Posted on 03/09/2004 5:43:14 AM PST by Happy2BMe
USS Pompano, 1330-ton Perch class submarine built at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, was commissioned in June 1937. She operated in the eastern Pacific for the rest of the decade and for the first two years of the 1940s. Pompano arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, soon after the beginning of the Pacific War, and began her first war patrol in mid-month. Surviving attacks by "friendly" planes a few days after leaving Pearl Harbor, she inspected Wake Island on New Year's Day 1942. The submarine then proceeded to the Marshall Islands, where she attacked a large ship on 13 January, but apparently did not sink it. In April-June 1942 Pompano conducted her second patrol, into the East China Sea, sinking a small tanker, a large transport and some smaller craft. Her next patrol, in July-September, took her into the waters off Japan where she survived a serious depth-charging and sank two enemy ships.
After a Mare Island overhaul Pompano operated in the Marshall Islands area in January and February 1943, off Japan in March-May and again in June-July, sank no ships and experienced some of the frustrating torpedo problems that plagued the Navy during the war's first half. Her seventh war patrol, also in Japanese waters, began in August. Pompano sank two freighters but then disappeared, with the loss of her entire crew. Though the evidence is circumstantial, she was probably sunk by a mine sometime in September 1943.
This page features all the views we have related to USS Pompano (SS-181).
| Photo #: 80-G-456127 USS Pompano (SS-181) In San Francisco Bay, California, 1938. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. |
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| Photo #: 19-N-38960 USS Pompano (SS-181) Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 19 December 1942. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. /B> |
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| Photo #: 19-N-38961 USS Pompano (SS-181) Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 19 December 1942. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. |
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| Photo #: 19-N-38965 USS Pompano (SS-181) Plan view, forward, taken at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 24 December 1942. Circles on the photo mark recent alterations to the ship. Note periscope, radar antenna, 20mm machine gun mountings and other details. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. |
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| Photo #: 80-G-21785 Lieutenant Commander Willis M. Thomas, USN, Commanding Officer of USS Pompano (SS-181) Receives the Navy Cross from Rear Admiral Wilhelm L. Friedell, in ceremonies at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 7 December 1941. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. |
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| Photo #: 19-N-18021 USS Henley (DD-391), at right, and USS Pompano (SS-181), at left Under construction at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 16 April 1936. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. |
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| Photo #: NH 44005 USS Pompano (SS-181) Afloat immediately after her launching, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 11 March 1937. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. |
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Receives the Navy Cross from Rear Admiral Wilhelm L. Friedell, in ceremonies at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 7 December 1941.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
This has to be an error ... 7 December 1942 perhaps?
Thanks, folks !
I'm not a Navy man (sorry). But I'd have to say SEVEN BATTLE STARS is in the "Big BoY" league.
My uncle Paul was an 
.
He jumped off two small ships after they took enemy Japanese fire during WWII.
One was the U.S.S. Hornet and the other was the U.S.S. Wasp and lived to tell about it.
What a man! Those were the days when our troops were gone for 2, 3, even 4 years at a time and folks back home sometimes had no clue if they were still alive or not.
Whoops ! I should have pinged ya'll in that pic there I 'auto-posted' (post #10) ...
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The "Navy Hymn" is Eternal Father, Strong to Save. The original words were written as a poem in 1860 by William Whiting of Winchester, England, for a student who was about to sail for the United States. The melody, published in 1861, was composed by fellow Englishman, Rev. John Bacchus Dykes, an Episcopalian clergyman.
The hymn, found in most hymnals, is known as the "Navy hymn" because it is sung at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It is also sung on ships of the Royal Navy (U.K.) and has been translated into French.
Eternal Father was the favorite hymn of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and was sung at his funeral in Hyde Park, New York, in April 1945. It was also played by the Navy Band in 1963 as President John F. Kennedy's body was carried up the steps of the U.S. Capitol to lie in state. Roosevelt had served as Secretary of the Navy and Kennedy was a PT boat commander in World War II.
The original words are:
Verse 1: Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Verse 2: O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
Who walked'st on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Verse 3: Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Verse 4: O Trinity of love and power!
Our brethren shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe'er they go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
There are have been alternate verses. These and their authors are:
Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
Through the great spaces in the sky.
Be with them always in the air,
In darkening storms or sunlight fair;
Oh, hear us when we lift our prayer,
For those in peril in the air!
Mary C. D. Hamilton (1915)
Oh, Watchful Father who dost keep
Eternal vigil while we sleep
Guide those who navigate on high
Who through grave unknown perils fly,
Receive our oft-repeated prayer
For those in peril in the air.
Emma Mayhew Whiting (1943)
Eternal Father, grant, we pray,
To all Marines, both night and day,
The courage, honor, strength, and skill
Their land to serve, thy law fulfill;
Be thou the shield forevermore
From every peril to the Corps.
J. E. Seim (1966)
Lord, stand beside the men who build,
And give them courage, strength, and skill.
O grant them peace of heart and mind,
And comfort loved ones left behind.
Lord, hear our prayers for all Seabees,
Where'er they be on land or sea.
R. J. Dietrich (1960)
Lord God, our power evermore,
Whose arm doth reach the ocean floor,
Dive with our men beneath the sea;
Traverse the depths protectively.
O hear us when we pray, and keep
Them safe from peril in the deep.
David B. Miller (1965)
O God, protect the women who,
In service, faith in thee renew;
O guide devoted hands of skill
And bless their work within thy will;
Inspire their lives that they may be
Examples fair on land and sea.
Lines 1-4, Merle E. Strickland (1972) and
adapted by James D. Shannon (1973)
Lines 5-6, Beatrice M. Truitt (1948)
Creator, Father, who dost show
Thy splendor in the ice and snow,
Bless those who toil in summer light
And through the cold antarctic night,
As they thy frozen wonders learn;
Bless those who wait for their return.
L. E. Vogel (1965)
Eternal Father, Lord of hosts,
Watch o'er the men who guard our coasts.
Protect them from the raging seas
And give them light and life and peace.
Grant them from thy great throne above
The shield and shelter of thy love.
Author unknown
Eternal Father, King of birth,
Who didst create the heaven and earth,
And bid the planets and the sun
Their own appointed orbits run;
O hear us when we seek thy grace
For those who soar through outer space.
J. E. Volonte (1961)
Creator, Father, who first breathed
In us the life that we received,
By power of thy breath restore
The ill, and men with wounds of war.
Bless those who give their healing care,
That life and laughter all may share
. Galen H. Meyer (1969)
Adapted by James D. Shannon (1970)
God, Who dost still the restless foam,
Protect the ones we love at home.
Provide that they should always be
By thine own grace both safe and free.
O Father, hear us when we pray
For those we love so far away.
Hugh Taylor (date Unk)
Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
And those who on the ocean ply;
Be with our troops upon the land,
And all who for their country stand:
Be with these guardians day and night
And may their trust be in thy might.
Author Unknown (1955)
O Father, King of earth and sea,
We dedicate this ship to thee.
In faith we send her on her way;
In faith to thee we humbly pray:
O hear from heaven our sailor's cry
And watch and guard her from on high!
Author/date Unknown
And when at length her course is run,
Her work for home and country done,
Of all the souls that in her sailed
Let not one life in thee have failed;
But hear from heaven our sailor's cry,
And grant eternal life on high!
Author/date Unknown
William Whiting (1825-1878) was born in Kensington, England, and educated at Chapham and Winchester. Because of his musical ability, he became master of Winchester College Choristers' School. While best known for Eternal Father, Whiting also published two poetry collections: Rural Thoughts (1851) and Edgar Thorpe, or the Warfare of Life (1867). He died at Winchester.
John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876) was born in Hull, England, and by age 10 was the assistant organist at St. John's Church, Hull, where his grandfather was vicar. He studied at Wakefield and St. Catherine's College, earning a B.A. in Classics in 1847. He cofounded the Cambridge University Musical Society. He was ordained as curate of Malton in 1847. For a short time, he was canon of Durham Cathedral, then precentor (1849-1862). In 1862 he became vicar of St. Oswald's, Durham. He published sermons and articles on religion but is best known for over 300 hymn tunes he composed. He died in Sussex at age 53.
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/questions/eternal.html
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