Following the Battle of the Coral Sea, Portland arrived back in Pearl Harbor with Task Force 17 on 27 May 1942. The carrier Yorktown immediately went into dry dock for repairs to her battle damage. On Portland, we were kept busy acquiring replacement aircraft, spares and other equipment for our seaplanes. From 27 to 29 May, liberty was at a minimum for Portland's crew. There was no overnight liberty for anyone with a family ashore. That did not concern me greatly as my wife, Kay, had left Pearl City to return to the States in March of that year.

We were told on the morning of 29 May that Portland would be getting under way early on the following day.

The heavy cruiser USS Portland was in action at the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway. These two great naval battles turned the tide of the Pacific War against Japan in 1942.

The seaplanes were launched from two catapults; one mounted amidship on each side of the ship. A seaplane was stowed on each of the two catapults, and the other two were stowed in hangars on each side of the afterpart of the well deck. The wings of the SOCs could be folded to enable them to be stowed in the narrow hangars.

At sea, two seaplanes were normally launched forty-five minutes before sunrise, to search for enemy submarines or ships over an area 75 miles ahead of our ship. Other seaplane missions included spotting for the cruiser's 8 inch guns that had a range of 25 miles and searching and scouting a 300 mile sector.

When we were escorting a carrier, we normally had intermediate patrols looking for enemy submarines in sectors fifty miles out from the ship, and inner patrols five miles out.

I had intermediate air patrol on the morning of 31 May, and I saw nothing to report. On this day, I recorded in my log that 136 days had passed since I last saw my wife. From scuttlebutt that was circulating, we learned that there was supposed to be a Japanese task force in the area north of Oahu and Midway.

On Monday, 1 June, the Task Force was engaged in aerial target practice. I towed the target sleeve and all the ships fired on it with automatic machine guns.

I then made high runs at 7,000 feet so that the gunners could calibrate their rangefinders, but it was very cloudy and I doubt if they saw me at all.

The sleeve was a circular canvas about 20 feet long which would fill with air and be towed by the SOC on a line about 100 feet to the rear of the seaplane. The front end was held firm by a circular metal hoop about four feet in diameter. The rear end of the sleeve was firm but smaller than the front end which allowed air to make the canvas sleeve open up and be a target for those aboard ship to shoot at. Distance from the target was the only safety measure for the seaplane crew!

The sleeve was folded into a container that was attached to the seaplane's bomb rack. The pilot would stream the sleeve at the appropriate time. After the conclusion of firing, the pilot released the sleeve in the water near Portland, where it could be retrieved by a boat from the ship for examination. Each machine gunner had the tips of his shells painted a different color, and when his shells entered the sleeve, a colored mark was made. In this way, the ship could determine how many hits were made on the sleeve and by whom!

Al flew the mid-day inner air patrol during which he sighted two tankers and two destroyers ahead. He reported them by message drop to the Yorktown, and as he was pulling away, he accidentally dropped one of his bombs ahead of the carrier. They made quite a stink over it!

Portland had fueled three destroyers yesterday, and being low on fuel ourselves, we fueled from the tanker Cimarron on the afternoon of 1 June. She and the tanker Platte had joined with us during the afternoon. These two tankers had left Pearl with Task Force 16 on 28 May so we suspected that Task Force 16 was not far away. We were still on course 320° at 19 knots. The Platte remained with us and the other tanker dropped behind.

On 2 June, the boss, Al and I had the dawn intermediate patrol but it was so cloudy and rainy that it turned into an inner patrol. Al and I were recovered at 0700 hours, but the boss stayed out until 0900. At 1500 we ran into Task Force 16 composed of two carriers, Enterprise (CV-6) and Hornet (CV-8), and many cruisers and destroyers. We didn't exactly join them but we steamed along a few miles from them. We were now on course 270° but no one seemed to know exactly where we were going.

Wednesday, 3 June was the first anniversary of my marriage to Kay, and I had not seen her for 139 days.

On this morning, we received word that Dutch Harbor, Alaska, had been bombed at 0600 hours by the Japanese. A second report came in later that they had made a second attack at 1030. I was hoping that our Army Air Corps in Alaska had bombed their carrier. At the time of the attack on Dutch Harbor, we were about 350 miles north of the Midway Islands and steaming north. Shortly after, we turned south and were then heading for a point 200 miles north of Midway at which we expected to arrive at 0400 on the following morning. Al and I had the mid-day air patrol but we saw nothing to report.

On this day we received the first clear indication that we were about to engage in a major battle with the Japanese Navy. An Order of the Day announced that the Japanese were expected to attempt the taking of America's Midway islands on this day or the following day, 4 June.

Commander Coleman told Bob that if we did get in a fight, the seaplanes on Portland would have to shift for themselves and attempt to reach Pearl Harbor, 1200 miles away. This would require refueling at French Frigate Shoals along the way. To be on the safe side, we each made a chart of the islands between Midway and Pearl. I also had my spare laundry bag ready for taking with four canteens of water, five emergency rations, and a flashlight.

There was a good reason for Portland's seaplanes to be cut adrift if a ship to ship battle was likely in which the cruiser's main battery would be used. The captain would prefer to have all of his seaplanes airborne in such a battle because, if hit by an enemy shell, a plane would cause a dangerous fire on his ship. So, the message to the seaplane crews was, "we may launch the planes at any time and you will be on your own"!

Scuttlebutt had it that the Japanese had four carriers and a large occupation force out there somewhere.

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