--S. E. Smith
From: The United States Navy in World War II
Preface to Part III: Chapter 5: Taking aboard Lexington's Survivors
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Online Library of Selected Images:
-- PEOPLE -- UNITED STATES --
Commander Howell M. Forgy, USN (ChC), (1908-1972)
Howell Maurice Forgy was born on 18 January 1908. He played football at Muskingum College, in Ohio, and was later ordained as a Presbyterian minister. Commissioned in the Navy's Chaplain Corps as a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) in October 1940, he was serving in the heavy cruiser New Orleans during the 7 December 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor. When men of the ship's ammunition party were growing tired from their efforts, Chaplain Forgy encouraged them with the words "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, boys". This phrase inspired the immensely popular wartime song "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition", written by Frank Loesser and recorded by Kay Kyser.Chaplain Forgy served through the remainder of the Second World War, reaching the rank of Commander in November 1945. He retired in May 1946 and returned to the civilian ministry. The Reverend Howell M. Forgy died in Glendora, California, in January 1972.
This page features our only view of Chaplain Howell M. Forgy, USN.
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| Photo #: 208-N-5203 Lieutenant Howell M. Forgy, USN(ChC) Photograph taken circa 1942-43. He is credited with originating the phrase "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition" while encouraging sailors in action during the Pearl Harbor attack, 7 December 1941. Soon thereafter, it became the title and theme of a popular song. Photograph from the Office of War Information collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 88KB; 515 x 765 pixels |  |
USS New Orleans:
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USS New Orleans (CA-32)
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| Career (US) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS New Orleans |
| Namesake: | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Builder: | New York Navy Yard |
| Laid down: | 14 March 1931 |
| Launched: | 12 April 1933 |
| Commissioned: | 15 February 1934 |
| Decommissioned: | 10 February 1947 |
| Struck: | 1 March 1959 |
| Nickname: | NO Boat |
| Honors and awards: |  17 Battle Stars |
| Fate: | Scrapped in 1959 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | New Orleans class heavy cruiser |
| Displacement: | 9,950 tons |
| Length: | 574 ft (175 m) (waterline); 588 ft 2 in (179.27 m) (overall) |
| Beam: | 61 ft 9 in (18.82 m) |
| Draft: | 19 ft 5 in (5.92 m) (mean); 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) (maximum) |
| Installed power: | 107,000 ihp (80,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 4 × Westinghouse geared turbines, 8 × Babcock and Wilcox boilers, 4 × shafts |
| Speed: | 32.7 kn (37.6 mph; 60.6 km/h) |
| Capacity: | Fuel oil: 1,650 tons |
| Complement: | 876 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 9 × 8"/55 cal guns (3x3) 8 × 5"/25 cal guns[1] 8 × .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns |
| Armor: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 4 × floatplanes |
| Aviation facilities: | 2 × catapults |
USS New Orleans (CA-32) (formerly CL-32) was a United States Navyheavy cruiser, the lead ship of her class. The New Orleans class were the last U.S. cruisers built to the specifications and standards of theWashington Naval Treaty of 1922. Such ships, with a limit of 10,000 tons standard displacement and 8-inch calibre main guns may be referred to as "treaty cruisers." The term "heavy cruiser" was not defined until the London Naval Treaty in 1930.
Contents
[hide]Inter-war period[edit]
USS New Orleans keel was laid on 14 March 1931 at the New York Navy Yard, commonly known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The ship was launched on 12 April 1933, sponsored by Cora S. Jahncke, a native ofNew Orleans, Louisiana and daughter of Ernest L. Jahncke, a civil engineer and president of the Jahncke Shipbuilding Co. in New Orleans. Jahncke had served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the administration of President Herbert Hoover, returning to private life in March 1933 with the inauguration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. New Orleans was commissioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yardon 15 February 1934, with Captain Allen B. Reed the first commander of the 876-man heavy cruiser. Attending the commissioning ceremonies were Rear Admiral Yates Stirling, Jr., Commandant of the New York Naval Yard and former Assistant Navy Secretary Jahncke. Among New Orleans's junior officer plankowners in 1934 were Jahncke's son, Ensign E.L. Jahncke, Jr. and Ensign T.H. Moorer, who as Admiral Thomas H. Moorer was Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) from 1967–1970 andChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1970–1974.
The New Orleans was lead ship in her class of seven heavy cruisers that collectively saw extensive service in all major engagements in thePacific theater during World War II. New Orleans-class cruisers earned more than sixty battle stars during World War II. New Orleans herself received 17 battle stars, placing her among the top four highest decorated ships of World War II, along with two of her sister ships,USS San Francisco (CA-38) and USS Minneapolis (CA-36).
Under Captain Reed's command that ended on 30 August 1935, USSNew Orleans made a shakedown Transatlantic crossing to Great Britainand Scandinavia in May and June 1934. New Orleans made ports of call and was greeted by thousands at Stockholm, Sweden, Copenhagen, Denmark, Amsterdam, Netherlands and Portsmouth, England, returning to New York on 28 June. On 5 July, New Orleans sailed to Balboa, Panama, the western entrance to the Panama Canal to rendez-vous with the heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30), carrying PresidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt, on a nearly 12,000 nmi. cruise to Hawaii and an exercise with the United States Airship Macon and her aircraft off the California coast.
New Orleans reached Honolulu, Hawaii on 26 July 1934 and Astoria, Oregon on 2 August, where the cruise ended. New Orleans sailed at once for Panama and Cuba, stopping at San Pedro, California on 7 August 1934. She exercised off New England into 1935, then visited her namesake city at the end of March while en route to join United States Fleet Scouting Force Cruiser Division 6 (CruDiv 6) based out of San Pedro and operating along the coast of California and the eastern Pacific. New Orleans was open for public viewing while visiting the"Crescent City" and thousands of citizens visited the ship during the time she was berthed there. Shortly after arriving at San Pedro, the cruiser participated in Fleet problem XVI from April 29 to June 10. It was the largest mock battle ever staged and conducted in five separate stages over five million square miles of the North Central Pacific between Midway, Hawaii, and the Aleutian Islands, involving 321 vessels and 70,000 men. In June New Orleans visited San Diego for the first-ever Fleet Week, one of 114 American warships in the "mightiest fleet ever assembled under the U.S. flag" for the California Pacific International Exposition.
New Orleans returned to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York where she was dry-docked for maintenance from 20 August to 7 December 1936. Early in 1937, she was once more in the Pacific. Aside from winter training in the Caribbean early in 1939, she served out of California ports until joining the Hawaiian Detachment on 12 October 1939, for exercises, training, and, as war drew close, vigilant patrol.
World War II[edit]
Moored in Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, New Orleans was taking power and light from the dock, her engines under repair. With yard power out during the attack, New Orleans' engineers fought to raise steam, working by flashlight, while on deck men fired on the Japanese attackers with rifles and pistols. The crew was forced to break the locks on the ammunition ready boxes as the keys couldn't be located, and because the ship was taking power from the dock, the 25 cal AA gun had to be aimed and fired manually. The gunners topside were ducking machine gun bullets and shrapnel, training their guns by sheer guts and sweat, as they had no ammunition other than the few shells in their ready boxes. The ammunition hoists did not have power making it nearly impossible to get more ammunition topside to the gun crews. The 54 lb (24 kg) shells had to be pulled up the powerless hoists by ropes attached to their metal cases. Every man with no specific job at the moment formed ammunition lines to get the shells to the guns. A number of her crew were injured when a fragmentation bombexploded close aboard. New Orleans suffered no severe damage during the attack.
1942[edit]
Before having the engine work complete at Pearl Harbor the cruiser convoyed troops to Palmyra and Johnston Atolloperation on only three of her four engines; she then returned to San Francisco on 13 January 1942 for engineering repairs and installation of new search radar and 20 mm guns. She sailed on 12 February, commanding the escort for a troop convoy to Brisbane; from Australia she screened a convoy to Nouméa, and returned to Pearl Harbor to join Task Force 11 (TF 11).
Battle of Coral Sea[edit]
TF 11 sortied on 15 April to join the Yorktown task force southwest of the New Hebrides. It was this joint force, together with a cruiser-destroyer group, which won the Battle of the Coral Sea on 7–8 May, driving back a southward thrust of the Japanese which threatened Australia and New Zealand and their seaborne life lines. This mighty duel of carrier aircraft was not without price, Lexington was mortally wounded and New Orleans stood by, her men diving overboard to rescue survivors and her boat crews closing the burning carrier, oblivious to the dangers of flying debris and exploding ordnance as they saved 580 of Lexington's crew who were landed at Nouméa. New Orleans then patrolled the eastern Solomons until sailing to replenish at Pearl Harbor.
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