Talk:USS Longshaw

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Military history: Maritime / North America / United States

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This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion not met Supporting materials: criterion met

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	Maritime warfare task force
	North American military history task force
	United States military history task force

commanding officer

According to a news report from Our Navy (1945-07-15) on the destruction of the Longshaw, the ship's commanding officer was Lieutenant Commander Clarence W Becker. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships article (DANFS, the main source for the article) says the commanding officer was "Comdr. O. W. Becker". Which Becker was in command?

I searched for both names to find other documentation. I found several references (best first) to a Clarence W Becker:

http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/wwii/reports/nav_m_b.htm is a list of "Service Personnel Not Recovered Following WWII, 3,186 U.S. Navy personnel with Last Name beginning with B", according to the Defense Prisoner of War - Missing Person Office. It lists a Clarence W Becker, USN, LCDR, lost 05/18/1945 – the same date the Longshaw was lost.
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/navy/massachusetts/b.htm has an extract of Massachusetts Navy, Marines and Coast Guard World War II Casualty List that reads "BECKER, Clarence William, Lieutenant Commander, USN. Wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Reed Becker, 2 Orne St., Salem."
http://www.archive.org/stream/navydirectoryoff19392unit/navydirectoryoff19392unit_djvu.txt is the full text of Navy directory : officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps, also including officers of the U.S. Naval Reserve Force (active), Marine Corps Reserve (active), and foreign officers serving with the Navy ([19--]-) (dated October 1939), and names a Clarence W Becker, then an ensign assigned to the USS Memphis.
http://www.e-yearbook.com/yearbooks/United_States_Naval_Academy_Lucky_Bag_Yearbook/1939/Page_335.html has a page from United States Naval Academy - Lucky Bag Yearbook (Class of 1939) that names a Clarence William Becker of Alton Bay NH.

I found no references to any OW Becker, except in sources with the same text as the DANFS article.

Accordingly, I think it is justified to revise the article to report that Lieutenant Commander Clarence William Becker commanded the ship, and was declared missing in action on the day the ship was lost. Based on the DestroyersOnline source, I'll also note that many of those initially declared missing in action were declared killed in action on July 20.

— Steve98052 (talk) 09:55, 14 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Afterthought: The DANFS index page says that the web site was adapted from a multi-volume print encyclopedia of over 10000 entries, converted to digital form in 2004. I would assume that it was converted by scanning. It's possible that the "O" was simply a mis-scanned "C" that wasn't corrected in proof-reading. That would explain the disagreement between DSNFS and other sources about LCDR Becker's first initial. —Steve98052 (talk) 10:22, 20 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]