The "Union Jack"

Friday, November 6, 2009 at 7:45am

Considering the long journey the model has taken from Georgia, where the model was built, to Florida, where it was displayed for many years, and finally to Louisville it seemed fitting to display the model as if in port. The most frequently asked question is “What type of flag is that displayed on the bow of the model? “

According to SECNAVINST 10520.4, “In port, When not under way, commissioned ships, display the ensign from the flagstaff at the stern and the union jack from the jackstaff at the bow…”

Example of 13 star union jack
Courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_of_the_United_States

“A national flag is the flag flown to represent a national government. The ensign is a flag designated by a country to be flown by its men-of-war. In the United States, the designs of the two are identical. Aboard ship, however, the national flag is always is referred to as the ensign. The union jack is the rectangular blue part of the United States flag.” The blue field union jack was adopted by the Navy in 1777. Like the National Flag, the number of stars in the union jack has increased as new states were added to the union.

The regulation goes on to state “the oldest ship in the Navy, as identified by the Chief of Naval Operations, is to display the first Navy jack, in lieu of the union jack, at the jackstaff.” The jackstaff is the small vertical pole in the bow of a ship.

First U.S. Navy Jack (traditional)
Courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_of_the_United_States

The first union jack may have consisted of thirteen alternating red and white stripes; however the flag as depicted is traditionally accepted as the first union jack.

The picture below shows the 48-star union jack displayed on the jackstaff at the bow of the USS Louisville while in port for refit in 1943.

USS Louisville (CA-28) at Mare Island on 17 Dec 1943
Photo Courtesy of http://www.navsource.org

The USS Louisville is shown with “Rainbow Colors” during her commissioning in September 1930. Rainbow colors consist of signal flags and pennants arranged in a prescribed order from the foot of the jack staff to the mastheads then to the foot of the flagstaff.

Launching of U.S.S. Louisville, Bremerton, Washington, 1930
Photo Courtesy of http://digital.library.louisville.edu/u?/heraldpost,72

A Tribute to “Lucky Lou,” the USS Louisville

Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 9:44am

Passengers from the British Motor Ship Silver Larch pose with USS Louisville's Commanding Officer, Captain William S. Farber, upon their arrival at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 14 March 1937. The cruiser had rescued them on the previous day from the burning Silver Larch, about 450 miles northeast of Honolulu. Photo Courtesy of http://www.history.navy.mil.

In my first blog I mentioned that the USS Louisville had an eventful career during her 15 years of active service. I was surprised to learn that the USS Louisville was involved in two rescues. The first occurred when the USS Louisville rescued 497 passengers from the SS Harvard on May 31, 1931, after the SS Harvard hit a reef near Point Arguello, California. Then in 1937, the USS Louisville rescued passengers from the British ship Silver Larch. The Mayor of Bremerton, Washington presented the crew of the USS Louisville with a bronze plaque on March 27, 1937 to commemorate the two rescues.

The USS Louisville was performing convoy escort duties on December 7, 1941 heading from East Borneo to Pearl Harbor, and stopped briefly in Pearl Harbor after the attacks took place before continuing on to California.

USS Louisville, Main Battery Firing, U.S. Navy Photo #3176-44. Photo Courtesy of www.navsource.org.

In January 1942, she joined a Task Force 17 (TF 17) bound for Samoa and carrier plane raids on the Gilbert and Marshal Islands. In March she sailed with TF 11 to support carrier plane strikes at Salamaua, Lae and Rabaul. Then with TF 8 to counter the Japanese invasion of the Aleutians, she shelled shore defenses on Kiska Island in June and July of 1942.

Battle of Rennell Island, 29-30 January 1943
USS Chicago (CA-29), at left, under tow at five knots by USS Louisville (CA-28) on the morning of 30 January 1943. The damaged cruiser had been torpedoed by Japanese aircraft on the previous night. Photo #: NH 94681. Photo Courtesy of http://www.history.navy.mil.

With TF 18, the USS Louisville was engaged in battle with torpedo planes during the evening of January 29, 1943 at the Battle of Rennell Island, the last battle for Guadalcanal. The USS Chicago was hit and lost power. The crews of the USS Louisville and Chicago worked through the night to rig a tow line in an attempt to save the ship.

Bombardment of Kiska, 6 July 1943
USS Lansdowne (DD-486), at right, and USS Hughes (DD-410), at left, take stations to commence the bombardment.
Photographed from USS Louisville (CA-28). Photo #: NH 97914. Photo Courtesy of www.history.navy.mil.

The USS Louisville returned to the Aleutians in April 1943 with TF 16 to provide support during the invasions of the Attu and Kiska Islands.

From January through February 1944, the USS Louisville provided bombardment of Wotje, Roi, Namur and Enewetak Atolls during the Marshall Islands Campaign. During the Marianas Island Campaign in June of that year, she provided bombardment of enemy positions for eleven continuous days on Saipan. Then she moved on to Tinian at the end of July and Guam in August. By mid-September the USS Louisville was back in action with the shelling of Peleliu. From Peleliu, she entered the Leyte Gulf in the Philippines and began shelling shore positions in mid-October. The USS Louisville experienced her first attack by a kamikaze unit during this battle. Two planes narrowly missed hitting the ship. The USS Louisville was with the October 24 and 25, 1944 task force which defeated the Japanese Fleet’s Southern Force during the Battle of Surigao Strait.

Battleship Pennsylvania leading battleship Colorado and cruisers USS Louisville, USS Portland and USSColumbia into Lingayen Gulf, Philippines, January 1945. Photo courtesy of www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Battleship.

While en route to Lingayen Gulf on January 4, 1945, the USS Louisville was hit by a kamikaze unit. The next day she provided bombardment of shore installations with her number one and three turrets and was hit again by a kamikaze unit.

5" gun firing aboard the USS Louisville, U.S. Navy. Photo #3178-44. Photo Courtesy of www.navsource.org.

After refit, the USS Louisville arrived at Okinawa at the end of May 1945 while shelling shore defenses and fighting off incessant air attacks. On June 5, a kamikaze pilot slammed into the port side of the ship collapsing the #1 funnel. She remained on-station until ordered to depart for Pearl Harbor on June 13. In August 1945, the refit was finished and the USS Louisville was preparing to return to duty when news arrived that the War was over. While performing occupation duties at Okinawa the surrender was signed on September 2, 1945. She then sailed to Darien, Manchuria to oversee the evacuation of 1,700 Allied POW’s with the hospital ship USS Relief. After the completion of that mission, she steamed to Tsingtao, China to receive the surrender of Japanese vessels interned there. She then escorted the vessels to Jinsen, Korea with “prize crews” aboard the ships. According to Man of War Log of Heavy Cruiser Louisville, By Her Officers and Men, the USS Louisvillewas honored to send small detachments of men to man the [Japanese] ships. Historically when an enemy ship was captured, men were sent aboard the ships to make sure they reached port. These crews are called "prize crews." The U.S. flag flies above the captured nation’s flag while sailing to port to indicate that the ship has surrendered.

On February 6, 1946, the last active duty cruise of the USS Louisville ended at Philadelphia Navy Yard and was decommissioned on June 17, 1946. After being decommissioned, the USS Louisville became a part of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet for the next 13 years until it was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on March 1, 1959 and subsequently sold to the Marlene Blouse Corporation of New York on September 14 of that same year. During World War II, the USS Louisville had earned 13 Battle Stars. Fifty two brave men paid the ultimate price to preserve our freedom. “We must never forget.”

Gary "Swabby" Serke is a volunteer at the Frazier International History Museum.

Aircrafts on the USS Louisville

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 7:46am

The USS Louisville typically carried four aircrafts stored in the hanger located at directly aft of the catapult. The hanger doors opened directly onto the well deck for access to the catapult via the overhead crane. The aircrafts served as scout/observation and fire control for the ships guns.

Photo courtesy of Vought Aircraft.

The first type of aircraft to fly from USS Louisville was the Vought O3U-1, Corsair. This aircraft had a two man crew-- a pilot and rear gunner/radioman. Armament consisted of one fixed forward firing .30 caliber machine gun with another trainable .30 caliber located in the rear canopy. Bomb racks were located on the lower wing. Exterior surfaces consisted of cloth and metal. This aircraft was designed to take off from a catapult with recovery at sea by the “cast method,” which used a tow net and crane to return the aircraft to the ship. This method was used with all subsequent aircrafts aboard the USS Louisville.

Photo courtesy of Naval Historical Center.

A new aircraft, the Curtiss SOC, Seagull, arrived onboard the USS Louisville in 1936. This aircraft also had a two man crew-- pilot and rear gunner/radioman. Armament consisted of one fixed forward firing .30 caliber machine gun and a trainable .30 caliber located in the rear canopy. Bomb racks were located on the lower wing. Exterior surfaces were cloth and metal. The Curtiss Seagull would remain in service aboard the USS Louisville until 1945.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

The Curtiss SC-1, Seahawk was assigned to the USS Louisville in 1945 and served until the ship was decommissioned on June 17, 1946. The Curtiss SC-1 is a mono-wing aircraft. The crew consisted of a pilot. Armament consisted of two wing mounted .50 caliber machine guns. Bomb racks were located under the wing. Exterior surfaces were all metal.

The location of the U.S. Naval aircrafts on the USS Louisville between 1942-1945 can be obtained here.

Flag on the bow of the USS Louisville.

The original ceremony to launch the USS Louisville began at 2 p.m. on September 1, 1930, at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. Miss Jane Brown Kennedy christened the USS Louisville with a bottle of water from Lincoln Springs at Hodgenville, Kentucky, birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. The USS Louisville whistle sounded one long and three short blasts, then sailed out of drydock under her own steam. I can only imagine the sounds of the cheering crowds, the band playing “My Old Kentucky Home” and the whistles of every craft in the harbor to celebrate her launching. Our version went more like this… a small ceremony held on September 9 at 2 p.m., the Stars and Stripes were raised on the model while the appropriate bugle call played over the Frazier Museum’s public address system.

Flag on the stern of the USS Louisville.

Work on the restoration of the model is nearly complete. The Kingfisher model was removed from the catapult. Several repairs were made to the catapult and a new launch sled has been made. The only items remaining are new signal flags and a model of the SC-1, Seahawk.

Gary "Swabby" Serke is a volunteer at the Frazier International History Museum.

See more notes

Frazier International History Museum's Notes

The "Union Jack"Nov 6, 2009

A Tribute to “Lucky Lou,” the USS LouisvilleOct 16, 2009

Aircrafts on the USS LouisvilleSep 23, 2009

Changes with TimeSep 22, 2009

ProgressSep 22, 2009

Teamwork…”There is no 'I' in Team!”Sep 22, 2009

A Learning ExperienceAug 10, 2009

Swabbing the decks!Jul 7, 2009

Moving Day!Sep 30, 2009

Colossal Restoration of USS Louisville for Upcoming ExhibitionSep 30, 2009

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