President Lines
In 1933, the U.S. Navy’s budget was severely limited due to the Great Depression. Since ships in port were less expensive than ships underway, the Navy reduced deployments world-wide. However, a mutually beneficial partnership was struck by the U.S. Navy and the commercial American President Lines cruise ship company.
As a part of that agreement, four “On-The-Roof Gang” members, John Cooke, Antone Novak, James Pearson, and Martin Vandenberg, were stationed onboard American President Lines ships from 1933 through 1934. They rode as first-class passengers and performed intercept operations while the ships were underway in the Pacific Ocean.
Electronics engineers from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) developed new, suitcase-enclosed receivers developed specifically for this assignment. The receivers were designed for frequencies between 40 kc and 480 kc. The Roofers received instruction on how to conceal their receivers and antennas to maintain security in foreign ports such as Kobe, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Manila. They were sent west from Washington, DC, to board their ships as they arrived on the West Coast from the Orient. They wore civilian clothes and posed as civilians on the ships, helping in the Weather Bureau’s studies.
The cruise company saw this arrangement as a safety measure, believing that the Navy Radiomen would provide warning if their ships were sailing into danger in the war-torn Far East. The Navy benefited from this arrangement by learning about the feasibility of shipboard radio intercept operations and the ships were provided with a reasonable sense of security, knowing that On-The-Roof Gang operators would notify them of any approaching Japanese warships.
Vandenberg was scheduled to ride the SS PRESIDENT TAFT sailing 10 June; Johnny Cooke the SS PRESIDENT JEFFERSON on 24 June; Jimmy Pearson the SS PRESIDENT CLEVELAND on 17 July; and Tony Novak the SS PRESIDENT MADISON sailing on 26 August. Each of their assignments was for a full year of service on the Dollar Lines ships - a pretty sweet gig, especially considering the economic difficulties across the country.
One of the President Lines operators, John Cooke, “On-The-Roof Gang” Class #4 graduate, was assigned to the SS PRESIDENT JEFFERSON for his first voyage in 1933. To Cooke’s great delight, the passenger list for the voyage included eighty college girls and only six men. Johnny spent a lot of time outside of his cabin on that trip! On one particular day, he met Isyl Florence Johnson, a young woman from Tacoma, Washington who attended the University of Washington and was on the SS JEFFERSON as part of an Alpha Gamma Delta sorority field trip to visit Japan and China. By the time the voyage was complete, John and Isyl we’re engaged. They later married and spent the rest of their days in wedded bliss.
