircraft could not operate. The Royal Navy had experimented with catapult-launched fighter planes from merchantmen; while this was somewhat successful in combating the U-boats, the number of planes that could be embarked was limited. Something else was needed, and in a hurry. Great Britain appealed to the United States for help.
No real specifications had been developed for escort carriers at that time, although the Navy had looked into converting merchant ships for this purpose before the war began. Thus, the quick solution was to build the early CVEs on merchant ship hulls (photo at left is CVE 21 entering Belfast Harbor with a cargo of P-47s).
The two Block Island aircraft carriers (CVE 21 and CVE 106) were unlike any other two ships by the same name. CVE 21 (along with five other CVE’s) was actually a C3 tanker hull being constructed to deliver oil to our allies in Europe. The scourge of the German submarine activities, taking the great toll of the convoys underway far out to sea, became a major priority to all of the allied nations due to the fact that the majority of the sinkings were taking place far out of range of any allied aircraft. President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill got together and the United States entered into an agreement to convert several tanker hulls into small aircraft carriers to be provided to Great Britain to roam the vast areas of the Atlantic Ocean seeking out these submarines.
The first few conversions were delivered to Great Britain in 1942. About this same time the German Navy was increasing their boldness and actually was sinking our ships as close as five miles from the US shoreline. Very little information of this activity was being given to the general public either in Great Britain or the United States. Both governments felt that this information would create panic in their countries. Because of this concern, the US Government saw fit to undertake and make “Baby Flattops” a vital part of the Atlantic Fleet. Six C3 tanker hulls being built in the Seattle area were converted to small aircraft carriers for the US Navy.
While the first few small carriers took five or six months to convert, by the time that the first Block Island was constructed the construction time was cut to less than three months. At that time it was taking as long as two years to construct the larger carriers. The best understanding of this undertaking is that eight small carriers carrying 20 planes each could be constructed in the same period of time it took to construct a larger carrier. The larger carriers could only handle as many as 90 aircraft with a total construction cost of around $120 million. Smaller carriers were built at a cost of $11 million each and carried 20 aircraft. The large carriers moved around at 30 knots compared with about 20 knots for small carriers. The smaller carriers became “the plan of the day” in the Pacific. While more escort and service ships were required to service the eight small carriers, the loss of a large carrier put 90 aircraft out of action and involved over 3000 crew members. The loss of a small carrier only put 20 aircraft out of service and involved around 900 crew members. However, when the large carrier was lost there was not another carrier available to save its aircraft. If a small carrier was lost, the aircraft then could land on and work from one of the other small carriers. When it came time to construct the second Block Island the construction time was cut to 79 days. Admiral Kincade advised congress that he could launch and retrieve 160 aircraft in half the time it would take the larger carriers to land and launch 90 planes.
Great Britain saw these small carriers as a major part of their fighting force. In fact there was a first Block Island (CVE 8), shown here, that was under construction; it was transferred to Great Britain as part of the “lend/lease” program to become the HMS Hunter. The United States saw the carriers as a major way to transport airplanes to Great Britain and North Africa and to return to the United States with damaged airplanes that could be repaired and returned to combat. The attacks on the convoys by German submarines continued to take a greater toll until the United States established Hunter/Killer task forces of escort carriers.
Documents were filed to obtain support from Congress to undertake the building of these small aircraft carriers. The configuration used the space on both the hanger and flight decks to transport up to 77 combat ready aircraft and spare parts to anywhere in the world. After the British lost two of their large carriers in an attempt to sink German battleships they began using the small carriers ( also known as “Jeep Carriers” or “baby flattops” ) for combat operations. The United States then realized that they could be more than just a useful transport tool.
Construction
The USS Block Island was converted from a C3 tanker hull (number 237) by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation to a Bogue class escort carrier (eighth of eleven Bogue class). She was launched 6 June 1942 and sponsored by Mrs. H. B. Hutchinson, wife of Commander Hutchinson and transferred to the U.S. Navy on 1 May 1942. The ship was commissioned on 8 March 1943 with Captain Logan C. Ramsey in command. The photo at left is of the nearly completed USS Block Island at Tacoma, WA. The USS Block Island was originally designated as AVG-21, changed to ACV-21 on 20 August 1942, and CVE-21 on 15 July 1943.
The hull of CVE 21 was actually a Class C3 tanker hull designed to maintain balance of the liquid motion of fuel (oil and gasoline) as the ship passed through the rough motion of the sea. The original hulls were designed to withstand as much as a 40 degree list which required the entire hull to be “compartmentalized” to override the internal motion of the liquid fuel weighing as much as 10 pounds per gallon ( this meant contending with over 15 thousand tons of sloshing liquid ). Construction required that the 5’ x 2’ elliptical openings between compartments be laterally supported and very strong. The openings were from the aft end of the ship all the way to the bow. Between decks were hatches that could be closed down to separate the deck. These openings, in the case of a carrier, then become compartments of open spaces where the fuel normally was housed. Several compartments were left intact to provide for the fuel storage the carrier will need as well as the escort ships. Others are left intact for ammunition, bombs, torpedoes and depth charge storage and they become what are called magazines.
This configuration provided four or five sealed decks and many open spaces that were used for quarters, storage, machinery and equipment housing. Going up and down between decks required the opening and closing of hatches; moving forward and aft, the openings become passage ways.
The hull design was quite different from the escort carriers built by Kaiser which were designed for carriers from the keel up with operational needs in mind. Escort carriers that were “designed from top to bottom” when sunk or badly damaged, lost hundreds of their crew members during World War II. Not so with CVE 21; the first USS Block Island had a C3 hull design. Photo at right is the CVE 21 starting sea trials after completion in Tacoma, WA.
Trials & Transport Operations
Block Island’s crew included more than 50 sailors who came from CV 2 USS Lexington which had been lost at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May, 1943. A number of other men had carrier experience; however, most of the 890 sailor complement had never been to sea.
Following 10 days of trials near Puget Sound, the Block Island sailed to San Francisco where it took on its first air squadron ( originally named Composite Squadron 25 and renamed later to VC-6) of FM-1 Wildcats and TBF-1 Avengers. With destroyer escort DD 496 McCook she sailed to Norfolk, VA, arriving 6 Jun 1943. Her first operational cruise was to transport a cargo of P-47 Thunderbolts. The planes were loaded at Staten Island on 8 Jul 1943. She left on 17 Jul 1943 with a convoy of eight troopships and escorts, CVE 21 Block Island was detached from the convoy on 26 Jul 1943 and tied up at Siddenham Airport, near Belfast, Ireland. The escort carrier left Belfast on 3 Aug 1943 and reached New York eight days later to take on a second load of P-47s.
A second transport cruise left Staten Island on 21 Aug 1943, CVE 21 proceeded with three escorts — the old destroyers DD 154 Ellis , DD 160 Herbert and DD 152 Du Pont — and touched briefly at Argentia, Newfoundland en route, reaching Siddenham Airport on 31 Aug 1943. On 12 Sep 1943, Block Island was back in Norfolk. The photo at above left shows the CVE 21 hanger deck full of partially assembled P-47s. A collision with DD 666 Black occurred after the return to Norfolk, VA and caused a two week repair, no injuries were recorded.
Combat Operations
Two of the first “baby flattops” of the US Navy were given the duty of seeking out the German submarines. Since the major sea wars were taking place in the Pacific Ocean against the Japanese, the larger fighting ships were assigned to the Pacific. Back in the early 1940’s President Roosevelt had gone far beyond his congressional authority and sent Great Britain some 25 or 30 small destroyers that we called “Destroyer Escorts” which were much like the frigates that Great Britain had. Great Britain used these ships as escorts for their small carriers with much success.
To make up a “task force” each of the two “baby flattops” were assigned three destroyer escorts. The Captain of the escort carrier became the Task Force Commander.
The vast area assignment required that at least four escort ships work with the Block Island. The destroyer escorts could make depth charge attacks on the submarines that the aircraft from the Block Island spotted. This would leave two of the DEs available to cover landing and takeoff operations and to serve as protection for the carrier.
This hunter/killer activity meant that the task force would go about searching for days and weeks at a time without seeing another allied ship. Naval records show that the success of the action of these “baby flattops” played a great part in the demise of the German submarine force and contributed greatly to the ending of the war with Germany. Because of the large area of ocean the ships covered, depending on each other for assistance on an almost daily basis, a great comradeship and esprit de corps was created.
With the expanse of water between Europe and the United States in the Atlantic Ocean the task force could sustain itself for approximately 45 days with two refuelings and one re-supply service during the period, they left from US ports and searched the seas then arrived at foreign ports for re-supply and refueling before completing the mission and returning to the United States to obtain a new assignment. The circumstances in the Pacific were very different in that there were many supply bases on major and tiny islands scattered throughout the entire area. Refueling and re-supplying was also undertaken from tankers and supply ships in both the Atlantic and in the Pacific areas of operations. Doing this task in the open seas from ship to ship can be as dangerous as actual enemy operations. Naval records show that many ships were forced out of service from structural damage taken during these operations.
Prior to the assignment of hunter/killer task forces to the Atlantic, German submarines sank hundreds of vessels without any real risk. Once escort carriers like the Block Island and her supporting destroyers were employed, the offensive was taken back from the Germans and the Battle of the Atlantic was on.
The first combat cruise occurred 15 Oct 1943 when the Block Island left Hampton Roads, VA escorted by the destroyers DD 230 Paul Jones, DD 218 Parrott, DD 213 Parker, and DD 222 Bulmer as Task Group 21.16 . The photo at left was taken on 15 Oct 1943. The initial assignment was to escort convoy UGS-21. After two days the CVE 21 was ordered to an area north of the Azores to hunt a reported concentration of enemy U-Boats. After arriving in the area the task group immediately went into action. The group fired on the re-supply (referred to as a “milch cow”) submarine U-488 putting a hole in her conning tower but failing to sink or capture the boat.
Three days later Lt. Franklin M. Murray, in a TBM and Ens. Gerald L. Handshuh, in a F4F spotted two U-boats and attacked the U-220, which was to believed to have just finished laying mines off Newfoundland. They covered the U-boat’s conning tower with machine gun fire and then dropped depth charges and bombs. Forty minutes after the attack the U-Boats exchanged transmissions and six hours later the commander of the U-256 reported hearing explosions in the area of the U-220. The sub was never located. Following re-supply in Casablanca the group continued searching and proceeded to Norfolk, VA arriving 25 Nov 1943.
During the next three weeks, the Block Island received a new squadron, VC-58. It had the same complement of 9 Wildcats and 12 Avengers. Most importantly, a new weapon in anti-submarine warfare was added to the arsenal, a 3.5 inch rocket with a case-hardened steel head. The designers believed it could pierce the skin of a submarine on the surface or below the water to a depth of 50 feet. The Block Island would be the first to test the theory.
The second combat cruise left Hampton Roads, VA 15 Dec 1943 with the same destroyer escorts as the first combat cruise. Again, the initial assignment was to escort convoy UGS-27. Reassigned four days later, the task group headed for an area north of the Azores known as “The Black Pit of the Atlantic” because of the concentration of U-Boats. The crew had a sober Christmas Day as they heard that the destroyer DD 158 Leary, part of another task group in the area, had been sunk with a heavy loss of life. The task group engaged the enemy without success and sailed to Casablanca for re-supply.
On 11 Jan 1944 two TBFs opened fire with rockets on U-758 forcing the U-Boat back to port at St. Nazaire with heavy damage. The photo at right is the rocket attack on U-758 by the Block Island’s Avenger aircraft. On 14 Jan 1944 a TBF spotted life rafts carrying 43 survivors of U-231 which had been sunk by the British the day before. The Bulmer and the Parrott picked them up and transferred them to the Block Island. The photo below is the Block Island and her task group arriving home on 3 Feb 1943.
The third combat cruise sailed 16 Feb 1944 with four new destroyer escorts, DE 189 Bronstein, DE 103 Bostwick, DE 104 Breeman, DE 102 Thomas, and DD 463 Corry. VC-6 reported aboard with the new FM-2 Wildcats. Captain Francis Massie Hughes reported onboard to be Captain Logan Ramsey’s relief. The task group designated as 21.16 headed back to the “Black Pit”. On 29 Feb 1944, planes from the Block Island spotted a periscope and commenced a mine run. The Corry and the Bronstein sped to the scene. Four German submarines, U-709, U-603, U-607, and U-441 were thought to be in the area. The Bronstein sunk U-603 and along with the Thomas and the Bostwick, sunk U-709.
The U-441 was badly damaged and returned to Brest, France 14 days later. Postwar records indicate as many as 15 U-Boats were operating within 25 miles of the Block Island. CVE 21 arrived in Casablanca for replenishment 8 Mar 1944. Captain Ramsey was relieved by Captain Hughes and the Block Island put to sea with orders to track down U-488, the same milch cow she had hunted the previous October and now believed to be located northwest of the Cape Verde Islands.
The following excerpt is from the July 1, 2004 Air & Space Magazine article entitled “All Guts, No Glory”, by James L. Noles, Jr. It describes the difficulty of night flying off of an escort carrier in the Atlantic.
Lieutenant Denny Moller was VC-55’s assistant engineering officer. Like all of the squadron’s pilots, he endured a demanding schedule of both day and night flying. The Block Island operated within a screen of four destroyer escorts, launching patrols of four aircraft. Each airplane took a quadrant and carved it into 30-degree slices—out, across, and then back in to the carrier. Because the pilots had to observe radio silence at night, they had to find their way back to the moving carrier by relying on dead reckoning—flying a compass heading for a calculated time and hoping to spot the carrier when the time was up.
“We would try to work out our navigation beforehand,” Moller explains, “so on takeoff, you always hated to see the flight deck crew holding up a chalkboard that said, ‘The course of the carrier will be so-and-so, the wind direction is so-and-so. Good luck!’ That meant you had to figure out a whole new set of navigational figures on the go. That wasn’t easy in a dark cockpit at night.”
A TBF and a FM-2 spotted U-801 on the surface doing repairs and began a strafing run. The pilots reported hits to the bridge and conning tower. Nine men were injured and one killed. The U-Boat quickly submerged and resurfaced after the planes had to return to the carrier. German command ordered them to rendezvous with U-488. Detecting another in-bound plane, the U-801 submerged not knowing she was leaving a telltale oil slick. A TBF from the Block Island and the Corry followed U-801 through the night ( It must be noted that flying and landing a WWII airplane on a very small carrier was very difficult at night ). A second TBF relieved the first and at dawn they spotted the oil slick. The Corry commenced a depth charge attack which split open the U-801. The sub evaded for a while but a second run forced her to the surface and the destroyer open fire. The sub captain was killed as the crew abandoned ship and the U-Boat sank. The Block Island picked up two officers and 45 enlisted men. The drawing at right was done by one of the POWs of the U-801 and presented to a CVE 21 crew member. The photo at left is the enlisted men POWs from the U-801.
On 19 Mar 1944 six hunter-killer teams fanned out from the ship, searching 150 miles of open water. A Wildcat spotted the brand new U-1059 dead in the water with a third of its crew out for a morning swim. The FM-2 and a TBF started a run of strafing and dropping depth charges but not before the U-1059 put it’s AA into action. The TBF, piloted by Lt(jg) N.T. Dowty, received a number of hits and when it started its turn it lost altitude and crashed into the ocean. Norman T. Dowty and Edgar W. Burton were lost in the crash. The turret gunner, Ensign Mark E. Fitzgerald, was the only survivor of the three man crew. As the gunner clung to a life raft, he was surprised by a German swimming toward him; eventually, two more swimmers arrived including the injured sub captain, Leopold. The gunner tended to the wounds of his captives until they were rescued by the Corry two hours later. The U-1059 had broken in half and only six additional survivors were found.
USS Corry took the POWs to Boston and later participated in the D-Day landings at Normandy, France. Corry was sunk in shallow water by mines and shore artillery while helping to lead the assault on Utah Beach. The captain and most of the crew survived.
USS Block Island returned home to Norfolk, VA on 31 Mar 1944 to bands playing, crowds cheering, and a big banner that read “Welcome Home, Champs”.
The fourth combat cruise left Norfolk on 29 Apr 1944 with a screen (see photos at right) comprised of DE 575 Ahrens, DE 576 Barr, DE 686 Eugene E. Elmore, and DE 51 Buckley. On 15 May DE 578 USS Robert I. Paine joined the task group off of North Africa.
The assignment for Task Group 21.11 was to relieve CVE 25 Croatan and her destroyers working patrols west of the Cape Verde Islands. The Croatan group had sunk milch cow U-488 only days earlier, the elusive U-Boat the Block Island had hunted twice before.
Sinking
After arriving in the area the Block Island picked up a radar contact which turned out to be veteran German submarine U-66 which had sunk over 200,000 tons of Allied shipping in its three years of attack patrols. Captain Seehausen of the U-66 successfully evaded the Block Island task group for several days. On 5 May 1944 the Block Island picked up the sub only 5,000 yards off starboard, maneuvering for an attack on the carrier. The Block Island made an emergency turn at flank speed with Captain Hughes sending the Buckley to investigate.
Only a few hours later at 0330 on 6 May 1944, pilot Jimmie Sellars, with a nickname of “Geronimo”, flying a stripped-down TBM, followed up a radar contact and found U-66 on the surface in bright moonlight. Captain Seehausen kept U-66 on the surface, reporting to Brest, France while keeping the TBM at a distance by firing AA. Sellars stayed on station until the Buckley could attack. At one point he dived his unarmed TBM directly at the sub emptying his Colt 45 into the conning tower!
When the Buckley was within 4,000 yards the sub opened up with a torpedo. DE 51 Buckley returned fire from her 3” guns at about 2,000 yards. The Buckley turned sharply to avoid a second torpedo. The two ships were now side by side firing on each other. The Buckley then did a hard right rudder and rammed the submarine. The Buckley Captain then gave an American order that had not been heard since the earliest days of our country, “Stand by to repel boarders”. In the next few minutes the two crews were engaged in hand to hand combat that sometimes involved just fists. DE 51 Buckley backed off and U-66 veered into her and rolled to a 60 degree angle. Quick thinking men aboard the Buckley threw hand grenades down the open hatch of the conning tower. U-66 still moved away and began a dive only to suffer severe explosions. Buckley began searching for survivors but only four officers ( no captain ) were found. The photo at right shows DE 51 Buckley’s bow bent and in for repairs following the ramming of U-66. USS Buckley Captain, LCDR Brent Maxwell Abel USNR received the Navy Cross for his actions in the encounter with U-66.
Block Island remained in the area with the captured Germans until 13 May 1944 when relieved by CVE 9 Bogue. CVE 21 reached Casablanca 18 May 1944. The re-supplied carrier was again underway on 23 May 1944 and back in the vicinity of the Cape Verde Islands. On 28 May 1944 the Block Island’s search TBMs picked up a radar contact and then lost it. It was U-549, a 750 ton type IXc U-Boat on its very first patrol. Another contact was made at 0255 on 29 May 1944 but it disappeared before ordinance could be dropped. As Block Island continued its search over the next hours the U-Boat continued to evade the hunter.
As evening arrived a periscope broke the surface with the Block Island directly ahead. At 2013 the first U-549 torpedo slammed into the bow area. About four seconds after the first, a second torpedo hit the stern penetrating an oil tank and ordinance magazine. The photo at left shows CVE 21 after the first and second torpedo hit. CVE 21 was dead in the water as the hunter had become the hunted. A third torpedo struck at 2023 finishing off the Block Island. Captain Hughes gave the order to prepare to abandon ship.
DE 686 Eugene E. Elmore sighted a periscope and started an attack with depth charges. Crewmen standing on the Block Island’s flight deck started cheering when they saw oil and smoke coming from near the Barr after it sent out depth charges. What they did not know was a fourth U-549 torpedo ( in the sequence it is believed that torpedos #1, #2 hit CVE 21 followed by #3 into the Barr and #4 into CVE 21 ) had hit the Barr near the stern causing 28 deaths and many injuries. Many believe the torpedo was intended for the Block Island as Barr moved into position to protect the carrier. The damage from the torpedo to DE 576 Barr is shown in the photo at right.
With the Block Island’s fate now sealed, Captain Hughes gave the order to abandon ship starting from the forward starboard side. Life rafts were cut loose and even some rafts on TBMs were thrown into the water. Most men descended down ropes into the water from the starboard or lee side so they could drift way from the ship. By 2100 most of the crew were in the water and began gathering around rafts.
Captain Hughes kept a small group on board including men who were trying to free a man whose leg was trapped. After an hour of using an acetylene torch to no avail, the ship’s surgeon removed the leg only to have the man die a short time later. Six other men who had lost their lives remained on board. Captain Hughes ordered all remaining personnel off CVE 21 at 2140.
DE 575 Ahrens stopped engines and began picking up survivors. With its engines quiet it picked up sonar noise from U-549. Captain Harris of the Ahrens radioed the Eugene E. Elmore immediately. Hedgehogs (ant-submarine mortars) from DE 686 Eugene E. Elmore struck U-549 at 2127 causing a large explosion audible to ships monitoring in the area and sending the sub crew to the bottom of the sea. The Robert I. Paine picked up additional survivors as the Block Island began to sink. At 2155 the Block Island slipped below the surface followed by a large shock as ordnance magazines exploded. The Ahrens was nearly lifted from the sea as a result and many of the CVE 21 survivors thought they had been torpedoed.
Several crewmen of CVE 21 remember that at the time the submarine was spotted some of the Block Island gun crews were still at their battle stations. Word was passed for the 5” gun on the fantail to train on the area where the periscope was
spotted. This gun crew answered that it was impossible for them to train on the periscope because the carrier
was so low in the water that any shots they could take would strike the underside of the flight deck. The orders
then were for the gun crew to abandon ship as ordered.
Everyone who went over the side of the Block Island into the sea survived, a total 674 men crowded every space on the Ahrens and 277 were crammed aboard the Paine. Unfortunately, of the six pilots in the air at the time of the sinking only two were able to reach Las Palmas, the other four were never found.
The next morning the destroyer escorts with the survivors and the Barr in tow made for Casablanca. They arrived 1 Jun 1944 and were issued Army khakis in an effort to keep the news of the sinking from German spies. Photos at left and right show crew in Casablanca following rescue. On 8 Jun 1944 personnel were allowed to cable home with news of the Block Island. The crew was loaded onto three escort carriers, CVE 59 USS Mission Bay, CVE 69 USS Kasaan Bay, and CVE 72 USS Tulagi and transported home for 30 days survivors’ leave.
During this time Captain Hughes began an intensive campaign to keep his crew together to serve on a new Block Island. He was very proud of his crew and their efforts during combat operations. He believed that they would make an excellent, veteran crew for a new ship. The rest of the story continues with the history of CVE 106, the second USS Block Island.
The Memories link on this website has a number of stories from the actual survivors of the sinking.
Unfortunately a number of shipmates did not arrive in Casablanca as survivors. .
———————————————————————————————————————————————————–
References:
CDR Roy L. Swift with Robert J Cressman(1986, Winter). The Tale of Two Block Islands., The Hook, 22-39
Dictionary of American Fighting Ships, www.history.navy.mil/danfs/index.html
Naval Historical Foundation Photographic Service. Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC.
Y’Blood, William(1983). Hunter-Killer: U.S. Escort Carriers in the Battle of the Atlantic. USA:Naval Institute Press.
James L. Noles, Jr. (July 1, 2004). All Guts, No Glory., Air & Space Magazine
USS Block Island Association. CHIPS newsletters, vol. 1-23
Captain Logan C. Ramsey was born at Jackson, Mississippi, on 26 Feb 1898, the son of Walter Pitman and Susan Elizabeth Fite Ramsey. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1918 with the Class of 1919. During the last six months of World War I, he served aboard the USS Texas in the British Grand Fleet. Captain Ramsey became a naval aviator in 1921. When the attack was leveled at Pearl Harbor, he was Operations Officer of the Patrol Wings based in the Hawaiian Area. In May 1942 he became Operations Officer at the island of Midway. Subsequently, he served as Chief of Staff to Commander Aircraft, Pacific Fleet. On 8 Mar 1943 he became the Commanding Officer of the CVE 21 Block Island. He brought aboard some fifty survivors of an aircraft carrier that was sunk in the Pacific. He served aboard the Block Island until March 10, 1944, where he was ordered to duty as Chief of Staff to the Commander, Fleet Air, Norfolk. Captain Ramsey was given some 50 survivors from the USS Lexington (CV-2) which was sunk in the Coral Sea during the Battle of Midway, with the majority of the 890 sailor compliment having never previously been at sea with the majority being USNR not Regular Navy. With the first two cruises of the ship scheduled for aircraft transport his job was to weld this crew into a cohesive fighting unit which was accomplished in a record time. Having been Operations Officer of the Navy Forces on the island of Midway, and later Chief of Staff to the Commander of Aircraft for the entire Pacific Fleet, Captain Ramsey was well qualified for this task. His son, Ensign Logan Ramsey Jr., served on CVE 106.
Captain Logan Ramsey Sr. was not new to making history in World War II. The then Lt. Cmd. Logan Ramsey Sr. sounded the alarm at the outbreak of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He also sent this historic message out on the airways “Air Raid Pearl Harbor, this is no drill”. A scene in the movie “Tora Tora Tora” depicts Captain Ramsey sending this message. His name is also mentioned in the movie “Midway”.
Captain Hughes was a member of the Naval Academy class of 1923 where he earned a letter as the quarterback for the football team. At Battle Fleet he was a football coach with an outstanding record. He first served on the USS Texas and the USS Chicago. He earned his wings at Pensacola in 1931. During the attack on Pearl Harbor he managed to get his PBY in the air while still wearing his pajamas which he was unable to change for the next 48 hours. He was in command of the Midway Sand Island Seaplane Base (VP-23) during the Battle of Midway, 3-7 Jun 1942. Famous movie director and producer John Ford flew a PBY with Captain Hughes at the controls on 3 Jun 1942 sighting two Japanese planes from the enemy fleet, they remained friends after the war. It was a PBY-5A Catalina from VP-23 that discovered the Japanese fleet leading to a great naval victory for the United States.
In building the original crew for CVE 21 Captain Ramsey knew that he would need men who had proven records and combat experience and was authorized to seek out several important position from personnel who were available for service on his new ship. Before making this selection he spent hours going over the service records and had many interviews before he made this selection. He was very impressed with the service records and the previous experience of an enlisted man who had been serving as a navigator on one of the battleships well before the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor . One of the selections was then Chief Quarter Master W. F. Harris and several more with other abilities, but the later service record of this individual shows that Captain Ramsey was very just in this selection.