Livorno, Italy 1956. Contributed By Anthony Ferrarese 02/2000.
Clic the pic and tell me that the 2100s weren't beautiful.
They took a licking and kept on ticking.

Contributed By Richard Leonhardt, South Boston Naval Annex, July 1960.
Source:  NavSource.Org

USS Charles J. Badger DD-657    08/51 - 09/52

Awaiting transportation from T. I. to San Diego in an FFT status, I would muster twice each day on a grinder's painted numbered squares.  Some "leading seaman" representing the master-at-arms force would give out assignments to keep us busy - trash picker, bake shop pan washer, etc.  You know the drill with receiving stations - didn't matter your rank, you caught it anyway.  One morning the fellow next to me (PO2) and I were cut loose for the day.  He turned to me and said "Hey, Scopes, let's hit the gedunk and get some coffee."   I was first flabbergasted, then it sank in - recognition, respect - there was "Boats", there was "Guns", but "Scopes"?  I will tell you that that World War II sailor put the United States Navy into me in a very special way.

Korean ops needed more ships with more guns. Charles J. Badger was resurrected WWII DD from RESFLT Long Beach along with many other 5-gun Fletcher class DDs to relieve the 6-gun Sumner/Gearing classes on both coasts for WestPac Korean duty.

Our officers were mainly WWII reservists; the crew a mix of regular navy and reserve call-ups.  I remember my prospective OPS boss in grays and brown wing-tip shoes his first few days.  PXO was the only regular navy officer as I remember, CO being USNR.  About the decks, there were stories of being torn from jobs, business and families, of losing everything because of the reserve call-up.  Our "fitting out" headquarters was a dirt-decked space among the piles supporting a large building at the shipyard in Long Beach.  It was dank, dark and not exactly a wonderful work environment, but after awhile we got the tools, wire rope, manila, furniture, and so many other things needed to put our ship together. Not enough though that some "Midnight Smallstores" weren't in order to fill some dire needs; there was a "walk through" of the alongside tender one evening - with an upcoming readiness inspection we were short a few battle lanterns.  Coming aboard the first time, Charley J., opened, "aired out" was - empty - almost ghostly.  I had an eerie feeling that souls were there, moving around, being disturbed by this new crew.  I packed my foot locker, made up my bunk and still thought I heard the murmurs of a past crew.  I experienced the systems used by the WWII crew - SG-1b surface radar, SC-1 air search, VF and VC repeaters, somewhat different from the newer SG-6, AN/SPS-6 and VJ repeaters in Carpenter.

I wanted to stay on the West Coast, and was hunting a swap since Badger was to home port in Newport, RI.  I found an RD2 on ****Wren, a minesweeper berthed nearby - he was ready to go east.  We submitted our chits and (I) waited anxiously (I figured it a cinch, since C.J. would get more experience in an RD2).  In that cavernous space one morning during a particularly unhappy period, someone bellowed behind me - something like a loud-mouthed challenge to my "authority".  Teed off already, this didn't help - I spun on my heel and blurted some nasty retort just as loud - and came up looking directly in the eyes of PXO.  He let it be known that I was never going to see a swap - that I'd be "around" for a long time to come.  He was right about the swap - it fell through.  Much later, months, a year - I don't remember - word came down that Wren had blown up and sank in Wonsan harbor while sweeping mines.  Number 2! 

We went to San Diego, shook down off Point Loma, operated awhile, spent Christmas eve at what was then known as the Destroyer Repair Base; later while C. J. navigated to homeport at Newport, I went home on leave.  We went on to Sixth Fleet duty in relief of those aforementioned six gun Sumner/Gearing classes ordered to WESTPAC.  In those days, there were no battle groups transiting the Atlantic to the Sixth Fleet - "small boys" sailed alone or in pairs maybe.

We had some problems in the Med trying to keep up with the tempo.  In my opinion (humble or otherwise), part of that was the times: crew diversity, morale, the training syllabus, fleet ops.  Part was history; there was the  warped starboard shaft.  We had a couple close calls maneuvering wise; and spent a good deal of time "showing the flag" out of Piraeus, Greece on independent duty.  Lousy duty - great liberty.  This just came to me ... I'd bought a ring in San Diego - gold with a helmeted Greek imprinted in a brown onyx - my very first.  This wound up a trade for Drachmas in John Bull's for enough to "serenade Fatima" - which came to nought, of course.  But we do learn, right?  Right?

In any case, the skipper almost had a problem related to the starboard shaft.  The officers investigated (including old log entries in the archives, I guess) and ultimately the fact that the shaft had been damaged during wartime and not repaired completely was uncovered.  This saved the CO from "other" action.  See Author's note, below.  

We did our six months, traveling both ways alone; but before we left for home we heard about Hobson.  Number 3!  The return was days and days of gray, wet weather with 20-30 foot seas and an ever decreasing fuel status.  A bunk aft and a watch station forward, the choice for rest was a hundred feet of 01 Deck, with ladders, torpedo tube mount, catwalks, stacks, Mount 53 and RCM (Radar Countermeasures) shack or - the main deck - mostly awash in this weather; "up and over" or direct, it was a matter of how wet you wanted to get (and I still didn't swim).  A string and weight hanging from a CIC plot board was marked around 30 degrees once during a roll to port; I think it might have been more, but I don't remember.  For those readers who don't know better, a 30 degree list for a ship is rather tedious for human navigation, particularly in a raging sea.

I made RD2 and was ordered to Norfolk (again). 

**** This site has been up almost three years and I have had no input from any source about Wren.  I am beginning to believe that Wren, as a mine craft, never existed - a galloping ghost of some foggy coast.  Is there a source out there that will provide info re ships lost/damaged at Wonsan due to mines, other than Brush and Mansfield, which I've already included in the DDK-825 page?

A fact:  Warped starboard shaft.  Much ado which almost hurt CO's career until research showed WWII battle damage not corrected.  The story (documented in United States Destroyer Operations of World War II, pp 491; by Theodore Roscoe - United States Naval Institute) tells of a Japanese boat dropping a depth charge under Charley J. before dawn on the morning watch of April 9, 1945 at Okinawa.  The blast opened the after fire and engine rooms to flooding, and "jolted the starboard shaft out of alignment, holding the starboard engine inoperative."  Later (as the sea story was told), Charles J. Badger was in floating drydock with another DD when a cruiser, damaged in a surface battle, required immediate dry docking.  Badger (and company) were fast-patched for seaworthiness and floated off to make way for the cruiser.  While other repairs were made, they apparently were not completed for the starboard shaft.

Author's note:

The history below is repeated as written.  I take exception to the dates and locations after recommissioning in 1951 and when I left in September 1952 for AD-24 (after the Med trip).  I'll rely on others to provide facts that I cannot substantiate.  I do hope that my memory isn't so warped that I created a six month cruise out of thin air - but then ... there was Newport News, "the Jeep", my visit aboard an English tanker, tasting the Chief Engineer's pipe tobacco - so strong I hiccupped immediately and for the whole night - very uncomfortable.  But these are other sea stories. 

Please contact me here - thanks.

02/05/2000 - See note below for update.  Also, see other items of interest for C.J .

History:

DD-657

CHARLES J. BADGER

(DD-657: dp. 2,050; 1. 376'6"; b. 39'8"; dr. 17'9"; s. 36 k.; cpl. 319; a. 5 6", 10 21" tt., 6 dcp., 2 dct.; cl. Fletcher)

CHARLES J. BADGER (DD-657) was launched 3 April 1943 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Staten Island, N.Y.; sponsored by Miss I. E. Badger; and commissioned 23 July 1943, Commander W. G. Cooper in command.

CHARLES J. BADGER arrived at San Francisco 30 November for Pacific duty, and on 17 December reported at Adak for almost continuous patrol and escort duty in the fog and storm-ridden Aleutians until August 1944. During this time she helped keep the Japanese off balance and unaware of the United States' strategic intentions involving the western Aleutians by joining in the heavy bombardments in the Kuriles in February and June. On 8 August she got underway for warmer waters and warmer action, calling at San Francisco and Pearl Harbor en route Manus. Here she joined an assault convoy and sailed 14 October for the return to the Philippines.

Entering Philippine waters she protected transports in the assault landings at Dulag, Leyte, on 20 October 1944, firing to drive off Japanese air attacks as the unloading proceeded. On the eve of the epic Battle for Leyte Gulf, CHARLES J. BADGER guarded the retirement of empty transports to New Guinea, but returned to Leyte convoying reinforcements in mid-November. In December, she reported in Huon Gulf, New Guinea, for rehearsals of the Lingayen landings, for which she sailed 27 December. On 8 January 1946, as she entered Lingayen Gulf, her force was attacked by Japanese kamikazes, one of whose desperate number crashed the escort carrier Kitkun Bay (CVE-71). Unloading of transports began 9 January, while Charles J.. Badger's accurate AA fire helped protect the unloading during frequent enemy air attacks. Two days later, she escorted Kitkun Bay to San Pedro Bay, where she herself took up patrol duties. On 29 January, she guarded the landing of troops on the Zambales coast north of Bataan.

After a period at Ulithi, CHARLES J. BADGER returned to Leyte to rehearse for the landings on the Kerama Retto, a key preliminary to the assault on Okinawa. CHARLES J. BADGER arrived off the Retto 26 March 1945 to guard the landings, which took the Japanese completely by surprise. This did not prevent them, however, from quickly mounting suicide air attacks, during one of which CHARLES J. BADGER aided in splashing a kamikaze short of its target. Once the landings on Okinawa began, the destroyer took position to guard the southern flank of the landings. On 7 April she joined a force moving north to meet the last Japanese naval force, mighty battleship Yamato and her accompanying cruiser and eight destroyers. However, the accurate attack of carrier aircraft sank Yamato, the cruiser, and all but four of the destroyers before American surface forces could engage. CHARLES J. BADGER continued offer fire support on call to aid the troops ashore. In the half light of early morning on 9 April, as she lay to on her fire support station, an 18-foot Japanese suicide boat suddenly sped out of the gloom, dropped a depth charge close aboard, and raced away. The explosion knocked out CHARLES J. BADGER's engines and caused heavy flooding. Quick work controlled the flooding, and a tug brought the stricken destroyer into the Kerama Retto roadstead. After temporary repairs, she proceeded for overhaul to Bremerton, Wash., where she arrived 1 August. On 21 May 1946 she was placed out of commission in reserve at Long Beach, Calif.

CHARLES J. BADGER was recommissioned 10 September 1951, and in February 1952 arrived at her new home port, Newport, R.I. From this base, she operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean, maintaining and providing services for the training of other types.   ***Her first Atlantic crossing came from 9 June to 23 July 1953, when she sailed to visit Portsmouth, England, in company with two carriers and another destroyer. On 7 December she cleared Newport on the first leg of a round the world cruise, which found her operating for 2 months on patrol off the Korean coast and in the Taiwan Straits. She escorted transports bringing prisoners of war who had elected to join the Chinese Nationalists from Inchon to Taiwan, and took part in training operations off Japan until 22 May 1954, when she continued on around the world. Visits at Hong Kong, Singapore Colombo, Aden, Port Said, Naples, Villefranche, and Lisbon marked her progress to the Suez Canal and through the Mediterranean to Newport, where she arrived 17 July.

CHARLES J. BADGER completed two tours of duty with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean in early 1956 and in late 1956-early 1957, during the second of which she patrolled watchfully during the Suez Crisis. CHARLES J. BADGER was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Boston 20 December 1957.

CHARLES J. BADGER received five battle stars for World War II service.

***Author's Note.  My thanks to Anthony  ( Tony ) Ferrarese, a later period crew member,  for some corrective info which led to my again questioning this statement in the history.   Obviously, 1953 was not the first "Atlantic crossing" - in my text above we did not visit England - this must have occurred in later cruises.  Phew! I did not have brain warp.

Dates in History after September 1951 recommissioning have been corrected (9/04/00).  My thanks for the info go to Bob Johnson, Chairman, USS Charles J. Badger DD657 Association. Those with an interest in "CJ" may email Bob at RAJDD657@aol.com.
 

USN Years
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