The Korean War was in full swing when I enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 4 November 1950. After completing boot camp in San Diego, I was assigned to Communications Technician School. What is a CTI? The people I asked didn’t know and the CTs I knew wouldn’t tell me. All I knew was that it had something to do with radio and Morse code.
After completing radio school, I was still in the dark as to exactly what my job would be for the next three and one half years. The mystery was finally revealed on my first day at CT school when we were instructed to remove the covers from the Underwood typewriters that were in front of us, and 1 looked at the strange letters on the keyboard. From CT school in San Diego, I attended CT school in Imperial Beach, California. My orders after Imperial Beach instructed me to report to NSA in Washington D.C. for language training. From there it was off to Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawaii Naval Radio Station where I thought I would probably spend the next year lounging on the beaches and playing golf at the Schofield Barracks course. Just as I was starting to get settled in at Wahiawa, I received a new set of orders that said, “Report to naval Radio Station, Yokosuka, Japan for temporary additional duty (TAD)with Commander Seventh Fleet. Could this be sea duty? I thought as a CT, I would spend my four years at shore stations. I enjoyed my short stay at Yokosuka waiting for the return of my ship the USS WISCONSIN. I found that the radio call sign for the WISCONSIN, COMSEVENTHFLT was “YAPU’ and knew the time was coming when I would soon be aboard. One day the Wisconsin was anchored in Yokosuka bay, and what an ominous looking sight she was as we were on our way to boarding her on an LCM.
We were taken below to C-deck, forward, where our quarters were and then up to the 03 deck where the CT radio shack was located. It was on the bridge level just aft of Flag Plot. We sailed that night, and in three days were in the war zone near the 38′ parallel.
The WISCONSIN’S mission was to cruise the North Korean coast line from south of Wonsan to Chonjin, which was about 170 miles south of Vladivostok, and provide artillery support for the troops ashore, bombard their railroad line, which ran north and south along the Korean cast coast and fire on “Targets of Opportunity.”
We CTs were not classified as “Ship’s Company,” but were attached to COMSEVENTHFLT, Admiral Joseph Clark’s (Jocko) Flag. The same old questions were always being asked by the slip’s crew as to what was going on in that compartment. I recall there was a first class quartermaster who became outright hostile that something was taking place on “his” bridge he wasn’t cognizant of.
Our Commanding Officer was Lieutenant Commander M.T. Smith who I remember was all business and had a habit of standing behind the CTs operating position peering intently over their shoulders when messages were being received of high priority. It was intimidating at first, but gradually we became used to it. After a couple of weeks of bombardment, we sailed back to either Yokosuka or sometimes Sasebo, Japan for ammo, fuel and supplies.
On our second trip back to the “Bomb Line” somewhere near the coastal town of Hungnam, we started to receive return fire from north Korean shore batteries. This Became a common occurrence, and it wasn’t unusual to count many shell splashes several hundred yards short of the ship. The inevitable finally happened one day as I was standing the day watch. CT1 Austin (A), opened the hatch to our compartment and said the ship had taken a hit. The projectile hit the main deck, amidships on the starboard side. After we got off duty, F.D. Johnson and I went back to see the damage. There was a small hole in the deck, near a bulkhead, that was maybe two feet across and damage control personnel were in the process of welding a patch over it. As I recall, three sailors were injured by shrapnel, one seriously.
The WISCONSIN’S tour of duty was up and it was back to Yokosuka to be relieved by the USS IOWA. The two ships tied up together, which I was told was the first time this had been done since the Pearl Harbor attack. The WISCONSIN was relieved to go back to the States, but not the Flag personnel. We packed our sea bags and stepped across to the IOWA.
The next day we were on our way again to the “Bomb Line.” My impression of the IOWA was that it was a fine ship with a good crew and high morale. We soon found that the IOWA’S gunnery was also top notch.
There was an incident that occurred aboard the IOWA I’ll never forget. It was about the third day out of Yokosuka, and I was standing the day watch when I heard the hatch being opened. I jumped up from my position in time to see a stranger poke in his head.
Since I didn’t recognize him, I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back out of the hatch, saying, “You can’t come in here, this is a security area.” It was then I saw the eagle insignia on his shirt lapel and knew I had made a BIG mistake. He told me to step out on deck and proceeded to chew me out royally.
He said, “Don’t you know your Captain, son?” I said, “No sir”. He was really hot under the collar and asked me who my commanding officer was. He turned, leaving me standing there in shock. I fully expected a Marine to show up any time and escort me to the brig. I got on the phone, called my commanding officer and told him what had happened. He said he wondered what was going on because he had already received a summons to the Captain’s quarters. I sweated that day out. Finally the commanding officer told us when he arrived at the captain’s quarters, the captain was still angry, but cooled down some when he was told of our mission and of the extensive security training the CTs undergo. He calmed down more when he was informed we reported to Admiral Clark. He was unaware he had a CT detachment aboard. A couple of weeks later, an envelope was delivered to our radio shack and in it was an 8 x 10 photo. Written across the photo were the words, “This is your Captain. Keep up the good work.” Signed by William R. Smedbert, Captain USN. We posted the photo on the bulkhead for all to see.
After the IOWA’s tour was over, she was relieved by the USS MISSOURI. Same story, the Flag (transferred over and the IOWA headed back to the states. After two months on the MISSOURI it was time for our group of CTs lo head back for Wahiawa, but not before a well deserved R&R. We called it I&I at Lake Chuzenzi in northern Japan.
From Wahiawa I was transferred to an HFDF station at Marietta, Washington where I completed my tour of duty. There are many other memorable experiences aboard the ship I have recalled while writing this. Maybe I ought to record them for the grandchildren to read some day.
Featured Image: USS WISCONSIN CT UNIT, From left: Hodges, Nance, Lieutenant Commander Smith, Givens and Davis.
By CT2 William R. Hodges
Source: CRYPTOLOG Vol 20
(A) CT1 Austin was the first CT submarine direct support operator: https://stationhypo.com/2017/11/02/remembering-ctc-harris-monroe-red-austin-the-first-submarine-dirsup-operator/
Station HYPO 
15 September 2022 at 12:21
As a fellow Ct, O brancher specifically, I think most CT’s were unaware of what they were training for or getting into. In boot, no-one said anything, all you saw was a bunch of alphabet organizations, blah, blah blah. All you knew, next stop Corry Field, Pensacola, FLA. While home on leave, friends told me that various alphabets visited their parents and had interviews about me. I still had no clue. Time frame here was Jan 1968. Approx 2 weeks before I was to leave for Corry, papers were full of stories about the Koreans capturing US spy ship Pueblo, which was loaded with various CT’s. The light went off. Holy shit.
Also had a run in with an irate officer when tad in the South Pacific. We were keeping an eye on the French who were dropping “BIG” bombs off the island of Morora, French Polynesia. One night, after comms had shut down, we were playing cards, when a knock came at the hatch. I was low man 3rd class so I answered the knock, the other three were 2nd class. I open the hatch and here stands a Lt complete with battle helmet, sidearm, flashlight and clip board. He introduced himself as Officer of the day and had to check our spaces. He gave me his name, I checked the access list, his name was not there. Politely, I declined his access which made him extremely mad. He restated his purpose and i rechecked the access list. He was getting loud at this point. The senior second stuck his head thru the curtain and restated everything I had. One thing led to another, words were exchanged, bodily harm was verbally introduced but it ended there as the hatch was secured. Within minutes the phone rang, our LT, excited, wanted to know what had transpired. We got our butts handed to us for showing disrespect to an officer which we laughed off but the OD got his ass in a real jam with the ships captain. The OD was later quoted as saying something about CT’s and their lace panties, they think their so special. That raised quite a laugh among our detachment
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17 September 2022 at 00:52
I was a CTM, and it always was an important task to make sure other CT’s who were not M’s, understood my work, clearance and training as much as I needed to understand their needs training, equipment, importance and need to know at all times. Thank you CT sailors for your service.
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19 September 2022 at 05:53
In 1939-1941, William R. Smedberg, III was aide and flag lieutenant to CNO, Admiral Harold R. Stark. Smedberg’s association with Admiral Stark went back to staff duty in 1937 with HRS when Stark had command of Cruiser Division 3.
In his oral history, then Vice Admiral W.R. Smedberg, III, USN (Ret.) mentions keeping wax cylinder recordings of CNO Stark’s telephone conversations with President Roosevelt. Soon after Pearl Harbor and U.S. entry into WWII, Smedberg destroyed all the recordings he made of Admiral Stark’s conversations with President Roosevelt. As I recall, Smedberg said in his oral history that as one of the CNO’s aides, he did not have access to our war plans and to Japanese intercepts. (CNO Stark also had two other aides Charles Wellborn, Jr., flag secretary, and by late 1940, then Commander (later VADM) John L. McCrea, special assistant to the CNO.
The oral histories on these three men make interesting reading!
Thanks for another interesting posting on the Station HYPO blog, Mario!
Andy McKane, 18 September 2022
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19 September 2022 at 13:04
Quite sure that there are many stories out there concerning CT’s. Outside of our ranks, The Naval Security Group, other sailors including officers, had no idea of what we did, how we did it and what clearances were involved. Like others have stated, we were highly trained men with specific skills to a specific job, that provided very specific information to very important people whose decisions may or may not have changed or forged courses of action that directly affected our national security.
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