Turtledove

This article is about the fictional US Navy destroyer escort. For the man for whom it was named, see Josephus Daniels.

The USS Josephus Daniels was a US Navy destroyer escort during the Second Great War. Her armament consisted of two turreted 4.5 inch cannon, torpedo tubes, Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft guns, and Browning M2HB .50 caliber machine guns. The Josephus Daniels was 306 feet long, and had a complement of 220 men. She was named for President Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of the Navy.[1]

In early 1942, she was placed under the command of Lieutenant Sam Carsten. Under his command, she performed many dangerous missions, such as shore bombardment of Confederate held Virginia, landing Marines on Ocracoke Island, delivery of arms to both Irish and Cuban rebels, and patrolling the North Atlantic Ocean in an attempt to slow the flow of weapons to the Canadian rebels.

Sam Carsten's executive officer, Lieutenant Pat Cooley, was promoted off of the Josephus Daniels, and replaced by Lieutenant Myron Zwilling. George Enos Jr. was a gunner's mate, manning a twin-mount Bofors 40mm forwards.

At the end of 1943, the ship was sent as part of a flotilla into the south Atlantic to intercept Argentine cargo ships transporting food to Britain and France. After Zwilling transferred crew-members he disdained to captured ships as prize-crews, Carsten transferred Zwilling.[2] Zwilling's replacement, Lon Menefee, was far more capable and better liked. He remained with the ship until the end of the Second Great War.[3]

The Josephus Daniels was part of the flotilla that liberated Haiti[4] and the inteneded invasion of Ireland when Britain sued for peace.[5] After the War, the Josephus Daniels was placed on occupation duty off the coast of the former Confederate States.[6]

References[]

  1. See Inconsistencies (Southern Victory).
  2. In at the Death, pgs. 149-155, hc.
  3. Ibid., pg. 200.
  4. Ibid., pgs. 340-341.
  5. Ibid., pgs. 359-366.
  6. Ibid., pgs. 554-555.