VAN O. PERKINS, CDR, USN

Van Perkins '36

Date of birth: December 10, 1913

Date of death: October 24, 1944

Age: 30

Lucky Bag

From the 1936 Lucky Bag:

Van Ostrand Perkins

Greenwich, Connecticut

"Van"

Salty Si is one of those rare oddities seldom obtained by the Navy—a sailor in his own right and a Yankee one at that, having spliced the main brace all over Buzzards Bay. With a true sailor's dread of "book larnin'," he used dead reckoning in avoiding academic shoals. There must have been a current somewhere, because when the truth came out his fix was usually close aground. An incomparable gift of gab so demoralized six roommates that they simply broke under the strain and bilged out. Si always has inventions; he always has schemes, and I've no doubt that someday we'll find they aren't all simply "Vantastic." I can hear him now—"You know, I'm thinking seriously of getting a nice off-shore ketch when I graduate."

Crew 4, 3, 2, 1. N.A.; Company C.P.O.

Van Ostrand Perkins

Greenwich, Connecticut

"Van"

Salty Si is one of those rare oddities seldom obtained by the Navy—a sailor in his own right and a Yankee one at that, having spliced the main brace all over Buzzards Bay. With a true sailor's dread of "book larnin'," he used dead reckoning in avoiding academic shoals. There must have been a current somewhere, because when the truth came out his fix was usually close aground. An incomparable gift of gab so demoralized six roommates that they simply broke under the strain and bilged out. Si always has inventions; he always has schemes, and I've no doubt that someday we'll find they aren't all simply "Vantastic." I can hear him now—"You know, I'm thinking seriously of getting a nice off-shore ketch when I graduate."

Crew 4, 3, 2, 1. N.A.; Company C.P.O.

Loss

Van was lost when his ship, USS Birmingham (CL 62) was seriously damaged by an explosion aboard USS Princeton (CVL 23) during the Battle of Leyte Gulf on October 24, 1944. Birmingham lost 233 killed and 426 wounded in the explosion.

Other Information

His wife was listed as next of kin. He has one memory marker in New Hampshire and another in Arlington National Cemetery.

Van's daughter, Pamela, was married in January 1964. (Information from April 1964 issue of Shipmate.)

Wartime Service

From Samuel Eliot Morison's history of the US Navy in WWII:

On the passage home for repairs Birmingham's assistant damage control officer, Lt. Cdr. Van O. Perkins, devised a trunk leading up to the main deck from compartments open to the sea, so that water could vent and relieve pressure from the shored-up bulkheads. Geysers spouted from the trunk whenever the cruiser pitched, earning her the nickname “Old Faithful.”

The damage was from two bombs and a torpedo on November 8, 1943.

Silver Star

From Hall of Valor:

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Lieutenant Van Ostrand Perkins (NSN: 0-77142), United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy while serving aboard the U.S.S. ATLANTA (CL-51), during the night action of Task Force SIXTY-SEVEN at about 0200, 13 November 1942, with enemy surface forces during with the ATLANTA received severe damage which later resulted in her loss. Although badly wounded in the leg after action with the enemy on 13 November 1942, Lieutenant Perkins carried on his work of directing fire fighting parties and other damage control measures being undertaken. In spite of his wounded condition, Lieutenant Perkins desired not to be evacuated with the wounded, but was ordered to do so. His conduct was exemplary and in line with the best traditions of the United States Naval Service.
General Orders: Commander South Pacific Force and Area: Serial 00235 (January 21, 1943)
Action Date: November 13, 1942
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant
Division: U.S.S. Atlanta (CL-51)

Bronze Star

Unable to find the citation for the Bronze Star Medal that is listed on his memory marker in Arlington National Cemetery.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.