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Shaun Thomas (Underdog), OSC
to remember
Chandler, Charles Richardson, CAPT.
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Contact Info
Home Town Washington D.C.
Last Address Fairfax, VA
Date of Passing Jun 14, 2005
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Wall/Plot Coordinates 3 2558-LH
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Charles Richardson Chandler, 87, a retired Navy Captain, died of kidney failure, congestive heart disease and prostate cancer June 14, 2005, at The Fairfax, a military retirement home at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Captain Chandler was a native Washingtonian and graduated from Annapolis High School. He was appointed to the Naval Academy and graduated in 1939. He served on USS California before going to submarine school. On Dec. 7, 1941, he was the assistant signal officer aboard USS Pompano, which arrived at Pearl Harbor shortly after the disastrous strike on the Navy's fleet.
His father was a commanding officer of USS Northampton, which was also just off Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack, while Capt. Chandler's mother awaited her husband and son on the island.
During World War II, Captain Chandler also served aboard USS Indiana, USS Drayton and USS Thatcher, surviving kamikaze attacks on two of those ships. He earned a Purple Heart and a Silver Star.
After the war, he served on the staff of the command for destroyers based in the Pacific. He spent 1950 to 1952 as an instructor at the Naval Academy in seamanship and navigation and wrote "The Watch Officer's Guide," a textbook used for years.
He took command of USS McDermut, assigned to picket duty off Korea, where his actions won him the Bronze Star for destroying enemy mines and providing gunfire support for minesweepers. When enemy shore batteries fired on the minesweepers, he placed his ship between them and the beach, and fire from his ship silenced three batteries.
He later served at the Fleet Training Group in San Diego, as commanding officer of USS Vega, commanding officer of the Fleet Training Group in Pearl Harbor and commanding officer of the U.S. Naval Station in Yokosuka, Japan. His last sea duty was as commander of the service squadron at Newport, R.I. He retired in 1969 after serving on the Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey in Washington.
In retirement, he was active in reunion organizations for the Drayton and Thatcher crews. He also patented a device to purify water.
His wife, Ann Yates Chandler, died in 1986.
Other Comments:
To view the Silver Star and Bronze Star citations, click on the corresponding ribbon in the Ribbon Bar.
On Dec 7th she was docked at Pearl Harbor: Battleship Row; forward of the Maryland and Oklahoma
Fate: The California was struck by two torpedoes and one bomb. The first torpedo hit at 8:05 a.m.; the second came moments later. With a gaping hole in the ship, it started capsizing. Despite efforts to bail water from the ship, it sank to the harbor bottom after three days of progressive flooding.
Crew: 2,200
Deceased: 105
The ship was raised via cofferdams, moved to the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard on April, 1942, with repairs to her cage mainmast and all six 14" forward guns were removed to facilitate her refloating. It took until January, 1944 for the ship's total reconstruction but it was a match for most of the newer US battleships in all but it's main guns (still 14").
An after view of the USS California.
January, 1945, the USS California was hit by a Japanese kamikaze where 44 of her crew died and 155 injured. Battle repairs were made to keep her battle-worthy and on station. She stayed on station until the end of the month and returned to Puget Sound for repairs. She was back on station for the landings at Okinawa and from there until the Japanese surrender in mid-August.
Of historical interest is that after the official end of WWII, the USS California was still on duty and after different assignments in Philippines and other areas in SE Asia, she returned to the US on Dec 7, 1945 - exactly 4 years to the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
