Talk:USS Majaba

DANFS date of torpedoing is unlikely

The DANFS narrative gives a 7 November date and then with no mention of a later date notes torpedoing at 0930. The transcribed Deck Log and War Diary for USS Denver for November clearly shows Majaba mooring alongside on 18 November and casting off to moor alongside another vessel 20 November. That is not likely a torpedoed hulk mooring, unloading ammunition and shifting moor as there is no mention of towing vessels which would be unusual for such a maneuver. Further Lansdowne and Woodworth were screening fast carriers at Rabaul during the time given. Woodworth did not detatch from the task group until 16 November to go to Guadacanal. Lansdowne is shown in the Denver log for 16 November:

"0902 U.S.S. WOODWORTH, stood in and moored alongside tanker."

"1354 Following ships stood in and anchored in berth assigned: U.S.S. ST. LOUIS, FARNHOLT, LANSDOWNE."

The log reports all ships present in the anchorage at the start of each day. It appears the first time all three, Majaba, Lansdowne and Woodworth are reported in the anchorage at the same time is 18 November. On that date Lansdowne and Woodworth listed as present at the start of the day and Majaba reported arriving:

"1720 U.S.S. MAJABA, moored starboard side to with the following lines: Bow line and stern line, double cross springs forward and aft, using all 6" manila lines."

Those anchorage reports cease on 21 November as Denver departed under tow at 1415 hours. The date of 7 November does not add up in any way and even 17 November, a possible typo, is a bit early in light of the Denver log. Palmeira (talk) 15:09, 23 May 2021 (UTC) Updated with DENVER log reports of ships present. Palmeira (talk) 12:42, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

I had a look in Frank's Guadalcanal and he repeats the 7 November date. I also checked the IJN tabular record for the fleet boat that launched the midget submarine No. 11 that torpedoed Majaba, and it also gives the 7th as the date. Hackett et. al. provide a timeline of events before and after the torpedoing, including I-20's movements, which is curious indeed. Parsecboy (talk) 21:02, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

I am beginning to think the DANFS date may be accurate and not, as I'd suspected, a blunder repeated in derivatives. A SeaBee narrative also has that date and seems to be perhaps based on witnesses. Apparently one torpedo went up onto the beach where people were working. Now what I'm thinking is curious indeed are the involvement of Lansdowne and Woodworth as described in DANFS as it appears they were otherwise occupied then and the lack of mention in the Denver log of the movements of Majaba being with assistance. Majaba definitely had boiler and engine damage of a terminal sort. It was not likely coming alongside Denver or departing later under its own power. Looking at the details in that log about other such matters I find it exceedingly strange no mention is made of either towing craft or arrival and departure under tow. I've one more source to check on a long shot. If it pins the date as 7th then we have a non-self propelled hulk moving about that anchorage days later without note of that fact. I'm also now curious about whether the hull was just used for stores/quarters or maybe for more — as was Half Rufus. Stores and quarters are functions I don't usually associate with the Navy's "ServRons" so the finding of that assignment raised questions of perhaps another role. I got interested in this ship mainly because of that use after torpedoing. Otherwise it has a plodding, mundane history of little note whether commercial or naval. Some of the interesting stories of the war are the unusual, innovative and often downright weird conversions of some disaster into something useful. SWAPA is full of such. Palmeira (talk) 04:01, 25 May 2021 (UTC)

Date issues largely my failure to accurately track year across DANFS paragraphs giving only day/month and thus confusing the 1943 Denver log and escort histories with the previous November's torpedoing. The Nimitz "Gray Book" is definitive with date, time and designation as local time. The only remaining oddity and question is the status of the vessel as self propelled or not in November 1943 where movement is described but no mention of towing vessels/craft yet the boilers and engine room were "destroyed" the previous year. As seen in the log, serious repairs were not generally done in the Guadalcanal area during that period but ships were towed or went under their own power to rear areas. Palmeira (talk) 15:36, 25 May 2021 (UTC)