Status - John Skinner - USS Fullam:
John had by now made his way to the Boston area, to pick up his new destroyer, the USS Fullam. Fullam was a Fletcher-class destroyer that had been launched in April, and was being outfitted as it approached its commissioning in March of 1943. Here are some pages about launching and commissioning ships:
In this article - The Boston Navy Yard during World War II - is the history of the Charlestown Navy Yard and the ships that were built there. There are two pictures of John's old ship (O'Brien, DD-415) in different stages of construction.
John would have reported to the ship and had duties involved in fitting out, provisioning and conducting preliminary sea trials. As the ship was mostly in port during the weeks before commissioning, there would also have been time for shore leave.
Boston had been under blackout for several months, but the USO had many events nearby at the Charlestown YMCA (see last blog entry), so the sailors had some things to do when they could get off the ship and into town.
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More Information:
- Official Navy Chronology, pp. 286-287.
- The Darkest Year, The American Home Front, 1941-1942, William K. Klingaman
NEXT POST: DECEMBER 27TH
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