OneManGang
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2004
- Messages
- 2,045
- Likes
- 9,730
Tennessee vs The Maxims vs LSU and Vanderbilt
The end of the Butch Jones era and the dawn of the Brady Hoke interlude looked a lot alike. The Fire Butch Now crowd got their scalp, surely things would be different without the hapless Jones as HeadVol. However, once again SEC opponents, in last Saturday's case the LSU Tigers and again this past Saturday with Vanderbilt, squared off with Our Beloved Vols and consigned Tennessee to dreary defeat.
Plus ç[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]a change [/FONT]
* * * * * * * * *
By all rights, she shouldn't have been there. But she was there and now she was dying. Like the great lady she was, though, she was going to fight to the very end.
Admiral Chester Nimitz stood by the large drydock at Pearl Harbor. At 1420 (2:20pm) on 27 May, USS Yorktown (CV-5) had limped into port after taking part in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Coral Sea was the first naval battle in history where the two fleets never saw each other. The entire fight had been carried out by aircraft from three Japanese carriers covering an invasion force destined for New Guinea and two American carriers sent to stop them. The net result of the battle was a tactical Japanese victory in that they sank the mighty USS Lexington and heavily damaged the Yorktown in exchange, the Japanese lost a light carrier but also suffered heavy damage to one of their fleet carriers and the air group of the other was mauled. However it was a strategic victory for the Americans as the invasion force turned back.
Yorktown had taken an 800lb bomb through her flight deck that penetrated deep into her vitals before exploding and killing or wounding 66 sailors. Her CO, Captain Elliot Buckmaster, had the situation under control quickly and, after the hole in her flight deck was patched, pronounced her ready to conduct air operations. Fortunately, the Japanese were gone and she set course for Pearl.
The drydock was drained and Yorktown settled onto the support blocks, water streaming from hull plates that had been sprung by near misses during the battle. The Chief of the Yard brought his clipboard listing needed repairs to the Admiral.
Nimitz awaited the Chief's estimate, Three months, Sir.
Scratching his chin with his left hand which was missing a ring finger from an accident many years earlier, the Admiral said, I want her ready for sea in seventy-two hours.
Picking his metaphorical jaw up from the ground the Chief gave the only answer he could, Aye, aye, Sir.
The long list on the clipboard was pared down to what was absolutely necessary. Some 1400 workmen swarmed the carrier and worked around the clock to get her ready. Wood was substituted for steel where it could be and if a problem appeared intractable, ways were found around it. Sparks flew day and night from cutting torches and welders plied their trade casting a garish light on the proceedings.
They all knew something big was brewing but only a select few were in on the secret. A Japanese fleet led by four fleet carriers was bearing down on Midway Island, baiting the hook to lure the remnants of the Pacific Fleet into a final showdown that would clear the way for an invasion force that would seize Midway and establish a Japanese base within easy flight time of Pearl Harbor. Navy code-breakers had worked out where they were headed and that is a story all unto its own.
At 1100 on 29 May the drydock was flooded and, still carrying a number of civilian workmen, Yorktown made her way over to Ford Island in the middle of the harbor to pick up her air group. It is worth noting that in those days most of the carrier's planes would be hoisted on deck by crane, not flown aboard as the Navy does today.
Also coming aboard was Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher. The last workmen got off here and Yorktown sailed out of Pearl Harbor as the centerpiece of Task Force 17 with a couple of cruisers and a handful of destroyers as escorts.
Task Force 17 set out to rendezvous with Task Force 16 consisting of Yorktown's sister ships Enterprise (CV-6) and Hornet (CV-8) in the waters to the northeast of Midway. It would be the only time the three would operate together.
The full story of the dramatic Battle of Midway would be far too long to tell here. Many and more gifted storytellers have told the tale. Suffice to say that Yorktown's planes and pilots wrote their own chapter in naval lore on 4 June 1942. Her dive bombers helped sink three Japanese carriers in the first American attack, but eleven of her twelve torpedo bombers were shot down.
One Japanese carrier escaped that first attack. Hiryu quickly launched an attack of her own consisting of two waves roughly two and a half hours apart.
Despite vicious resistance by the American Combat Air Patrol, three Japanese dive-bombers broke through and hit Yorktown with three large bombs. All caused damage but the last one hit close to the uptakes coming from her boilers and knocked five of the six out of commission. Her speed was reduced to six knots and Admiral Fletcher moved his flag to the cruiser Astoria.
Captain Buckmaster was proud of his damage control troops as they had four of those boilers back online within two hours. Yorktown was now capable of twenty knots and ready to resume flight operations when radar picked up Hiryu's second strike. Yorktown launched all available fighters, some with as few as twenty-five gallons in the tank, to intercept. Once again the attackers were mauled but four Hiryu torpedo bombers broke through to execute a textbook attack on both beams. Buckmaster manager to con his ship to cause the torpedoes to starboard to miss. The other two torpedoes slammed into Yorktown's port side ripping huge holes in her hull. She almost immediately began to list to port.
At 1445 (2:45pm) as the list approached 25 degrees, Buckmaster conferred with his damage control officer and ordered all hands to abandon ship.
Three hours later, planes from Enterprise with some survivors from Yorktown, found Hiryu and ripped her apart.
All expected the Old Girl to roll over, but somehow the list stabilized overnight and dawn of 5 June found her still afloat. A fleet tug was summoned from Pearl and soon had her under tow at a 2-3 knot crawl. A hurried conference was held late in the day and Buckmaster decided to accompany roughly 200 officers and men back to the ship to see if she could yet be saved. The destroyer Hamman came alongside to port during the morning of the 6th to provide electrical power for the pumps.
Unknown to the Americans they had been sighted by the Japanese submarine I-168. Her captain skillfully avoided the escorting destroyers and fired a spread of four torpedoes at Yorktown's port side. One missed, two went under Hamman and hit Yorktown low. The last torpedo struck Hamman amidships blowing her in half. She sank in four minutes. Eighty of her crew were killed.
For the second time, Buckmaster ordered his men to abandon ship. All escorts drew away after rescuing the survivors.
Somehow, Yorktown lasted the night. Buckmaster planned to gather yet another salvage crew and make another effort starting at first light.
Dawn of 7 June though, showed those plans to be futile. Yorktown's list got progressively worse. At 0600 all activity stopped on the destroyers, the colors were lowered to half-staff and all on deck came to attention with their hats off as the Gallant Lady rolled over and disappeared into a 2000 fathom deep.
But even as CV-5's loose gear sounded her death rattle, a new hull was taking shape at Newport News Shipbuilding, one of the new Essex-class carriers. Designated CV-10, in September of 1942 she was renamed USS Yorktown. The new ship would make her own mark in the history of World War II, but perhaps most fittingly, one of her more famous post-war exploits was the recovery of Apollo VIII, the first mission to orbit the moon.
CV-10 is now a museum ship at Patriots Point in South Carolina.
* * * * * * *
The tragedy of Saturday night's loss to Vanderbilt has been far overshadowed by all the rumor, innuendo and outright lying by posturing peacocks claiming to have the inside scoop swirling about Tennessee's search for a new HeadVol. This is sad, for despite all the drama, we Vol fans said goodbye to 30 seniors who gave us some thrilling wins that should never be forgotten. They deserved better.
When next we gather again there will be a new coach. If the current front page of VolNation is any indicator, and if the new HeadVol is not My Favorite Guy there will be calls for his ouster before the first snap is ever taken.
It's a helluva way to run a railroad.
All together, now:
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
2.Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way SCORE!
3. If at first the game or the breaks go against you, dont let up PUT ON MORE STEAM!
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
7. Carry the fight to the opponent and keep it there for sixty minutes.
It saddens this writer whenever Tennessee has to make a coaching change. Deserved or not, it is never a good thing for anyone involved and that University of Tennessee diploma on the wall seems to lose a bit of its luster.
Putting aside the disappointments of this (or any other) season, let us all wish Coach Jones the best and offer a heartfelt thanks for his time and efforts. Coaching big-time college football is not a career for the faint of heart. There are long hours, stress that would cause the most phlegmatic among us to quail, few pats on the back when things go right and many kicks in the butt when things go wrong.
And so, for one last time:
Brick by Brick, Baby!
MAXOMG
© 2017 Keeping Your Stories Alive
Suggested Reading:
Hugh Bicheno, Midway
Samuel Eliot Morison, Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions: History of United States Naval Operations in World War II Volume IV
Gordon W. Prange, Miracle at Midway
USS Yorktown struck by a second Japanese aerial torpedo, 4 June 1942. Note list already developing. (US Navy History and Heritage Command)
