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Lt. John Lambrecht scanned the empty Pacific Ocean. The weather was excellent; ceiling unlimited. With a few thin scattered clouds overhead and a light wind stirring up moderate northeasterly swells and a few white caps, he could see thirty miles in every direction. But all through that Wednesday July 7, 1937. Lt. Lambrecht and his fellow O3U-3 pilots from Colorado saw no sign of famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart. Nor the next day. Nor the third day.
On every flight, the Vought O3U-3 Corsair seaplanes scouted at an altitude of 1000 feet and an interval of three miles. Radio communication was excellent even at extreme scouting distances. During these operations the planes each covered about 1900 miles. Visibility and state of the sea were such that the pilots could have seen even a small rubber boat from five miles away. Indeed when the planes were on their return leg the ship was sighted at more than thirty miles distance.
Colorado's O3U-3 floatplanes systematically searched the ocean, and inspected the islands, reefs, and atolls especially carefully. The search started at 1430 Wednesday 7 July, when the planes were ordered to search 80-90 miles to the south of the ship, for a spot marked on the chart as “Reef & Sandbank.” No reefs, sandbanks, nor a Lockheed Electra were sighted. Three more flights on Thursday were equally unproductive.
At 0700 Friday morning the planes were catapulted to search McKean and Gardner Islands, Carondelet Reef and the intervening sea area. McKean Island was visited first; a perfunctory examination ascertained that the missing plane had not landed there, and that it was uninhabited except for myriads of birds. Remains of several old adobe buildings were still standing. McKean is only about one square mile, is perfectly flat, and had no vegetation whatsoever. Its lagoon, like other small islands of the Phoenix Group, is very shallow and almost dry. One circle at fifty feet around McKean aroused the birds to such an extent that further inspection had to be made from an altitude of at least 400 feet.
From McKean the planes searched Gardner Island, the biggest of the group and typical of a south sea atoll … a narrow circular strip of land surrounding a large lagoon. Gardner Island is covered with coconut palms and other tropical vegetation. Lambrecht saw signs of recent habitation but repeated circling and zooming failed to elicit any answering wave from possible inhabitants and it was finally taken for granted that none were there. At the western end of the island a the wreck of a 4,000 ton tramp steamer bore mute evidence of unlighted and poorly charted “Rocks and Shoals”. She lay high and almost on the coral beach with her back broken in two places.
The lagoon at Gardner looked deep and large enough so that a seaplane could have landed or taken off easily. The search pilots believed that Miss Earhart could have landed her plane in this lagoon and swam or waded ashore. In fact, on any of the islands, an emergency landing could have been accomplished with no more damage than a good barrier crash or a good wetting.
At 1430 that afternoon planes were again catapulted and headed some seventy miles to the eastward to search Hull Island. In appearance, Hull is much the same as Gardner, somewhat smaller perhaps, nevertheless, similar in shape and formation, the same lagoon, with the same vegetation and identical groves of coconut palms. The one difference … Hull was inhabited.
As the planes approached natives were seen cloistered around a large shack erected on high stilts and otherwise fabricated in what appeared to be the conventional native fashion. When the planes zoomed the beach, the natives, dressed in loin clothes, waved and yelled, in wonder at such strange birds. After a circle of the island, the village was again zoomed. This time many more natives were on the roof of a large building and all of them entirely naked waving their loin cloths! Apparently, none of them had ever seen an airplane before.
Lambrecht touched down his plane at the southern end of the lagoon close to the village. Immediately after the landing an outrigger canoe pushed off from the beach with three native boys and the white resident manager. It took those natives exactly forty-five minutes to paddle three-quarters of a mile. As the canoe came nearer, the reason for its "breath-taking" speed was readily apparent … the natives were using small round poles as paddles. The resident manager, a man of medium height, deeply tanned, and dressed in white duck trousers, white shirt and a straw hat, greeted them. The pilots explained their search. He he hadn’t about Amelia Earhart's disappearance. Nor had he any signs of her.
On Saturday, July 10, Colorado's pilots searched the other islands in the group: Sydney, Phoenix, Enderbury, Birnie, and Canton. All proved to be nothing but a blemish on an otherwise blue ocean ... absolutely flat, bare and colorless and a disappointment in that it did not harbor the missing flyers ... a lagoon was nothing more than a shallow stagnant pool of rusty water ... a stone cairn on the east beach ... here and there a few surrounding palm trees … few signs of habitation were evident.
In the hours after Earhart's disappearence, confused amateur radio reports cropped up all over the airwaves. These had led the searchers to hope that Earhart and Noonan had made it to dry land. Colorado's search of the islands proved fruitless and hopes of locating the unfortunate flyers were virtually abandoned.
You can read the full reports of Lt. Lambrecht and Colorado Captain Wilhelm Friedell at the TIGHAR website.
Colorado (BB-45), 624 feet long, weighed 32,600 tons. She carried eight 16" main guns and twelve 5" guns. The sister ships of her class included Maryland (BB-46), Washington (BB-47), and West Virginia (BB-48).
The third Colorado (BB-45) was launched 22 March 1921 by New York Shipbuilding Co., Camden, N.J., sponsored by Mrs. M. Melville; and commissioned 30 August 1923, Captain R. R. Belknap in command.
Colorado sailed from New York 29 December 1923 on a maiden
voyage that
took her to Portsmouth, England; Cherbourg and Villefranche, France;
Naples, Italy; and Gibraltar before returning to New York 15 February
1924. After repairs and final tests she sailed for the west coast 11
July and arrived at San Francisco 15 September 1924.
From 1924 to 1941 Colorado operated with the Battle Fleet in
the
Pacific, participating in fleet exercises and various ceremonies, and
returning to the east coast from time to time for fleet problems in the
Caribbean. She also cruised to Samoa, Australia and New Zealand (8
June-26 September 1925) to show the flag in the far Pacific. She aided
in earthquake relief at Long Beach, Calif., from 10 to 11 March 1933
and during an NROTC cruise from 11 June to 22 July 1937 she assisted in
the search for the missing Amelia Earhart.
Based on Pearl Harbor from 27 January 1941, Colorado
operated in the
Hawaiian training area in intensive exercises and war games until 25
June when she departed for the west coast and overhaul at Puget Sound
Navy Yard which lasted until 31 March 1942.
After west coast training, Colorado returned to Pearl Harbor 14
August
1942 to complete her preparations for action. She operated in the
vicinity of the Fiji Islands and New Hebrides from 8 November 1942 to
17 September 1943 to prevent further Japanese expansion. She sortied
from Pearl Harbor 21 October to provide preinvasion bombardment and
fire support for the invasion of Tarawa, returning to port 7 December
1943. After west coast overhaul, Colorado returned to Lahaina
Roads,
Hawaiian Islands, 21 January 1944 and sortied the next day for the
Marshall Islands operation, providing preinvasion bombardment and fire
support for the invasions of Kwajalein and Eniwetok until 23 February
when she headed for Puget Sound Navy Yard and overhaul.
Joining other units bound for the Mariana Islands operation at San
Francisco, Colorado sailed on 5 May 1944 by way of Pearl Harbor
and
Kwajalein for preinvasion bombardment and fire support duties at
Saipan, Guam, and Tinian from 14 June. On 24 July during the shelling
of Tinian, Colorado received 22 shell hits from shore batteries
but
continued to support the invading troops until 3 August. After repairs
on the west coast, Colorado arrived in Leyte Gulf 20 November
1944 to
support American troops fighting ashore. A week later she was hit by
two kamikazes which killed 19 of her men, wounded 72, and caused
moderate damage. Nevertheless as planned she bombarded Mindoro between
12 and 17 December before proceeding to Manus Island for emergency
repairs. Returning to Luzon 1 January 1945, she participated in the
preinvasion bombardments in Lingayen Gulf. On 9 January accidental
gunfire hit her superstructure killing 18 and wounding 51.
After replenishing at Ulithi, Colorado joined the preinvasion
bombardment group at Kerama Retto 25 March 1945 for the invasion of
Okinawa. She remained there supplying fire support until 22 May when
she cleared for Leyte Gulf.
Returning to occupied Okinawa 6 August 1945, Colorado sailed
from there
for the occupation of Japan, covering the airborne landings at Atsugi
Airfield, Tokyo. 27 August. Departing Tokyo Bay 20 September 1945 she
arrived at San Francisco 15 October, then steamed to Seattle for the
Navy Day celebration 27 October. Assigned to "Magic Carpet" duty she
made three runs to Pearl Harbor to transport 6,357 veterans home before
reporting to Bremerton Navy Yard for inactivation. She was placed out
of commission in reserve there 7 January 1947, and sold for scrapping
23 July 1959. Her bell is currently on display in the University
Memorial Center (UMC) at the University of Colorado.
Colorado received seven battle stars for World War II
service.
Don't miss the scanned Colorado
Cruise Book (1942-1946).
Sources: Public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
and pictures from my father's 1943 Naval Recognition Manual
Continue the discussion at the Ships Forum or email me (photos of WW2 ships welcome).
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