The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-07-21
IRISH DUB NAVY
 REPAIR OFFICER MIRACLE MAN
By WALTER LOGAN United Press Staff Correspondent

newspaper IHdIl tdllIt up IIOliI DOi fast, took one look at the ship re- pairs done in the U. s. Navy oper- ating base here. and immediately dubbed It. Comdr. David H. Conk- lin of Battle Creek, Mich, the mir acle man.
 Conklin doesn't mind the express sion-which he tries to live up to- though it has caused him a great deal of embarrassment. Everyone at the base started calling him miracle man and the yeoman in his office would answer the phone with Miracle Department"
 Conklin. 29, has been in the Navy only two and a half years as a reserve. He has as his assistant It. L. F. Hills of Orlando, Cal, who was an oil engineer in Iraq when the war broke out. Under them are four officers who know as much about ship repair work as anyone in the business.
 It. Ben Meyer of Dover, Del, who has been in the Navy % years and specializes in hull repair; It. James F. Teague of Boston, 19 years of Navy experience, who does cleo trical work: It. (JG. J. R. True, Kewanee, H., 19 years experience, radio specialist, and Michinist (Warant Officer) G. R. Myers of Louisville, Ky, with Is years ex- perience.
 Many of the destroyers and cor vettes of the North Atlantic con- voys are repaired by them when they've been damaged by subma- rines or the prodigious waves which make the oNrth Atlantic what it is, and each job leaves not only Irishmen but the British, Canadian and Ameriacn crews amazed at the speed with which the work.
 Myers was once commended for one of his jobs-pronounced "irn- possible" at the time. A. U. s. de- stroyer came into the base with her port propeller damned, and for naval reasons it was necessary that she sail the next morning at high tide.
 Tn the first place, the drydock ulull appCdi duItS ltii 5N SA-SNcAA to take her. That was overcome by hunning her in on the bias. The next obstacle was the fact that the dry dock pumps simply didn't op- crate fast enough. Myers went out and borrowed five fire department bumpers to drain the dock and be- tween Il D. m. and a. m. the de- t,t I,-t,InolypI ot,6 rnoairpH Such a job may sometimes take as much as three or four days.
 Another job which amazed some Canadian and British officers was the installation of certain gear which normally takes three visits to port for ship to complete, with workmen working the approximate 10 days she is in port. This equip ment was installed in three ships in seven days.
 Once a Canadian destroyer limped in with her generators so battered she was running on an emergency rig. Her home part wouldn't touch the job in three weeks. Conklin sent out group of men who cut holes in the deck with
 acetylene torches, lifted out the old generators, dropped in new ones and made the connections in a matter of hours.
 That wasn't the fastest the mir acle department worked, however. Once a destroyer after undergoing emerkency repairs caught it's con- oF ocfo mediately hit huge wave which almost washed off tEe bridge. She turned back to Derry, a new bridge was hastily rigged and she sailed in time to catch her convoy again.
 The repair shops, only part of the operating base, are as modern as any in the world. The electrical shop can rewind a generator in record time-and does. There is also foundry, machine shops and a hull shop which half-inch plates can be bent to any form.
 The yards are busy now, but plans are being made for "war- time" use-after the second front is opened. Conklin believes lot of underwater welding may be neces- sary, so he is getting ready for that.
 His men have constructed tank about 10 feet in diameter and about 15 feet high, with portholes through which beginners can look at the underwater welders in operation in side themselves. The tank, though quickly made, looks like the mod ernistic bridge of destroyer and is equipped with a graceful winding steel staircase on the outside for benefit of the welders and their cumbersome diving equipment.
 This base, incidentally, is looked upon by Canadians as their second home. They can be serviced at other bases, but here. as one of them said, Its just like another home port. The American methods are a lot like Canadian ones and they've never let HIS down vet"