USS Chicago CA-29

THE FIGHTING MAD DOG

Courtesy of James Carriere

By W.D.Fisher, GM3/c

Ten years ago a ship was built,
a blue raider of the deep,
With the best of men and guns,
She was the Mad Dog of the fleet.

During the peaceful years that followed,
She sailed the oceans blue,
Visited many of our great cities,
And foreign countries too.

When the Japs struck Pearl Harbor,
We were not for out of sight,
War at last had hit us hard,
And the Mad Dog stripped to fight.

Her crew of tough fighting men,
Who had been through many a drill,
And now that the Japs had asked for it.
We were looking for them with a thrill.

We say many weary days at sea,
While patrolling far and near,
The Mad Dog bared its fangs many times,
But the yellow rats kept clear.

As month by month passed on,
We moved far below the line,
And the Mad Dog and her pup,
Joined the Aussies in Springtime.

We finally met the Japs face to face,
In the great battle of the Coral Sea,
The Mad Dog's guns blazed and shot them down.
Like ducks in a shooting gallery.

While in Sydney Harbor anchored,
We next met the yellow Japanese,
The midget subs were after the Mad Dog,
But we sank them with grace and ease.

We then went to Tulagi Harbor,
In August with the Marines,
We shot down many torpedo planes,
In the greatest battle yet seen.

We fought like mad one Sunday nite,
When the Japs sneaked in and how,
The Mad Dog shook from stern to stern,
As the torpedo ripped off her bow.

A crippled ship,she limped away,
From the Solomons and the fight,
She made the long voyage home alone,
To be restored with all her might.

Back in good old U.S.A. a hero,
The Mad Dog returned for afar,
They fixed her up at the Navy yard,
and she returned to the war.

Just thirty short days later,
The Mad Dog battled for its life,
The Japs torpedo planes at last had hit,
And cut her bottom like a knife.

All night long the crew battled to save,
The Mad Dog from sinking down below,
Bucket brigades were organized,
And we were at last received in tow.

The next day she was on her way back,
Mortally wounded down below,
The Engine rooms and firerooms aft out,
And we were going to slow.

At four PM the Japs came back,
And came in low for the kill,
The A.A. crews shot all the Japs down.
But four more torpedoes hit at will.

Listing and sinking to starboard,
We abandoned the ship we could not save,
She wallowed on her starboard side,
Then sank beneath the waves.

A few good men went down with her,
My Brother Jack was one,
I must carry on and fight alone,
Until this war is won.

No better ship has ever sailed,
Through rain or shine or fog,
Than the U.S.S. CHICAGO......
Commonly known as the Mad Dog.

The Mad Dog now lies on the bottom,
Deep down on the ocean floor,
But her crew of fighting sailormen were saved,
And will return to fight once more.