"Parker's Tin Can"

[Arlo]

I'm deep in research (ok, Wikipedia - doesn't actually seem a bad source, overall) covering Japanese ships featured. But "Parker's Tin Can" appears to yield no results, Wikipedia or otherwise. Google and Bing can't ping a thing.

I even tried searching this forum using 'Parker's Tin Can' as a specific search phrase and ... nothing. Figured I'd ask here, this being the most knowledgable community I know of on the subject matter at hand. I'll also post an inquiry at Aces of the Deep.

Thanks in advance for any type of response, guys.

(P.S. Um, Bungo Pete drives an Akikaze, doesn't he?)

[WernherVonTrapp]

Originally Posted by Arlo

I'm deep in research (ok, Wikipedia - doesn't actually seem a bad source, overall)

It's not that Wikipedia is a bad source, but rather, that virtually anyone can post information to it, including false or incorrect information. If you're going to rely on info from Wikipedia, just make sure you cross reference with other reliable/solid sources, if possible. I've heard that they want to make the website more reliable and were looking for ways to accomplish this, but to what end, I do not know.

Now, you bring up a good subject. On occasion, I have also wondered about that particular name/boat. I couldn't find anything specific so I figured it had to be a reference taken (probably) from a specific book/account of the war. "Parker" is a pretty common name and I've seen at least one reference that suggested (though I don't know for certain) that it was a generic term (Parker Man) for someone who manned a DE (destroyer escort), though this is suppositional on my part.

The name could be related to anything from, Foxhall Alexander Parker (Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy in 1878 and was one of the founders of the United States Naval Institute), to the WWI destroyer USS Parker (DD-48).

Hopefully, someone who has more specific details will come along and clear it all up for us.

[Armistead]

Interesting. I thought the Parker's were captured US escorts captured near Luzon when the Philippines fell, later reworked to look more like JP minelayers. However, I don't know why I think that, except that it sticks in my mind from somewhere. I could be thinking of the name PB102 given to captured US patrol boats the JP's used.

Now I want to know where this came from.

[Arlo]

Originally Posted by Armistead

Interesting. I thought the Parker's were captured US escorts captured near Luzon when the Philippines fell, later reworked to look more like JP minelayers. However, I don't know why I think that, except that it sticks in my mind from somewhere. I could be thinking of the name PB102 given to captured US patrol boats the JP's used.

Now I want to know where this came from.

Thanks, Armi!

[Ducimus]

Ensign Parker and his tin can is a fictional character made up specifically for the one of the sea trial missions in TMO. He was inspired by the Uboat communtiy's, "Bernard". Or rather, it was thought at one time, that both Uboats and Fleet boats should have some comical character to blame things on when everything goes wrong, or as a virtual punching bag for comedy hijinks.

Orginally someone (i forget who) decided that this character for fleet boats should be named "Dinsdale". However Dinsdale sounds more British then American, so i tried to rename him to something a bit more unique to American comedy, hence the name "Parker".

Bottom line, the character never quite caught on in the fleet boat community, so, regardless if the guys name is Dinsale or "Ensign Parker", nobody really has a clue what the joke is supposed to be.

[Arlo]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

Ensign Parker and his tin can is a fictional character made up specifically for the one of the sea trial missions in TMO. He was inspired by the Uboat communtiy's, "Bernard". Or rather, it was thought at one time, that both Uboats and Fleet boats should have some comical character to blame things on when everything goes wrong, or as a virtual punching bag for comedy hijinks.

Orginally someone (i forget who) decided that this character for fleet boats should be named "Dinsdale". However Dinsdale sounds more British then American, so i tried to rename him to something a bit more unique to American comedy, hence the name "Parker".

Bottom line, the character never quite caught on in the fleet boat community, so, regardless if the guys name is Dinsale or "Ensign Parker", nobody really has a clue what the joke is supposed to be.

Thank you, Ducimus! I really appreciate this. Though I've been focusing specifically on the ships available in SH4 and their *historical* context - including their stats, would you be interested in helping me figure out a psuedo 'wiki' type entry as a basis for info for this ship. I'd like to include it as a shoutout to the subsim community, specifically now.

http://www.wix.com/mumsiewumsie/uss-...my-dds-and-des

[WernherVonTrapp]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

Ensign Parker and his tin can is a fictional character made up specifically for the one of the sea trial missions in TMO. He was inspired by the Uboat communtiy's, "Bernard". Or rather, it was thought at one time, that both Uboats and Fleet boats should have some comical character to blame things on when everything goes wrong, or as a virtual punching bag for comedy hijinks.

Ahhh, sort of like the fictional "Kilroy" character who began showing up on destryed enemy tanks, bunkers, etc., during WWII. Servicemen would draw a picture of a nose with a pair of hands and write, "Kilroy Was Here" as if Kilroy was responsible for the destruction.

[subcpo]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

Orginally someone (i forget who) decided that this character for fleet boats should be named "Dinsdale". However Dinsdale sounds more British then American, so i tried to rename him to something a bit more unique to American comedy, hence the name "Parker".

Doug and Dinsdale Piranha were born, on probationn the slums of London, in 1929. Doug was born in February that year, and Dinsdale two weeks later, and again the week after that. Their father, Arthur Piranha, was a TV quizmaster and scrapmetal dealer who was well known to the police and a devout Catholic, who in January 1928 had married Kitty Malone, an up and coming East End boxer. Doug and Dinsdale were found too mentally unbalanced even for National Service, and became extortionists, running a protection racket after several false starts. Having acquired enough money, the Piranha Brothers formed a gang which they called "The Gang". They proceeded to use terror to take over (among other things) night clubs, billiard halls, gaming casinos and race tracks, failing only to acquire the MCC. It is said that Dinsdale was a gentleman; he bought his mother flowers and that he knew how to treat a female impersonater. Despite a jaw-dropping violent streak (including nailing people's heads to the floor and to coffee tables, and screwing people's pelvises to cake stands), he was beloved by everyone who knew him, most considering him "a cruel man, but fair". The local chief constable was in his employ, and would help him threaten others with a thermonuclear device. Dinsdale also possessed a tank. Known associates of the Piranhas included American musical stars, aristocrats, a man named Kierkegaard who bit the heads off whippets and other gang leaders.

Dinsdale was deeply afraid of Spiny Norman, an (apparently) imaginary hedgehog who, he believed, lived in a hangar at Luton Airport and who "was wont to be about twelve feet from "snout to tail", (one version states "about twelve feet from "tip of his snout to his anus"); when Dinsdale was depressed, Norman could be anything up to eight hundred yards long."

[Arlo]

Thanks, WVT. U.S.S. Parker was the only somewhat relevant info I've found to date. But I did get what I thought was some pretty good reference material on U.S.S. Stewart aka Patrol Boat 102 from Wiki. Wiki is the most readily accessible material online. The books I would have to acquire would take more time and expense for the website I'm hammering away at but I do plan to buy some reliable harcopy reference books over time.