Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

Censor in Washington recommended that no disciplinary action be taken following the report from
Melbourne 'as it is thought that the Subject's qualifications may find a useful outlet in the Office of
the Cable Censor, New York'.
Ron did not enjoy his desk job at the Office of the Cable Censor and in June he put in a request for
sea duty on a patrol boat, preferably in the Caribbean area, 'the peoples, language and customs of
which I know and of which I possess piloting knowledge.' His request was approved - he was
taken off cable censorship work and ordered to report to a shipbuilding yard in Neponset,
Massachusetts, to supervise the conversion of a heavy beam trawler, the Mist, into a US Navy
gunboat to be classified as USS YP-422. When she was ready to put to sea he was to take over as
Commanding Officer.
Here at last was his opportunity to prove he was the hero he devoutly believed himself to be. (Had
he not fought and won countless battles in the pages of his fiction?) Fighting men of calibre were
certainly desperately needed, for the months following Pearl Harbor saw some of the darkest days
of the war for the United States. Although jukeboxes around the country were tinnily cranking out
patriotic jingles like 'Goodbye, Mama, I'm Off To Yokohama' and 'You're a Sap, Mister Jap', the initial
euphoria that had greeted the war soon began to fade as the Allies were routed in the Pacific:
Guam fell, then Manila, then Singapore, Bataan and Corregidor.
It was, then, with a certain sense of fulfilling his destiny that Lieutenant Hubbard travelled to
Neponset, his orders contained in a signal in his pocket: 'LTJG LAFAYETTE R HUBBARD DVS USNR
HEREBY DETACHED PROCEED IMMEDIATELY NEPONSET MASS . . . DUTY CONNECTION CONVERSION YP422
AT GEORGE LAWLEY AND SONS AND AS CO OF THAT VESSEL WHEN PLACED IN FULL COMMISSION.'
The conversion work was carried out swiftly and on 9 September 1942, Ron despatched a
message to the Commandant of Boston Navy Yard reporting that USS YP-422 was in excellent
condition, crew training was 'approaching efficiency' and morale was high. 'As soon as a few
deficiencies are remedied,' he added 'this vessel will be in all respects ready for sea and is very
eager to be on her way to her assigned station or task force.'
Like his father, Ron tended to be somewhat absent-minded about personal debts. While he was
supervising the conversion of the YP-422 he was being pursued by tailors in Brisbane and
Washington DC for unpaid uniform bills and he still owed $265 to the Bank of Ketchikan. When the
Alaskan bank reported Lieutenant Hubbard's debt to the Bureau of Navigation in Washington, Ron
wrote an indignant letter to the cashier: 'You are again informed that the reason for non-payment of
this note is the sharp decrease in pay which I was willing to take to help my country. Until this war is
ended I can only make small and irregular payments.'
The implication was that Lieutenant Hubbard was far too busy fighting a war to be bothered by
trifling debts, but sadly, when the USS YP-422 set out on her shakedown cruise, Lieutenant
Hubbard was nowhere to be seen on board. On 1 October, Ron was summarily relieved of his
command and ordered to report to the Commandant, Twelfth Naval District 'for such duty as he may
assign you'. No explanation was contained in his orders, although earlier he had been involved in
an unwise altercation with a senior officer at the shipyard. Considerable tension had developed
between the officers in charge of the conversion work and those officers assigned to crew the ten
YPs being converted at the Neponset shipyard, culminating in an extraordinary order prohibiting YP
officers from approaching the conversion office or even speaking to any of the shipyard workers.
Ron had taken it upon himself to fire off a memorandum to the Vice-Chief of Naval Operations in
Washington, naming the officer responsible and pointing out that the YP commanding officers were
all 'startled' by the order.[4] He might have been better advised to keep quiet: on 25 September the