“The First World War saw nothing like [today’s convoys]. Then our shipping problem was merely to France and back. Now the War Shipping Administration has the 17,000-mile trip to Australia and back to worry about. Before the Mediterranean was open to us, there was that little matter of 28,000 miles to the Persian Gulf and back. Today they’ve got to supply our troops in the Aleutian Islands. In the Pacific, the lines of supply are getting longer and longer.”
“These crews are well paid – and they ought to be. Ordinary seamen average $82.50 a month; able-bodied seamen a hundred. Bosuns get $112.50, messmen $82.50, chief cooks $132.50, chief stewards $147.50. All that’s base pay. All hands get a hundred percent bonus for voyages in certain dangerous areas and additional bonuses for passing through restricted areas where the risk is particularly high.”
Click here to read about the rise of naval aviation.
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