Updated 23 February 2011: Battle of Casablanca

Thanks to our friend, Bob Carbone (BOBC-59), for the material on this page.  Bob has recently battled back from some health issues and all of his friends wish him continued improvement.  

Bob served aboard the USS Massachusetts and is a plank owner.   He has been a frequent and welcome contributor to the Battleship vs. Battleship Forum on Navweaps.com and everyone there is looking forward to more of his posts as soon as he's up to it.  [Looks like all those good thoughts worked!]

For more about what Bob did (in his own words) and the responsiblities of a sailor with a water tender rate on active duty, read this at the bottom of the page.

The following PDF files detail the daily activities aboard the USS Massachusetts from 25 October, 1942 through 31 December 1945.   Information such as ship movement, drills, battle action, enemy activity, refueling, restocking of food, supplies and ammunition, visits by various Admirals and strategies are included. 

The files are split up by dates and have been optimized for search, so you can find a particular date or event very easily.  For instance, you could search for 'enemy' or 'general quarters' to find related entries.

These files require the free Adobe reader or browser add in to view.  If you cannot open these files, you can download and install the free reader.  Be sure to select the version for your operating system. (Windows Vista, XP, Mac, Linux, etc.)

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13 November 1942 Battle of Casablanca  3mb

4 December 1942 through 4 July 1943  7.1mb

5 July 1943 through 25 November 1943  7.6 mb

26 November 1943 through 12 September 1944  5.8 mb

13 September 1944 through 11 November 1944  4.9 mb

12 November 1944 through 31 December 1945  5.7 mb

When I was oil/waterking my main duties were keeping the ship on an even keel and keeping the fire rooms' service tanks ready.  I also tested the boiler water for the right salinity and Ph.  I kept the fresh water for every day use at the proper salinity,  transfered fuel oil from storage to boiler room service tanks, moved around ballast for trimming.  Also ran tests like flash point, viscosity etc. on newly received fuel oil . After I made 2nd class I went into fire room for duty on the lower level as feed pump and service pump operator or on the upper level as check valve operator. 

That is a rough one to keep the boiler water at a constant half way mark.  It will vary a bit on a zigzag, or really vary on a speed change up /down.  When I made 1/C was P.O. in charge of shift if no chief was around.  When in port, if we had hotel duty or not, we did our own maintainance, like cleaning fire side and/or water side, repairing firebox and replacing leaking water tubes in boiler/condensers. We did everything that needed to be done to be battle ready at all times.  Fire room #3 was my battle station also.  It was water check #5 and #6 boilers.

That's what a water tender rate duties were  in a nut shell: anything to do with the operation of fire room and water, fuel oil and ballast.  When I got out my rank was WT1c.  I probably left out some duties but, hell, it was 60 odd years ago.

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