World War II Database

1. Bill says:
13 Dec 2017 08:47:27 AM

I understand that the USS Honolulu made one or more trips to Australia during WWII. I'd like to know the dates of those visits, please.

2.  David Stubblebine says:
13 Dec 2017 05:54:20 PM

To Bill (above):
According to Honolulu’s DANFS entry (repeated at Wiki), she was engaged in convoy duty between Australia, Samoa, and the United States from Feb to May 1942 but the precise dates are elusive. There does not seem to be any other times she sailed to Australia so the best source for the precise dates would be her Deck Logs for these months, available from the National Archives for a copying fee.

3. Michael says:
28 Jan 2020 02:51:24 PM

From what I have been able to determine, convoy BT-200 (ie. Task Force 6814) departed "Port of Embarkation New York" (POENY) or POE Hoboken on 23 Jan 1942. TF-6814 was the first mass deployment of US troops after the Pearl Harbor attack. This convoy of 7 or 8 (?) ships sailed for the Panama Canal with escorts CA-44 Vincennes and CL-5 Milwaukee with around 7 DD's. They entered Limon Bay, Colon (Atlantic side) on 31 Jan, transited, and sailed from Balboa (Pacific side) to Bora Bora on 1 Feb 1942. CA-44, remaining in the Atlantic, did not transit the canal, but the Milwaukee did, staying with the convoy for the duration of their voyage to Australia. To make up for CA-44's absence, convoy BT-200 picked up new escorts in the Pacific; one of them being CL-48 USS Honolulu (along with 2 more DD's). Again, they sailed from Panama on 1 Feb and they put in at Bora Bora on 14 Feb to refuel. They proceeded from Bora Bora, bound for Melbourne, arriving on 27 Feb.
TF-6814 was the basis/nucleus for what eventually became known as the "Americal Division" who's headquarters was set up on New Caledonia with General Patch as CO. For more information, look up (1) Peter Dunn's website "OZ at war" [or something like that], (2) "Veterans Testimony - Ruth Louise Kinzeler" (her diary she kept while sailing aboard, USAT Thomas H. Barry, ex-Oriente) and another diary from Robert F. McElroy who sailed aboard the, USAT John Ericsson (there are a lot af spelling variants with the name last name like Erickson. It's previous name was "Kungsholn" (which unfortunately has been spelled a number of ways as well. I've assembled this information by going to Mr. Dunn's site, getting the list of names of the ships involved in the convoy and putting together all of the pieces. My interest in all this is I'm trying to determine all the names of the destroyers that participated in this event. So far I've only been able to identify the Jarvis (DD-393). Hope this helps.