Book teaser from Charles Brown's upcoming book

I'm very happy that Charlie was so kind that he decided to show a teaser of his upcoming book. It's an honour to me that I can introduce it on the CarrierBulders website. Thank you for the sample chapter Charlie! - Zoltan "neu" Pocza


Introduction:

The book is really about the transition from Essex-class carriers that were the mainstay of the World War II and Korea to the more modern Midway- and Forrestal-class carriers of the 1960s. This book is also about transition in the mission of the Navy in the postwar period. After World War II, conventional war planning was thought (wrongly) to be obsolete because most people in powerful places in the US military thought that nuclear weapons would be the weapon used in the future.

I am examining these transitions by looking at the explosion on the USS Bennington (CV-20) on May 26, 1954 and how this accident was seen at the time in relation to the perceived "need" for the Essex class carriers, what happened afterwards, and how the accident was remembered. At the time, it was not at all clear that aircraft carriers would be retained by the Navy, and in some circles it appeared that the Strategic Air Command of the US Air Force would assume the burden of postwar responsibility for keeping the peace. (This too, proved to be wrong).

- Charlie

USS Bennington: The First Decade

 

U.S. Navy Photo 1955

USS Bennington c. 1955

 

The carrier Bennington (CVA-20) was the second US naval vessel to bear the name of 1777 Revolutionary War battle.[1]  The second Bennington, an Essex-class carrier, was authorized for construction by the 76th Congress in the week following the December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  She launched fourteen months later and on


[1] The first USS Bennington was a Yorktown-class gunship (PG-4) launched in 1890 and was decommissioned in 1905.  In an unsettling irony, the first Bennington was also the scene of a deadly explosion: On August 17, 1905 two of her boilers burst spraying scalding water and superheated steam on several dozen crewmembers resulting in 60 fatalities and 40 wounded.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Volume I (Washington DC: Office of the CNO/Naval History Division, 1959), 117-18.

February 26, 1944, Katherine E. Maas, wife of Minnesota legislator (and retired Marine Corps Major General) Melvin Maas, christened her Bennington.[1]

            But Bennington only participated in the last year of World War II in the Pacific.  Under the command of Captain J.B. Sykes, and with Air Group 82 aboard, on February 8, 1945, Bennington joined Task Group 58.1, operating out of Ulithi Atoll, and took part in the attacks on the Japanese home islands in February; Iwo Jima and the Volcano Islands in February-March; and the Okinawa campaign between March and June of that year.  From March 22 onwards Rear Admiral T.L. Sprague, the commander of Carrier Division 3 made Bennington his flagship.[2]  Bennington pilots played a major role in the sinking of the Japanese battleship Yamato on April 7, 1945, one of the high points of the Bennington’s service during the waning days of World War II.[3]  However, these accomplishments of inflicting heavy damage to the weakening Japanese (167 Japanese planes were shot out of the sky and another 220 destroyed on the ground) came at a heavy cost.  Fully a quarter of Air Group 82’s complement of pilots were listed as either killed or missing in action after four-and-a-half months of combat, when Air Group 82 was relieved by Air Group 1.[4]

            The final naval assault in the Pacific against Japan was commanded by Admiral Sprague from the Bennington.  Bennington (now under the command of Captain B.L. Braun) along with carriers Hancock, Lexington, Belleau Wood, and San Jacinto; the battleships South Dakota, Massachusetts, and Indiana; as well as 6 cruisers and 19


[1] U.S.S. Bennington CVA-20 Ship’s History: 15 December 1941 to 31 December 1955, 1.
[2] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 9.
[3] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 11.
[4] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 14.
[

destroyers crippled another 98 Japanese aircraft and industrial plants on the northern island of Hokkaido.[1]  After the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, Bennington remained in the Far East until mid-October in support of the American occupation of Japan.  She was back in San Francisco by March 1946, and on November 8 was placed in the Atlantic Fleet Reserve in Norfolk, where she remained until 1950.[2]

            On October 30, 1950 Bennington began the long process of her modernization refit in preparation for her re-commissioning.  The two-year refit—known as 27A—birthed a more modern and much larger Bennington.  The ship went from a displacement of 27,100 tons to 40,500 tons.  Her overall length was extended by 43 feet to total length of 915 feet.  The purpose of the 27A refits was to bring World War II-era carriers—who accommodated propeller-driven aircraft—into the jet age by strengthening the ship for faster and harder launches and landings (known as “traps” in naval parlance).  Other changes widened the flight deck, modernized the fuel systems, strengthened aircraft elevators, and installed higher capacity catapults.[3] 

            By re-commissioning day, November 13, 1952, Bennington was pronounced “the most modern carrier in our Fleet today,” by Rear Admiral R.H. Hillenkoeter at the ceremony.[4]  Under the command of Captain David B. Young,[5] the first launches since


[1] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 15.
[2] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 19.
[3] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 20.
[4] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 21.
[5] Young (1903-    ) graduated from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1927.  Early in his colorful career he served on the battleships West Virginia and Arkansas and the destroyer Litchfield before becoming a pilot.  After receiving his wings he served as a scout pilot on USS Northampton and a fighter pilot on the Lexington.  By 1943 he was the Executive Officer of the USS Prince William (CVE-31), and was the CO of the Takanis Bay (CVE-89) in 1945-46.  Young also had experience in the operational planning for naval guided missiles and atomic weapons, and served for a time as an attaché to the Secretary of the Navy.  See: http://www.uss-bennington.org/co-1952Nov13-Capt-David-B-Young.html   

the 27A refit were conducted off the coast of Florida.  Marine Lt. Col. T.W. Furlow (CO of squadron VMA-211) made the first trap since the refit in an AD Skyraider on February 16, 1953.  Two days later, the first jet trap was completed by Maj. Carl E. Schmitt in an F9F-5 Panther.[1]

            Unfortunately, “the most modern carrier” suffered a serious accident on April 27, 1953.  At 10:03 the defective installation of a boiler water pipe caused a downcomer tube to slip loose, which caused an explosion, and superheated steam to burn several crewmembers in Fireroom Number 1.  This resulted in 11 fatalities and 4 wounded.  In words that would sound eerily familiar to those a year later when a much more serious explosion occurred, Capt. Young said “The prompt and heroic damage control measures taken by the surviving engineering personnel limited the loss of life and material damage.”[2]  Within a week Bennington passed a readiness inspection and conducted training exercises up the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada embarked with Rear Admiral T.H. Robbins (and his replacement, Rear Admiral H.H. Goodwin) as commander of Carrier Division 2.  On August 15, 1953 Captain W.A. Sutherland, Jr. relieved   On August 15, 1953 Captain W.A. Sutherland, Jr. relieved Capt. Young as Bennington’s CO.[3}


[1] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 21.
[2] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 22.
[3] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 23-24


From August through October 1953 Bennington was sent on her first extended post-war deployment.  The first three months she was part of the 9-NATO nation exercise in the North Atlantic, Operation Mariner.  As part of Operation Mariner, Bennington simulated a battle for the protection of the North Atlantic sea lanes as part of one of the largest naval exercises of that era.[1]  From there she joined the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean where she participated in at least two other exercises: Operations Autumn Sky (a Greek-Turkish-American joint exercise) and Operation November Moon (an Italian-British-American joint exercise).[2]  Upon the conclusion of these exercises, on February 16, 1954, Bennington steamed for Quonset Point, RI, and arrived around February 22.[3]

Upon arrival at Quonset Point, the crew of the Bennington was granted a month’s leave while the ship underwent repairs.  Her next deployment was a training mission off the coast of Florida where, embarked with 17 squadrons, pilots would undergo carrier qualifications.[4]  This short cruise was concluded on April 29, when the Bennington again arrived at Quonset Point to begin preparing for her next Mediterranean cruise.  On May 5, Captain W.F. Raborn relieved Capt. Sutherland as Bennington’s skipper, and on May 22, Air Group 181 arrived on Bennington as she set sail for Narragansett Bay for carrier qualifications and refresher training.[5]  Four days later, around 06:11 a series of


[1] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 25.
[2] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 28.  The Ship’s History mentions one more exercise but its details were still classified at the time of publication of this source.
[3] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 29.
[4] Squadrons embarked on Bennington for this training cruise were VA-15, VA-42, VA-45, VF-11, VF-21, VF-34, VF-41, VF-101, VC-5, VC-8, VC-12, VC-33, VC-62, VJ-62, VR-22, and VX-3.  U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 30.  
[5] U.S.S. Bennington Ship’s History, 30.


explosions rolled through the forward part of the ship.  Although it was immediately obvious that something went very wrong, it was probably not as obvious that Capt. Raborn and his crew were sitting on top of one of the worst peacetime accidents in the history of the US Navy.

 

© 2005 Charlie Brown

www.carrierbuilders.cjb.net