Arkansas (BB 33) - Naval Cruise Book

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,vm-, Y. . , ,, A ' i 1 V -WW ,. I. .,.. ,r . ,.-. .. is , i5J5sTi,7?i7-'rl-.ii-, 1 1' Q31 Jil 'kwa-.A.1 -.--... - v - , v Y MWE WERE THERE About mid-afternoon, Tuesday, September 17, 1912, a brand new battleship, the pride of the Fleet, was commissioned amid much ceremony and speech-making. Many Hne things were said about her and many fine things were predicted of her. Thirty-two years later, after a flawless ca- reer, though still more or less unstained by the rigors of war, and despite the pessimistic pre- dictions of fcDoubting Thomasesn and arm-chair strategists, the U .S.S. Arkansas entered active com- bat and received her Baptism of Fire. After more than a quarter of a century, the 'CArkie'9 made those fine predictions come true. It was early Spring, the eve of the greatest invasion of all history and the Arkansas was an im- portant part of that greatest Armada involved. As one privileged to have been a part of that gal- lant ship's crew, let me relate here a small part of what I saw: When we started into the channels leading ultimately to the landing area, we were all keyed- up to a high pitch, and then, when D-day had to be postponed for a day because of unfavorable seas and weather, we were left hanging high and dry in an emotional pitch, having steeled ourselves for what was to come. As the weather opened up and, once more, we began to move toward the landing area, gathering ships as we went, we be- came accustomed to the electric tension in the air. We were in a constant state of alertness those few hours previous to H-hour, for we were passing through heavily mined waters all the time. As H-hour drew nearer, there was a marked and every turn of the engines brought us nearer to, we knew not what. Over in the east, there was only the faintest hint of approaching dawn. At last, what had appeared to have been an unusu- ally high horizon, and toward which I had been steadily training my binoculars, began to take on definite shapes and outlines, and I realized that it was not more water, but the coast of France - Normandy. When the sky finally began to get lighter, it did so quickly. The old saying, The hour is al- ways darkest before dawn, is certainly true, and I believe that particular hour is the darkest I have ever witnessed. During the blackest hours just prior to early morning light, our bombers began to come over in drovesg so that there was a steady hum of engines overhead. Though we could not see them, the sound was a comforting one. There were hun- dreds of them. They had been bombing the beachhead area heavily for twenty-four hours prior to our arrival. quietness about the ship, for it was still very dark, 'I'HE ARKY tgvg vvvvv vvvv vvvvv v,,vv.v.v.,.,v,vvvv,v,vv v vvvxxgt ,M , ,AL my . a ,pa iii' i..i A .i ,