To the editor:
An aircraft carrier is a noble thing. It lacks almost everything that seems to denote nobility, yet deep nobility is there.
A carrier has no poise. It is top-heavy and lopsided. It has the lines of a well-fed cow. It doesn't cut through the water like a cruiser, knifing romantically along. It doesn't dance and cavort like a destroyer. It just plows. You feel it should be carrying a hod.
Yet a carrier is a ferocious thing, and out of its heritage of action has grown its nobility, I believe that every navy in the world has as its No. 1 priority the destruction of enemy carriers. That's a precarious honor, but its a proud one.
— Ernie Pyle (written aboard the USS Cabot in 1945)
The arrival of another Fourth of July sparks memories of the time I served aboard the carrier USS Cabot during World War II, some of it in the company of the famed war correspondent Ernie Pyle.
Born in Lynn, I joined the U.S. Navy in 1943 when I was 19 years of age. I boarded the Cabot in November that year as it was about to embark on a two-year tour of the Pacific.
Built by the New York Shipbuilding Co. at its Camden, N.J., yard, the aircraft carrier (CVL28) was named after Venetian navigator John Cabot, who explored the North American coast under the auspices of King Henry VII of Great Britain in the latter part of the 15th century.
During our two years in the Pacific Theater, we saw significant action including the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines and the invasion of Iwo Jima, and were on our way back across the ocean to participate in the expected invasion of Japan when the war ended in August 1945.
During our 16 months in combat, we launched 4,933 sorties and destroyed almost 360 enemy aircraft. We lost 27 planes due to enemy action and had 23 pilots killed or missing in action. We lost a total of 82 men during the war.
Among our most notable passengers was Pyle, who dubbed the ship "The Iron Woman."
He was aboard the Cabot on Nov. 25, 1944 when Japanese suicide pilots attacked her while off the Philippines. There were 35 men killed and 67 wounded in the assault. But despite the heavy casualties and massive damage done to the hangar and flight decks, the ship held its line in the fleet, prompting Pyle to give her the famous nickname.
Pyle was killed by sniper fire during ground combat in April 1945. As for the Cabot, it was decommissioned in February 1947, saw later service with the Spanish Navy and the Naval Air Reserve, but was decommissioned for the final time in January 1965.
Despite efforts to preserve it as museum, it has slowly been taken apart and today its hull rests in a yard in Brownsville, Tex.
I thought your readers might be interested in reading about this piece of U.S. military history on the day we celebrate our independence.
JAMES A. MARAVELIAS
Danvers
