Attack Transport; The Story Of The U.S.S. Doyen Illustrated Edition
(Includes the Second World War In The Pacific Illustration...)
Includes the Second World War In The Pacific Illustration Pack – 152 maps, plans and photos.
“Among the auxiliary classes of the Navy List are two that carry not only an “auxiliary” but also a “combatant” classification letter. These are the attack transports (APA’s) and the attack cargo vessels (AKA’s). Without belittling the importance of LST’s, LSM’s, LCT’s, and other small types used in the maritime transportation of men and freight, it is the APA’s and the AKA’s that carry the bulk of the troops and equipment to the bloody assault beaches of our overseas landings. They are the backbone of the Amphibious Forces. These ships arrive with the initial amphibious attacks and continue their support throughout the fighting. Unarmored and with small fire power, they yet carry a great weapon that is war’s one essential combat element: the troops that fight on the ground.
In war, transports seldom rest. Between assaults, on long and dreary voyages they carry out to distant bases replacement and service troops and freight, and carry back to home ports our casualties and essential war materials. They are the unsung, battle-scarred work horses of the Navy.
Transport life was mainly on a humdrum level that had occasional peaks of furious battle. Morale was always high. The resourceful crews of these ships made up for lack of experience through native ingenuity, shining courage, and an eager offensive spirit.
As modestly portrayed in Attack Transport, these truly combatant naval vessels of the Amphibious Forces did their share in winning the war.
God bless them and the splendid Americans who worked and fought them!”-Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner.
Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, commonly known as Admiral Kelly Turner was a naval officer.
Background
Richmond Turner was born in Portland, Oregon on May 27, 1885, to Enoch and Laura Francis (née Kelly) Turner. His father alternated between being a rancher and farmer, and working as a printer in both Portland (for The Oregonian with his older brother Thomas) and Stockton, California (where he owned a small print shop). Young Richmond would spend most of his childhood in and around Stockton, with a brief stop in Santa Ana.
Education
Richmond Turner graduated from Stockton High School in 1904.
He was appointed to the U. S. Naval Academy from California's sixth district, his name put forward by Congressman James C. Needham, in 1904. He graduated on June 5, 1908.
Then was assigned to the Naval Ordnance School. He finished his training in 1916.
From 1935 to 1938, Turner was at the Naval War College (he was promoted to captain in 1935), first as a student in the senior course and subsequently as a faculty member.
Career
He joined the line of the navy with the rank of passed midshipman. He was commissioned an ensign two years later.
Upon completion of five years of sea duty in 1913, more than half of it spent on the armored cruiser West Virginia, Turner was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade) and spent the following three years in gunnery billets on three different battleships. None of the ships saw combat in World War I.
Turner, who had been promoted to (temporary) lieutenant commander in 1917, spent 1919-1922 as ordnance design officer at the naval gun factory in Washington, D. C. He next returned to sea as gunnery officer of the battleship California and then as fleet gunnery officer on the staff of Admiral Newton McCully, commander of the Scouting Fleet in the Atlantic.
At this point Turner's career suffered a setback: McCully requested his reassignment, saying he would want the brilliant and efficient, but often tactless, Turner at his side in the event of war--but in the meantime he wanted him elsewhere.
Upon his separation from McCully's staff, Turner was put in command of the destroyer Mervine (1924 - 1925). The ship earned high marks for battle efficiency under Turner, who was promoted to commander in 1925.
Turner apparently learned to moderate his outspoken ways, for his career progressed steadily in the next decade. He served from 1925 to 1927 as a section head in the Bureau of Ordnance and then transferred to naval aviation. (He had long been impressed by the combat potential of aircraft. )
After earning his pilot's wings in 1927, he headed the aircraft squadron of the Asiatic Fleet in Manila (1928 - 1929) and then did a two-year stint as chief of the Plans Division of the Bureau of Aeronautics. In 1931-1932, Turner attended the Geneva Disarmament Conference as adviser on naval aviation matters to the American delegation.
Between December 1932 and June 1934 he was executive officer of the carrier Saratoga; he then was named chief of staff to Vice Admiral Henry Butler, commander of the Aircraft Battle Force.
Although he remained a partisan of air power, he requested a return to the surface fleet and was given command of the heavy cruiser Astoria upon completing his tour at the War College.
Turner was ordered to Washington in 1940 to become director of war plans in the Office of Naval Operations, a position he held until early 1942. During this time Turner, who was promoted to rear admiral in January 1941, was in frequent contact with Admiral Harold Stark, chief of naval operations. The possibility of war with Japan was often a topic of discussion between them. Although he at one time believed the Japanese might attack Pearl Harbor, Turner gave no special thought to the likelihood of a surprise attack on the Hawaiian base when he conferred with Stark on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. When questioned later about the events of December 7, Turner retorted, "Why weren't I and a lot of others smarter than we were? . You find out the answers and let me know. "
Turner remained in Washington for some six months after the war began, first as director of war plans and then as assistant chief of staff to Admiral Ernest J. King, commander in chief, U. S. Fleet.
In July 1942, King ordered him to the Pacific, to head the amphibious forces in the planned attack on Guadalcanal and Tulagi. Turner had no firsthand experience with the landing of troops on enemy-occupied territory, but he soon became a highly successful practitioner of this complex type of warfare, which requires close coordination of naval, air, and ground forces and the maintenance of reliable logistic support for them.
His own flagship, the McCawley, was sunk by a Japanese submarine in 1943. Although Allied forces suffered severe setbacks during the protracted Guadalcanal campaign, particularly at Savo Island (August 1942), where four Allied cruisers were sunk, Turner's reputation for getting the difficult job done survived.
He subsequently presided over the invasions of many Japanese-held islands: New Georgia in the Solomons; Makin and Tarawa in the Gilberts; Kwajalein in the Marshalls; Saipan and Guam in the Marianas; Iwo Jima; and Okinawa, where more than 1, 000 ships were under his command.
Promoted to vice admiral in 1944 and admiral in 1945, Turner accepted ever greater responsibilities, ending the war as commander of amphibious forces, Pacific Fleet.
At the end of the war, Turner was within two years of retirement. He served his final tour (1945 - 1947) as a member of the Military Staff Committee at the United Nations and then retired to Monterey, Calif. , where he died on February 12, 1961.
(Includes the Second World War In The Pacific Illustration...)
Views
Quotations:
"If you don't have losses, that means you aren't doing enough, " he once said.
Personality
Turner's planning abilities and his aggressive temperament made him an ideal amphibious commander.
Quotes from others about the person
Samuel Eliot Morison wrote of him: "Schooled by adversity at Guadalcanal and Tarawa, he was not spoiled by success in the Marshalls. He had learned more about warfare than anyone else ever had, or probably ever would. "
Connections
On August 3, 1910, he married Harriet "Hattie" Sterling in Stockton. They had no children.
At Harriet Turner's request he began using Kelly as his first name.