My life as a deckhand aboard the USAMP MILLS by William Snowman last revision: 1310 We were designated as the 11th Coast Artillery Mine Planter Battery working out of Ft Winfield Scott, San Francisco. We wore the Coast Artillery patch that has a single red projectile on a nine pointed gold star with a donut hole in the middle on a circular army green field. If that represents the 9th Coast Artillery District, I was never made aware of it. I always referred to it as San Francisco harbor defenses. It was the only patch we and the gunnery shore crews wore.

NOTE: The items below are events related to me Martyk9 @ webtv.net by Bill Snowman starting in year 2000 and thereafter. Details of the data may need further investigation to fill in details that slipped from memory due to the time between when the event occured and today. NOTE: To send me an e-mail, please delete the two spaces in the above e-address. Thanks! Mr. Snowman's time frame was 1943 - 1944 - 1945

Deckhand A deckhand on the MILLS ( US Army Mine Planter SAMUEL MILLS ) always had work to do. We were always banging (chipping) off paint so that meant scraping and wire brushing before painting. Naturally there was cleaning to do. Wash down the decks, the head, the gally, etc... You took your turn on KP. As I remember, we had about 60 on board to feed. Our food came from Ft Baker by truck driven by our Supply Sgt. The word delivered is not too correct, since we had to carry all of it down some 200 steps from the road to the dock. Then potatoes were stored in open bins secured to the deck while meat etc... went below to the freezer, etc.... We did not try to have food for more than a week so this happened a couple of times each week. We stood watch Navy time. Naturally when at sea or loading mines, there was no watch (sentry). You were part of the deck crew. There was no formal dressing for watch duty. The only way you knew who was on watch was that he had a 45 (45 caliber semi-automatic pistol) on his side (holstered). If there was a card game going on the forward deck, he was standing there watching the game with one eye on the gangway now and then. Naturally, any one would have to first climb down those 200 steps to reach us. At night time I (and others) usually would stand watch in the Officer's Wardroom on cool evenings and watch the deck and gangway. That is when I would have coffee to help pass the evening and you could play the radio and sing along. Near the end of your watch you went down below to awake your relief. It was your job to make sure he was awake. So you could say we were not like the Navy in that we stood watches only when tied up. My problem was that my bunk was right next to the steam winch engine room, so if we went out that morning (right after my watch), I didn't get much sleep. Except for one trip to Monterey, we did not work other than at San Francisco, just beyond the Golden Gate Bridge. Meals were always on time. When we were laying mines, we could eat in shifts so as to cover our deck duties. The Watch would first wake up the cook to start breakfast. He in turn would later on wake up the KPs and the Officers Mess Man to prepare the tables. Later on the lights were turned on in the Crews Quarters with the announcement of breakfast in 30 minutes. There was always time, after breakfast, to climb back into your bunk for a quick catnap unless we were heading out to the mine fields. After supper we usually listened to GABRIEL HEATER who always brought "Good News Tonight" (news and commentaries). Some of us wrote letters or played cards. We had a primitive gym in the forward hole with boxing, etc... equipment. When we were at Pier 7 in San Francisco, we could play catch on the dock. There was no such area at our Sausalito pier.

KP crew Peeling Spuds. The MILLS had a potato peeling machines but few liked to use it. It had a 'grit' lined tub that peeled the potatos in an instant, but, it took forever to clean the machine. Beyond them is the wire cage to stow potatos. One day a huge wave broke over the bow, broke the bolts fastening it to the side, swept it to the fan tail and broke the leg of one of the crew. Photo probably taken on the initial trip from Ohio to San Francisco since in 1943 we did not have the wire above the side rail. @WClark

Uniforms: The Deck crew wore work clothes (Fatigues plus Navy hat, jacket and coveralls) for working on the deck or engine room. When I use the term "deck", I also include those normally assigned to the Bridge such as Quartermasters or machine gunners. When working on the deck in cold weather, we had Navy issue blue overalls and jacket. We also had white Navy hats. Our shoes were the regular Army issue. The cooks and Officers Mess Man (Stewards) wore white. The 1st Sargeant, clerk, radio man and supply sergeant would usually wear the Army Class A Uniform without a tie. The Deck officers usually wore their officer's Army Class A. Uniform unless there was some dirty work to do such as painting the deck. I have a picture of myself and the 1st Mate painting (yes, the 1st Mate painting) up foreward. The Chief Engineer wore Class A if he was doing paper work, but, wore his workclothes if he was supervising something dirty in the engine room.

Mine Planter Interior The six portholes below the main deck, on either side of the forward hatch, mark the crews sleeping quarters. We slept 3 bunks high and the space between bunks was the length of your arm between the elbow and the wrist.

Enlisted Quarters. Must be an early picture as I am sure there were triple bunks when I arrived in 1943. Shown, front to rear, "Ashton, Rusbough and 'Red' Garner" @WClark

The next three portholes were for the Enlisted Man's Mess and our refrigerated walk-in storage.

Enlisted Man's Mess with "Altees" at the table. @WClark

The four forward portholes in the fo'c's'le (forecastle - bow) were the Enlisted Man's Head. The entrance was from the main deck

On the main deck, just aft of the mast, was the Officers Wardroom. The first door was a passageway between the port and starboard decks. Two doors in the passageway (forward side) allowed entrance to the Officers Wardroom. Another door (aft side) was the entrance to the Galley. Another door from the port deck was for entrance to the Galley. On the starbord side is an inside passageway between the Officers Wardroom passageway and the Staterooms for Officers. There are two passageways from the port to starboard deck that provide entrances to these Staterooms. The First and Second Mates, The Chief and Assistant Engineers slept here all were Warrent Officers). Entrance to the Engine Room was from the Stateroom Passageway. On the Boat deck just aft of the mast are the Staterooms for the CO, Exec and the Skipper. Above the boat deck Staterooms are two Anti-Aircraft machine guns.

View of the Bridge, Should be Skipper and 1st Mate wearing officers hats. Above them are two 50 cal machine guns. On bottom right is canvas cover for the electric hoist. @WClark

Bating Order (Line Up) Let me give you the bating order. When we had a line to the dock, The Mine Planter Commanding Officer was in charge of the ship. As soon as that line was cast off, the Skipper (Master, AMP MILLS), a Chief Warrant Officer, was in charge of the ship. We were supposed to have two officers, a Commanding Officer and and Executive Officer; but, only had one until some time late in 1945. They would hold rank of Captain or Lieutenant. They would come and go but the Warrent Officers were always the same. It was an interesting game in the Officers Wardroom in that the Skipper sat on the Starboard (Head) side of the table and the CO sat on the Port (Bottom) side of the table. Naturally these landlubbers knew nothing about starboard being the head and port being the bottom of the table. I can also say that the CO had little to say about any thing that had to do with the ship. Maybe he signed papers that I would not know about, but basically he was a boss for the 1st Sgt. as far as his duties were concerned. Late in 1945 we had an "Old Line" Captain come onboard. He wanted Saturday rifle inspection. That is the first time I knew we had rifles. After a few weeks of watching professional slobs do "Inspect Arms" he gave up and that was the end on Saturday inspections. He did tell us about Soldiers Savings, that was a hush subject because it paid more than savings bonds. I switched over thanks to his information and that helped me buy a 20- pay insurance dated back to Dec 7, 1942 when I went into the service.

Mining Operations We had a main boom for lifting any cargo in or out of the forward hatch, but, that was not its main use. When we went to Ft Baker it was used to pick up mines from the dock and space them on our forward deck. When we were on location, there were hoists (davits) on the rail that were actually used to lower the mines into the water. The main boom was used to move mines to the rail area where the hoists could reach them. The mine (planting) crew that we picked up at Ft Baker did all of the wiring of the mines and distribution boxes (DB). Our crew operated the boom. The mine crew had a small boat, I believed called an L Boat ( DB Boat had a L- number for identification) when it was necessary to fire (shoot) a line to shore for a new cable to the firing location (Mine Casemate via a Mine Cable Hut) at the forts. I started to read your ( martyk8 @ webtv.net ) document (Army Mine Planter TR 435-317, dated 1926) and could not believe my eyes. Then I went back to the front page and found dates 1912 and 1914 upated to 1926. The sketches and details are for the obsolete type mines that we were replacing when I came aboard. They looked like a 55 gallon drum with hemishere ends (buoyant sphere mine case with extension between top and botton of mine case ). They were actually floating mines attached to an anchor. The length of cable between the mine and anchor had to be set for each mine depending on the depth of water (and submerged depth of mine). These were not contact type of mines such as used by the Navy. When I came on board we were replacing that type with a much larger type that sat on the ocean floor. As before, each mine was connected to a DB box. Some of these mines had a listening device which could track vessels passing overhead. I would estimate this new type was about 3 foot in diameter with a cone shaped enclosure on the top end. So scratch all of the pretty pictures showing anchors and cables on either side of the ship's deck (not used for the 1943 ground submarine mine).

Photo linked below is the forward mine deck viewed from the Bridge. Mine Planting Crew preparing to put mine overboard. When they came up they are covered with seaweed, etc.... Vessel's crew wore white Sailor's hat. @WClark

Target Detail One of our other jobs was towing targets for the harbor defense guns. The target was a horizontal platform about 10' by 10' with a 10' by 10' upright canvas supported by a wood frame. It was stored at Goat Island, next to Treasure Island, and possibly belonged to the Navy and also used by them. We could see Navy sailors in their dress whites (jail birds) tending the trash burning for Treasure Island. Goat Island is now a Coast Guard Base. We would secure the target and tow it out to sea about 200 yards behind us until we reached the firing area when we would let it out about 500 yards behind us. We would then set a course as if we were about to enter the bay. This was always done on clear days. You could see the flash of the gun when it fired. Of interest was the feel of the shock wave if you had your head in front of an open port hole. We learned to count seconds between the flash and the arrival of the shell at the target. Once they found the range, one over then one short, the shell would land quite close to the target. If you strained your eyes and counted correctly, you could often actually see the shell as it hit the water. I never did see an actuall hit on the target but it looked as if they were very close at times. By the way, these were not explosive shells. At the end of the target practice we would shorten the tow line and return the target to the Island. One day when we were heading for the target area and still with a short tow line, out target was attacked by Navy dive bombers. They must have mistaken us for their target some where in the area. You should have heard the confusion as orders were given to play out the tow line while the Skipper called for a full throttle burst of speed (lay rubber, for you landlubbers). He wanted to put proper distance between the target and us as quickly as possible. Even when we lengthen the tow line, they continued to drop bombs. Meantime we tried to contact the Navy to stop bombing. Here was a good example of the old rivalry where Army and Navy could not communicate ( they had different frequencies in their radio equipment). As I understand it, some one ashore had to make several telephone calls, to locate the command which controlled the dive bombers, before the planes stopped bombing and flew off. Naturally we never did hear if anything happened to the pilots. So we continued to our target area and completed our target mission for the day.

Life Saving Mission As I remember, there was no general announcement that morning, We noticed that we were getting a full head of steam. Shortely therafter, the story of a shipwreck started to spread. I am not sure we were ever told the true story. Soon we put together a story that an Army Transport returning from the Pacific Theater with (~ 1300) troops aboard had run aground on the Farallon Islands off San Francisco Bay (31 May 1944, ATS HENRY BERGH grounded on the Island). Then came the story that the Navy had only the old WW 1 four stack destroyer KING and a tug to send out. But the KING had been stripped of lifeboats and only carried life rafts (wartime footing). So someone realized that we carried life boats and we were called upon as a rescue ship. The Transport was only able to launch lifeboats fron one side due to its list. I don't remember if we launched one or two of our lifeboats but they started picking up the passengers. Some were in the oil contaminated water, but most came over the side with minimum of contamination. The KING was of some use because they were able to take onboard the survivors from our and the ATS's lifeboats. When they thought they had a load they proceded to Treasure Island. We took a couple of loads on board and it took us a week to clean up all the oil where ever the survivors went (on our ship). And naturally the life boats needed a good cleaning. I understood that we were told to sink the ATS's lifeboats; but being salvage minded, we took a couple onboard and proceded to scrounge what ever we could. The motorized one had items such as a compass, blankets, etc... I managet to scrounge an orange wool ATS blanket. When we unloaded our passengers at Treasure Island and returned to our dock, the (Warrent) Officers discovered our loot and wanted it turned over to them. But, by that time we were tied up to the dock and when our Captain returned to the Ship, he over-ruled them and we kept our trophies. (Within three days the BERGH broke up and sank, no fatalities. The Commander of the 12th Naval District gave praise to the service of the Army Mine Planters for their assistance.)

Free Time On Liberty Nights, I and some others used to earn some extra money by working the "Freedom Shift" at the Sausalito Shipyard. I was an Electricians Helper pulling degausing cable on T-2 Tankers and was paid $1.045 per hour. Military people could walk in when available. I worked enough to be assigned to a regular crew. When I arrived (at the shipyard), they would tell me which ship my crew was on and their work area. We did not have to join the union.