There is a Prologue at the beginning of this story and there may be an Epilogue at the end. I am here exercising author's privilege to put in a Metalogue, my coined word to mean something I feel should be said at this part of the story which departs from the storytelling.

First. The inference related from the USS Kearney's surviving a torpedo hit, that the Benson class destroyer and others soon to follow in WW II (Fletcher and Sumner), might be an indication of hardier U.S. warships in the destroyer class, was in my opinion, premature. Yes, others, like Hambelton, did survive. But, enemy hits or close misses that escalated into explosive penetration of the hull found U.S. WW II built destroyers more than likely to suffer catastrophic failure.

Second. Skipper Al Murdaugh and the crew of the USS Edison earned a well deserved first star on their Theatre Ribbon in pioneering hold-down tactics against the U-boats in the North Atlantic. Using HFDF and/or other contact reports, instead of hugging the convoy and holding on for dear life, escorts learned to push out on a bearing beyond sight distance from the convoy and engage in suppression efforts. This tactic impeded U-Boat efforts to achieve bearing advantage on the convoy's direction of advance. The U.S. was still to suffer enormous ship losses but when SG radar did come, these early lessons, the newer radar and finally shore based or Hunter/Killer air surveillance, all combined to tip the balance in our favor. That, and the unparalleled production efforts of workers on the home front.

Third. A contributing factor to heavy loss of life, even to loss of the destroyer itself, was the practice, in the absence of a specific sound contact resulting in actual pursuit of an enemy sub, of leaving the depth charges on a setting other than "safe". When in pursuit of a sound contact, the setting of the "pattern" was a doctrinal part of the attack and in these actual anti-submarine attack runs, the destroyer increased its own vulnerability as a necessary part of the effort to destroy the submarine.

Fourth. Two long distance telephone calls I received in early October 1997, responding to Chapters then published on the Internet, were sparked by questions I raised about the introduction of SG radar to US warships in late 1942 and early 1943. The caller was John Weld, my brother-in-law, who was a Lt. USNR on the staff of Rear Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner, Commander Amphibious Force, South Pacific, in 1942, for the landings on Guadalcanal. He pointed me to the existence of the book titled, "Guadalcanal", by Richard Frank, published in 1990. John Weld's memories on the use of SG radar in the South Pacific, particularly off Guadalcanal, paralleled my own from the experience at Casablanca. Some of our warships in both oceans had the SG radar. Most did not have it in the fall of 1942. The turning point advantage that SG could provide could only be appreciated on board the ships which had it, and possibly not by all on board. SG was new, the SC radar experience had been poor, and most sea commanders had no appreciation for the potential of the new SG radar. In 618 pages, the Index to "Guadalcanal" shows that Richard Frank mentioned the SG radar at least 11 times. I will make an excerpt of just the first of these. From "Guadalcanal", page 294 in Chapter 12, "The Battle of Cape Esperance":

The one serious deficiency in Scott's calculations (Rear Adm. Norman Scott with four cruisers and five destroyers) was his selection of a flagship. Heavy cruisers Salt Lake City and San Francisco were nominally his most powerful units, and Scott hoisted his flag in the latter. However, the mastheads of both these vessels supported only metric-wave SC search radars of much inferior performance to that of the newer centimetric SG radars sported by both his light cruisers.......Because of the erratic performance of the SC radar (ordered turned off to avoid being picked up by Japanese listening countermeasure equipment, which, as it turned out, the Japanese did not have) the American Admiral did not regard its (the SC radar's) loss as grave, and as he was ignorant of the enormous improvement in technology represented by SG radar, he did not switch his flag to one of his light cruisers, the Helena or the Boise.

Fifth. In his book, "Guadalcanal", author Richard Frank credits Admiral King with the compelling perseverance to pursue the Guadalcanal landings, and for his effective infighting along with General Marshal to provide some very basic Pacific deployments while honoring European commitments. I had credited Admiral Nimitz for the Guadalcanal initiative. Nimitz was in fact following King's direction, albeit with approval and zeal.

Sixth. Readers may be interested in other feedback to date (Nov. 9,1997) on this story. A number who have had no connection with the events covered have commented favorably because of their interest in naval action history. About half of these have been spontaneous from the Web, the other half have been cued by other communications to look it up on the Web. Separately, a threesome of delightful E-mail correspondents are now actively in communication about the USS Buck. Two of those lost a close relative on the Buck, and the third is a son-in-law of a Buck survivor. With only 57 survivors of the sinking of the Buck, and the attrition of the ensuing 54 years on that number, it is remarkable that Jack Dacey (whose uncle, James J. Dacey Jr. Sound Operator's Mate 2/c was KIA on Buck), Dean Lambert (whose brother, G.S. "Beppo" Lambert, LCDR USN was KIA on Buck) and Jim Lingafelter (whose father-in-law, Helmuth Timm S 1/c, survived the sinking of the Buck) have an opportunity to exchange the few bits of knowledge available after the Buck's loss in 1943. In so doing, they will expand that knowledge. I am certainly proud that Web searches led Jack Dacey and Jim Lingafelter to "Joining The War At Sea". Each of these men has taught me something I had not appreciated before about the Internet and about my story. Dean Lambert has supplied information on source locations that would never have been available to me without the remarkable tool of the Internet.

A more recent check-in is Bob Swanson, who maintains a USS Augusta website at www.internet-esq.com/ussaugusta and has posted Augusta's war diary for Torch on the site at /diary/1142.htm  Bob's father served aboard the USS Augusta. A most relevant Web visit was made possible by a posting Bob Swanson made of the Augusta's Action Report at URL http://www.internet-esq.com/ussaugusta/torch/actionreport.htm in which one learns that the Augusta had the U.S. Fleet's most advanced complement of radar systems, including the SG. So, at TORCH, the U.S. sea commander, Admiral Hewitt, was embarked on the best command ship he could have. (A look back at Chapters Five and Six shows that the Augusta seemed to be everywhere in making best use of her capabilities. One can be sure, though, that Augusta was also where Admiral Hewitt needed to be. The interruption of the first debarkation attempt from Augusta for General Patton demonstrated that Augusta went to where fire support was needed and putting the General ashore took second priority. )

The last person to check in before Web publication of this Metalogue was Ken Williams, who served aboard the USS Ludlow. Let me emphasize. Ken served aboard the Ludlow from commissioning in 1941 until August 1944.

Seventh. Some details of the use of the SG, particularly in correcting the Fedala landfall (navigational aspect recounted by Morison, and the radar in use now confirmed, thanks to Bob Swanson's publication of her action report, to be the SG aboard the Augusta) position for the transport group, and in detecting the sub as it escaped after three torpedoings late in the afternoon (again, Augusta's action report courtesy of Bob Swanson) of the 11th of November, greatly enhance one's knowledge of those fateful hours. It is fairly certain that that sub was U-173. The statistics match and the Morison's Volume II has the USS Bristol encountering U-173 on the surface at just 1200 yards range on her escape northward. From a 1990s Web archive in Germany, thanks to Dean Lambert, I found the following:

U-173