New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) kicked off Memorial Day with a World War II history lesson – and then promptly deleted his tweet when critics noticed he had gotten the facts wrong.
Adams recognized the holiday aboard the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid – also known as “The Fighting I” — a World War II era Essex-Class carrier. The Intrepid was decommissioned in 1974 and now rests in Hudson Harbor as a part of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.
Join us on the U.S.S. Intrepid as we honor Memorial Day. https://t.co/5QzhVvbNf4
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) May 30, 2022
Adams attempted to add historical context in another tweet — now deleted — that read, “The U.S.S. Intrepid is an amazing symbol of resilience. Under attack at Pearl Harbor, it endured. It stands for the sacrifice of our armed forces and our nation’s power to recover from tragedy. We still need that spirit today, and I honor the sacrifices that made it possible.”
And while Adams’ attempt to recognize the nation’s bravest heroes should not be discounted — and as critics pointed out, the USS Intrepid certainly had a rich history worth remembering — but they also noted that Adams had gotten that history all wrong.
First of all, the USS Intrepid could not have been at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked – mainly because it was not launched until late April of 1943, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor took place over a full year earlier on December 7, 1941. The Intrepid was part of achieving several key objectives in the Pacific after its launch, however, taking part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the fight to gain control of Okinawa.
And second, historians have noted that the one blessing with regard to the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor was that none of the aircraft carriers assigned to Pearl were present during the attack. The USS Enterprise, the USS Lexington, and the USS Saratoga were all assigned to Pearl at the time, but were not present on that Sunday morning when the Japanese attacked.
Because I grew up near the Norfolk Navy Base and my Dad fought in the Pacific in WWII, I thought everyone knew the only positive that horrible day was all 3 Pacific-based carriers – Enterprise, Lexington and Saratoga – weren't at Pearl that day. Intrepid didn't even exist yet. https://t.co/YX1M2LV9d0
— Dave Scarangella (@DullesDistrict) May 30, 2022
The Intrepid did see some extraordinary action (and it did go, at one point, to Pearl Harbor). From the @IntrepidMuseum website: pic.twitter.com/hIp4HroQji
— Greg Young (@GregoireNYC) May 30, 2022
The Intrepid was also on the receiving end of several kamikaze strikes in 1944 — three in the space of just one month — that resulted in the losses of 79 men in total. The first, on October 29, killed ten as a gun crew of African American sailors continued to fire on the plane as it crashed into their position. On November 25, two planes crashed into the Intrepid in the Philippines. Striking the carrier within minutes of each other, those two kamikaze strikes killed another 69 men.