Blackout Regulations

[AmateisGal]

I'm trying to figure something out.

Did blackout regulations in the U.S. differ from city to city? For example, I've found that Washington D.C. only had occasional drills for air raids where the town would practice the blackout.

I'm trying to find similar information for L.A., but haven't found it so far.

I guess my question is this: was it normal for a city to practice blackout regulations every night or just when they did drills?

More specifically: did the downtown area of L.A. go dark every night? No neon signs flashing, no street lights, etc.?

Anyone know? Any sources you know of I could look at? I'll keep searching...

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm trying to figure something out.

Did blackout regulations in the U.S. differ from city to city? For example, I've found that Washington D.C. only had occasional drills for air raids where the town would practice the blackout.

I'm trying to find similar information for L.A., but haven't found it so far.

I guess my question is this: was it normal for a city to practice blackout regulations every night or just when they did drills?

More specifically: did the downtown area of L.A. go dark every night? No neon signs flashing, no street lights, etc.?

Anyone know? Any sources you know of I could look at? I'll keep searching...

Depended on where you lived. If you were on the coast, in an area where there was a lot of vital shipping or otherwise strategic activity, the blackout had less to do with air raids than it did with preventing coastal glow from silhouetting tankers and thus making them more vulnerable to submarine attacks. There would be specific coastal zones where lights were restricted but ordinarily not a full-on blackout.

Full blackouts were only enforced in the event of a drill or of an actual air raid alert after dark -- in which case neighborhood air raid wardens were in charge of enforcing it. All homes would be equipped with the necessary blackout blinds for windows, and it would be the householder's responsibility to ensure no light showed. And in such circumstances, all street and advertising lights would be extinguished.

Air raid drills would generally be announced in the press and over the radio well in advance to prevent unnecessary panic.

 

[kpreed]

My Father got a traffic ticket during WWll, for driving across the Golden Gate Bridge at night with no Black-out lights. Yes, they took ANY lights that may silhouette a prime target very serious.

 

[MPicciotto]

To add to what the others have said it also varied with the year. Early in the war, right after the Pearl Harbor attack many more cities had more widespread blackout precautions. There was a period of near hysteria with mid-western mayors touting how their town could be the first to be attacked by the Germans flying the "arctic route" etc.

The coastal blackout for purposes of protecting shipping was taken very seriously. In Wicomico County MD there was an incredibly steep fine for violations. One of our other Loungers and fellow Civil Defense reenactor may enter the conversation with the exact amount (he has repro's of the posters) but I want to say it was like THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS per offense.

Matt

 

[LizzieMaine]

The coastal blackout for purposes of protecting shipping was taken very seriously. In Wicomico County MD there was an incredibly steep fine for violations. One of our other Loungers and fellow Civil Defense reenactor may enter the conversation with the exact amount (he has repro's of the posters) but I want to say it was like THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS per offense.

Matt

Which was equivalent to a years' income for an average working-class family. You flouted the civilian-defense regulations at your own risk -- it was the practice here to publish the names of violators in large type in the local paper, which made them personae non gratae with all respectable patriotic citizens.

 

[W4ASZ]

It is recounted in Operation Drumbeat by Michael Gannon that when the first U-Boat surfaced at night off the coast near New York City the commander was surprised that he could identify the WOR radio tower and the Ferris wheel at Coney Island, all lit up.

The adjustment to coastal blackout did not occur until much later, as Admiral Ernest King was "in denial" over the threat.

 

[LizzieMaine]

New York cracked down hard during 1942 and 1943 -- among other nighttime events night baseball was banned at the Polo Grounds in Harlem and Ebbets Field in Brooklyn because the lights from the parks were visible from the harbor. Night ball in Philadelphia and Washington, however, continued without incident thruout the war.

 

[KilroyCD]

Later in the war many towns along the coast also practiced "dimouts", in which no light could be allowed to shine in the direction of the coast, but low intensity lamps were permitted to shine downwards (again, with the coastal side of the lamp shielded). Houses only had to have any windows that could have been visible from the water blacked out and automobile drivers had to switch off their head lights when they too could be seen from the coast.

 

[AmateisGal]

Excellent info, everyone. Since L.A. was a coastal city, I'm assuming they were far more diligent with blackout regulations than say, Omaha, Nebraska.

 

[Peacoat]

Excellent info, everyone. Since L.A. was a coastal city, I'm assuming they were far more diligent with blackout regulations than say, Omaha, Nebraska.

Not necessarily. The threat from submarines on the left coast was not nearly as serious as on the Atlantic side. Only a handful of Japanese submarines attempted the Pacific crossing. I believe most, and perhaps all, were sunk before reaching the US coast.

Japanese submarines were not nearly as well developed, or dangerous, as their German counterpart. The submarine threat to shipping off the Atlantic coast, and to a lesser extent the Gulf of Mexico, was a real danger. Thus the need for coastal city blackouts on the Atlantic. Not nearly the need on the Pacific coast.

 

[KilroyCD]

Not necessarily. The threat from submarines on the left coast was not nearly as serious as on the Atlantic side. Only a handful of Japanese submarines attempted the Pacific crossing. I believe most, and perhaps all, were sunk before reaching the US coast.

Japanese submarines were not nearly as well developed, or dangerous, as their German counterpart. The submarine threat to shipping off the Atlantic coast, and to a lesser extent the Gulf of Mexico, was a real danger. Thus the need for coastal city blackouts on the Atlantic. Not nearly the need on the Pacific coast.

Actually, there was. Japanese subs shelled US west coast installations on two occasions. One was the shelling of the Ellwood Oil Fields near Santa Barbara by the I-17 on the 23rd of Februaray, 1942. http://www.militarymuseum.org/Ellwood.html
Fort Stevens in Oregon was shelled by submarine I-25 on June 21, 1942: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Fort_Stevens
Also, the Lookout Air Raids occurred on September 9, 1942. The first and only aerial bombing of mainland America by a foreign power occurred when an attempt to start a forest fire was made by a Japanese Yokosuka E14Y1 seaplane dropping two 80 kg (180 lb) incendiary bombs over Mount Emily, near Brookings, Oregon. The seaplane had been launched from the Japanese submarine aircraft carrier I-25. No significant damage was officially reported following the attack, nor after a repeat attempt on September 29. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lookout_Air_Raids
In Canada On June 20, 1942, the Japanese submarine I-26 fired 25-30 rounds of 5.5" shells at the Estevan Point lighthouse on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, but failed to hit its target. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Estevan_Point_lighthouse

 

[Peacoat]

The black out requirements on the Atlantic coast were effectuated, in major part, to protect wartime shipping lanes that hugged the coast for protection from the German submarines. Well lit cities provided submarines, standing just offshore, with an excellent silhouette of freighters making the dangerous journey up and down the east coast and in the Gulf. This peril just wasn't present on the west coast.

I would think the black out rules on the west coast were much different than on the east coast because of the difference in the types of threat presented on the two coasts. Over the years I have read about the east coast black outs, and the heroic measures taken to ensure safe passage of the ships running the east coast gauntlet, but I haven't heard anything about the blackouts on the west side. That doesn't mean the blackouts didn't happen, but just that I haven't heard about them.

I did remember the shelling attempts from a Japanese submarine and the attempt to start a forest fire in Oregon with incendiaries from some sort of Japanese airplane, evidently launched from a submarine. But these attacks constituted a threat much different from that presented by the German submarines attacking coastal shipping at night using coastal or inland lights to silhouette the victim ship.

In short: different threats on each coast and different measures taken to protect against those threats.

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

...not to mention the forming convoys on the Atlantic coast...not just the solitary ships.

 

[Lone_Ranger]

I did remember the shelling attempts from a Japanese submarine and the attempt to start a forest fire in Oregon with incendiaries from some sort of Japanese airplane, evidently launched from a submarine. But these attacks constituted a threat much different from that presented by the German submarines attacking coastal shipping at night using coastal or inland lights to silhouette the victim ship.

In short: different threats on each coast and different measures taken to protect against those threats.

And the fire balloon attacks?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_balloon

 

[Mr. K.L.Bowers]

Just picked up on this thread. In Maryland, on April 28, 1942, the Headquarters, 3rd Corp., U.S. Army issued a General Warning for Worchester County, however it applied to the entire Del-Mar-Va peninsula. Vehicles running on roadways parallel to the ocean had to use dim-out lighting. Vehicles driving toward the ocean had to run with parking lights only.
I own a 36 Chevy and take my word for it, you would have more light with someone sitting on a front fender using a flash light.

Fines were VERY stiff, $5,000.00 and / or 1 year in jail. Unfortunately issuing such a warning on April 28 of "42" was a little late in the game. The ocean front resort towns did not want to lose revenue turning off the lights and thereby ruining the vacationer's fun.

If you are interested enough to want to read some more about when the war came to us, look for these books; Bitter Ocean, Torpedo Junction, The Atlantic Turkey Shoot and U-Boats Offshore; When Hitler Struck America.