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    Battleship Sailor
    Battleship Sailor
    Battleship Sailor
    Ebook441 pages7 hours

    Battleship Sailor

    By Theodore C. Mason

    4/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Vigorous and highly readable, this portrait of the enlisted man's life aboard the U.S. battleship California depicts the devastation at Pearl Harbor from the hazardous vantage point of the open "birdbath" atop the mainmast.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaval Institute Press
    Release dateJan 15, 2013
    ISBN9781612511566
    Battleship Sailor

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    4/5

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    • 5/5
      The author, at age 19, volunteered to serve a year on active duty with the Navy. He did his boot at San Diego and finished it to be Radioman 3rd--quite a different result than most who went through boot, but it was because of the time he spent in the reserves beforehand. He selected the battleship California as his first duty--and got it. He was taken to Hawaii where the California was and his account of his time on the California is told with some verve, even at times waxing poetic--though the book was written 40 years after the events described. But the author did careful preparation for writing the book, and it seems authentic. The account does not glamorize the activity of sailors on liberty, and for me brought back meories of those times in my own life, though I was not as 'into' typical Navy liberties as was the author. The culmination of the book is the account of the author's December 7, 1941, experience--very well told and shudderingly vivid. I do wish he had told of his life thereafter, but I see he in 1997 published a book on that and I was impressed enough by this book that I want to read the next one: Rendezvlous with Destiny: A Sailor's War.
    • 5/5
      Mason was a product of the depression. An honor student at his high school, no one in his small high school was offered any kind of scholarship, so the future looked bleak, pumping gas, or driving for a local physician. His girl had just dumped him for someone else, so he was susceptible to the entreaties of the local Navy recruiter and enlisted for a one year tour of duty as a radioman. This was in
      mid-1940. Despite constant warnings of war, the press and those seemingly in the know were sure the "slant-eyed Japs" would be quickly
      overcome; after all, there was no way they could construct any kind of weaponry that could challenge the mighty United States Navy.
      Clearly, Mason was not impressed with the level of preparedness, or lack thereof, of his battleship. They seemed to spend more time working
      on spit and polish to keep the brass happy than in drill, and comments made by a British sailor from the warship Warsprit which docked
      along side of them briefly on its way to being repaired at Mare Island, did nothing to assuage his concern. The Brit, after being shown around
      the California, Mason's ship was dismayed at the inadequacy of the anti-aircraft guns. He thought they were short half the number they
      should have, much to the surprise of Mason who thought the California fairly bristled with antiaircraft capability.

      Late that summer, he was given a promotion and new duties that probably saved his life. He was moved to the maintop, on the mast high
      above the decks, to act as relay for information from the spotter planes who would radio back how accurate the gunners were in hitting their targets. Most of the radiomen were sealed (quite literally) in the radio room and most died during the bombing. He escaped by not being there, but at his assigned post high above the decks. It was an interesting duty, although watching the huge shells leave the barrels of the guns could inspire awe. As flames licked high above the turrets,
      the shells raced toward their targets at 2500 mph sounding like closely-passing freight trains, the ship being pushed sideways in the
      water from the recoil. It inspired thoughts of Armageddon.

      Mason was on the California during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was sent to his station at the maintop to be able to handle radio messages.
      It was an order that saved his life. Forced to abandon ship three times — he had been sent back after each command to leave, in order to work some of the radios — he finally had to leave permanently when the battleship was close to capsizing. Most of his friends were killed. Given that several of his shipmates had been in the brig for failure to maintain a watch or being late for duty, he justifiably wondered what
      the punishment might be for the admirals and captains, if not the president, for their failure to maintain a good watch and prevent the destruction of most of the fleet.

      Mason is a literate, very interesting writer, who provides fascinating insights into the daily grind of a sailor during perilous times.

    Book preview

    Battleship Sailor - Theodore C. Mason

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