The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.

Monday, January 11, 2016

No Training for the "Floating Targets"-- Part 1: Didn't Want to Go Into the Army

From the May 15, 2013, San Diego Reader "Unforgettable: Floating Targets, part 1" by Jeff Smith.

The YP-346 was a 120-foot former tuna boat named the Prospect.

"Just after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Vince Battaglia thought the war ion the Pacific would be 'a big joke.  You know, we'd win it in a week."

He was assigned to the YP-346 in May 1942 and started for Pearl Harbor less than a week after joining the Navy.  He had joined it after a friend had been drafted into the Army and he didn't want to go there.

He became a warrant officer right away because he had his master's license to captain a ship.

--GreGen

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