Ralph Weymouth graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1938. He was 12 years and old living in northwest Seattle in 1929 when the Great Depression hit. The tough times brought on by the depression tore his family apart and Weymouth ended up living with his maternal grandparents. He wanted to be a naval architect from the time he was a child. There were a couple naval architecture schools that he wanted to attend. His mother's uncle suggested that he go to the naval academy. He was able to take the entrance exam and started classes there in 1934. At that time, the Navy was very much a battleship navy. Weymouth had done a little flying in Army aircraft. One of the academy requirements for after graduation was serving two years aboard surface ships. Weymouth did his two years on cruisers and destroyers in the Mediterranean. While aboard the cruisers he served as the catapult officer for the sea planes and it interested him. He was also impressed with the men who flew the planes. They would occasionally take him up for flights. While doing his two years aboard surface ships, Weymouth requested flight training. He began his flight training in Pensacola in August 1940 and was there until January 1941. He then spent a month doing carrier training in Opa Laca then joined a squadron around March or April 1941. Weymouth joined Scouting Squadron 3 [Annotator's Note: VS-3] when the unit was still flying SBC-3s [Annotator's Note: Curtiss SBC-3 Helldiver dive bomber]. They transitioned to SBC-4s [Annotator's Note: Curtiss SBC-4 Helldiver dive bomber] then later to SBDs [Annotator's Note: Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber]. The squadron was assigned to the Saratoga [Annotator's Note: USS Saratoga (CV-3)] in San Diego. The fleet was being sharpened up as attention was being turned toward Japan.

In the early 1930s when the Japanese invaded Manchuria then moved into China, Ralph Weymouth’s group was being pushed ahead in the Pacific Fleet. The size of his academy class [Annotator's Note: Weymouth graduated from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland with the class of 1938] was greatly increased and all of the attention of the Pacific Fleet was becoming very serious. The Navy had been saving money. While Weymouth was serving his two years in the Mediterranean they did very little steaming and very little gunnery training. The Navy began quietly getting new appropriations in an attempt to get on a war footing but was still being overly cautious. One of Weymouth's naval academy classmates, Aldon "Doc" Laborde, went on to command a destroyer escort in the Gulf of Mexico. They did not see each other after graduating until a reunion after the war. Prior to the outbreak of war they were learning to do their job and not paying much attention to the potential opposition. They were not aware of Japan's growth of its use of aviation which the Japanese capitalized on with the attack on Pearl Harbor. At the time, it was assumed that all nations would follow the Geneva Convention. As an example, in the time leading up to Pearl Harbor, aviators would never consider shooting an airman who had bailed out of his aircraft. No one expected a sneak attack to take place. Not expecting a sneak attack carried on later with the attack on the spy ship Liberty [Annotator's Note: USS Liberty (AGTR-5)] around 1968 in the Mediterranean by Israeli forces which killed a number of American sailors. This was followed quite closely by the 1968 attack on the Pueblo [Annotator's Note: USS Pueblo (AGER-2)] by the North Koreans. The Pueblo had not been armed properly even though the Pueblo's skipper had been very vocal about what he should be bringing to sea with him.

Ralph Weymouth was aboard the Saratoga [Annotator's Note: USS Saratoga (CV-3)] in San Diego when he learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He learned of the attack in the morning while moving his gear from to his in-law's house. He was approached by a man on the street who told him about the attack. His family was at church at the time so Weymouth immediately went to the church to notify his family. The Saratoga had been scheduled to sail that day and Weymouth's wife's trunk was in his cabin. She was planning to travel to Pearl Harbor on 10 December [Annotator's Note: 10 December 1941] aboard the SS Lurline. After learning of the attack, Weymouth emptied his cabin of his family's belongings. They sailed the next day, 8 December. During the trip to Hawaii they flew anti-submarine patrols. When they got to Hawaii they landed the air group at Ford Island around 11 December. Ford Island was still smoking from the burning battleships. Taxiing was dangerous because there were still pieces of shells all over the place. Pearl Harbor was a mess when Weymouth arrived. Seeing the devastation spurred his adrenaline. At this time Weymouth's rear seat gunner was a man named Sumner from Florida. Sumner later became a minister. In February the Saratoga was steaming in the area south of Midway and east of Wake Island on anti-submarine patrol. They never spotted a submarine but they were hit by a torpedo. Weymouth's squadron was almost sent to Wake Island. They were in their planes waiting for the order to go. They were to defend against a Japanese invasion force, fly out of Wake until they were no longer needed, then return to the ship. That mission was called off and the squadron ended up escorting the Saratoga back to Puget Sound for repairs. The Saratoga returned to the Pacific about 30 hours too late to take part in the Battle of Midway. When they left the United States, they were trying to get to Midway. At the time it was common practice for carriers to go to sea with its aircraft all on board. Not having all of its aircraft aboard caused the Saratoga to not be part of the battle. There were a number of procedures that had to be changed in the early stages of the war. The Japanese were a lot bolder during the early stages of the war. The US Navy was still a battleship navy and the aviation arm was seen as the eyes of the fleet. During one of the annual major fleet exercises, which was a battleship versus battleship engagement, all the aviators did was fly around and watch.

Ralph Weymouth's first combat action was off Guadalcanal. They were supporting the landings on the seventh [Annotator's Note: 7 August 1942]. Weymouth dropped the first bomb during the operation. They were all behind schedule when they launched. Weymouth took his squadron [Annotator's Note: Scouting Squadron 3 (VS-3) flying from the USS Saratoga (CV-3)] across the island to save some time. He dropped his bomb around six in the morning. As his squadron headed back to the ship the battleships opened fire. At the time Weymouth was the squadron assistant engineering officer. There was no opposition to the landing but the Japanese responded very fast and were able to get aircraft into the area which cut short the delivery of supplies to the men on shore. Weymouth believes that, under the circumstances, the American carriers were not used as forcefully as they should have been. They were sitting about 200 miles south of Guadalcanal. When the landing force left the area it left the 1st Marine Division with no support. Carrier aircraft were not brought back to Guadalcanal until much later. The Saratoga was hit by another torpedo off Guadalcanal after the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. During the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, Weymouth's group from the Saratoga went looking for the Japanese carrier Ryujo but never found it so they landed on Guadalcanal. Weymouth was carrying about 50 pounds of bread in his plane. They were all aware of the shortages on the island. After refueling they returned to their ship. After the Saratoga was torpedoed, they were kicked off the ship and sent to the island of Efate. The following day they were sent to Espiritu Santo from which about half the squadron went to Guadalcanal where it stayed for about six weeks. Weymouth was one of those who went to Guadalcanal. Flying missions from Guadalcanal was much different than flying from a carrier. By the time Weymouth was flying from there, the airfield had been completed. To remedy the confusion as to where the Navy was going to operate in the Pacific, Guadalcanal was shifted from the Southwest Pacific Area, which was under MacArthur's [Annotator's Note: General Douglas MacArthur] command, to the South Pacific [Annotator's Note: which was under Admiral Chester Nimitz's command]. Weymouth believes that the Guadalcanal operation had not been planned in advance. Prior to the landings the and another carrier practiced an amphibious landing in the Fiji Islands. The landings took place on 7 August.

When Ralph Weymouth started flying from Guadalcanal they were originally quartered with a Seabee outfit but soon moved in with a Marine Corps dive bombing unit. The quality of the food Weymouth's guys ate was very good but there was not enough of it. They were fed two meals a day. During his time on the island Weymouth only recalls one big shelling but they were bombed regularly. During that shelling Weymouth spent the night in a foxhole with some animal. The skipper of Weymouth's squadron at the time was Lou Kern who had been an All American in 1934. He liked exercise and made the men get out and exercise, which they grumbled about. One day Weymouth was leading part of the squadron up the slot when they encountered six destroyers. They were preparing to attack the destroyers when they noticed a swarm of fighters above them. They decided to return to the field. Weymouth stayed on Guadalcanal until sometime in November. There were times when they feared that their positions would be overrun. Weymouth sprained his ankle diving into a foxhole one time and got a day off. On that day, he went to the area where Chesty Puller [Annotator's Note: USMC Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller] was and observed the fighting which gave him the sense that the American troops were holding down the fort. Still, they knew that the Japanese were landing additional troops every night. Weymouth went on one night flight during which he attacked two enemy destroyers. That made him really aware of the situation. Occasionally, they received rifle fire when they came in for a landing. At one point there was only one dive bomber left between his squadron and the Marine squadron. Weymouth was ordered to take the dive bomber up and try to knock out a Japanese artillery piece. He flew around for five hours but could not locate it. There was an antiaircraft gun that fired at him but after he attacked it it was no longer a problem. The squadron only lost one plane and crew to enemy action. When Weymouth left in November [Annotator's Note: November 1942] he got a call that he and a number of other pilots were to report to the pagoda in their flight gear. He filled a parachute sack with what he thought he needed. He packed a gun, ten or 12 emergency ration bars and a life jacket. He knew it was possible that when he returned to the island there may not be an airfield there for him to land on. He picked up the new plane in Espiritu Santo and flew it back. By that time, the Marines were winning the battle. About a week after he flew the new plane back, he left Guadalcanal.

When Ralph Weymouth left Guadalcanal he returned to the United States. He was flown to Noumea where he boarded the SS Lurline which still had its first class mess. Weymouth had lost a lot of weight while he was on Guadalcanal. Nearly everyone had dysentery but no one in his squadron contracted malaria. They took Atabrine which prevented them from getting malaria but turned the whites of their eyes yellow. On their way back to the United States they dropped their planes off at Pearl Harbor. They were the last SBD [Annotator's Note: Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber] carrier squadron of the war. By then, the SB2C [Annotator's Note: Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bomber] was taking over. They boarded a carrier which took them from Pearl Harbor to San Diego. After landing in San Diego, Weymouth was given a 30 day leave then went to the East Coast to help form Air Group 16 in Rhode Island. Weymouth's air group was assigned to the second Lexington [Annotator's Note: USS Lexington (CV-16)]. By then Weymouth was a lieutenant. He was the executive officer of his squadron when they first went aboard the carrier. Then, in the spring of 1943, he became the squadron’s skipper. When Weymouth arrived in Rhode Island in January [Annotator's Note: January 1943] it was minus 18 degrees. In May they went on a shakedown cruise then in mid June they deployed to the Panama Canal then into the Pacific. By then they had combined two squadrons and were a 36 plane squadron. When they went out they were still flying SBDs. By that time Bombing Squadron 16 was one of only two squadrons still flying the SBD. They flew the SBD until the battle of Saipan [Annotator's Note: in the summer of 1944]. They went through several versions of the SBD. It was a very strong airplane. The SBD had three bomb racks, one on the centerline and one under each wing. Of the improvements made to the SBD, the installation of radar sets was the most interesting. When the Lexington was torpedoed off Kwajalein, the air group was put ashore on Maui. There, Weymouth spotted a squadron of SB2Cs on an Army airfield. He made a pitch to the commander to let him switch planes but was turned down. Instead, his squadron was issued radar sets they could install in their planes. The radar was very useful. During the second Truk raid, Weymouth was leading a formation of 300 to 350 planes. They went in over the overcast then dove through holes in the cloud cover. Truk was a big Japanese stronghold. A number of planes were downed during that raid. Weymouth's group only lost one aircraft, a fighter. Other planes that were downed were able to get outside of the reef and the airmen were rescued by submarines.

[Annotator's Note: Ralph Weymouth served in the Navy as a dive bomber pilot in Scouting Squadron 3 (VS-3) flying from the USS Saratoga (CV-3) during the Guadalcanal campaign then later served as the skipper of Bombing Squadron 16 (VB-16) flying from the USS Lexington (CV-16).] After Truk, they were really marching forward. The fleet gathered at Majuro for the invasion of Saipan. They stayed there for about two weeks during which time Weymouth was able to go down to the airstrip to check out other aircraft to fly. He was able to fly a Corsair [Annotator's Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighter aircraft] and a Hellcat [Annotator's Note: Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter aircraft]. Weymouth also had lunch with the island commander who had been his group commander before the war. During the Turkey Shoot [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Philippine Sea], they were sent up and told to stay clear of the area until after the battle. All 36 of the group's aircraft were up. They stayed within sight of the carriers. Finally, Weymouth decided to take his group to bomb Guam. During the Turkey Shoot, they watched aircraft falling into the ocean. He also saw green spots in the water. He initially thought they were American parachutes but the spots turned out to be the engine coolant used in the Japanese fighters. It was still daylight when Weymouth landed back on the Lexington. There, he was told about how one sided the battle had been. The commander of his group's fighter squadron, Paul Bouey [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling], called the battle the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. The group commander was Ernie Snowden. They knew a fleet engagement was possible in the days leading up to the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Admiral Marc Mitscher wanted to go out looking for the enemy fleet. Weymouth flew Mitscher to Saipan so he could meet with Admiral Spruance [Annotator's Note: Admiral Raymond Spruance]. Mitscher was very easy to talk to and was the best advised senior aviator in the force. After missions, the squadron commanders went to talk to Mitscher. After they returned to the ship they learned that Mitscher had not gotten permission to go after the Japanese carriers.

The day the affair took place [Annotator's Note: the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19-20 June 1944] they had not had any contacts. TBFs [Annotator's Note: Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers] had been sent out on a search but they had not heard anything back yet. Ernie Snowden [Annotator's Note: the commander of Air Group 16] begged to be able to take his fighter squadron out on a sweep. While the fighters were returning, a report was received. This came in around two in the afternoon. Two strike groups were assembled to go out. Since Ernie Snowden was not there to lead the strike Weymouth led it. The strike contained about six TBFs, 18 to 20 SBDs [Annotator's Note: Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber] and 12 to 15 fighters. It was about half of the group. Within ten minutes of taking off, Weymouth heard a correction to the original contact report. They knew it was going to be a long flight but hearing the correction he knew it added about 100 miles to the trip. Weymouth flew with the engine running as lean as possible and did not fly above 12,000 feet. When they first got to the area where the Japanese fleet was located, he saw Japanese oilers under attack. Weymouth did not see any carriers so he continued on. The decision paid off and shortly after passing the group attacking the oilers Weymouth spotted the Japanese carriers. The ships began firing at them when they got into gun range. They lost one TBF but the aircrew survived and was picked up by a seaplane. Weymouth decided to lead his group onto a single carrier. Weymouth believes that his bomb missed and went off about 15 feet away from the carrier. After dropping their bombs, the group formed back up. By the time they formed back up they were attacked by fighters. They were also fired on by a Tone Class cruiser. They managed to shoot own one of the Zeros but the Zeros managed to shoot down Weymouth's wingman. When they arrived over the Japanese fleet it was already getting dark. When they left and returned to their own fleet it was dark. They flew back on the surface. They knew that fuel was going to be a problem. After leaving the Japanese far enough behind them they started talking to each other on the high frequency. The chatter was all about the fuel situation. When they got back to the ship there was a low overcast. As they got closer they saw star shells going off above the overcast and searchlights started going on. Weymouth was able to find his own carrier. When they found the ship he still had an hour worth of fuel on board his plane. It finally got to the point where they had to land. One of his planes ditched a few hundred yards behind the carrier and was picked later. Several other airplanes had landed on other carriers. During the battle and the return flight, Weymouth's group had lost three airplanes and one crew.

As Ralph Weymouth approached the Japanese fleet, he saw that it was organized in a typical formation for ships at sea. The enemy ships were maneuvering but, fortunately, the ships Weymouth picked out for his group to attack were heading in a direction which made their attack more efficient. The ideal dive angle was 72 degrees. Protocol stated that they were to pull out at 1,000 feet so they would usually drop their bomb around 1,800 feet or so. Many pilots dropped high and some went below 1,000 feet. They did not see any Japanese airplanes until they came out of their dive. Weymouth did not talk to his men at all during the attack. They all used their own experience. As they left the area radio discipline was so poor that Weymouth turned his radio off for a while. They had the ZB, a high frequency homing device, on during the flight back to the fleet but Weymouth navigated for the most part and everyone else followed him. They could see the lights and star shells from 20 miles away. The biggest concern was fuel. When Weymouth landed and was taxied forward he was terrified of walking into a propeller because there were so many planes. He went into the island to see Mitscher [Annotator's Note: US Navy Admiral Marc Mitscher] and told him to never ask them to land at night again without any practice beforehand. Mitscher asked Weymouth what had happened. Weymouth did not see the Japanese carrier he attacked going down. It did. Following the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Weymouth took part in one more attack on Guam then his tour was finished. The air group was transferred to another carrier for transport home.

[Annotator's Note: Ralph Weymouth served in the Navy as a dive bomber pilot in Scouting Squadron 3 (VS-3) flying from the USS Saratoga (CV-3) during the Guadalcanal campaign then later served as the skipper of Bombing Squadron 16 (VB-16) flying from the USS Lexington (CV-16).] The USS Saratoga (CV-3) was very old. The ship had a bump on the flight deck at the forward elevator. The bump had been caused by the ship increasing in speed and rocking around then slamming down on the water and actually diving down into the water. For a moment, there was two feet of water covering the flight deck back to where Weymouth's aircraft was spotted. Whoever was piloting the ship slowed the vessel down and the ship stabilized. The damage went all the way down below the hangar deck. The result of the damage was that the elevator dropped about a foot which caused aircraft passing over it during takeoff to bounce into the air. The USS Lexington (CV-16), on the other hand, was state of the art. The Lexington had been built in Fore River was one of the first of her class to come out. Off Kwajalein the Lexington was hit by a torpedo near the rudder on the starboard side. The engines were knocked out momentarily but were soon back working.

Ralph Weymouth was awarded the Navy Cross for the Battle of the Philippine Sea. He was given the award for his leadership. He was able to get a Navy Cross for every pilot. There is nothing Weymouth would have done differently during that battle. He is also glad that Mitscher [Annotator's Note: US Navy Admiral Marc Mitscher] turned the lights on. Jocko Clark [Annotator's Note: US Navy Admiral Joseph J. Clark] has been credited with being the first to turn on the lights. He may have turned his group's lights on first but Weymouth believes that Mitscher was the one who actually gave the order to turn on the lights. Jocko was a very daring officer who was willing to take risks and was capable of disobeying orders. Had they known the actual distance between the fleets, the decision to go would still have been made. It was a chance to deliver the death blow to Japanese carrier aviation. Weymouth originally believed that 98 American planes were lost but has heard recently that the number was actually much lower. The vast majority of those planes that went down were ditched because they were out of fuel. They had not been shot down. Most of the air crews were picked up later by submarines and sea planes [Annotator's Note: many of the downed aircrews were picked up by destroyers]. The one in Weymouth's group who ditched in the groove was an officer named Dupree. His rear seat gunner was a sailor named Dowdell. While passing through the Pearl Harbor area they had a few days of exercises. There was an accident when two planes touched each other, Dowdell had to bail out with Dupree but he did not know how to swim. After that the entire squadron tried to teach him how to swim. [Annotators Note: Weymouth, the interviewer and a third person in the room talk about the interviewer's knowledge of World War 2 history and his knowledge of naval aviation in particular. They go on to talk about other veteran naval aviators. One of the former aviators, Hal Buell, made Weymouth angry when they returned from the night mission because he ignored a wave off and crashed an SB2C which destroyed a number of aircraft and a few people.]