HDU - Little Creek, VA
Harbor Defense Unit

[Official US Navy photograph]

Flagship of the HDU Fleet, USS YMP-2 (with YMP-1 alongside)
It had a length of 127 ft. and gross weight of 288 tons.
From this we planted/retrieved Mk. 51 Controlled mines.
YMP-2 was the only seagoing navy ship without a rudder, propeller or an anchor!

VISIT THE YMP-2 and the MEMORIES OF RICHARD HOWLETT

[photo by Derick S. Hartshorn]
This is Stan Ridgeway at Yorktown with Mk. 51s.

[Official US Navy photograph, courtesy of ALL HANDS, October, 1954] Minemen check wiring on Mk 51 control mine

[Official US Navy photograph, courtesy of ALL HANDS, October, 1954] Mk 51 eased over the side from YMP-2

 

[Photo courtesy of Richard Howlett] Preparing Mk 51 for planting.

[Photo courtesy of Richard Howlett] Mk 51 being lowered.

Mk 51 on the way to the bottom

 

[Official US Navy photograph, from ALL HANDS, October, 1954]

Another member of the flotilla was the L-boat, the L-81 (former US Army), designated as a
"Distribution Box" boat. It was 65" long, a beam of 18' and grossed 65 tons.
It operated in conjunction with the YMP-2

[photo courtesy of IRichard L. Howlett] L-81 taking mine cable aboard.

[photo courtesy of IRichard L. Howlett] L-81 preparing to drop "DB-box"

From this, the guys at Ft. Story told us where to drag the hook to retrieve the cable.
When the cable came on board, it was connected to a DB (distribution box).
This is where I learned marlinspike seamanship and could make a rather decent "Turk's head."

[courtesy of IndicatorLoops.com]

[courtesy of IndicatorLoops.com]

[Official US Navy photograph, from ALL HANDS, October, 1954]
Cables are spliced before insertion into Distribution Box

 

[photo courtesy of IRichard L. Howlett]
Boat makes run to the beach with DB cable.

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HECP- Ft. Story, VA
Harbor Entrance Control Post

You're a Ping and a Clunk to HECP

As YOU APPROACH Norfolk from the sea you may notice, if your eyes are better than average, a few dozen weatherbeaten sandbags tossed carelessly against the side of one of the many sand dunes characteristic of the area. This particular sand dune just "happens" to be located on one of the points near the mouth of the harbor. If your eyes are phenomenal, you may detect a small door among the sandbags.

Unless your official business concerns harbor defense, that will be about the extent of your knowledge of one of the most vital elements of our national security. The "sand dune" is Norfolk HECP-Harbor Entrance Control Post-and the buoys and gate vessels are the surface manifestation of a system of steel nets which constitute the harbor's last line of defense from torpedoes and submarines.

You will no longer pass the string of small buoys which, with its two small gate vessels, until recently guarded the harbor against unannounced entry. Your skipper will probably be pleased, for the buoys and tenders are normally regarded by honest navigators as just one more menace to sea-going traffic. But those buoys, which support the harbor's anti-sub and torpedo net, are a welcome addition to Norfolk's defense in time of war.

There's more to it than that. However, the mechanisms and procedures discussed here are, for obvious reasons, not described with an eye for precision and accuracy. It's enough for most of us to know that the approaches to our more important harbors conceal a complex network of mechanical and electronic ears and eyes which insure that any vessel below, or on, the surface is properly identified before it enters the harbor. "Harbor defense might be compared to an iceberg," comments CDR E. L. Willey, USN, Officer-In-Charge, Harbor Defense Unit, Naval Base, Norfolk, "only a small part is visible; the most important portion is below the surface."

Skill and experience are required to operate and maintain this highly technical equipment. In time of national emergency, harbor defense activities must be tremendously expanded. Many of the duties connected with harbor defense will at that time, as they have in the past, be assigned to Naval Reservists. To help prepare themselves for that day, Naval Reserve Harbor Defense Divisions have been organized on the East and West Coasts, from Portsmouth, N. H., to San Diego, Calif., and in Hawaii and the Canal Zone.

How does harbor defense work when, for example, your ship enters in and out of Norfolk, but you'd be safe to estimate that from 60 to 100 vessels are tracked daily. During a four-day period last year, more than 500 vessels were accounted for. HECP is not a place for anyone with weak nerves. Tightly crammed with equipment and men, each of a series of rooms produces its own peculiar type of bedlam.

In one, patterns of green light weave and twitch across oscilloscope screens. Every object in the harbor is reflected by a writhing green light: Eager has passed the mouth of the harbor and is overtaking a plodding ferry; YMP 1 is checking up on the hydrophone that has been giving trouble; an outbound oiler is making a nuisance of itself; and a sub is slipping out to sea for training duty. Every vessel writes its own pattern. In other rooms, men with earphones listen to the audible traffic of the "silent" sea. Fish are grunting, croaking and snapping, schools of shrimp sound if they were cracking tons of peanut shells; the beat of big and small propellers form a counterpoint to the throb of ship's engines. Through the ping and clunk of the heralds, monitors track the course and speed of every vessel in the harbor. All such activities are automatically recorded by galvanometers on long reels of tape.

In the central control room, phone plotters at a vast transparent harbor map sketch the course and progress of every ship in the area through the data fed them by electronic components.

By the time Eager has finally passed over the heralds, you have another safeguard against unfriendly vessels entering strategic harbors. emerged from HECP's sphere of influence. It is no longer interested in you.

Such a system sounds very fine on paper, but does it really work? Does it work under wartime conditions in regard to, let us say, an enemy submarine? How about midget subs, such as those employed by the Japanese and Italian navies during World War II? Could a sneak attack of such craft be detected if combined with normal traffic? Planners of harbor defense asked themselves such questions and decided there was only one way to find out. During one of the recent "Hardex" (harbor defense exercises) a midget sub was used and every trick in the book was tried to get it through HECP's defense without detection. As a result, a few techniques were modified.

The responsibility of learning how each of these devices operates, how to mainsain them, and how best to use the information they offer is the formidable job faced by members of the Naval Reserve harbor defense component. It wouldn't be possible except for the personal coaching on on the part of active duty harbor defense personnel who have made available to the Naval Reserve the Navy equipment now in operation in our major harbors. As the entire system has, with time, become more and more complicated, it has been found necessary to establish two types of Naval Reserve harbor defense divisionsoperational and technical.

In turn, the technical divisions have again been divided into two types: One, (TUN), provides technical training in the installation, operation and maintenance of undenwater detection equipment and in the fabrication, installation and maintenance of nets and booms. The other, (TM) , provides technical training in the assembly, installation, operation and maintenance of controlled mines and training in mine countermeasures including channel clearance, mine location and destruction techniques.

Operational divisions provide training in all operational and tactical functions of harbor defense. Such activities require a wide range of technical skills in the enlisted ratings of the program. As a result, billets are available for boatswain's mates, gunner's mates, quartermasters, radiomen, radarmen, sonarmen, minemen, electronics technicians, telemen, electrician's mates, enginemen, damage controlmen, metalsmiths, I. C. electricians, machinist's mates, torpedoman's mates, yeomen and storekeepers. Women are eligible in those of the above ratings open to them.

Because Reservists in the operational divisions are concerned primarily with operational and tactical duties, they need not be qualified for sea duty.

However, duty with the technical divisions is more strenuous. Reservists selected for this duty must be qualified to perform sea duty afloat in order to install and maintain sea units of the harbor defense equipment. Although many special skills are required in the technical divisions, previous experience in harbor defense operations and techniques is not considered a prerequisite for membership in a Naval Reserve division although it is desirable.

Because of the complexity of harbor defense equipment, it is necessary for Reserve divisions scattered in both operational and technical aspects of the harbor defense program. over. comparatively large areas to use the centrally-located facilities established and operated by the Regular Navy. Harbor defense divisions located in Baltimore, Md., and Richmond, Va., for example, find it necessary to commute each month to Norfolk for a weekend of on-the-job training.

A total of 24 drills and 14 days active duty for training are authorized for pay purposes for Reservists regularly attached to harbor defense divisions. There is no limit, other than that of usefulness, to the number of Reservists who may be associated with a division in a non-pay status. As with other Navy activities, some of, the concepts and procedures of harbor defense have undergone changes since World War 11. At the present time, those Naval Reservists who have been charged with the responsibility of instructing their divisions are devoting intense study to the new (and classified) curriculum which has recently been distributed. The first to be issued since January 1951, the new curriculum, which covers all three areas of harbor defense and which is fully supported by recently developed training aids and revised technical publications, represents a monumental job of research. The next time you enter a harbor, bear in mind the illustration of the iceberg. Come to think, the entire Navy with its Regular and Reserve forces is something like these harbor defense units. There's a lot more to it than appears on the surface.

(ALL HANDS, October, 1954)

[courtesy of IRichard L. Howlett]
Ft. Story as seen from mine field (on left is Cape Henry Lighthouse).   

 

[composite art by Derick S. Hartshorn] 84-ft. observation tower Virginia Beach, VA

[Photo by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] Cape Henry, VA - Ft. Story

[Official U.S. Coast Guard photo] Cape Henry Lighthouse

Duties at Ft. Story were two-part. (1) Observers would climb to the top of the lighthouse and one of the observation towers. One was in Lynhaven, the other on Virginia Beach. With a telescope, the observer, using head phones, would call out the compass reading of the mine planter or the L-boat, depending on what operation was ongoing.

 

[photo by Phil Payette] Battery Cramer-main HECP casemate.

[photo by Phil Payette] Battery Worcester-once had 16" naval guns.

(2) On the receiving end, at the casemate at Ft. Story, the phone-talker would position one of the 10-foot steel arms on a large map indicating the position of the craft. This triangulation method would indicate exactly where the cables and mines were located. This is long before GPS!

 

[photo by Derick S. Hartshorn]
We did a great amount of highly technical work here.
Here we are preparing a training film on beautiful Virginia Beach.
During the day, we took rides into the surf with our Army buddies on DUKWs.
Swimming commenced at 18:00 hours.

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I want share memories and get stories and pictures for this page.

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