The Seaweed

USS Champlin DD-601  

Spring 2001

Champlin References

Books:

Hitler's U-boat War, The Hunted 1942-1945, Clay Blair, Random House, pg. 56.

The Two Ocean War, Adm. Samuel E. Morison, Little, Brown & Co., pg. 362.

The Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1943, Volume I, Samuel E. Morison, Little, Brown & Co., pages 357 and 358

United States Destroyer Operations in World War II, Theodore Roscoe, (1953) Naval Institute Press, pgs. 282, 302, 320, 321, 335, 375, 379 and 545. World War II Encyclopedia

Magazines:

Sea Classics, Challenge Publications, Vol. 32 #9, March 1999, "Red Anzio" by Irwin J. Kappes

Internet:

http://uboat.net/boats/u130.htm
(U-130)

http://uboat.net/boats/u856.htm
(U-856)

http://www.usschamplin.com
(USS Champlin DD-601)

http://www.destroyers.org
(Tin Can Sailors Web Site)

Champlin Ship's Stores

Wonder where you can get a USS Champlin hat, sweatshirt, T-shirt, jacket or whatever? Here's where and how much:

Baseball style cap, specify either navy blue with white lettering or white with navy blue lettering, "USS Champlin DD-601": $10.00 including shipping. Also, 3" diameter cloth emblems (patches), navy blue and gold; (can be sewn on ties, jackets, caps, etc.): $3.00 including shipping. In stock. Order from Norman Prewitt, 2049 East Ridge Drive, Excelsio Springs, MO 64024-2869, (816) 630-7272

Sweatshirts, T-shirts and light-weight jacket with a large action picture of the USS Champlin DD-601 at sea imprinted in navy blue. Sweatshirts: $15.00; T-shirts - $7.50 and Jackets - $19.00. In stock. Order from Robert E. McAfee, 817 Winters Street, West Palm Beach, FL 33405-4545.

Gone. . .Too Soon

Brady, Robert Oliver d. 7/15/2000
Faaland, Halvdan G. K. d. 12/2000
Feeney, James F. d. 9/27/2000
Perrott, John J. d. 1/3/2000

Changing Berths

Day, Jane: 1742 Oakes Avenue, York, PA 17404-1788 (717) 767-8936
Doty, George J.: 13637 S. Garden Meadows Dr., Oregon Cit;y, OR, 97045-6991, (503) 656-6601
Stringham, Mark W. 2217 Timpview Drive, Provo, UT 84604-1710, (801) 377-1883

Reunion 2001 Highlights

Chairman: Larry Suter, assisted by Honey Morton. Dates: Sept. 12-16, 2001 at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 7290 Commerce Drive, Colorado Springs, CO, 80919. Special room rates of $89/night for one or two people. Rate will apply to reservations received by August 11, 2001, and are subject to applicable taxes. For reservations call 1-719-599-9100 or toll free 1-800-EMBASSY - be certain to mention the USS Champlin Reunion Group by name. All questions regarding the reunion should be direct to Larry Suter, 14 Devoe Place, Hawthorne, NJ, 07506, (973) 427-2797. All Reunion Group members will be receiving a packet of material regarding the reunion details in the near future.

Norm Glass Update

Norm writes that he is making progress in his recovery and wants to express his appreciation and thanks to all who called and sent cards during his eleven weeks in the hospital. Barbara confirms that Norm is indeed showing progress every day. "Our Navy friends were very supportive and we thank them all", she says. However, she cautions, "The road back takes longer than the road to trouble."

Champlin Memories (continued)

Don Higgins: . "remember thinking to myself, what would lie ahead? There she stood, docked, the most beautiful ship I had ever seen, the USS Champlin, and I was going to be a member of this crew. I went aboard and was given a bunk in the mess hall. I didn't seem to care, I was still in awe of her beauty.

The next day I was moved to O division, where I was a torpedoman striker and that's where I met Jack Brawdy. He also was a torpedoman (Don't know if he was rated). We became friends instantly. That next day we sailed back to Brooklyn, and prepared for our trip to Casablanca. Even through our transfers and schooling, Jack and I kept in touch. We bumped into each other in the late 40's at a celebration of a mutual friend. Maybe it was the bond of war, the awe of being a crew member of the Champlin, who knows. All I know is we are lifetime friends."

Glenn Ecklund recalls, "Hugh Bodden, Maxwell Ellis and I came aboard the Champlin October 18, 1942, from the USS Driller YO61. The Driller had been fitted out from an old hull by an inexperienced shipyard in Galveston TX. She had a bad steering problem and replacing the rudder didn't help - we could hardly keep her in the Houston ship channel when we went up to Baytown to get our load of oil. Our mission in Argentia was to go out in the harbor where the large tankers could anchor and carry the fuel to the dock and fuel the English convoy escort ships. In going from Galveston to Argentia we made twelve stops, one in Key West FL to replace a main bearing, one in Boston for supplies, and the others were night stops since it was submarine days. The three of us were bored with the duty and the pompous captain who had been the Executive Officer. To give you an idea of the captain's mentality, he considered it sport to shoot porpoise. The three of us were able to...

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