US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

388 Am@ibians Came To Conquer
At 1200, local time, 8 August, Rear Admiral Kinkaid, Commander Task
Unit 61.1.2 in the Enterprise made an entry in his War Diary reading as
follows :
Fuel situation this Force becoming critical. It is estimated the destroyers have
fuel for about three days at 15 knots, and the heavy ships have little more.
Every naval commander at sea in Word War II suffered from that strange
logistical disease of AFFAG, and the malady affected some officers much
more than others. For AFFAG related to the amount of Ammunition, Fuel
Oil, Food and Aviation Gas, in each of the ships of his command at any
given hour of the day.
On 29 July, Commander Task Force 61 (Fletcher) had reported that his
force would be short over two million gallons of fuel oil after the scheduled
Task Force fueling on that day.”
On 3 August CTF 61 notified COMSOPAC:
If no tankers Efate for Task Force 62, top off situation maybe serious.ss
And COMSOPAC knew the Tanker Emo Little Rock had missed her
rendezvous with Task Force 61 at Ef ate.
Every effort was being made to keep the ships of Task Force 61 full. To
illustrate, the Enterprise fueled on 24 July in Tongatabu Harbor taking about
12,000 barrels of fuel oil (504,000 gallons) and 61,900 gallons of aviation
gasoline, again at sea on 29th July taking 4,OOO barrels of fuel oil (168,000
gallons) and 34,000 gallons of aviation gas, and again on 10 August from
the Ka~4a~kiu (AO-27) taking 20,000 barrels of fuel oil (840,000 gallons)
and 120,000 gallons of aviation gas.’e
On as important and busy a day as 7 August, D-Day, the destroyer Gwin
(DD-433) in Rear Admiral Kinkaid’s task unit was fueled by the battleship
IVortk Carolina (BB-55 ). The fueling was conducted during darkness,
which required a new skill for the 1942 United States Navy.e’
The actual fuel situation on 8-9 August 1942 for all 16 destroyers in the
Air Support Group and some of the heavier ships, was as follows:
WCTF 61 to COMSOPACFOR, 280201 Jul. 1942.
= CTF ‘1 to COMSOPAC, 030150 Aug. 1942.
MShips’ Logs.
= (a) Kinkaid; (b) Ships’ Logs.