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Subject: Ref: “Of Mice and Men”

Published: May 1996

By: B. Lyle Davis

 

Concerning the outcome of the flaw reported about #3 turret.  The turret top was never removed – if anything was done to correct the condition, it was only a temporary patch of some form.

 

In October of 1944, we had some new officers report for duty aboard the CL-42.  One of these young men was Ensign Ernest King, Jr*.   Shortly thereafter the Savannah was unofficially declared unfit for battle duty.  From then on our missions were confined to training new ship crews out of New London, Connecticut.  We did serve as an escort vessel to the USS Augusts that took President Roosevelt to Yalta.  Returning from that trip in late March of 1945, we then began conducting midshipmen’s cruises out of the Naval Academy.  This activity continued throughout the remainder of the year.  I left the ship the last week of October 1945 to be discharged.

 

Personally, I always suspected that mother was taking care of her offspring and was using her influence to minimize any risk to her son.

 

Incidentally, I thought Ensign King was a fine young man.  He was always willing to do his part in whatever was asked.  When he stood watch on the bridge, he would often comment to us that he wished his parents would just let go.  (Does that have a familiar ring?)

 

B. Lyle Davis

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*Note: Ensign King was the son of Ernest Joseph King, Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, and Chief of Naval Operations during WWII.