William A. Wise

William A. Wise ETM-2  1943-1945 - - Submitted 11/30/07

I was aboard for the Commissioning Ceremonies.

The ship was behind schedule in it's construction at Brooklyn. Immediately after it was determined to be sea-worthy, we had the Commissioning and within 24 hours we headed for the Panama Canal and Hawaii.

A few days out and the weather got rough, the radar went out. The technicians were summoned, but nothing that was done would bring the radar back into operation. About daybreak, someone suggested checking outside. Once outside the, problem was apparent. The 'bed-spring' radar antenna was missing!

When it was installed, it had not been bolted tightly, and in the rough seas it broke loose and went overboard. Fortunately no one was injured, or even noticed it go.

The ship turned around and went into Norfolk for repairs, where another antenna was taken from another ship.

William A. Wise

At Iwo Jima, we had taken a beating, so returned to San Francisco for repairs. We were there for 42 days.

When we left the shipyard, there were men from the shipyard aboard, as many of the pieces of equipment were not functioning. After 48 hours, one of the workers claimed to finally understand what had happened. A worker at the shipyard, who had installed the equipment, was color-blind.

They then rewired (according to the color-code) the equipment and things started to work.

William A. Wise

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