To involve his pilots in the details of the air plan, Jimmy Flatley solicited their ideas from them at squadron meetings. Otherwise, except for daily air patrols of a few planes, the pilots bided their time in the ready room, many endlessly playing acey-deucy, the Navy's version of backgammon.
The ships junior officers, when off duty, played a more dangerous game-poker, at which they were usually clobbered at high stakes by the undisputed champion, Lieutenant (jg) Bernard J. Lally, ship's fire marshall.
"Barney" Lally had come into Navy directly from the New York Fire Department.
The obvious nervousness of the novices over the approaching battle created opportunities for the old salts to have some fun with them.
Chief Warrant Officer John E. Montgomery, an FBI agent in peacetime and now a fireman on the flightdeck, swore George Earnshaw to secrecy and confided to him that Japanese spies had apparently planted bombs somewhere on the ship.
When the old righthander went on watch, Montgomery switched the lightbulbs in Earnshaw's room with flashbulbs.
Then he and his cronies lay in hiding when Big George returned from watch.
As Earnshaw flipped on his light switch, the bulbs went off like bomb flashes. George wheeled to flee, tripped and fell against the thin metal bulkhead, denting it and briefly knocking himself out.
Angrier than h*ll at the obvious culprit, Earnshaw went looking for Montgomery for several days.
But whenever Johnny saw him coming across the flightdeck, he'd call a fire drill and drive Earnshaw back with a fire hose!
Anyhoo....
Trying to figure out how to arm the old bird for the Marcus Island attack...
Seeing that the Marcus Island was of miniscule strategic importance, I'd like to think that the torpedo is out of question, some where loaded with big 2000-pound 'blockbusters', I don't have that, some was having the belly tanks, would they then carry rockets, finally we have either 2 500-pound or 4 250-pound bombs, have to say that I lean towards the 4 250-pounders....
Suggestions...?