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Note: Ralph Biddle Haynes was born in January, 1916, in Jacksonville, Florida, the first child of Benjamin (Frank) and Edith Haynes. He was raised in Jacksonville, along with his younger brother, Jack, and sister, Virginia. As a child and young man, Ralph had loved swimming and the outdoors, was an Eagle Scout and spent many summers at camp.
Ralph went to Northwestern University Dental School in Chicago, Illinois. His father had told him he would pay his college education but he had to study to be a professional man, i.e. lawyer, doctor, dentist, etc. Ralph chose dentistry as his profession. It was in Chicago that he met Maxine Riddell, who was working there as a secretary. They were married in Chicago a year or two later. In his early days at Northwestern, Ralph had been on the swim team. Swimming had always been a favorite with him. He has two medals he received for second place in backstroke and breaststroke.
Their father died when Ralph was about twenty five years old. The last several years of his life, his father's health had been failing from a heart condition. Ralph's uncle, Bayless, loaned him the money to finish his education at Northwestern. After graduation in 1938, he got a job with the Department of Health in Jacksonville, Florida. He and Maxine moved there where they lived for two years and their daughter, Barbara, was born there. Ralph applied for a commission in the U.S. Navy and was notified in February 1941 that he was accepted. His rank was Lieutenant J.G. in the Naval Dental Corps. On February 24, 1941, Ralph received orders from the Navy to report to Naval Dental School, Washington, D.C. He received his commission & executed the oath of office as an assistant dental surgeon in the U.S. Navy.
On March 18, 1941, Ralph received orders to report to the U.S. Naval Academy in April. They moved to Annapolis and lived there a short time before Ralph was assigned to the U.S.S. Savannah, a light cruiser docked in Boston. World War II was in progress in Europe and Pearl Harbor would be bombed later that year on December 7, 1941. Ralph went to sea on the Savannah and during the war was in the Mediterranean during the conflict there.
The Savannah was built in 1937 and was constructed in the Brooklyn Class of cruiser. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Savannah was one day out of the Brooklyn Naval Yard in the North Atlantic. For the first half year of the war, she guarded French warships in the French West Indies and kept alert for German U-boats which operated fairly heavily up and down the eastern seaboard of the United States. 2)
The U.S.S. Savannah became part of Operation Torch, Northern Attack Group, Task Group 34.8 and assisted the 60th Infantry Regiment (Rein.) of the 9th Infantry Division (totaling: 9099 officers and men, 65 light tanks) with their assault in French Morocco, November 8 - 10, 1942. This was the "first phase" in the defeat of the Axis powers. "The Task Force which crossed the Atlantic in November 1942 was a sight to behold...ships from horizon to horizon...the sea was black with them. Well over five thousand ships of all types and sizes. It was the largest armada of ships ever assembled. On November 8, 1942, the Savannah attempted a new aerial strategy. Captain L.S. Fiske ordered her five SO-3 (Scout Observation Curtis) seaplanes aloft equipped with 325 or 100 pound anti-submarine depth charges. Their missions were to bomb tank columns from the air and patrol for enemy submarines. For almost eight hours, her SOC-3's dropped 49 charges on shore targets and bombed pro-German French tanks with depth charges whose fuses were triggered to explode upon impact. The results were devastating to Vichy forces. Lt. J. Gordon Osborn, a SOC aviator recalls: Our planes' primary duty was scouting. Nobody envisioned them to be used for close air support. Thus, the only bombs the Savannah had were anti-sub weapons. When we found out that we were going to be spotting the ship's gunfire and hit targets of opportunity, we loaded with 100 lb. bombs, not depth charges. The bombs were not very effective, hence we went to the ship's only other weapons - depth charges which were very effective. 2)
Aft and on the fantail was a hanger which housed single engine, Curtis-made, Seagull scout observation seaplanes. The Savannah carried as many as five seaplanes at one time. These seaplanes were catapulted off the fantail in the direction of the wind. When the SOC's were ready to come back aboard, the planes landed in the water and steered toward the fantail where they were lifted back aboard by the fantail crane. 2)
The Savannah moved closer to shore and several times during the day she was ordered to shell the 138 mm coastal artillery guns in Kasba. This helped the GI's assault in capturing Port Lyautey and the first enemy concrete airstrip of the African continent. Shortly, thereafter, the Savannah became part of a return convoy which sailed to Hampton Roads. She then sailed south and on to Brazil for Atlantic sea duty. 2)
The U.S.S. Savannah reported to Commander of Task Force 81 in the northwest African waters on May 23, 1943 and became an important capital ship during Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. The crew and ship provided gunfire support during the operation. Thereafter, she was sent to harbor in Algiers and to port three miles west of Oran in Mers-El-Kebir harbor during 1943. 2)
During Operation Husky, the Gela Landings (Dime Force) in the invasion of Sicily, two SOC-3's were launched in the early morning hours of July 10, 1943. Within minutes Messerschmidts attacked the seaplanes and Lt. C. A. Anderson was killed in flight and his radioman Edward J. True landed their plane at sea, but the SOC quickly sank. Radioman True was rescued as the other SOC hit the water sank. The Savannah's skipper sent the remaining two SOC's airborne but in no time one was shop-up and the second was forced to evade and take cover. The latter plane came back into action and was very effective in spotting for fire directions. It was used again during the Gulf of Salerno invasion with much success. 2)
The Savannah was hit by a German bomb off Salerno in 1943. The Germans had been working on secret weapons and the Ruhrstahl SD 1400 X, or the Allied code name - Fritz-X, was part of this project. The Fritz-X was designed by Dr. Max Kramer as an anti-ship weapon. It was based upon a 500 pound bomb with a criciform tail and had an armour-piercing warhead with 3320 kg of amatol which surrounded a set of central explosive tubes. The Fritz-X had a range of three and a half miles and was launched from an altitude of over 18,000 feet. The key component for making this an effective weapon was the guidance system. The control of the Fritz-X responded to radio relays in order to control "right", "left, "up", and "down" commands. This bomb was used effectively against Allied forces during 1943 and early 1944, and the Savannah was the first Allied ship struck with this weapon. 2)
The ship was assisting in the landing at the Gulf of Salerno and continued to operate effectively in support of landing the troops. A clipping from Ralph's scrapbook records: "The 10,000-ton light cruiser, Savannah was damaged and some of her crew killed and wounded when enemy planes scored a bomb hit on a gun turret during the Allied landing at Salerno, Italy, the Navy revealed today. But the vessel, which carries about 870 men, continued to operate "effectively" despite a fire which was controlled in twenty minutes. The wounded were treated by the Savannah's medical personnel and transferred to other vessels even before the fire was extinguished... The Salerno landings started September 8, but the Navy did not reveal when the Savannah was hit."
Ralph was involved in searching for, removing and identifying bodies of personnel who had been killed. When the bomb entered the ship at a gun turret, it went on down through the ship. They were able to seal off all hatches to that area and several men were trapped there and later died when the water rose. It was some time before they could begin to recover the bodies. It was a terrible job - they recovered some each day until they were all accounted for. Ralph helped identify them by their teeth, which was very painful and agonizing. He received a Letter of Commendation for his work.
While Ralph was at sea during the war, Maxine went back to Iowa to stay with her mother in Sigourney. The Navy listed Sigourney as Ralph's hometown and that showed up in newspaper clippings. Maxine was pregnant at the time and had their second child, Nancy, in October 1942. She stayed in Sigourney until Ralph returned from the war.
Ralph received orders in December 1943 to be detached from the Savannah and report for duty at the Naval Air Station, Banana River, Florida, which today is the site of Cape Kennedy, formerly Cape Canaveral. In April, 1947, Ralph received orders to report for duty at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. Ralph left early and reported for duty while Maxine, with her small children, Nancy and Barbara, took the train and arrived at San Francisco, where they boarded a ship to Honolulu. They lived in a two story home which was part of the junior officer's quarters on a hill named "Little Makalapa", off the base. The senior officers lived nearby on "Big Makalapa".
After Honolulu, Ralph was assigned to the U.S. Naval Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut. The family flew to San Francisco, then drove across country on two weeks leave, visiting family along the way. This was in 1949, just a short time after the Korean War broke out. They had been scheduled to leave by ship from Hawaii, but it was diverted for military troops and the family flew from Hawaii to San Francisco by troop plane, with no seats but canvas benches, no oxygen or sound insulation.
In Connecticut, Ralph and Maxine rented a house in New London from another officer, then moved on to a place in Noank, a very small town situated on a cove about three miles from Mystic Seaport. They rented one half of an old house located on a few acres of land with summer cabins on it that were rented out each summer to a number of families. They had a large garden and enjoyed the use of the rowboats provided for the summer people.
Ralph's next duty was aboard the U.S.S. Wasp, CVA-18, whose home port was Coronado, California. The family moved there around April 1954. Ralph's ship was at sea for long periods in the Asian Pacific area, visiting Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, etc.
In June 1959, Ralph was transferred to Naval Air Station, Sand Point, Seattle, Washington. The family moved there where Nancy attended and then graduated from Shoreline High School and Barbara started college at Washington State University. In early 1963, Ralph and Maxine were transferred to Adak, Alaska, to the Naval Station there, for a thirteen month tour. Nancy had married the year before and Barbara was finishing up her college, then she moved to North Carolina and married.
Ralph next reported for duty at Camp Pendleton, California. He was there several years, when he retired from the Navy. He decided to open his own dental office, and chose Illinois as he had first qualified there. They bought a small practice in Elgin, Illinois, and with Maxine working as the receptionist, bookkeeper, etc. they went into business, which they worked for twelve years.
About 1976 they sold the dental practice, retired, and moved back to Seattle to be near their two daughters and their families. They bought a house in Kirkland and remained there until Ralph's death on November 27, 1990. He had suffered from heart problems for several years. Ralph's ashes were interred at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Sigourney, Iowa, with Maxine's family graves (Richmond and Riddell). Ralph's interests were wood carving, rocks, weather and new scientific discoveries and ideas. He enjoyed sharing them with his grandchildren. He collected coins and records from the old dance bands of the 1930's and 1940's.
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1) Information on duty stations, clippings, etc. taken from scrapbook kept by Ralph Haynes. 2) "History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. II; Operations in North African Waters, Oct. 1942 - June 1943" by Samuel Eliot Morison; pub. by Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 1960.
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