LETTERS

The Basilone Story

Re: Sea Power's article, in the August 2002 issue, on the 60th anniversary of the Guadalcanal campaign: Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone's name and story were not included. Tell that to the Marines!
Richard A. Ethridge
Cresskill, N.J.

It was impossible, in a relatively short article, to include a proper tribute to the numerous heroes who gave their lives in the Guadalcanal campaign. But if anyone deserved specific mention it was, as Ethridge suggests, "Manila John" Basilone, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in action while holding the Marines' defensive line at Henderson Field in October 1942. During a subsequent U.S. War Bond drive tour in the United States, Basilone raised $1.4 million in pledges. Declining an offer to remain in the United States for the remainder of the war, he replied, "I belong back with my outfit." Gunnery Sgt. Basilone was mortally wounded by an enemy mortar round as he rallied his men to move off the beach during the assault on Iwo Jima on 19 February 1945.

Super Hornet on the Cat

The cover of the June issue puzzles me. The F/A-I8E Super Hornet is shown being readied for launch. My question is: How can the aircraft be launched when its rudders are in opposition to each other. Both are obviously deflected inboard. How can the aircraft fly with reversed rudders?

George Toumanoff
By email

Following is the explanation provided by Lt. David F. Maxwell, NATOPS officer of Navy Strike Fighter Squadron 122 (VFA-122): Although it does look strange, the toed-in rudders are in accordance with the standard takeoff configuration. The F/A-18E/F uses a flight control system described as a fly-by-wire full-authority control augmentation system (CAS). Pilot inputs from the stick and rudder pedals send electrical commands to the flight control computers. There is NO mechanical linkage between the stick and rudder pedals and the flight control surfaces. The FCC software determines what commands are transmitted to the various flight control surfaces, so the pilot is to some extent only a voting member. As part of his or her takeoff checks the pilot pushes a trim knob that sets all of the flight control surfaces for takeoff. The rudders are routinely toed in 40 degrees in accordance with these settings.

The Eagle Mutiny

I recently read Norman Polmar's thumbnail dismissal of "The Eagle Mutiny." (The Almanac of Seapower, January 2002). Mr. Polmar refers to the "Cambodian capture of the U.S. merchant ship Columbia Eagle." In fact, the Columbia Eagle was not captured by the Cambodians. That was the Mayaguez. The Columbia Eagle was taken into Sihanoukville harbor by the mutineers and it was almost two days before the Cambodians finally came out to visit the ship.

Moreover, Mr. Polmar writes about "... the death of U.S. Marines attempting to recapture the ship." Again, this is not accurate. It was what quickly became known as "the Mayaguez Incident" during which these deaths occurred. No U.S. Marines were involved in the Columbia Eagle incident, and there was no U.S. military activity required in getting the ship to leave Cambodia.
Given the fact that in an 80-word review Mr. Polmar cites two alleged events that are related not to the Columbia Eagle incident but, rather, to the Mayaguez incident, it's hard to believe that he actually read "The Eagle Mutiny."

Roberto Loiederman
By email

Mr. Polmar replies: My sincere apologies to Messrs. Roberto Loiederman and Richard Linnett, the co-authors of "The Eagle Mutiny." In the process of linking together my brief reviews of more than 70 books, while working under a difficult deadline, I apparently merged the reviews of two books, the other being about the Mayaguez capture.

The Jimmy Carter

I wish to correct the record regarding an article, "The Leading Edge of Tranformation," that ran in the July issue of Sea Power. The section on the Seawolf class erroneously indicates that the third boat of the class, Jimmy Carter (SSN 23), will be unique because of the alleged "elimination of the torpedo room." The really unique feature of that submarine will be the addition of a modified section comprised of the wasp-waist and open-ocean interface.

Lt. Cdr. Robert S. Mehal
Public Affairs Officer
Submarine Force
U.S. Atlantic Fleet

The Bulkeley Legend

This letter refers to an article in the February 2002 issue of Sea Power: the excellent account of the commissioning of the DDG Bulkeley. The article, apparently based on press releases about the commissioning, suggests that Bulkeley evacuated not only Gen. Douglas MacArthur and his family from the Philippines but also the Philippines President, Manuel Quezon. According to other reliable historical sources, President Quezon and Vice President Osmena were evacuated in March 1942 by a U.S. submarine ordered to Corregidor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Bernard J. Lavin
Kailua, Hawaii

Apparently the Bulkeley legend, which needs no embroidering, has grown over the years. Volume III ("The Rising Sun in the Pacific") of Rear Adm. Samuel Eliot Morison's epic History of United States Naval Operations in World War II confirms what Lavin and other readers have pointed out: It was the USS Swordfish that evacuated President Quezon and his family, Vice President Osmena, and other officials--then, after taking them to safety in San Jose, Panay, immediately returned to Manila "and carried [U.S] High Commissioner [Francis B.] Sayre, family, and staff to Fremantle, Australia." It was not quite three weeks later, Morison continues, that "Lieutenant Bulkeley ...[transported] General MacArthur and family, and about fifteen others ... from Luzon by motor torpedo boat." Using "devious channels," Bulkeley took his passengers "to Macajalar Bay on the north coast of Mindanao, where they were picked up by two Flying Fortresses and flown to Australia." *