American WWII Naval Journal

[julia]

My Grandpa was a motor mechanic on the Eldridge. He kept a journal that I just found. It is not very detailed, but it has some interesting bits, like he mentions the day he met my grandmother. There is a ships log of sorts that may be of interest. There are the dates they arrived and left an area and mentions two air raids in Okinawa and the Mediterranean. I thought it might be of interest.
Also, on one of the pages there is a short list of people who were on the ship, presumably in the engine room. There are some abbreviations like F that I don't understand. I know that it is a rank like MoMM 1/c which I think is Motor Mechanic Mate First Class, but please correct me if I am wrong. There is an A next to some of the place names Oran. I have no idea what that stands for. After the "left Saipan" entry it says L.S.T to Japan, again I have no idea.

Sorry it was a bit rambling, but here is the flicker http://www.flickr.com/photos/11013662@N07/sets/72157613215178421/

 

[Diamondback]

"LST to Japan" probably means he caught a ride there aboard a Landing Ship, Tank.

I'm on a board with a few naval historians, gimme some time and I'll ask them what they make of it.

 

[Story]

Julia, have you ever heard this tale?

Some authors have described USS Eldridge as being involved in the so-called "Philadelphia Experiment". For information on this subject, see http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq21-1.htm

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-e/de173.htm


Soooooooo, what dates does your pop's log cover?

the deck logs (microfim or paper copies from it) can be ordered at the National Archives/College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001, 55$ for 200 pages covering 27 August to 31 December 1943..
http://shipssailors6.blogspot.com/

USS Eldridge History Between 4 January 1944 and 9 May 1945, ELDRIDGE sailed on the vital task of escorting to the Mediterranean men and materials to support Allied operations in north Africa and on into southern Europe. She made nine voyages to deliver convoys safely to Casablanca, Bizerte, and Oran. ELDRIDGE departed New York 28 May 1945 for service in the Pacific. En route to Saipan in July, she made contact with an underwater object and immediately attacked but no results were observed. She arrived at Okinawa 7 August for local escort and patrol, and with the end of hostilities a week later, continued to serve as escort on the Saipan-Ulithi-Okinawa routes until November.

 

[carouselvic]

Motor Machinist's Mate would be my best guess.

 

[julia]

Actually, I knew about the Philadelphia Experiment thing. My Grandpa was interviewed as a part of a History channel special on it. He was so proud when he got to do it. If you see it, they interviewed him in the basement of his house. The whole thing was just a hoax, or so he said.......

Just kidding

The log starts when he joined the Navy, but it was almost a year before the Eldridge was commissioned.