Very odd that she was attached to CRUDIV 9 for two months but that explains why she was included in the directive by COMCRUBATFOR Leary.
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USS Honolulu, USS Boise, and USS Pennsylvania left Pearl Harbor on Friday Sept.12th not the 19th as previously stated below.
They did indeed arrive at Los Angeles on Friday Sept.19th. Previous Message
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Like the majority of the US Pacific Fleet in September 1941, USS Honolulu was wearing MS-1 camouflage.
On Friday Sept.19, 1941 USS Honolulu, USS Boise, and USS Pennsylvania left Pearl Harbor enroute to Los Angeles. All three ships were wearing MS-1 camouflage. LIFE film and Photography crews, including Peter Stackpole hitched a ride aboard USS Boise. A month earlier the LIFE crew boarded USS Maryland in Los Angeles and documented her trip to Pearl Harbor and now it was time for them to return to the States.
On this return trip back to the States, they managed to take a bunch of photos aboard USS Boise and some film footage as well.
Here is a shot of USS Pennsylvania during this trip with her newly installed CXAM-1 radar above her forward fighting top.
Here is USS Honolulu
Penn and Hono together:
The three ships arrived in Los Angeles on Friday Sept. 19th.
On Monday Sept. 22nd, COMCRUBATFOR, H.P. Leary sent the following directive to USS Helena, USS Honolulu and USS Boise directing them to pickup mixtures of 5-U and 5-TM to produce the new paint color 5-S Sea Blue.
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/S19-7/1941SeptCruiserCamo.html
They were also directed to pickup enough for USS St. Louis, USS Phoenix, and USS Richmond. Those 3 ships were still at Pearl.
The odd thing about this directive to me is the inclusion of USS Richmond. Richmond was not part of CRUBATFOR like the other ships listed. She was the flag ship for SUBSCOFOR.
Helena had already been painted in MS-11 but Honolulu and Boise were directed not to do so until further notice.
On Friday Oct 3rd USS Honolulu still in MS-1, USS Boise still in MS-1, USS Helena wearing MS-11, USS Pennsylvania still in MS-1, and USS Vestal wearing MS-11 left Los Angeles enroute back to Pearl Harbor. The next day, USS Oklahoma wearing MS-1/5 joined them.
What a sight that must have been to see!
On Saturday Oct. 18th USS Honolulu arrived at Pearl. Four days later, USS Richmond would leave Pearl enroute to San Francisco. It is unclear if she received her quantities of paint mixture from USS Honolulu before she left Pearl.
On Saturday Nov. 1st USS Honolulu along with CRUDIV 9 would go out to sea for exercises.
On Wednesday Nov.5th, photographs of USS Honolulu and USS Boise would be taken.
Both are clearly still wearing MS-1 but if you look closely at the bow of USS Honolulu, she has started the transition into MS-11.
On Monday Nov.10, USS Honolulu returned to Pearl and moored at berth X-6 with USS Vestal. Both ships would remain there together until November 21st.
This is more than likely when most of the painting of USS Honolulu into MS-11 took place. She would go back out to sea on Nov.21st and would return to Pearl on Nov. 28th where she moored at the Navy Yard berth B-21. Finishing touches of painting her into MS-11 probably took place during this time. That is where she was at on Dec. 7th. By that time she was completely painted in MS-11.
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