DuFau: We policed each other. We’d tell a guy, “Now don’t make Big Bill mad.” He could come down on you. But mostly we just didn’t want to disappoint him. Plus, it was to our interest that everyone did his job so things would go smoothly. Like the time the guy who was water tender wanted to go “over the hill.” We were in port and he met a girl—that happened. He moved in with her and decided that was it; he was just going to stay put. He didn’t think anybody would look for him. But if the ship left without him, he’d be in serious trouble; that was desertion. We went up to Harlem to find him. But it wasn’t just because we didn’t want him to get in trouble. No. It was because he was the best at working the evaporators! He just knew how to keep those things going so we had fresh water twenty-four hours a day. We wanted that water! So we went up to Harlem and found him and brought him back. I knew him growing up in New Orleans. He’d fix our bikes and roller skates. He was just good mechanically. We needed him for those evaporators.
Captain Blackford appreciated the diverse talents his men brought to their jobs, and they respected him. His sister Sally Bruce married a naval officer, Marvin McClatchy, who served with Bill Blackford in the Aleutians. As do most officers who saw Blackford handle a ship at sea, McClatchy mentions his seamanship first. “He could just make a ship do what it was supposed to do.” This was particularly important in the duty they shared—clearing mines. But Sally remembers most clearly Blackford’s enthusiasm for the Mason.
Sally Bruce Blackford McClatchy: My husband was stationed in New York in the third Naval District before he went to the Pacific. When Bill’s ship was in port he would come to dinner. He was very proud of his ship, very enthusiastic.
Marvin McClatchy: In the navy I went into, Negroes were only allowed in the servants rating—mess men, stewards. So the Mason was a brand-new thing, and Bill was very upbeat about it. He said the men were doing a good job. He was very favorably disposed.
Sally Bruce McClatchy: Bill was interested in how individual the men were, even how different each looked from the other. He said he’d like to learn more about African history, about the various tribes, and see what the connections might be.
Blackford was determined that his ship be treated as any other and respected for the job the crew did. As a reserve officer he was not part of navy politics, and he expected the Mason’s record to speak for itself. The crew, too, were interested in getting on with their duties and resented any attempts to be “Put under a microscope.”
Graham: An officer from the Navy Department came on board to survey the guys, to see how they were doing, to monitor our activities. He was one of the navy inspectors, or observers. But when we’d see these guys coming from one direction, we went the other direction because we didn’t want to be bothered. And most of the other officers who came aboard, came aboard more or less to learn. But I didn’t like that. I was just the average guy. I was in the navy, and we were supposed to do this job. And I did it. As far as the politics was concerned, I didn’t give a hoot.
Young: ABOARD THE USS MASON AT SEA—(Delayed)—This destroyer escort is doing two very good jobs for her country at the same time. One of them is helping a number of other similar fighting ships to get vital war goods to our armies in Europe.
The other is a job which the rest of the DEs in this task force do not have the opportunity to perform. Only the USS MASON with its mixed crew—largely colored—has the chance to demonstrate how easily workable, even on a warship hunting down Nazi U-boats, are the principles of democracy when given a fair trial.
That is not the mission of the Mason on its first combat voyage. The Navy sent it out here to do a fighting job; nothing more. But because it drew on white chief petty officers and a few white rated men with prior experience on warships to complement the crew, the Navy also created, no doubt entirely without design, a proving ground or floating laboratory.
Here is being tested the ability of its men in uniform to live and work peacefully and harmoniously and effectively, irrespective of previously applied patterns of separation. Here is being produced the evidence that Americans of all backgrounds and all complexions can and will settle down to the business of fighting together against a common enemy when they understand that it is the intent of the high command that they do so.
In most respects this is just another U.S. warship. The crew goes about its appointed tasks according to the book. Bunks in the crew’s quarters are assigned according to sections in which the men work rather than their racial identity. The idea that there is any difference between the white and colored members doesn’t have much chance of advancement below decks where the handful of white sailors sleep across from, above or below Negro bluejackets.
The chow hall is another demonstration of this. There are no white or colored tables. The men line up for their meals, first come first served, and sit where there is a vacant seat to eat them. . . .
Any other arrangement obviously would carry over into the way these men work and fight together. Such an effective and high-spirited team could not exist otherwise.
What racial separation there [is] on the Mason is unintentional and unavoidable. Standard practice on all Naval vessels provides the chiefs with their own sleeping quarters and their own mess. On the Mason all the chiefs are white.
Traditional Navy policy also draws a distinct line of demarcation between enlisted men and commissioned officers. Naturally, the staterooms and wardrooms where the officers eat are separated from facilities for the crew. Again, on the Mason, all the officers are white.
A good bit of the success of the Mason in carrying out this unassigned mission can be traced to the straight thinking of the commanding officer, Lt. Comdr. William M. Blackford, of Seattle, Wash. He regards his ship just like any other of the hundreds of destroyer escorts roaming the high seas, and not as a problem child or an ‘experiment.’
At one of the ports visited a base commander told a group of officers from all the escort vessels in our task force that he expected trouble when the Mason crew got ‘on the beach’ (that’s Navy lingo for going ashore).
Captain Blackford (regardless of their rank all ship commanders are called ‘captain’) was quick and emphatic in refuting that statement. ‘Trouble?’ he said. ‘Why, my men get into less trouble than do those from any other of these ships. You won’t have to worry about my crew. They know how to behave.’
One evening while we were tied up at a base on the other side of the Atlantic, I went with Capt. Blackford to visit on another DE. In the conversation one of the officers said to him, ‘And you do have a problem on your ship.’
I thought for a moment that the Skipper was really angry. He challenged the remark vigorously.
‘What do you mean, problem on my ship? In fact, I have less of a problem than you do here. We get along swell, and we do our job without any trouble.’
‘Of course,’ said the other officer, going directly to another topic of conversation.
On several occasions Capt. Blackford had said to me with zeal and sincerity, ‘I’m no crusader. I’m not out here to solve the race problem. I’m simply trying to run a good Navy ship.’
DuFau: We took care of each other. The morale among the crew was so great, it helped us. We didn’t realize how much we depended on each other. A guy could be in low spirits sometimes; it’s only natural. He’s human. He’d get lonely or something like that. But we could read the expression on the guy’s face. One guy would tell the others, “Leave so-and-so alone; don’t bother him, don’t bother him.” Give him that quiet time to go through it. If you’d bother him, he would react pretty violently, because he was down in his spirit. But we would find some way to let him settle in it for awhile, but then one after another we’d start getting after him, kidding and joking, to break him out of it. Then he’d admit that he was feeling low. So we were able to get strength from each other.
Simple things boosted morale. The arrival of Cassin Craig as disburser made a difference. A Philadelphia native, Craig
joined the ship in November.
Cassin Craig: I came on board in November of ’44. I was one of a good many guys who were graduated from Harvard Business School as supply officers, and I just happened to be sent to the USS Mason. They did not have a supply and disbursing officer before I reported. They were very happy to have me because I had money that I could distribute to them every two weeks, and I could get certain equipment that was assigned to the Supply Department. We had a Pepsi Cola machine installed, but it didn’t work very well because of the rolling of the ship. We could use it only when we were in port.
A Pepsi machine and a Christmas service and party, recorded in the log, marked the end of 1944.
Graham: We put together a service. Captain Blackford spoke. We sang carols. I have some of the carols we sang that first Christmas. And we had a special meal. We were on our way across.
War Diary (1 January 1945): En route Norfolk, Virginia, to Oran, Algeria, escorting convoy “UGS-64” with other escorts of Task Force 64 (Captain BERDINE, USCG in BALCH (DD-363)–C.T.F.). Task Force Sixty-four consists of: (a) DesDiv 26–LIVERMORE (DD-429); EBERLE (DD-430); GULFPORT (PF-20), temporarily assigned); and (b) CortDiv 80–O’TOOLE (DE-527–Flag); POWERS (DE-528); MASON (DE-529); BERMINGHAM (DE-530); ANDRES (DE-45); and CHASE (DE-16). Escorts operating under C.T.F.-64’s SECRET OPERATION ORDER 8-44 of 19 December 1944.
Roberts: I didn’t get a real job in the navy until finally, one day, someone came to me and said, “Pack your gear in seagoing fashion.” I got on the USS Mason and didn’t get off until we got to Oran.
The navy’s tradition of marking the New Year in verse was observed by W. W. Pitts.
Deck Log (1 January 1945):
Deck Log (1 January 1945):
DuFau: We were crossing in a convoy, going from 1944 into 1945. We were asleep somewhere at sea. It hit midnight and on the loudspeaker we heard, “Happy New Year!” One guy started cursing right and left! He was so broken-hearted. Being away from home was on our minds, and the guy on the loudspeaker just sharpened the edge of it.
War Diary (2 January 1945): Screening as before. 0830–Sonar contact bearing 190 degrees proved to be a school of fish. . . . Consistent reports of enemy submarine in the approaches to the Straits of Gibraltar have been received for the past week. All necessary precautions have been taken as we are entering this area.
War Diary (3 January 1945): Screening as before. 0313–All hands at General Quarters investigating sound contact. Contact grew mushy and bearing widened to 35 degrees at 1000 yards, this combined with poor traces and erratic plot led to negative evaluation. . . . 1251–Casablanca section broke off and departed with French (PC) escorts. 2308–All hands at General Quarters assist BALCH in sonar contact. Contact proved false. At about 2100, received an urgent message from Flag Officer Gibraltar that a Mership in GUS-63 then about 60 miles ahead of us had been torpedoed at 1805 on this date. Additional air coverage for this convoy arrived shortly thereafter.
Graham: We knew there were U-boats around. Not only had a ship been sunk, but at night we could pick up U-boats transmitting to each other. Peters could identify German transmitting right away. They would transmit differently than we did. They were slower than we were, so it wasn’t what we were accustomed to hearing.
We would know that there were Germans in the immediate area. When we were going through the Straits of Gibraltar, the convoy in front of us had had ships torpedoed, and the convoy behind us was torpedoed. But we were never torpedoed. We dropped a lot of depth charges, we killed a lot of fish—real fish—but we never did get a German sub.
Watkins: When we’d go to Africa, we’d have to go through the Straits of Gibraltar. So then the convoy would have to narrow out. It would have to single out to go through. Then DEs had to stay out and screen.
Once, the U-boats got a ship in the convoy ahead of us. Then they got a ship in the one behind. We were fortunate. We didn’t lose any coming through the straits.
Craig: Off the (Atlantic) coast of Spain there’s a shelf that goes into the Atlantic that’s about 150 feet deep. The submarines could lie on the bottom there without being detected. The pressure increases as you go down, and they could go down only 200 feet, but if they could lie on that shelf, they could shut off their engines and be completely undetectable.
Graham: That [Gibraltar] was definitely a hot spot. The Germans would sit around and wait for us. Ships were sunk ahead of us and behind us. We would get that information in the radio shack. It was very narrow. They could sit there and wait for you.
Garrison: At sunset the captain would call everybody to general quarters because that was the time when the submarines were more likely to attack. We also had a gun that was called the “Ready Gun.” It had shells in it, and all you had to do was trigger it, and that would give you time to get the other guns ready. There was a crew on that gun twenty-four hours a day.
Deck Log (11 January 1945): 00–04 Underway from Oran, Algeria, to Hampton Roads, Va., screening convoy GUS-64 under orders of CTG 60.11 in USS BALCH (DD-363), in company with USS O’TOOLE, USS John J. POWERS, USS John M. BERMINGHAM, USS GULFPORT. . . . At 0010, sound contact bearing 295 degrees True, range 2400 yards—commence run. 0014–Contact classified as non-sub—did not fire depth charge pattern.
Buchanan: I was on the bridge at this time, and sonar said that they had a contact. Sonar is when you’re tracking something underwater; radar is when you’re tracking something above the water. I was on the flying bridge. There were to be no lights on, not with a sub around, so I wasn’t up on the signal bridge. I heard the sounds; I had had sonar training in the navy. I was listening, and then, all of a sudden, radar says, “We’ve got our contact.” Then radar says, “Lost contact.”
Gordon: I had come on duty at quarter of twelve, almost midnight. Within about five minutes I picked up this contact at three thousand yards. I recognized from all my training that this was a classic submarine contact. It had all of the indications. We had what we called the Varying Deviation Indicator, which showed the movement of the objects, plus we had the Doppler effect and the sound of the echo. This one was a classic. It was quite easy to hear; anybody in the vicinity could hear the echo. We sounded general quarters.
War Diary (11 January 1945): At 0010 made sonar contact bearing 295 degrees, range 2400 yards. Commanding Officer, Executive Officer and ASW Officer reported to their battle stations immediately and made all preparations for a depth charge attack. CTG 60.11 notified immediately by T.B.S. Contact was then evaluated as non-sub due to mushy echoes, narrow target, lack of bearing movement or Doppler, erratic recorder traces and no appreciable movement on DRT plot.
At 0015 made radar contact bearing 140 degrees distance 1500 yards. Sound contact was made on the same bearing at 1200 yards. This “pip” bore such remarkable resemblance to periscopes seen during training exercises that the decision was made to attack regardless of the previous evaluation.
Buchanan: Sonar says, “We picked it up. We got it!” And we started tracking for it. They called the captain to come up. Everybody went to battle stations. That was the best time. I said, “Oh, man, we got a submarine out here.”
We had been tailing the convoy. No lights, just some stars in the sky. Pitch black. And I’m listening to it. We’re finding it and we’re losing it. The radar would pick it up, find it, and lose it. And we would track right in on it. The captain kept going. The depth charges were all set.
According to the war diary, all hands then manned battle stations, full speed was rung up, and depth charges were set on fifty feet. The task group commander was notified of these details, and the USS O’Toole was delegated to assist.
Peters: My battle station was in the radio shack. Whenever we went in there, I would put on the speaker phones to listen to the communication that was going on around the ship. I heard the sonar man calling ranges and bearings. They had a speaker on their sonar equipment as well as having phones, so I could hear the echoes back and forth from the sonar as he was calli
ng ranges and bearings.
Then, all of a sudden, everything just went crazy. Guns started going off. Depth charges started going off. We had one kid in our radio shack who had just come aboard for that trip. He had never heard a gun. We hadn’t had any gunnery practice with him aboard. He went berserk. He wanted out of that radio shack. We had to restrain him.
Gordon: I had a firing button. It was my job to push the button when it was time to fire the depth charges. So just before we got to the target, I pushed the button. The first depth charges were dropped and the K-guns were fired.
Buchanan: We shot off the depth charges, the K-guns were going, and oh, it looked like a big, yellow Christmas tree, a huge Christmas tree. I’m standing up there, and I’m forty feet off the water on a ship, a fourteen-hundred-ton ship, and I feel like somebody hit me with a baseball bat under my feet. And I was stuck on top of it. We dropped all these depth charges, and they’re going off all over the place. And we hit it. Now you want to hit a submarine. You want to crash into it. If you got one, you want to make sure it’s a kill.
Farrell: We aimed for him, were going to ram him, because we had a reinforced bow. We sent out the hedgehogs. We went in to ram and hit this thing. A millisecond before we hit, they rolled a full pattern of depth charges, which is eleven depth charges.
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