January 3, 1942 - Saturday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

 On January 3, 1942, O'Brien was still in port, undergoing a refit and awaiting its transit to the Pacific which was to begin on January 15.

Background - U. S. S. O'Brien - Events of 1940

On March 2, 1940, O'Brien was ready for commissioning at the Boston Navy Yard.  See below for the ship's plaque, and a picture taken soon after completion.  O'Brien was a Sims-class destroyer; the Sims class was the last destroyer class completed before the war began.  It was a small class in number as the Fletcher class of destroyers was already on the drawing boards.  The most obvious new feature was a fifth 5-inch gun (also a feature of Fletcher class destroyers).  The added fifth gun can be seen in the photo as the one facing forward near the middle of the ship.  The Sims class also introduced a new fire-control (that is, control of the guns, not damage control) system.

 U.S. Navy- Official U.S. Navy photo NH 97787 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command<br>The U.S. Navy destroyer USS O'Brien (DD-415) photographed soon after completion, circa 1940.
 

O'Brien departed Boston May 6 for Norfolk, VA, and from May 20 to July 26 executed a shakedown cruise in the Atlantic before arriving back in Boston.  This trip went all the way to South America and lasted over 2 months.  On the second week out, O'Brien crossed the equator, which occasioned the old Navy ritual of converting the novice "pollywogs" (those who hadn't crossed the equator on a Navy ship) into veteran "shellbacks".  Naturally this involved a number of mock ceremonies and hazing rituals for the pollywogs.  Officers as well as enlisted could be pollywogs, and received no relief on account of
rank.  

Here is a link to a memoir of a crossing ceremony, held on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington in 1936 The Royal Works (note the document is a product of its time and some things in it are not acceptable today).

Once in the Southern Hemisphere, there were several stops in Brazil and also one at Buenos Aires, Argentina.  

Several of the stops are noted here:  Official Navy Chronology

• May 20, 1940 - O'Brien departed Norfolk on shakedown cruise.
• June 6, 1940 - Crossed equator, latitude 00-00, longitude 38-30 W.
• June 10, 1940 - O'Brien arrives in Bahia State, Brazil.  Probably at Salvador, Brazil.  Stay: 4 days.
• June 20, 1940 - O'Brien arrives at Buenos Aires, Argentina. Stay: 5 days.
• June 27, 1940 - O'Brien arrives Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil.  Probably at Porto Alegre.  Stay: 2 days.
• July 1, 1940 - O'Brien arrives Santos, Brazil.  Near Sao Paulo.  Stay: 2 days.
• July 9, 1940 - O'Brien arrives Para, Brazil.  Near Belem and mouth of Amazon River. Stay: 3 days.
• July 16, 1940 - O'Brien arrives La Guaira, Venezuela.   La Guaira is near Caracas.
• July 26, 1940 - O'Brien arrived at Boston on completion of shakedown cruise.

Such a long initial cruise may be surprising, but several ships were visiting South America.  President Roosevelt for some time had sought to expand what was called the Neutrality Patrol further out into the Atlantic and down to the tip of South America, concerned that the Nazis might gain influence in Central and South America.  The Panama Conference in 1939, and its associated Panama Declaration, expanded the patrol zone.

There was some shore leave for the sailors during this time and they no doubt enjoyed the cities and beaches in Brazil and Argentina.  John had a souvenir carved Brazil nut shell that he kept for many years.  I remember that as a young child, I could not figure out how they got those Brazil nuts inside the shell; never realizing that that was just how they grew.

In late September, O'Brien left Boston again for Norfolk, stopping at Newport, RI enroute, and then at the end of October for the Caribbean, to be part of the Neutrality Patrol.  The Neutrality Patrol covered all of the United States east coast and the Caribbean, and been expanded further eastward into the Atlantic in 1939 and 1940.  Navy ships followed all foreign ships (of any kind, cargo or naval) throughout the designated area, and broadcast their positions.  At this time, Britain and Germany had been at war for some time, and France had fallen to the Nazis in June.  The Neutrality Patrol inevitably favored Britain, as the U. S. Navy ships broadcast the messages in English; the British could understand these, but the Germans mostly could not.  This aided the British Navy in the capture or sinking of a number of German ships.

The fall of France had also left in doubt the disposition of the French Navy as it had been dispersed to various areas including North Africa and the Caribbean, rather than being turned over to the German government.  This force was of special concern to Great Britain and to Prime Minister Churchill, who did not want it to be controlled by Germany.  A particular instance of monitoring the French ships involved O'Brien in December 1940:

Below is part of the history of U. S. S. Walke, a destroyer that joined with O'Brien for this mission:

Ship History: USS Walke

"The destroyer [Walke] got underway on the afternoon of the following day on "Caribbean Patrol" in company with sistership O'Brien (DD-415). Rendezvousing with Moffett (DD-362) and Sims (DD-409) off Fort de France, Martinique, Walke and O'Brien patrolled the approaches to that port, keeping an eye on the movements of the Vichy French warships, the auxiliary cruisers Barfleur and Quercy and the aircraft carrier Beam, through 14 December." 

 O'Brien would remain on Neutrality Patrol into the early part of 1941.

 

Ship's Historical Data Plaque, photographed at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 3 September 1940.  Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.