"Launching Liberty" by Doug Most (2025)

This is an outstanding book about the Liberty ships which were so important to winning the Second World War. This will become known as the definitive book on the subject. A cast of real life characters you'll never forget.

Henry Kaiser was a key player in taking the simple design plan proferred by the British government and turning it into reality.  Britain was losing more ships to the U-boats than she could build and turned to America to deliver 60 ships in 1941/42. Kaiser, known for such projects as 200 miles of highway in Cuba during the 1920's, and 3 major dams in the U.S. during the 1930's, delivered 200. By the 3rd year his partnership with Todd Shipyards and others on both our East and West Coasts, he was delivering 200 and finally a ship every 7 days. 

Working with President Roosevelt, Admiral Land and a host of others, they first had to build the shipyards to handle the job. He brought every project in under budget and ahead of schedule. He built cities to accommodate the workers, transforming the land in order to help win the war. 

Best anecdote in the book is when his mother asked him what he wanted for Christmas. He was 8 years old at the time and said he wanted a baby sister. It was already Thanksgiving and his mother told him there wasn't enough time between then and the holiday to do that. He told her that his dad always said, "You can do anything if you put enough men on the job...." And that is how he and others, too numerous to mention here, approached the task of building these ships which President Roosevelt called "the ugly ducklings." 

Two of these Liberty ships are still around and operational, including the S.S. John Brown, ported in Baltimore. My Dad went to Maritime High School aboard her when she was berthed in Manhattan just after the war. 

A fascinating story of resolve and determination, this book will keep you turning the pages, racing with the same rapidity as the men and women who built these ships.

The Laconia Sinking - 1942

 On 12 September 1942, 130 miles from Ascension Island, the British ship Laconia was hit by a torpedo from  German U-boat U-156. The ship was carrying 1,800 Italian POW's. In addition there were also 160 Polish guards who were tasked with the care of those prisoners. There were also 268 British Sailors, soldiers and nurses, the majority of whom were women. There were approximately 2,200 souls aboard her. 

The ship was a Cunard liner pressed into service for the war  She was hit by a second torpedo and sank.

The ship's Commander, Captain Sharp, ordered the women, children and injured into what was left of the lifeboats, most of which had been destroyed by the second torpedo. The Italian POW's were mostly killed, though a handful did survive, along with some of their Polish captors. The Italian survivors were denied entry into the lifeboats and some were even shot and bayoneted by the Polish guards. Only 415 of the 1,800 POW's survived. Most of the British and Polish survived.

The ship then sank and Captain Sharp, along with the remaining Italian prisoners were still aboard. Those who escaped were adrift in shark infested waters along with the few remaining lifeboats, which were all full of the women, children and injured. There was little hope of rescue. It was just 40 years after the loss of the Titanic.

Here is where the story takes an interesting turn. The U--boat Commander, Kapitanleutnant Werner Hartenstein, upon realizing that there were civilians, as well as POW's aboard the lifeboats, and some adrift in the water, ordered his U-boat to surface and commence rescue operations. In addition he sent for other U-boats to come and assist in this operation. 

Again, another tragic twist of fate ensued. The other U-boats who came to assist him all flew Red Cross flags as required, and even signalled that a rescue operation was underway. In spite of this, by the following morning, with rescue operations still ongoing, a USAAF B-24 Liberator sighted the U-boats and the survivors. 

In spite of the Red Cross flags and the non coded message concerning the rescue, even listing the coordinates of the U-boats, in violation of their orders to remain at radio silence to avoid detection, the B-24 attacked both the U-boats and the survivors of the Laconia. 

Hartenstein even radioed the plane to apprise Captain Richardson on the B-24 of the situation. His message was ignored and the attack continued.  Later, when Richardson said he never received the original communication from Ascension, this proved that he was not telling the truth and that there was no excuse for his actions, which forced the U-boats to submerge with their decks crowded with injured and other survivors, including the lifeboats being towed.

The result of this incident led to the Laconia Order by Admiral Donitz, which stated that hereafter his U-boat commanders were not to rescue survivors after attacks. 

Even with Vichy French ships subsequently rescuing 1,083 persons from the lifeboats and taking  aboard those picked up by the four submarines, only about 1,000  survived the sinking. The rest were lost. As a result of Captain Richardson, as many people died from the Laconia's sinking than were lost by the Titanic. In total, 98 crewmembers, 133 passengers, 33 Polish guards and about 1,400 Italian POW's perished. 

Of Titanic's total of 2,240 passengers and crew, only 706 passengers and crew survived. 1,500 were lost.

War is hell, and this incident highlights the savegry of both sides. It also highlights the assertion that in war, there are no real winners.

A Grand Central Spy Story

Grand Central Station in New York City is a city unto itself. It is larger than an aircraft carrier. It has its own system of electricity and steam to power itself with. But the most important generators of all were housed 10 stories below street level to save the cost of the land which would have been required. These dynamos are the ones which power all of New York’s vast subway system.

When World War Two rolled around this “cheap skate” move took on a new significance, as the Nazi’s did actually plot to destroy the dynamos, using of all things, sand! This short film tells the meat of the story in only a few minutes time. It’s worth watching. They actually landed in New York by U-boat and were caught just as they were about to execute their plan.

   

I was raised on stories of the blackouts in New York during the war years. My mother and father spoke often about the U-boats 10 miles off shore at Coney Island, and the oil slicks from sunken merchant vessels washing ashore at Atlantic City, New Jersey. 

Even the superintendent of our apartment building was an ex German POW. He had served out his time in the war working on a farm in North Carolina. After the war he sent for his wife; Katje; and they came to New York shortly after the war ended.

For more about this story see the following link. It was provided to me by an old shipmate who prefers to remain anonymous;

http://www.ba-bamail.com/Content.aspx?emailid=11228&memberid=817186#.U9grmc90wXh

The Big Gun - Rock Hill, S.C.

Sue and I have passed by an old abandoned American Legion Post in Rock Hill several times now. Each time we do I always mean to get out and have a closer look at the Vickers 6551-A anti-aircraft gun that sits outside of the old brick building. There are literally hundreds of such guns, cannons and the like displayed at the thousands of VFW’s and American Legions across the country. And I have always been fascinated with each and every one.

This one was most likely assembled from an original pre-war Vickers, and then outfitted with an automatic fuse igniter at a later date. The nameplates; or nomenclature; on the gun bear me out as far as the dates are concerned. The gun was manufactured in the opening years of the war, and then refitted in 1943. The latest plate affixed to the weapon bears the year 1943.

Most likely this gun came from duty on the Carolina coast after the War had ended. It probably did see some action, as the U-boats were only 10 miles off shore and sinking ships off Cape Hatteras on a regular basis at the time. These guns could fire at surface vessels as well as aircraft. 

When the war ended and the government found itself with a surfeit of weaponry, much of it found its way to the local VFW’s and Legion halls which dot the land. They make impressive markers. Actually, I would love to have this baby in the back yard. I know just where I’d put it, right off the brick patio on the lawn. Man, that would be something!

Here's picture of a fully manned and ready Vickers in the early days of World War Two;

And for more information about this weapon, which played such a large part in the war, go to;

http://www.wwiiequipment.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86:37q-anti-aircraft&catid=41:anti-aircraft&Itemid=58 

"New York at War" by Steven H. Jaffe (2012)

With the exception of the American Revolution, and later the Civil War Draft Riots, New York City has managed to escape the ravages of war. Yet, she has played a major part in every war since Henry Hudson first sailed up the Narrows and into the Hudson River in 1609. Author Steven Jaffe has done an admirable job of chronicling the history of war in the New York during the 4 centuries since then.

Beginning with Henry Hudson sending 5 men to explore the northern reaches of the lower Bay, during which sailor John Colman was killed by an arrow from one of the local Indian tribes, the book takes on the Indian Wars, before delving into the American Revolution. Washington’s retreat from Brooklyn, across Manhattan, is covered very well, as are the “hulks” in Wallabout Bay, the site of today’s Brooklyn Navy Yard. The “hulks” were the British prison ships, aboard which thousands perished from want of food, water, clothing and sheer cruelty on the part of the British.
 
The War of 1812 brought panic to the city, as it prepared for an invasion which never came. The forts which were built during this period made any thought of invading New York from the sea impossible 50 years later when the nation was torn by Civil War.

The Civil War seems almost lacking in the memories of New Yorkers, mainly because no battle was ever fought that far North. But the city teemed with danger during this period as Confederate sympathizers from Canada plotted to burn the city to the ground, destroying the manufacturing, and banking facilities, which enabled the North to cripple the South. That plot was unsuccessful, doing nowhere near the damage caused by the Draft Riots of 1863. Those riots were largely caused by the friction between freed African-Americans, and the newly arrived Irish, as they struggled for jobs. There was also an economic reason behind the riots. Poor white Irish citizens could not afford to pay a substitute to do their fighting, meaning that an unduly large number of the soldiers conscripted were Irish. These riots diverted thousands of troops from Gettysburg, and had the potential of causing the Union to lose the war.

The Spanish-American War was very much a "New York" war. Although there was no violence; or even riots; caused by the war, the war itself was largely the creation of New York newspapers and “yellow journalism.”

The First World War was a bit more complicated for the city. The warring powers were divided into 2 camps; the Allied Powers of England, France, Italy and Russia; and the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. With the city composed of so many different nationalities, loyalties ran the gamut. The impact of the outbreak of war in Europe was so great, that the stock market was closed for 4 months in fear of a financial panic.

The Irish did not support Britain, hoping that a German victory would give Ireland its freedom. The Jewish population was divided politically. They were hard pressed to back the Allies, who included Russia; and the Czar who caused them to flee their native land; while at the same time many saw the war as the best chance to defeat the Ottoman Empire, thus establishing a Zionist Holy land in Palestine.

Militarily, New York was technically invaded by the Germans, who used early submarines to mine the mouth of the harbor off Coney Island and Sandy Hook, New Jersey. They were also able to cut the underwater cable connecting New York to Nova Scotia, and thus to Europe. 15 ships were sunk by the German submarines within miles of the beaches at Atlantic City and Coney Island. These actions left New York in a state of panic. Milkmen of German descent were not allowed to work their routes along the coast, lest they use the opportunity to signal German ships and submarines waiting off shore.

Even before the United Staes entered the war, the war came to New York. At 2 AM on July 30, 1916, a huge explosion took place when German saboteurs blew up a munitions depot. The explosion was felt, and heard, as far away as Maryland.

By 1920 class warfare invaded Wall Street, largely the result of the inequities between the working class socialists and their capitalist counterparts. The bomb was set off in a wagon full of dynamite and detonated at lunch hour.

World War Two bought back the German U-Boats, which sank ships 10 miles off Brighton Beach. And, with the advent of long range bombing, the city was constantly in a state of blackout. This part of the book rang so true, as my mother had told me all the stories from the war years.

The Harlem riots of 1964; and the later Black Panther movement; when coupled with the Vietnam War protests, had the city  virtually under siege for another decade. Policemen were assassinated in the streets, and plans were made to blow up everything from the Police Station in Lower Manhattan, to all of the major department stores. The goal was to “bring Saigon home”, so that the American people would understand the atrocities of war.

Crime soared throughout the 1970’s and 80’s, fueled largely by the drug trade. But, the 1990’s saw a new kind of threat taking place, just as the city seemed to be revitalizing.  Terrorism began to rear its head with the first attempt to topple the World Trade Center. By 2001, that goal had been accomplished.

Steven Jaffe has done a superb job of laying bare the myth that New York City has always been spared the ravages of war. On the contrary, although bombs did not fall on New York, for every conflict in which she has participated, the city has paid a price. And, remarkably, the city has survived,  and is currently in a state of renaissance, with new buildings going up, while crime and violence are going down.  An engaging read by a veteran  author, this is a book which will educate even the most native of New Yorkers.  For more on Mr. Jaffe, and some of his other work, see his comments posted below.

"A Measureless Peril" by Richard Snow

This book kind of ties in with the last one. I read them concurrently and was surprised at how many of the principals of the Second World War had played a large part in the First World War.

After the stunning German Naval Victory at Jutland in 1916, the German Navy did very little. It remained bottled up and neglected, until the point where crews were staging mutinies to avoid going back to sea. As a common soldier, Hitler detested the Navy, and as a Submariner so did German Admiral Donetz. He considered the U-boats to be independent of the Navy. When Hitler made him Admiral,he concentrated on the U-boats to the exclusion of the surface ships.In doing so, he effectively cut the German supply line to the outside world. That they made this mistake two wars in a row, and only 20 years apart, by neglecting their navy is astonishing.

The book chronicles the war in the Atlantic from January 1942 through 1944. Much of the action takes place off Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York where I grew up. No doubt this added to the allure of the book for me. I grew up on stories of ships exploding within sight of the beach and the U-boats that sank them. These stories, no doubt, fueled my desire to go to sea later in life.

It is also the story of the 5 individual U-boats that were doing all this damage 5 miles from our shore. The deprivation, the close quarters, all are written of here in detail, but with a writer's flair for the colorful thrown in. In addition the author manages to encompass the oft untold tale of the more than 40,000 Merchant Mariners who gave their lives transporting the goods of war to the European theater of operations. Without them we could not have won the war.

At the same time, the author is able to give us the history of the Lend lease Act and tell us how President Roosevelt, on the advice of Admiral Stark, met with Churchill and worked it all out. We would begin supplying the British, reducing our status as a "neutral" nation. As a consequence of this, the Germans would henceforth start sinking American merchant vessels. The last one before Pearl Harbor was the Rubeun James, in November of 1941. Woody Guthrie, a merchant seaman himself, wrote the famous song about the sinking, titled "Sinking of the Ruben James."

As if all this is not enough, the book is also about the birth of the modern anti-submarine technology that helped America win the Cold War over 40 years later. New weapons and ships needed to be designed, and built quickly in order for us to not lose control of the Atlantic for the re-supply of our troops. To do so would have brought the war to our shores, with longstanding consequences.

As a former member of the US Navy, and as a licensed Merchant Mariner, I can heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in either the sea, or history. It is obvious that I enjoyed this book.

"The Hemingway Patrols" by Terry Mort

To begin with I have never been a fan of Ernest Hemingway. I have found that his books make excellent films, after being re-done as screenplays. "To Have and Have Not" is one example, as is "Farewell to Arms." Be that as it may, I have always been fascinated by the man and his self made legend.

In 1942 German U-boats were taking an awful toll on allied shipping. I grew up on tales of the wolf packs 10 miles off Coney Island and oil slicks from sunken vessels washing ashore. So it's no surprise that this book grabbed my attention.

Hemingway was a Veteran of the First World War, having served as an ambulance driver and later as the operator of a canteen in Italy. He was wounded when an Austrian shell exploded near his ambulance, which was loaded with chocolates and cigarettes for the troops. His right knee was shattered and the war was over for him. But he had tasted the adrenaline of battle and would never forget the rush it gave him.

The 1930's found him in Spain, fighting in the Spanish Civil War. By this time he had become a published author and "Farewell to Arms" was already established as a major motion picture. In 1936 he published what many consider to be his best work "For Whom the Bell Tolls." This book was a direct outcome of his experiences in Spain.

By the time World War Two erupted Hemingway was living in Cuba, just outside Havana, in his beloved home Finca Vigia. He was married to his third wife, Martha, and all seemed to be going well. Fishing daily in his beloved 38 foot boat Pilar seemed to be enough to occupy the mind of the great writer. But not for long.

By the early part of 1942, when the German Wolfpacks were wreaking havoc all around the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, Hemingway hatched his plan. He would take the wooden hulled Pilar out on "patrols" to hunt U-boats. This was like Don Quixote thrusting at windmills. Surely he could not be serious. But indeed he was.

Armed with Thompson submachine guns and handgrenades, along with a supply of bourbon, Hemingway made hundreds of these patrols. He was eagerly assisted by anyone who wished to accompany him on these trips. Everyone wanted a piece of this story!

With no sonar and radar still in it's infancy, eyes were the only real means available to detect submarines. As a matter of fact, all up and down the East Coast of the United States there were hundreds of fishing boats daily on the lookout for the submarines. Once sighted, the boats would call in the position of the U-boat and the Navy would send ships and planes to the area.

All this was risky business for these small craft. U-boats had a range of 8,400 miles on the surface at 16 knots. Below the surface they had only 20 hours of cruising time utilizing their batteries before needing to resurface and re-charge. By the time these U-boats had reached North America they were starved for food and vegetables. They were known to seize the cargo of many fishing boats and even freighters. The freighters were always sunk. Sometimes the fishing boats were sunk, other times they were merely relieved of their cargo.

Hemingways plan was to attempt an approach on one of these U-boats. He would then toss hand grenades into the conning tower while using the Thompsons to keep the subs crew from reaching the deck guns. Not a bad plan. The German conning towers were open from the rear, unlike the 360 degree protection on their American counterparts.

Mr. Mort delves deeply into the psychology of Mr. Hemingway and his plan to divine whether or not it was for real or just an act of false bravado.

Nevertheless, he has written an engaging book about one of America's most celebrated authors and his flamboyant, self styled attempt to hunt down, and perhaps capture, a German U-boat. That he never caught one does nothing to diminish the glory of his attempt to do so.

USS Mason - Fighting Three Wars

Most of America fought two different enemies in World War Two. That was hard enough. But the men of the USS Mason- DE 529, a Destroyer Escort, had the added burden of fighting a third enemy, Jim Crow.

At the outbreak of World War Two the Armed Forces were segregated, just like half the country was. This would not change until after the war was won, but during the war there were some courageous efforts on the part of some, to integrate America's fighting force. The story of the USS Mason is the story of one of those efforts.

Built in the Boston Navy Yard and launched in 1943, she was commissioned in March of 1944 under the command of Lt.Commander William Blackford, a white officer. He would command the Mason with a handful of white officers and an all black crew.

After a sucessful shakedown cruise off Bermuda in the spring of 1944 the Mason headed into action. They escorted a conoy from Charleston, SC to the Azores, arriving on July 6th. The ship then put into Belfast, Northern Ireland for Liberty ashore. The crew was astonished at how well they were received by the locals. Even in England they were denied access to many facilities, but the Irish, albeit neutral in the war, welcomed these men as "Yanks" rather than "Tan Yankees" as they were referred to by the British.

But her greatest story was yet to come. On September 19th, 1944 the USS Mason left New York City with Convoy NY 119. They were to protect her from the German U-boats which had been sinking ships as close as 10 miles off the coast of the United States.

This convoy was done during one of the worst months of severe weather that the North Atlantic would experience in the 2oth Century. In less than a month the weather had claimed 16 of the convoys vessels. The only way to prevent more loss was to send the smaller, faster ships ahead with an escort. The USS Mason was the ship chosen for this duty.

Attempting to lead the ships into Bishop Rock, England the ship was beaten by severe weather that actually split her deck and collapsed main beams. The Mason was a step away from sinking.

Calls for assisitance were ignored and the crew of the Mason were left to their own devices to stay afloat. And stay afloat she did. Within 2 hours the ship was repaired and leading the convoy safely into port. She then turned around again and returned to the remaining ships. The two British ships assigned to help in this endeavor turned back, leaving the Mason to struggle by herself to bring the convoy in. It would take three more days, and nights, in harrowing weather to accomplish this task.

The ship and it's crew were recommended for Unit and Individual Commendations for these efforts by their Captain, Lt. Commander Blackford, as well as Convoy Commander Alfred Lind. The crew would not learn of these nominations for almost 50 years, during research for the book "Proudly We Served."

As a result of the book the crew was awarded the Citations in 2003. Former President Bill Clinton would present the awards on the deck of the latest USS Mason in New York City.

A movie was made of this story with Ossie Davis as Singalman First Class Lorenzo DuFau. The movie was rivetting, especially the storm scenes. The story is told from Mr. DuFau's perspective when his grandkids wake him up late at night with some loud music. He tells them the story in a flashback that encompasses not only the story of the Mason, but of the segregated makeup of our nation, even as we were fighting to liberate the world at large.

The Mason story has been told in other books about the war, but never so vividly as in the book and movie. And for a real quick look at what these guys did you can drop in on them at their web site www.ussmason.org/

That this crew, made up of city kids and farm boys, some of whom had never seen an ocean, banded together in facing the Germans, as well as the forces of the sea, and won, make this one of the greater sea stories ever told. That they did it while under the thumb of Jim Crow is simply incredible.

Movie Review: "The Long Voyage Home" with Thomas Mitchell, Ward Bond and Barry Fitzgerald

This is simply one of the best screen adaptations of any of Eugene O'Neills' works.Director John Ford and screenwriter Dudley Nichols did the adaptation of the 4 separate one act plays that comprise this movie. The work is seamless.

Beginning with the varied nationalities of the crew O'Neill explores the relationships of men at sea. With a stellar cast of actors which includes Thomas Mitchell, Barry Fitzgerald, Ian Hunter, Ward Bond, Wilfrid Lawson, Arthur Shields and even John Wayne (who plays the entire role with a Swedish accent) Mr. O'Neill has given us a glimpse into the troubled lives of the men who sail on ships.

With his use of flawed characters he paints a wonderfully realistic portrait of life aboard a tramp steamer. Filmed in 1940 when U-boats were prowling the Atlantic to keep supplies from reaching Europe, this film captures all the darkness of the times in which it was filmed. It would be less than a year before the Rueben James was sunk off the East Coast of the United States by a German submarine.

From the over zealous camaraderie to the brawls and tradgedies, this film captures all the pathos of life at sea. Even now, with DVD's and cell phones and e-mails, life aboard a ship is a lonely affair. Tempers run high, words are said and instantly regretted, unfound suspicions abound. That is the life of a ships crew.

One of the best moments of the film involves the crew ashore in England during a blackout. Thomas Mitchell- always the drunk- cries out to the heavens- "Blackout, blackout! Is there to be no more light in the world?"

The most amazing thing about this film is that John Ford would go on making films for another 40 years. He would use the same group of actors time and again in Westerns and later on even "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Ward Bond, Barry Fitzgerald, Arthur Shields and Maureen O'Hara. That these actors were so verstaile, and John Ford so well versed in literature, is a tribute to the old school of film making.

The plot of this film would seem mundane were I to attempt to recount it here. Suffice to say that it is the story of a group of lost souls, looking for themselves. You'll just have to trust me on this one- Eugene O'Neill termed it the "best adaptation" of any of his works. That alone should be reason enough to see this film.