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The Maine Potato Incident


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I learned about this today.

Had never read this before!

 

Very cool!

 

The USS O' Bannon was a Fletcher class destroyer laid down by Bath Iron Works on March 3, 1941 & commissioned at Boston June 26, 1942.

The O' Bannon distinguished itself with not only a long service career that spanned from 1942 until she was retired January 30, 1970 but she is also the US Navy's most decorated destroyer. The O' Bannon and her crew earned the Presidential Unit Citation & 17 Battle Stars during World War II then went on to earn 3 more Battle Starts during her Korean War Service.

The list of operations the USS O’ Bannon took part in matched her service career and included the Battle of Guadalcanal, Solomon Island Campain, Battle of Kula Gulf, Battle of Kolombangara, Battle of Vella Lavella, New Guinea, Battle of Leyte Gulf, & Borneo. At wars end she along with the USS Nicholas and USS Taylor were selected by Admiral Halsey to escort his flagship, the USS Missouri, into Tokyo Bay for the formal Japanese surrender. The O’ Bannon was also the first ship to arrive home from Tokya Bay.

Throughout the course of WWII she and her sister ships, the Nicholas & Taylor, were lucky ships as the O’ Bannon never lost a crew member. The only damage she sustained was when she rammed the USS Chevalier after she had been torpedoed losing her bow and fell into the path of the O’ Bannon. This gives credence as to why the USS O’ Bannon was nicknamed The “Lucky O”.

ObannonNicholas.jpg

USS O' Bannon DD-450 with her Sister Ship the USS Nicholas

 

 

 

The Maine Potato Incident:

On April 5, 1943, O’ Bannon and the rest of DesRon 21(Destroyer Squadron) were returning from the New Georgia area of the Solomon’s after night shelling of Japanese shore installations were she picked up a radar contact near the Russel Islands. The contact proved to be a large Japanese submarine RO-34 a Kaichu VI (Ro-33 class) cruising on the surface and the lookouts were apparently fast asleep.

The O’ Bannon approached rapidly with the intentions of ramming the submarine as the Captain and officers were trying to identify the type. Having decided it could be a mine layer & not wanting to blow themselves up along with the sub, it was decided at the last minute that ramming was not a wise idea. Having swung the rudder hard over to avoid a collision with a potential mine layer, the O’ Bannon found itself alongside the Japanese submarine were the crew of the O’ Bannon could see the Japanese sailors sleeping on the deck wearing dark shorts and dinky blue hats. The Japanese sailors awoke and sat up to see the O’ Bannon alongside when the Japanese Captain finally decided that now was a good time to use their 3-inch deck gun.

The O’ Bannon found itself so close that it could not depress the guns far enough to fire on the submarine. It was at this point as the Japanese sailors ran toward the 3-inch deck gun that the O’ Bannon’s deck parties, lacking firearms, went into storage bins and started throwing potatoes at the Japanese sailors on deck. Thus a potato battle ensued as the Japanese sailors threw the potatoes back at the O’ Bannon thinking they were hand grenades. This distraction prevented the Japanese sailors from manning their 3-inch deck mounted gun and allowed the O’ Bannon to open up the distance between the two ships in order to bring her own guns to bear on the submarine. One shell managed to hit the conning tower as the sub was submerging and the O’ Bannon later passed directly over the submarine for a depth charge attack run. It was later learned that the submarine did sink.

http://shipcomrade.com/news/136/the-maine-potato-incident-uss-o-bannon-dd-450.html

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"Yeah, and though I work in the valley of Death, I will fear no Evil. For where there is one, there is always three. I preparest my aircraft to receive the Iron that will be delivered in the presence of my enemies. Thy ALCM and JDAM they comfort me. Power was given unto the aircrew to make peace upon the world by way of the sword. And when the call went out, Behold the "Sword of Stealth". And his name was Death. And Hell followed him. For the day of wrath has come and no mercy shall be given."

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Ha! now that is a story to tell!

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Vodka is made from Potatoes, that's an irresponsible waste of good booze !!

 

Interesting story though, imagine not hearing a bloody great destroyer coming alongside, its not like the Fletcher Class were early stealth ...

 

I heard them described thus:

 

It sounded like somebody was pushing a bath tub full of parrots through a shallow mud pond full of farting hippo's. :laugh:

 

(That might actually have been a British Tribal Class he was speaking about !!)

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It sounded like somebody was pushing a bath tub full of parrots through a shallow mud pond full of farting hippo's. laugh.gif
Now that's a picture I can never un-see!

 

Thanks a lot! :megalol::lol:

"Yeah, and though I work in the valley of Death, I will fear no Evil. For where there is one, there is always three. I preparest my aircraft to receive the Iron that will be delivered in the presence of my enemies. Thy ALCM and JDAM they comfort me. Power was given unto the aircrew to make peace upon the world by way of the sword. And when the call went out, Behold the "Sword of Stealth". And his name was Death. And Hell followed him. For the day of wrath has come and no mercy shall be given."

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OMG! This is just what I needed to read this morning!

 

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Wondering what a potato costs for the military. Is there a Mil-Spec for it?? :-)

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MSI MAG Z790 Carbon, i9-13900k, NH-D15 cooler, 64 GB CL40 6000mhz RAM, MSI RTX4090, Yamaha 5.1 A/V Receiver, 4x 2TB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe, 1x 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD, Win 11 Pro, TM Warthog, Virpil WarBRD, MFG Crosswinds, 43" Samsung 4K TV, 21.5 Acer VT touchscreen, TrackIR, Varjo Aero, Wheel Stand Pro Super Warthog, Phanteks Enthoo Pro2 Full Tower Case, Seasonic GX-1200 ATX3 PSU, PointCTRL, Buttkicker 2, K-51 Helicopter Collective Control

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Potato Gun

 

What they should have done was used a potato gun!

 

Ever seen one?

 

Made from PVC pipe and fueled by hairspray!

 

I was in a pleasure boat with friends who had made one.

 

We were in the middle of a lake and they decided to show me how it worked.

 

That cannon could shoot potato's at least a half mile!

It was only two feet long!

 

He shot one at a cabin and it struck the house!

 

Imagine what the one below could do.............:lol:

 

Needless to say we boogied the heck outa dodge as fast as we could, laughing our asses off the whole time!

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Potato-Gun

 

UOkcannonfull.jpg

 

pic from web of a AWESOME one!

"Yeah, and though I work in the valley of Death, I will fear no Evil. For where there is one, there is always three. I preparest my aircraft to receive the Iron that will be delivered in the presence of my enemies. Thy ALCM and JDAM they comfort me. Power was given unto the aircrew to make peace upon the world by way of the sword. And when the call went out, Behold the "Sword of Stealth". And his name was Death. And Hell followed him. For the day of wrath has come and no mercy shall be given."

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Ahhh those poor Japanese. That's what happens when you bring rice to a potato fight :noexpression:

 

 

:D

When you hit the wrong button on take-off

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How is it that the sailors had quicker access to stores of potatoes, than firearm lockers though? Life is stranger than fiction.

 

Depends. If they were early in their tour, they may of still been fully provisioned. Which means they had food squirreled away in every crevise not already utilized. So, yes, it may HAVE been quicker to find potatoes than firearms.

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Depends. If they were early in their tour, they may of still been fully provisioned. Which means they had food squirreled away in every crevise not already utilized. So, yes, it may HAVE been quicker to find potatoes than firearms.

The firearms locker would normally be locked. The galley wouldn't, and given my personal experiences with the 'small arms' issued to the Navy, many of the pistols and rifles in the firearms locker would be worn-out Marine Corps rejects (and the Gunner's Mates were notorious for separating out the ones that shot straight for themselves).

 

Potatoes would have been vastly more effective for the deck crewmen.

 

cheers

 

horseback

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]"Here's your new Mustangs boys--you can learn to fly 'em on the way to the target!" LTCOL Don Blakeslee, late February 1944

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Vodka is made from Potatoes, that's an irresponsible waste of good booze !!

 

Interesting story though, imagine not hearing a bloody great destroyer coming alongside, its not like the Fletcher Class were early stealth ...

 

I heard them described thus:

 

It sounded like somebody was pushing a bath tub full of parrots through a shallow mud pond full of farting hippo's. :laugh:

 

(That might actually have been a British Tribal Class he was speaking about !!)

 

During my six years in the USN (3 serving on a Garcia class fast frigate out of Pearl), I have heard a great many destroyers of that generation go by, if not the Fletcher class (many of the ensuing classes had essentially the same hull/propulsion as the very successful Fletchers); when you're on a ship at sea, there is a great deal of ambient noise in the form of wind, water or other liquids sloshing about, the sound of your own ship's engines (diesels are loud) and propeller wash. Moonless nights at sea are very dark (and you rarely did shore bombardments when the enemy's gunners could spot your silhouette against the lighter sky and respond effectively), so the Japanese lookouts may not have been entirely delinquent.

 

In short, if your own ship is making way, it would be hard to hear another ship until it was right on top of you.

 

cheers

 

horseback

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]"Here's your new Mustangs boys--you can learn to fly 'em on the way to the target!" LTCOL Don Blakeslee, late February 1944

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