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U.S.S.SCOTT (DE-214)
My name is Bob and this is my QSL card. The above ship is a World War II Destroyer Escort similar to the one I served on out in the Pacific from 1 December 1943 to the end of the war. I was a radioman aboard ship and, as you can imagine by looking at the above picture, it was 'fun' copying CW on a typewriter (a 'mill' in navy lingo) in a rough sea. The 'mill' had only upper case letters and the zero had a slash through it to distinguish it from the letter O. The navy broadcast messages (via so-called Fox Schedules) to the fleet continously, initially from Hawaii, and later from Guam when that island was recaptured. All ships were required to copy the schedules 100%. The CW speed would range from 18 wpm to 30 wpm depending on the volumn of traffic (messages to be sent). All messages were coded into five letter groups. No messages were ever sent in plain language.
The above QSL card is a painting of the USS SCOTT (DE-214). My ship, the USS SEDERSTROM (DE-31), pictured below, was built at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, launched 15 June 1943, and commissioned 11 September 1943. The ship was named for Delmore Sederstrom from Salem, Oregon. He served on the USS OKLAHOMA (BB-37), and was missing in action (MIA) after the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The ship saw action in the Pacific starting at Tarawa, and she last saw action at Okinawa where a suicide plane missed us by 20 feet -- too close for comfort.
U.S.S. SEDERSTROM (DE-31)
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