Deployments - World War II

This Chapter is still under contruction
The history of how the United States became involved in World War Two varies greatly - depending on who's relating the story. On one extreme some assert the United States was totally isolationist, with every intention of staying out of the war in Europe, and relying totally on diplomacy to solve differences with Japan. On the other extreme - some paint Roosevelt and his cohorts as "itching" to get us into the war, attempting to do more than was "authorized" by congress and doing much behind everyone's back to help our European Allies; and impede Japan's agression in Asia and the Western Pacific. The truth, of course, lies somewhere in the middle. England had tried diplomacy with Hitler (Chamberlain) and had seen those efforts fail with disasterous results. In spite of the United States trying to restrain Japan through diplomacy (enforced by an embargo and blockades) Japan merely used the time those "discussions" took to prepare for an attack on the United States itself. Finding itself between two powerful - in fact through most of 1941 unstoppable forces - the United States military realized there was soon to come a time when the United States would have to meet the agression head on - or allow it to build momentum to the point that it might not be stoppable before it ran over the United States itself. With this in mind - much of 1941 was spent in placing existing assets in defensive positions- while new assets were being developed and put into production - just in case. Unfortunately - much of the existing assets were woefully inadequate, most being obsolete, and worse - in gross disrepair. This included the United States Submarine Force. A tragic example is the Submarine O-9. O-9 was built in 1917 - and served for several years - finally being decommissioned in 1931. In April 1941 O-9 (as well as several sister boats) were recalled, underwent extensive repairs - and was put back into service as a training ship. In June, 1941 she and two other O class boats were undergoing deep water dive testing off Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Her two sister boats completed their test dives and at 0837 O-9 commenced her dive. She was never seen again (at least not until 1997) the cost was the lives of all 33 souls on board. History reflects that most in the United States government and military had realized by mid 1941 that war was inevitable, it became a matter of time - time to prepare - vs. the building strength of the threat. By December 7th - the United States had Submarine Tenders deployed:
  • USS Griffin - Newfoundland
  • USS Holland - Cavite
  • USS Canopus - Cavite
  • USS Beaver - New London
  • USSPelias - Pearl Harbor
  • USS Anteus - St. Thomas
  • USS Otus - Marivels Bay
  • USS Ortolan - west coast (cruising the California coast)
In addition -
  • USS Fulton - Operating around San Francisco on Sea Trials
  • USS Seagul - Pearl Harbor - Pressed into service as a tender after the Japanese attack.
  • USS Pigeon - Cavite - Pressed into service as tender after the Japanese attack.
As soon as orders could be issued - (before the end of December):
  • USS Griffin ordered from New Foundland to Newport
  • USS Holland was first ordered from Cavite to Balikpapan, Borneo, then on to Soerabaja, Java.
  • USS Canopus ordered from Cavite to Marivels Bay
  • USS Otus ordered from Marivels Bay to Port Darwin

I

Go Back to Deployments - Mare Island Continue on to Deployments - Guam
Return to TenderTale Main Page

© 2006 Common Cents Computers