Also, with respect to helicopters – President Eisenhower and Churchill took one 
from Washington up to Ike’s farm in Gettysburg in 1959.  There are a variety of 
photos online of that along with a newsreel video clip.

 

Lee Pollock

Chicago, IL 60610

(312) 310-4488

 <mailto:pollock...@rcn.com> pollock...@rcn.com 

 

From: churchillchat@googlegroups.com [mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com] On 
Behalf Of Doug Russell
Sent: Sunday, May 7, 2017 6:16 AM
To: churchillchat@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [ChurchillChat] Sir Winston Churchill on USS Randolph

 

Look at OB VI, p. 1158.  FDR was on the USS Augusta, not the USS Iowa.  Sorry 
to be difficult on this matter.

 

  _____  

From: churchillchat@googlegroups.com <mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com>  
<churchillchat@googlegroups.com <mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com> > on 
behalf of Neil Coates <nmcoa...@bigpond.com <mailto:nmcoa...@bigpond.com> >
Sent: Sunday, May 7, 2017 1:08 AM
To: churchillchat@googlegroups.com <mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com> 
Subject: RE: [ChurchillChat] Sir Winston Churchill on USS Randolph 

 

I didn’t quite answer the question.

 

It appears that this was Churchill’s first and only visit to a US warship post 
WW2. Scanning the WSC official biographies volumes VI, VII and VIII there are 
no post war index references to US warships other than USS Randolph.  There may 
be references in specialised works or in archives but I  cannot recall any 
circumstances when this may have happened.  I’m sure that any such visit would 
have been significant enough to have been included in the official biography.

 

During WW2 Roosevelt was aboard USS Iowa and Churchill  aboard HMS Prince of 
Wales for the Atlantic Charter meeting in Placentia Bay in 1941 when they 
exchanged visits.  Roosevelt travelled aboard USS Quincy to the Mediterranean 
in February 1945 when Churchill visited him aboard at Malta and at Alexandria.  
Truman had USS Augusta at Plymouth in July 1945 for the Potsdam meeting but it 
does not appear that Churchill went aboard then.

 

Upon reflection it is surprising that given Churchill’s interest and 
involvement in many technological advances such as aeronautics and the 
development of the tank and other military appliances that this must have been 
his one and only flight in a helicopter.

 

Neil H Coates

 

From: churchillchat@googlegroups.com <mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com>  
[mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Neil Coates
Sent: Friday, 5 May 2017 3:14 PM
To: churchillchat@googlegroups.com <mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com> 
Subject: RE: [ChurchillChat] Sir Winston Churchill on USS Randolph

 

Churchill was visiting the Reeves villa, La Pausa, in the Alpes-Maritimes 
Department of France on the Mediterranean at the time.  In a letter to 
Clementine dated 22 October 1958 he wrote:

 

“We are examining the possibility of going to lunch next Sunday upon the 
Randolph, an American aircraft carrier.  They have the idea that they can pick 
us up in one of their special helicopters and drop us on the ship itself.  We 
have invited the Captain and his wife to lunch on Friday to look into the 
possibilities.  I have never been in a helicopter, and would like to make a 
voyage which would certainly save a great deal of toil.”

 

The luncheon appointment came to fruition as Churchill says in his letter of 
thanks to Wendy Reeves for her hospitality on his return to London:

 

“… my stay at Pausaland … was really most delightful, and I think our 
helicopter journey to the giant American ship was an exhilarating incident.  I 
must say I admired your courage at close quarters to the machine, and I am sure 
that on patriotic grounds you must have enjoyed this day above all others.”

 

Winston S. Churchill by Martin Gilbert, volume VII ‘Never Despair’ 1945—1965, 
Heinemann, London, 1988 pp 1279, 1281

 

Wendy Reeves was an American philanthropist, socialite and fashion model.  At 
the time she was the mistress of Emery Reeves, Churchill’s literary agent, whom 
she later married.

 

USS Randolph, was the second US Navy ship named for Peyton Randolph, President 
of the First Continental Congress.  She was built as an Essex class aircraft 
carrier commissioned 9 October 1944.  She was awarded three Battle Stars in the 
Pacific Theatre in WW2.  After the war she was refitted as an attack carrier, 
CVA and at the time of her fifth Mediterranean deployment 2 September 1958 to 
12 March 1959 was designated as anti-submarine, CVS.

 

As part of the NASA Mercury Project she was a recovery ship for the splashdown 
of Virgil Grissom and of John Glenn.

 

Thank you for highlighting an interesting interlude in Churchill’s later life.

                                                                     

 

Neil H Coates

 

 

From: churchillchat@googlegroups.com <mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com>  
[mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Gary Santos
Sent: Friday, 5 May 2017 12:13 AM
To: ChurchillChat
Subject: [ChurchillChat] Sir Winston Churchill on USS Randolph

 

I'm researching the history of the aircraft carrier USS Randolph. Winston 
Churchill visited the USS Randolph on October 26, 1958 in Canne, France. 
Supposedly, this was his first visit to a US warship since the end on WWII. 
Does anybody have background information of this event? 

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