- Yes
- Maybe
- No
History.
San Pedro, Leyte, early 1945. Two sailors named John Kann and Joe Sherrill were ordered over the side to scrape and paint the side of a ship, USS LMS-51 (landing ship). This order was actually a punishment as the two had fallen out of favor with Ensign Treece. While on board a brilliant idea struck one of the two: to paint a satirical writing on the side of the ship. Sherril proposed writing “FOR SALE”. The two sailors painted the writing with bright orange, rust-proof chrome, and then left. A couple of days later the Captain of the ship itself, Potts, received a message from the commander of the task group: “How much do you want for this?”. Captain Potts had no idea what he was talking about and told the signalman to repeat the message. The signalman repeated the same message, and once again the captain did not understand what was being asked of him. He therefore asked to repeat the message again. This time the message said “I see your ship is for sale. How much do you want it”? The Captain got into the dingy, rowed to the side and saw the sign. When he got back on board he swore that he would kill the genius who had painted that sign. Thank God no one remembered who was at the side painting, as some were there every day.
The decal.
The decal is a simple writing “FOR SALE” divided into a single line of rustproof bright orange chrome.
Pictures and drawnings.
Sources.