One Of The Other Ships Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 The USS Vestal, AR-14 INTRODUCTION: In February 1939 19 year old Bob Vestal bade farewell to the drudgery of working on the Illinois farm. His first stop was the Great Lakes Naval Training Center just north of Chicago. In February and March Great Lakes is usually covered with snow with icy winds blasting off Lake Michigan. I speak with experience on that subject. But that didn't cool Bob Meredith's pleasure of a good warm bed in a warm barracks and three warm meals a day. And, after all, he no longer had to tend livestock, turkeys, and chickens. He liked boot camp. Upon completing boot camp Meredith and several mates were assigned to a ship. The five-day train trip to Mare Island, California, was interesting and comfortable ... and the food was good. Yes, indeed, this navy life was pretty darned good. In a few days the boot camp buddies became real shopmates aboard an auxillary repair ship, the USS Vestal (AR-14). In 1940 the Vestal was sent to Pearl Harbor for a supposed two year assignment repairing ships of the Pacific Fleet. Meredith was assigned to the carpenter shop and honed his skills as a carpenter. It was a good life, an interestig life. It would become even more interesting the following year. The Vestal's duty lasted much longer than expected and involved more than anyone could imagine. ************************************************************************************************* Saturday, December 6, 1941. About 10 am Commander Cassin B. "Ted" Young edged his repair ship, the USS VestaL, alongside the mighty battleship USS Arizona. Primarily designed to repair cruisers, Vestal and her crew could do practically anything for any ship except to build one from scratch. She had a peacetime complement of a little more than 600. Her short, well-built skipper came aboard the Arizona to pay his respects to Rear Admiral Isaac Campbell Kidd, the First Battleship Division Commander and the Arizona's skipper, Captain Franklin Van Valkenburg, while Ensign B. C. Hisser conferred with the Arizona's chief engineer about the work to start Monday. Sunday, December 7, 1941. As the clock ticked toward 0755, all over the harbor men were going to their stations. On the bridge of the Vestal signalman Adolph Zlabis was ready to hoist the prep flag. He noticed planes approaching from more than one direction. The men who noticed them were puzzled. Frank Satock and one of his shipmates hasd taken the church launch to attend services ashore aqnd were moving across the channel into the Southeast Loch, that long, narrow strip of waterpointing directly at the battleships. On the right they passed the cruisers; on the left were submarines. As they reached Merry's Point Landing at the end of the loch, six or eight torpedo planes flew in low from the east, about 50 feet above the water heading down the loch toward battleship row. {See map of Pearl Harbor and the configuration of anchored ships at the time of attack.] href=images/Map_Pearl-Harbor.jpg Vestal's officer of the deck that morning was CWO Fred HHall, who the previous night had predicted a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He recognized the red circle under the bombers' wings and ordered, "Sound General Quarters!" But the quartermaster was so stunned that he just stood and stared at H?all as ifd he had lost his mind. "Goddamn it, I said sound Genearl Quarters! Those are Jap planes!" Hall sounded the alarm himself at 0755. Although only lightly armed, the Vestal began firing at 0805. A bomb struck her at frame 110 port side snd a second bomb hit at frame 44 starboard side. Each bomb killed one man and wounded several others. Both bombs were likely meant for the Arizona. The Vestal was outboard of the Arizona but didn't offer much protection as torpedos swept right under the Vestal in in the words of Chief Boilermaker John Crawford, blew the bottom out of the Arizona. One bomb went through an open hatch, tore right through the shoip exploding as it passed out the bottom. It flooded the No. 3 hold, and the ship began settling at the stern. A prisoner in the brig howledv to be let out, and finally someone shot off the lock with a .45. A huge blast on the Arizona blew dozens of men off the Nevada and other ships. Russel Lott wraped himself in a blanket and stumbled out a mangleded door. The blanket kept him from getting scorched, but the deck was so hot he had to keep hopping from one foot to another. Five shipmates staggered up thru the smoke so he stretched the blanket as a sort of shield for them all. Then he saw the Vestal still alongside. The explosion had left her decks a shambles, but he found someone who tossed over a line, and one by one all six men inched over to the Vestal. At that very moment they were lucky to find anyone on the Vestal. The blasts had blown some of the crew overboard, including the skipper, Commander Young, and the executive officer had told the remaining crew to abandon ship. Saeaman Thomas Garzione climbed down a line over the forecastle, came to the end of it, and found himself standing on the anchor. He froze there, a non-swimmer too scared to jump into the water. Finally he worked up enough nerve and holding his nose jumped into the oily water and made speedy time in reaching a whaleboat drifting in the debris. Signalman Adolph Zlabis dived off the bridge and reached a launch nearby. He and others yelled encouragement to a young sailor who had climbed out on the Vestal's boat boom and was dangling from a rope ladder. Finally he let go and landed in the water with a loud whack. The men in the launch couldn't help laughing as they pulled him into the boat. Radioman John Murphy watched a line of men pass his room on their way to abandon ship. One of the other radiomen saw his brother pass by and shouted, "I'm going with him," and ran out the door. For no particular reason Murphy decided to stay but began to feel that he would like to get back home just once more before he died. Strangely enough, the explosions that destroyed the Arizona saved the Vestal. The concussion put out the fires on the Vestal as though a giant candle snuffer had been clapped over here. It also sent tons of debris down on her decks ... parts of the ships, legs, arms, heads ... all sorts of bodies, even living men. The explosion flung about a hundred men from the Vestal overboard including the skipper, Commander Young. While some of the Vestal's crewmen were fishing survivors from the Vestal and the Arizona out of the oily, wreckage-strewn water, each survivor received a shot of morphine. It was about this time that someone ordered "Abandon Ship." As some of the crew started to leave, a figure like some strange sea creature climbed out of the harbor, dripping with oily sea water, yelled at the officer of the deck, "Where the hell do you think you're going? Get back aboard this ship. We're not giving up this ship yet!" It was Commander Young. With that, the remaining crewmen returned to their stations. Commander Young gave orders to cast off, but the Vestal was still tied to the Arizona. There was confusion as one officer on the Arizona yelled, "Don't cut those lines!" But others on the battleship pitched in and helped cut the lines to free the Vestal. Aviation mechanic Turkey Graham slashed the last line with an ax, shouting, "Get away from here while you can." At 0845 all lines were cut, and Vestal got underway on both engines but with little effective steering. She began to list starboard and take water aft with both the shipfitter and blacksmith shops flooding. Help came from an unexpected source. A Navy tug was nearby, whose skipper and chief engineer had both served many years on the Vestal. They eased their tug alongside, took a line from the bow, and towed their old ship off to Aiea landing where she settled on a bed of coral. There she remained until repairs put her back in action. In addition to repairing their own ship, Vestal's ecpert craftsmen were busy for months performing salvage and repairs at Pearl Harbor. Vestal's casualities were officially listed as: 9 dead (3 unidentified) 7 missing 19 hospitalized Commander Young was later promoteed to captain and given command of the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco. On the night of November 12-13, 1942, during the Battle of Guadalcanal, Captain Young died amidst shellfire from three Japanese warships. For his gallantry at Pearl Harbor and Guadalcanal he wasw posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. In 1943 a new destroyer, the USS Cassin Young (DD793) was commissioned in his honor. Now I am honored and pleased to present an account of that December 7 from a crewman of the USS Vestal, Chief Carpenters Mate Robert F. Meredith. [apparently an 11 min 33 second audio was played here.] Although heavily damaged herself, Vestal participated in salvage operations sending repair and rescue partries to the battleship US Oklahoma (BB-37) so welders could cut into the ship and rescue men trapped there when she capsized. Over the ensuing days Vestal's men repaired their own ship while assisting others. After repairs and alterations at Pearl Harbor, Vestal received orders on August 12, 1942, to proceed to the South Pacific. We do not have time to go into great detail in this short time, but let me give you a capsule of what this little repair ship accomplished in the days ahead. *During 60 days at Tongatabu she completed 963 repair jobs for some 58 ships and four shore activities. *Following the Battle of Santa Cruz the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVA-6) suffered major damage when a 30 by 60 foot section of the flight deck buckled and was unable to land planes; There was also damage to the elevator machinery room and bulkheads. Ordered to sea despite this condition, the Enterprise took a repair party from Vestal who worked to repair the big carrier until 2 hours before going back into battle. *At Noumea, Vestal completed 158 jobs on 21 ships. During the next 12 months Vestal tackled some 5,603 jobs on 279 ships and 243 shore facilities. *During November 1943 Vestal completed 604 major repair jobs for 77 ships and 8 shore facilities. *She then returned to the United States for major alterations of her own. *Returning to action at Ulithi in October 1944 Vestal completed 2,195 jobs for 149 ships including 14 battleships, 5 cruisers, 9 carriers, 5 destroyers, 35 tankers, and other naval and merchant ships. *She participated in the invasion of Okinawa in April 1945. During that time she went to general quarters 59 times as Japanese planes made numerous suicide attacks. *It seems surprising to me that with all her service Vestal rewceived only two battle stars for her Wo9rld War II service. Still operating in the South Pacifiuc following the war Vestal experienced two typhoons in the Okinawa area and rescued survivors from a ship that had been sunk by the typhoon. Then she turned to the task of repairing ships battered by the typhoon. Subsequently Vestal participated in the occupation of Japan and China, then sailed back to the United States. She was decommissionjed August 14, 1946, struck from the Navy list on Septewmber 25, lay inactive for over two years before stripping began May 20, 1949, and was sold on July 28, 1950 to the Boston Metals Company of Baltimore for scrap. An unglamorous, little known ship and a crew that proved to be very important in keeping United States warships ready for action. The USS Vestal AR-14.