Louis Cassayre worked for Basalt as Yard Superintendent during the time Conserver and the other ARSs of the class were built. Some time ago, we communicated via the snail mails. Louis sent me a very interesting account of his involvement with Basalt and, specifically, Conserver. He sent me copies of notes he took while on the job. Here they are.
Saturday, January 27 1945 - Launched ARS No. 39 - USS Conserver. Mrs H.A. Price sponsor
Wednesday, April 25 1945 - Warned Al Streblow (Basalt Founder and President) about electrical situation on ARS 39. - Very bad No layout and no wires polled in place. Very few hangers. Called Henry Herglog into my office to discuss electrical situation with him. He felt confident that he could meet the scheduled delivery date on June 5 1945. I offered him help from other departments on installing hangers, pulling cable and layout using loftsmen.
Thursday, April 26 1945 - Roy Mercier, Sam Breeding and I met to discuss use of Shipfitters to help out the Electricians while they were so far behind. He was very agreeable and granted permission.
Sunday, June 3 1945 - ARS #39 went down the river (Napa River to Oakland) - everything was OK. Left yard at 7:45 p.m. and arrived at S. Vallejo at 10:45 p.m. Ran in bay for 1 hour.
Thursday, June 7 - Trial run ARS 39. The trial run on all vessels built at Basalt were conducted on the bay of San Francisco.
Saturday, June 9 1945 - Commission ceremony of ARS 39 USS Conserver - LT Chester Rookledge Capt. Comm Officer T. H. Little
I received these notes in 1991. Mr. Cassayre was approaching the ripe old age of 92! I doubt that he is with us today, but thank God for the information he retained about this fine class of ships.
I received an email from a former shipmate and Master Chief (Master Diver) Jimmy Johnson just after New Year's day. Jimmy is retired, living in Hawaii, and managing the ESSM Pool there for SupSalv. He had the opportunity to board Conserver at the Inactive Ship Facility in Pearl Harbor to see if he could use some of the ship's salvage gear. In the process of his inspection, the following pictures were taken. They are not pretty. In a follow-up e-mail, Jimmy told me that the interior of the ship is holding up well.
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