Captain Wallace M. “Gotch” Dillon stands on the bridge of the light aircraft carrier
Langley (CVL 27) in 1944, the carrier’s scoreboard visible beneath him. With aircraft carriers spearheading the drive across the Pacific during World War II, their antiaircraft gunners and the pilots and aircrewmen of their embarked air groups compiled impressive combat records. Carrier crews numbered in the hundreds and an artist could always be found in the ranks. Thus, on board many a vessel, one was quickly enlisted to create a scoreboard that kept a running tally of the ship’s combat actions. There was no template for them. Some listed the names of battles in which the carrier participated or broke down the types of enemy ships sunk, be they large carriers or small destroyers. Others reflected the island-hopping campaign that was the hallmark of the Pacific Theater by recording strikes against land targets, noted on
Langley by a painting of an island with silhouettes of bombs arrayed beneath it. In addition to scoreboards on the island superstructure, many carriers had scoreboards on the hangar deck as well. Examples of two of the latter, from the carriers
Hornet (CV 12) and
Essex (CV 9), are currently in the museum’s collection.