Target practice

As months of repairs wound down at Pearl Harbor in 1942, my dad's ship, the USS Vestal, began preparations, including 2 days in dry dock on the 12th-13th, for getting underway for a new assignment in the Pacific. For many of the sailors, this meant target practice with the ship's guns—50 caliber and 20 mm—at targets towed by planes. Maybe not major firepower in a serious battle, but even vessels of the service fleet practiced for their part in possible engagements to come. Like many other crewmen onboard the Vestal, Dad was trained on these weapons.