I was beginning to doubt my Dad and his story about the USS Portland. I've been planning on making the "Sweet Pea" as the unsung sister of the USS Indanapolis. My Dad used to say that this was the ship the brought him home from Europe in WWII and that she went through a storm on the way home. He even claimed the skipper put together a certificate about the storm and said something to the effect, "If anybody ever doubts that you men were in a storm at sea, have them look me up."

Flash forward 60 odd years. I started to look up the history of the Portland on www.haazegray.org and there they didn't mention the Portland being involved in Operation Magic Carpet at all. They only mention her picking up some men at Pearl Harbor before transiting the Panama Canal on her way home. I was really beginning to doubt old Dad's memory, or MY memory of what he had told me. Then I found this site. http://www.ussportland.org/history.html The important passage is below.

"After returning to New York City, PORTLAND was designated a part of "Operation Magic Carpet", the massive effort to transport American troops home from Europe. On her second voyage, two days out of Le Havre, France, she encountered a violent hurricane with seas up to 100 feet and winds that wrecked her anemometer. One gigantic wave warped her bow and stove in her starboard hangar which had been converted into living space for returning soldiers. Two were killed, two swept over the side and more than fifty were severely injured. On the New York Times building on 18 December 1945, the moving news headlines reported "USS Portland Lost at Sea." Fortunately this was an error.

With superb ship handling of her skipper, coupled with the heroic efforts of her damage control parties, PORTLAND was able to limp into the Azores where the most seriously injured were off loaded and fresh water obtained. Then on to New York city."

Wow, what a story. I guess Dad really WAS in a storm at sea.

Dang Rodger, I was getting sea sick just reading the story ! Well buddy, your going to have loads of fun building that ship with memories like that.



Garry

A few interesting and frightening story HalfYank...it always turns my stomach when I hear of stories like these-- soldiers/sailors making it through the war only to die in a plane crash/ ship sinking/car crash, on the way home. I'm glad your dad made it through safely

BTW-- Aren't you old enough to know that Parents are ALWAYS right? #:-) I thought only teenagers had that problem heheheh

Thanks for the interesting tale,
Sean

Well, I am glad that the story turned out to be true, and what a story it is.....