21
Jan. 2004
Dear Dan,
Here they are. I see by careful comparison that I forgot to print a couple
pages of specs in the News, but they are all here for you. I
tightened up some of the specs on later pages to combine them, as Dair
Long's originals left two pages looking a bit sparse anyway.
On a final page, I added some gear (shown in Italics) that Major Donley
(our CO) had installed as extra gear he thought we might need in the
Aleutians. A catfall on the bow to whisk the 75-lb. Danforth aboard
instead of some poor deck ape having to lean over the side and manhandle
up on deck. Later, we added to the P-512 a skiff hoist on the port side
several forward of the stem after we got tired wrestling dories up on deck
by brute strength. Both items were 5 or 6-foot heavy pipe crooks that
stood in a deck socket that a welding shop cobbled up.
On the fly bridge, anyone stuck at the wheel in sloppy conditions at sea
didn't need to bathe for several days, I suppose. Enough water came over
the bow to drench him. Our fix for that was the back half of a plexi-glass
canopy from a P-38. With the forward half-circle edge screwed to the top
of the Venturi screen - a plywood surface there - we had a transparent
vertical wind screen tall enough shelter even ":Shorty" Turner who was
about 6' -5." Whether the electric wire rope windlass in the forepeak was
standard issue, I do not remember. I do, however, remember being aboard
P-518 or 519 when the damn thing shorted out trying to hoist their 75-lb.
Danforth aboard from 12 or 15 fathoms. I got to help bring it up with
gloved hands all the way! I don't recall ours on 512 ever being
used.
These boats were double-planked - mahogany angle laid on the frames, then
a layer of heavy canvas saturated in glue, then longitudinally laid clear
cedar on the outside. The two layers were fastened every six inches with 1
and 1/4" Everdur screws. That's more screws than boatwright
can conveniently carry in both pockets!
Our trip from the builder's yard in Long Beach, CA, to Seattle took about
5 or six days - maybe even less, as we cruised at.23 knots and
refueled only three -
maybe four times. Nevertheless,
when we reached Seattle, most of the twinkly, yotty, deck cleats had come
out by the roots. So Olson and Winge Shipyard in the Lake Wash. Ship Canal
had a grand time fabricating anchor boxes from quarter-inch steel plate
that nested up against the deck where it joins the hull sides. Then
drilled down into them from above were holes to bolt businesslike 14- or
15-inch galvanized cleats that would have looked right at home on the deck
of a 90-foot seiner or crabber. Those REALLY held her all the way to Attu
and back. Never had to replace or repair one on any of the five boats to
my knowledge.
The other important addition not mentioned was an Army warehouse
gasoline-fired heater about the size of a concert baby upright. It could
put out an outrageous 23,000 BTU or thereabouts. It was bolted down just
behind the portside deckhouse where it connected to sheet metal ducting
than we ran thru the boat with side vents to spaces on the starboard side
(skipper's quarters, foc'sle, etc). We'd also installed plywood paneling
between the hull frames to create dead air space.
Then, in cold weather (after that first miserable winter unprepared) we
could go from near freezing below decks to panting, tropical, temperatures
that had us shucking our heavy clothes every twenty minutes or half-hour.
One needed only go on deck, kick the starter pedal, and off she went! I
even sewed a sea canvas sea cover tailored to fit. Our second winter was a
whole lot more comfortable, relatively speaking, than our first winter'
44-' 45.
At the builder's yard, Mike Hatton, our CWO skipper, refused the brass
builder's plate that affirmed the boat was built by Fellows and Stewart
for the U.S. Army. We'd just been transferred from the QM Corps as the
924th Boat Company (avn) to an Army Air Force squadron. Thus the new plate
announced that F & S built it for the USAAF. That satisfied Mike, and soon
after, that also appeared in thick cut plywood relief letters painted
white on both side of all five pilothouses. Looked pretty spiffy against
the drab gray plywood surface.
These boats had been designed and built for service in tropical climates,
or at least for more temperate climes than characterize the Bering Sea.
They had in each main berthing compartment a Toonerville-styled
Stewart-Warner gasoline fired heater sparked by
- yes, a spark plug
-- at the business end of a gasoline
supply line. Imagine piping avgas into the sleeping quarters! These weird
appliances lasted no more than a month or two when we reached cooler
weather in Alaska. It didn't take our engineers long to block off those
fuel lines and deactivate the heaters completely. Spare parts were
unavailable, even had we wanted them.
These all-electric boats had their problems keeping up with the demand for
more amps. We were originally equipped with little Kohler light plants,
about right for illuminating a barn in an emergency. Soon, it died in its
traces. But we did have two Chrysler Crowns,
six-cylinder auxiliary (cruising) engines. Supposedly, the boats could
cross an ocean, if 6 or 7 knots appeals. Well, only in dire emergency, is
my guess. But with a little field modification, they were allowed to turn
a belt-driven husky generator bolted to the ER deck right beside one. The
Crown not chosen at once, served as our spare parts source. The genset was
a husky 10 amp brute that could, if run almost continuously, keep our huge
24-volt radio battery bank charged, cook dinners on the stove, keep the
fridge cold, start the big Packard-built Rolls-Merlins every half hour or
hour, power the intercom, direction finders (two), and the interior and
exterior lights, ventilation system, and the fire suppression system if
necessary. It was a hard worker! But when the bridge ordered the big
carbon-arc searchlight lit while the radio operators were busy, things got
a little dicey.
Well, that's more than you wanted to know, I'm sure, and the paper's end
is in view, so I'll pack this in with the other pages and mail it in the
morning.
--Clark
(There's a certain feeling of elation while zipping over the sea surface
on a reasonably
calm day at 30 knots or more on the boat in which you live!)
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