DEDICATION
(aircraft
idle)
To preserve the history of many WWII Military related associations, or organizations, there have been physical monuments established in the form of parks, buildings, statues, and in the case of the Navy the ships themselves. CVE-21 was sunk and lies on the Atlantic Ocean floor and CVE 106 was salvaged for the scrap steel she was made of and as such the physical monument does not exist. This Website is the "monument" of historical recognition for the USS BLOCK ISLAND ASSOCIATION and is dedicated to the many sailors, aircrews, and pilots who served aboard the Aircraft Carrier, Block Island (CVE 21), which was sunk by German submarine U-549 on May 29, 1944, and to the sailors who served on the escort ships that served with CVE 21, and to the many sailors, marines and aircrews who served on the Aircraft Carrier Block Island (CVE 106) from 1944 until CVE 106 was decommissioned from active service with the US Navy. Serving aboard CVE 21 Navy Air Squadrons were VC 25, VC 55 and VC 58 and the support ships Destroyer Escorts USS Ahrens, USS Barr, USS Paine, USS Elmore, USS Buckley, USS Bulmer, and the USS Croatan. Along with the ships crew of CVE 106 was Marine Air Squadrons CVS 511, CVS (VMTB) 233, MCAS D-1. and the commanders and men of the U.S.S. Kretchmer and U.S.S. Gary, two destroyer escorts, as well as the destroyers (escorts) Finch and Brister and the escort carrier USS Santee CVE 29 that rescued the POWs from the Japanese on Formosa. Note: The blue color represents involvement in the sinking of CVE 21 by German Submarine.
The Destroyer Escorts Ahrens, Paine, Elmore and Barr made up a task force with CVE 21 as a Hunter/Killer group searching out German submarines in the Atlantic Ocean that were wreaking havoc with the allied shipping heading to and from Europe and North Africa. While CVE 106 also served with many task forces in the Pacific Ocean which included many ships, and in fact served as the command ship of a major aircraft carrier task force, the association with these four Destroyer Escorts Crews was more dramatic in that they played the major part in actually saving the surviving crew members of CVE 21 when it was sunk. Evidently the USS Barr took a torpedo that was directed at CVE 21 and the USS Elmore was given credit for the sinking of the submarine that sank the carrier. The Elmore took the Barr in tow and the Ahrens and Paine took on the task of picking up the carrier's crew members who were floundering in the cold waters. These four ships also returned the surviving crew members to Casablanca, NA, which made it possible for the crew of the CVE 21 to become the crew members of CVE 106. Without this endeavor the historic actions taken by CVE 106 would not exist in U. S. Naval History. The bond between human beings is much greater when this association involves the life and death factors. A five ship task force sailing alone in the vast Atlantic Ocean is like living in a city with 1000 people while a task force of many ships is like living in a community with 150,000 people….
In all war operations there are "miracles" that take place that are almost impossible to explain. CVE 21 even represents what could be noted as one of the major miracles that took place in WWII. Anyone not involved in this miracle would have to understand the full circumstances that existed. First of all it must be recognized that the complete hull of CVE 21 was actually a Class C-3 tanker hull designed to maintain balance of the liquid motion of fuel (oil and gasoline) as the ships passes through all the rough motions of the seas no matter how severe those wave actions may be. Those original hulls were designed to withstand as much as a 40 degree list which required the entire hull to be "compartmentalized" to override the internal motion of the liquid fuel weighing as much as 10 pounds per gallon, or 120,000 barrels at 55 gallons per barrel, and you have over 15 thousand tons of liquid weight to contend with the "sloshing around" . This type of construction then requires that these openings be strong and supported by a lateral support forming an elongated circle opening, The opening then becomes about 5 feet high and 2 feet wide. Those opening then exist from the aft end of the ship all the way to the bow. Between decks then there are hatches that can be closed down to separate the deck. These openings, in the case of a carrier, then become compartments of open spaces where the fuel normally was housed. Several compartments are left intact to provide for the fuel storage the carrier will need as well as the escort ships. Others are left intact for ammunition, bombs, torpedoes and depth charge storage and they become what are called magazines.
What this configuration makes is four or five sealed decks and many open spaces that are used for quarters, storage, machinery and equipment housing. Going up and down between decks requires the opening and closing of hatches, however going forward and aft the opening are in the spaces that were intended to let the liquids move freely and they then become passage ways for operating the carrier.
Now take the case of a carrier such as the jeep carriers Kaiser, and the fleet carriers built, those hulls were designed for carriers from the keel up with operational needs in mind. That was the case of the new CVE 106. It was designed as a carrier from top to bottom and forward to aft.
Take that ship that was actually designed as a tanker, convert it to a small carrier, stick 900 sailors and officers, 60 pilots and aircrew men, and 20 to 25 airplanes call it a jeep carrier and put it out to sea to search and destroy submarines and later , in the case of the second carrier CVE 106, as actually attack carriers. Give that little jeep carrier 4 destroyer escorts that are manned by about 130 men each and stick them out in the big Atlantic Ocean to seek out and destroy submarines.
With the facts in mind and to better understand the circumstances you need to recognize that the "designed from top to bottom" carriers that were sunk or badly damaged lost hundreds of their crew members and were in task forces that had many ships available to rescue or assist in the case of a sinking. Not so with CVE 21 the first USS Block Island.
First of all these five "little" ships are in a lone task force that is operating thousands of miles away from the other ships seeking out enemy submarines in the normal April-May conditions of the seas. Late on the evening of May 29, 1944 this task force came under attack from what was evidently one German Submarine and the carrier was hit by three torpedoes, one of the DEs Escorts was hit with a torpedo that tore off the entire rear section of the escort. The weather was so bad that the carrier only had four aircraft in the air searching. One torpedo exploded in a fuel storage compartment of the carrier, another hit the center of the ship below decks actually splitting the carrier with a 10 inch crack from the point of impact all the way up to the flight deck. The third torpedo blowing a hole in the hanger deck big enough for an airplane to fall down through three decks. All of this explosive action tore many of the life rafts to slivereens and damaged many of the kapok life jackets.
The escort DE that was hit was sinking for lack of forward motion and one of the other DEs had to take it in tow to keep it from sinking. Fifteen men were killed when that DE was hit with the torpedo and many more were injured. The other two DEs then start searching for survivors and taking them on board their ship. While this was taking place one of the escort ships picked up a contact with the submarine and both of the DEs had to break off picking up the survivors while underway and actually sunk the submarine with a loss of 35 German Sailors.
During the night the two DEs actually continued searching for survivors and by day break the next day those 4 little escort ships moved out of the area, two loaded down with survivors that had to be shifted around on their little ships to keep them from sinking and the third one still towing the damaged DE all the way back to the Docks at Casablanca, NA.
The carrier lost 6 crew members, 4 air crewmen and the one DE Escort lost 17 men. The then "War Department" could not believe what had taken place with so few causalities and deaths that a special enquiry board was formed and flown to Casablanca to confirm these figures. As is reported elsewhere in this Website that Board and the Pastor of a Church (in the hometown of one of the survivors) came to the final conclusion that in fact a "MIRACLE HAD TAKEN PLACE".
This Website is dedicated to the preservation of the history of all the personnel who served on, over, or alongside these two "Jeep Carriers" during WWII and the Korean conflict.
9/11/2001
Rededicated for this Generation
Remember
Pearl Harbor From
a generation that had “been there done that” who are now to old to take up
the plow shares but know that the good Lord will see them through this ordeal as
he did for us. Our sympathy goes out to the families who lost their loved ones
in the attack on our great Country. May the wind always be at your backs and
that you can steer a course that will bring an early end to this present
conflict. God Speed.
Our sons and daughters will have to take up the
standard on this one. Today the services reported that 9-15-01 was the largest
day for recruitment since Desert Storm. We all can remember the "Uncle Sam
Needs You" signs and how fathers and sons and brothers went to the
recruiting stations on December 9th, 1941. There is a great difference today
with this generation because our generation knew who we were fighting and this
generation does not have the liberty that we had. Our enemy was on a ship,
in a fox hole, in an airplane or tank or down in a cave and we knew that enemy.
Our sons and daughters can have all the modern weapons there are but will not
know where or what to shoot at. There are no borders lines to seek because they
are not going to war with a Country or a Nation they must seek out the
terrorists who are nomads hiding behind their misguided hate mongers. It
is again time for the sleeping giant to awake. They will do what has to
be done because they now understand that the freedom and the way of life that we
made for them did not just happen it was passed on to them by another
generation.
From the
USS
BLOCK ISLAND ASSOCIATION
All the men who
served on, over or in the company of CVE 21 (1943-1944) and CVE
106 (1944-1957)