United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. It was originally the yacht ''Caroline'' built for
Eldridge R. Johnson
Eldridge Reeves Johnson (February 6, 1867 in Wilmington, Delaware – November 14, 1945 in Moorestown, New Jersey) was an American businessman and engineer who founded the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901 and built it into the leading ...
and launched 18 July 1931. ''Caroline'' was at the time the second largest yacht and largest American built Diesel yacht. It was built with a laboratory as well as palatial quarters and was loaned and equipped by Johnson for the Johnson-Smithsonian Deep-Sea Expedition of 1933 that explored the
Puerto Rico Trench
The Puerto Rico Trench is located on the boundary between the North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, parallel to and north of Puerto Rico, where the oceanic trench reaches the deepest points in the Atlantic Ocean. The trench is associated with ...
. The yacht was sold in 1938 to William B. Leeds and renamed ''Moana'' replacing an earlier Leeds yacht of the same name.
It was purchased by the US Navy in 1941 and commissioned as USS ''Hilo'', first designated as Patrol Gunboat (PG) 58 and then functioning and designated as Motor Torpedo Boat Tender (AGP) 2 supporting the torpedo boats for the duration of World War II.
Yacht ''Caroline''
''Caroline'' was built in 1931 by
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, founded in 1884 as Bath Iron Works, Limited. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics, one of the world's largest ...
,
Bath, Maine
Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. Bath is included in the Brunswick, Maine, Brunswick Micropolitan statistical area, micropolitan area. Bath has a 2024 population of 8,870. It is also the county seat of Sagadahoc County ...
at a cost of 1.5 million dollars for the
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became ...
founder Eldridge R. Johnson. The yacht's keel was laid 1 September 1930 as Bath's hull number 141 with launch on 18 July 1931 and delivery to the owner on 28 September 1931. The yacht, replacing a smaller yacht of the same name, was named for Johnson's mother, Caroline Reeves Johnson, and christened by his grand niece, Caroline Fenimore Fitler, also named for his mother. On registration ''Caroline'' was assigned official number 231135 and the signal and radio call letters WDEC.
Description
The yacht was designed by Henry J. Gielow's company with unusually large owner's quarters, extending the full width amidships with two baths, seven guest staterooms, quarters for two maids and two valets, and a crew of forty. The guest staterooms, all with private bath, were aft with those on port and starboard sides connected by sliding doors enabling them to be connected into larger suites. On the main deck was a by living room with a fireplace forward. Aft was a partially sheltered deck with a lobby and elevator connecting the owner's quarters below and a laboratory on the deck above on the upper deck. Aft of that were a smoking room and by dining room with a dressing room and shower for owner and guests, quarters for the chief engineer, dining room for the maids and galley between smoking room and dining room. Captain and radio operators had quarters on the upper deck where there was also a radio room and a lounge and observation room as well as the laboratory. The pilot house and chart room occupied the bridge deck.
''Caroline'' had a waterline length with length overall, beam, draft of (Navy ) and displacement tonnage of 2,350. Registry information showed , length, breadth and depth of with a crew of forty-two. She was the largest Diesel powered yacht built in America and the second largest private yacht in America at that time.Paul Schatzkin, Defying Gravity: The Paraellel Universe of T. Townsend Brown, 2005-2006-2007-2008 – Tanglewood Books, Chapter 30 – The Caroline /ref>
Power was provided by two Cooper-Bessemer 1,500-horsepower diesel engines driving two screws with a maximum speed of 14 knots. Fuel capacity was sufficient for a cruising range of . In addition the yacht had one of the largest
Sperry Gyroscope Company
Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...
gyroscopic-stabilizers built for a private vessel. The gyroscope wheel itself weighed spun by a 210-horsepower Diesel-electric motor at 13,000 revolutions a minute and taking one and a half hours to reach that maximum speed. The device was designed to counter five and a half degrees of roll. The total weight of the two engines and gyroscope was approximately Two 150-kilowatt and one 50-kilowatt diesel–electric generating sets provided electrical power. A carbon dioxide fire extinguishing system was installed for fire protection.
History
Johnson offered the use of the ''Caroline'' for scientific research including a 1932 archeological expedition to South America and
Easter Island
Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...
. In October 1932 Johnson equipped and offered for use the yacht for what was expected to be a series of expeditions in cooperation with the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
to be known as the Johnson-Smithsonian Deep-Sea Expedition. The first was to the
Puerto Rico Trench
The Puerto Rico Trench is located on the boundary between the North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, parallel to and north of Puerto Rico, where the oceanic trench reaches the deepest points in the Atlantic Ocean. The trench is associated with ...
embarking investigators from several disciplines and government agencies and institutions interested in oceanographic work. Those included the
Naval Research Laboratory
The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Located in Washington, DC, it was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, appl ...
Carnegie Institution
The Carnegie Institution for Science, also known as Carnegie Science and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is an organization established to fund and perform scientific research in the United States. This institution is headquartered in Wa ...
and the Oceanographic Institution of Woods Hole.
The expedition, under the leadership of Dr. Paul Bartsch of the Smithsonian, sailed from New York on 21 January 1933. In addition to the scientific party Johnson and his son, E. R. Fenimore Johnson who had helped prepare the yacht, and invited guest went with the expedition. Aside from description and addition of new species to collections three lines of echo soundings were gathered across the trench with the Navy echo sounding device operated by US Navy seaman
Thomas Townsend Brown
Thomas Townsend Brown (March 18, 1905 – October 27, 1985) was an American inventor whose research into odd electrical effects led him to believe he had discovered a type of anti-gravity caused by strong electric fields. Instead of being an anti- ...
and water samples were taken at various depths. E. R. Fenimore Johnson assisted with the sounding work and had his own interests in ocean research, equipping his own yacht, ''Elsie Fenimore'' for such work. Both he and ''Elsie Fenimore'' served in World War II in mine warfare work. Further expeditions did not take place due to the
economic depression
An economic depression is a period of carried long-term economic downturn that is the result of lowered economic activity in one or more major national economies. It is often understood in economics that economic crisis and the following recession ...
and the European situation.
''Caroline'' was engaged in pleasure cruising as well as science. One example was a 1935 cruise in which
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor and filmmaker best known for being the first actor to play the masked Vigilante Zorro and other swashbuckler film, swashbu ...
and Lady Ashley and other film personalities, departing at Tahiti, were Johnson's guests aboard on a cruise in which the yacht continued to
Suva
Suva (, ) is the Capital city, capital and the most populous city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rew ...
, the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...
, Japan, China, and the East Indies before continuing to Southampton. Johnson loved the ''Caroline'' and the Johnson Victrola Museum,
Dover, Delaware
Dover ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and the List of municipalities in Delaware, second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, Delaware, Kent County and the princ ...
, features a song written about the yacht played with 78-rpm records on authentic Victor Talking Machines.
By March 1937, with the earlier ''Caroline''This yacht, official number 225885, was sold to quack John R. Brinkley of
Del Rio, Texas
Del Rio (in Spanish language, Spanish, ''Del Río'', "from the river") is a city in and the county seat of Val Verde County, Texas, Val Verde County in southwestern Texas, United States. As of 2020 United States census, 2020, Del Rio had a popul ...
, renamed ''Doctor Brinkley'' which was purchased by the Navy to serve during World War II as . being sold to Joseph M. Shenck of Los Angeles, Johnson chartered his later ''Caroline'' for the winter cruising season.
Yacht ''Moana''
In 1938 ''Caroline'' was advertised as ''Caroline II'' for sale and bought by William B. Leeds who named the yacht ''Moana'', replacing a smaller yacht, (Official number 226065/KGCK), of the same name.On line references to celebrities such as Errol Flynn and Ernest Hemingway aboard Leeds' ''Moana'' predating 1938 refer to the smaller, earlier yacht. The same celebrities may be found in references to events after 1938 and those would be aboard ex-''Caroline''.
World War II Pacific Theatre operations
''Moana'' was purchased by the Navy on 28 November 1941 and converted to Navy use at Craig Shipbuilding,
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...
, she commissioned as USS ''Hilo'' (PG-58) on 11 June 1942. One of the first ships to be used as a motor torpedo boat tender, ''Hilo'' departed Long Beach, California, to load supplies at
San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
on 19 June and sailed for
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...
on 28 June.
The ship arrived Pearl Harbor on 5 July 1942, and was immediately sent to
Palmyra Island
Palmyra Atoll (), also referred to as Palmyra Island, is one of the Northern Line Islands (southeast of Kingman Reef and north of Kiribati). It is located almost due south of the Hawaiian Islands, roughly one-third of the way between Hawaii ...
to tend to torpedo boat squadron 1B (consisting of PT-21, PT-23, PT-25, and PT-26). ''Hilo'' remained in the vicinity fueling and providing supplies to the boats then under training until returning to Pearl Harbor again on 4 October. She was soon underway, however, steaming by way of Palmyra Island to
Canton Island
Canton Island (also known as Kanton or Abariringa), previously known as Mary Island, Mary Balcout's Island or Swallow Island, is the largest, northernmost, and , the sole inhabited island of the Phoenix Islands, in the Republic of Kiribati. It i ...
, where she arrived on 29 October. There she took on passengers and proceeded to
Funafuti
Funafuti is an atoll, comprising numerous islets, that serves as the capital of Tuvalu. As of the 2017 census, it has a population of 6,320 people. More people live in Funafuti than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with it containing approximately 6 ...
, arriving on 2 November 1942 with Squadron 1B.
Tending torpedo boats
The ship remained at Funafuti until 25 November, tending torpedo boats and engaging in rescue operations as American forces prepared for the coming assault on the
Gilberts
The Gilbert Islands (;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this name applied o ...
and
Marshalls
Marshalls, Inc. is an American chain of discount store, off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store (stores operating with HomeGoods combined), ...
. On 12 November the ''Hilo'' and other units from Funafuti rescued
Eddie Rickenbacker
Edward Vernon Rickenbacker (born Edward Rickenbacher, October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient.Noumea,
New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
, arriving on 2 December, and from there escorted four PT boats to
Cairns, Queensland
Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people.
The city was founded in 1876 and named after Sir William Welling ...
, where she moored on 11 December.
Setting up her base in New Guinea
''Hilo'' was then sent to set up the first torpedo boat base in
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
, at
Milne Bay
Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than long and over wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range (Papu ...
, arriving on 17 December. Commencing operations soon after their arrival, ''Hilo''s boats contributed to the hard-fought Buna-Gona campaign in New Guinea as allied forces began their return to the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. The boats fired at Japanese ashore, destroyed barges loaded with men and supplies, and even fought
submarines
A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or info ...
in support of the troops ashore. On 13 January 1943, her designation was changed to AGP-2.
In February 1943, ''Hilo'' explored the coast for a suitable advance PT boat base, and by the 28th had established one at Kana Kope. The torpedo boats stationed there with ''Hilo'' soon had a chance to fight, as Japanese efforts to reinforce their Lae and
Salamaua
Salamaua () was a small town situated on the northeastern coastline of Papua New Guinea, in Salamaua Rural LLG, Morobe province. The settlement was built on a minor isthmus between the coast with mountains on the inland side and a headland. The c ...
garrisons led to the
Battle of the Bismarck Sea
The Battle of the Bismarck Sea (2–4 March 1943) took place in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) during World War II when aircraft of the U.S. Fifth Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) attacked a Japanese convoy carrying tro ...
from 2–4 March. The tender remained at Kana Kope until late April, when she began to move up the New Guinea coast to various anchorages. As ''Hilo''s torpedo boats continued to take part in the successful New Guinea campaign, ''Hilo'' herself underwent many air raids and endured extremes of climate and disease before being relieved on 20 October. The tender sailed to
Sydney, Australia
Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean ...
, arriving on 13 November, and sailed again on 9 February 1944 for Milne Bay.
Moving her base to New Britain
''Hilo'' again took up her tending duties in the
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
New Britain
New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...
on 26 March. She remained there until 4 June tending two squadrons of torpedo boats, after which she shifted her operations to Mios Woendi and became a command ship for torpedo boat operations in the U.S. 7th Fleet her tender equipment removed. The ship remained there until 6 November.
Supporting PT-boat operations in the Philippines
With the invasion of the Philippines underway, ''Hilo'' sailed to
Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf, also known simply as the Leyte, is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the ...
, arriving on 12 November. During the next months the ships in the Gulf were under almost constant air attack. ''Hilo'' was nearly hit on 26 November as ''
kamikaze
, officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
'' attacked San Juanico Straits; one ''kamikaze'' crashed some ahead of the tender. ''Hilo''s gunners scored several kills during this period.
Commander, Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons, 7th Fleet, shifted his flag to ''Cyrene'' on 16 January, and for the next nine months ''Hilo'' was occupied with passenger voyages to various islands, including Mios Woendi and the
Palau
Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...
s. She departed
Samar
Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...
on 26 October 1945 for the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
via
Eniwetok
Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; , , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 296 people (as of 2021) forms a legi ...
and Pearl Harbor. ''Hilo'' received four
battle star
A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or service period. T ...
s for service in World War II.
Post-war decommissioning
''Hilo'' arrived on 1 December and was decommissioned on 3 March 1946. The ship entered the
Suisun Bay
Suisun Bay ( ; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a shallow tidal estuary (a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay) in Northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, forming the e ...
National Defense Reserve Fleet
The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of Ship, ships of the United States, mostly Merchant ship, merchant vessels, that have been Reserve fleet, mothballed but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during nationa ...
on 30 June 1946 and was sold on 6 November 1947 by the
United States Maritime Commission
The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The co ...
to Pillsbury & Martingnoni,
San Francisco, California
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...