US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

CACTUS Bou?hi 283
3rd Marine Barrage Balloon Squadron
5th Marine Defense Battalion—under orders to reenforce the 2nd Regiment
upon its arrival from the East Coast
The 3rd Marine Defense Battalion, to sail from Pearl Harbor on 22 July
in the Zedin and Betelgeuse, was due to be assigned to PHIBFORSOPAC
upon arrival.
THE FLAGSHIP
The McCawley, named after the eighth Commandant of the Marine Corps,
was a 13,000-ton, 17-knot diesel-engined merchant ship (SS Santa Barbara)
designated AP-10 (later APA-4). She had been built by the Furness Ship
Building Company in England in 1928. After purchase by the Navy Depart-
ment from the Grace Steamship Line she was commissioned in the United
States Navy in August 1940, after a 25-day “conversion” job. Needless to say,
the McCaw/ey’.r communication capabilities and staff accommodations were
far from what the Solomon Islands’ amphibious operations would show were
needed in an amphibious flagship. At that time, she even lacked a regularly
installed voice radio. But, based on the state of the amphibious art as it
was known in June 1942, she was deemed adequate.7 Furthermore, the
McCaw/ey was available in the South Pacific, having carried Marine Observa-
tion Squadron 251 to Pago Pago, Samoa, in early May. That neither Rear
Admiral Turner, nor the drafter of the letter designating the McCawley
as flagship, nor Admiral King who signed it 7 June 1942, had any idea
at that time that COMPHIBFORSOPAC would be landing at Guadalcanal
only 61 days later, on 7 August, is indicated by the fact that the letter
prescribed “Flag Allowances of publications, personnel, and material . . .
should be sent in time to arrive Wellington by 7 August 1942.”
Her skipper, when Rear Admiral Turner broke his flag afloat for the first
time, was Captain Charles P. McFeaters of the Class of 1913. The Executive
Officer was Lieutenant Commander George K. G. Reilly. These two officers
struggled constantly to meet the demanding requirements of a stern task-
master and an eager beaver staff, but never quite made the grade.a An
“ (a) MrCawley designated as flagship by COMINCH on 7 June 1942, COMINCH letter
FF1/A3/l/AlcL3, se. 00468 of 7 Jun. 1942; (b) Defects of Conversion in CNO to CINCLANT,
letter Ser 013423 of 15 Feb. 1941. Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet stated that the
MrCawley was not equipped to conduct successful landings in Force.
s (a) Turner; (b) Interview with Rear Admiral John S. Lewis, USN (Ret. ) (ex-Flag Lieutenant),
7 Nov. 1962. Hereafter Lewis.