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Page 1: HISTORY OF THE USS MISSISSIPPI OF THE USS MISSISSIPPI ... 1919. On 19 July she left ... On the night of the 24th, as part of Admiral Oldendorf’s battle

Volume 13 Issue 2 June 2010

HISTORY OF THE USS MISSISSIPPI Taken from: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol. IV, PP. 388-89

Submitted by Melvin Kaplan

MISSISSIPPI BB-41 Displacement: 32,000 Length: 624’ Beam: 97’ 5” Draft: 30’ Speed: 21 k Complement: 1,081 Armament: 12 14”, 14 5”, 4 3”, 2 21” tt. Class: New Mexico Mississippi (BB-41) was laid down 5 April 1915 by Newport News Shipbuild-ing Co., Newport News, VA; launched 25 January 1917; sponsored by Miss Camelle McBeath; and commissioned 18 Decem-ber 1917, Capt. J. L. Jayne in command. Following exercises off V i rg in ia , Miss iss ipp i steamed 22 March 1918

April she sailed from San Francisco for war games off Hawaii, and then steamed to Australia on a good will tour. She returned to the west coast 26 September and resumed operations there for the next 4 years. During this period she frequently sailed into Caribbean and Atlantic waters for exercises during the winter months. Mississippi entered Nor-folk Navy Yard 30 March 1931 for modernization over-haul, departing once again on training exercises in Sep-tember 1933. Transiting the Panama Canal 24 October 1934, she steamed back to her base at San Pedro. For the next 7 years she oper-ated off the west coast, ex-

(Continued on page 2)

Read a history of the USS Mississippi from our cover story.

Your president’s message for you is on page two.

We welcome four new members in Welcome Mat on page three.

Mail Call has two letters from shipmates, one with a memory, another with a request for help.

A photo from 1953 is on page four.

POINTS OF SPECIAL INTEREST

for training in the Gulf of Guacanayabo, Cuba. One month later she returned to Hampton Roads and cruised between Boston and New York until depart-ing for winter maneuvers in the Caribbean 31 January 1919. On 19 July she left the Atlantic seaboard and sailed for the west coast. Arriving at her new base, San Pedro, she operated along the west coast for the next 4 years, entering the Caribbean during the winter months for training exer-cises. During gunnery practice on 12 June 1924 off San Pedro, 48 of her men were asphyxiated as a result of an explosion in her No. 2 main battery turret. On 15

USS MISSISSIPPI REUNION

OCT. 21-24, 2010

WILMINGTON, NC

RAMADA CONFERENCE

CENTER

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PAGE 2 VOLUME 13 ISSUE 2 THE PIRATE

cept for winter Caribbean cruises. Returning to Norfolk 16 June 1941, she prepared for patrol service in the North Atlantic. Steaming from Newport, R. I., she escorted a con-voy to Hvalfjordur, Iceland. She made another trip to Iceland 28 Sep-tember 1941, and spent the next 12 months there protecting shipping. Two days after the treacherous attack on Pearl Harbor, Mississippi left Iceland for the Pacific. Arriving 22 January 1942, at San Francisco, she spent the next 7 months training and escorting convoys along the coast. On 6 December, after participating in exercises off Hawaii, she steamed with troop transports to the Fiji Is-lands, returning to Pearl Harbor 2 March 1943. On 10 May she sailed from Pearl Harbor to participate in a move to restore the Aleutians to their rightful possessors. Kiska Island was shelled 22 July, and a few days later the Japanese withdrew. After over-haul at San Francisco, Mississippi sailed from San Pedro 19 October to take part in the invasion of the Gil-bert Islands. While bombarding Makin 20 November, a turret explo-sion, almost identical to the earlier tragedy, killed 43 men. On 31 January 1944 she took part in the Marshall Islands campaign, shelling Kwajalein. She bombarded Taroa 20 February, and struck Wotje the next day. On 15 March she pounded Kavieng, New Ireland. Due for an overhaul, she spent the sum-mer months at Puget Sound. Returning to the war zone, Missis-sippi supported landings on Peleliu, in the Palau Islands, on 12 Septem-ber. After a week of continuous op-erations she steamed to Manus, where she remained until 12 Octo-ber. Departing Manus, she assisted in the liberation of the Philippines, shelling the east coast of Leyte on 19 October. On the night of the 24th, as part of Admiral Oldendorf’s battle line, she helped to destroy a power-ful Japanese task force at the Battle of Suriago Strait. As a result of the engagements at Leyte Gulf, the Japanese navy was no longer able to mount any serious offensive threat.

(Continued from page 1) PRESIDENT PAUL SHEPLEY’S MESSAGE

Mississippi continued to support the operations at Leyte Gulf until 16 November, when she steamed to the Admiralty Islands. She then en-tered San Pedro Bay, Leyte, 28 De-cember, to prepare for the landings on Luzon. On 6 January 1945 she began bombarding in Lingayen Gulf. Despite damages near her waterline received from the crash of a suicide plane, she supported the invasion forces until 10 February. Following repairs at Pearl Harbor, she sailed to Nakagusuku Wan, Okinawa, arriving 6 May to support the landing forces there. Her power-ful guns leveled the defenses at Shuri Castle, which had stalled the entire offensive. On 5 June, a kami-kaze crashed into her starboard side, but the fighting ship continued to support the troops at Okinawa until 16 June. After the announced surrender of Japan, Mississippi steamed to Sa-gami Wan, Honshu, arriving 27 Au-gust as part of the support occupa-tion force. She anchored in Tokyo Bay, witnessed the signing of the surrender documents, and steamed for home on 6 September. She ar-rived 27 November at Norfolk, where she underwent conversion to AG-128, effective 15 February 1946. As part of the development force, she spent the last 10 years of her career carrying out investiga-tions of gunnery problems and test-ing new weapons, while based at Norfolk. She helped launch the Navy into the age of the guided-missile warship when she success-fully test fired the Terrier missile on 28 January 1953 off Cape Cod. She also assisted in the final evaluation of the Petrel, a radar-homing mis-sile, in February 1956. Mississippi decommissioned at Norfolk 17 September 1956, and was sold for scrapping to the Beth-lehem Steel Co on 28 November the same year. Mississippi received eight battle stars for World War II service. Transcribed and edited by Larry W. Jewell

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Pam and I are looking forward to our reunion in my hometown, Wil-mington, NC, October 21 to 24. Oc-tober is a great time to visit the city. Temperature is usually around 70 degrees plus, no pollen and the end-ing of the hurricane season. We hope ya’ll continue to enjoy good health this year. Please remember to bring hometown items for our fun auction. We have three ocean beaches within 15 miles of the hotel where we will be staying, so bring swim suits to either swim or sun. Shipmates, give some thoughts to where we might go for our 2011 re-union. President/Coordinator, Paul Shepley

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Financial Statement Balance remaining after 03/10$925.09 Funds collected since 03/10 $0 Funds available for 06/10 $925.09 Funds expended 036/10 $131.80 Balance for 09/10 $793.29 This issue is being mailed only to those who returned the coupon to receive the newsletter by mail. Others may access the newsletter from the web site www.mlrsinc.com/eag128. Send contributions to ML&RS, Inc. at our address below.

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Published By: Military Locator & Reunion Service, Inc PO Drawer 11399 Hickory, NC 28603 828-256-6008 (voice) 828-256-6559 (fax) [email protected] [email protected] WWW.MLRSINC.COM/EAG128 (web site) “Our Reunions Work So You Don’t Have To”

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PAGE 3 VOLUME 13 ISSUE 2 THE PIRATE

STATEMENT OF PUBLICATION

The PIRATE is the official publi-cation of the USS MISSISSIPPI As-sociation. From now on it will be pub-lished quarterly in March, June, Sep-tember, and December, subject to receiving sufficient funding. The Newsletter is funded by voluntary contributions from the membership. All members are encouraged to sup-port the voice of the MISSISSIPPI. A financial statement appears in each issue of the newsletter. The newsletter is intended to be a vehicle for the members to express opinions, make suggestions and es-pecially share experiences. Unless otherwise stated, the views and opinions printed in the newsletter are those of the article’s writer, and do not necessarily repre-sent the opinion of the Association leadership or the Editor of the News-letter. All letters and stories submitted will be considered for publication, except unsigned letters will not be published. Letters requesting the writer’s name be withheld will be honored, but published on a space available basis. Signed letters with no restrictions will be given priority. Letters demeaning to another shipmate will not be printed; letters espousing a political position will not be printed. Military Locator & Reunion Ser-vice, Inc. is not responsible for the accuracy of articles submitted for publication. It would be a monumen-tal task to check each story. There-fore, we rely on the submitter to re-search each article. The editor reserves the right to edit letters to conform to grammar, and/or space limitations. You are encouraged to actively participate in the newsletter family by submitting your stories and sugges-tions.

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MAIL CALL The Pirate, It was a beautiful day on the Mis-sissippi. Not a cloud in the sky. We were anchored about ninety miles off Atlantic City. Dolphins usually followed our ship for food, and usu-ally there is a whale with them. Baker and I were sitting on the deck watching the dolphins. “Wonder where the whale is,” I said. Baker turned to me and said, “Whale? There aren’t any whales around here.” Then, as if it were staged, a whale as big as a school bus came up along side of us. “Well, I be darn!” and his eyes got as big as donuts. Carl Ferrell, Sr C-296 Barclay Ct Langhorne, PA 19047

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Hi, Jim here. I was on the Missis-sippi in 1953. I remember we used to call it BBF out of Norfolk—Be Back Friday, lol. Been out of town about two months. My wife and I went to Arizona when we started getting our 50 inches of rain in De-cember. There was a guy from CT ( I forgot his name.) He called me from CT and said he knew John Dempski. Justason, QM 2 and I from CS Div on the Mississippi would appreciate if you could help me on this. Jim Rigsby 111 Hillside Dr Crescent City, CA 95531 707-458-3427 [email protected]

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TAPS The Pirate has learned of the following shipmate’s death since the last newsletter. The entire crew sends our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the deceased.

WELCOME MAT

The USS MISSISSIPPI Asso-ciation cordially welcomes the fol-lowing shipmates who have been located since the last newsletter. We hope to see you at the next reunion, and we hope you will take an active part in the association.

George Davis 1110 Plover Dr

Baltimore, MD 21227 410-242-7828

Robert Woosley (1955) FA

7901 33rd St Rosedale, MD 21237

410-866-2194

Tylon Roberts 241 Inlet Dr Scotts Hill Wilmington, NC 28411

Frank Vendituoli (1953-55) EM3

HC1 Box 50 Elgin, AZ 85611 520-455-4700

[email protected] __________

Keiford Chambers (1950-52) B3/c Baker Died March 20, 2010

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VOLUME 13 ISSUE 2 THE PIRATE PAGE 4

8TH DIVISION GMTU-21 (GUIDED MISSILE TRAINING UNIT 21) USS MISSISSIPPI EAG-128 MAR. 23, 1953