USN Cruiser vs IJN Cruiser by Mark Stille

Author:Mark Stille
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: USN Cruiser vs IJN Cruiser: Guadalcanal 1942
ISBN: 9781780963594
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2011-12-08T16:00:00+00:00

One of the 5-inch/25 gun crews aboard Astoria in early 1942. Note the crew still wearing the vintage World War I-style helmets. The 5-inch gun was a dual-purpose weapon capable of engaging both surface and air targets. (US Naval Historical Center)

A cruiser’s crew was organized into eight departments, each performing one of the primary functions of the ship. These included gunnery, navigation, communications, engineering, repair, medical, supply, and aviation. Each department could have several different divisions to address each of the specialized duties required of each department. All members of the ship’s company were assigned a General Quarters station that was to be occupied during battle. In addition, most crewmen were also assigned watches to be performed in addition to their regular duties. Sleep was a precious commodity, especially during wartime in combat areas when the entire crew could be at General Quarters for extended periods.

Going into the Pacific War, the US Navy possessed a large number of competent officers proficient in both technical and operational matters. Years of training had given them a shared sense of aggression and, as events during the war would demonstrate, the ability to adapt quickly to change. Officers were mostly graduates of the Naval Academy located in Annapolis, Maryland. However during the interwar years there were still officers remaining from the expansion during World War I, and, beginning in 1925, the Navy took officers into service through the Reserve Officer Training Course. Going into the Pacific War, all major commands (like that of the commanding officer of a cruiser) were held by Annapolis graduates. But not until 1933 was Annapolis accredited as offering an equivalent education to a civilian university. Attendance at the school was an arduous four years that stressed development of leadership skills at the expense of academic training.

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