April 1942 Alternate Indian Ocean
- Thread starter Zheng He
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We know, we know...doesn't make it any less hilarious, though, does it?
Coulsdon Eagle
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Old naval friend of mine served on the destroyer HMS Dainty. Apparently caused no end of punch-ups on shore leave.
I'd agree with this. The term Gay Nineties, popularized in the 1920s to express nostalgia for the U.S. of the 1890s did not have LGBT connotations, nor did the best selling book about two young American women in 1920s Europe (Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, 1942; Hollywood movie, 1944). And then there's the song "I'll Be Seeing You" (1938) with its lines "In every lovely summer's day/In everything that's bright and gay/I'll always think of you that way"), which Bing Crosby popularized in 1944 and which had powerful appeal for families in the U.S. and Britain who had already lost loved ones in the war or who still had loved ones in harm's way overseas.
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Gay as a term for homosexual was used in The Times as early as the 1890’s but it didn’t filter into general usage until the 1960’s. The people who named warships however would have read The Times.
For the final word on the etymology of "gay": https://www.etymonline.com/word/gay
as one who was in Tulane Stadium for the first home exhibition game and sitting in the North End Zone when John Gilliam ran the TD back against the Rams....
all I can say is Thanks, Komissar Goodell.....NOT!!!!!
all I can say is Thanks, Komissar Goodell.....NOT!!!!!
0930 Hours, 22 November 1942, HMS Indomitable, 190 Miles Southwest of Port Blair, Indian Ocean – Rear Admiral Boyd stood on the flag bridge of HMS Indomitable nervously watching the operations to recover the aircraft from the strike against Port Blair. The Fulmars on combat air patrol still had plenty of fuel while the Seafires on deck had been pushed forward to facilitate recovery operations. HMS Hermes launched the four Martlets and two Swordfish spotted on her flight deck before recovering her Martlets. Overall it sounded like the attack was successful although once again it was costly with seven of 32 planes lost over the target and a Martlet succumbing to battle damage a few miles short of the task. Additionally, three more planes – one Dauntless, one Albacore, and one Sea Hurricane were destined to live out their days as hangar queens after recovering onboard Indomitable.
For Rear Admiral Boyd the only goal now was to get clear of the area as stated to his staff, “We’ve stirred up a hornets’ nest, now it’s time to bugger off.” At 1000 hours with the recovery complete and additional fighters re-spotted on the flight decks of both carriers, the task force turned southwest at 22 knots on heading for a rendezvous east of Ceylon with the support group.
Boyd’s concerns were not unfounded. The Zero that had followed his planes return flight to the carriers went unnoticed by the radar operators and controllers on the ships due to the number of friendly aircraft in the air. The pilot had the presence of mind to trail the returning FAA aircraft at a respectable distance and as soon as he sighted the task force, he did something rather uncharacteristic for a fighter pilot, he turned for home instead of jumping the trailing enemy aircraft for one or two easy kills. As soon as he was clear of the area, he transmitted a sighting report. Unfortunately for the Japanese, he was not a trained reconnaissance pilot and his report only said, “2 CV, distance 200.”
For Rear Admiral Boyd the only goal now was to get clear of the area as stated to his staff, “We’ve stirred up a hornets’ nest, now it’s time to bugger off.” At 1000 hours with the recovery complete and additional fighters re-spotted on the flight decks of both carriers, the task force turned southwest at 22 knots on heading for a rendezvous east of Ceylon with the support group.
Boyd’s concerns were not unfounded. The Zero that had followed his planes return flight to the carriers went unnoticed by the radar operators and controllers on the ships due to the number of friendly aircraft in the air. The pilot had the presence of mind to trail the returning FAA aircraft at a respectable distance and as soon as he sighted the task force, he did something rather uncharacteristic for a fighter pilot, he turned for home instead of jumping the trailing enemy aircraft for one or two easy kills. As soon as he was clear of the area, he transmitted a sighting report. Unfortunately for the Japanese, he was not a trained reconnaissance pilot and his report only said, “2 CV, distance 200.”
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hopefully he borrowed a bunch of dental picks from the dentist down the street to use in the exam
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