Shortly after World War I in November 1918, there was a drastic reduction of active duty officers and enlisted men in the U.S. Navy. Most of the Navy photographers that had been graduated from the photography school at Miami, FL had left the Naval service; so by the middle part of 1919 there were only about twelve enlisted Naval photographers on active duty in the entire Navy.

In 1919 LT Walter L. Richardson USNR who was on active duty in the Bureau of Navigation, Aviation Division, Photographic Section, Navy Department, Washington, DC, formulated plans to re-establish photography in the U.S. Navy. Late in 1919 LT Richardson's plans were approved, his first job was to re-start a Naval Photography School for the purpose of training enlisted men that would be required to operate at the then planned twelve to fourteen U.S. Naval Air Stations, Pacific and Atlantic Fleet Camera Parties and the U.S. Navy Publicity Bureau.

The U.S. Naval Photographic School at the Naval Air Station, Anacostia, DC was placed into operation in January, 1920, under the direction of LT Walter L. Richardson with Ensign William Mann as Officer in Charge and Chief Yeoman B.A. Backers as instructor of the first class conducted in the first half of 1920.

During the years 1920 - 1921 - 1922 six classes were held at NAS Anacostia, DC graduating a total of about ninety enlisted Naval photographers who became thinly spread in the Naval service in one, two or three man units, except the Fleet Camera parties which had about thirty men assigned duty in the Atlantic and Pacific.

By late 1922 there were about fourteen authorized official U.S. Navy photographic units in the Naval aviation organization, most of which had very small photographic laboratory facilities of two to four rooms in a run-down building or a spare space that no other Naval unit wanted at the various Naval commands. Therefore, Naval photographers had to make use of primitive and often inadequate quarters as there were no funds available to construct photographic laboratory facilities at the then newly established U.S. Naval Air Stations in the Navy.

In addition to no building funds for photographic facilities, there were no naval officers on active duty who were graduates of the U.S. Naval Photographic School. Therefore, the photographic units at each Naval Air Command had to operate under an officer who lacked knowledge in photography and had very little interest in the profession. Also, in most cases, photography was a collateral duty assignment to an officer who was much more interested in flying airplanes than the Navy's photographic business. Therefore, whatever progress was made in the Navy at the various naval commands was mainly due to the initiative of the naval enlisted active duty photographers.

Photography NAS Anacostia DC
1920 - 1941

In the early twenties, the photographic unit at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Anacostia, had the most complete photographic facilities and more photographers on duty than any other laboratory in the U.S. Navy.

The photographic unit at Anacostia, in addition to operating the Naval school of photography, also furnished photographic still and motion pictures during flight tests operations of newly designed airplanes, and also operational test of aerial cameras, motion picture cameras, still picture cameras and a wide assortment of photo lab equipment items for use by the Navy on board ships and land based units.

During the twenties and thirties all aerial cameras and 35mm motion picture cameras purchased by the Navy were given an operational test by Navy photographers at Anacostia, DC, before being sent to active service photographic units in the Navy.

In 1920 LT W.L. Richardson and Chief Photographer Lyman Goodnight made the first aerial photographs of shell splashes in the target area during Atlantic Fleet gunnery firing practice in the southern drill ground off the Virginia Capes.

The cameras used for this operation were 4" x 5" glass plate F&S which were designed and manufactured by the Eastman Kodak Company.

The aircraft used for this operation were F5L twin engine seaplanes in which the photographer held his camera over the side from the bow hatch of the seaplane.

The aerial photographs obtained by Richardson and Goodnight were of excellent quality which provided great assistance in the plotting and scoring results of the Fleet gunnery firing practices. In fact, the results were so good that the Bureau of Ordnance, Director of Naval Gunnery Exercises in the Navy Department, Washington, DC., prepared plans for the use of aerial photography of all U.S. Navy gunnery exercises annually scheduled for ships of the Fleet.

Throughout the twenties and thirties Naval photographers made aerial photographs of Fleet gunnery firing practices conducted annually by ships in the Atlantic and the Pacific using the same basic photo flight pattern established by Richardson and Goodnight in 1920.

Naval photographers covering the Fleet gunnery firing practices flew in F5L twin engine seaplanes, Vought single engine landplanes from the Carrier USS LANGLEY, Loening single engine amphibians from Carriers USS LANGLEY, USS SARATOGA, USS LEXINGTON, Vought single engine seaplanes catapulted from the decks of various battleships of the Fleet.

The F&S (4 x 5 glass plate) aerial camera was used for the Fleet gunnery firing practices until about 1927 when the first Fairchild roll film cameras (5" x 7" picture) were placed into active service replacing the F&S cameras.

The first Fairchild roll film (5 x 7) F-1 aerial cameras were handcranked between each picture exposure to advance the film and re-set the between-the-lens shutter. The roll film used in these cameras was good for about 50 pictures.

The Fairchild roll film (7" x 7" picture) 200 exposure F-25 and F-56 motor driven aerial cameras replaced the F-1 aerial camera in the middle thirties. The F-56 aerial camera with its wide range of focal length lens were widely used by the Navy during World War II in the photo reconnaissance land base air squadrons VD-1, VD-3, VD-4, VD-5 and aircraft carrier launched photo reconnaissance planes in the Pacific Ocean area.

By late 1920 and early 1921 the photographic laboratory facilities formerly in the Navy Department on Constitution Avenue in Washington, DC had moved to the U.S. Naval Air Station, Anacostia, DC.

The photographic laboratory facilities at NAS Anacostia were most inadequate for photographic requirements needed for the air station aircraft flight tests and Naval Photography School operations. However, the Anacostia Laboratory at that time was the largest and best equipped plant in the Navy.

By early 1921 Ensign Mann and Chief Yeoman Backers had departed from Anacostia and Chief Photographers Peterson, Goodnight and Baudu were on duty running the photography school and station flight test photography operations of the U.S. Naval Air Station, Anacostia, DC.

The Naval Photographic School at NAS Anacostia during the years 1920 1921 - 1922 and first half of 1923 graduated about ninety enlisted Naval and Marine Corps photographers who were assigned photographic duties with the Atlantic Fleet and Pacific Fleet Camera Parties and at the then newly established Naval Aviation units in the Navy and Marine Corps. Also, a small number of Naval photographers were assigned to the Navy Publicity Bureau in New York City.

Naval and Marine Corps Photographic Laboratory locations in 1923 were:
NAS Anacostia, DC
NAS Norfolk, VA
NAS Pensacola, FL
NAS Lakehurst, NJ
NAS Coro Solo, C.Z.
NAS Ford Island, T.H.
U.S. Marine Corps, Quantico, VA
U.S. Marine Corps, NAS San Diego, CA
U.S. Navy Publicity Bureau, New York City, NY
Atlantic and Pacific Fleet Camera parties

In 1920 - 1921 the Navy coal collier USS JUPITER was being converted into an aircraft carrier at Norfolk, VA which was to become the first Naval vessel equipped with flight deck facilities for landing and take-off operations. This coal collier was re-named the USS LANGLEY, then commonly called the "covered wagon".

During the conversion period of the collier Jupiter into an aircraft carrier at Norfolk, VA the USS LANGLEY detachment unit had a flight deck experimental test facility set up at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Norfolk, VA where they were conducting aircraft operations in the arresting gear which would later be installed on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS LANGLEY.

It was during this time, along about May, 1921 or June, 1921 that Chief Photographer Lyman Goodnight was ordered to duty with the USS LANGLEY detachment at the NAS Hampton Roads, VA for the purpose of making high speed motion pictures of the testing operations of the arresting gear which would later be installed aboard this first aircraft carrier. LT B.C. Griffin and LT Mel Pride were two pilots who were closely connected with this project under whom Chief Goodnight would be working. Upon arrival at NAS, Norfolk, VA Chief Goodnight made an inspection tour of the existing NAS photo lab at Norfolk along with Chief Photographer D.N. Russell who was then the laboratory chief. They discussed the various problems in connection with Goodnight's project of covering the arresting gear operations then scheduled. Goodnight found there was not one item for processing or printing of 35mm motion picture film in the Norfolk lab and, inasmuch as this project would be made almost entirely by ultraspeed motion pictures of every test, this would amount to a considerable amount of motion picture film. The laboratory at Norfolk only had a set of wood tanks in which wooden frames could be inserted for the processing of short strips of 35mm film which was then being used for gun camera work. These particular tanks were about 11" square and 30" deep with plenty of solution in them to operate for a considerable length of time. Chief Goodnight made a very thorough check of all of his equipment required in planning the job and there didn't seem to be any help in sight for larger processing tanks or a motion picture printing machine, so it was Goodnight's suggestion that they try developing a roll of 200' length of 35mm film by unwinding it and bundling it in a loose cluster and pushing it down into the tank and start the developing process and every few seconds lift it out and turn it over, then push it back down into the solution and continue this treatment through each solution until it was completely processed, and then they would similarly do the same kind of treatment through the fixing bath and also in the washes. When they had finished the washing they would drape the film loosely over some strings or wires in one of the rooms to dry.

Naturally, this film received a number of cuts and scratches which they recognized would be somewhat troublesome, but not so bad as to destroy too much of the data so as to be unabe to read the film during its projection. After a few trials of this type of processing by this dunk method the picture data was fairly good. However, it did have a number of scratches and digs in it. The Officer in Charge agreed to accept this quality of work.

The turntable which held the arresting gear for the testing was very heavy and hard to shift for a new positon when the wind direction changed, but on good days they frequently got in several test runs a day. After each day's test run was completed Goodnight along with a little help from the photographers at the air station photographic laboratory spent most of the night getting the film processed and ready for viewing prior to the next scheduled test run.

The camera used was a standard Bell & Howell 35mm professional with an ultra-speed shutter device and a gear box hand cranked which has to be turned two turns a second for the camera to be turned 8 times normal or 128 frames per second instead of the normal 16 frames per second. Goodnight, in order to hold the camera against the torque of this ultra-speed crank, had to clasp the camera firmly against his chest with the film magazine on his left shoulder, his left hand pressing down against the lens ring. Of course, this camera was mounted on a tripod. The regular panning gears were disconnected and Goodnight would aim the camera by twisting both himself and the camera as he tried to aim it at the main point of the test. The regular turning of this large, long handled crank for the ultra-speed photography resulted in a strong push-pull pulsation to the camera which they could not control accurately in the follow-through. This erratic motion caused them to miss many of the tests by not being ahead or behind the point of aim at least half of the time. After they had conducted a number of flight tests of this landing gear Goodnight conceived the idea of getting a long bar with a helper which they could use in keeping the camera more steady and at the same time aim the camera satisfactorily on the action of the test.

This arresting gear set-up went through several changes during the testing period and one of the interesting features of this arresting gear was what was known as the "fiddle bridge". These were wires that were strung length-wise of the test area to engage with the hooks fastened to the underside of the plane being tested. These wires were intended to hold the airplane from any side sway during landing. These fore and aft wires were suspended about the arresting gear wires - the arresting gear wires themselves were cross-ways - port to starboard - and the fore and aft wires were supported by 1 x 3" wooden battens called "fiddle bridges". These wooden battens were not fastened to anything and when the airplane would land in this network of wires these fiddle bridge wood strips would fly all around the gear as the plane landed and the crew on each side of the landing area had to be on a sharp look out for them.

One day during the testing of a landing, the airplane immediately suffered an interesting axle damage. The axle was bent upward in the middle causing the wheels to toe in at the bottom. After some discussion it was decided it had hit a fiddle bridge during the landing thus bending the axle upwards. A new axle was installed and a new test run made.

Goodnight watched it very closely while aiming the camera at the axle area and again the bent axle showed up as before. Chief Goodnight reported to LT Pride that he observed the wheels as they hit the platform on the first impact and the axle bent downward in the middle and, as the plane bounced upward from this impact, the axle changed to the bent upward position and then back to level before the next wheel impact. On the second impact, the axle bent downward - then upward - then downward and upward the second time - then stayed upward the rest of the landing test run. During this time there was no sign of the fiddle bridge supports causing any damage, therefore, the pictures showed that Goodnight's observation was correct and the officers and engineers in charge of the project set about designing heavier and more sturdy landing wheel axles on the planes.

It was sometime in December, 1921, that Chief Goodnight completed the motion picture coverage of the landing gear test operations at NAS Norfolk, VA when he then returned to NAS Anacostia where he resumed duties as instructor in the Naval Photographic School at that station.

The experience of Chief Goodnight and his aerial photographic coverage of the fall of shot at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and his duty assignment and photographing the testing of the airplanes landing on the mock-up flight deck at NAS Norfolk proved of great value to him in relating the various problems and the method of solving them to the students in the Naval Photographic School during 1922 and the early part of 1923.

Chief Photographer Goodnight was the first Naval photographer to successfully use the ultra rapid (high speed 128 frames per second) 35mm motion picture photography in the U.S. Navy with a Bell & Howell camera.

LT L.A. POPE USN becomes first active duty career Naval Officer assigned to Naval Photographic duties.

In July 1922, LT L.A. Pope, USN was ordered to duty at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Anacostia, DC.

LT Pope became a qualified lighter-than-air pilot during World War I as an enlisted man with the rating of Aviation Machinist Mate U.S. Navy while attached to the Royal Navy Air Service in England in 1917 flying lighter-thanair ships over the Humbertine Patrol North Sea Area.

Later, after World War I, LT Pope received heariver-than-air pilot training at the U.S. Naval Air Station, North Island, San Diego, CA flying airplanes such as JN, BE-7, and DH landplanes to become qualified as a heavier-than-air pilot. However, due to a then newly established custom in the Naval aviation service, Naval aviators were required to be graduated from the Naval Aviation Pilot training facilities at Pensacola, FL.

In 1921 LT Pope went to Pensacola where he attended the pilot training school, and upon completion, he was ordered to duty at the Naval air Station, Anacostia, DC. LT Pope was among the first Naval officers to hold dual designations as pilot for heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air.

Shortly after LT Pope reported for duty at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Anacostia, DC in July 1922 he became aware that it was evident that Navy aviators would have to be specialists, or at least it was desirable that they be specialists in U.S. aviation activities. Dave Rittenhouse and Steve Calloway were tops in land plane testing. Al Williams was a standout in aerial acrobatics. Jake Gordon, Rutledge, Irvine did the seaplane work -so Pope, Sikes, Noble, Short and Poole, the assignees from Pensacola to Anacostia in 1922 had to get busy on some aviation speciality.

Short and Noble went for radio; Poole wasn't happy with anything; Sikes and Pope were being pushed towards Lakehurst because of their lighter-than-air backgrounds, so Pope, upon the suggestion from Sikes, took up photography at Anacostia.

LT Pope, after 8 or 9 months in Naval photography at Anacostia was ordered to the U.S. Army aerial photographic school at Rantoul, IL. From March to September, 1923, the Army at Rantoul conducted an aerial photographic course which was attended by 10 Army officers, one Marine corps officer and one Navy Officer, LT L.A. Pope. The Army photography course consisted of general photography background leading toward aerial obliques and verticals including the laying of strips and mosiacs.

In September, 1923, LT Pope returned to NAS Anacostia after completing the Army's course at Rantoul, and shortly after his return CDR Cecil called LT Pope to his office and siad, "Pope, now that you are back from Rantoul and you have had the Army's course in photography, and should know all that the Army knows about photography, and which you should be able to improve upon for the Navy, we want you to go to Pensacola, write a book on Naval photography and set up a school".

During the late summer and early fall months of 1923, Chief Photographer Layman Goodnight and the Naval Photographic School had been moved from Anacostia to NAS Pensacola, FL in accordance with approved action letter -Aer-F-2-BB, 705-19, dated June 30, 1923 - Quote -

From: The Chief of Bureau of Aeronautics

To: The Chief of Bureau of Navigation

Subject: Transfer of Photographic School from NAS Anacostia, DC to NAS, Pensacola, FL

1. It is recommended that the photographic school for officers and enlisted men of the Navy be transferred from the Naval Air Station, Anacostia to the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, FL.

2. The following reasons are submitted in favor of this change:

(a) The test activities at the Naval Air Station, Anacostia, do not allow sufficient photographic flights in aircraft to acquaint and familiarize the students sufficiently to develop them into efficient photographic personnel.

(b) The photographic laboratory at the Naval Air Station, Anacostia, is swamped with research and experimental work with photographic supplies and, in addition, is the camera repair base for Naval Aviation. All the motion picture work in this section of the country and all the photographic work for the Bureau of Aeronautics is also done at Anacostia.

(c) The photographic laboratory at Pensacola was designed as a school. At present half of the space in this laboratory is standing vacant and unused.

(d) In view of the shortage of expert photographic officers, it is believed best for the service that all photographic training - including elementary, such as has been given at Pensacola, and advanced, which has been given at Anacostia, be coordinated under the tutelage of one officer. In view of the fact that it will be impossible to send the Student Naval Aviators and Naval Aviation Pilots to Anacostia for their photographic training, it follows that the school at Anacostia should be moved to Pensacola.

(e) Experience has shown that the climatic conditions for photographic training are better at Pensacola than at Anacostia.

(f) The complement of photographic personnel for the Navy has now been filled and it is calculated that not more than 10 men a year need be trained for replacements. The transportation costs, therefore, of personnel to be sent to Pensacola for photographic training will not be great.

3. The present class at Anacostia will complete their course in approximately two weeks, and it is not necessary to train any more men until approximately the first of January, there will be sufficient interval to allow the transfer of the school from Anacostia to Pensacola without in any way interrupting the training of the photographic students.

(Signed) A.W. Johnson
Captain, USN
By direction of Chief of Bureau

By late 1923, LT Pope, Chief Photographer Goodnight and the photography school from Anacostia had been placed into operation at NAS Pensacola in building #239 which presented some complications due to lack of adequate equipment and facilities for both the station photographic work and the Naval School operations.

According to Pope and Goodnight, building #239 was more than a little crowded. The book on naval photography was not written at that time; however, an outline of the photography course was made by agreement between LT Pope and Chief Photographer Goodnight as to the contents of that course and what they could do with existing facilities which had limiting factors such as how many people could simultaneously use one darkroom, one contact printer, one enlarging printer, one print washer, etc.

The photographic laboratory at Pensacola was a two-story, wood frame structure 40' long and 22' wide with a stairway up the center from the front door to the second floor. This building had formerly been used as a barracks which was probably all right for that purpose, but for a photographic laboratory facility and a naval photographic school it was most inadequate.

This old barracks building was at best barely sufficient for the air station flight school photographic requirements - so when they placed the naval photographic school into it on top of the station's requirements, the conditions became more than just a bit crowded. Therefore, Pope and Goodnight began yelling for more space from the air station command for their station and photographic school operations.

The naval base at Pensacola, as most people know, was an old naval activity dating back to the Civil War period and during the early years was dependent for its fresh water on a supply stored in brick cisterns built on top of the ground. These cisterns were about 40' x 16' x12' with a rounded roof all of which was constructed of brick and cement. The entire structure of the roof, walls and floor was 3 feet or more in thickness with no windows or doors, having been built strictly as a compartment for storage of several thousand gallons of fresh water. There were a number of these structures around the Pensacola Air Station and it just happended that one of these was located close to the photographic laboratory building and, inasmuch as Pope and Goodnight had been yelling for more space, the Commanding Officer said you can have that old cistern for your photographic operation since no one else has need for it.

In January, 1924, the first class of students assembled at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Pensacola, FL for the photographic course of 22 weeks. Due to the lack of facilities to handle this class along with the station's photographic requirments, the students spent their first 8 weeks attending classes half of the time and the other half was spent in cutting openings through the 3 foot thick brick walls of the old water storage cistern which was to be converted into photographic darkroom facilities. After they completed the openings, the students installed electric, water and drain piping, interior partitions with very little help from the Air Station Public Works Department.

This old water cistern proved to be a very good laboratory facility because the inside temperature remained fairly constant at about 70 degrees Fahrenheit the year around which was ideal for the processing of aerial roll film, 35mm motion picture film, and 8 x 10, 4 x 5 cut sheet film.

LT Pope, while he was the photographic officer in charge of the school (also being a pilot and there being a shortage of officer instructors in the flight school), often due to various circumstances would have to serve as flight instructor which took priority over anything that the school had for his services. Therefore, Goodnight carried on as instructor in the school up to the point where aerial mapping was begun, and due to the fact that LT Pope had the schooling at Rantoul, IL became the instructor in aerial mapping. Goodnight was carrying a pretty heavy load at that time with teaching the students over-development, under-development, printing and enlarging techniques, washing and drying techniques, chemical mixing and photographic optics, etc., and LT Pope, as time permitted would get a plane and take the students up for short photo hops where they would practice taking obliques and verticals.

Aerial cameras were used at that time which were single-lens models, namely, the 4 x 5 plate camera known as the F&S built by Eastman Kodak Company. These had been used in the latter part of World War I. At Pensacola a DH4B airplane was modified to enable the rear cockpit to be designed to hold a Fairchild single-lens camera, a K-3 aerial camera.

In 1924 the Coast and Geodetic Survey had a problem relating to the mapping of Lake Okeechobee, FL. There was a proposal that the Naval School at Pensacola undertake the shoreline photography for the purpose of flying strips that could be laid up with controls located by towers built by the Coast and Geodetic Survey and to which they could expand their triangulation system bringing them in from the east coast of Florida to the Lake Okeechobee area. CAPT Graham was in charge of the Coast and Geodetic Survey together with Officer Tom Reed and an officer named Johnson.

At Pensacola an R6L torpedo plane had been modified so that it could carry a Fairchild K-3 aerial camera. In 1924 LT Pope and Carlson established a base at Lake Okeechobee, FL where they could fly the strips for the shoreline contours. The orders for this job had been requested well in advance and the idea was that these officers were to go to Lake Okeechobee and finish before the middle of March, 1924 which would be the end of the clear weather season.

Due to delays in getting out the orders, the project was late in getting started so that it was in late March, 1924 when they actually got on the job. Each morning the pilots, and photogrpaher, LT Pope, would get up at 5:00 a.m. and ready the R-6-L for take off so that they would be at 6,000' altitude an hour after sunrise to enable them to take their pictures, if the clouds had not formed by that time. If the clouds came in an hour after sunrise they knew they were through for the day because there was no photographic possibility after that time when the clouds did form and cover the lake area.

This little expedition was beset by a number of problems one of which was that this plane was a twin-float seaplane, with wooden floats and the officers and mechanics had to learn to operate this seaplane and how to anchor it at night. On one occasion the float leaked and the plane sank and had to be raised by the use of empty oil drums and pumping the water out of the floats. Forunately Lake Okeechobee was shallow so the plane engine recieved very little water contact, although the tail was well down in the water which was about 7' deep. They learned from this incident that instead of anchoring the plane in deeper water that they would bring it in and anchor in more shallow water so that if it did sink on them it would only rest on the mud.

These officers in flying the photographic coverage strips of the lake learned to use the old free balloon pilot's statascope to maintain their altitude because it was more sensitive than any altimeter they could get hold of at that time.

The exposed film was shipped back to Pensacola where it was processed. LT Pope and the others at Lake Okeechobee would await with keen interest for a report from Pensacola as to whether the resulting pictures was O.K. and could be laid up as a strip. Chief Goodnight, upon running test prints on the coverage would send information back by telegraph from Pensacola that the coverage was useable or not and they would go ahead with their next strip as soon as the weather permitted.

This particular project ordinarily would have been about a three day job, but due to weather conditions and the fact that the film had to be sent from Lake Okeechobee to Pensacola for processing, the project went along for about six weeks which meant that the officers and their crew had a considerable amount of time on their hands at Lake Okeechobee.

There was one compensating factor, however, and that was the bass fishing which was most fabulous in those days - so - when they could do nothing else there was always the possibility of doing some fishing, but other than that Lake Okeechobee was really a place to avoid.

After six weeks, LT Pope finally recieved the telegram from Goodnight that the picture coverage of Lake Okeechobee was satisfactory to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, which was good news to the officers and men at the lake who lost no time in returning to the U. S. Naval Air Station at Pensacola, FL.

U.S. Navy Photographs Mandate Islands in the Pacific - 1923

In 1923 the Cruiser USS MILWAUKEE made a voyage from the United States to Australia via Hawaii and Samoa and returned to the states via the mandate islands of the South Pacific.

Chief Photographer H.J. Baudu, USN was assigned to the USS MILWAUKEE for the duration of the voyage for the purpose of making aerial and surface photographs of the various islands, harbors, and prominent point for the Naval Intelligence Office in the Navy Department, Washington, DC.

Shortly after Chief Photographer Baudu had reported aboard the USS MILWAUKEE he was assigned a brig cell on the third deck for his photographic laboratory which was almost as hot as the ship's engine room which meant that it would be next to impossible to satisfatorily develop photographic plates under such conditions. Chief Baudu was not happy with this room assignment for a photographic darkroom so he proceeded to get an appointment with the ship's commanding officer, CAPT W.C. Asserson, who realizing the importance of the photographs Chief Baudu was to make during the Pacific voyage, assigned a junior officer's stateroom to Chief Baudu for his use which was a great improvement over the brig cell.

Shortly after the USS MILWAUKEE had arrived at Pago Pago, Samoa, Chief Baudu and his pilot crashed into the bay wiping out one of the VE-7 seaplanes which was carried aboard the USS MILWAUKEE.

The Cruiser USS MILWAUKEE, after spending a few weeks in Australia, started her return voyage back to the United States via various South Pacific Islands which were soon to be turned over to the Japaneses under the League of Nations Mandates. Many of these islands were later battlegrounds during World War II, such as Truk, Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Kwajalein, Eniwetok - just to name a few.

Chief Photographer Baudu made a great number of photographs from the air and from the bridge of the USS MILWAUKEE of the various islands, harbors and prominent land points which were developed on board the USS MILWAUKEE and contact prints made. Upon Chief Baudu's return to Washington, DC, he delivered the negatives and prints to the office of Naval Intelligence in the Navy Department which were later used during World War II by the Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, Admiral Chester Nimitz and various admirals and staffs under his command in planning and directing the various components of the fighting forces in the Pacific in the pursuance of war with Japan in 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945.