"THEN AND NOW", by Art Palmer

Stories from the Conversion to DER and North Atlantic era

Stories from the Cuba/Dog Rocks era (off-site)

Stories from the Pacific/Viet Nam era

Stories from the post Viet Nam/Key West decomission era

Story of The Men of Kinkaseki

Norad Nostalgia

The Gun Mount Story - Key West

Other stories:

"Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 07:57:20 -0700 (PDT) From: "WILLIAM M SOLLARS" Just found USS Kretchmer web site....I'm new to PCs....I was part of the crew of DE 329 when it was commissioned in Orange Texas in 1943...I was a Quartermaster striker...We went from there to Galveston. They took off the Torpedo tubes and put a twin 40 in its place. We spent Christmas in Galveston that year. We went from there to Bermuda for our shakedown...In Bermuda for several weeks learning how to use our hedge hogs on small subs. We dropped a few depth charges too. We did some structural firing with depth charges set very shallow off the fan tail.. It shook the fuses out of the panel on the bridge. I was at the wheel when the "practice " torpedo hit us off Key west....TBF Avengers were using us as a target ship..We would cruise east and west and the planes would make runs on us from the south. The torpedo would hit the water and jump, then go straight ....We would turn into them and they would go harmlessly past us....At the last they would go in a circle, float vertical,and a PT boat would pick them up....The day we were hit one of the torps started to go in circles as soon as it jumped..It missed us twice before it hit..The officer on the con couldnt avoid it any longer...It caused a break below the waterline and we started to take on water..The put a matress over the side to cover the crack and started the pumps in the bilge. We started to list to the port side and headed for Key west....They put us on the marine railway and pulled us out of the water,...They built a form around the break and poured concrete in it...They sent us to Charleston Navy Yard for repairs..I have a letter from Owen John Darling telling about where they went after that. I was transfered to the Naval Hosp. I had gone through the Corps School at Great Lakes. How I got on the USS Kretchmer is another story..As I look back 65 years I think it was a great experience...I think the Quartermaster rate is one of the best in the Navy. If you want info on the ww2 years i would think the Quartermaster's logs would be a great source,,,, Hope this info is interesting to you..."

Letter from Owen A. Darling to Bill Sollars


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