Wolverine and Sable

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T

Tkdog

Airman 1st Class
183
225
Jun 28, 2017
This is at least aviation adjacent. I've long known about the Corn Belt Fleet, USS Wolverine and Sable and their contribution to naval aviation. This weekend I've been looking around for more information on their operations and found little detail.

Does anyone know if there are any published works on the ships' operations? Did they do night training? Did the crew live aboard or did they sleep ashore? It doesn't sound like they went far from the pier, which of course makes sense.
 
Thanks. Some of the links are dead, but did find a picture I hadn't seen before that showed berthing. So that's one question answered. I'll do some more reading later and see what I find.

Logistics of taking those ships out every day must have been tremendous. Lots of moving parts to get the ship, planes and pilots all where they need to be. Also, they weren't really fast enough, so they must have run the engine plants hard. Amazing work that doesn't get much attention in the history books.
 
To be honest, I'm not sure why the USN felt that coal-fired paddle-wheelers would make good aircraft carriers, but I wasn't there or in charge at the time to point it out.

I also recall years ago, reading about them on the Navy's history site - that may also be a resource to investigate.
 
From what I have read (over the last few days) it seems they were picked because they were the most suitable ships available on the Great Lakes. Whatever they used had to be able to get to Chicago and not be needed elsewhere. It also needed to already be built and suitable for quick conversion.

Certainly could have done better with a new build. But there was neither time nor money for that. They apparently were good enough, which is all that was needed.
 
I have the book as my Father carrier qualified on the USS Wolverine, so I have an interest. I know they ventured as far away as Grand Traverse Bay on the Northwest Coast of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. I posted some pictures of Drones on the deck of the Sable in the picture of the day thread.

I don't think they did any night qualifications, also there was no hangar Deck so only Deck Storage was available. As for the reasons they converted Coal Powered Paddle Wheelers was
#1 they were available & they were large enough to be converted for the task, #2 as Passenger transport and excursion ships they were not needed to transport war material. The big reason for doing the training on the Great Lakes was no Danger from U-Boats or Aircraft, and thus no need for dedicated escort ships to protect them. Other than for Pilot Guard duty.
Also they could free up Fleet carriers from training duty for 8 or 9 months of the year.
Also remember they were converted during the Happy Times for the U-Boat Fleet. So the Navy needed all the escort ships they had for Convey work.

Amazon product ASIN B0093X45E2
 
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Tkdog said:
Thanks. Some of the links are dead, but did find a picture I hadn't seen before that showed berthing. So that's one question answered. I'll do some more reading later and see what I find.

Logistics of taking those ships out every day must have been tremendous. Lots of moving parts to get the ship, planes and pilots all where they need to be. Also, they weren't really fast enough, so they must have run the engine plants hard. Amazing work that doesn't get much attention in the history books.
Click to expand...
Try using the Internet Archive's Way Back Machine for the dead links. It's a pretty awesome tool; you'll see it near the top of the homepage. Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine
 
GrauGeist said:
To be honest, I'm not sure why the USN felt that coal-fired paddle-wheelers would make good aircraft carriers, but I wasn't there or in charge at the time to point it out.

I also recall years ago, reading about them on the Navy's history site - that may also be a resource to investigate.
Click to expand...

NHHC history of the Wolverine: Wolverine II (SwStr)

Sable: Sable

NMMC is a great site. Here's their main page: NHHC
 
Tkdog said:
This is at least aviation adjacent. I've long known about the Corn Belt Fleet, USS Wolverine and Sable and their contribution to naval aviation. This weekend I've been looking around for more information on their operations and found little detail.

Does anyone know if there are any published works on the ships' operations? Did they do night training? Did the crew live aboard or did they sleep ashore? It doesn't sound like they went far from the pier, which of course makes sense.
Click to expand...
I don't think they did night landings. I know my Dad didn't instrument qualify until a month later. He carrier qualified on 24 October 1944 on the Sable in an SBD, and they did 8 landings, then. He was scheduled to qualify the afternoon before on the Wolverine but it started raining late in the afternoon when they got out there and they had abort it and turn back. They were assigned to aircraft service units. His log says it was a 4-hr. hop.
 
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Capt. Vick said:
At least one was used in the Navy drone program. I believe an old lighthouse was used as a target.
Click to expand...
They did test the Interstate TDR-1 from the Great Lakes carriers since the TDR-1 and it's mothership, a modified TBM were to be launched from carriers in the Pacific against Japanese targets.
 
The Pictures I have seen with the drones on board are from the USS Sable, and they were taken in Traverse Bay MI, quite a cruise from the normal berth at Navy Pier in Chicago!

My Father said he qualified on the Wolverine in late 1942. But his log books were lost in a house fire in 1975. He never mentioned any night landings on lake Michigan, I suspect that VBF-13 is correct that they did not do any night or bad weather landings on either ship, as there was no hangar deck or elevators to clear the deck I would think it would just be inviting disaster for the trainee Aviators!
 
That's terrible about his flight log, cammerjeff. That's everything from his N2S on up. I'd imagine, then, you lost everything, given I store all my Dad's stuff together. I can tell you, at least, in late 1944, they came out of Glenview NAS. And I'd also heard, I don't know it, for sure, the Wolverine was a little tougher a qualify, as the deck wasn't as high. They dip some when they come off the deck, of course.
 
VBF-13 said:
That's terrible about his flight log, cammerjeff. That's everything from his N2S on up. I'd imagine, then, you lost everything, given I store all my Dad's stuff together. I can tell you, at least, in late 1944, they came out of Glenview NAS. And I'd also heard, I don't know it, for sure, the Wolverine was a little tougher a qualify, as the deck wasn't as high. They dip some when they come off the deck, of course.
Click to expand...
Yeah my parents lost almost everything in that fire, small kitchen fire that took out the kitchen and my old bedroom on the 2nd floor, but the water and smoke damage pretty much completed the destruction of the old house. No plastic totes to store any papers in at the time. Just cardboard box's. So water pretty much destroyed everything. The only papers that survived were some exemptions for wearing glasses signed by the sitting presidents from Eisenhower to Nixon.
And those disappeared after he passed thanks to one of my "helpful" Siblings. About the only thing I have left from his time in the Navy are some old squadron patch's and a few water damaged pictures. It is kinda sad really. The types I know he flew are SBD's, SB2C, AM-1 & AD-1, A-4's, and some time training F-4's for Close Support. I wish I knew what trainers he had time in. And then there are the Fairchild F-24, Cessna 195 & 120 that he owned later in life. I really liked the 195, but when he was offered 3X what he paid for it a few months after he bought it, it quickly went away and was replaced by the 120 that he used to make my sisters airsick in, side slipping it in for a 3-point landing over the 70' powerlines off the end of the runway where it was stored. I learned alot working on that old 120. Like how cheap a child of the depression could be by insisting I reuse the O-rings on the oil filter assembly to save $2.00 during an oil & Filter change.
 
N2Ss and SNJs were their trainers, and they took Link trainer, too. My Dad said he loved the SBD. Great to meet someone whose Dad also flew them. My Dad was scheduled for the Atlantic Fleet until they encouraged him to switch when they needed F6 pilots. Nothing can destroy the stories we got from them, and at least you've still got those. :salute:
 
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