THE RELIEVING OF CAPTAIN BIRTCH I had heard that Captain Birtch was actually (forcefully) taken from duty as Skipper of the Mulberry, but I didn't know any details. Later, I had the opportunity to talk with Captain Birtch himself, and the following is his side of the story: "The man in command of the naval operations in Sasebo Bay and Captain Birtch had a clash of personalities. That took place when the Commander called for Birtch to come to his office on the base. When he arrived, all the Commander wanted to know was "How's the operation going?" Birtch told him that he could get something done if he didn't have to constantly shut down operations to come over to the base. Birtch thought the Commander could have asked the same question by ship radio."
"One has to understand - Birtch was a mustang - came up through the ranks. Had been in the Navy since 1926. The Commander was much younger naval officer and didn't like 'mustangs'. He had put Birtch and his crew in charge of gleaning the harbor. It was a slow and treacherous job. In order to get the job done in the time frame given - Birtch and the crew were working 10 and 12 hour days with no liberty. So Birtch began to send a boat over to the beach to pick up beer for his crew. He paid for it out of his own pocket and rationed 2 beers per crew member at the end of the day. This was all the commander needed to relieve Birtch from duty. Several marine guards along with naval officers came aboard and put Birtch in handcuffs and took him ashore. LT R. A. Rabe, was the ship's executive officer and was put in as Skipper for 74 days. Captain Birtch was a LT at the time of the arrest. Even though the case was dropped - Birtch was never given another command - and he lost the privilege of making LT.COMMANDER."

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