When in enemy waters, every dawn saw the ship at General Quarters. The ship was sharply silhouetted against the horizon and perfect target for Japanese submarines. As part of the precautions our two reconnaissance seaplanes ... OS2U's would start their engines ready to be catapulted from the ship if required. Attached to each wing tip was a small bomb ... possibly a 250 pound to be dropped on the enemy if required.

The plane's inboard wing tip extended over the deck when the catapult was not angled away from the ship in launch position. The weather deck had a large number of the crew standing about for this routine exercise. As the planes pilot revved his engine to check its function, the bomb on the inboard wing tip fell to the deck. I was among those who scurried to shelter behind the nearest bulkhead. There was no explosion. What we had forgotten was that the bomb hadn't dropped far enough to arm itself. The bomb disposal squad appeared, disarmed the bomb and threw it over the side.

Written by Robert J. Serazin, Lt. (jg)
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