March 30, 1942 - Monday - 80 years ago today

 Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:

On the 30th, O'Brien and Curtiss were returning to Pearl Harbor from Midway Island with evacuees from the island.

Also on the 30th, the Pacific commands were reorganized to what they would be for most of the rest of the war.  Admiral Nimitz would command the Northern, Central, and South Pacific area.  General MacArthur would command the South West Pacific area, westward from about the center of the Solomon Islands.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 17 (Yorktown) remained in the South Pacific area to continue raids and offensive operations.
• Task Force 11 (Lexington) arrived at Pearl Harbor on March 26th.
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) remained at Pearl Harbor.
• USS Hornet had arrived on March 20 at Alameda, CA.  Preparations were ongoing for its first mission in the Pacific. This mission was a secret at the time.
  

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 173-174.
  
•  The First South Pacific Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, p.60.

NEXT POST: APRIL 3RD

March 30, 1862 - Sunday - 160 years ago today

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division

By March 30th, all of Buell's divisions had crossed the Duck River at Columbia, TN and were then organized to proceed on to Savannah TN as quickly as possible.  Larry J. Daniel describes the procession in his book Shiloh:

 "Once they left the turnpike south of Columbia, the Army of the  Ohio followed a narrow and tortuous eighty-two-mile country road through Waynesboro to Savannah. Nelson's division had a good twelve-to-fifteen hour lead.  Crittenden's division came second in line, followed by McCook's, Thomas Wood's, and then George H. Thomas's.  The enormous wagon train (the 20th Brigade alone counted 85 wagons and 510 mules) traveled between Wood's and Thomas's divisions, placing the latter so far in the rear that it was still forty miles away when the battle began.  Despite the mud-churned road and swollen creeks, the column set a moderate pace of about twelve miles a day." 

More Information: .

• Link: War Operations, see Volume X, Chapter XXII, Part II, Correspondence, pp. 69-81.
  
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 64-65.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 322-324.
• Shiloh, Larry L. Daniel, pp. 111-115.
  

 

NEXT POST: APRIL 3RD

March 26, 1942 - Thursday - 80 years ago today

 Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:

O'Brien has been stationed at Pearl Harbor, and is doing patrol and escort duty from there. 

O'Brien escorted seaplane tender USS Curtiss on a mission to Midway Island in the later part of March to evacuate civilians.  The Japanese had been operating in the Hawaiian Islands and had raided Midway several times. A Japanese attempt to take Midway was anticipated some time soon, thus civilians were being removed and the island fortified.  

O'Brien and Curtiss would return to Pearl Harbor in early April.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 17 (Yorktown) remained in the South Pacific area to continue raids and offensive operations.
• Task Force 11 (Lexington) arrived at Pearl Harbor on March 26th.
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) remained at Pearl Harbor.
• USS Hornet had arrived on March 20 at Alameda, CA.  Preparations were ongoing for its first mission in the Pacific. This mission was a secret at the time.
  

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 171-172.
  
•  The First South Pacific Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp.58-59.

NEXT POST: MARCH 30TH 

March 26, 1862 - Wednesday - 160 years ago today

 Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division

General Buell arrived on the 26th at Columbia, TN, only to find that a new bridge had not yet been built over the Duck River.  It would not be until the 29th that his divisions, 5 in all, could begin crossing.

General Grant had sent a large majority of his Union divisions to the west side of the Tennessee River at Pittsburg Landing. These troops were camped but not well organized, and there had been no entrenching, as no battle was expected there.  The Union command expected to consolidate with Buell's army, and then move toward Corinth, MS and engage the Confederate army (also consolidated) in a large battle.

Confederate generals, including A.S. Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard, could see the Union plans and had determined to strike before the consolidation of the opposing armies.  The lack of readiness of the Union armies would be costly.

More Information: .

• Link: War Operations, see Volume X, Chapter XXII, Part II, Correspondence, pp. 59-69.
  
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 63-64
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 322-324.
• Shiloh, Larry L. Daniel, pp. 104-111.
  

 

NEXT POST: MARCH 30TH

March 22, 1942 - Sunday - 80 years ago today

 Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:

 O'Brien has been stationed at Pearl Harbor, and is doing patrol and escort duty from there.

O'Brien did some patrolling in the area of French Frigate Shoals, about 560 miles northwest of Oahu and part of the Hawaiian Island chain.  The shoals are mostly reef, but some small islands and sandbars are there as well.

At this time, patrols were sent to this area as it had been very recently used for Japanese attacks on Oahu and Pearl Harbor by submarines and seaplanes.  These seaplanes met the Japanese submarines for refueling at the French Frigate Shoals reef before the attacks.  

After these attacks, Admiral Nimitz kept a permanent presence in the French Frigate Shoals area.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 17 (Yorktown) remained in the South Pacific area to continue raids and offensive operations.
• Task Force 11 (Lexington) had left the South Pacific and was en route to Pearl Harbor.
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) was at Pearl Harbor.
• USS Hornet arrived on March 20 at Alameda, CA.  Preparations were ongoing for its first mission in the Pacific. This mission was a secret at the time.
  

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 171-172.
  
•  The First South Pacific Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp.58-59.

NEXT POST: MARCH 26TH

 

March 22, 1862 - Saturday - 160 years ago today

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division

 By the 22nd, Buell is at Columbia, TN, with most of the divisions (including Wood's) that are intended to meet Grant's army at Savannah.  He intends to move soon but continues to be hampered by weather and lack of bridges.

The land west of Pittsburg Landing, TN had been chosen as a camping ground for most of Grant's divisions, while awaiting a merger with Buell's command and then advancing toward Corinth, MS.  The brigades were arranged in an arc facing southwest.  Near the center of this arc, about 2 miles from the Tennessee River,  was a small church named Shiloh.  Some exploratory scouting missions were done from this camp.  

Although there were rumors of a large Confederate force nearby, it had not been found as of yet.

More Information: .

• Link: War Operations, see Volume X, Chapter XXII, Part II, Correspondence, pp. 47-58.
  
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 63
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 315-322.
  

 

NEXT POST: MARCH 26TH

 

March 18 1942 - Wednesday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:

O'Brien has been stationed at Pearl Harbor, and is doing patrol and escort duty from there.

Pearl Harbor, in the Spring of 1942, though not the paradise it had been before the war, was still functioning well and servicing the fleet, including the carrier task forces.  Here is a YouTube video, with some accompanying march music, showing scenes from Hawaii at this time:

 Pearl Harbor Spring 1942

In the footage of the city, there are many Japanese-Americans moving about.  Even though by this time the internment on the mainland had begun, very few Japanese-Americans were interned in Hawaii, partly because of their key role in the local economy. See also: Internment_of_Japanese_Americans.  

Three of the battleships sunk on December 7th (Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Maryland) had already been patched and sent to the west coast for permanent repairs. Nevada, beached during the attack, had been re-floated and was undergoing repairs. California was re-floated on March 25th, and West Virginia on May 17th. 

Arizona and Utah remained sunk in place, as they do to this day. 

Oklahoma, sunk and capsized, was being righted at this time in mid-March.  Here is a picture of the operation in progress:

 An aerial view of salvage operations on 19 March 1943, looking toward Ford Island, with the ship halfway righted.  Department of the Navy. Fourteenth Naval District. Naval Air Station, Pearl Harbor (Hawaii). (ca. 1940 - 09/1947), Photographer (NARA record: 1130789) - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.)   Public Domain. 

 

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 17 (Yorktown) remained in the South Pacific area to continue raids and offensive operations.
• Task Force 11 (Lexington) had left the South Pacific and was en route to Pearl Harbor.
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) was at Pearl Harbor.

Other Events: 

• Another command re-organization was finalized on the 18th.  General MacArthur, having left the Philippines, was given overall command of the Southwest Pacific area (currently Australia and New Guinea).  This would put him on track for a return to the Philippines, as he had expressed his commitment to do.  The Navy command under Nimitz would cover the rest of the Pacific (later leading to the island-hopping campaign into the central Pacific.  King for a time did retain direct control of the ANZUS area, basically the Coral Sea, but this was not efficient.
  

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 167-169.
  
•  The First South Pacific Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp. 39-58.

NEXT POST: MARCH 22ND

March 18, 1862 - Tuesday - 160 years ago today

 Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division

Status in the West

Both sides are now quickly converging on the next area of conflict: the area around Corinth, MS, a major rail hub and gateway to Memphis and the lower Mississippi River.  Confederate armies have begun to combine at Corinth, MS.  Halleck has ordered Grant to consolidate all the troops advancing up the Tennessee River at Savannah, TN, and to wait there for Buell's army to join them.   

By the 18th, most Buell's divisions are about 40 miles to the SSE of Nashville, at Columbia and Mt. Pleasant.  They will push toward Savannah, another 70 miles ESE of Columbia.  Buell in dispatches complains of burned bridges, rains, and flooding slowing his progress.

 Peninsula Campaign

In the eastern theater, McClellan has begun the Peninsula Campaign in an effort to take Richmond. This campaign would see most of the eastern army moved south by boat from the Washington, D.C. area to Fort Monroe (in the Hampton/Newport News area) and then an attack up the peninsula between the York and James Rivers toward Richmond. The first 10,000 troops were sent to Fort Monroe on the 18th.

 More Information: .

• Link: War Operations, see Volume X, Chapter XXII, Part II, Correspondence, pp. 38-47
  
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. pp.62-63.
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 272-274.
  

 

NEXT POST: MARCH 22ND

 

 

March 14, 1942 - Saturday - 80 years ago today

 

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:

O'Brien has been stationed at Pearl Harbor, and is doing patrol and escort duty from there.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 17 (Yorktown) was to remain in the South Pacific area and continue raids and offensive operations.
• Task Force 11 (Lexington) left the South Pacific and sailed for Pearl Harbor.
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) had completed its raids and returned to Pearl Harbor.

Other Events: 

• March 11: General MacArthur begins his evacuation from the Philippines, taking a PT boat from Bataan to the southern Philippine island of Mindanao and reaching there on the 13th.  MacArthur flew to Australia on the 17th.
  
• Army troops arrive at Noumea, New Caledonia, to establish a base there.
• Four more freighters and a tanker are sunk in the Atlantic, March 11-14.
• Japanese Army and Navy planners began to discuss an operation to take Midway Island, or alternatively, to take Fiji, Samoa, and other islands between Hawaii and Australia.
  

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 167-169.
  
•  The First South Pacific Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp. 39-58.

NEXT POST: MARCH 18TH

March 14, 1862 - Friday - 160 years ago today

 Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division

There is little new to report since the 10th.  Buell has 5 divisions at Nashville (with some advancing southward along the rivers and turnpikes), and is considering his next move.

In Washington, General McClellan has been relieved of the command of all armies so that he can concentrate on commanding his upcoming offensive from southeast Virginia toward Richmond.  All the generals will report directly to the Secretary of War.

Also, the western commands have been reorganized.  Halleck has been given command of all areas west of Knoxville, and Buell is to serve under Halleck for now. Halleck, in a message to Buell, states that this does not change Buell's command, and that they should talk soon.

Grant's army, and other forces made available, are moving up the Tennessee, and are disembarking at Savannah, TN.  Grant has not yet gone up river to meet with General C.F. Smith, who is in charge of the advanced troops.  Grant speculates that landing at Savannah implies that there are Confederates in force just up the river from there.

 More Information: .

• Link: War Operations, see Volume X, Chapter XXII, Part II, Correspondence, pp. 28-38.
  
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. pp.62-63.

  

NEXT POST: MARCH 18TH

March 10, 1942 - Tuesday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:

O'Brien has been stationed at Pearl Harbor, and is doing patrol and escort duty from there.

US Navy Task Forces

• Task Force 11 (Lexington) and Task Force 17 (Yorktown) had been sailing northwest with the intent of attacking  Rabaul, and another base (Gasmata) on New Britain. On the 8th, word came of Japanese landings on the east side of New Guinea at Lae and Salamaua, and the task forces positioned south of New Guinea for an attack on the landing ships.  On the 10th, forces from the two carriers sank four transports, and damaged two destroyers and a cruiser.
  
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) had completed its raids on Japanese islands and was returning to Pearl Harbor.
  

 Other Events:

• March 8: Japanese forces land at Lae and Salamaua, New Guinea.  Although the US Navy attack on the 10th damaged the landing force, the Japanese landed and held the area.  However, the ship losses convinced the Japanese commanders that carrier air support would continue to be needed in this area, and plans were changed accordingly, including a postponement of an advance on Port Moresby, New Guinea.
  
• March 9: Java falls to the Japanese forces.
• Severe tanker and freighter losses continue in the Atlantic.
  

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 165-166
  
•  The First South Pacific Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp. 37-38.

NEXT POST: MARCH 14TH

March 10, 1862 - Monday - 160 years ago today

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division

Buell by this time has all of his divisions at Nashville and is contemplating his next advance.  He sees several opportunities but remains cautious, processing captured supplies at Nashville, and repairing railroads and bridges before beginning another move.

Further west, Halleck has determined that the Confederate lines stretch from Decatur, AL west to New Madrid, MO (which is under attack and believed soon to be captured).  Halleck is determined to attack the center of this line; he will reach it by moving almost all his forces southward on the Tennessee River to the Savannah, TN area.  General C.F. Smith commands this advancing force.

Smith is in command due to Halleck's dissatisfaction with General Grant.  Halleck complains of being unable to get Grant to report his position or troop deployments, and cannot thereby report those to higher commands.  General McLellan tells Halleck that he can remove or arrest Grant if needed.  Grant claims to have sent messages daily but they do not reach Halleck.  Halleck suspects that Grant has returned to drinking - as Grant had been forced out of the army several years before for excessive drinking.  

Whatever the actual case regarding Grant, by the 10th all is resolved and he is ordered to continue moving troops up the Tennessee to Savannah, and also to prepare to take command soon of the advance currently in progress.  General Sherman also has moved up the Tennessee, in command of a division.

Halleck has asked Buell to combine both armies on the Tennessee.  Replying on the 10th, Buell will not yet commit regarding further movements.

Monitor vs. C.S.S. Virginia

 At Hampton Roads, VA, near Norfolk, wooden Union ships had been attacked on March 9th by an iron-plated Confederate ship, CSS Virginia.  Virginia was the captured US ship Merrimack, renamed after being made an ironclad.  The wooden ships were defenseless as the iron ship was not harmed by their cannonballs.  Three of the wooden US Navy ships are sunk or gravely damaged.

The unusually shaped ironclad USS Monitor (described as "a cheese box on a raft") arrived that evening, and fought the Virginia to a draw the next day.  After the battle, the Virginia was no longer able to threaten the Union's wooden ships again, and was later destroyed so that it would not be captured by Union forces in the Peninsula Campaign.

Although the original Monitor capsized at sea later in the war, the ship design was successful, and many more of these ships were built both during the Civil War and after.  Ships designated as "monitors" remained in service up until World War II.

 More Information: 

• Iron Dawn, the Monitor, the Merrimack, and the Civil War Sea Battle that Changed History, Richard Snow, 2016, 367 pages.
• Link: War Operations, see Volume X, Chapter XXII, Part II, Correspondence, pp. 15-28
  
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. pp.61-62

  

NEXT POST: MARCH 14TH

 

 

 

 

March 6, 1942 - Friday - 80 years ago today

 Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

DANFS - O'Brien - DD415:  

Following repairs at Mare Island, the ship sailed 20 February via San Diego, to Pearl Harbor. There Commander Destroyer Division 4 shifted his flag to O'Brien 5 March.

Destroyer Division 4 (DesDiv4), along with Destroyer Division 3 (DesDiv3) was part of Destroyer Squadron 2 (DesRon2).  DesRon2 at this time was composed mostly of the Sims-class destroyers, including O'Brien.  DesRon2 continues to the present day.

At this point, DesDiv4 appears to consist of O'Brien, Mustin, Russell, and Walke.  DesDiv4 was not sailing as a unit, however; O'Brien and Mustin were at Pearl Harbor, doing escort and patrol duty, while Russell and Walke were escorting the carrier Yorktown in the South Pacific.

US Navy Task Forces

• Task Force 11 (Lexington) and Task Force 17 (Yorktown) met on March 6th near New Caledonia,  The two task forces planned to attack Rabaul, and another base (Gasmata) on New Britain, 1300 miles to the northwest.  This attack would also provide a distraction while US Army forces were occupying New Caledonia.
• The planned Task Force 16 (Enterprise) raid on Marcus Island was executed on March 4th.  The task force then began its return to Pearl Harbor.

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 164-166
  
•  The First South Pacific Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp. 36-37.

NEXT POST: MARCH 10TH

 

March 6, 1862 - Thursday - 160 years ago today

 Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division

 By March 3rd, almost all of Buell's divisions have reached Nashville.  Not clear if Wood's division is fully at Nashville by this time, but they were probably there with all other divisions by the 6th.  

Reconnaissance from beyond Nashville shows that the Condfederate army under Johnston has moved past Murfreesboro and is currently at Shelbyville, TN, about 45 miles SSW.  They have destroyed railroads and bridges to hamper any forward movement by Buell.

The Confederate forces at Columbus, KY were withdrawn south toward Memphis, and the Union occupied Columbus on the 3rd.  General Sherman reports the fort was taken and large amounts of armaments and supplies were captured.

It is becoming clear to both sides that the area east of Memphis, around Corinth, MS and nearby, the Tennessee River from Savannah, TN south into Alabama will be the next critical strategic area in the west.  Union gunboats have already moved up the Tennessee, and are attacking road and rail bridges.  The plan is to move the Union troops from the Cumberland River to advance up the Tennessee.

General P.G.T. Beauregard, newly arrived from Virginia, is gathering the various Confederate forces in western Tennessee (including those from Columbus) into a single army near Corinth. 

 More Information:

• Link: War Operation, see Volume VII, Chapter 17, pp. 679-684
• Link: War Operations, see Volume X, Chapter 22, Part II, Correspondence, pp. 3-15 
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. pp.60-61

  

NEXT POST: MARCH 10TH

March 2, 1942 - Monday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien was steaming for Pearl Harbor after repairs were completed at Mare Island.  By March 2nd, O'Brien was approaching, or had reached, Pearl Harbor.

Battle of the Java Sea

The island of Java was the next target for the advancing Japanese forces.  It is about 620 mile long (east to west), and about 120 miles wide (north to south).  The two major cities were Batavia (now Jarkarta) in the west, and the capital, Surabaya in the east.  The Japanese now sent two convoys to invade eastern and western Java.  The western convoy had 56 transports, accompanied by 7 cruisers and 25 destroyers, and the eastern convoy was similar with 51 transports, accompanied by 4 cruisers and 13 destroyers.  There were also Japanese air forces available from the nearby islands.

In an attempt to replenish the air forces in Java, the USS Langley (which had been the first US aircraft carrier and was now a seaplane tender) escorted a transport bringing new airplanes to the southern Java coast.  On February 27th, Langley was sunk by ground based Japanese aircraft.  The transport was able to deliver the aircraft, but they were never used, as Java fell too quickly for them to even be uncrated.

Since the outbreak of the war, the allies had had a joint command for the Australian, Dutch, British,  and US ships, denoted as ABDA.  The remainder of this force came together near the capital at Surabaya at the end of February, in the hope of intercepting one or both of the invasion convoys.  There were four cruisers and nine destroyers left for this task.  On the 28th, this force moved out toward the eastern Japanese convoy.  After a long running firefight, two Dutch cruisers were sunk.  

The remaining two cruisers, USS Houston and HMAS Perth headed for Batavia in the hopes of either confronting the western convoy, or transiting the Sunda Strait and returning to Austraila.   After refueling, the next night the two ships sailed west and ran directly into the escorts for the western convoy.  The two ships were greatly outnumbered and low on ammunition, and fought for a short time before being sunk.  About a third of the crew of the Houston survived and made it to land, where they were captured. In the book Ship of Ghosts, James Hornfischer describes the experiences of the captured; many were forced to work on the Burma-Thailand Railway that was the inspiration for the movie The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Other Japanese forces, including fleet carriers, were patrolling near Java, and sank many of the surviving Allied ships from the Battle of the Java Sea.  A cruiser, 3 destroyers and an oiler were sunk on March 1st, and 2 more destroyers on the 2nd.  This was the end of the ABDA force.

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 162-164
  
•  The First South Pacific Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp. 35-36.
• Ship of Ghosts, James D, Hornfischer, pp. 45-145.
  

 

NEXT POST: MARCH 6TH

March 2, 1862 - Sunday - 160 years ago today

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division

General Buell, having occupied Nashville, was gathering his forces there as rapidly as possible.  One division was already there, another was coming up soon from Bowling Green, and another had come by river from Louisville, down the Ohio and then up the Cumberland to Nashville.  Wood's division was enroute from Bowling Green to Nashville.  

The Confederate army in front of Buell had moved south, and there was uncertainty as to where they were; perhaps at Chattanooga or Decatur, AL. As it turned out, most of them moved more toward Decatur, so they could move either east or west depending on where the Union army chose to advance.

Further west, another Confederate army had been at Columbus, KY for several months, but needed to retreat south due to the losses of the forts on the Cumberland and the Tennessee.  These began to fall back on March 2nd.  Union General John Pope had a force at New Madrid, MO, and was preparing to attack there.

The Union army under General Grant was slowly being rerouted from the Cumberland River (at Fort Donelson and Clarksville TN) back downriver, and then up the Tennessee River.  The intent was to cut off navigation on the Tennessee and to break the railroad from Memphis; this was the main railroad in the north of the Confederacy and ran from Memphis through Chattanooga, and then all the way to Virginia.

 More Information:

•   Link: War Operation, see Volume VII, Chapter 17, pp. 671-679
•  The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. pp. 59-60

  

NEXT POST: MARCH 6TH