When I first realized that of twenty people in the deck force only three had appreciable sea experience, I wondered what would become of us. The decks were so vast, the gear so heavy, that it seemed we must be overwhelmed if we tried to handle her in a gale. As the days passed in […]

We had three trial runs for the old battleship in March of 1946 to get ready to deploy from Japan to the South Pacific. On our next trial, it was inevitable that we try the anchor we had just installed, since some of the associated gear was untested. Everything had gone well as we got […]

(Bow of IJN Nagato showing chocks and anchor chain just before the battle of Leyte Gulf, 1944. Photo USN). Browsing around the Navy Yard in Yokosuka looking for likely opportunities, one of our officers found an anchor stamped with the name “Nagato.” It was a huge thing, as befits a hook intended for a dreadnaught […]

So, as the mighty battleship rode at anchor outside the breakwater in the Sagami-wan, it is time to talk about how important the little man I first met in my impromptu tour of the battleship. I considered him an apparition of the ship, which clearly was haunted by the history of what she had done […]

Though I slept through few nights outside the breakwater, what with one thing or another carrying away by the rushing waves and low freeboard of the Battleship, there were not many. I remember vividly one of those interrupted nights. That night’s excitement was the visit of the liberty party from the General Buckner. There was […]

So there it was; the day of decision was at hand. Despite consultations with some former IJN officers, the test was going to be if we could actually raise steam and get the battleship underway. It was a great day when we did that, 11-14 April 1946. The crew of the Delta stood by her […]

Captain Whipple wisely decided not to try to remake his pirate crew all at once, but rather to develop the good qualities they already had along his own lines. He offered no illusory inducements nor did he apply abruptly the harsh break of punishment. The officers learned that though direct orders did not get results, […]

(‘Project B’ tests of aerial attacks against surface ships in 1921. Billy Mitchell had a point). The first proposal to test nuclear weapons against naval warships was made on August 16, 1945, the day after the announcement of Japan’s surrender. There was a lot going on, now that the need to continue the war for […]

(A colorized shot of IJN Nagato in her better days with a real crew and a war that was yet to be lost. Photo National Archives). Editor’s note: Early in my naval career I had the rare opportunity to serve in a World War Two warship. Commissioned in 1945 as a “CVB,” (aircraft carrier- armored) […]

My initial sight of the massive hill and pagoda of the ex-IJN Nagato had come after arriving at Yokosuka by sea-plane. My next sight of her came as an incident of a scheduled air-voyage to Hokkaido. We were weather bound a day in port, as nothing was flying to get us to the inspection sites […]