I know we have a lot of history buffs here, so i wanted to throw this out… I have some pages of a diary kept by my dad while he was on the USS Rapidan during WWII. Id like to share it with those interested. This is all I have for now and i dont know the exact dates of this particular range of pages. He was aboard end of '41 until March '43. I could most likely chase down ship logs and time with his entry of the stateside voyage. He also spent time in N Africa if memory serves me. Anhow, ive made a link and will keep it up until the end of the month so that it can be downloaded. If for some reason it doesnt work please let me know as im not always the best at web stuff…
I hope you enjoy it as much as i have found it interesting looking at the different ships mentioned and anything else i can find. For instance, mentioned is a Captn. Arnold… Maybe Captn. Arnold J Isbell whom i found listed in wikipedia??? Also, some visits by other big wigs for inspections… Anyhow, 1st hand accounts are always interesting.
William
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JGhKJCikeMLOAjE_CaKKHClmi_Aq7R5T/view?usp=sharing
Stricltly for personal use ONLY. PLEASE. Thanks
Thank you for posting this. I also have a personal diary of my dad’s but it is literally hard to read because of his handwriting. He had a unique style!
Yep - now i know where my chicken scratch comes from… Some of the locations may be mispelt but for the life of me i cant find some of them. Also, for instance, on july 4th he mentions going to Camp Selby. But i can only find that camp in MS. I think i also found a location in Scotland cant remember. But found no info for a camp / base there…
That is a very interesting document. Your father wrote quite well.
I’m on about page 5; a lot of information.
USS Babbitt DD-128 was a Wickes class destroyer, a “four piper”.
USCGC Bibb WGC-31 was a Treasury class Coast Guard Cutter. She was far and away the most modern of the three, laid down in 1935.
Babbitt in particular, Bibb and I gather Rapidan were convoy escorts, Babbitt in fact while the US was still neutral. Babbitt had the Newfoundland- Iceland leg.
Poker game, that’s a good one too.
Bill
Bibb and Babbitt were together in July 1942 with Convoy ON-110. That was a convoy returning in ballast from Britain. OB Convoys were “Outbound Britain”. ON Convoys were “Outbound North America”.
Bill
I love this! Ive been trying to date this - so now i know, 1942. If i were a better detective i could have gleened that from the July 3rd party info mentioned… As he was onboard from Dec 41 to Mar 43. Which leads me to another mystery - i have a photo of my dad in a chicago whitesox uniform with it looks to be Ted Lyons and some other ranking navy guys. I have been trying to figure out where and who but have no date or place. I do have an article of a war benefit game july 3 or 4, 1942. But ii guess i can rule that out now as it seems he was on duty on the Rapidan as per the diary…
Oh My !
Thank you for sharing that. I wish My relatives were able to do that. All their info was passed orally.
Wow I already have pages of notes. Every day something new.
July 4th- “… then out to N.O.B. where they were were opening their new club and welcoming Adm. Berry who got in on the Polaris two days ago. We were hoping he’d get rid of Capt. Alexanderson and straighten this place out”.
NOB- Naval Operations Base (Iceland).
Admiral Donald Beary was Commandant of Naval Operations Base Iceland beginning in June 1942. He was a major figure in the development of Unrep (underway replentishment) which this diary is concerned with, although Rapidan seems to have been more of a floating gas station.
USS Polaris AF-11 was a C2 freighter that made trips between Iceland and the US from June 1942 to February 1943.
Captain Leroy Alexanderson was a senior officer of the USS Melville AD-2, a destroyer tender that at the time was based in Hvalfjorjour, Iceland and tended convoy escorts in the Atlantic. It’s not clear to me whether he was still on the ship, had some role in NOB Command, or other positions. He ended his career as Commodore of the United States Line and was last Captain of the SS United States.
Most all of this is just Wiki grabs unless noted otherwise.
The author was most definitely in Iceland when the diary was written, probably in Reykjavik.
July 8- “The Washington, four cruisers and a bunch of cans stood in early this morning”.
That was PQ-17 OB, where 25 or so of 35 ships were lost while BB Washington and various cruisers were off to intercept Tirpitz. This will take a lot of connecting the dots.
Two of the four cruisers must have been Tuscaloosa and Witchita, she we have discussed.
The bunch of cans, probably never chase those down.
Our diarist reports that a “Russian sub put two fish in the Tirpitz.” That did not happen.
Incredible stuff.
Bill
You have presented the world with a very interesting artifact of information. Written accounts of daily shipboard life during the war seem to be rare. I have read about the reason James Fahey’s “Pacific War Diary” is so popular was because it was against strict regulation to keep a diary on ship. Your father has a lot of detailed information he wrote down that may have gotten him in a lot of trouble. I too have been re-reading this diary to pick out the historical details.
That is a priceless treasure, William! Thanks for sharing it with us.
Have you considered finding someone, an author, who might help publish it? Or beyond that, making it available to a museum, or the Navy’s Historical section?
Brad your suggestion is a good one…but, speaking from personal experience William be sure to clear that with your siblings.
Bill