Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "Explosion of USS Mount Hood, November 10, 1944" video.

The fleet train Mount Hood was a part of was, in no small part, one of the most important cogs in the Navy's drive to to defeat Japan. The USN was able to do everything but the heaviest repairs at forward bases using floating drydocks. They were able to keep the advancing fleet supplied with everything from fuel, ammunition, right down to ice cream and fresh vegetables instead of having to return to bases further east or even back to Pearl and the West Coast. The lost souls of Mount Hood were part of a great and often little remembered but seemingly never ending stream of supplies that allowed the US to defeat Japan. [Edited to correct the name of the ship and my usual typos. I blame the bat flu. :-) )
138
Danger Bear You can read Beans, Bullets, and Black Oil , The Story of Fleet Logistics Afloat in the Pacific During World War II at https://books.google.com/books/about/Beans_Bullets_and_Black_Oil.html?id=HglIAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. It's a book written by Rear Adm. Worrall Reed Carter, the officer commanding Service Squadron Ten, the largest of the fleet train squadrons. It''s over 400 pages, and can be slow at times, but it's overall a great story of the USN going from zero to 100 in less than a year to get the fleet train up and running. The concept was tested a little in war games during the 30's, but no one would have ever thought it would grow to the largest naval force afloat by 1945. Well worth a read if naval history is your interest.
10
@michaelfruitticher616 I have read the explosion aboard the Mount Hood had about 75% of the explosive power as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It must have been terrifying yet awe inspiring. My dad served on PT boats during the war, and his squadron had departed from Manus two days before the explosion, after some refit work for the boats and R&R for the crew. The first they heard of the explosion was some chatter between other ships on the TBS radios that had been in harbor at the time of the explosion. His crew assumed most of what they heard was the usual sailor scuttlebutt about how big the explosion was. Little did he know until much later that it was even worse than what they had heard. Thank the Lord both our fathers made it back from the Pacific.
9
@jwenting So true. The best vessels and best sailors in the world come to nothing without the supplies and maintenance they need to wage war.
6
@markrozenberg7959 What? When did I mention anything about how I'm feeling?
3
@julieenslow5915 Yes, it was a joke. I guess that's what another poster meant when he hoped I'd feel better. I don't have the Chinese virus from China yet, but a friend and I did eat out at a restaurant for the first time in 51 days. Just going by what the media says, I should be dead in about 5.45 days. :-) (It's a joke. I don't really expect to be dead in 5.45 days). Telling jokes online in the time of the Wu Flu has been harder and harder, but that's why I put the smiley in there.
3
@julieenslow5915 Indeed. I do hope that people watching The History Guy's channel might have a broader view of things, but I do have to keep in mind this isn't a naval history channel. There are still sailors out there today, still sailing ships full of dangerous things, still taking those same kind of risks that brought Mount Hood to such a tragic end. They are all way braver than I've ever been, so here's a virtual glass raised to them all.
3
@julieenslow5915 You're welcome. Smiles are indeed in short supply since the arrival of this virus in...I don't know, some researchers are now saying last November. I read a poll yesterday saying 68% of people are afraid to go into a store, and 78% are afraid to go into a restaurant! I'm 74 with COPD, one of the supposed targets of this virus. I had zero fear because the restaurant was cleaner than most surgical suites, and they were more careful about infection control than most nursing homes. It was more than a little depressing watching people in their twenties all masked up and rushing into the place to get their takeout order and then rushing back out, eyes darting back and forth, looking for any signs the bug might spring in them from hiding. The latest death rate I've seen is that people under 40 have a death rate from the Wu Flu of about two in ten thousand. I mean, for heavens sake, they had a better chance of serious injury or death just driving to the place. We have turned into a much more fragile place than I ever imagined we would. And, yes, it's vessels like Mount Hood and the crews that served aboard them that deserve a lot more recognition, but she wasn't a battleship or aircraft carrier, so not many people are interested. Sad. :-(
2
@andrewlubanski9915 You're welcome. It's a good read for anyone interested in naval logistics.
2
What? Al Capone? He never served in the Navy. He spent the war at his home at Palm Island, Florida, suffering from late stage syphilis. He was one of first patients treated with penicillin to stop the damage for the syphilis, but the disease was too far advanced for the new antibiotic to help. He lingered on as a barely conscious invalid until his death in 1947. I don't know who this supposed son was but his "research" was entirely false.
1