The Roundtable
Forum
Official Newsletter of the Battle of Midway Roundtable
6 August 2010
Issue Number: 2010-26
Our 13th Year
~
AROUND THE TABLE ~
MEMBERS’
TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE:
1. From Our Archives: Attacked by SBDs!
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1. FROM OUR ARCHIVES: ATTACKED BY SBDs!
Ed. note: in the following reprint from issue #2006-46,
Bernie Cotton gives us an interesting anecdote from the Doolittle Raid.
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28 September 2006
From: FTC Bernard C. Cotton, USN-Ret
Florida
BOM vet, Mk 37 gunfire
director, USS Hornet (CV-8)
During the Doolittle Raid just prior to launch, we
were in our berthing spaces having just finished chow when GQ sounded. Our
spaces were two decks below the hangar deck and it was customary for the
midships elevator to drop to the hangar deck.
This allowed all the personnel manning GQ stations on the flight deck
and in the island to be lifted to the flight deck so they could all scramble to their GQ stations.
Well, I had
a brand new ensign assigned as director officer and as we were climbing the
after ladder to the director, two huge splashes erupted about 100 yards
off our starboard beam. This young ensign let out a war whoop and said to
me, "My god! They're on in range but off in deflection!"
[Referring to cruisers firing at the Japanese picket boats.] I had to laugh
because I had seen the Big E's two SBDs on ASW patrol jettison their depth charges,
causing the huge splashes.
Just for
info, while I'm on the subject of Mk 37 directors, that is not a fire controlman's only job.
The entire Mk 37 fire control system was maintained by
him. That system consisted of the
director which fed target position to a Mk 1A computer. The computer
computed predicted target position at the end of projectile's time of flight,
and with this info positioned the 5 inch gun mounts as well as setting the fuse
on the projectile. The entire system
was kept level with respect to space. That was accomplished by the Mk 6
stable element. The train and elevation
gun receiver regulators were also maintained by him as well as the director
radars and the 36-inch searchlights. The captain ordered them
illuminated [at the BOM on June 6th, due to aircraft returning in the
dark]
which I set up in a huge vee.
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~ NOW
HEAR THIS! ~
NEWS
& INFO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Remembering Bernie
- Link of the Week
- Editor’s Notes
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REMEMBERING BERNIE
Longtime Roundtable
member and BOM vet Bernard C. Cotton, Chief Fire Control Technician,
USN-Retired, passed away on July 29th at his home in Florida. He was 89.
Bernie had been with the Roundtable since its earliest days and provided
us with an abundance of insight on the USS Hornet (CV-8) in the
Doolittle mission and the BOM, as evidenced by the message above. His battle station was at a particularly
advantageous position on the ship, in the Mk 37 fire control director high on
the aft end of the island. He had a
view of the Doolittle launch that would be the envy of anyone.
Bernie joined the Navy
in 1938, served briefly in an old destroyer, then was assigned to the
pre-commissioning detail for the Hornet in 1941. One of the new ship’s first tasks in
February 1942 was a brief outing in Chesapeake Bay during which two B-25s made
a successful test launch from the carrier.
Bernie felt that was a little odd at the time, but thought no more about
it. He would learn the reason for the
unusual test two months later.
The Hornet was
not attacked during the BOM, but Bernie had reason on June 4th to feel deep
personal sorrow. His brother Francis
(“FX” Cotton) was an aircrewman/bombardier with Torpedo Squadron 8, and Bernie
had watched all of VT-8’s TBDs launch that morning and fail to return by the
afternoon. He assumed his brother was
lost with the rest of the squadron’s airmen that day. His depression deepened by the hour until he rounded a corner on
the ship and found FX sitting in a chair reading a comic book! Bernie said, ironically, that he could have
killed FX at the time. He then learned
that TBD bombardiers don’t fly on torpedo missions, which is why FX lived to
serve a long naval career himself.
After escaping the
sinking Hornet at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, Bernie reported
to another pre-commissioning detail, the USS Rockham (AVP-29), a
small seaplane tender assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. The ship made ten crossings to bring supplies to England, then
became part of the invasion fleet supporting the D-Day landings. After WW2 he was assigned to USS St. Paul
(CA-73) which saw extensive action in the Korean War. The remainder of his naval career included one more ship, USS
Raymond (DE-341) plus teaching assignments at gunnery schools. He retired from the Navy in 1958.
Bernie then commenced a
long career as a naval ordnance systems engineer for two corporations, during
which he was involved with the development of new missile and electronic
warfare systems.
At this writing,
Bernie’s final arrangements have not been announced, other than interment will
be at Arlington National Cemetery.
Farewell and following
seas to a fine shipmate, honored BOM vet, and great friend of the
Roundtable. His name now joins his
brother’s in the Remembrance section of the BOM Veterans List on our
web site.
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LINK OF THE WEEK
Here are “then” and “recent” photos of both Bernie and FX
Cotton, from the No Right to Win section of our web site:
Click
here for the link of the week.
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EDITOR’S NOTES
~ Thanks to Bernie Cotton’s nephew and
Roundtable member Joseph Smith in New Jersey for the news concerning his uncle.
For a glossary of abbreviations, acronyms, and terms used in The
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