Wartime Sea Stories

<p>Little-known are the ships that repaired cruisers with bows blown off carriers with gaping bomb holes on deck many at sea: This is their story.</p><p>The author was born is St. Louis Missouri in 1923 to World War I Navy veterans a Chief Electricians Mate and a Navy nurse. He joined the Navy on December 9 1941. </p><p> He graduated from signal school at Pearl Harbor and was assigned to Admiral Nimitz's flag ship the <I>USS West Virginia</I>. He transferred to the <I>USS Vestal</I> in August 1942 and served on that ship until November 1943.</p><p>He was assigned to the <I>USS Silverbell</I> a net tender. Though an auxiliary vessel the <I>Silverbell</I> saw four months of bombing and kamikaze attacks at Leyte Gulf. The small ship was also endangered by three typhoons. His tour of duty on the <I>Silverbell</I> lasted until January 1946. He also served three months on the <I> USS Trego</I>. His last ship was the <I>USS Norton Sound</I> spending three months in the Arctic.</p>