Captain Phillips Research Paper

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Pages: 4

This interview is the history of Captain Douglas G. Phillips, USN (Retired), recorded in December 2010. Captain Phillips graduated from the New York State Merchant Marine Academy in 1937, and later secured a commission with the U.S Navy. Captain Philips retired from the Navy in 1965, and passed away in June 2011. The interview was conducted by Rear Admiral, Oakley E Osborn, USN (Retired). This event of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor located in Honolulu, Hawaii took place early Sunday morning by Japanese Soldiers. “Doug, we are in Pearl Harbor. You’re in USS Ramsey and you reported on the 6th of December, 1941, Let’s go into the next day and tell me what you were doing that morning if you remember,” says Osborn. “I recall that memory very well,” replied Captain Philips. It was a beautiful sunny morning and my first day aboard. Then I made my way up to breakfast while admiring the scenery and feeling happy that it’s a new day said Captain Philips. Then in about three minutes he saw planes coming over and he noticed it …show more content…
“The USS Utah was an old battleship used as a target vessel,” said Captain Philips. Osborn asks Captain Philips, “Can you tell me how you felt and what you seen with USS Utah”, “I could not believe what I was watching with my own eyes as the ship rolled over in front of us and men were coming off the rail decks for dear life” said Captain Philips. On the other hand midget submarines were in the picture, when the harbor opened the entrance gates a midget submarine sneaked in and threw a smoke bomb to mark where they last saw the periscope. Later, they got orders to get underway and went out on a couple of different missions. The mission I was on said Captain Philips, we had to steam back and forth with other ships toward the entrance to cause movement and noise from the Japanese laying torpedoes in the entranceway. This mission was not an easy