MY ATOMIC LIFE
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“you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think
that very few things indeed were really impossible.” 
  ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

CHIEF MOORE's LOG  (1939-1952)

I doing my research for the RECA filing, I had to reconstruct his training, movements, ships, ports of call, deployments, certifications and awards..  Many are added below for continuity.  Information regarding each ship is interspersed y year  as he is assigned duty aboard them.  A few interesting notes from military personnel aboard the ships is added as well.
1 9 3 9
Feb 7 Sworn In U.S.Navy
Training in Norfolk, VA
May 24 U.S.S. New York BB34
June: Halifax, N.S.
July Quebeck, CA & Portland, ME
Aug Portland, ME, Norfolk, VA, New York Annapolis, MD
Sep-Dec Norfolk & Portsmouth, VA

USS NEW YORK

She visited England in 1937 as the U.S. representative to the British Coronation naval review. Over the next three years, the battleship was actively employed as a training ship.  Where Dad's exposure/ to and interest in radio technology could 
have began in his professional career.  His farther was also a Radioman and cryptographer, and his grandfather a highly educated and skilled eye surgeon, who shared an early patent for Technicolor.

The "XAF", an experimental radar that resulted from several years' technical progress by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), was constructed in 1938, following a late February decision to install a radar set on a major warship. Operating at 200 megacycles (1.5 meter wavelength) at a power of 15 kilowatts, the XAF featured a "bedspring"-like antenna about 17 feet square. This was mounted in a rotating yoke that allowed it to scan around the horizon, and to elevate for what was hoped would be improved aircraft detection. This large antenna and yoke had to be strong enough for sea service, while remaining as light as possible to avoid excessive topside weight. Accordingly, the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation (then also building the Navy's first monoplane shipboard fighter, the F2A "Buffalo"), was given the job of fabricating a suitable duralumin structure. The XAF's transmitter, receiver and other equipment were made by NRL.

When development and construction were complete, the XAF was installed on the battleship New York. This work, with the antenna mounted atop the pilothouse (where it displaced a large rangefinder -- moved to the top of the ship's Number Two 14-inch gun turret) was completed in December 1938. During nearly three months of constant operation, averaging almost twenty hours daily as New York participated in winter maneuvers and battle practice in the Caribbean, the XAF's performance and reliability exceeded expectations. It detected aircraft up to 100 nautical miles (nm) away and ships out to 15 nm. The radar was also employed for navigation and in gunnery practice, spotting the fall of shot and even tracking projectiles in flight.

At the conclusion of these tests, USS New York's Commanding Officer recommended installation of radar in all aircraft carriers (whose vulnerability to surprise air attack was very well-understood), while the Commander of the Atlantic Squadron commented "The XAF equipment is one of the most important military developments since the advent of radio ...". Later in 1939, the XAF was reengineered and placed in production by the Radio Corporation of America. Designated CXAM, six of these production models were delivered in 1940 and installed on an aircraft carrier, a battleship and four cruisers.

1 9 4 0
Jan  Culebra, Puerto Rico & Guantanomo, Cuba
Feb  Guantanomo, Cuba, Mayaquez, P.Rico, St. Thomas, V.I.
Mar  Aug Assigned Naval Radio Station @ San Juan, P. Rico
Aug 22  Lv San Juan on U.S.S. Berringer
Sep  New York, Detroit, Roanoak, Waterbury, Conn.
lv.  15th on U.S.S. San Jacinto to San Juan, R. Rico

1 9 4 1 
Jan  Duty in San Juan
Sept 24  Married Maria Caradad Bolivar in San Juan, P. Rico
Sept  Short Leave after his wife Died.
Oct  Duty to St. Thomas, V.I. 

1 9 4 2
Jan  Trans. To Marine Corp. Air Station St. Thomas V.I
Mar  Wife Maria Dies (7 mo Marriage - died of TB)
Oct   15 days leave - Miami, Roanoak NYC w/Francis Carter
Norfolk VA,  Miami FL back to St. Thomas, V.I.

1 9 43
Feb Reinlist for 4
Jul Miami, Roanoak, Newark, NJ, back to St. Tomas
Sep Reported for Duty - U.S.S. Davis - Lv St. Tomas
Trinidad, B.W.I., Bahia, Brazil, 
Oct. Sank Gem Sub off Brazil, Trinidad, San Juan, 
Guantanamo, Zandrey, D.W.I. (Dutch West Indies),
Miami & Jacksonville, FL  
Norfolk, VA & NYC
Nov Commissioned the U.S.S. Melvin (DD-680)
Dec NYC & left mid-month to Bermuda

USS DAVIS
Trinidad, arriving on 17 September.
Continuing patrols for submarines and blockade runners took the DAVIS into 1943,

USS MELVIN
J. T. Melvin; and commissioned 24 November 1943, Comdr. Warner R. Edsall in command.
Following shakedown off Bermuda, MELVIN sailed for the Pacific 1 February 1944. Arriving Pearl Harbor 4 March, she got underway for Majuro 5 days later and for the next month conducted antisubmarine patrols and participated in the blockade of enemy-held atolls in the Marshalls, returning to Pearl Harbor 2 May. There she underwent intensive fire support training and 31 May departed with TG 52.17 for Saipan. Approaching that island on the night of 13 and 14 June, she sank an enemy submarine, RO-36. A few hours later, while steaming off northern Saipan, she again engaged an enemy vessel, this time a merchantman, which burned brightly for a few hours before sinking For the next 23 days she provided counter battery fire; conducted antisubmarine patrols damaging an enemy submarine on the 17th; served as call fire ship for marines on the beach; escorted ships from Eniwetok; and participated in the bombardment of Tinian.

On 8 July MELVIN sailed for Eniwetok, whence on the 18th she sailed in the screen of the transports carrying troops to Guam, off which she screened transports and oilers from 22 July to 7 August. After preparations at Guadalcanal, from 8 to 21 September she took part in the capture and occupation Of the southern Palaus, then joined TG 33.19 for the unopposed occupation of Ulithi. After escorting LSTs to Hollandia, she arrived Manus to stage for the invasion of Leyte.

Now with TG 79.11, MELVIN sailed 11 October toward the Philippines in the screen of the landing craft to be used in the assault on Dulag. Soon after midnight 20 December she entered Leyte Gulf and took up her assigned screening station between Dinagat and Hibuson Islands, carrying out similar screening patrols for the next 4 days. In the early hours of the 26th, she joined in DesRon 54's torpedo attack which opened the Battle of Surigao Strait. Assigned with REMEY (DD-688) and MCGOWAN (DD- 678) to the Eastern Attack Group, MELVIN began launching torpedoes soon after 0300, scoring on FUSO, which exploded and sank at about 0338. Following their attack, the destroyers retired up the Dinagat coast to Hibuson from where they witnessed the deadly barrage from Admiral Oldendorf's battleline.

Within 48 hours, MELVIN was en route to Hollandia, and duty escorting resupply convoys to the Philippines into December, when she returned to the Solomons to rehearse for the assault on Luzon. She stood out of Purvis Bay, Florida Island, 25 December, escorting transports to Manus and then on to Lingayen Gulf. She arrived with her charges 11 January 1945, and provided illumination and fire support as wen as screening services. Continuing to cover the landings until the 15th, she met Japanese suicide attackers, as swimmers, in boats, and in planes, with equal determination.

From Luzon, MELVIN sailed south to Leyte, then to the Carolines and a new assignment, screening the fast carriers of TF 38/58. Steaming north with that force 10 February, MELVIN guarded the flattops as their planes raided Honshu and then provided direct air cover for the Iwo Jima campaign. On the 21st, she aided damaged SARATOGA (CV-3) in her fight against fires and enemy planes, splashing three, and then escorted her to Eniwetok for repairs.

By mid-March she had rejoined the fast carriers at Ulithi, sailing northwest with them on the 14th to prepare the way for the Okinawa campaign. For the next 61 days MELVIN remained at sea, guarding the carriers, providing fire support for the troops embattled after 1 April, and patrolling on picket station.

1 9 4 4
Jan Lv Bermuda for New York & Norfolk
Feb Trinidad, B.W.I. & Passed thru Panama Canal
Balboa C.G. & San Diego
Mar (4) Pearl Harbor T.H.  
(15) Majuro, Marshall Islands
(19) lv Majuro, M.I. for stockade patrol Juliet Atoll

Apr Mille Atoll, M.I., Maloelap Atoll M.I., Wotie Atoll M.I.
May Pearl Harbor
Jun Kwajalien M.I. > Sank Jap Sub & Freighter
Bombardment Siapan, Marianas, Patrolling Saipan
Jul Bombarding Siapan (11) ENIWETOH M.I., 
(22) Bombarding Guam
Aug Lv Guam, ar Eniwetoh > assigned Radio School in Chicago.
Lv Eniwetoh on U.S.S. President Hase (sp) to San Francisco
Salt Lake & Denver
Sep  Kansas City, Louisville, Roanoak, NYC, Chicago
Nov  Chicago, Clarksville, AR (Radio School)


History:
NOTE >  The Marshall Islands Campaign.  1944. About 4,000 kilometers southwest of the Hawaii Islands, Marshall Islands were part of the Japanese Pacific empire. The former German colony was given to Japan after WW1, and had been a part of the Japanese Navy.  Battle was fought on Kwajalein Atoll.

1 9 4 5
Feb (10) Married Miss Jeanne Geraldin Fuller
Then to Ft. Smith, Tulsa, Clarksville Ark, San Francisco
Apr Pearl Harbor
(28) Transferred to U.S.S. Darby DE 128
Jun Made Chief Radioman
Aug (29) Lv Pearl Harbor (31) Son Richard Alan Moore - born
Sep Vallejo, NYC, Roanoak
Nov Assigned U.S.S. Leyte CV 32
Newport News

April 28, 1945 > Transferred to U.S.S. Darby.

1945 U.S.S.Darby  DE 218 (Destroyer Escort)
Darby sortied from Manus 2 January 1945 screening transports to Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, to reinforce the troops there. Arriving 11 January, she remained in the Philippines on escort and patrol duties until 28 February when she cleared for Ulithi to join a convoy carrying garrison troops for Iwo Jima. She arrived off the island 18 March, remaining there on patrol until 27 March when she sailed to escort transports to Eniwetok. She continued on to Pearl Harbor, arriving 12 April for repairs.  Darby sortied from Manus 2 January 1945 screening transports to Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, to reinforce the troops there. Arriving 11 January, she remained in the Philippines on escort and patrol duties until 28 February when she cleared for Ulithi to join a convoy carrying garrison troops for Iwo Jima. She arrived off the island 18 March, remaining there on patrol until 27 March when she sailed to escort transports to Eniwetok. She continued on to Pearl Harbor, arriving 12 April for repairs.

Made Chief June 1, 1945  

Darby was training in the Hawaiian area when the war ended and on 29 August 1945 got underway for San Francisco, carrying servicemen eligible for discharge.  USS Darby (DE-218), a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, was named in honor of Marshall E. Darby (1918Ð1941), who was killed in action, while serving aboard the battleship Oklahoma, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941.
 
Note: (Radiomen after WWII were not trained to repair electronic equipment, only to operate radio gear).

Nov Assigned to USS Leyte (CV-32, later CVA-32, CVS-32 and AVT-10),   

1 9 4 6
USS LEYTE
USS Leyte, a 27,100-ton Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier built at Newport News, Virginia, was commissioned 11 April 1946, Capt . Henry F. MacComsey in command. Leyte joined Wisconsin (BB-64) on a good will cruise down the western seaboard of South America in the fall of 1946 before returning to the Caribbean 18 November to resume shakedown operations.

1 9 4 7
Jan (31)  Reported to U.S.S Crescent for Duty, formerly the civilian passenger liner DEL ORLEANS, following her conversion to a naval attack transport.   
Feb Bayonne NJ, Guantanamo, Cristabal, Panama
Gitmo Cuba, NYC
Mar-Nov NYC, & Arrive Gitmo Cuba for Duty (w/Wife & Son)
Dec Gitmo, Cuba

Departing Seattle 23 January 1946 Crescent City arrived at Norfolk 14 February. She operated between New York and Norfolk on training duty in the Caribbean until October 10, 1947, when she sailed again for the west coast.  Arriving at San Francisco on November 01, CRESCENT CITY was placed out of commission in the Reserve Fleet on April 30, 1948. 

January 1, 1947
In accordance with the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, all atomic energy activities are transferred from the Manhattan Engineer District to the newly created United States Atomic Energy Commission. The Top Policy Group and the Military Policy Committee had already disbanded.

1947 in History
January - The United Kingdom authorizes the development of nuclear weapons.
June - Under the direction of William Penney, the UK begins design of its plutonium bomb.
August - The United Kingdom builds its first atomic reactor.
August 15, 1947
The Manhattan Engineer District is abolished.
December 31, 1947
The National Defense Research Committee and the Office of Scientific Research and Development are abolished. Their functions are transferred to the Department of Defense."

Able and Baker were the final weapon tests conducted by the Manhattan Project and the last American tests until the Atomic Energy Commission's Sandstone series began in spring 1948.

1 9 4 8
Jan-Dec Gitmo, Cuba (with Jeanne & Richard)
Dec (24) assigned to shore duty - AEC Oak Ridge, TN - 1st US Shore Duty in career.
KINGSPORT, TENN - Naval Training Center
AEC Oak Ridge, TN facility (post Manhattan Project)
(future AEC Facility @ Oak Ridge, Tennessee) 
Family was relocated and resided in Kingsport by the end of the year.

1948 in History
April, May - U.S. conducts atomic tests at Eniwetok Atoll.
Operation SANDSTONE - Eniwetok

Note from participant
It's been a long time and my memory has been stymied as we were told not to tell anyone what we were doing or where we were, and were also told there would be nothing in our jacket to show we were on this operation. This I didn't understand  The USS Mt. McKinley, as you can see from your pictures, was a big ship. It was the flag ship of the operation.  Only those with red badges were allowed on the top deck.
On board we were given an information paper to fill out, which turned out to be five pages front and back, a background check for the CIC, FBI, & etc. 

There were a few other Navy ET's (Electronic Technicians) in the barracks, but none of us had the slightest idea of why we were there or where we were going except for broad hints about a secret operation that we couldn?t write home about.

Joint Task Force 7 (JTF 7) conducted the test operations. JTF 7 was a joint military and civilian organization, over 10,000 personnel participated in Sandstone.

Beginning of The Chief at  Oak Ridge / just post Manhattan Project at the newly repurposed Atomic Energy Commission site at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 

1 9 4 9
Jan-Dec (6) Ar  Kingsport, TENN for duty
Apr Lv.   Pleasure trip to Washington, D.C.
Jun Lv    Pleasure trip to NYC 
(13)  Ar  Laguna Beach, CA

1949 in History
April 4 - NATO established.
August 29 - Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb, Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan. It is a copy of the Fat Man bomb and has a yield of 21 kilotons.
October 30 - General Advisory Committee of the AEC recommends that the more powerful atomic bombs should be built rather than hydrogen bombs.

1 9 5 0
Jan-May Duty Kingsport, TENN Manhattan Project
Jun (10)  Lv.  Pleasure trip to Calif. Via Laurel Canyon
Jul (3)   Ar    Kingsport, TENN
Sep (3)   Lv.   Hitchhike to Calif  with wife
Sep (7)  Ar  Naval Training Ctr San Diego, CA
(21)  His Father Dies
Oct-Dec Naval Training Ctr, San Diego - Training 

1950 in History
January 27 - Klaus Fuchs confesses that he gave atomic secrets to the Soviets while working at the 
                       Manhattan Project. Oak Ridge Facility
January 31 - President Truman announces the decision to proceed with development of the hydrogen bomb.

1 9 5 1
Howard T. Moore (RM Chief) Reports for Duty on U.S.S. ESTES in January

Estes recommissioned 31 January 1951, and after training off San Diego, sailed 20 June for Yokosuka and Inchon, where from 25 July to 6 August, she served as flagship for Vice Admiral I. N. Kiland, Commander, Amphibious Force, Pacific. She carried successive Commanders, Amphibious Group One, through the remainder of this tour of duty in the Far East, during which she operated off Korea and in exercises off Japan.

Returning to San Diego 19 April 1952, Estes carried high-ranking observers to the Marshall Islands for nuclear weapons tests in the fall of 1952, and in the summer of 1953, served as flagship for an expedition to supply Government activities in the Arctic.  Between January and May 1954, she again sailed for atomic weapons tests at Eniwetok, and on 6 July cleared for the Far East. As control ship for Operation "Passage to Freedom," the evacuation of refugees from Communist North Vietnam, Estes operated from Haiphong 18 August to 29 October. Between 6 and 11 February 1955 she joined in another outstanding illustration of the Navy's ability to aid freedom-loving people when she operated in the evacuation of the Tachen Islands.
 
Estes returned to San Diego 22 May 1955. She operated out of there for the next year. Between March and July 1956, she was again in the Marshalls for weapons tests, and on 31 January 1957 sailed for Yokosuka, where she provided quarters and communications facilities until April, sailing then to visit Hong Kong. She returned to stateside duty 15 May, voyaging to Pearl Harbor in July and August.
 
The next year found Estes sailing north in July to ports in British Columbia, and again in August to call at Seattle. During her 1959 tour of duty in the Far East she directed important amphibious operations off Japan, Okinawa, and Korea, and exercises off Borneo with ships of the Royal Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy. She returned to Long Beach in August, and through 1962 operated along the west coast, twice visiting the Pacific Northwest. 
 
Estes received two battle stars for Korean war service.

USS ESTES PORT OF CALL with The Chief aboard - Active Duty
Jan (6)  San Diego, CA Ð Naval Training Center
Feb Reported Aboard U.S.S. ESTES AGC-12
For Duty San Francisco, CA
Apr-May OPERATION GREENHOUSE
May Ar  San Diego, CA fo ÒUnderway TrainingÓ
Jun (20) Lv  San Diego (22) Ar  San Francosco, CA
(29) Ar  Honolulu, T.H.
Jul (4) Lv.  Honolulu T.H.
Yokasuka Japan
Inchou (sp), Korea
Aug Inchou (sp), Korea
Yokasuka Japan
Sep Yokasuka Japan
Pusan, Korea
Moji, Japan
Kobi Japan
Visited: Osaka & Kyoto
Oct Sasido, Japan
Yokasuka Japan
Murorau, Japan
Inchon, Korea
Pusan, Korea
Visited: Tokyo
     Nov Pusan, Korea
Yokasuka Japan
Mukawa, Hatkido (Sp?) 
Nagoya, Japan
Kure, Japan
Inchon, Korea
Yokasuka Japan

Trying to confirm his presence

April and May of 1951: - The Greenhouse Test Series 
conducted at Enewetok Atoll  It consisted of four relatively high yield tests (by the standards of the time) - Dog, Easy , George, and Item. Dog and Easy were proof tests of two new strategic bombs the Mk 6 and Mk 5 respectively. George and Item were the first true tests of thermonuclear fusion - the release of fusion energy from thermally excited nuclei. George was a research experiment that studied deuterium-fusion burning when heated by thermal radiation. Item was the first test of the principle of fusion boosting of fission devices.

    Dog               7 April 1951 (GMT) Ð Is. Runit, Enewetak Atoll
   Easy          20 April 1951 (GMT) Ð Is. Enjebi, Enewetak Atoll
    George       8 May June 1951 (GMT) Ð Is. Eberiru, Enewetak Atoll
    Item             24 May 1951 (GMT) Ð Is. Enjebi, Enewetak Atoll

The amount of fallout received by the six JTF 3 ships varied with their locations at shot time and their decontamination procedures. Radiation intensities were lower for shipboard personnel than for island-based personnel because many of the ships' external surfaces could be decontaminated quickly by the water washdown systems.? Some notes show washdown system was recycled contaminated water.

Abstract: The radiological environments are reconstructed for seven ships and the residence islands of Enewetak Atoll that received fallout during operation GREENHOUSE (April-May 1951) as a result of Shots DOG, EASY, and ITEM. From the reconstructed operations and radiological environments, equivalent personnel film badge doses are calculated and compared with actual film badge data available for six of the ships.  Considering the increased time spent topside by badged personnel as opposed to an average crewmember, correlation between calculations and dosimetry is good. Average shipboard doses range from a low of 0.13 rem for the crew of the USNS LT. ROBERT CRAIG to a high of 1.14 rem for the crew of the USNS SGT. CHARLES E. MOWER.  Average doses on the residence islands of Enewetak 
Atoll range. 

1 9 5 2
Howard T. Moore (RM Chief) Continues Duty Assignment on U.S.S. ESTES

Jan Yokasuka Japan
Inchon, Korea
Koji-do, Korea
(18) Ar  Nagasaki, Japan
Saibo, Japan
Fukuoka, Japan
Sackcho, Korea
Pohang Dong, Korea
Pusan, Korea

Feb Pusan, Korea
Kobe, Japan
Yokosuka, Japan
     Mar Inchon, Korea
Moji, Japan
Beppu, Japan
Kobe, Japan
     Apr (1)  Lv.  Yokosuka, Japan

LAST ENTRY IN HIS HAND WRITTEN LOG  
April Fools Day 1952



A few blank pages later finds this note:
Picture
"Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party."
OPERATION IVY

On November 1, 1952, the United States detonated a 10.4-megaton hydrogen device in the Pacific on the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The test, code-named "Mike," was the first successful implementation of Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam's concept for a "Super."

Mike    31 October 1952 (GMT)
  The device detonated in the Mike ("m" for "megaton") test, called the Sausage, was the first "true" H-Bomb ever tested. The enormous explosion was the 4th largest device ever tested by the U.S. & high levels of radiation blanketed much of the atoll following the test.  

The MIKE Test
Since scientists had limited information on how well lithium deuteride would work, they chose instead to use liquid deuterium, which needed to be kept below -417¡ F (-250¡ C). A six-story cab was built to house "Mike" with its complex cooling system. Weighing 65 tons, the apparatus was an experimental device, not a weapon. A two-mile-long tunnel that extended from the device to another island was filled with helium that would provide data on the fusion reaction.
Even those who had witnessed atomic tests were stunned by the blast. The cloud, when it had reached its furthest extent, was about 100 miles wide and 25 miles high. The explosion vaporized Elugelab, leaving behind a crater more than a mile wide, and destroyed life on the surrounding islands.

King   15 November 1952 (GMT)
 The device detonated in the King ("k" for "kiloton") test was dropped by a B-36H bomber flying out of Kwajalein Island. The detonation occured 20 feet lower than planned, with a circular bombing error of 570 feet +/- 35 feet. While perhaps not the largest deliverable fission bomb possible at the time, it was certainly pushing close to the practical limit.

"I was cleared for what they called a Queen Clearence, it's above top secret. It was established by the Atomic Energy Commission. They then lowered all the clearences to top secret. And for Operation Redwing I was cleared for top secret but for Castle and Wigwam I had a Queen Clearence."

1952 in History
September - A second U.S. nuclear weapons laboratory is established in Livermore, California.
October 3 - First British atomic bomb, "Hurricane," was tested at Monte Bello Islands, Australia, with a yield of 25 kilotons.
October 31 - U.S. explodes first thermonuclear or fusion device, "Mike," at Eniwetok Atoll. It had a yield of 10.4 megatons.

1 9 5 3
Howard T. Moore (RM Chief) Continues Duty Assignment on U.S.S. ESTES
 
1953 in History
August 12 - First Soviet layer cake design bomb explodes on a tower in Siberia. It was not a "true" hydrogen bomb.

1 9 5 4
Howard T. Moore (RM Chief) Continues Duty Assignment on U.S.S. ESTES

OPERATION CASTLE
The Bravo test created the worst radiological disaster in US history. Dad's Commendation letter places him here.

Operation Castle was a series of high yield thermonuclear weapon design tests. Following the initial experimental demonstration of the Ulam-Teller design in Operation Ivy (the Sausage device detonated in the Ivy Mike test) both weapon labs rushed to develop a number of deliverable weaponized designs.

CASTLE BRAVO  Surface Burst - Feb 28, 1954
The Bravo test created the worst radiological disaster in US history. Dad's Commendation letter places him here.

Discussion/Interview where Veteran knew about the fallout.

"I don't remember about that one, they kept quiet amongst the crew. They installed washdown systems on the ships that were out there. After the shots we would energize the washdown systems. They were like one huge dishwashing system and would wash all the particles off the ship. However we did find one coil of mooring line and it had 50 r of contamination and we were walking around that thing, not knowing it, until the monitors got up to it with Geiger counters and discovered it. They just picked up the line and threw it over the side.
One shot, I forgot which one, we took Life magazine photographers over to the area, and we had these big semi trailers that Life magazine had their equipment in and they took pictures and all that. Then they would have critiques in the wardroom of what went on and the scientists would stand up there in front of all those people and give them a big line of malarky. They snowed them people like you wouldn't believe. The guys in the crew didn't know all the details but we figured real quick the things they were telling the reporters wasn't all true."

BRAVO Test
Fourteen months later, on March 1, 1954, a deliverable hydrogen bomb using solid lithium deuteride was tested by the United States on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. By missing an important fusion reaction, the scientists had grossly underestimated the size of the explosion. The predicted yield was 5 megatons, but, in fact, "BRAVO" yielded 14.8 megatons, making it the largest U.S. nuclear test ever exploded. The blast gouged a crater more than 1/2 mile wide and several hundred feet deep and ejected several million tons of radioactive debris into the air. Within seconds the fireball was nearly 3 miles in diameter. 

No one was living on the Bikini atoll at the time of the BRAVO blast. However, a total of 236 people were living on the atolls of Rongelap and Utirik, 100 and 300 miles east of Bikini, respectively. The residents of Rongelap were exposed to as much as 200 rems of radiation. They were evacuated 24 hours after the detonation. The residents of Utirik, which were exposed to lower levels of radiation, were not evacuated until at least two days later. After their evacuation, many experienced typical symptoms of radiation poisoning: burning of the mouth and eyes, nausea, diarrhea, loss of hair, and skin burns.

Ten years after the blast, the first thyroid tumors began to appear. Of those under twelve on Rongelap at the time of BRAVO, 90% have developed thyroid tumors. In 1964, the U. S. Government admitted responsibility for exposing the islanders to radiation and appropriated funds to compensate them. 

CASTLE ROMEO  Surface Burst - Mar 26, 1954 Ð Bikini
Like Bravo, Romeo's explosive power far exceeded original projections - in fact it did so by an even larger factor, almost tripling the best guess yield. At 11 megatons Romeo was the third largest test ever detonated by the United States.

CASTLE KOON   6 April 1954 (GMT)
Koon was the first thermonuclear device to be designed by UCRL (now Lawrence Livermore), and was the last weapon design on which Edward Teller directly worked.

CASTLE UNION  25 April 1954 (GMT)

CASTLE YANKEE    May 1954 (GMT)

CASLE NECTAR    13 May 1954 (GMT) 

Bravo, February 28, Bikini, 15 megatons?Romeo, March 26, Bikini, 11 megatons?Koon, April 6, Bikini, 110 kilotons (sanitized out of the film as a fizzle of 1 megaton predicted yield)?Union, April 25, Bikini, 6.9 megatons?Yankee, May 4, Bikini, 13.5 megatons?Nectar, May 13, Enewetak, 1.69 megatons

1954 in History
March 1 - The first deliverable hydrogen bomb design is tested at Bikini Atoll. "BRAVO" has a yield of 14.8 megatons. Radioactive fallout affects local islanders and a nearby fishing boat.
April 12 to May 6 - Hearings regarding Oppenheimer's loyalty cause him to lose his security clearance.
September 30 - The USS Nautilus, the first American nuclear powered submarine, is launched.

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Howard T. Moore (RM Chief) Continues Duty Assignment on U.S.S. ESTES

OPERATION WIGWAM -  May 14th 1955 off San Diego Coast  

May 14th, 1955 At Operation Wigwam, the bomb was thirty kilotons--more than twice the size of the Hiroshima atomic weapon--the government succeeded in depicting it as rather small. The San Diego Evening Tribune informed its readers that the Wigwam bomb was "thought to have had an energy equivalent of 1 to 5 kilotons, certainly smaller than 20 kt." 

Participant Note: 
"At the Operation Wigwam, we were close enough, I think it was Wigwam, I had my hat blown off by the concussion. We were out of formation, now that might have been Hardtack, too.  I bet they're kind of hard to keep separate.

I feel we were used as guinea pigs cause they said we were out of formation. We weren't out of formation because of an accident. I believe it was because the skipper had orders to be in that position. That was at Operation Wigwam. I had to tear down to the generator flaps, to keep the generators on line. With out any steam, we were going round and round. I think that was the most spooky because, we were in a convoy with a bunch of other ships and if we lost steering we would have no control. We had a tough time with that one. 

We knew something had to be up, when we were all told to walk around to the other side of the ship. I was a radioman, my general quarters post was communications between the bridge and CIC and the radar room. So I was above decks for every blast, and in one way it was a blessing, because I was able to see them all. And the other way it was not a blessing because I got the maximum out of exposure.  

Did it get the ship wet?
Oh yeah, the stupid part of the whole deal is that they would tell you to go take a shower. It was recycled water, that they ran through the filtering system, the desal system. There was no way to take out radioactive contamination in the water. The systems were antiquated and weren't capable of that. They would run a gieger counter over you and you'd walk in to take a shower and come back out and you'd have just showered with radioactive water. And the same thing with the rest room facilities. On the Mansfield it was just sort of a long trough and eight or ten guy's would be sitting there and you'd have radioactive water running underneath you."

_ _ _ _
The following is excerpted from public testimony given to the Advisory Committee
on Human Radiation Experiments at their 10th meeting on January 20, 1995 in Washington, D.C
.

"Mrs. McCarthy: Tom participated in Operation Wigwam in 1955. He died an untimely death from radiogenic cancers at age 44. He was ill with undiagnosable symptoms from the age of 36. He had many of the cancers that are on Public Law 100-321, however, the primary on his death certificate is lung cancer.

During the week before he died, Tom told me about his participation in Operation Wigwam, and he expressed concern as to what happened to the other men. The answer to Tom's question and concern about his fellow military men came after his death from the death bed of Commander Purdy of the ship Marion County, also in Operation Wigwam, also dying from lung cancer. On his death bed, Commander Purdy called in a young neighbor, Ron Josephson, and spoke haltingly into a tape recorder detailing and setting down the record on Wigwam, saying, "It's too late for me, son, but I feel that we're all left holding the bag, all those crews, not just on my ship, but all those crews."

Operation Wigwam detonated a 30 kiloton bomb, more than twice the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, about 450 miles off the coast of California. I believe that Operation Wigwam was a human experiment, a human radiation experiment.

From an article titled, "Operation Wigwam: The Story of California's Secret Nuclear War, the Enemy, 6,500 Americans," prepared at the Center for Investigative Reporting in Oakland, allow me to cite from this eye witness account of the scientists and the military men involved.

The task force of Scripps scientists knew that what they were readying was an experiment and an experiment involving human life. The chief objective of Operation Wigwam was to determine with accuracy at what ranges, under various conditions, a submarine or surface vessel will be destroyed by a deep underwater atomic explosion, and second, to determine the hazards to the ship and supporting forces.

Quoting from the article, "In other words, the naval personnel being assembled for the blast were unwittingly participating in a nuclear war games experiment." A copy of this article has been given to your staff.

The area in the Pacific Ocean where the bomb was detonated was determined by the Scripps scientists to be a biological desert. My husband said that after the detonation for as far as the eye could see the ocean was covered with dead marine life. No one could predict to any satisfactory degree the extent and type of surface and subsurface phenomena. No one knew, for instance, whether the ocean would be able to contain the shock or whether the radioactive blast would explode out into the air and contaminate the surface. What kind of shock wave and what it would do to the ships was also unknown.

AEC reports reveal that the detonation did break the surface of the water, sending a tidal wave of water over 600 feet high towards the ships. Air monitors stationed at San Diego measured a higher level of radioactivity over that city within four days of the blast. The radioactivity skyrocketed from ten to 20 times normal background levels over the next nine days over the state of California.

As a navigator stationed on the bridge of the Mount McKinley, my husband, I feel, was gravely exposed to the hazard of this experiment. He was at that site for four days after the detonation.

The official report on Wigwam described the spray from the detonation as an insidious hazard which turned into an invisible radioactive aerosol. And, the Defense Nuclear Agency's fact sheet on Wigwam carefully reports that radioactivity in water from the 30 kiloton underwater device was found some 80 miles distant.

There is no history of any cancer in my husband's extended family. Not one relative has passed on from this disease to this day. His physician told me that it took 25 years for his cancer to develop, and he died 25 years to the year of this test.

When the details of Operation Wigwam became publicly known in 1980, Governor Brown issued an immediate call for the federal government to publicly release the names of all servicemen involved in Wigwam, so that they could receive suitable medical treatment. 

I am concieved right after this test, when ship returns to San Diego Naval Base, Balboa.

1955 in History
The U.S.S.R. deploys two strategic bombers, Bear and Bison.
The United Kingdom announces the decision to develop thermonuclear weapons.
November 22 - The first true fusion device test is acheived by the Soviet Union; it has a yield of 1.6 megatons. The development is lead by Andrei Sakharov.
_ _ _
In the five years since recomissioning, ESTES had added yeoman service in the troubled areas of Korea, Vietnam, and the Tachen Islands to her impressive WW II record. The peaceful Christmas of 1955 was only the third active duty Yuletide season ESTES had spent in the U.S. Even then, feverish preparations were in progress for "Operation REDWING,"  ESTES' third tour to participate in nuclear weapons testing at the Marshall Islands Proving Ground. Between March and July 1956, she was again in the Marshalls.

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Howard T. Moore (RM Chief) Continues Duty Assignment on U.S.S. ESTES

OPERATION REDWING

Estes was present at Operation Redwing >  May 4 - June 15, 1956

The Estes is (was) the center of the operation, with commander task group (CTG) aboard. A 17- detonation atmospheric nuclear weapon test series held at the Atomic Energy Cornmission's (AEC) Pacific Proving Ground (PPG) in the Spring and Summer of 1956. The PPG consisted of Enewetak and Bikini atolls in the northwestern Marshall Islands in the Central Pacific Ocean. From November 1955 through July 1957. In the Spring and Summer of 1956, we were the Flagship for "Operation Redwing" in the Marshall Islands. I think I remember that there were 17 "shots" during the Operation both at Eniwetok and Bikini.

From Veteran Interview
"For Redwing we carried some of the bombs, I don't remember how many. There were several shots. I don't remember how many shots there were in Redwing. It was fascinating and eerie, knowing all the destruction and power. 
ThatÕs true, all the shots I was on, I wore the glasses, I was cautious of my eyes. When they gave us glasses we maintained the glasses through the whole series. Even with those glasses which were stronger and darker than the glasses that the welders use. It seemed like daylight, everything was so plain and visible."

The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) tested high-yield thermonuclear devices that could not be tested at the Nevada Test Site.??Over 10,000 military personnel and civilian employees of the AEC and the Department of Defense participated in these nuclear tests. The LACROSSE and CHEROKEE tests were observed from aboard the USS Mount McKinley by 15 American press, radio and television reporters. These were the first uncleared U.S. civilians in ten years to observe an American nuclear test in the Pacific.??The AEC's progress in miniaturization of warheads had accelerated to where the equivalent of the nearly 90-ton weight of the MIKE device in Operation IVY could now be dropped from a bomber. Operation REDWING also further advanced the AEC's designs of nuclear weapons that would produce reduced fallout and provided new information for the design of nuclear warheads for missiles.  Complete weapons systems were exposed to blast effects in Operation REDWING, and a fallout computer was successfully used for the first time. The series included the CHEROKEE test, the first airdrop by U.S. of a thermonuclear weapon.

Tests comprising the 1956 Operation REDWING were as follows:
LACROSSE, May 4, Enewetak (Runit Island), surface, weapons related, 40 kilotons (kt)
CHEROKEE, May 20, Bikini (near Nam Island), airdrop, weapons related, 3.8 megatons (Mt) (allowed scientists to make some unique measurements)??ZUNI, May 27, Bikini (Eneman Island), surface, weapons related, 3.5 Mt??YUMA, May 27, Enewetak (Aomon Island), tower, weapons related, 190 tons??ERIE, May 30, Enewetak (Runit Island), tower, weapons related, 14.9 kt??SEMINOLE, June 6, Enewetak (Boken Island), surface, weapons related, 13.7 kt??FLATHEAD, June 11, Bikini (off Iroij Island), barge, weapons related, 365 kt??BLACKFOOT, June 11, Enewetak (Runit Island), tower, weapons related, 8 kt??KICKAPOO, June 13, Enewetak (Aomon Island), tower, weapons related, 1.49 kt??OSAGE, June 16, Enewetak (near Runit Island), airdrop, weapons related, 1.7 kt??INCA, June 21, Enewetak ( Lujor Island), tower, weapons related, 15.2 kt??DAKOTA, June 25, Bikini (off Iroij Island), barge, weapons related, 1.1 Mt??MOHAWK, July 2, Enewetak (Eleleron Island), tower, weapons related, 360 kt??APACHE, July 8, Enewetak (off Dridrilbwij Island), barge, weapons related, 1.85 Mt??NAVAJO, July 10, Bikini (off Iroij Island), barge, weapons related, 4.5 Mt??TEWA, July 20, Bikini (off Nam Island), barge, weapons related, 5 Mt??HURON, July 21, Enewetak (off Dridrilbwij Island), barge, weapons related, 250 kt??This formerly secret film was produced through the top secret Lookout Mountain Laboratory, located in the Hollywood Hills of California, under the joint command of the United States Air Force and the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP).??The intention of this film was a derivative technical report for viewing by top secret oversight committees of United States Congress and as a project film archive of the United States military.?

Note from Veteran
Thats true, all the shots I was on, I wore the glasses, I was cautious of my eyes. When they gave us glasses we maintained the glasses through the whole series. Even with those glasses which were stronger and darker than the glasses that the welders use. It seemed like daylight, everything was so plain and visible.

I agree with the comment from Cecil (Cecil Herald, Crossroads section) about not being able to relate to friends and neighbors. They simply do not understand because the nuclear detonations we experienced there are not describable to people not there, since there are virtually no words to describe the experience.
I haven't made any effort to obtain any exposure records. I'm not sure they exist. We wore dosimeters and film badges. The dosimeters were a visual indicator of the level of radioactive fallout being measured on a paper like material in a plastic holder. As the level of radioactivity increased, the dosimeter color would change from a pale blue color to a pink. The more pink, the higher the level of radiation.

A few hours (about 5 or 6) after the Cherokee shot, we were playing softball and drinking beer on the island of Bikini, which was about 20 or 25 miles from ground zero. The mushroom cloud had spread out for hundreds of miles. Someone noticed a change in color of the film badge of a shipmate. We all checked ours and saw the same thing. About this time, the ship's whistle and fog horn began to sound. This is an alert to return to the ship immediately. The ship was closed completely. All doors, hatches and ventilation systems were closed. Being in warm tropical water, the temperature inside the ship immediately began to increase to the point of sailors unable to work. Sailors were laying everywhere after a few hours. The ship was steaming out from underneath the fallout from the mushroom cloud. We didn't have fresh air until early the next morning.

In the radio room, where I was a supervisor, the communications equipment generated a lot of heat. There were many receivers (vacuum tubes) which consumed several hundred watts each. All but the most critical communication circuits were shut down. Fans were turned on the workers. All unnecessary personnel were relieved of duty and sent to their berthing compartments.

I remember Cherokee well!
For each detonation, all personnel were topside. No one was left below decks. The ship was parallel to ground zero. The distance varied with the anticipated yield of the device. Most detonations were scheduled for 6:06 AM. At this hour, it was dark at sea level, but daylight at 30 or 40 thousand feet. This provided for illumination of the stem of the mushroom cloud as it rose through this elevation.

We were seated on the deck of the ship, on the ground zero side, facing away from ground zero, with our eyes buried in our elbows. The fleet communication system counted down the time. At zero hour, the flash of light was so bright, you could see the extreme brilliance through your arm, but the light was too dazzling to see any bone content as you might think.

After a couple minutes, we were allowed to turn and view the detonation. Most of us took an early peek. It only dazzled us. We could only see spots in front of our eyes for a while. Akin to having a bright flash bulb flashed a few inches in front of your eyes.

Based on the distance from ground zero, the arrival of the shock wave was broadcast over the fleet intercom, "The shock wave will hit the ships in the number two ring in ten seconds, nine, eight, etc..."

You could see the shock wave racing across the surface of the ocean. The shock wave was a strong gust of wind, accompanied by a roaring sound (akin to a water fall) and a warm rush of air (not hot). The strength of the shock wave was adequate to slam hatches left open on the ship, or would knock a person off their feet if not anticipating it.
Fallout (no pun) from these tests include sensitivity to cancer and cancer related problems. For that reason, although I am now and always have been healthy, I like to keep track of my peers from those tests."
_ _ _ _ 
Note: Plan of the day
SHIP'S ROUTINE

Carry out the regular IN PORT routine except as modified below:
0500 - Reville - Coffee.
0530 - Set condition able in Gas Tight enevelope, except for access doors and force ventilation system.
0545 - Quarters for muster "Count Down Parade". Division Officers insure that each person is wearing film badge and dosimeter - conduct Radsafe lecture.
0604 - All personnel will sit down on deck & those not wearing goggles will then face away from detonation site with eyes closed and face covered with arms.
0606 - "H" Hour - 0626 is alternate "H" Hour.
At H plus 10 seconds, all hands may turn to view the phenomina.
Keep firm footing, the shock wave will pass in about 2 minutes.
0700 - Catholic Mass and Rosary in the Library.
0800 - Turn to, commence ship's work. All hands not actually required top-side, remain below decks.
1030 - (About) Return to Bikini and moor to buoy.

_ _ _ _ Howard is now on Shore Duty in Bainsbridge, MD _ _ _ _

1957 
The Chief is with USS Estes through March and is assigned Shore Duty sometime after I am born in March, 1956. Family moves to Bainbridge, MD where Howard is assigned as an Instructor.  We arrived in Maryland in time for his son to start school at beginning of session, so he would not have participated in any Operations to my knowledge.  

May 15 - First British H-bomb exploded at Christmas Island. The yield was between 200 - 300 kilotons. It was less than expected.

July 29 - The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency is created. 

1958
OPERATION HARDTACK    
 July 2 - President Eisenhower signs amendments to the 1954 U.S. Atomic Energy Act which opened the way to a bilateral agreement between Britain and America on nuclear weapon design information.
November 1958 to September 1961 - U.S., U.K., and U.S.S.R. observe an informal moratorium on nuclear tests.

Howard is Tansferred to San Francisco Naval Base
Treasure Island

1959
June 9 - The first U.S. Polaris nuclear missile-capable submarine enters into service.
October 31 - The U.S. deploys the first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Atlas D.

- - -  DD-214 shows Separation Date of February 16, 1959  - - - 

Transferred to Class F-6 Naval Fleet Reserve 
Specialist Number & Title: RMC_P1 (2314)
Commandant TWELVTH Naval District  - Treasure Island Naval Base
Recommended for Reinlistment
6 Good Conduct Medals - No listing as to When/Where received.
 
1960
The Ret. Chief Moore  is hired by Beckman Industries as a project manager to oversee development, building and testing a military supercomputer E.A.S.E.  Another project he could not discuss.

FOR THE RECORD

THE CHIEF'S COMMENDATION FROM THE READ ADMIRAL JTF7
NOV 1953 > MAY 1954 (EXCERPT)
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The Chief's Log 
begins Feb 7, 1939

This marks his entry date into the Navy.  Like a joke, it stops, with blank pages to follow, on April Fools Day, 1952 prior to deployment for Operation Ivy.
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1942   Howard T. "Rip" Moore enlisted in early 1939 and had become a Pival pilot by the time this 1942 photo was signed to his sister.
  • WWII: Cryptography, Radio
    & Naval Pilot
    1939-1949
  • JTF 132 & JTF 7
    Atomic Energy Commission

    Oak Ridge Tennessee
    Post Manhattan Project
    1949-1951
  • USS Estes Flagship
    Pacific Proving Grounds
    1952-1959
  • Passage to Freedom 
    1954 - North Vietnam
  • Tachen Islands Evacuation
    1955 - North Korea 

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1944
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1945 - June - Made Chief  
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1945 - Junne - Made Chief  

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1948

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1951

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1952

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1954 -  Chief's Petty Officers
USS Estes

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1956 - Fall
When not on base, and without his hat, he often looked like a 'spook' and was always carrying at least on large briefcase.  
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1958 - Fall
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1959-  My Brother & I

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RMCPO Moore conducting his last Inspection aboard the USS Estes - 1959.
Following debriefing in Annapolis, Chief Moore is transferred to San Francisco Naval Base Treasure Island as an F-6 Naval Fleet Reserve.

DD-214 shows Separation Date of February 16, 1959 in to what turned out to be a very busy and active 'Retirement."  Commandant TWELVTH Naval District - 6 Good Conduct Medals .
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Jeanne & The Chief Early 60's 
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1989 - weeks before The Chief passed
Knowing it was the last beach he would be able to visit, we contemplated quietly upon the ocean for the last time.  Still silenced by the Q-Clearances, you could tell he was reflecting upon decades and detonations at sea and the consequences for us all.
  
At 69 he looked 85 - the tests, procedures and treatments had taken their toll.  Her ashes were cast into the ocean at the same coordinates his were 3 years earlier.
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The Chief's Petty Officer's Pledge

  • I AM A CHIEF PETTY OFFICER IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY...-- I SERVE MY COUNTRY AND HER PEOPLE WITH PRIDE AND HONOR.
  • I SEEK NO SPECIAL FAVORS.
  • I MAKE THINGS HAPPEN, AND DO THE BEST I CAN DO.
  • I AM CHARGED WITH A LEADERSHIP ROLE LIKE NO OTHER IN THE WORLD.
  • I DEVELOP JUNIOR OFFICERS AND MOLD MY SAILORS.
  • I ACKNOWLEDGE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACTIONS OF MY SAILORS...
  • BECAUSE THESE SAILORS ARE THE SEEDS OF FUTURE CHIEF PETTY OFFICERS.
  • I LIVE BY THE NAVY'S CORE VALUES OF HONOR, COURAGE AND COMMITMENT.
  • I SET THE EXAMPLE.
  • I ESTABLISH THE STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE.
  • MY SAILORS ARE STUDENTS AND I AM THEIR TEACHER.
  • I GUIDE AND INFLUENCE THE LIVES OF THESE YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN.
  • IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS, I WILL DETERMINE THE QUALITY OF THESE SAILORS.
  •  THEY LOOK UP TO ME BECAUSE I TREAT THEM WITH DIGNITY AND RESPECT.
  • BECAUSE THEY NEED A LEADER, I AM THERE FOR THEM.
  • AFTER ALL - I AM A CHIEF PETTY OFFICER IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY.
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Guiding Principals of a Chief Petty Officer

No person is more professional than I.  I AM a Chief Petty Officer, a leader of people.  As a Chief Petty Officer, I realize that my number one priority is to accomplish the mission.

I am proud to be a Chief Petty Officer and will at all times conduct myself as to bring credit upon myself, the command, the Navy and my country. 
I will accept responsibility of and accountability for my actions.  I will do "what is right" based on individual circumstances.

Competence is my watchword. I will strive to remain technically and tactfully proficient. All sailors are entitled to outstanding leadership;
I will provide that leadership.  I know my people and will always place their needs above my own.  I will communicate consistently with my people, be fair and impartial when recommending both awards and punishment.  I will train, guide and mold junior officers. I will evaluate people based on personal worth.

As a Chief Petty Officer I will work to earn the respect and confidence of officers and my people. I will be loyal to those with whom I serve; seniors, peers and subordinates alike.  I will exercise initiative, by taking appropriate action in the absence of orders.  I will not compromise my integrity, nor my moral courage . I will not forget, nor will I allow my comrades to forget, that we are professional
Chief Petty Officers
- Leaders of people

1956 - Born Balboa Naval Medical Hospital

What becoming a CPO means...

What Becoming a Chief Petty Officer Means To Me
BY MICHAEL G. CARBONE
NAS Brunswick, Air Operations

Looking back at the heritage of the Chief Petty Officers, their service, sacrifice and leadership:
in peace, wars and in times of national crisis, I fully acknowledge that I have an enormous obligation to anyone with the title "Sailor" to strive towards excellence.

I am indebted to many Master Chiefs, Senior Chiefs and Chief Petty Officers that guided me towards my selection. I did not get here on my own.. I will not fail them.

I am indebted to my Sailors who spent late hours with me leading them, in harsh and sometimes dangerous environments, during flight deck operations as crash crew members, and sometimes risking their lives to achieve the mission, or to save the lives of shipmates in harms way.  The whole time I believed that that I was building them..Now I realize, at the same time, they were building me. I did not get here on my own.. 
I will not fail them.

I am indebted to my family, my wife and two boys. Who stand by me everyday. They are Patriots. Each time our nation has called and their husband/Dad had to go, they stood on the pier or airport sometimes sad but always proud. I love them. I did not get here on my own.. 
I will not fail them.

Some people call this a milestone in a Navy career..  I call it "The proudest damn thing I've ever achieved." .....But I did not get here on my own.

I will be looked at as the example. I will be challenged and when need be, I will have to be hard. but always fair. The Chiefs Mess is the keel or foundation of any ship or station. I can not become weak in any fashion, but I know when the time comes when I need support, my brothers and sisters of the Chiefs Mess will be there..and I will not fail them.

Our Nation needs strong and focused leaders, solutions not problems. I did not join the Navy for the college.  I joined the Navy because it was the right thing to do. With this outlook, a Chief is the right thing to be. I am deeply honored by this title and position. I feel that I will be able to build strong and well-trained leaders who will relieve our watch.

I will be the guardian of my Sailors. I am the person the worried parents, spouses and children put their trust in to take care of their loved ones while deployed, at war or in everyday tasking. I am accountable to them. I am dedicated them. I am committed to their excellence, readiness and standards. I have to be ..because I will be their Chief.

I will do the right thing, even when it's not popular, because I am obligated by a fowled anchor and a community of loyal comrades with the same goals and customary traditions of Unity, Service and Navigation towards our Navy.
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The Chief's Petty Officer's Prayer

by THOMAS K. McCOMAS, USN Ret.

May Your guiding hand continue to instill in each of us:  
Wisdom, Strength, and the tenets of Courage, Commitment, and Honor.  
Wisdom in the hour of uncertainty, 
so that we may, in turn, provide our shipmates with proper course and truth.  Strength of mind, body and spirit, so that we may instill the same in others.  Courage in the apex of the storm, so that we may calm the seas.  
Commitment toward upholding Navy tradition & heritage: passed down from those before us, to those we are charged to lead.  Honor, above all else: for it is through Honor by which we hold ourselves accountable to all others.  In these things, as in all others, we seek Your Blessing.
AMEN.
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