Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"One afternoon, returning to the Philadeplhia Naval Yard after conducting a major flight operations demonstration, Captain Bledsoe; the Lexington's Commander, was informed that the tug assigned to his 300 meter long ship had suddenly began to develop thrust problems, and was not under control, his reaction was immediate and effective!

"The huge carrier not under its own power, in a very confined space and with its towering profile, was at the mercy of the light breeze. Responding with characteristic professionalism to a potential crisis; Bledsoe gave orders to the standby crews of six prepositioned aircraft parked on the flight deck.

"Three fighters up forward and three aft had been arranged athwart ships, with the machines firmly lashed down and had their wheels blocked. Their standby crews; being all aircraft taxi qualified tradesmen, occupying their cockpits had the engines of these six machines running and warm. The aircraft's combined power of 5,400 hp and variable pitch Hamilton propellers enabled the Captain to gently move his huge ship completely sideways into her berth as carefully as a mother putting her child into its crib! An impressive example of men and material in action!

"The tug which had lost its propeller, was drifting dead in the water was entirely helpless. In the modern world of the 1980's, many similarly large ships are equipped with underwater bow and stern thruster propellers aligned athwart ships. But this was how it was handled back in the 1930's."

-- from Far Aft and Faintly by Mark Klimaszewski, 2015. (On its own website the book is described: "The novel Far Aft and Faintly is based on the memoir of one Admiraal Maarten Danielszoon Sweers of the Koninklijke Marine Nederland (Royal Netherlands Navy), and his experiences from 1936 up to the first Battle of the South China Sea, on December 08, 1941." I don't know whether the bit with the Lexington is from Danielszoon's memoir or invented for the novel, but I liked the passage.)