Esther Williams
There are several versions of how the Esther tradition got started in the fleet, and there is some truth in all of them. Regardless of how it happened, it was one of the finest morale builders in the Asiatic Fleet from the late 1940’s through the late 1950’s. Was Esther Williams aware of this adoration? You bet!
During the early occupation days in 1945-1946, the picture of Esther had been stolen from the cabin of an officer who claimed to be her fiancé. The loving inscription on the picture itself would tend to support this claim. At any rate, the officer raised such a ruckus getting the picture back that others joined in the fun of stealing her picture. Thus, a game developed among officers of the occupation ships – stealing the picture from whichever ship happened to have it.
The Esther tradition consisted of four items. There was the framed “trophy” picture of Esther Williams that was the ultimate prize and a duplicate picture known as the “fighting copy.” This was the copy that had to be captured and would take the beating of physical combat and heavy abuse, such as jumping over the side in saltwater and swimming to a waiting boat while escaping with the fighting copy. The fighting copy was encased in plastic so that it could endure substantial abuse. Once the fighting copy was in your possession, the ship having the trophy copy was required to surrender it to the sister ship. Besides the two pictures, there were two other important items. One was the set of rules and regulations that governed the contest. A ship that had Esther was required to have these posted in the wardroom. The other was the Esther Pennant.
The ship that had Esther on board was required to always fly this pennant when in port. This was an open challenge to all destroyers saying, “We have Esther, come and get her if you can.” Also, when entering port, the ship carrying Esther was entitled to send a message to all ships present, announcing her presence on board and inviting one and all to come, look, and admire, but not touch.
The Rules and Regulations for capturing Esther was straight;
The “Fighting Copy” was to be always displayed in the wardroom, free and clear on a wardroom bulkhead and not secured in any manner.
Esther could be captured by stealth, guile, brute force, and by fair means or foul;and
When a ship had captured the “fighting copy” of her picture, the ship having possession of the trophy copy was required to deliver up the trophy copy together with the Esther Pennant and the rules and regulations within twenty-four hours.
The USS Floyd B. Parks (DD-884) was on occupation duty with DesDiv-11, operating out of Sasebo, Japan. The other ships in the division included the USS Orleck (DD-886). The Destroyer Division’s duty was to patrol the areas between Japan and Korea to ensure these two countries’ fisherman remained in their own territorial waters.
The Parks was the first U.S. Navy ship to get Esther’s picture. Unfortunately, Esther’s stay on the Parks was very short. About a week after their victory over Shoal Haven, three officers from a sister ship USS Orleck, ostensibly on ship’s business, slipped into the wardroom and stole Esther without lifting a finger. Her departure was not even noticed until the evening meal. An attempt to retake Esther was subsequently made. Using the Guard Mail boat as cover, officers from the Parks’ boarded the Orleck, but were quickly detected before getting near the Wardroom where Esther’s picture was. One by one, the Orleck crew tossed the Parks’ raiding party into the frigid waters of Sasebo Harbor.