USS Pensacola
My grandfather, who is still alive today, joined the United States Navy in 1944, as a young man. He went through basic training at Great Lakes Training Base. After his graduation from basic training, he was sent to the South Pacific for duty. His first assignment was in the Admiralty Islands on a floating dry dock. After a short tour there, he was sent to the Philippine Islands where he was assigned duty with the Naval Supply Depot and the 24th Seabees. His job there was to oversee the establishment of a supply depot for supplying the 5th and 7th fleet. My grandfather oversaw the unloading of the many incoming cargo ships that were carrying war supplies and much more. The location of this supply depot was in a hot zone that took on fire many times each and every day. It was mostly sniper fire. According to my grandfather, the snipers were not very good. They scored very few actual hits. They were taken out by United States forces. The sailors would typically take cover until the fire stopped, and then resume working. My grandfather spent slightly more than one year in the Philippine Islands. Once the war was declared to be over, and the smoke had cleared from the two atomic bombs that were dropped on Nagasaki and Hir
In the bay, there was a sixty four ship fleet consisting of aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and many other service vessels. The sailors were certain that they were about to encounter something significant, but none of them knew just what it was. Once all of the vessels were out to sea, the sailors were told that they were on a "top secret" mission, and would be given the details of the mission when the time was right. The top three decks were sandwiched together so closely that the men had to crawl on hands and knees in radioactive water to inspect the hull and bulkheads. It was meant to deceive them into thinking that the United States Navy had more ships that they really did. oshima, he transferred back to the 7th fleet. All of the soldiers were arriving in Oakland, California for their disbursement and leave. This heavy cruiser was built at the Navy Yard, New York, at a cost of $11,100,000. It was dropped from the fantail of a special vessel and would detonate after it was deep in the water. The USS Pensacola is now at the bottom of the Siberian Straight in water six miles deep. According to my grandfather, everyone was very curious as to the cancellation. At this point, none of the sailors were being told what was going on. The United States Navy wanted to know what kind of damage, if any, would be done to an entire fleet of ships. My grandfather was assigned back to the USS Pensacola as the head of the supply station. It was the job of the nine men, including my grandfather, to try and save the ship.
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Acceptance Essays
