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English Pages 1144 Year 1966
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But it Iy and begin,
you
that.
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is
ntil
ad
it
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One
look at it tells you have looked in-
ok.
'
that
you
a matter oi far more than
book
realize
its
size. It is
a
ways that count— in scope, ,in narrative sweep, and in the personal recording made possible by men rising to meet the tests large
in the
of great events."
—John Mason Brown
The United
States
in
World War
Navy II
The One-Volume History, from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay — by Men Who Fought in the Atlantic and the Pacific and by Distinguished Naval Experts, Authors and Newspapermen Compiled and Edited by
S.
E.
SMITH
With an Introduction by Rear Admiral E. M. Director of Naval History
Eller,
Over a thousand pages, embellished with eighteen pages of battle maps and 142 photographs from the National Archives, this
tory of
mammoth
conflict
is
a superb narrative
on and
his-
in the oceans of
the globe. Himself a Navy veteran, S. E. Smith has read prodigiously in the literature of World War II; and, with the complete cooperation of the Navy Department and celebrated contributing authors (for complete list, see back of this jacket) he has selected for this book only those illuminating pieces— many of them eyewitness— which preserve for all time the essence of an action or a campaign. More than that, he has so arranged his material, so ordered it with his own succinct, knowledgeable introductions and continuity that the work is a unified, free-flowing whole, balanced and comprehensive. ,
(continued on back flap)
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a.
summit
"A vivid contribution to the history of World War II, organized in a uniquely dramatic continuity that gives
one an
eerie
and often exalted on
feeling of eyewitnessing events taking place all
the world's oceans
tragic
— which
comprehend."
— events
heroic, stark,
no human eye couk —Sidney L. James, j
ill)
nc
CjJ
•-
•-
THE UNITED STATES NAVY IN
WORLD WAR
II
THE ONE-VOLUME HISTORY, FROM PEARL HARBOR TO TOKYO BAY BY MEN WHO FOUGHT IN THE ATLANTIC AND THE PACIFIC AND BY DISTINGUISHED
NAVAL EXPERTS, AUTHORS AND NEWSPAPERMEN.
THE UNITED
NAVY
STATES
IN
WORLD WAR
II
THE ONE-VOLUME HISTORY, FROM PEARL HARBOR TO TOKYO BAY
BY
MEN WHO FOUGHT IN THE
ATLANTIC AND THE PACIFIC AND BY DISTINGUISHED
NAVAL EXPERTS, AUTHORS AND NEWSPAPERMEN \mA >**
Selected
and edited by
S.E.
Smithy
With an Introduction by Rear Admiral £. At. Eller, Director of Naval History
William Morrow
r
routes
PEARL
OAHU
air
o
-
/-,.'
Last Days of Peace
7
when the Combined Fleet began unobtrusively to renTankan Bay in the Kuriles; the second was executed November 22 when Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's Pearl Harbor
November dezvous
7,
at
Striking Force, built around six aircraft carriers, got
underway on
its
epochal mission. Nevertheless, Tojo's instructions to his diplomats in
Washington were
Although
to continue negotiations.
Pearl Harbor bound,
it
was subject
the United States capitulated,
to recall;
would
it
if
be. Still
on the
his
fleet
slightest
was
chance
under theoretical
dis-
cussion in Japan was the United States' "Basis for Agreement," a final
proposal for peace; although Tojo
flatly
rejected
29, his Washington representatives continued to
over the conference table. its
Washington embassy
On December
to
burn
all
2,
it
November
meet with Mr. Hull
however, Tokyo ordered
codes except one; on the same
day, Japan's Honolulu consul was ordered to report daily disposition
and number of warships
at Pearl
on the
Harbor, and whether
they were shielded by protective nets.
Thus, the string had run out. asked Emperor Hirohito peace, begging
him
On December
in a personal
in the
name
6,
President Roosevelt
message for a continuance of
of humanity to withdraw his forces
threatening "the hundreds of islands of the East Indies," Philippines,
Thailand, and Malaya. Hirohito did not reply.
Next day, December
7, in
accordance with instructions from their
government, Japanese diplomats asked for a meeting with Hull at p.m., or twenty minutes before the hour of the Pearl
Harbor
Because of a delay, the meeting was postponed an hour. By hostilities
had already commenced.
1
attack.
this time,
PARTI
HARBOR TO
PEARL
THE END IN THE
MALAY BARRIER
WITH APPROXIMATELY HALF OF THE UNITED STATES based in the Atlantic against the possibility of a subma-
Fleet rine
war with
was
greater
that
of
one
Against
adversaries.
of the
Japan's combatant strengh as of mid- 1941
Hitler,
than
she
nations
the
hundred
United States Pacific Fleet
and
was
make her
to
twenty-seven
warships
the few ships, primarily
(less
destroyers and submarines, of the widely dispersed Asiatic Fleet)
and
fifty
belonging to our
the Netherlands, Japan
allies,
was able
the British
to muster
Commonwealth and
two hundred and
thirty
combatant
ships
superiority,
Japan possessed two other priceless ingredients for
ing a
war
—
of
every
tactical position
category.
In
and surprise
addition
to
attack. Thus,
"the day that will live in infamy," the Imperial Japanese
numerical start-
by noon of
Navy
held a
Pearl Harbor to the
10
End
Malay Barrier
in the
mastery over the -greatest of oceans that would
last for
the next six
months.
There were two United States Navy task forces
at sea
December
7,
One task force, commanded by Rear Admiral John Henry Newton in the heavy cruiser Chicago, was formed around the aircraft carrier Lexington and was Midway bound on a search and battle 1941.
problem; the other, under the redoubtable Vice Admiral William F.
Halsey
in Enterprise,
deliver a cargo of
was
secretly steaming
Wake
toward
Island to
Marine fighter-plane reinforcements. At
were seven heavy and
light cruisers patrolling to the
sea, too,
south and south-
westward, while the main body of the United States Pacific Fleet, carriers
The
—
eighty-four warships
first
—was based
at Pearl
shot of the war was fired at 6:45 a.m.,
and a quarter
after the old, four-stack destroyer
less
Harbor.
more than an hour
Ward had
sighted the
periscope of a midget submarine operating in a restricted area just Pearl
outside
tenant William patrol
when
Ward was under
Harbor.
W.
contact was made.
By
the time Outerbridge
the warship to General Quarters and had gotten craft
her
had disapppeared. Ward remained sound
gear.
command
the
Seventy-five
minutes
up speed,
called
with
contact
was
later
surface
(He
radioing Pearl Harbor that he intended to attack. firing
had
the strange
in the area, searching
regained and Outerbridge passed the word to his No.
had qualms about
Lieu-
of
Outerbridge, and she was returning from a night's
1
gun, after
quite naturally
on an unidentified vessel although under
orders to do so since the submarine was in a restricted area. )
The
first
round drove the submarine down. Simultaneously, Ward dropped a string of
depth charges over the spot where lookouts had
periscope. Thereafter, Outerbridge informed Pearl that he It
had completed
last
seen the
Harbor by radio
his attack.
was now almost 7 a.m. Japan's
first strike,
launched by aircraft
carriers Akagi, Hiryu,
Kaga, Soryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku
predawn darkness, was
nearing the coast of
The by the
story of the epochal attack brilliant journalist,
is
in the
Oahu.
here told in three parts, the
first
John Toland, whose But Not In Shame, a
documented assessment of the Pacific, stands as a classic of
first
six
months of the war
dramatic reportage.
in the
JOHN TOLAND
I.
PEARL HARBOR ATTACK
cumulus clouds collected around the peaks of the mountain ranges east and west of Pearl Harbor on Sunday morning. But over the great naval base, lying in the valley between, were only a few
Banks
of
scattered clouds. Visibility
was good and
a
wind of 10 knots blew
in
from the north.
At 7:45 a.m. area.
several civilian pilots were lazily circling over the
There wasn't a
single military ship visible. Eighteen planes ap-
proaching from the carrier Enterprise were scheduled to land at Ford Island within the hour.
The only Army Air Corps
planes aloft in the vicinity were the 12
Flying Fortresses from California earmarked for MacArthur. They
were due to land Island, in about
one was on
at
Hickham
patrol. Still
bunched together wing
on four-hour
tip to
wing
Hickham, Bellows and Wheeler
Ewa. Of patrol
all .
.
Field,
several miles south of
an hour. But of the Oahu-based
Army
notice, they
were
tip for security against
Fields.
Ford
planes, not all
tightly
saboteurs at
So were the Marine planes
the military planes in Hawaii, only 7
at
Navy PBY's were on
.
About 25
miles to the northwest Japanese pilots in the leading
attack planes were marvelling at the peaceful green scene below
them.
The
entire island
seemed
to
be lazing luxuriantly in the early
11
Pearl Harbor to the
12
Not even
sun.
mass of ships
End
in the
Malay Barrier
smoke was coming up from
a trace of
the motionless
Harbor.
in Pearl
At 7:49 a.m. Commander Fuchida from
bomber "TO TO TO." Four minutes later the great naval base was spread out below him like a huge relief map. It looked exactly as he had imagined. Still no fighters were climbing up to challenge; nor was there a single mushroom explosion of anti-aircraft fire. It was unbelievable. They had achieved gave the attack signal in Morse £©de,
his high-level
.
.
.
.
.
.
complete surprise.
Even before
TORA
.
.
.
a single
TORA"
bomb dropped he now
(Tiger).
"TORA
radioed:
.
.
.
The repeated word was heard by Ad-
Nagumo. It was also heard directly on board the Nagato, at Combined Fleet Headquarters in Japan. When the message was miral
brought to
The
Yamamoto he
said nothing, his face betrayed
other officers spontaneously cheered
was read aloud. The Nagato was engulfed
"We
decoded meant: Still all
no bomb had
was quiet
At
in the
have succeeded
when
no emotion.
the laconic message
in excitement.
The message
in surprise attack."
Except for the roar of approaching planes
fallen.
Honolulu area
.
.
.
same moment, near the center of the island of Oahu, Japanese fighters and bombers began to dive on the Army's Wheeler that
Field, adjacent to Schofield Barracks.
Second Lieutenant Robert Overstreet, of the 696th Aviation Ordnance Company, was sleeping
in the two-story
wooden BOQ. He was
awakened by a terrific noise. At first he thought it was an earthquake. "Looks like Jap planes," he heard someone shout. "Hell, no," said someone
"It's just
else.
Overstreet's door
Skawold, looked
in.
a
Navy maneuver."
opened and an old His face was white,
friend,
Lieutenant Robert
his lips trembling. "I think
Japs are attacking." Overstreet looked out the window, saw planes circling overhead.
They seemed
to be olive drab.
close he could see the pilot
wing
tips
were flaming red suns.
of the barracks
group of
One dove on
the barracks,
and a rear gunner.
and headed for
He
On
coming so
the fuselage and
finished dressing as he ran out
his organization.
Soon he came onto a
fighter pilots.
"We've got
to get
down
to the line
tards," shouted one, Lieutenant to the burning hangars
and tag some of those bas-
Harry Brown. Another
and the ramp. There the
planes were already ablaze.
pilot pointed
closely
grouped
Pearl Harbor Attack
13
Brown. This was an auxiliary
"Let's go to Haliewa," said
field
on
where a few P-40's and P-36's were kept. Brown and new Ford convertible and left.
the north coast
several other pilots piled into his
Lieutenants George Welch and Kenneth Taylor followed in the
lat-
ter's car.
Hundreds were milling around
in
shocked confusion as bombs
and buildings erupted. Overstreet weaved toward the permanent quarters area.
Howard Davidson,
General
On
the fighter
way through
his
the Circle he
the
fell
mob
saw Brigadier
commandant, and Colonel
William Flood, the base commander, standing by their front doors in pajamas, staring at the sky, their faces aghast.
"Where's our Navy?" said Flood. "Where're our fighters?" "General," shouted Overstreet, "we'd better get out of here. Those
He
planes have tail-gunners."
horror
it
was
ran toward the ordnance hangar.
in flames. Inside
ammunition ticketed for Midway
Island.
At 7:55 a.m
a
Conway
Hickham
flight line at
said,
"Wheel,
it
.
.
and Ted Conway were walking
As
Field.]
"We're going to have an
Gaines noticed something alarm that
.
V-formation of planes suddenly appeared from the
west. [Aircraft mechanics Jesse Gaines
toward the
his
Suddenly the hangar began
an endless row of huge firecrackers
to explode, like
To
were a million rounds of machine-gun
air
from the
fall
they began to peel
off,
show." first
plane.
He
guessed in
was a wheel.
hell, they're
As Gaines
Japs!" cried Conway.
bomb exploded among the The two men began to run toward "Hickham Hotel." Gaines saw some gas
"You're crazy," a
said,
neatly packed planes
on the
field.
the big three-storied barracks,
drums and dove behind them in a strafing attack, their
for protection. Fighters were
machine guns
The Japanese plan was simple but
spitting
now
orange flames
efficient. First, to
.
.
diving .
prevent an air
counterattack, the airfields were being systematically wiped out. In the
first
Army base,
A
few minutes the Navy bases, Kaneohe and Ford Island; the
bases, Wheeler, Bellows
Ewa, were
moment
alerted
all
and Hickam; and the lone Marine
but crippled.
after the first
bomb
fell,
the Pearl
Harbor
signal
Kimmel's headquarters by phone. Three minutes
tower
later,
at
7:58 a.m., the message heard around the world was broadcast by
Rear Admiral Patrick Bellinger from Ford Island: Air Raid, Pearl Harbor This is no drill.
—
Closely on
its
heels, at
8:00 a.m. Kimmel's headquarters radioed
14^
Pearl Harbor to the
Washington, Admiral Hart
End
in the
Malay Barrier
in the Philippines
and
all
forces at sea:
Even as the messages were diving on the main target, Battleship torpedo planes were
Air raid on Pearl Harbor. This going out,
is
no
drill.
Row. Admiral C. C. Bloch was shaving
He thought workmen were
at his quarters in the
Navy Yard.
blasting in the nearby stone quarry.
When
the explosions continued he told his wife, "I'm going outside and see
what that noise plane in flames.
He
is."
He
ran out the front door. Overhead he saw a
went back into the house. "The Japanese are
bombing us. I've got to get to the office. Don't stay down here." At the naval housing unit adjacent to Hickham Field, First Class Metalsmith Lawrence Chappell was in bed. A plane roared overhead.
"What dow.
"It's
are those planes?" asked his wife, starting toward the win-
Bomber
too late for the
Patrol."
"Probably stragglers."
"The Rising Sun! The Rising Sun! Japanese!"
cried Mrs.
Chap-
pell.
"You're
foolish,
go back to bed." Another plane roared over and
Chappell went to the window.
A
torpedo plane swept by, so close he
could see the pilot turning around, unconcerned.
and ran
outside.
billows of black
Now
he heard anti-aircraft
smoke
rising
Kimmel was watching
fire
He
hurriedly dressed
and saw flames and
from Pearl Harbor.
the torpedo attack
from the
hill at
near his quarters. Short was standing on the lanai of his
Makalapa
home near
Fort Shafter watching the billows of smoke in the west and wondering
what was going on
The smoke was
at Pearl
rising
Ford Island where seven
Harbor.
from Battleship Row, on the
east side of
battleships, the heart of the Pacific Fleet,
were moored. They were not protected from
aerial torpedoes
by nets
because of Pearl Harbor's 40-foot depth. This matter had been
consulted.
dis-
Kimmel and Stark. Even the British had been Everyone agreed a minimum depth of 75 feet was neces-
many
cussed
times by
sary for torpedoes.
This unanimous conclusion was surprising since the British themselves
had made a successful plane attack on the
Italian fleet
at
Taranto the previous year with specially rigged torpedoes. The Japanese bombers diving on Battleship
Row
were proving as clever as the
British.
They were dropping torpedoes with
wooden
fins, specially
ingeniously constructed
designed for shallow water.
.-'-
17
Pearl Harbor Attack
Not
far
from Battleship Row,
Yeoman
C. O. Lines of the
oil
Ramapo was in the crew's quarters. Boatswain's Mate Graff down the ladder. "The Japs are bombing Pearl Harbor!" he The men in the room looked at him as if he were crazy. "No fooling," he said. Someone gave
"No
crap.
a
Bronx
rushed yelled.
cheer.
Get your asses up on deck!"
Lines hurried topside to the
Then he heard
as usual.
tanker
He
fantail.
a dull explosion
thought Graff was ribbing
and saw a plane dive toward
the battleship California.
She was the
seven big vessels in Battleship Row.
last of the
torpedoes hit her almost simultaneously. list
and began to
entire lower deck.
minutes
oil
Her
settle.
The
Two
ship took an 8-degree
fractured fuel tanks began to flood an
Bombs now
fell
and
half a
dozen
fires flared.
In
gushing from the ruptured ship burst into flame. She was
surrounded by a wall of
fire.
The word was passed: Abandon
ship.
tandem formation, were the Maryland and Oklahoma. A hit the Maryland because she was berthed inboard, next to Ford Island, and was protected by her mate. But the outboard ship, the Oklahoma, was hit by four torpedoes within a minute. As Ahead,
in
torpedo couldn't
she
listed
to
Commander
port,
Kenworthy,
Jesse
senior
aboard, ordered the ship abandoned over the starboard
officer
side.
He
calmly walked up the ship's side over the blistered ledge and then over the bottom. Soon the ship settled, the water. filling
safe
starboard propeller out of in the rapidly
compartments.
Next West
its
Below more than 400 men were trapped
in
Battleship
Row came
from torpedo attack
.
.
.
THE DAY BEGAN ABOARD THE AIRCRAFT CAR-
AT
SEA,
rier
Enterprise at
first light
rine fighter planes, the
two planes departed Halsey's
another pair, the Tennessee and
Maryland, the Tennessee was inboard and
Virginia. Like the
staff.
when
she sent off her complement of
new Grumman F4U's. Soon for
Ford Island
Twelve minutes
later
back to Pearl Harbor), the other
in
after, at
6:15 a.m.,
member of heading now was
order to land a
(the carrier
aircraft of Scouting Six
the naval base. During the next hour, Halsey shaved fresh uniform in his flag quarters; he
Ma-
was
still
departed for
and put on a
there' at 7:55 a.m.
1
End
Pearl Harbor to the
8
in the
Malay Barrier
when Lieutenant H. Douglas Moulton, his flag secretary, answered the phone from the Radio Room: Pe£rl Harbor was under air attack! Halsey jumped to
dismay.
his feet in
Meanwhile, the planes of Scoutfng 7 Six had started to arrive over
One
Pearl Harbor. carrier's
Radio
was Ensign Manuel Gonzales. In the
of these
Room
where Commander Charles Fox was on duty,
was
the frantic voice of the pilot
Don't shoot! This
is
distinctly
heard:
"Don't shoot!
an American plane!" There was no further com-
munication from Gonzales; nor was there any in due course from eleven other planes of the squadron.
A
heavy cruiser,
Loch
of the
fragmentation
The
New
bomb dropped
Commander Howell
Ammunition."
When
in
the
is
told
"We Reach
when
a
by Presbyterian Chaplain, Lieu-
war song, "Praise the Lord and Pass
the attack opened, Forgy
was
in his quarters
thinking about the sermon he was scheduled to deliver.
cided on
Southeast
were sustained
Forgy, whose legendary conduct during
the battle inspired the popular the
casualties
nearby and shrapnel raked her topsides.
story of the cruiser's fight
tenant
was moored
Orleans,
Navy Yard. Her only
He had
de-
Forward," based on Paul's words, "Forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching unto those things which are before."
LIEUTENANT COMMANDER HOWELL M. FORGY, CH.
2.
"...AND PASS THE
AMMUNITION"
.
.
.
The heavy
cruiser
to another berth.
of the little
moved
There was
slightly.
A
tug was probably shifting us
noise challenging the tranquillity
little
Hawaiian morning, save a muffled
Irving
boy were running a
stick along
though the
tat-tat-tat as
one of those white picket
fences back home.
The
silence suddenly exploded into the deafening clang-clang-clang
of the general alarm. I
wondered why the
head the I
officer of the
fact that the general
deck could never get into
alarm was
consoled myself with the thought that
its
blunders, would bring the
his
on Sundays.
this "bust," as the
commander on
The clang-clang-clang continued of the bo'sun's pipe
not to be tested
Navy
calls
his neck.
stubbornly, and the
shrill
scream
beeped through the speaker.
"All hands to battle stations! All hands to battle stations!"
"This
But alert
I
is
no
drill!
This
is
wasn't buffaloed.
no
drill!"
We knew
that the
army had been on an
throughout the islands until the previous night. This must be
some admiral's
clever idea of
how
to
make an
off-hour general quar-
ters drill for the fleet realistic. I
bucked a
line of
Marines hurrying up the ladders through the
hatch to their battle stations at the machine-guns and
AA
batteries
topside.
19
C.
20
End
Pearl "Harbor to the
The Leathernecks were
Malay Barrier
in the
on
pulling
their jackets
and panting un-
printable things about general quarters as they scampered upward.
GQ—especially
Every one grumbled about
at this hour,
when
their
Sunday-morning-after-Saturday-night Rberty was interrupted so abruptly.
Down
in the innards of the ship
against the side of the hull. That
could hear a rhythmic thudding
I
meant the
of other vessels in the harbor were firing.
Maybe
tat-tat-tat again. I
it
five-inch anti-aircraft guns
I
was machine-gun
my
sauntered into sick bay,
Behind me, cinching up
I
could hear that
fire.
battle station.
his tie,
ward Evans, senior medical
thought
came Lieutenant Commander Ed-
officer.
His face appeared worried as he
stepped through the door.
"What's
it all
The sound
about,
Doc?"
asked him.
I
of the guns of the other ships kept beating through the
steel sides of the
New
Orleans.
It
sounded
like a
Hollywood version
of jungle tom-toms.
know," he
"I don't
out of the sky. I
told
He
him
noise
said, expressionless. "I just
saw a plane
falling
was burning."
thought that was carrying a
gave his head a
little
pretty far.
drill
twist to the side
know, Padre. This might be the
"I don't
We
I
It
and looked beyond me. real thing."
stood there a minute, just saying nothing and listening. The
was
increasing,
and we knew more ships had begun
firing.
We
pumping of the pompom guns as they joined in They sounded like some one trying to say "pawm-pawm" mouth half-closed.
heard the
fast, dull
the racket.
with his
"I think
I'll
run topside and take a look,
if
you don't mind,"
I
told
him. I
moved
room. I
quickly this time. Faster than
Much
when
I
came down from my
faster.
ran to the well deck, where
I
could get a clear view of the
harbor.
Off our starboard quarter, about five hundred yards, the mighty oily smoke thousands The water around her was dotted with debris and
Arizona was sending a mass of black,
of feet
into the air.
a
of bobbing, oil-covered heads.
I
could see hundreds of
men
mass
splashing
and trying to swim. Others were motionless. Flashes of orange-red flames snapped out of the against the jet clouds ascending
all
AA
along Battleship Row.
guns, bright
and Pass The
cage-like foremast of the Arizona
a crazy,
Ammunition"
the
poked through the smoke
at
—looked
as
drunken angle.
The Weavie
—
that's
21
what we called the West Virginia
though her back had been broken. She was sagging amidships, and
bow and stern angled upward. Forward of the Weavie the Oklahoma's main deck was disappearing beneath the water. She was rolling on her side, and her big bottom
her
was coming up. water.
I
could see hundreds of her crew jumping into the
Dozens of others were crawling along her exposed
side
and
bottom, trying to keep up with the giant treadmill. Off our starboard
beam
heard the drone of airplane motors.
I
a Jap dive-bomber gliding
down toward
Battleship
to be loafing in, deliberately taking his time to pick out just
wanted to the
saw
what he
hit.
my
couldn't take
I
I
Row. He seemed
bombs drop out
eyes off him.
I
followed him
down
until I
of his belly. Sticking out of the cockpit
helmeted head of the Jap
saw
was the
There was something mocking about
pilot.
the big rising-sun balls under the wings of the plane.
Minutes seemed to
tick
away while
the
bombs moved downward.
gaped with a sense of fascinated helplessness.
I
I
couldn't resist trying
bombs before they hit. They were coming down for the big battleship California. The bombs hit her amidships, right by the stacks. A flash, fire and smoke jumped into the air all at once. The Jap opened his throttle wide and raced away from his victim with a terrific roar. Now our own guns began thundering in my ears. The sky all around the plane was laced with streaming trails of tracers. The Jap couldn't get through that stuff but he did. More planes came, one after another. With a sort of abandon, they
to reach out to stop those
—
floated
by
in slow, aggravating glides, right
our noisy barrage of I
wondered
if
through the very center of
AA fire.
the devil himself could have
against our shells.
What was
this
new, horrible,
immuned evil
these planes
power
that turned
Pearl Harbor into a bay of terrible explosions, smoking ships, flames,
and death?
Coming from sloped into It
fleet
its
seemed
the direction of
Diamond Head, another Jap bomber
glide.
as though every
nozzled a cone of
right place this time.
fire at
The
gun of the it.
The
New
Orleans and the entire
wall of exploding steel
plane's dive
became
steeper,
and
was it
in the
tumbled
Pearl Harbor to the
22 ^
out of the sky.
A
End
in the
Malay Barrier
long ribbon of black crepe trailed out behind
the plane disappeared.
crashed
It
it
as
backyard of Naval Hospi-
in the
tal.
We'd
They could be hitf The men around me on
got one!
I felt better.
the well deck and the sweating
gun crews on the quarterdeck above shouted
touchdown of
the day.
I
guess
I
like
freshmen
at the first
shouted and screamed as loudly as
any one.
He
Mike Jacobs, master the string of smoke in
the sky and drawled, "I guess chaplains can
cuss like bo'sun's mates
when they have
Maybe he was
at
arms, was standing near me.
grinned
at
to."
right.
Lieutenant Francis Lee Hamlin, handsome and wiry main battery officer,
moved
alongside me. With the ship's big guns useless against
swarms of Jap
the
drone
in,
drop
planes, he stood as helpless as
their loads,
and scream
off
I,
toward the
watching them
sea.
"Padre," Lee said, grinning under his long, dark-brown hair, "I figure
if
the
Lord
look after you.
If
is
going to look after any one in
you don't mind,
knew Lee was only
I
I'll
this,
He's going to
stick close by."
kidding, but as
ran toward sick bay on the
I
double, he was close behind me.
The passageway below was sounds on the
steel
deck.
dark, and our heels
No
on the dock decided we might want
to get
burst of misguided initiative he had cut
—
ship)
including the
power
under way
all lines
"We'd
better
dog down the ports
we took a hit. The wardroom had
since
from the dock to the
into the
in there,"
I
wardroom.
heard Lee
holler.
port-holes not only invited the machine-gun bullets of the Jap
strafers above, but they if
in a hurry. In a
line.
Far forward we could see sunlight pouring
Open
made weird hollow
were burning, because someone
lights
I
would provide an easy entrance for sea water
a queer, deserted appearance.
had been aboard there were no
linen-covered chairs.
The
felt table
For the
first
time
officers sitting in the white,
tops reflected the sunlight in a
green flood against the gray walls.
Only "Deacon" Smith, the stocky
He was
little
Negro mess-boy, was
in the
work closing the ports and dogging them against the awful panorama outside. Lee and I slammed others shut, and the room grew darker and darker. It seemed there was no one in the world but the three of us. room.
already at
—
23
and Pass the Ammunition
.
Things were running through our heads so rapidly that none seemed
enough for us
to stop long
We
could
it
last
let-
pump-
wondered how
—and how many seconds or minutes
or hours would
we and
pass until
guns, the
We
pompoms, and
long
AA
and the never-ending barking of the big
ting go,
ing
what they were.
to find out
heard the exploding bombs, the burning ships' magazines
the rattle of machine-guns.
the
New
terrifying funeral pyre that
Orleans would become a part of the
now was
Pearl Harbor.
Smith was working feverishly, and as he moved closer
I
could hear I
him singing. The cacophony
of the guns
and so did the throaty,
and bombs grew louder and louder,
rich baritone voice of the
young Negro.
"Swing low, sweet char-iot" the "Deacon" sang
in defiance of the
enemy's chariots swooping down with their deadly loads. " I little
A-comin'
fo' to car-ree
turned to Lee and
me home."
we both
Somehow we found
grinned.
mess attendant's music a beauty and a
"Swing low as his
—
faith
in the
renewed.
boomed out to new heights He had no way to shoot the enemy
" he sang on. His voice
own music
reassured him.
out of the sky, but he seemed to feel he could sing death away. I lost
Lee
and
in the pitch-darkness
felt
I
had seen
is
the real thing."
report to Dr. Evans what
in
my way
those few
bay to
to sick
minutes
terrible
topside.
Doc. This
"You're
right,
He was
pacing back and forth in the room, his face white and
grave.
The
noise from above had told
him more than
His instruments were ready, and so was he. breaking stream of broken into that
little
sick
before, in the First
bay
human
until this
I
could.
He knew
the heart-
beings that would keep coming
war was
history.
World War and during China
He had
seen
it
service.
Dr. Evans was a skilled veteran, ready but not eager for the bloodstained
months ahead.
Outside sick bay
named George. His
I
heard the booming voice of a big gunner's mate
red hair took on an eerie hue under the
dim blue
battle lights.
"Get those zine,"
lines
down
the hatch to the
maga-
he shouted.
Ropes tumbled through
the hatches
from the deck
to the cruiser's
bowels far below.
Suddenly the impact of our helpless, hopeless situation
hit
me.
We
I
Pearl Harbor to the
24
had been under
End
in the
Malay Barrier
temporary overhaul, and the ammunition hoists
a
were without power. The gunners topside were ducking machine-gun
and shrapnel, training
bullets
guns by sheer guts and sweat, and
their
they had no ammunition other than' the few shells in their ready boxes.
The sharp
Wood-
voice of barrel-chested young Lieutenant E. F.
head snapped through the foul clouds of expended powder smoke that were coming below through the
He was ret
gathering every
men, the repair
parties
ventilators.
man
—
in sight
—
the shipfitters, the big tur-
who had no
every one
specific job at the
moment. "Get over by that ammunition shells
hoist," he ordered.
"Grab those
and get them to the guns!"
The
big five-inch shells, weighing close to a hundred pounds, were
being pulled up the powerless hoist by ropes attached to their long, tube-like metal cases.
A
tiny Filipino messboy,
hoisted
it
who weighed few
to his shoulder, staggered a
started the long, tortuous trip
up two
little
more than the and grunted
steps,
flights of
shell,
as
he
ladders to the quarter-
deck, where the guns thirsted for steel and powder.
A dozen eager men lined up at the hoist. The parade
ammunition was
of
endless, but the cry kept
coming
from topside for more, more, more. I
saw a Jewish boy from Brooklyn reach for a shell before he had trip. The sweat from his face was
caught his breath from the previous
no longer coming
in big drops.
Now
it
was a steady stream that ran
along the ridge of his nose, splashed to his chin, and
fell
away. His
buckle under the punishing weight, but he wouldn't
legs tried to
let
them.
The boys were beginning to
tell
putting everything they had into the job, and
it
was
on them.
But no one complained. I
wished
I
good. fire
I
my
could boost one of the shells to
metal of the shell casing against
would be busy, and
my
shoulder.
The
cool
shoulder and neck would feel
feel better inside.
But
a chaplain cannot
a gun or take material part in a battle.
Yet those
devils
—coming
out of the sky without warning and send-
ing to their death thousands of violating every rule of
There was
little
men
of a nation at peace
God and man.
time for more reflection as
the quarterdeck above.
—were
I
climbed the ladders to
and Pass
the
25
Ammunition'
Minutes turned to hours. Physical exhaustion was coming to every
man
in the
human
endless-chain of that ammunition line.
They
strug-
gled on.
They could keep going only by keeping I
faith in their hearts.
slapped their wet, sticky backs and shouted, "Praise the Lord and
pass the ammunition."
PAT BELLINGER'S
Air Raid, Pearl
Harbor— This
is
no
Drill,
was picked up by a West Coast naval radio station and instantly relayed to Washington. It landed on the desk of Admiral Harold Stark, the Chief of Naval Operations, who immedisent at 7:58
a.m.,
Navy Knox. "My God," be true! This must mean the Philipwas no mistake, and Knox called the
ately burst into the office of Secretary of the
exclaimed Knox, "this can't pines!" Stark replied that
it
White House. President Roosevelt was lunching with Harry Hopkins. belief;
The
President's
first
in the
Oval
Room
was shocked
reaction
dis-
then he called Secretary of State Cordell Hull and told him the
news. In Honolulu, San Francisco, Washington, and
New
York, where
Japanese diplomats were frantically burning their secret papers, the reaction of the incredulity.
New
man
in the street
was one of unanimous rage and
But most had never heard of Pearl Harbor.
York's Radio Station
WOR
interrupted
uled broadcast of the Dodger-Giant football
game
its
regularly sched-
to flash the
news
to
listeners. In the same city's Carnegie Hall, announcer Warren Sweeney interrupted the Philharmonic, which was playing Shostako-
its
vitch's
Symphony No.l,
shortly with a record of
Among Row.
"The
who
bulletin.
He
followed this
Star Spangled Banner."
the best of the published Pearl
Walter Lord, ship
to repeat the
recounts in minute
Harbor accounts
is
one by
detail the catastrophe in Battle-
WALTER LORD ,-.?
3-
CAN'T KEEP THROWING
"I
THINGS AT THEM"
Up
in
the Maryland's foretop,
abandoned
his
Seaman
Leslie
Vernon Short had
hopes of a quiet morning addressing Christmas cards.
After a quick double-take on the planes diving at Ford Island, he
loaded the ready machine gun and hammered away
at the first
torpedo
planes gliding in from Southeast Loch. In the destroyer anchorage to the north, Gunner's
Bowe grabbed Tucker and
Mate Walter
a .50-caliber machine gun on the afterdeck of the
fired
back
Seaman George
Sallet
who was Navy Yard.
So did Seaman Frank Johnson,
too.
sweeping near the bridge of the destroyer Bagley
in the
watched the slugs from Johnson's gun tear into
a torpedo plane passing alongside, saw the rear gunner slump in the cockpit, and thought
Others were
firing
it
was
too
—
just like in the movies.
the Helena at
the sub base ... the Raleigh in the
1010 dock ... the Tautog
on the northwest
side of
Ford
Island.
at
Up
Nevada's "bird bath," a seaman generally regarded as one of
the less useful
members
of the crew seized a .30 caliber
and winged a torpedo plane headed
machine gun
directly for the ship. It
was
to be
an important reprieve ...
in
Another plane glided toward the Nevada. Again the machine guns her foretop blazed away. Again the plane wobbled and never
pulled out of
its
turn.
The men were wild with excitement just astern. The
plowed into the water alongside the dredge pipe
26
as
it
pilot
Keep Throwing Things
"/ Can't
Them"
and floated face up past the
frantically struggled clear
time they got him too
at
late.
ship.
27 But
this
Marine Private Payton McDaniel watched
the torpedo's silver streak as
He remem-
headed for the port bow.
it
bered pictures of torpedoed ships and half expected the Nevada to
two and sink enveloped
break
in
at
Just a slight shudder, a brief
all.
in flames. It didn't
Then she caught a bomb by Ensign Joe Taussig was
when
it
Almost absently he
that
way
the starboard anti-aircraft director.
his left leg
doorway,
tucked under his arm.
said to himself, "That's a hell of a place for a foot
and was amazed
to be,"
happen
to port.
at his station there, standing in the
Suddenly he found
hit.
list
Mate Allen Owens,
to hear Boatswain's
standing beside him, say exactly the same words aloud. In the plotting first felt
that
room
was
it
But
phone
circuit that his
The men on to think. She didn't offer
decks below, Ensign Charles Merdinger the drills he
began to seem
times.
it
five
all like
different
when he learned through
roommate Joe Taussig had been
was inboard of the
—
Vestal, but the
at
of
the
hit.
the Arizona, forward of the Nevada, hardly
had time
repair ship
little
home
almost right
nothing could stop the steel that rained
down from
much
—and
away
protection
Fuchida's horizontal bombers
a torpedo struck
now
overhead.
boat deck between No. 4 and 6 guns
Seaman
had been through dozens
—
it
A
came
big one shattered the in like a fly ball,
and
Russell Lott, standing in the antiaircraft director, had the
feeling he could reach out
and catch
it.
Another
No. 4
hit
turret,
scorched and hurled Coxswain James Forbis off a ladder two decks below.
went
The
PA
system barked, "Fire on the quarter-deck," and then
off the air for
good.
Radioman Glenn Lane and
shipmates rigged a hose and tried to fight the
They
fire.
rigged phones and tried to call for water.
No No
three of his
water pressure. power. All the
time explosions somewhere forward were throwing them off their feet.
Alongside, the Vestal seemed to be catching everything that missed the Arizona.
One bomb went through an open
through the ship, exploding as
it
No. 3 hold, and the ship began brig
howled
to be let out,
and
hatch, tore right
passed out the bottom.
settling at the stern.
finally
someone shot
A
It
flooded the
prisoner in the
off the
lock with a
.45.
Forward of
the Arizona and
Vestal, the
Tennessee so far was
holding her own; but the West Virginia on the outside was taking a terrible beating.
A
Japanese torpedo plane headed straight for the
Pearl Harbor to the
28
End
Malay Barrier
in the
casemate where Seaman Robert Benton waited for the crew.
He
torpedo
stood there transfixed
down
He
go'r up
.
.
.
rest of his
gun
couldn't.
The
move but
to
underneath and sent Benton and
hit directly
flying in opposite directions.
slipped
—wanted
his
headphones
ran across the deck
.
.
.
the starboard side of the ship to the armor shelf, a ledge
formed by the
ship's 15-inch steel plates.
ledge, he glanced up,
morning sun, the
saw the bombers
As he walked
bombs looked
falling
aft
Caught
this time.
along the
in the bright
for a fleeting second like
snowflakes.
The men below were spared such sights, but the compensation was Storekeeper Donald Brown tried to get the phones working in the ammunition supply room, third deck forward. The lines were dead. More torpedoes sickening fumes steeper list no lights. Men began screaming in the dark. Someone shouted, "Abandon ship!" and the crowd stampeded to the compartment ladder. Brown figured he would have no chance in this clawing mob, felt his way to the next compartment forward, and found another ladder with questionable.
—
—
no one near
it
at
all.
any higher. Nothing
Now
he was on the second deck, but not allowed
left to
do,
no place
else to
brushed a bunch of dirty breakfast dishes
down
—
go
off a
—he and
a friend
mess table and
sat
to wait the end.
Down
in the plotting
below the water
line
—
room
—
the gunnery nerve center and well
conditions looked just as hopeless. Torpedoes
were slamming into the ship somewhere above. Through an overhead hatch Ensign Victor Delano could see that the third deck was starting
Heavy yellowish smoke began pouring down through the The list grew steeper; tracking board, plotting board, tables, chairs, cots, everything slid across the room and jumbled against the port bulkhead. In the internal communications room next door, circuit breakers were sparking and electrical units ran wild. The men to flood.
opening.
were pale but calm.
Soon
oily
water began pouring through the exhaust trunks of the
ventilation system.
Then more yellow smoke. Nothing
be done, so Delano led
damage
his
men forward
further could
to central station, the ship's
control center. Before closing the watertight door behind
him, he called back to
make
sure
no one was
—
oil-drenched electrician's mates showed up
left.
hurled through the hatch from the deck above. trician Charles T.
From nowhere six somehow been
they had
Then Warrant Elec-
Duvall called to please wait for him.
trouble and Delano stepped back into the plotting
He sounded
room
in
to lend a
Keep Throwing Things
"/ Can't
hand. But he slipped on some
oil
and
at
Them"
29
across the linoleum floor,
slid
men ended
bowling over Duvall in the process. The two
in a tangled
heap among the tables and chairs now packed against the "down" side of the
They
room.
on
couldn't get back
crawling didn't work
—
they
was everywhere. Even
their feet; the oil
still
got no traction. Finally they grabbed
row of knobs on the main battery switchboard, which ran all the way across the room. Painfully they pulled themselves uphill, hand over hand along the switchboard. By now it was almost like scaling a a
cliff.
In central station at lights
The
they found conditions almost as bad.
some
auxiliary
took hold. Outside the watertight door on the lower
side, the
dimmed, went
circuit
last,
water began to
and shooting
rise
out,
.
.
.
came on again
spouting through the cracks around the edges
hose through an
like a
for a while as
hear the pleas and cries of the
men
air-test
opening. Delano could
trapped on the other
side,
and he
Commander J. S. Harper, damage control officer, had to make: let the men drown, or open door and risk the ship as well as the people now in central station.
thought with awe of the decision Lieutenant the
the
The door stayed
closed.
Delano suggested
He was
answer. the ship
and
to
Harper that he and
For the moment Harper
useful topside.
his
men might be more
didn't even
have time to
desperately trying to keep in touch with the rest of
direct the counterflooding that
might save
it,
but
all
the
were dead.
circuits
The counterflooding was done anyhow. Lieutenant Claude V. Ricketts had once been damage control officer and liked to discuss with other young officers what should be done in just this kind of situation.
among
More
or less as skull practice, they had worked out a plan
themselves.
Now
to
work
the knobs
to starboard
and
and
own who knew how
Ricketts began counterflooding on his
hook, helped along by Boatswain's Mate Billingsley, valves.
settled into the
The West Virgina harbor
mud on
slowly swung back
an even
keel.
There was no time for counterflooding on the Oklahoma, lying ahead of the West Virginia and outboard of the Maryland. Lying directly across
from Southeast Loch, she got three torpedoes
right
away, then another two as she heeled to port. Curiously,
many
of the
men
weren't even aware of the torpedoes.
Seaman George Murphy only heard
the loud-speaker say something
about "air attack" and assumed the explosions were bombs. Along
End
Pearl Harbor to the
30 with*
hundreds of other
trooped
armor
down
in the
men who had no
to the third deck,
plate that covered the
Malay Barrier defense stations, he
air
now
where he would be protected by the
deck above. Seaman Stephen Young
never thought of torpedoes either, and he was even relieved when the
water surged into the port side of No. 4 turret powder handling room.
He assumed that someone was finally bomb damage to starboard.
counterflooding on that side to
offset
The water increased.
rose
Now
.
.
.
emergency
the
went out
lights
.
.
the
.
list
everything was breaking loose. Big 1000-pound shells
rumbled across the handling rooms, sweeping men before them. Eightfoot reels of steel towing cable rolled across the second deck, block-
The door of the drug room swung open, and Seaman Murphy watched hundreds of bottles cascade over a couple of seamen hurrying down a passageway. The boys slipped and rolled through the broken glass, jumped up, and ran on. ing the ladders topside.
On
men
the few remaining ladders,
main deck.
compartment,
just a
few steps from open
men would
exploded outside,
surge
down
another crowd that surged up. Soon
only
—one
still
trying.
to
He
move
stood off to
on the corridor
wall, the
machine shop on
way
third
out.
He and some
mates
deck amidships when the
reached 60 degrees. Someone spied an exhaust ventilator leading the
way
to the deck,
reached fresh inside,
air,
an
in
his footing.
L. L. Curry had a better
in the
Every time something
was impossible
foot on deck, the other
way he could now keep
Yeoman were
it
air.
to S Division
the ladder, meeting head-on
Seaman Murphy gave up even
either direction.
the one side
battled grimly to get to the
was a regular log jam on the ladder
It
list
all
and one by one the men crawled up. As they officer
ran over and tried to shoo them back
where they would be safe from bomb
splinters.
That was the
big danger, he explained: a battleship couldn't turn over.
Several
hundred yards aheard of the Oklahoma
alone at the southern end of Battleship
her
first
from
torpedo
at 8:05.
Yeoman
his station in the flag
porthole shut as
it
Row
Durrell
—
— and
moored
the California caught
Conner watched it come office. He slammed the
communications
struck the ship directly beneath him.
Another crashed home farther
aft.
There might
as well
have been
—
more the California was wide open. She was due for inspection Monday, and the covers had been taken off six of the manholes leading to her double bottom. A dozen more of these covers had been loosened. The water poured in and surged freely through the ship. It
swept into the ruptured fuel tanks, contaminating the
oil,
knock-
Keep Throwing Things
"I Can't ing out the
power plant
compressor
station,
right away. It swirled into the
come with them. He and give them
stay here
The other men
air as
room
men
forward
air
meant
is
my
station
—
I'll
long as the guns are going." They
him have
let
With the power gone, men desperately chain of
31
cleared out, calling
yelled back, "This
closed the watertight door and
tasks that were
Them"
where Machinist's Mate Robert Scott was trying
to feed air to the five-inch guns.
Scott to
at
his
way.
tired to
do by hand the
Yeoman Conner
for machines.
joined a long
passing powder and shells up from an ammunition
fumes from the ruptured fuel tanks made
far below. Stifling
work harder, and word spread that the ship was under gas attack. At the wounded collecting station in the crew's reception room Pharmacist's Mate William Lynch smashed open lockers in a vain search for morphine. Near the communications office a man their
Numb
knelt in prayer under a ladder.
men
around him,
to the chaos
"Now
another absently sat at a desk typing,
the time for
is
all
good
." .
.
Around
nobody noticed the
the harbor
From
eyes were glued on the Oklahoma. land, Chief Albert Molter
"slowly and stately ... as
California's troubles his
watched her gradually if
—
leaving her bottom-up
On
had passed
roll
over on her
all
Is-
side,
she were tired and wanted to rest." She
kept rolling until her mast and superstructure
eight minutes
—
bungalow on Ford
jammed
a huge dead whale lying in since the
first
torpedo
mud, the water. Only in the
hit.
Mate Harold North recalled how everyone had cursed on Friday when the Oklahoma tied up alongside, shutting off what air there was at night. Inside the Oklahoma men were giving it one more try. Storekeeper Terry Armstrong found himself alone in a small compartment on the second deck. As it slowly filled with water, he dived down, groped for the porthole, squirmed through to safety. Seaman Malcolm McCleary escaped through a washroom porthole the same way. Nearby, Lieuthe
Maryland
Electrician's
tenant (j.g.) Aloysius Schmitt, the Catholic chaplain, started out too.
But a breviary into the
in his hip
pocket caught on the coaming. As he backed
compartment again
to take
it
out, several
men
started for-
ward. Chaplain Schmitt had no more time to spend on himself.
pushed
three, possibly four, of the others
He
through before the water
closed over the compartment.
Some men
weren't even close to
alive nevertheless.
life
as they
They found themselves
to orient themselves to
knew
it,
but were
still
gasping, swimming, trying
an upside-down world
in the air
pockets that
End
32
Pearl Harbor to the
formed
as the ship rolled over. Seventeen-year-old
Malay Barrier
in the
Seaman Willard
Beal fought back the water that poured into the steering engine room.
Seaman George Murphy splashed about ship's dispensary
ceiling
.
.
.
.
the operating
never dreaming he was looking up at the
.
Topside, the
men had
it
easier.
As
tile
the ship slowly turned turtle,
ending up on the bottom.
roll, finally
of the
floor.
most of the men simply climbed over the starboard with the
room
wondering.. 'what part of the ship had a
.
and walked
side
When and how
they got
was pretty much a matter of personal choice. Some started swinghand over hand along the lines that tied the ship to the Maryland, but as she rolled, these snapped, and the men were pitched into the water between the two ships. Seaman Tom Armstrong dived off on off
ing
this side
—
watch stopped
his
from the outboard
at 8:10.
Tom's brother Pat jumped
Ma-
water after squeezing through the porthole on the second deck.
Gunnery Sergeant Leo Wears slid down a drowned when someone used him as a stepladder rine
launch. His friend Sergeant side of the ship to the it
Norman
slid
As Ingram a
bomb went
down
the
bottom of the
down
He
bomb
the forecastle,
her stack, but later examination showed
set off the
more
a
stalled
the
fire
than a "bang"
—but
—most
of the
men
the concussion
was
motor of Aviation Ordnanceman Harand
pickup truck as he drove along Ford Island.
Molter against the pipe banister of everyone
crashed through
and smoke mushroomed 500
There wasn't so much noise
"whoom"
seems more
intact. It
turret,
forward magazines.
In any case, a huge ball of into the air.
still
landed alongside the second
and
stripped to his
ship.
even the wire screen across the funnel top likely the
flat
into
Ingram climbed onto the
Bill
Arizona blew up. Afterward men said
hit the water, the
right
to climb into a
Currier coolly walked along the
high side just as the yardarm touched the water.
and
and almost
line
bow, hailed a passing boat, and stepped
without getting a foot wet. Ensign
shorts
off
Their third brother Terry was already in the
side.
his
It
say
was
terrific. It
Quisdorfs
hurled Chief Albert
basement
stairs.
It
on Fireman Stanley H. Rabe's water barge.
men
feet
it
knocked It
blew
Nevada Vance Fowler Commander Cassin Young off the Vestal Ensign off the West Virginia. Far above, Commander Fuchida's bomber trembled like a leaf. On the fleet landing at Merry's Point a Navy captain wrung his hands and sobbed that it just couldn't be true.
Gunner Carey Garnett and dozens
of other .
On
the Arizona, hundreds of
men were
.
cut
off the
.
.
.
.
down
ing flash. Inside the port anti-aircraft director
one
in a single, searfire
control
man
Keep Throwing Things
"/ Can't
simply vanished
—
Them"
at
was through
the only place he could have gone
narrow range-finder
On
slot.
33 the
Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd
the bridge
and Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh were instantly
killed.
On
the
second deck the entire ship's band was wiped out.
Over 1000 men were gone. Incredibly,
some
lived.
still
Major Alan Shapley
of the
Marine
detachment was blown out of the foremast and well clear of the
Though
partly paralyzed, he
swam
to
Ford
ship.
Island, detouring to help
two shipmates along the way. Radioman Glenn Lane was blown
off i
the quarter-deck
He
looked back
and found himself swimming
felt
skinned
his
where conditions were a around the guns there
and crammed
the third deck aft
and the No. 4
He and
thick smoke.
On
there.
alive,
mates
little
too.
finally
life.
room was
filling
moved over to No.
finally
better, but
The deck was
with
3 turret,
soon smoke began coming
in
stripped to their skivvie drawers
around the guns to keep the smoke
ordered them out, Forbis took
off his
shined shoes and carefully carried them in his hands as he turret.
oil.
Coxswain James Forbis
turret handling
The men
their clothes
When somebody
water thick with
Arizona and couldn't see a sign of
at the
But men were
in
blazing hot and covered with
oil.
out.
newly
left
the
But there was
a dry spot father aft near No. 4 turret, and before rejoining the fight,
Forbis carefully placed his shoes there. heels against the turret
—
just as
He
lined
them neatly with
the
though he planned to wear them up
Hotel Street again that night. In the portside anti-aircraft director, Russell Lott in a blanket
wrapped himself
and stumbled out the twisted door. The blanket kept him
from getting scorched, but the deck was so hot he had
to
keep hop-
ping from one foot to the other. Five shipmates staggered up through the smoke, so he stretched the blanket as a sort of shield for
Then he saw
the Vestal
still
alongside.
decks a shambles, but he found someone
men inched particular moment
one by one,
At
that
Vestal.
The
all six
blast
over to the
them
all.
left
her
The who
tossed over a line, and,
little
repair ship.
explosion had
they were lucky to find anyone on the
had blown some of the crew overboard, including
skipper Cassin Young, and the executive officer told the rest to aban-
Seaman Thomas Garzione climbed down a line over the came to the end of it, and found himself standing on the anchor. He just froze there he was a nonswimmer and too scared to jump the rest of the way. Finally he worked up enough nerve, made
don
ship.
forecastle,
—
the sign of the cross, and plunged
down
holding his nose. For a
Pearl Harbor to the
34
End
in the
nonswimmer, he made remarkable time
Malay Barrier
to a
whale boat
drifting in the
debris.
Signalman Adolph Zlabis dived
He and
hovering nearby.
off the bridge
and reached a launch
a few .others yelled encouragement to a
sailor who had climbed out on the Vestal's boat boom and now dangled from a rope ladder five feet above the water. Finally the man let go, landed flat in the water with a resounding whack. The men in the launch couldn't help laughing. Still on board the Vestal, Radioman John Murphy watched a long line of men pass his radio room, on their way to abandon ship. One of the other radiomen saw his brother go by. He cried, "I'm going with him," and ran out the door. For no particular reason Murphy
young
decided to stay, but he began feeling that he would like to get back
home
just once more before he passed on. At this point Commander Young climbed back on his swim in the harbor. He was by no means ready to
the Vestal call
stood sopping wet at the top of the gangway, shouting
swimmers and up
the
men
"Come
in the boats,
it
from
He
a day.
down
to the
back! We're not giving
this ship yet!"
Most hacked
tably, there yelled,
Young gave
of the crew returned and at the
orders to cast
off.
was confusion. One
"Don't cut those
officer
lines."
on the Arizona's quarter-deck
Others on the battleship pitched
and helped. Aviation Mechanic "Turkey" Graham slashed the
in
last
with an ax, shouting ,"Get away from here while you can!"
line
Other help came from an unexpected source. by,
Men
hawsers tying the Vestal to the blazing Arizona. Inevi-
whose skipper and
the Vestal.
They
and towed
their old ship off
safely
sit
When
A
Navy tug happened in many years on
had both put
chief engineer
loyally eased alongside, took a line
from the bow,
toward Aiea landing, where she could
out the rest of the attack. the Arizona blew up, Chief Electrician's
Mate Harold North
on the Maryland thought the end of the world had come. Actually he
was lucky. Moored inboard of the Oklahoma, the Maryland was from torpedoes and caught only two bombs. One was armor-piercing shell
bow, smashing
fitted
with
man
his extinguisher
an old petty
officer,
it
slanted
down
below the water
awnings on
fire.
When
a
15-inch
just off the port line.
The other
a strafer swept
One down a hatch, where it exploded at the who grabbed for a mask, shouting "Gas!"
George Haitle watched the
threw
feet of
—
into her hull 17 feet
hit the forecastle, setting the
by, Chief
fins
safe
firefighters scoot for shelter.
"/ Can't
Keep Throwing Things
at
Them"
35
The Tennessee, the other inboard battleship, had more trouble. Seaman J. P. Burkholder looked out a porthole on the bridge just as one of the converted 16-inch shells crashed down on No. 2 turret a few feet forward. The porthole cover tore loose, clobbered him on the head, and sent him scurrying through the door. Outside he helped a wounded ensign, but couldn't help one of his closest friends, who was wanted Burkholder to shoot him.
so far gone he only
Another armor-piercing bomb burst through No.
Bowen, stationed there
aft.
Seaman
just
dogging the hatch when the
at
S. F.
Just a ball of
all.
bomb
about the
fire,
as a
hit. It
3 turret farther
powder carman, was
wasn't a shattering crash
size of a basketball,
overhead and seemed to melt down on everyone.
It
appeared
seemed
to run
down on his skin and there was no way to stop it. As he crawled down to the deck below, he noticed that his shoe strings were still on fire.
Splinters flew in
all
directions
One hunk ripped the bridge down Captain Mervyn Bennion
from the bombs that of the
see.
He slumped
fense.
across the
hit the
Tennes-
West Virginia alongside, cut
as he tried to direct his ship's de-
sill
of the signal bridge door
starboard side of the machine-gun platform. Soon after he
Delano arrived on the bridge, having
finally
fell,
on the Ensign
been sent up from central
As Delano stepped out onto the platform, Lieutenant (j.g.) H. White rushed by, told him about the captain, and asked him to
station.
F.
do what he could. Delano saw
right
away
it
was hopeless. Captain Bennion had been
took no medical training to know the wound was fatal. Yet he was perfectly conscious, and at least he might be made more comfortable. Delano opened a first-aid kit and looked for some morphine. No luck. Then he found a can of ether and tried to make the captain pass out. He sat down beside the dying man, holding his head in one hand and the ether in the other. It made in the
hit
the
stomach, and
captain
it
drowsy but never unconscious.
moved
the captain's legs to
so
he could do.
little
As
more comfortable
Occasionally
Delano
positions, but there
was
they sat there together, Captain Bennion prodded him with
He asked how the battle was going, what the West Virginia was doing, whether the ship and the men were badly hit. Delano did
questions.
his best to answer, resorting every
now and
then to a gentle white
Yes, he assured the captain, the ship's guns were
Lieutenant Rickets
lie.
still firing.
now turned up and proved
a pillar of strength.
—
Pearl Harbor to the
36 Other
men
arrived too
Jacoby from the
in the
Malay Barrier
— Chief Pharmacist's Mate room 7
flag radio
Johnson from the
End
On
forecastle.
.
.
way
his
Leah
.
.
Ensign
.
Commander Doir
Lieutenant
up, Johnson ran across big
Doris Miller, thought the powerful mess steward might come in
handy, brought him along to the bridge. Together they tenderly
lifted
Captain Bennion and carried him to a sheltered spot behind the
He was still quite conscious and well aware of the He kept telling the men to leave him and save
conning tower.
flames creeping closer. themselves.
In her house at Makalapa, Mrs. Mayfield
had happened. She walked numbly
to a
miral Kimmel's house across the street.
and there was no sign of
closed,
ing It
.
.
.
activity.
would be some
surely there
couldn't grasp what
still
window and looked at AdThe Venetian blinds were
Somehow
sign of
was reassur-
this
was
life if it
really true.
morning when the ad-
didn't occur to her that this might be one
miral had no time for Venetian blinds.
By now Captain Mayfield was lows of coffee, slopping most of carport.
He
roared off as the
in the saucer,
CINCPAC
the admiral's house across the street.
and jumped
steps
in,
He
in his uniform. it
knotting his
tie
took a few swal-
and dashed for the
officer car
screeched up to
Admiral Kimmel ran down the
on the way. Captain Freeland
Daubin, commanding a squadron of submarines, leaped on the run-
moved
ning board as the car shot
down
the
hill
and Captain Earle's
Kimmel was
In five minutes Admiral in the
off,
station
wagon
after them. at
CINCPA
Headquarters
Com-
sub base. The admiral thought he was there by 8:05;
mander Murphy thought
it
was more
a very few minutes of his arrival, the
backbone of
his fleet
was gone
Arizona, Oklahoma, and West Virginia sunk
or immobile fornia sinking
like 8:10. In either case, within
.
.
.
Maryland and Tennessee bottled up by
battleships alongside
.
.
.
.
the
.
.
Cali-
wrecked
Pennsylvania squatting in drydock. Only the
Nevada was left, and she seemed a forlorn hope with one torpedo and two bombs already in her. Nor was the picture much brighter elsewhere. On the other side of Ford Island the
target ship
Utah took a heavy
engineering officer, Lieutenant
Commander
S.
list
to port as her
S. Isquith,
pulled his
khakis over his pajamas. The alarm bell clanged a few strokes and stopped; the
men
trooped below to take shelter from bombing.
Isquith sensed the ship couldn't
deck order
all
last,
hands topside instead.
and he had the
officer of the
Keep Throwing Things
"/ Can't
The men were amazingly cool being "bombed" by the
the
slid
When
every day.
up toward
rail
the starboard side
As he did it a third time, he slid by another seaman who he throw away the cigarettes. To Gilmartin's amazement he
back.
suggested
had been trying
to climb
up the
slanting deck while holding a cartoon
made
of cigarettes in one hand. Relieved of his handicap, he
starboard
As
to
Machinist's
main deck, he found the port
already under water. Twice he crawled
and
37
—perhaps because they were used
Army and Navy
Mate David Gilmartin reached
Them"
at
the
the
rail easily.
increased, the big six-by-twelve-inch timbers that cov-
list
ered the Utah's decks began breaking loose. These timbers were used to
cushion the decks against practice bombing and undoubtedly
helped fool the Japanese into thinking the ship was a carrier unexpectedly in port.
on the men
As
Now
down
they played another lethal role, sliding
trying to climb up.
she rolled
still
further,
Commander
below to find anyone who might
He managed
trapped himself.
still
Isquith
made
be trapped
a last check
— and
almost got
to reach the captain's cabin
where a
door led to the forecastle deck. The timbers had jammed the door; so he stumbled into the captain's bedroom where he knew there was a porthole.
reach
it
It
was now almost
directly overhead, but he
through the porthole, the bed broke loose and him.
He
managed
by climbing on the captain's bed. As he popped
fell
slid
out from under
back, but the radio officer, Lieutenant
Commander
Winser, grabbed his hand just in time and pulled him through. Isquith got to his feet, he slipped and
to
head
his
bumped down
L.
As
the side of the
ship into the water. Half dead with exhaustion, harassed by strafers,
he was helped by his crew to Ford Island. Others never
left
the ship
—Fireman John Vaessen
in the
dynamo
room, who kept the power up to the end; Chief Watertender Peter
Tomich
in the boiler
room, who stayed behind to make sure
his
got out; Lieutenant (j.g.) John Black, the assistant engineer,
jammed
his foot in his cabin door;
men who
Mess Attendant Smith, who was
always so afraid of the water.
Of
the other ships
Detroit were
still
Water swirled
on
keep her
Ford
Island, the Tangier
and
untouched, but the Raleigh sagged heavily to port.
into
No.
1
room, contaminated the gle to
this side of
afloat,
and 2 firerooms, flooded the forward engine
fuel oil,
knocked out her power. In the
no one even had time to
dress.
strug-
As though
went around that way every day, Captain Simons sported
they
his blue
—
End
Pearl Harbor to the
38 pajtfmas in red
aloha
.
.
.
Malay Barrier
in the
Ensign John Beardall worked the port antiaircraft guns
pajamas
.
.
others toiled in a weird assortment of skivvies,
.
and bathing trunks. Somehow they didn't seem even Signalman Jack FoeppeL ;watched Captain Simons in the
shirts,
odd: as
admiral's wing on the bridge, he only marveled that any
man
could be
so calm.
Ford
Island,
where
all
these ships were moored, was
itself in
chaos.
now working the place over, and most of the make themselves as small as possible. Storekeeper Jack Rogovsky crouched under a mess hall table nibbling raisins. The men in the air photo laboratory dived under the steel developing tables. Some of the flight crews plunged into an eight-foot ditch that
Japanese strafers were
men were
trying to
was being dug for gas
lines along the
edge of the runway. This
is
where Ordnanceman Quisdorf's unit was hiding when he and another airman arrived
in the
squadron truck. But they didn't know that
they thought they had been
behind
left
in a general retreat.
decided their only hope was to find a pair of channel, and hole
Nor was
there
up
swim
rifles,
They
the north
in the hills until liberation.
much room
for optimism in the
had
ships at the finger piers, the stern gunners
Navy Yard. On
the
a perfect shot at the
down Southeast Loch, but most of them had The San Francisco was being overhauled; all her
torpedo planes gliding little
to shoot with.
guns were
The
most of her large ammunition was on shore.
in the shops;
repair ship Rigel
was
in the
littered with scaffolding
anti-aircraft
The
little
and
same
fix.
was being
"limited availability" while radar
The
St.
Louis was on
installed; her topside
was
cable reels; three of her four five-inch
guns were dismantled.
Sacramento had
just
come out
of drydock, and in line
with drydock regulations most of her ammunition lockers had been
The Swan plugged away with her two three-inch guns, but a new gun earmarked for her top deck was still missing. A pharmacist's mate stood on the empty emplacement, cursing helplessly. The other emptied.
ships were having less trouble
On
all
these ships the
mates along Battleship Row.
and "big operator"
.
.
.
men had more
On
the
time for reflection than their
New
Orleans the ship's gambler
sat at his station, reading the
New
Testament.
(Later he canceled his debts and loans; threw away his dice.)
young engineer on the San Francisco
—
her boilers were dismantled
—appeared
John E. Parrott, "Thought
I'd
A
with nothing to do because
topside, wistfully told Ensign
come up and
die with you."
Machin-
"/ Can't
Keep Throwing Things
ist's
Mate Henry Johnson on
how
a rabbit felt
at
Them"
the Rigel remarked that
A
and he'd never hunt one again.
39
now he knew
few minutes
later
he lay mortally wounded on the deck. Their very helplessness turned
Commander Duncan Curry, bridge of the Ramapo firing
On
his face.
New
the
many
men from
of the
fear to fury.
an old Navy type, stood on the
strictly
a .45 pistol as the tears streamed
down
Orleans a veteran master at arms fired away
with another .45, daring them to
come back and
fight.
A
man
stood
near the sub base, banging away with a double-barreled shotgun.
A
young Marine on 1010 dock used
his rifle
Japanese-American boy about seven years old
The
butt of his old cigarette
noticed
As he
it.
fired
was burning
on the planes, while lit
his lips,
but he never even
away, he remarked aloud, "If
my
mother could
me now."
see
Ten-ten dock
itself
was a mess,
Helena and Oglala alongside. In the
with debris from the
littered
after engine
room
of the torpe-
doed Helena, Chief Machinist's Mate Paul Weisenberger fought check the water that poured hit
a
a cigarette for him.
had
to
through the ship's drain system. The
aft
also set off the ship's gas alarm;
its
steady blast added to the
uproar. Marine Second Lieuenant Bernard Kelly struggled to get
ammunition scientious
it was a damage or with con-
to the guns. In keeping a steady supply flowing,
tossup whether he had
damage
more
trouble with the
control men,
who
kept shutting the doors.
Topside was a shambles. The Helena's forecastle, which had been rigged for church, looked as
if
a cyclone had passed.
The
Oglala, to
starboard, listed heavily; her signal flags dropped over the Helena's
Row
bridge. Across the channel, Battleship
was a mass of flames and
smoke. Above the whole scene, a beautiful rainbow arched over Ford Island.
Just below
Downes
sat
destroyer
1010 dock, the Pennsylvania and 'destroyers Cassin and
Shaw
in the floating
yards to the west.
Lieutenant
Aboard
—or
there,
in
the Pennsylvania the
Commander James
checked here and
blow came
Drydock No. 1. Likewise the drydock, which was a few hundred
ominously unmolested
Craig,
the
men
ship's
waited tensely. first
lieutenant,
making sure they would be ready when the
at least as
ready as a ship out of water could be.
He
Mate Robert Jones and his damage control party to down on the deck. He warned them that their work was cut
told Boatswain's lie
face
out, It
and
to be prepared for the worst
.
.
.
was much the same on the ships anchored
in the harbor.
Radio-
End
Pearl Harbor to the
40
man Leonard
Malay Barrier
in the
Stagich sat by his set on the destroyer
on a
writing prayers
little
pad. In the transmitter
room
Montgomery of the aircraft
Radioman James Raines sat with three other men booming ^outside. No orders, so they just
tender Curtiss,
the steady
listening to
With the doors and portholes dogged down and the ventilaoff, it grew hotter and hotter. They removed their shirts and took
waited. tors
turns wearing the heavy headphones.
Still
no
They kept mov-
orders.
ing about the room, squatting in different places, always wondering
what was going on
From
outside.
time to time the
squawked meaningless commands to others on made them wonder more. Still no orders. But the most exasperating thing there. It
anchor was
to those at
move
took time to build up enough steam to
two hours for a larger
destroyer,
system
just sitting
— an hour
for a
Meanwhile, they could only
ship.
guns manually, dodge the
fire their
PA
the ship, which only
and watch (to use
strafers,
their
favorite phrase) "all hell break loose."
The
destroyer
Monaghan had
ready-duty destroyer, her
a slight edge
were already
fires
had been getting up steam since 7:50
Commander At
at a
moment
the
others.
time like
the
lit;
and then of course she and contact the Ward.
seemed
this, that
the destroyer
As
to go out
Burford would be able to take her out
Bill
minutes now, but
on the
Helm was
still
in
a
few
forever.
the only ship under
way. Twenty minutes had passed since Quartermaster Frank Handler genially first .
.
.
waved
explosion
low up the channel. After the
at that aviator flying
Commander
Carroll quickly sounded general quarters
swung her around from West Loch
sortie signal
.
.
.
and was now ready
Handler, he said, "Take her out.
I'll
.
.
.
caught Admiral Furlong's
to get
up and
go.
Turning
to
direct the battery."
Handler had never taken the ship out alone. The channel was tricky
— speed
limit
14 knots
most experienced hands.
up
to step her
repeated
it.
to
The
He
—and
the job
was always
400 rpm. The engine room queried ship leaped forward and raced
27 knots. To complicate
left
to the
took the wheel and rang the engine room the order and he
down
the channel at
natters, there wasn't a single
compass on
board; everything had to be done by seaman eye. But Handler had
one break
in his
Helm rushed
favor
—
the torpedo net
was
still
wide open. So the
on, proudly guided by a novice without a
compass
breaking every speed law in the book.
By stride
this
time Handler was
when
at
game
for anything; so he took
it
in his
8:17 he came face to face with a Japanese midget sub.
Keep Throwing Things
"/ Can't
He saw
it
Helm
as the
at
Them"
burst out of the harbor entrance
periscope, then the conning tower.
It
—
1000 yards
lay about
41 first
the
off the
down on the coral near the buoys. The Helm guns roared, but somehow they never could hit the sub. Finally it slid off the coral and disappeared. The Helm flashed the starboard bow, bouncing up and
news
to headquarters:
"Small Jap sub trying to penetrate channel."
up
Signal flags fluttered the
fleet.
From
all
over Pearl Harbor, telling the ships of
West
the bridge of the burning
Delano read the warning and sighed
to himself,
Virginia,
Ensign
my God
"Oh,
—
that
too!"
-^-•^-^--^^•^-^--
SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE STRIKE ON HAWAII, JAPAN Guam, Wake, Hong Kong,
attacked the Philippines, ing as far east as
Kota Bharu
Malaya
in British
Thailand, rang-
in a perimeter of
seemingly half the world; and in that area her naval might was bolstered by convoys in which tens of thousands of battle-hardened vet-
erans of the China campaigns longed to storm ashore and assert the
Emperor's
"Co-Prosperity Sphere."
will for a greater
of these troops
vanced bases
was
Guam
one of our
in the Marianas,
in the Pacific,
One
objective
tiniest ad-
which had been principally used by the
United States Navy for forty-two years as a communications center.
The
officers, five
was composed of 30 naval
officers,
seven
naval nurses, six warrant officers and 246
mem-
entire island garrison
Marine
bers of the Insular police
—
a less than minuscule force
which was
promptly overwhelmed in a few hours.
Next on the enemy's timetable for conquest came Wake Strategically important to
Roi and Namur Islands
Japan because
in the Marshalls,
weapon against them, the capture taken December 8 with a preinvasion air as a
Fleet.
While
this raid
killed several civilians,
for a fight.
The
of three light
it
destroyed it
many
did nothing to
and
of
Island.
was only 620 miles from as such could be used
Wake
strike
Island was under-
by the enemy's Fourth
of the island's facilities
dampen
and
the garrison's ardor
was followed up three nights later by the arrival cruisers and several destroyer transports, lifting 450 raid
and a small number of regular garrison However, accurate Marine gunfire drove off the flagship, light
special naval landing troops
troops.
cruiser Yubari. Closing to within
sustained
hits.
Other Marine
6000 yards
batteries,
of the beach, she twice
meanwhile, worked on the
—
Pearl Harbor to the
42
End
in the
Malay Barrier
destroyer transports with similar results, and the Japanese deferred
The Marine commander, Major Devereux, and
their landings.
opposite number,
Commander Cunningham, were
his
elated.
In Pearl Harbor at this time, a' "Wake Island relief expedition was formed under the command of Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher
some
cruisers
and destroyers screening the
aircraft carrier Saratoga.
These departed December 16 and promptly ran into heavy weather; moreover, Fletcher's destroyers were badly in need of
hour period only three of
his tin cans
had
fueled,
fuel; in a ten-
and heavy seas
had parted several fueling hoses. Whatever the reason, Fletcher decided to abandon the expedition.
Wake fighter
was
Island
left
to fend
On December
and four heavy
from Kwajelein all
with a superb Marine
now
repaired,
Rear Ad-
came with two other
cruisers, plus destroyers, for gunfire support. In
enemy was sending over
the interim, the
had
itself
23, the Japanese returned, and in force.
miral Kajioka aboard the flagship, light
for
squadron and a handful of guns.
in the
devastating
Marshalls, and the attrition in
bomber
strikes
men and
planes
but exhausted Wake's capacity to fight on.
By 2:34
a.m.,
December
23, Kajioka was ready. His force effected
four simultaneous landings with
swarmed ashore and fanned
more than 1000
troops.
The enemy
out.
Within the hour Japanese troops had captured the hospital and the remains of the a con:erted
airfield;
then an air attack began which coincided with
bombardment by
The key events Cunningham and
the naval units.
of the island's capture are told by Winfield Scott his collaborator,
Lydel Sims.
Many
of the notes
which served to refresh Cunningham's memory were jotted down later,
while in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.
REAR ADM. W. SCOTT CUNNINGHAM
WITH LYDEL SIMS
4-
WAKE
ISLAND SURRENDERS
The invaders grounded two of
Wake and
destroyer transports off the south shore
sent troops ashore
the beach at Wilkes. just east of the
Two
from both.
Two
other landing craft put
barges unloaded onto
men
ashore on
Wake
channel entrance. Other troops, as best can be de-
termined, landed on Wake's inner shore from rubber boats that entered the shallow lagoon from the northwest.
As fell
these landings began, the bulk of the active defense on
to mobile forces
comprised of Marines,
major portion of the defense
battalion's strength
the three-inch and five-inch guns.
toward the
airstrip
sailors
and
was immobilized
Each end airstrip's
The area from Camp One eastward
fifteen sailors,
and a considerable number of
Mate
civilians.
was guarded by machine-gun crews. Near the western end, Lieutenant Kliewer of the fighter squadron of the airstrip
took a stand with three others at the generator which was wired to off the
at
was defended by Lieutenant Poindexter and the
defense battalion's mobile reserve, augmented by Boatswain's
Barnes and
Wake
civilians, for a
mines along the
of the airstrip
strip.
The
set
three-inch gun on the beach south
was manned by Lieutenant Hanna and another Marine
civilians. A defensive line was formed around the gun by Major Putnam, other surviving members of the fighter squadron, and
and three
a dozen civilians.
These were the hot spots on
Wake
as the fighting began.
43
End
Pearl Harbor to the
44^
Hanna and
crew
his
Malay Barrier
in the
gun poured
at the three-inch
rounds
fifteen
one of the destroyer transports within minutes after
into
grounded, and then began
was
it
but the invasion troops
firing at ttje other,
were already swarming ashore. As they advanced on the gun position, Putnam's
defense line fought back, giving ground stubbornly
little
until at last
formed
it
around the gun. Some Japa-
virtually a circle
nese remained to contest the position while others proceeded past the
pocket and into the brush.
At Camp One, landing
approaching the channel were
craft
When
on by machine guns.
fired
they grounded on the reef offshore,
Poindexter, Barnes and others began throwing hand grenades. Barnes
scored one direct
hit just as the
troops began to disembark, but
One defenders grouped and fought Devereux had done it
was
landing, telephone
ing
A
back.
And
after the first
lost with
the defensive line under
Peacock Point.
to
hour
half an
communication had been
Hanna and
Lieutenant
was
maintain contact with his units, but
becoming impossible. Within
fast
Battery
his best to
it
Camp
not enough to stop them. They began to pour ashore as the
Camp
One,
Major Putnam, and
from Wilkes were becom-
reports
more and more fragmentary. We knew only that a considerable had landed there and was being resisted. Later, contact was lost
force
altogether.
From
Peale,
where no landings had been made,
the only area
Lieutenant Kessler reported by telephone that he could use one of his five-inch guns
on a destroyer
off
Wake.
I
him
told
authorized Captain Godbold to send some of his the fighting.
It
there too, but
could have been a mistake
we had
a real crisis
a possible one on Peale.
on
to
go ahead.
men down
I
also
to join
if
troops were about to land
Wake
that took precedence over
Accordingly, a truckload of
men under
Corporal Leon Graves came roaring down the north-south road and
were directed to go
in
confusion they never
up
sive line set
at
support of Major Putnam's group. But
made
it;
eventually they
Major Devereux's command
wound up
in a defen-
post.
In the midst of everything else, a ludicrous problem arose for deal with. as a lord
A
civilian
from
cook came boiling
that evil concoction
into
known
my command
It
post,
as "swipes" about
had been warned before the war began. He wanted tackle the Japs single-handed.
was quite
to
me
to
drunk
which
I
go out and
a while before
him quietly disposed of. Meanwhile the enemy was moving deeper
in the
we could
get
into the island
from
its
beachheads, and beginning to spread out through the brush. Lewis's
Wake
45
Island Surrenders
Battery E, inside the head of the wishbone, had been firing in answer
we were receiving from came under fire from invasion
to the steady shelling
the cruisers offshore;
now
troops.
his position
the point of the wishbone, motar
fire
began to
fall
And down
at
on the five-inch
gun positions of Lieutenant Barninger's Battery A.
At
the machine-gun setup on the eastern end of the airstrip, Cor-
poral Winford
and three
J.
McAnally was
civilians.
An
command
in
of a force of six Marines
hour before dawn he reported the enemy was
beginning to attack strongly up the north-south road that the invasion of our south shore
—
evidence either
had been successful or that the
Japs were landing at yet another spot.
By now
knew beyond doubt that the enemy had landed at three As yet no planes had arrived, but we could expect them by dawn. The offshore shelling continued without I
places and perhaps more.
letup.
Admiral Pye had asked me time to do
so.
At
Enemy on
keep him informed.
to
decided
I
it
was
messaged:
five o'clock I
island. Issue in
This message, interpreted as a
provoke great comment back
final
doubt.
gesture of defiance,
America when
in
it
was
appeared
to
in the
accounts of Wake's defense, but as a matter of fact no bravado was
At
intended.
the
moment
I
began
to write the dispatch, a phrase
read sixteen years before came into France's Revolt of the Angels.
upon
my
He was
mind.
It
I
had
was from Anatole
describing the assault
made
the heavenly ramparts by the legions of Satan. "For three days,"
he wrote, "the issue was
Why
doubt."
in
should have recalled those words at such a time
I
I
do not
know, but they seemed appropriate and even hopeful. In France's story, the victory
had gone
to the side of the angels.
knew we were outnumbered and outgunned, consider the prospect of defeat. the notion actually sank into
make
It
I
was
still
And
while
I
unable even to
would be more than an hour before
my mind
that
we might
not,
somehow,
out.
In one sector our forces were indeed making out, and would shortly
A
do
far better than that.
That was on Wilkes.
force of one hundred Japanese
defenders sailors
—Captain
and
civilians.
Piatt,
to
wipe out the
number
of
The enemy had captured Gunner McKinstry's
three-inch gun emplacements but their
had landed there
with seventy Marines and a
beachhead. Even as
I
sent
had been blocked from expanding
my
dispatch, Captain Piatt
was
reor-
ganizing his forces for a counterattack that, before seven o'clock,
46
Harbor
Pearl
would
was
It
at
killing at least
enemy, but
a substantial setback to the
dawn
Malay Barrier 94 and ending
to Wilkes.
until after the surrender.
one
in the
wipe out the invaders,
virtually
immediate threat
all
End
to the
Among
I
did not
the various reports
I
know
of
it
received was
that Wilkes had fallen.
This word came from observers on Peale, who were about a mile away from Wilkes across the lagoon. When daylight came they could
many places on Wilkes, and concluded had capitulated. As had no reason to question the
see Japanese flags displayed at that the islet
I
assumed
report, the
had to take into account But
Wilkes was one of the considerations
loss of
in sizing
Wesley
brilliantly as
up the
Piatt
I
situation.
had conducted
Wilkes was only a small fraction of the
his operation,
total defense,
still
and even the
truth about conditions there could not have altered the final outcome.
On
Wake, were concentrated most of the defenses and situation was steadily deteriorating. Each group of defenders was pinned down while the enemy enjoyed wide freedom of movement. As the build-up of enemy strength increased the pressure norththe big
islet,
and on Wake the
the defenders,
ward, chiefly against the machine-gun position held by Corporal
Mc-
Anally, Devereux ordered Major Potter to set up a final defensive line
command
south of his
And
as
dawn came,
But the unrelenting pressure continued.
post.
swarmed over
the carrier-based planes
us like
angry hornets.
Devereux and
I
had been
and each time he reported terms.
My own
word
picture even worse.
to
in regular
to
him
me
that
contact throughout the battle,
he described the situation
no
At 6:30, when
relief it
could be expected
appeared that
position not yet overwhelmed, he reported getting heavy
in
enemy
his
made
the
was the only
pressure there was
and gave the opinion that he would not be able
much longer. I knew the time had come
darker
to hold
out
to consider the question that only a
hours ago had been unthinkable. Accordingly, ion.
Would
and useless
I
be
up
loss of life?
to the
course, but
asked for his opin-
order to prevent further
justified in surrendering, in
Devereux evaded a solely
I
few
I
direct answer.
commanding
was not
He
officer.
I
said he felt the decision
was well aware of
was
that, of
willing to act without reviewing the situation as
fully as possible.
We
talked a while longer.
He
asked
if
I
knew
that Wilkes
had
Wake At
fallen. I said that I did. felt
last I
he could hold out no longer,
47
Island Surrenders
took a deep breath and told him I
if
he
authorized him to surrender.
hung up the phone and sent a final dispatch to the Commander in two destroyers grounded on the beach and the enemy fleet moving in. Then I had all codes, ciphers and secret orders deI
Chief, reporting
stroyed,
antenna.
and ordered the communicators to haul down our transmitter It would be too easy for the Japanese dive bombers to spot.
had no more messages to send. Devereux called me again about 7:30 and asked whether I had reached the Japanese commander by radio. I told him I had not He repeated his statement that he could not hold out much longer, and I repeated mine that he was authorized to surrender. He said he was
Besides, I
not sure of his ability to contact the enemy, and asked
promised to see what
But before
I
b
to
could do.
could do anything,
I
me
it
was
over.
all
Devereux
rig.g
and moved south down the road toward the enemy, giving our troops the cease-fire order as he reached them. I became aware that the surrender had begun when white
command
flag, left his
someone reported civilian hospital
I
post,
bed sheets could be seen
that
command post. men in my command
me
ished magazine, tossed
I
truck,
at the
my
I
post and could
talked out of the unfin-
.45 pistol into a nearby latrine, got into
and drove a
went, not south to the enemy, but north to the cottage
occupied in the early days of the defense.
damaged
but,
washed I got
my
It
face,
had been and
living in
put
on
a
debris. I took off the
night and
clean
had
I
was battered and badly
moving mechanically through the
dirty old khakis I
IN
above the
near Devereuxs
looked around
think of nothing to say. In a sort of daze
my
flying
brae
and
-
Then
uniform.
back into the truck, drove down the road, and surrendered.
THE PHILIPPINES
%S
AT PEARL HARBOR .AND WAKE.
first. To enemy ignored Ci:t Navj Yard upon the opening of and concentrated instead on General MacArtr Fai
the enemy's strategy was to destroy United States air power this
end, the
hostilities
m
i
same time marshalling his troop a multi-pronged amphibious invasion whose objective was the capture Faitfrrn .Air Force, while at the
of Manila.
On
the
first
s
day, a strong force of Japanese fighter planes
—
Pearl Harbor to the
48
End
in the
Malay Barrier
and medium bombers attacked Clark and the neighboring
Army
Forty seven American bombers and fighters were
fields.
against seven
enemy
planes.
At noon on December
air
as
lost
10, the Japanese
attacked again in the Manila area;' 'arid although a few P-35's and P40's roared off to engage them, the remnants of
Force were promptly overwhelmed. The Iba,
Nielson,
and Nichols
—were
airfields
Mac Arthur's
Air
north of Cavite
reduced to rubble, and almost
immediately afterwards, Cavite Navy Yard received the
full attention
of the Japanese squadrons.
The
story of this costly attack
lost in the
W.
Navy Yard
alone)
L. White. Uniquely,
fought in the
initial
it
is
is
(some 1500 Philippine
lives
were
recounted by the distinguished author,
told through the eyes of
Philippine battle.
The
first
to speak
PT men who is
Lieutenant
Robert B. Kelly; then Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
—
W.
WHITE
L.
THE PHILIPPINE EXPENDABLES
—
'The big alarm came at noon on December 10 we'd pulled up alongside a mine sweeper for water when word came that a large flight of Jap planes was headed toward the Manila area, coming from the direction of
We
Formosa.
water, and fifteen
—
I
away from the tender, out into open minutes later we saw them several formations pulled
—
counted about twenty-seven to twenty-nine planes in each
two-motor bombers
—
parade-ground formations, com-
lovely, tight,
ing over at about 25,000 feet. But,
thought,
I
when our
fighters get
up
there and start rumpling their hair, those formations won't look so pretty.
Only where were our
fighters?
and then we we felt the vibrations on our feet, even out there in the water, and we knew something was catching hell. But what? Manila? Maybe Nichols Field? Or even Cavite, our own base? We couldn't know." "I did," said Bulkeley laconically. "I was there, at Cavite. The
"The Japs passed on out
of sight over the mountains,
began hearing the rumble of bombs
—only
Admiral sent us a two-hour warning Formosa, and headed on down
in
first
that they
— from
were coming
our direction across Northern
Luzon.
"So we hauled our boats out into the bay. They kept beautiful formations, they
came
all right.
in at
The
first
big
V
and
fifty-four planes in
it,
and
about 20,000, with their fighters on up above to
49
Pearl Harbor to the
50 protect
End
Malay Barrier
in the
—
them from ours only ours didn't show! We couldn't figure it. swung over Manila and began to paste the harbor shipping.
First they
was a beautiful
remember the sun made rainbows on the waterspouts of their bombs'. They were from a hundred and fifty to two hundred feet high, and it made a mist screen so dense you could hardly tell what was happening to the ships. It turned out nothing much was they only hit a few. It
and
clear day,
I
—
V
"But then that big beautiful Cavite
—began
circling
'They were too high see the stuff
it
moved over
pivoted slowly and
like a flock of well-disciplined buzzards.
to see the
bomb bay
we could
doors open, but
drop slowly, picking up speed; only as we watched we
found we had troubles of our own. Because
bombers
five little dive
peeled off that formation, one by one, and started straight
down
for
us.
When
feet,
they leveled
off
and began unloading. Of course we gave our boats
full throttle
they were
and began
circling
down
and
to about fifteen
both to dodge the bombs and to get a
twisting,
Our gunners loved remember Chalker's face;
shot at them. Japs.
I
arkana
—
a shootin' Texas boy.
it
—
50's,
up
their first crack at the
He was
Houlihan,
mate from Tex-
pouring 50-caliber slugs up ice,
when we saw
off
down
who was
firing the
other pair of
a big splash. So
we know
wobbled down
just
the 35 boat got one.
all
at once,
into the drink with
Meanwhile the 31 boat
had shot down two more. After that the planes didn't bother the
MTB's. Guess the Jap
the
word around.
"It certainly surprised
torpedo boat could bring
pilots
back
I
at their
strafing
Formosa base passed
our navy too, which had never guessed a
down an
airplane. Later
message from Captain Ray, chief of
Dear Buck:
it
the plane wobble, and pretty soon she
the bay, weaving unsteadily, smoking, and
two or three miles away, she
at
but that long, straight,
was the same. They'd picked put one plane and were pouring
into the sky,
took
set.
was
it
he's a machinist's
them, cooler than a pail of cracked pointed jaw of his was
hundred
really think
your gang
latest report is that "three dive
over Mariveles Mountain by an
on
I
got a kidding
staff:
is
getting too tough.
The
bombers were seen being chased
MTB."
Don't you think
this is
carrying the war a bit too far?
"About
3
:
30 the Japs
left,
what had happened. They'd
so
we went on back
flattened
it
—
Here was the only American naval base
in to
Cavite to see
there isn't any other word.
in the
Orient beyond Pearl
—
The Philippine Expendables Harbor pounded
We
into bloody rubbish.
51
didn't have time then to
American planes could have been, because the
think about where our
we began loading
place was a shambles, and
wounded
in the
to take
Canacao hospital. The first boatload was all white Americans except one Negro from a merchant marine boat with a compound them
to
fracture
—
—
—
bone was
his shoulder
We
against his black skin.
whimper
did he
—
blood
and
it
looked brick-red
a very brave guy. There was half an inch of blood
on the landing platform feet, for
sticking out
put a tourniquet on him and never once
Canacao
at
—we could hardly keep on our — and aprons
as slippery as crude oil
is
the
of the
hospital attendants were so blood-spattered they looked like butchers.
"We went back big base
Only a piece
you could
of the
a
is
and offered
dock was
left,
see only jagged walls.
was directing the
He
to Cavite
tall
fire
man, a
more wounded. The
to carry
was one sheet of flame except
for the
ammunition depot.
and through the shimmering flames
Then we saw Admiral Rockwell but his head was
fine figure of a sailor,
—
day. In a dead voice he told us we'd better get out zine
was
liable to
—he
apparatus which was trying to save the depot.
go up any minute.
We
down
that the
that
maga-
him with us do what he could
offered to take
Mariveles, but he said no, his job was here, to
to to
save the magazines.
"So we picked up from the gutters and
we knew we would need
cans of food
streets a lot of
—they were from
the
bombed warehouses
stacked them in the boat, and set out."
"The weirdest thing
woman
—every
I
stitch
saw there," said Ensign Akers, "was a native
of clothing
blown
off
by a bomb, running
around screaming, completely berserk. But you could see she wasn't
wounded, and so everybody was too busy to catch her and calm her down. How she got there no one knew or even asked." "I
was back there a couple of days
New
York. "They were burying the dead
ing heads and arms and legs and putting crater
were out,"
later after the fires
said Ensign Cox, a goodlooking yellow-haired youngster
—which them
from upstate
consisted of collect-
into the nearest
bomb
it. The smell was terrible. The Filimuch stomach for the job, but it had to because of disease. To make them work,
and shoveling debris over
pino yard workers didn't have
be done and done quickly they all
filled
the Filipinos
the raid I'd left to
up with grain
was that the week before where
it
it
I'd
alcohol.
The weirdest
locked against a wall. Just for curiosity,
had been and there
thing of
bought a bike, and the night before
it
still
was
—
I
went over
beside the wall, which
—
End
Pearl Harbor to the
52
was only a jagged unlocked
I
it
and yet
ruin,
and
in the
rode
paint wasn't even scratched.
its
"over
all
Malay Barrier
the
watching
yard,
those
maybe dragging a trunk toward a crater, pulling it by its one remaining leg, or eWe rnaybe rolling a head along like over a putting green. The Japs must have killed at least a thousand. staggering Filipinos,
Mostly dock workers
'That raid gave Kelly, "but
it
—
they caught them right at dinner hour."
me my
first
big shock of the war," said Lieutenant
wasn't the damage they did.
From
couldn't see what was happening after the Jap
over the mountain.
I
my
got
—
way home Where was our
over us on their
shock the
I
had unloaded and flew
after they
same
over in Mariveles
bombers disappeared
beautiful tight formations
What could
—not
mean? Didn't we have about one hundred and fifty planes most of them fighters? Were our guys yellow? Or had somebody gone nuts and told them not to take off let the Japs get away with this? It made you sick to think a straggler.
air force?
it
—
—
about
it.
"From over towards smoke
"But in the
Cavite
we could now
see that huge
column of
rising into the sky as the Japs left the scene.
DeLong dropped in knew how bad off we were. He
wasn't until Lieutenant
it
41 boat that
I
base was a roaring blast furnace
—
said the Cavite
the yard littered with those
— and furthermore MTB's —engines and everything— had
gled and scorched bodies for the
at four o'clock
that
Machine shops completely gone. Not so much
man-
our spare parts
all
been blasted to
bits.
as a gasket left to see
us through this war, with the factory halfway around the world.
"Also he said Cavite radio had been
wave voice
stuff to talk
hit.
That
still
left
the short-
with Manila or Bataan or the Rock, but of
course this couldn't be secret from the Japs, so they would be depending on our six boats for courier duty to relay
"So ing
I
all
confidential stuff."
wasn't surprised," said Bulkeley, "when early the next morn-
I
got a hurry call to report to the Admiral in Manila.
boat cleared the mine
Manila
I
fields
As our 34
around Bataan, looking over toward
saw something very queer
—shipping
of
all
descriptions
was
pouring out of that Manila breakwater into the open harbor destroyers, all
mine sweepers, Yangtze River gunboats, tramp steamers,
going hell for breakfast.
And
then
about twenty-seven bombers. By then
we saw
planes in the
air,
I
saw them
I
were
a big formation of to learn that
they would be Japs, not ours.
another formation of twenty-nine, and "If they
—
was beginning
after shipping,
we
still
if
Then came
another of twenty-six.
shouldn't get too close to the other
53
The Philippine Expendables boats, so
I
changed course. They wheeled majestically around the
and each time they passed Manila a load would go
bay's perimeter,
down and presently huge columns of black and white smoke began rising we could even see some fires, although we were still whistling
—
eleven miles away. "
'Where
name
Christ's
our
in hell is
don't they do something?'
me was that these big Jap formations, was a parade maneuver, each time would sail over Corregidor! Didn't they know we had anti-
"But the thing that circling the
bay
like
impudently right aircraft
and
it
really got
it
guns?
"They knew
right,
all
For presently
didn't.
our crew kept asking me. 'Why in
air force?'
made me
from 5,000
to
all
but
knew something
turned out they
it
twenty of Corregidor's 3-inchers opened
one of their
sick to see that every
shells
were as safe as though they'd been home guns didn't have the range.
And
—
it
begin to
Commander Slocum
dawn on me
me
told
When we
said
we were
rarin' to go.
So he said
to stick
hours, and meanwhile to load the boats with forth,
because they were moving headquarters.
but right here on the water front
records,
and so
had escaped so
was too vulnerable
it
we ready?
around a couple of
files,
It
I
re-
was considering
the Admiral
sending our three boats on a raid off Lingayen, and were
We
found out
continued Bulkeley, "Kelly and
headed for Manila and docked about three o'clock. ported,
I
pilots
that the Rock's anti-aircraft
only then did
how completely impotent we were. "When the Japs cleared out,"
Later
in bed.
fire,
was bursting
10,000 feet below that Jap formation. Those
what the Japs apparently already knew
I
—
far,
sure to get
smacked. Through the open door we could see the Admiral conferring with his chief of staff
and half a dozen other high
wall was a chart of the waters off Luzon, and on
it
officers.
On
the
black pins which
represented Jap boats.
"But
my
just then," said Kelly,
arm, which was in a
see the fleet doctor.
sling,
"I
frowned, and said
The doctor took
talk tough. Said he couldn't
arm
"Commander Slocum looked down off the
I
should get over to
bandage and began
do anything, and that
at
I
was
to
to get that
to a hospital as fast as I could.
was dead
set
bring that up, so
I
on
that raid, but
said, 'Aye, aye,
I
decided
sir,'
it
wouldn't be tactful to
and skipped
it.
We
loaded the
boat with records, and then went back to headquarters, where
were told that the Jap convoy
off
we
Lingayen included eight transports
Pearl Harbor to the
54
End
in the
Malay Barrier
and at least two battleships but that we weren't going to be sent. They were saving us for 'bigger things.' " 'My God!' my junior officer said later, 'I didn't know they came .
.
.
any bigger! What do they think we
are?'
"Anyway the Admiral patted Bulkeley on the shoulder and said, 'We know you boys want to get in there and fight, but there's no sense sending you on suicidal missions
"So that was
that,
—
just now.'
and we went on out across the bay, to our
thatched village."*
DISASTER AFTER DISASTER FOLLOWED IN DECEMBER. On the 10th, the eve of the invasion of Singapore, the Allies were dealt a stunning blow
when one hundred land-based Japanese
the Royal Navy's battleship Prince of Wales
Repulse, causing heavy loss of
damage the
life.
Not only did
Allied morale in the Orient, but also
open sea
in
and the
it
aircraft
sank
battle cruiser
this feat grievously
was accomplished on
which capital ships had never before been successfully
attacked.
However, there was one small exception
to
the
long string of
catastrophes that month: Drayton, a Mahan-class destroyer of 1450 tons,
made
history
with the
first
verified
sinking of
a Japanese
in the war. Under the command of Lieutenant Commander Laurence A. Abercrombie, the "Blue Beetle" so named because of her bluish experimental color was on escort duty with a convoy to Palmyra on the afternoon of December 24 when Fate decreed a meeting with a full-sized submarine. Abercrombie received the Navy Cross, one of three he gathered during the war.
warship
—
—
Collaborator
Fletcher
Pratt,
author
warfare, was the military expert for the
*
Sisiman Bay, a
little
of
many books on
New York
cove east of Mariveles Harbor
Post.
naval
CAPTAIN
L. A.
ABERCROMBIE
AND FLETCHER PRATT
6.
SCRATCH ONE!
...
was only a four-ship convoy, a job
It
lot consisting of a
couple of
the old four-pipers converted to fast supply ships and an ex-surveying ship for Palmyra, with one of those
little
interisland steamers for
Christmas, carrying some army engineers and material for a landing strip.
We were all the
in the
first-class
and we had the only sound-gear
my
soundman.
He was money
escort they had,
convoy, which threw a good deal of a burden on Ferrell,
a kid, only nineteen, with a round, boyish face, owing
in quarter
and half-dollar
irresponsible. Not, as
bits to
you might
touches to beer ashore.
He
everyone aboard, completely
think, a lad
who made
these small
never drank anything, but he liked to have
a good time in a shooting gallery or on a roller coaster and forgot to
pay up when he got back to the time that
it
was and overstayed
happened and
ship, just as
he always forgot what
his liberty. I'd give
didn't feel any
had one of the keenest pair of ears
him
extra duty
compunction about I
it,
when
because he
ever saw growing out of a
human
head.
He was on convoy was
just a little south of the islands. It
had him there
when our good thing we
duty at 1440 on the day before Christmas,
too.
He came
was a
rushing out of his box to the bridge.
"Captain, do you see anything on the port bow, bearing 120 true?" he
demanded
excitedly.
55
—
End
Pearl Harbor to the
56 I
picked up
"Well,
sir,
my it
"Not a
binoculars.
must be
in the
Malay Barrier
thing."
a sub then, 'cause
I
have a good sound
contact." I turned to the officer of the *iec£, who happened to be Ensign Simmons, a former cadet from the Merchant Marine who was our sound officer. "Send all hands to battle stations." Dutch Kriner sent an emergency submarine-contact signal to the
convoy. They snapped smoke from their funnels and bore out sharp to starboard at their best speed,
which was about 10 knots for the
interisland steamer, as the sirens shrieked all over the ship.
we had still
to
Of course
have one of those incidents that showed how much we were
amateurs
manned and
in
war. Just as Bing Mitchell reported
ready,
all
stations
someone below got excited and pulled the sound-
gear switch. Ferrell's instrument went dead.
"Contact
lost!"
he shouted through the door.
"Just another big fish," said Mitchell, but before he had finished
saying
it
they got the switch closed again and Ferrell yelled.
"Contact regained, Zero-thirty true, range about 500 yards." This was close quarters. "She's inside our turning circle," said Bing.
"Full right rudder,"
ordered the helmsman; and to Ferrell, "Hold
I
your contact!"
Maybe
I
did the
wrong thing
—some
of those people
who
figure
on the maneuvering board told me afterward that I did but that sub was so close in on our left that we couldn't turn into its track, so I went around the other way, hoping to pick him up. It was things out
a marvel that
we made
it,
but with the help of Ferrell and some
wonderful work by the helmsman we did.
"Contact good,
sir,"
shouted Ferrell as
I
gave an order to steady
her on a course north; then, "Contact closing rapidly." It
was a sub,
merely because
it
all
was
right
—
a
fat,
happy sub, running submerged
daylight, heading for Pearl, probably expecting
little as to find American ships on the way. "Range 400 yards." Simmons had his stop watch out.
nothing so
"Stand by to attack with depth charges,"
ahead
I
ordered. "All engines
full."
"Contact
lost."
Simmons punched
"Stand by to drop!"
his stop watch.
I said.
"Now," said Simmons, bringing down the arm he had lifted. "Drop one!" I said, and as Shelly, the torpedo officer, repeated the chief torpedoman swung the lever. (We didn't have K-guns
it,
in
57
Scratch One! those days,
At
it
was
all
from the racks.) "Drop two! Drop three!"
makes you
that speed the shock of a depth charge
feel
though the whole world were being violently shaken from side to
and down
engine-room their
in the
from the whole ship
feet
go to
sleep.
A
shout went up
around the signal rack to look
as I leaned
as
side,
at
our
wake. In the center of the boiling water where our depth charges had
was welling to the surface with fragments of debris
fallen, oil
middle of I
it.
shouted for the rudder to be put hard
into the slick, dropping three
we swung out point where
more depth
and we charged back
left,
charges.
More
came up;
oil
the sound gear, ranged again, and Ferrell shouted that
he had picked her up,
we had
now
turned and headed southwestward from the
He was
hit her.
a
wonder
to
do
with
it
racket in the gear and well deserved the special letter of tion
in the
from the Admiral
Bing Mitchell
promotion
that he got along with his
said, "She'll
all
that
commendalater.
probably go deep, Captain. Better give
her a deep barrage."
The Commodore had rushed nose
lifted like a bird dog's to
through
it.
and some one
to
"Get a
wing of the bridge with me,
he was shouting. "Get
up a sample of that
often merely debris
He was
ran
a line
the only
and that what looked
like
As we swung toward up
an
oil slick
was
all
too
from the depth charges themselves. the slick for the third time, he lowered the rag
triumphantly from his nose, not noticing that
we were over
oil."
me
his
that frequent reports of depth-charging submarines
in before
towels, picked
we
catch the odor of the slick as
rag, get a rag,"
rag. We'll bring
remember
had come
to the
it
was one of
in the excitement. "Diesel, all right,"
his best
he said, and
the slick again with Ferrell shouting, "Lost sound con-
tact!"
Drop
one, drop two, drop three again, and
Before
we had completed
submarine!" feet of
it,
It
was, too; the
the turn
bow
I
of an
we came
enormous submarine,
pushing up through the water slowly
angle, dripping
oil,
the net cutter at the
and the diving planes
at
its
side
full left.
heard another shout: "Look, a
bow
at a steep
fully
50
70-degree
looking like a set of teeth
showing the characteristic Jap
shape.
"Commence
firing!" I yelled.
Nothing happened. Everybody simply stood there pop-eyed with a mouthful of teeth, looking at the monster as though it were a movie.
"Commence
firing!" I
shouted again, and then ran out into the
End
Peart Harbor to the
58
in the
Malay Barrier
yell at the top of my lungs to Dewey, the "For God's sake, why don't you commence firing?"
wing of the bridge to gunnery I
officer,
heard him
because
They went don't
yell in return to his talker
same moment
at the
hitting her the
sub
seemed
to
open up
row of holes along
right in, stitching a
know whether
but never heard what he said
the':50's
all
they had any real share in
it.
bow, but
that
Even
tilted majestically to the vertical,
at once. I
as they were
then
slid
back-
ward and down with gathering speed.
We
completed our turn, rushed past the spot, and
dropped four more charges into spreading and spreading
from beneath than our
came
it
own depth
till it
it.
just for
covered a
circle a mile in diameter,
the shock of an explosion, heavier
The
charges.
something within the sub
luck
I
Oil boiled out of that pit of sea,
and
and deeper
barrage must have set off
last
itself.
The Drayton had sunk an enemy warship, one bigger than she was. That would have got us double prize money in the old days of the
Navy when
they were
still
paying prize money
.
.
.
DURING THE ENSUING TWO MONTHS, THE UNITED States
Navy's
position
in
she reorganized her forces at
command
tunity to strike a blow, while
significant
essentially
level while awaiting
numerous warships from
steamed through the Panama Canal
But the most
was
Pacific
the
changes
to bolster
at this
W. Nimitz
as Chief of
an oppor-
the Atlantic
combatant strength.
time were the appointments,
during the latter part of December, of Admirals Ernest
Chester
defensive:
J.
King and
Naval Operations and Commander
in
Chief Pacific Fleet, respectively. Frequently described as "so tough he shaves with a blowtorch," King was a firm and uncompromising administrator and leader, whose
first
statement reflected his personal
philosophy in unmistakable terms:
The way The going
to victory will
is
long
be hard
We will do the best we can with what we've got We must have more planes and ships — at once Then
We
it
will
will
be our turn to strike
win through
—
in time.
59
Scratch One!
By
Texan who
contrast Nimitz, the kindly, soft-spoken
restored
confidence to the Pacific Fleet, was beloved by seamen and admirals alike;
it
strokes,
was he who implemented King's
policy.
One
of his
first
bold
which went a long way to restore confidence, was the Mar-
snails operation of
enemy out
February
1
.
While
it
knew
of the Pacific, Nimitz
was not calculated
to drive the
perfectly well the effect such
an offensive operation would have on our sagging national morale.
The was
which gave a delighted Halsey (on Enterprise) a
plan,
free hand,
this:
Halsey was to deliver a
strike
and bombardment on Maloelap and
Wotje, enemy seaplane bases in the eastern Marshalls; the big punch
was to be a torpedo-bomber Kwajalein.
At
same
the
strike
time,
on the Japanese stronghold of
Fletcher
(on
Yorktown)
was
as-
signed to carry out raids on Jaluit, Makin, and Mili to the southeast.
Two bombardment from the
sea.
The
groups were to work over Maloelap and Wotje raid, while not
an unqualified success because of
heavy mists which shrouded one objective, resulted
enemy
ships sunk
and three
in
seven small
others, including the light cruiser Katori,
damaged. For our part (the American forces numbered two hundred warships), damage was sustained aboard the light cruiser Chester
when
the
enemy
A light bomb men and wounded eleven. Rear Admiral Raymond A.
sent over eight twin-engined bombers.
penetrated the main deck and killed eight
Aboard one Spruance's
News war
of the heavy cruisers,
flagship,
Northampton, was the
correspondent Robert
J.
Casey,
who
gifted
Chicago Daily
chronicled the strike.
ROBERT
CASEY
J.
7-
BLOOD: A
FIRST
WAR
CORRESPONDENT TELLS OF THE MARSHALLS RAID February
A
1,
Sunday. At
beautiful day to die
At
this writing
we
Mostly clear with occasional overcast.
sea.
in.
don't
know where one
took a walloping from high-level bombers a direct hit on her well deck.
The
carrier
of our cruisers
Kwajalein
at
slightly
is
atoll
She
is.
and got
damaged. She
just
threw one of her planes overboard after a strafing that made the afternoon one of anxiety and prayer.
commission out of
four.
(We
lost
We one
have only one plane
morning. The other two were shot up on deck by our action.)
but
I
We
now
are
have no
alas
theoretically faith
on our way back
own
Here
is
ack-ack
to Pearl
in
Harbor
these offhand pronouncements by our
in
More than once today we looked at Harbor when we get there when and
guides and guardians. We'll get to Pearl
left in
a landing accident this
in
.
the chronology of a day of battle
—
.
.
as weird a
the bottom. if.
day
I
have
had
slept
as
ever experienced in war.
Commander Chappell woke me
at
about half-past four.
I
through the noise of the alarm clock and he said that he didn't want
me
to sleep
through a
hearty breakfast of surely fashion plugs, paper
I
battle.
ham and
I
went down
wardroom and
ate a
eggs (simulated). After that in a
lei-
my life belt, gas mask, field glasses, ear pen. And I clambered up through the dark
gathered up
and fountain
to the searchlight platform just
60
to the
above sky control on the foremast.
Blood
First
There with Bob Landry sun and eventually
Moon
6 a.m. it
watched the moon
I
full
—
6:15 a.m. Guns of
For a moment a band of cloud
yellow.
But and
the planes begin to gurgle
one
out with a pale
it
lose.
like the belt of Saturn.
off
fight
61
remains
it
too
brilliant,
slips
over
brilliant. Aft,
roar.
swung skyward. The planes
after turrets are
get
and noisy sequence. They are gray
after another in quick
blots against a gray sky with a ghastly blue halo of burning gases
accompanying them.
The sun
6:40.
up through low-lying clouds. Eight
struggling
is
Land
seaplanes go off toward the west in ragged formation.
shape hazily
like a
is
taking
narrow streamer of smoke on the starboard hori-
zon.
6:45. Lookout sings out smoke coming from island dead ahead.
This blackish cloud, round and
hue of the dawn's early 6:59. in
We
swing farther
bombardment.
tions but this
(save for fired
is
We
an
in
toward land and turn loose forward guns
hear no commands.
historic
some ack-ack
moment. This
at Pearl
on an enemy. The island
the breakers along
Some
rolling, is clearly visible in spite of
light.
is
We
first
Harbor) that the
time in this war Pacific fleet has
a typical atoll hardly visible save for
on our starboard, low.
coral reefs. Planes are
its
no unusual prepara-
see
the
is
The carrier planes show from now on is
anxiety until they are identified as our own.
have gone home and for better or worse
this
ours.
7:05. Lookout:
"Ship dead ahead,
going tug, which has
bows
across the
come
And
sir!"
halfway between us and the horizon. ...
A
dawn
blithely out of the
of a destroyer.
A
there
We
bit of irony.
is!
it
About
thing like an ocean-
little
to run squarely
increase speed to
The destroyer keeps on The sea around the Jap is
eighteen knots and turn slightly to starboard.
—and There yellow-white them — which from where
after the unfortunate tub
starts firing.
tufted with white splashes.
Jap's deck
—
several of
has four guns and
is
are
I sit
7:11.
we
lie
A
hunt. There
to blast. is
to our course. result
—
So does the destroyer.
several
salvos
knock down,
toe.
destroyer
back
from the
indicate that he
using them.
7:10. The Jap turns parallel They exchange shots without
drag out, toe to
glares
is
But
spotted on the horizon. it's
The guns
swivel and
one of our own coming back from a sub-
some more to-do about
a wandering plane that turns
Pearl- Harbor to the
62
SBD
out to be an
End
Malay Barrier
in the
somewhere over
returning to the carrier
the hori-
zon.
7:12. A. A. cruiser,
beach fire.
from the
flashed
island.
our associate
throwing out salvos that burst with a green color. The coral
is
festooned with smoke plumes.
is
The
So does the Jap. This
is
The
destroyer continues to
an inspiring duel but
beginning to
it's
look like a bad piece of gunnery.
Our
7:16.
eight-inch batteries go off and wreathe the ship and
surrounding sea with a yellow acrid haze.
minute intervals
my
on
farther than
The
—
face at the
my
We
keep
following the lead of the
first
and so
blast
far
firing at half-
was thrown
I
flat
have been unable to get up any
knees.
and we have a chance
light is getting better
view the fantasy
to
of eight-inch guns painstakingly blowing a mangy, palm-dandruffed atoll to pieces.
The
great battle between the destroyer and the sea-
going barge proceeds with noise and smoke and no end of dangerouslooking
waterspouts.
ginning to bet on the
The Jap
7:26.
We
our
shift
This
fire.
But
is still .
remains
issue
in
I'm
doubt.
be-
up.
.
.
.
Seems
up
likely to stay
indefinitely.
.
.
atoll like so
the
guy.
little
many
of
its
kind in the Pacific
is
really a string of
small islands about a lagoon, remnants possibly of coral erections
on the rim of a volcanic is
to the left of us as
crater.
we look
The entrance
at the island
to the
lagoon of Wotje
but straight
ahead of us the
land dips abruptly into the sea, presenting an opening about a quarter of a mile wide through which
And now, freighter has
like
something
we can in a
see a large part of the lagoon.
worn and hazy movie, an 8,000-ton
steamed out from behind the island on the north of the
opening and into plain view. There
will
be no better protection for
her in back of the south island than she had
theory a moving target shells are
—
is
harder to
hit
when she
smashing into the lagoon alongside her
a vicious bracket. Ack-ack begins to smash
odd inasmuch
as
no planes are near us but
suppose that a five-inch ack-ack
shell
started but in
than a stationary one.
—two
all
over,
around
there's
.
.
Our
us.
This
no reason
won't bother us
if
into the bridge or sky control or, for that matter, almost else
.
two short
it
is
to
crashes
anywhere
above the decks.
7:27.
Somebody
sights
a submarine
moving out
of the
lagoon
toward the south passage. While we are assimilating that one the warning
is
passed to be on the alert for bombers inasmuch as near-by
now be aware
bases must
happening
once
at
Comes
7:28.
—or on
63
Blood
First
of our attack. Everything seems to be
the verge of
it.
You
a terrific mixture of splashes about the Jap ship.
might take the bursts for
bomb
explosions but there are no planes
above. Probably the destroyer crews are putting out something spe-
way
cial in the
of quick
fire.
.
The
ship in the lagoon
is
still
turn loose
and your diaphragm caves for a
moment. Then
gun tubes comes it
has a
run
first
hit.
and
a mist of spray
The destroyer goes on with
its
and interminable work.
The guns
7:32.
have completed our
turn about with the other cruiser.
moving through
smoke. She appears to have been interesting
We
.
.
We
across the face of the island.
stiff
all
at
clears.
an obbligato. This
as
once with a brain-jolting slap
The yellow smoke bolts out the target The hiss of compressed air cleaning the
in.
is
an ideal day for a
wind which we are now heading
into. It's
battle.
enough
But
blow
to
your eyeballs out. 7:33.
and the Jap spitkit comes The destroyer makes a hit on the starboard and two guns. Apparently the Jap commander has one gun left on
The
struggle between the destroyer
to a quick end.
disables
He
the port side.
more clunks
is
listing
badly but he swings slowly around as
on him and churn up the
rain
erratic shot with his
remaining gun.
"Well," says the navigator,
ment
to that
little
7:40. Firing
many
results.
guy
is
We
I'll
He
"if the
sea.
He
fires
one
last
sinks.
Japs want to put up a
monu-
contribute."
fairly regular
can see
now
on the
—
atoll
as the
now
but doesn't show
day advances
— two
more
The one we were shooting at I can't say. One of the around. The other begins to move
ships just over the reef in the lagoon. first is
pair
behind the south island, up or down
now
visible
seems to be turning
southward across the open space. Apparently the crews of both ships
were taken by surprise and they've been started.
There
is
until
something of Pearl Harbor
now
getting the engines
more ways than
in this in
one.
7:41. Destroyer milling about scene of
horizon now.
It
has large bone in
its
teeth
kill
is
far
and seems
away on our on the way
to be
to rejoin us.
7:45. straggly atolls
—
The sun
hits
Wotje's low profile and shows color of
palms and moth-eaten verdure.
It is like all
a top of delicate green, an outcrop of grayish coral
lowish beach. Over the front of
it
its
other south-sea
spin shreds of black smoke.
and
yel-
Peart Harbor to the
64
End
in the
Malay Barrier
7T55. Sky control announces two submarines coming out of the
The
harbor.
open
reef
ship which
now
first
began to move from the trap beyond the
One
swings south to get protection of the south island.
salvo seems to bracket
it
leans over to starboard
—
to "stra.ddltf"
it
and seems about
as they say in the
But
to capsize.
Navy.
it
and steams on with green and blue plumes of bursting
It
recovers
shell in
its
wake.
We
8:15.
are beginning to notice artillery resistance other than the
five-inch ack-ack that has kept sprinkling us liberally. Perhaps they've
been working unobserved
moment we
in the
dim
light of the
morning but
are in no doubt about their being here.
A
are tossing six-inch shells out here with no hint of economy.
between us and the island
is
The
And now and
tufted with them.
at the
couple of them sea
then, in
the fashion of another and better war, they throw a bit of time-fuse
Some
shell at us for adjustment.
the ack-ack.
Our
If
so
of this probably
was mixed up with
wouldn't have been discoverable.
it
They
five-inch batteries have turned loose to strafe the beach.
are probably the noisiest contrivance ever invented by man. Their
mixed with the sickening roar of the main battery produces a
effort
human endurance. Lots
din that nears the limit of
out of the five-inch tubes along with the ashes,
and red
been steady
— and
The
odd
things
come
the ship remaining in sight in the lagoon has
terrible.
the superstructure ful.
of
including odd bits of
fire balls.
The barrage on
8:16.
shell,
comes
a bracket so close that
hidden by an upheaval of water
is
ship starts
Now
down by
like
most of
Old Faith-
the head, shivers, leans over to star-
board. ... In a matter of seconds she
gone.
is
8:20. Firing ceases. Brass shell cases of the five-inch batteries are
dumped
overboard. In the
We
along Wotje beach. far
lull
seem
you have time
to note
to be withdrawing.
numerous
Our
fires
destroyer
is
on the western horizon.
8:25.
I
guessed wrong. The clamor
Almost immediately we
see results.
is
on again worse than before.
There
is
a tremendous black cloud rolls skyward. Oil, a big tank of
it.
Lieutenant Jim Brewer
a burst of red flame
my
would be
in fire control
guess,
and and
announces that
twelve torpedo planes and seven bombers have taken off from a Jap island
— apparently
enough
one where our preliminary attack wasn't strong
to hold them.
of red in
it.
The
fire
burns mostly black with darting spears
Another ship comes across the open space
in the
lagoon
atoll. It's
not so
streaking for protection back of the north island.
8:30.
Our
fire
has shifted to the north end of the
—
Blood
First
spectacular
now
as the bursts
go over the crest but we've been told
from the shore
that three or four naval auxiliaries are in there. Shells batteries are falling nearer
—
65
200 yards
the last batch about
off the
port side and square in deflection.
A group of four
8:35.
water to starboard. We're
shells tosses white
bracketed.
Our turrets are working faster but not on the land battery. Maybe we don't recognize it socially. Continuous concussion caves in your stomach. Five-inch guns rings of burning
your ears
is
throw
firing into the sunlight
vapor that chokes you when
off large
golden
comes back. Cotton
it
in
small comfort now.
The Jap battery is in The range is now perfect. Deflection which has to change as we move is not badly calculated. Over on the island four white plumes are rising wooden buildings maybe. 8:41. Another string of geysers ahead of us.
no hurry
but, boy!
it's
working
well.
—
A
8:35.
group of four
shells tosses
closer to scraping our stern.
ing circle of green
—
From our
over the deep blue water.
Our
bridge
going to do something about
left
—
view of one side of
fantail cuts off the
—which shows how
men
we can see a widenswamp spreading out
platform
an excrescence in a
like
the patch is
white water to starboard. We're
close the shell came. this.
We
.
.
are looking
keep going
We right
on over
astern
Our guns
8 50. :
deck.
fall
into blue water.
A
rolls
and
fire
muzzle burst
But we come up with a jerk
at
shells, all in
So we've come out of the bracket.
to port.
in
we
You'd think the whole thing would
into the drink.
from the
telegraph
over until
our original course and right side up. Four
right angles to
a pattern,
swing about as on a pivot. The top
down
Apparently the
room
relaying an order already sent over the engine
rudder.
.
can hear the telephone
stern.
Gun No.
There
is
from the
a crash
8 of the five-inch battery.
tube miraculously held together although
it
flight
The
bulged to a bottle
is
shape, and nobody was hurt. Shells begin to pile
battery
is
up on the end of the
flashing at us.
We
are doing a sort of
cumbersome adagio
movement you might expect Our wake, a broad path of light
dance, the sort of
bayonet
drill.
.
.
.
white on a stretch of calm cobalt, rolling English
drunkard made the
is
a glittering corkscrew.
second battery has been working on her. She
to
short of her.
be working
The Jap
firing is accurate
at the limit of their
of an elephant in
blue with fringes of .
.
.
"The
rolling English road. ..."
8:52. Geysers around the cruiser ahead of us.
falls
where the land
island
range
—
.
shifts.
.
.
A
Apparently a second salvo
enough but the guns seem
there are few overs.
a
66
End
Pearl'Harbor to the
We
8f5 3.
loose a fine salvo at a ship in the lagoon which seems
let
already headed for the beach. hat for study
if
Five guns fired
I
shalKmake a note of
—
nean
smashed
turrets;
pause for a reply.
8:53. Another black
and north of
it.
two
made an
fifth
.
.
.
went over, two
shells
error of
to
fifty mills
into the coral right at water level, hit a subterra-
storage and started the biggest
oil
Pacific. I
my
to paste in
says anything- about the law of averages.
two forward
the
were short and very near and the the right,
it,
ever have to go to a gunnery school again, or to
I
when anybody
consult
Malay Barrier
in the
.
.
The
.
fire
ever seen in the south
ship goes on toward the beach.
from the previous column of smoke
fire starts
Almost immediately two smaller blazes spring up
to
the north of that.
The
air is filled
with beautiful
or flying
like butterflies
come out from
again. In the sunlight they look
fish.
we
a pleasure to report that
It is
white birds that
little
away
the land to look at us and go
now maneuvering
are
well out of
range of the shore batteries whose efforts continue to pockmark the
ocean between here and the shore.
A
8:54.
third fire of
first
magnitude but with more red
in its black
plumes has burst out well toward the north end of the north island
—
column
right of the
far to the is
now hundreds
of feet high
toward the south over the 8:55.
We
and spreading out
that
makes
the ship lean back
and
turn about.
The northernmost
fire
it
now
A
into the telephone.
.
.
"Our plane!" bawls
down
he puts
The
it
—
the
mixture which
one
off
fine
bursts of red
on the platform below
—bearing
two-
this one, repeats
.
the lookout
and Brewer repeats
pompom
ack-ack
outfit.
that.
"Our plane!" he
We
may
all
Then calls.
the characteristics of oil except for the gray
indicate explosives,
draw away.
We
are
I
hope.
now about
ten miles off Wotje.
Bursts are leaping up on the south end of the island. still
in
to the Marines."
island fire has
9:00.
water
the telephone and signals for an orderly to inform the
Marine battery "Tell
in the
ignite.
lookout announces: "Plane approaching
five-oh." Lieutenant Brewer, it
smoke with high
erupting gray and black
where hot gases belatedly
8:57.
sideways
slide
—
and the one we touched
middle of the island seem to have combined
in error in the
in
cloud
plaster the land batteries with everything we've got
smash
is
in a
atoll.
—and
blaze. It
The smoke
other principal blazes.
in there firing incessantly. It
probably went
The destroyer
is
in close to finish off
First the ships inside the lagoon.
my
guess that the
are
first
A
headed mostly south. ...
on our halyard, another
of signals breaks out It's
We
phase of the show
is
string
burst alongside amidships.
no answer
to
on the
A
went to look
detail
—
like a
into the matter but
unless the five-inch battery has
it
string
over.
9:05. Here's a startling mystery. There was an odd noise
there's
67
Blood
had another
muzzle burst.
The far-away
9:10.
atoll
now seems
to
have no height.
It is
white-green streak on the horizon with flame running over
smoke plumes
a couple of black waterspouts balanced
like
There are occasionally three one gray
—
all
a long
and
it
on
it.
columns of smoke two black,
distinct
about three hundred feet high.
9:30. "Periscope dead astern!" Thus the lookout. Speed and twist!
Speed and
twist!
The
destroyers leap like flying
fish.
Thud go
the
depth charges. 9:35. "Periscope off port beam." Speed and twist! Speed and twist!
The periscope
Who can
couldn't be a half-filled five-inch shell casing, could
9:40. All planes returning.
Our
You can
destroyer seems to have finished
fox terrier with
see the rendezvous far astern.
job and
its
is
coming up
to pick
up
like a
in the air.
its tail
10:00. Planes overhead but only seven. Eight took
down
it?
say? Speed and twist!
Four go
planes.
to the other cruiser.
We
off.
So
slow
one of
it's
ours that's gone. Which?
10:10.
The missing plane comes
streaking in
from the west.
Cheers.
10:16. Last of the trio that
jinx.
He
came back
first is
taken aboard. So
who apparently is still heads down into the slick on
learn that the late-comer circles about,
is
Davis
flirting
we
with a
the starboard
side.
down
10:20. He's
.
.
.
heads
Davis gets the signal to cut
in.
The signalman
off too late.
He
isn't
very deft and
slides too far
and
his
engine conks. Before he can start again a wave throws him against the side of the ship.
A wing crumples.
The plane is astern with Davis and his radio-man sitting on the wings of it. The floats are submerged. 10:24. So begins a ponderous maneuver to launch a powerboat. The key to the winch is missing. Find it. There's no plug for the 10:23.
bottom of the boat. Whittle one. winch?
Why
10:25.
Why
doesn't
someone
start
the
not?
The
ship
is
moving about
the plane in a narrowing circle.
—
End
Pearl" Harbor to the
68
The
cockpits are under water now.
The
rubber boat and are preparing to getinto 10:29.
A
The
aviators have inflated their it.
The boat crew
destroyer goes by.
dling with the gear.
Malay Barrier
in the
is still
hopelessly fid-
destroyer- seems to be awaiting a signal
before going in to pick the lads up. In the meantime their situation getting critical.
There goes
.
.
is
.
10:30. General Quarters with bells and bugle! Eight planes re-
ported about fifteen minutes away and heading toward us. The can left
to
is
do what can be done about picking up Davis.
bow
10:42. Plane off port
flying erratically.
10:43. Plane identified as a bird.
.
.
.
The captain came from
report of the approaching Japanese planes
which we ought
to be picking
up presently
— and
says that the the carrier
that fighter planes
are being sent off to deal with the situation. All seems well and yet this
would be the time
to feel
uncomfortable
we intended
if
to.
10:44. Lookout sings out: "Plane approaching bearing two-two-
We
oh!"
10:45.
The
zigzag.
nothing of
plane,
if
any, takes off somewhere.
We
The captain has
to attack another atoll
received a report that the cruiser which
was severely bombed
steaming back to the rendezvous she's not seriously
had
was supposed
into something.
to be without air defense. It
plenty.
10:55. I
now
speed which would indicate that
at a
damaged. She apparently stepped
island she attacked
is
left
She
for nearly an hour.
got one hit on the well deck which killed about eight men. She
The
see
it.
"Two
planes off port beam!" Invisible to me. After a while
make one
could
of
them
out. It
seemed
Wotje whose smoke plumes are
to be heading in the direcvisible
above the hori-
10:56. Lieutenant Brewer calls into telephone:
"Find out how
tion of
still
zon.
many
how few are going in or coming out." three fighters 10:58. He gets his answer or
—
likely ours.
know
The
air of
uneasiness
over the island. Very
getting noticeable. Obviously
on the prowl but with our planes up
that the Japs are
difficult to tell
is
we it's
where they're prowling.
11:04. Ship on horizon. She's identified as our carrier. All this identification business
the horizon at
all
is
done by the lookouts.
I
can't see anything
except a wisp or two of smoke from Wotje.
11:15. Near-by planes identified as friendly.
looms up over the rim of the sea as as big as the
on
Queen Mary.
we
The
carrier
now
zigzag toward her. She looks
First
The
11:20.
the oil fires
atoll is
is still
more warships
are
69
Blood
completely out of sight but the smoke of
now
thickly visible sixty miles
coming
Two
above the horizon.
into sight near the carrier
—
also quantities
of planes.
Report
to the bridge
from the
get off during the attack
carrier: Eight
on Kwajalein
lowed our bombers back to the
Jap planes managed to
—heavy
bombers. They
fol-
carrier. Carrier fighters got four of
them. 11:25.
The
So do we.
carrier swings northeast.
We
are
at
still
general quarters.
11:58. Secure from general quarters.
down
electric-light globes
other
A
tired, dirty
the iron ladders. Details start out to clean
back
and
in their sockets
up the
mob
to take mirrors
and
The
first
glassware off the floor, and to turn on the water.
flat
lieutenant's detail goes
troops
ship, to put
around inspecting damage which
is
consider-
able as a result of detonation.
12:20. peaches. 1:15. 1
:45.
I
.
.
Beans,
luncheon:
Buffet .
meat,
cold
pickles,
stewed
Very acceptable.
go to bed feeling as
if I
could sleep for a week.
Bugle and bawl of Donald Duck to general quarters. "Planes
approaching!" This time there's no fooling about
1:50.
bombers
—come
2,000 feet and first
time
I
slanting out of the overcast
it.
Five planes
which
—
big
thick above
is
start in a long glide straight for the carrier.
This
is
the
have ever seen dive bombing attempted by two-engine
planes the size of a Douglas transport. All the ack-ack in the group lets loose.
At It's
less
than 2,000 feet they straighten out and drop their clunks.
a fine job of bombing.
Water
rises to a height of
covers the carrier for her entire length. of her should be
200
feet
and
seems impossible that any
It
left.
But the water comes down and the mist disperses and we see that the carrier has spun about.
when
the planes
was somewhere our fighters are
The bombs
precisely
fell
where she was
came out of the cloud. But by the time they hit she The planes come back for another glide. Where
else. I'll
never
2:00. Four more
tell.
bombs
starboard of the carrier as streaks out of the clouds
Maybe
—
I'll
never know.
half -ton clunks
—drop
we come about
on a long
glide.
plane seems almost to stop in midair as
it
continues on toward the deck of the carrier.
astern and to the
parallel.
Another plane
Our ack-ack
The Then it
blasts.
bursts into flames.
—
70
End
Pearl Harbor to the
We
?
know whether
never
ll
plane
came
know
that his attempt failed.
deck,
all
and
to
its finish.
Malay Barrier
was
the pilot
dead when the
alive or
In either rase he probably had no time to
The
momentum
right, its
in the
big
bomber
hit the
virtually spent.
It
end of the
flight
crashed one plane
over into the sea.
slid
The marine gunner who accomplished most of this miracle looks startled: "He was there and now he's gone," he said. Which is true. There's no trace of him or his crew 2:10. This
— not even
a spot of
oil.
the fastest I've ever traveled except in a speedboat
is
somewhere on a calm lake. We are sticking our nose into it and flinging spray up over the bridge. Our wake looks like a waving green stair carpet
with white fringe and no particular pattern on a blue
floor.
The
2:30. in
radio continues to report planes
going on
all
The
day.
strafed by landplanes
The other
3:00.
price
you pay
which are
3:10.
Now
we
that
you
get
— about four
salvos of ack-
and then the cans on the horizon do some shooting.
don't
know what happened
you don't mention anybody but
is
competition.
see.
3:20. Black bursts low on horizon that
for raiding bases
difficult
cruiser lets off a blast
ack for no reason that we can
is
—obviously Japanese
various quarters at no great distance. Obviously this will keep
battles in
yourself.
a torpedo attack.
or
how
it
is
getting low,
The
trouble
Apparently
out.
as they don't affect
worries are particularly your own.
3:30. Radio announces two or three planes
inbound. The sun
came
war so long
this
Your own
—
fifty
making observation
miles
away and more
to the west
and more 3:45.
difficult. The sky is covered with spotty clouds. The atmosphere aboardship reminds me of the
similar situation.
There
is
the vibration of the hard-driven engines. There
gun crews man
their
is little
motion as the
guns and the fire-control details stand with heads
bent and their hands clapped over their headphones.
made one
out there are the Japs. They have
and have
lost face.
And
Valiant in a
no sound save the throb of the blowers and
They
will
Somewhere
attack and have missed
have to make another attempt.
The lookout sings: "Two planes approaching bearing two-four-oh. They seem to be heavy bombers." There is a clamorous conference among the observers: a moment's 3:59.
here
they come.
excitement and then calm again. well filled with
4:00.
The
.
.
.
After
all
the air has been pretty
Grummans.
first
lookout
calls:
"They're just coming out of a patch
First
There they
of cloud.
Most
bombers.
"Enemy
approaching
Then
another
lookout
shock and plunge of the
feet with the
my
Two bombers came carrier.
4:02.
another: aircraft
feet."
Then sky control: "Commence firing." Once more bedlam. I was on my knees under searchlight platform when the riot started. I had the bell and battered
and
"Enemy
approaching bearing two-five-oh."
6,000
at
71
Both of them. They certainly are heavy
are.
certainly!"
aircraft
Blood
ship. I
bones on the
over
rails
5,000
at
the ship's bell
on the
trouble getting to
my
my head against my knees.
smashed
and skinned
usual toward the
feet, sailing as
Their shooting was pretty good.
Four bombs drop near the
ahead and no great distance
carrier.
The water
off.
One
piles
bursts almost dead
up on the
carrier
deck
but apparently there's no damage. 4:04.
ack-ack
It is
isn't
from the position of the bursts that our five-inch bothering the raiders much. Their altitude is beyond the plain
range of machine guns and minor ack-acks. But as in other combats of the sort I've seen, they continue to fire anyway.
4:05. climb.
Two
We
of our fighters
and a destroyer. The off after the
bombers
It is difficult It
come from somewhere and begin
to
cease firing save for a few odd shots from the other cruiser fighters get altitude with
amazing speed and take
to the southwest.
comes now.
to get yourself adjusted to the silence that
has been a weird afternoon
—
everything you could ask for except a
cavalry charge.
4:10.
We
sit
down
again to wait. So long as the Japs have bombers
—
and even to fly we shan't be safe for the rest of the afternoon sundown won't bring complete respite. We'll have a full moon in a reasonably clear sky. to attack they'll
It's
most
the rule that your
obvious, however, that
likely
bombing
do is
it
The carrier's planes begin 5:10. The bridge has received shot down one of the two bombers. I
start
down
the gunnery officers.
the ladders
He
to
come back and
in a dogfight with
land.
a message that the carrier planes
from
my
perch and run into one of
says a message has just been received that a
torpedo plane has been intercepted about
now
They were taught
before six o'clock.
better by day.
5:00.
5:20.
the Japs are going
if
our planes.
.
.
.
five
What
miles dead astern and
a day!
.
.
.
is
Peafl Harbor to the
72
End
Malay Barrier
in the
LET US FOR THE MOMENT JURN AGAIN TO THE PHIL1POther than the appalling
pines.
Navy Yard
loss of life, the attack
Navy one submarine, two yard
cost the
motor torpedo boat spare first-class installation.
miral
subsequent actions, an explanation
Thomas
Pacific Fleet,
C. Hart's
it
command was
was not of
of primary responsibility latterly, the
it.
had
countries of the
It
was an
Malay
entity unto itself
—
Barrier. its
targets for Japanese
the
While Adarm of the whose area
China Station and,
Inasmuch
as part of this
commander a month December 8, there were
astute
before the war, and part on the night of
no prime
telling of the Asiatic
necessary:
is
technically an
elsewhere
lain
minuscule force had been deployed by
practically
tugs, a supply of
230 precious torpedoes and a rather However, the main body of the Asiatic Fleet, parts,
about 40 warships, escaped unscathed. Before Fleet's
on the Cavite
bombers.
arm at sea was Rear Admiral W. W. Glassford, December 8 from the China Station and was
Hart's strong right
who
on
arrived
promptly shipped on to the Netherlands East Indies.
On
January
7,
Glassford, with a small cruiser-destroyer task force in Soerabaja, Java,
was advised up
in
that a large Japanese
Macassar
Strait, the
amphibious invasion was making
gateway to
oil-rich
Balikpapan, Borneo, the
enemy's objective. That same day, Hart arrived
in the
submarine Shark
command of the ABDA Command. This organization,
from the Philippines and assumed naval (American,
British,
Dutch, Australian)
command
under overall
of Field Marshal Sir Archibald Wavell,
been designed to protect the
interest of the four
had
allies.
Glassford's striking force, consisting of the destroyers Ford, Pope, Parrott, Paul Jones
green
light
and the
Marblehead, was given the
and break up attempted enemy landings
attack
to
light cruiser
Balikpapan. But only the four destroyers sortied
Marblehead fouled her bottom and was forced resultant battle
a tactical
on January 23
American
victory.
—
—
at the last
to retire.
at
minute
However, the
a furious night torpedo slugfest
—was
The landings were broken up and
three
transports, probably more, were sunk.
William
P.
Mack,
at
present a Rear Admiral, was a young chief
engineer aboard Ford that night action for the
first
time.
when
the Asiatic Fleet went into
A
captured Japanese photograph taken during the attack on Pearl Harbor, 7, 1941. Navy Department.
December
Panoramic view of Pearl Harbor under
attack.
Navy Department.
Burning and damaged ships at Pearl Harbor. From right to left: USS Tennessee, and USS West Virginia. Navy Department.
USS
Arizona,
The USS Arizona (BB-39). Navy Department.
A
Japanese drawing from a plane shot down at Pearl Harbor. Translation: "Hear! The voice of the moment of death. Wake up, you fools." Navy Department.
-
T:
(U%
ft*
of Oahu during action Japanese two-man submarine beached on the island Department. Navy 1941. 7, December Sunday, forces, with U.S.
A
:
-
E March of Heath. Bataan. about May. 1942. These prisoners— from left Samuel Stenzler, Frank Spear. James McD. Gallagher— were photographed along the March from Bataan to C ahanatuan, the prison camp. Their hands are tied behind their backs. Defense Department Photo. I
ho
to right,
Honor from President Lt Cdr John D. Bulkeley receives the Medal of Three during Squadron Boat Torpedo Roosevelt for his leadership of Motor Department. Navy waters. Philippine combat operations in
fafc-SS
Ships in North Atlantic convoy, 1942.
Navy Department.
Ships in convoy, 1942, location unknown.
Navy Department.
4.
*
.
Hw '>;; :
;
;^,.
* t
>s
lT'-Au
£
A
depth charge fired by the USS Murphy (DD-603) explodes. Round No. 600-lb. charge, depth 50 feet, speed 20 knots. Navy Department.
Plane attack on two
One
sub,
German submarines by planes
damaged by
Lt. (jg) Sallenger
of the
and unable
1,
USS Card (CVE-1 1 )
to submerge,
was believed
sunk after four successive attacks. The larger U-boat, a 1600-ton minelayer supply boat, remained on the surface and soon two TBF's (Lt. C. R. Stapler and Lt. (jg) J. C. Forney) and two F4F's (Lt. N. D. Hudson and Lt. E. E. Jackson) arrived and continued the attack on it. Navy Department.
German submarine U-402 sinking after an attack by a patrol team from the USS Card-F4F pilot Howard M. Avery and TBF-1 pilot Ensign B. C. Sheela. TBF-1 dropped a 500-lb. bomb. Navy Department.
A
U.S.
Navy blimp over
a
convoy
in the Atlantic, 1943.
Navy Department.
The USS Borie (DD-215)
is
bombed by TBF's
of the
USS Card (CVE-11)
H. Hutchins, gave the order to abandon ship.
after her skipper, Lt. Charles
The destroyer was damaged beyond possible salvage as a result of ramming a Nazi sub on the morning of November, 1943, at 0153, just after she had encountered and sunk another enemy sub in the vicinity. In the hour's battle 1
second contact, the Borie rode up over the starboard bow damaging the destroyer's port side forward and flooding her forward engine room. The U-boat's main battery was put out of commission with the Borie's first salvo at a range of 40 feet. The results: the second Nazi sub sunk. The Borie's losses: 27 officers and men. Navy Department.
which followed
of the sub, thus
this
by the
at. work aboard captured German submarine U-505. Photo USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60). Navy Department.
U-505
lying alongside the
Salvage crew
USS
Guadalcanal.
Navy Department.
%
t N, J%
A$X*tn
taken
REAR ADMIRAL WILLIAM
P.
MACK
8.
MACASSAR
MERRY-GO-ROUND
Finally
it
came. The Ford had been monotonously patrolling
Postillion Islands, at the southern entrance to
knew
the Japs were coming.
Macassar
Borneo was next on
off the
We
Straits.
their timetable after
Manila and Davao. The planes of Patwing Ten had been sending reports of a growing Jap Force at Davao. This Force could have only
one objective, Balikpapan, on the eastern cost of Borneo, fronting on
Macassar
Our
Straits.
"Make
orders were clear,
a night attack
on
a Japanese Force
heading for Balikpapan." Reconnaissance reports began to trickle
The job was going
to be tough.
ers, several cruisers."
We
"Twenty
transports, twelve destroy-
figured that the Japs
ships there they'd never notice us. That's exactly
We
started
arrive off
up the
Balikpapan
we had
straits
at
in.
would have so many what happened.
that evening, timing our
approach to
about 2:00 a.m. The seas were extremely
make 27 knots to get there. The result was something even old William Cramp would have shuddered at. He built well when he put those boats together. They bucked mountainous seas heavy;
to
that threatened every minute to strip the bridges right off their hulls. I
could only
moan
sure they'd never
every time fire
when
my
guns went under green water.
I
was
the time came.
The long run up the Straits gave us time to organize for battle. weren't much, but we were full of fight, and what's more, we were
We the
73
74
Pearl
Harbor
to the
End
Malay Barrier
in the
"Fighting Fifty-ninth." Destroyer Division Fifty-Nine was under the
command
Commander
of
composed
P.
John D. Ford,
of the
column
the Paul Jones in
H. ^Talbot,
U.S.
flagship, the
Pope, the Parrot t, and
Navy,
We'd made many
in that orgler?
was
and
a practice
night torpedo attack, but never one' with the chips down. In fact,
we
were to make the
my
mind
the lofty
first
War
one ever made.
remember running over
I
College comments on the expected
stroyer in a night action.
I
remember whether
couldn't
sured in seconds or minutes, but
knew
I
it
wasn't
much
of a de-
life it
was mea-
of either.
crews were well trained, tough, and eager for action. Our
were the same, and as experienced as any were confident, but we made
showed 300 miles
charts
knew we'd have to survive
and
a long walk south if
sunk.
pills,
I
sewed a box
my
as best
firing circuits
I
have to in
the
them what
tell
at
to do, just
know.
in
stacker that
is
making 27 knots
crews, fight.
I felt I
didn't
I
the East since
Dewey
it.
I
still
don't
you can get on a four-
rough
in a
Alarm awakened me at 1 :00 p.m., and as we passed up the straits in 1
life
could between sub-
my gun
a person felt before battle.
asleep, or as near to sleep as
fell
I
how
my
when. They were about to take part
Manila Bay, and they were proud of
always wondered
I've
in
pistol belt. After
were spoiling for a
American naval engagement
first
fought
My men
of fish
full
and Dutch money
mergings and giving last-minute instructions to
was ready for anything.
I
any of us were fortunate enough
if
we were
compass and knife on
my gun
We The
preparations just the same.
all
hooks, twine, razor blades, quinine
checking over
officers
peace-time Navy.
in the
Our
of trackless jungle south of Balikpapan.
get ashore
jacket an tied a pocket
in
sea.
When
the General
the sea had calmed considerably, the lee of Celebes, the sea
was
almost calm.
Again
I
checked
time to think now.
was able
to
repair party rations,
my
guns, mustered
and then reported ready
instructions,
make
As my
eyes
my
crews, passed last-minute
to the bridge.
became accustomed
out our division mates astern.
was assembling
its
gear, the cooks
I
had plenty of
to the darkness
Down
1
on deck the
were passing out cold
and the torpedo tube mount crews and gun crews were mak-
ing last-minute inspections.
We
down to that last-minute wait, familiar to any athlete. only way I can describe it, just like that gone feeling just kick-off. For more than an hour we plunged on through the
settled
That's the before the
night, alert, ready, hopeful. Shortly before
midnight the spotter
in the
Macassar Merry-go-round
75
foretop sighted an intermittently flashing light on the starboard bow.
For a moment
I
thought
it
was a
showed
from a burning
of a Jap
convoy reportedly bombed by our
In half an hour
ship. Its position
we had
we made
searchlight, but soon
as flames
left it astern,
to
it
it
out
be near a part
air force that afternoon.
monument
burning as a
to the
accuracy of some bombardier.
At 2:00 a.m. we came abreast of Balikpapan. The loom of gigantic fires became visible. The Dutch, we knew, were busy destroying everything burnable to deny
20 miles
at sea.
it
Using these
We
to the Japs.
fires as
beacons,
could smell burning
we turned west and
oil
set a
its mine fields, where At 2:45 a.m. I saw my
course to the area just north of Balikpapan and
we suspected
Japanese ship.
first
remember
to land.
can't describe the feeling
I
gave me.
it
I
could
the hours I'd spent studying silhouettes of Japanese war-
ships. Suddenly, here
—
would attempt
the Japs
was one, a
a big, black, ugly ship.
We
silhouette
passed
neither of us could take any action.
it
all right,
but not a picture
so close and so fast that
Our plan was
to fire our tor-
pedoes as long as they lasted and then, and only then, to open up with our guns. That way we could conceal our presence as long as possible.
Consequently, we couldn't
train
our torpedo tubes
We
fast
fire
enough
didn't have long to wait for
our guns to bring
and couldn't
at this ship,
them
to bear
on him.
more game. A whole division of oil smoke on our port bow
Jap destroyers burst out of the gloom and
and steamed rapidly across starboard. objective
in front of us
and
off into the
Again we kept quiet and attempted was something
more important,
far
darkness to
to avoid them.
the troop
Our
and supply
know why these destroyers didn't see us. Possibly several of their own destroyers were patrolling in the vicinity and they mistook us for their own forces. Maybe that was why the first ship we sighted had not fired on us. Suddenly we found ourselves right in the midst of the Jap transladen transports farther inshore.
ports.
Down on
the bridge
tion port, action port,"
I
I
don't
could hear Captain Cooper saying "ac-
and Lieutenant Slaughter, the torpedo
giving quick orders to his torpedo battery.
swung
to follow his director.
Back
aft the
officer,
tube mounts
"Fire one," he said. "Fire one," re-
peated his telephone talker. Then came the peculiar combination of a muffled explosion, a whine, a swish, and a splash, that follows the firing of a torpedo. I
watched the torpedo come
and then dive again as
it
steadied on
its
to the surface
once
run. Astern, the Pope, Paul
Jones, and Parrott were carefully picking targets and
our second torpedo. So did the ships astern.
My
firing.
talker
We
fired
was calmly
76
Harbor
Pearl
counting
seconds
off
"Mark," he shouted, Nothing happened. ing, ear-shattering
End
to the
our
as
torpedo ran toward
first
came
as the time
Malay Barrier
in the
for
We
knew our first had missed. Then came a blindexplosion. One of'oiir torpedoes had hit. The ex-
plosion of a torpedo at night at close range
The
blast
can see anything
at
an awe-inspiring
is
sight.
comes the concussion wave, which
blinding; then
is terrific,
you gasping for breath.
leaves
target.
its
to hit. Seconds passed.
it
It is
seconds before your dazed eyes
all.
Close on the heels of the crippled ships began to
list
through the convoy again,
and
firing
came other
close range hit
first
sink.
We
The
hits.
reversed course and ran
torpedoes on both sides as transports
By now there were only three of us, the Paul Jones having lost us as we came around the last turn. At one time I could count five sinking ships. A third time we reversed course and ran through the demoralized convoy. Once we had to veer to port to avoid a sinking transport. The water was covered with swimming Japs. Our wash overturned several lifeboats loaded with Japs. Other loomed out of
the dark.
ships looked as
clambering
they were covered with
if
down
their sides in panic.
flies.
Jap soldiers were
was becoming
It
had already been torpedoed. Again
keep from
firing at transports that
we turned
for another run through the convoy. So far
we were
Japs had not discovered that
torpedoes to submarines and believing
Down on the bridge I Now only the Pope was
thing.
I
believed the
in their midst, attributing the
we were
their
own
destroyers.
heard "Fire ten." Just two torpedoes left
astern of
torpedoes at a group of three transports. mine.
difficult to
us. We fired Now I knew
our
was from peace-time
Academy over shells. I didn't
the
relative
we
loomed
trained on and
how
remember
still
had studied
at the
the
Naval star
use any of the complicated
fire-
of
searchlights
draw shooting
out of the dark at ranges of let
the real
but
and
control apparatus installed. This was targets
I
effectiveness
use either, nor did
could
firings! I
sonorous arguments of the publications
two
the stage was
Many a time I had fired at target rafts, but this was "Commence firing" rang in my earphones. I was ready
different this
left.
last
go a salvo or two, sights
500
at its best.
to 1,500 yards
set at their
lower
using the illumination furnished by burning ships. Finally
we
As we
limits,
sighted
we had passed it. The projectile explosions were tremendous. Deck plates and debris flew in all directions. When we last saw her she was a transport far
enough away
on end, slipping slowly under.
to let us get in three salvos before
We
had sunk the
first
ship to be sunk
)
77
Macassar Merry-go-round by American gunfire since Manila Bay!
on
that fact because a transport
on
her, but before
we could
grew and spread around the
began
only had a minute to reflect
I
silence her a shell area.
Over
had
my
turned
firing at us. I
hit us aft.
the telephones
I
guns
Flames
could hear a
— "four men wounded,
the after
deckhouse wrecked, ammunition burning." Thirty seconds
later the
burning ammunition had been thrown over the
wounded
torpedoman describing the damage
cared for, and the gun crew was
By now
the
Pope had
also lost us,
and we were
more transport we mauled badly, then
On
at.
the bridge
withdraw. Back
Later
last
trials.
give the order to
knots, faster than the
In the east the sky was growing
was
fortably bright. Astern of us the sky fires
shoot
ounce of speed out of the old boat.
we were making almost 32
learned
I
Commander
left to
blowers began to whine even louder as the
Chief Engineer squeezed the
had gone since her
One
fighting alone.
was nothing
there
heard our Division
I
aft the
side, the
firing again.
also bright, but
Ford
uncom-
from the
of burning ships.
For almost 30 minutes we ran south before dawn came. All hands strained their eyes astern for signs of pursuit that ble.
We
bow
and Pope. Proudly they
done,"
Down it
All that
that
we knew
astern of us,
fell in
on the bridge a
to be the Parrott, Paul Jones,
flag hoist
and we sped south
said.
morning we kept a wary eye cocked astern and overhead,
Our crew
their guns.
to-
whipped out smartly. "Well
we never saw
but the Japs must have been licking their wounds, for Jap.
inevita-
could see none. The only ships in sight were three familiar
shapes on the port
gether.
we thought
more than 10
ate in shifts, refusing to get
Only when we started
in the
mine
fields off
feet
a
from
Soerabaja next
day did they relax and drop
off to sleep on deck. up at Soerabaja with barely enough fuel to make the dock. On the way in we had put a canvas patch over the hole in our after deckhouse and had cleaned up the ship* as best we could. The Dutch met us in grand style, and Admiral Hart came aboard to inspect us. The Dutch provided men to help us fuel and provision
At noon we
ship.
tied
That done, every
man
in the
(Editor's Note: Unhappily, later,
it
crew
when
slept
16 hours
the facts were
.
.
.
known
six years
was ascertained through Japanese records that the three
American
tin-cans
and only one patrol
had sunk only 4 transports out of a possible craft.
12,
Pearl Harbor to the
78
End
in the
BY THE END OF FEBRUARY..
Malay Barrier
4942,
WHEN THE LAST
ABDA
was fought betwe'en the dwindling forces of the Command and Admiral Kondo's massive Java Invasion
Force, a
number
great sea battle
of other calamities
fending the Malay Barrier.
had befallen the
The Japanese were
both sides of the South China Sea,
in
Macassar
allied nations de-
firmly established Strait
on
and on the Cel-
ebes side of Molucca; moreover, after Singapore's surrender on Feb-
ruary 15, the
ABDA Command
had disintegrated, and both Wavell
and Hart were now gone from the scene, the
latter
having
There remained only a handful of United States warships
retired.
to join the
combined American-British-Dutch task force under the petulant
Dutchman, Rear Admiral K. W. Doorman, whose main mission was
all
sacrifice;
he was to oppose the most formidable sea force
gathered by the enemy since Pearl Harbor.
The is
sinking of the heavy cruiser Houston in the Battle of Java Sea
recalled
who
by one of her survivors, Commander Walter G. Winslow,
spent ten hours in the water until rescued by a Japanese destroyer.
COMMANDER WALTER
WINSLOW
G.
THE GALLOPING GHOST
...
I
stood on the quarterdeck contemplating the restful green of the
Java Coast as solace in
it
slowly behind us.
fell
beauty, but this night
its
and banana palms that had
lost all
it
Many
times before
I
had found
seemed only a mass of coconut
meaning.
I
was too
tired
and too
preoccupied with pondering the question that raced through the mind of every
man
aboard,
"Would we
There were many aboard who
expended eight of
its
get through
Sunda
Strait?"
a cat, the
felt that, like
Houston had
nine lives and that this one last request of fate
would be too much. Jap cruiser planes had shadowed us
all
day and
it
movements were no mystery to the enemy forces closing in on Java. Furthermore, it was most logical to conclude that Jap submarines were stationed throughout the length of Sunda Strait was
certain that our
to intercept
and destroy ships attempting escape into the Indian
Ocean.
we were when the odds were stacked and we had somehow managed to battle
Actually there wasn't any breathing space for optimism, trapped, but there had been other days heavily in the Jap's favor
through.
Maybe
cal outlook
but
I
it
was because
and maybe
it
I
had the Naval Aviator's philosophi-
was because
I
was
just a plain
couldn't quite bring myself to believe that the
run her course.
It
was with
turned and headed for
my
this feeling of
stateroom.
I
damn
fool,
Houston had
shaky confidence that
had
just
I
been relieved as
79
Pearl Harbor to the
80
End
in the
Malay
Barrier
Officer-of-the-Deck and the prospect of a few hours rest was most +
appealing.
The wardroom and
the
of the
interior
ship,
through which
I
walked, was dark, for the heavy metal battle ports were bolted shut
and
were not permitted within the darkened
lights
beams
blue
feet. I felt
my
on
door.
I
Only the
eerie
my
of a few battle lights close to the deck served to guide
my way
through the narrow companionway and snapped
flashlight briefly to seek out the
As
ship.
coaming of
stepped into the cubicle that was
look around and switched off the
light.
my
room,
my I
stateroom
took a brief
There had been no change,
it had for the last two and a half months. There had been only one addition in all that time. It was Gus, my silent
everything lay as
head
friend, the beautiful Bali
I
had purchased
weeks before
in
wooden expression
to
six
Soerabaja.
Gus
sat
on the desk top lending
cramped atmosphere
the
of
my
his polished
stateroom. In the darkness
felt his
I
presence as though he were a living thing. "We'll get through, won't
we, Gus?"
found myself saying. And although
I
couldn't see him,
I
I
thought he nodded slowly. I
by
slipped out of
my
my
shoes and placed them at the base of the chair
desk, along with
them quickly
in
my
men who were
their battle stations.
our
I,
last airplane left
get in
my
hat and
an emergency. Then
exhausted body sink into the few
tin
its
luxury.
I
life
jacket,
rolled into
where
I
could reach
my bunk
The bank was
and
let
my
truly a luxury, for
permitted to relax lay on the steel decks by
being an aviator with only the battered
aboard, was permitted to take what rest
shell of I
could
room.
Although there had been four days,
I
little
sleep for any of us during the past
found myself lying there
in the sticky tropic heat of
my
room fretfully tossing and trying for sleep that would not come. The constant hum of blowers thrusting air into the bowels of the ship, the Houston's gentle rolling as she moved through a quartering sea,
and the occasional groaning of her
steel plates
into
my mind
of events that
the
mad merry-go-round
combined
to bring
had plagued the
ship during the past few weeks.
Twenty-four days had elapsed since that terrifying day
in
the
it was haunting me again as it would for the mind pictured the squadrons of Jap bombers as they attacked time and again from every conceivable direction. After the first run they remained at altitudes far beyond range of our anti-
Flores Sea, yet here rest of
my
life.
My
The Galloping Ghost aircraft guns, for they
had learned respect on that
was a perfect
the Houston. It
first
salvo almost finished
and the force of those big
straddle,
though a giant hand had taken the ship,
as
lifted
away from her
bodily from the water, and tossed her yards
her
original
There had been no personnel casualties that time but our
course.
main
anti-aircraft director
ing
useless,
it
run when one
was blasted from the sky and several others were
of their planes
obviously hit and badly shaken. But that
bombs seemed
first
81
had been wrenched from
its
track, render-
and we were taking water aboard from sprung plates
in
the hull.
That day the crew had only the steady barrage from the aircraft
anti-
guns and Captain Rooks' clever handling of the ship to thank
Davy Jones. But there was one horrible period during that afternoon when the Nips almost got us for keeps. A five-hundred pound bomb, and a stray at that, hit us squarely amidships aft. Some utterly stupid Jap bombardier failed to release with the rest of his squadron and Captain Rooks could make no allowances for such as him. The salvo fell harmlessly off the port for keeping
them from
the realms of
quarter but the stray crashed through two platforms of the main mast
exploded on the deck
forward of number three
before
it
Hunks
of shrapnel tore through the turret's thin
just
were paper, igniting powder bags
hands
all
Where
in the turret
bomb
the
spent
and its
below which waited the almost to a man.
our
of
It
shipmates
in the hoists. In
in the
hellish battle
and
it
one blazing instant
was blown
in the
deck
They were wiped out
after repair party.
killed
turret.
though
as
handling rooms below were dead.
force, a gaping hole
was a
armor
which ended with forty-eight
another
fifty
burned
seriously
or
wounded. I
strove desperately to rid myself of the picture of that blazing
turret
—
dead sprawled grotesquely
the bodies of the
pools of
in
blood and the bewildered wounded staggering forward for medical aid
—but
I
was forced
to see
it
through.
Once again
I
heard the
banging of hammers, hammers that pounded throughout the long
men worked
night as tired
shipmates lying
in little
steadily building coffins for forty-eight
groups on the
fantail.
the followng day, that stinking fever ridden
We
little
put into Chilatjap port on the South
Coast of Java. Here we sadly unloaded our wounded and prepared to bury our dead.
played as
It
seemed that
Death March
—
in the
hum
of the blowers
I
detected
same mournful tune that the band we carried our comrades through the heat of those sun-
strains of the
the
Pearl Harbor to the
82
End
burnetT, dusty streets of Chilatjap.
Malay Barrier
in the
saw again the brown poker-faced
I
natives dressed in sarongs, quietly watching us as in the little
Dutch cemetery
what those slim brown men thought oLafl
The scene
shifted.
through the mine raid sirens
bombers on
fields protecting the beautiful
whined throughout the
in the distant sky.
We
wondered
city
anchored
port of Soerabaja. Air
and our lookouts reported
Large warehouses along the docks were
black smoke and orange flame. calling card.
I
this.
was only four days ago that we steamed
It
and a burning merchantman
fire
we buried our dead
that looked out over the sea.
in the
lay
on
its
side vomiting dense
The enemy had come and
left his
stream not far from the smouldering
docks where we watched Netherlands East Indian Soldiers extinguish the
fires.
Anchored there barrel.
Why
in the
shelter
air
raids.
stream we were as helpless as ducks in a rain
our gun crews didn't collapse
They stood by
guts and brawn.
pouring
we experienced
during the next two days
Six times
a tribute to their sheer
guns unflinchingly
their
shell after shell into the
is
in the
hot sun,
sky while the rest of us sought what
available in the bulls-eye of a target.
is
Time and
again
bombs
giant bullwhip exploded
our decks. Docks
less
deep throated swoosh of a
falling with the
around
spewing water and shrapnel over
us,
than a hundred yards away were demolished
and a Dutch hospital ship was
yet the Houston,
hit,
nicknamed "the
Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast" because the Japs had reported
many
her sunk on so
When
similar occasions,
still
rode defiantly
at
the siren's bailful wailing sounded the "all clear,"
anchor.
members
band came from their battle stations to the quarter deck where we squatted to hear them play swing tunes. God bless the of the Houston's
American
sailor,
you can't beat him.
Like Scrooge, the ghosts of the past continued to move into little
room.
saw
I
us in the late
out of Soerabaja for the lands
Navy was
the light cruiser
Netherlands
my
afternoon of February 26, standing
last time.
Admiral Doorman of the Nether-
command of our small De Ruyter, was in the
in
light cruiser, the Java.
striking force. His flagship,
Next
lead, followed
by another
came
the British
in
line
heavy cruiser Exeter of Graf Spee fame, followed by the crippled Houston. Last
in the line of cruisers
was the Australian
light cruiser
Ten allied destroyers made up the remainder of our Slowly we steamed past the ruined docks where small groups
Perth.
force.
of old
The Galloping Ghost men, women, and children had assembled to their
men who would
to
wave
83
goodbyes
tearful
not return.
Our force was small and hurriedly assembled. We had never worked together before, but now we had one common purpose which every man knew it was his duty to carry through. We were to do our utmost to break up an enemy task force that was bearing down on Java, even though
it
meant the
loss of every ship
and man among
us.
In us lay the last hope of the Netherlands East Indies. All night long
we searched
for the
enemy convoy but they seemed
have vanished from previously reported positions.
to
at battle stations the
We
were
still
when at 1415 reports from air enemy was south of Bowen Island,
next afternoon
reconnaissance indicated that the
and heading south. The two forces were
less
than
fifty
A
miles apart.
hurried but deadly serious conference of officers followed in the
wardroom. Commander Maher, our gunnery
officer,
explained that
our mission was to sink or disperse the protecting enemy
My
and then destroy the convoy.
heart
fleet units
pounded with excitement
for
known as the Java Sea Battle was only a matter Were the sands of time running out for the Houston who manned her? At that moment I would have given
the battle later to be of minutes away.
and
my
all
of us
soul to have
known.
In the darkness of
my room
the Japs
came again
just as
though
I
were standing on the bridge ... a forest of masts rapidly developing into ships that climbed in increasing
numbers over the horizon
.
.
.
those dead ahead, ten destroyers divided into two columns and each led
by a four stack
bow came
light cruiser.
Behind them and
off
our starboard
four light cruisers followed by two heavies.
The odds
weigh heavily against us for we are outnumbered and outgunned.
The Japs open
fire first!
Sheets of copper colored flame lick out
along their battle line and black smoke momentarily masks them
from view.
body
My
heart pounds violently and cold sweat drenches
my
is on its way. Somehow those big wonder why our guns don't open up,
as I realize that the first salvo
shells all
seem aimed
but as the Jap shells that the range
is
me.
at fall
I
harmlessly a thousand yards short
yet too great.
The
battle
from which there
I
will
realize
be no
retreat has begun.
At twenty-eight thousand yards the Exeter opens fire, followed by the Houston. The sound of our guns bellowing defiance is terrific, the gun
blast tears
the deck.
my
steel
helmet from
my
head and sends
it
rolling
on
End
Pearl Harbor to the
84
The range
closes rapidly
Malay Barrier
in the
and soon
close
Now
registered.
Four more
and the lack of a of us,
Our
luck
is
cruiser.
We
We
fly
The
a row,
900 yards
Perth,
astern
she too steams on
yet
close to the last Jap
an explosion aboard her. Black smoke
is
and a
breaks out forward of her bridge.
fire
as she turns out of the battle line,
first
Commander Maher,
smoke.
hit
have her range and suddenly one of our eight-inch
into the air
draw blood
but not a
holding out.
bricks strikes home. There
and debris
We
salvos in succession straddle the Houston,
from our guns are observed bursting
Shells
an
is
comes with a wild
it
us. It's a straddle,
hit gives us confidence.
straddled eight times in
is
unscathed.
heavy
around
shells that fall all
falls
found the range.
last
stand tensely awaiting the next salvo, and
screaming of
fight.
one
starboard followed by another close to port. This
to
ominous indicator that the Japs have 7at
is
on the
cruisers are in
all
Salvos of shells splash in the water ever closer to us.
making dense
directing the fire of our guns
from
his
station high in the foretop, reports our success to the Captain over the
A
phone.
up from the crew
lusty cheer goes
as the
word spreads over
the ship.
Three enemy cruisers are concentrating her
shift targets to give
relief,
shells find their
mark and
smoking and on
fire.
Jap
shell rips
is
bow
just aft of the port
and out the
The other
and ruptures a small
on Exeter.
We
a light cruiser turns out of the Jap line,
several decks
without exploding.
oil
tank.
shell, hitting aft, It
too
hit twice.
is
One
anchor windlass, passes
side just
above the water
line
barely grazes the side
explode.
fails to
to this point the luck of our forces is
their fire
not long after this that Exeter
Despite the loss of two cruisers, the intensity of
through the
down through
there
it
does not seem to diminish. The Houston
fire
Up
but
had held up
a rapid turn of events as the Exeter
is
hit
well, but
by a Jap
shell
now
which
does not explode, but rips into her forward fireroom and severs a
main steam
line.
This reduces her speed to seven knots. In an attempt
to save the Exeter, all
make smoke
whose
loss of
speed makes her an easy target, we
to cover her withdrawal.
The
thing has gone wrong, are quick to press their destroyers,
under heavy support
fire
Japs, aware that some-
home an
from the
advantage, and
cruisers, race in to
deliver a torpedo attack.
The water seems
alive with torpedoes.
Lookouts report them ap-
proaching and Captain Rooks maneuvers the ship to present as small a target as possible.
At
this
moment
a Netherlands East Indies de-
The Galloping Ghost stroyer, the Koertner, trying to
change
stations,
torpedo intended for the Houston. There
amidships by a
hit
is
85
and a
a violent explosion
is
great fountain of water rises a hundred feet above her, obscuring
but small portions of her
back into the sea
settles
bow and
When
stern.
becomes apparent
it
all
the watery fountain
that the
little
green and
bow and A few men
grey destroyer has broken in half and turned over. Only the stern sections of her jackknifed keel stick
above the water.
scramble desperately to her barnacled bottom, and her twin screws in their last propulsive effort turn slowly over in the air. In less than
minutes she has disappeared beneath the give the
few survivors a helping hand
No
sea.
two
one can stand by to
for her fate
can be ours
any
at
instant. It
is
The
nearing sundown.
surface of the sea
clouds of black smoke, which makes is
it
is
covered with
spot the enemy.
difficult to
It
discovered that Jap cruisers are closing in upon us, and our de-
them
stroyers are ordered to attack with tropedoes in order to divert
and give us time of the attack
engagement
Although no
hits are reported, the effect
gratifying for the Japs turn away.
is
is
to reform.
broken
off.
The
decisive results; however, there
At
this point the
no
daylight battle has ended with is
we
the convoy, which
still
will
attempt to surprise under the cover of night.
We
check our
The
sunk.
American
The Koertner and H.M.S.
who have expended
destroyers,
running low on still
losses.
Electra have been
crippled Exeter has retired to Soerabaja, escorted by the
fuel.
in the fight, but
The Houston,
Perth,
showing the jarring
Only two destroyers remain with
us,
their torpedoes
De
and are
Ruyter, and Java are
effects of
continuous gunfire.
H.M.S. Jupiter and H.M.S. En-
counter.
The Houston had only
fifty
fired
303 rounds of ammunition per
turret,
and
rounds per gun remain. The loss of number three turret
has been a great handicap, but there are no complaints for the
Houston has done
well.
The Chief Engineer
reports that his force
is
on the verge of complete exhaustion and that there have been more than seventy cases of heat exhaustion in the afternoon's battle.
plenty
more
We
fire
rooms during the
are in poor fighting condition, but there
is
to be done.
During the semi-darkness of
from the enemy
in
twilight
we steam on
us under observation into believing that
darkness descends
a course
away
order to lead any of their units which might have
we
turn and head back.
we
are in retreat.
When
Pearl Harbor to the
86
End
in the
Malay Barrier
Shortly after this H.M.S. Jupiter, covering our port flank, explodes
We
mysteriously and vanishes in a brief Jbut brilliant burst of flame. are
dumbfounded, for the enemy
we
not to be seen yet
is
race on
puzzling over her fate and blindly seeking the transports.
An
hour passes with nothing intervening to interrupt our search,
and then high ness.
in the sky
above us a
Night has suddenly become day and we are illuminated
targets in a shooting gallery.
we have no such
We
thing as radar,
out, following
We
cannot
enemy
it
with another and
know
and the plane merely flare after the first
still
circles outside
one burns
itself
another.
for sure, but certainly
closing in for the
is
like
are helpless to defend ourselves, for
our range of vision to drop another
the
dark-
flare bursts, shattering the
it is
Blinded by the
kill.
assume that
logical to
we
flares
wait
through tense minutes for the blow to come.
On
will give
our
men speak
the ship
bow
in
hushed tones as though
words
their very
our position away to the enemy. Only the rush of water as knifes thrbugh the sea at thirty knots,
and the continuous
roaring of blowers from the vicinity of the quarterdeck, are audible.
Death stands by, ready thoughts dwell upon
The
We
to strike.
No
one talks of
it
although
all
it.
fourth flare bursts, burns, and then slowly
are enveloped in darkness again.
No
the sea.
falls into
attack has come and
passes
it
becomes evident
that the plane has gone away.
derful
is
the darkness, yet
how
How
terrifying to realize that the
aware of our every move and merely biding
as time
wonenemy is
his time like a cat playing
with a mouse.
The moon has come up
to assist in our search for the convoy. It
has been almost an hour since the
pened this
to indicate that the
last flare,
enemy has
period Ensign Stivers has relieved
and nothing has hap-
us under observation. During
me
as officer of the deck. I
climb up on the forward anti-aircraft director platform and sprawl out to catch a hardly close
my
shouting men.
The water
is
tongue which
I
bit
of rest before the inevitable shooting begins.
am back on my
feet in a hurry
dotted with groups of I
I
eyes before there comes the sound of whistles and
men
and look over the
yelling
in
cannot understand. H.M.S. Encounter
side.
some strange is
ordered to
remain behind to rescue them.
Now we
are four, three light cruisers and one heavy.
through the eerie darkness. Suddenly out of nowhere in the
We
plow on
six flares
appear
water along our line of ships. They resemble those round
87
The Galloping Ghost smoke pots
burn alongside road constructions with a yellow
that
What
flame.
exactly are they, and
how
did they get there?
Are they
some form of mine, or is their purpose to mark our path for enemy? No one dares to guess. Either eventuality is bad enough.
As
we
as
fast
We
alongside.
nomenon
leave one group astern, another group bobs
cannot account for them, and
bewildering as
it is
there,
flares appear.
We
is
to follow
is
marking our track on the
of flares
zig-zag lines lanterns.
this oriental deviltry, is as
None of us has ever seen such a phecontinue to move away from them, but other
uncertainty of what
back and
up
confusing.
We
before.
groups of floating
The
the
leave
nerve wracking.
which rock and burn
them on
We
look
oily surface of the sea, are
the far horizon and
like
goulish jack-o-
We
no more appear.
welcome At approximately 2230, lookouts report two darkness.
are again in
ships to port, range 12,000 yards.
hundreds of miles of
unidentified
large
There are no friendly ships within
us, therefore these are the
enemy. The Houston
opens up with two main battery salvos, the results of which are not determined, and the Japs reply with two of their
water over the forecastle. With pear in the darkness and
need
all
this
exchange of
we make no
effort to
own which throw
fire
the Japs disap-
chase them, for
we
of our ammunition to sink transports.
There
is
no relaxing now.
We
are in the area where anything can
happen. Hundreds of eyes peer into the night seeking the convoy, as
we
end of our mission
realize that the
During the night the order of ships
De
Ruyter
still
is
approaching.
column has been
in
Houston, followed by the Java and Perth
A
half
shifted.
in that order.
hour passes without incident, and then with the swiftness of
a lightning bolt a tremendous explosion rocks the Java astern of the Houston.
spread rapidly
dead
The
maintained the lead, but behind her comes the
aft.
in the water,
900 yards
Mounting flames envelop her amidships and
She loses speed and drops out of the column to
where sheets of uncontrolled flame consume
lie
her.
Torpedo wakes are observed in the water, although we can find no enemy to fight back. The De Ruyter changes course sharply to the right,
and the Houston
similar to the one that
is
just
about to follow when an explosion
doomed
the Java
is
heard aboard the
De
Ruyter. Crackling flames shoot high above her bridge, quickly enveloping the entire ship.
Captain Rooks,
in a masterpiece of
seamanship and quick think-
End
Pearl Harbor to the
88 ing,
maneuvers the Houston
feet
on
to avoid torpedoes that slip past us ten
Then joined by the Perth, we race away from the and the insidious enemy that no one can see. How
either side.
stricken ships
horrible
Now
Malay Barrier
in the
it is
that
our
to leave
allies,
but.we 7are powerless to
Admiral Doorman has gone down with
the Captain of the Perth takes
command,
Rooks, and we follow the Perth as he
What an
for he
sets a
them.
is
senior to Captain
course for Batavia.
and how lucky we are
infernal night,
assist
his blazing flagship,
to escape. It
seems
almost miraculous when the sun comes up on the next morning,
February 28, for there have been many times during the past hours when
would have sworn we would never see
I
The Houston was had played merry had
fifteen
it.
a wreck. Concussions from the eight-inch guns
hell
with the ship's interior. Every desk on the ship
drawers torn out and the contents spewn over the deck. In
its
were torn from their hangers and pitched
lockers, clothes
muddled
in
heaps. Pictures, radios, books, and everything of a like nature were
from
jolted
their
normal places and dashed on the deck.
The Admiral's cabin was
a deplorable sight.
At one time
it
had
been President Roosevelt's cabin, but no one could have recognized
now
as such. Clocks lay
it
broken on the deck, furniture was over-
turned, mirrors were cracked, charts were ripped from the bulkhead,
and large pieces of soundproofing bulkheads and overhead were thick
The
ship
itself
by near
hits in
leaking.
The
had come loose from the
that in the
rubble on the deck.
had suffered considerably. Plates already weakened
previous bombing attacks were
glass
now
windows on the bridge were
badly sprung and
shattered. Fire hose
strung along the passageways were leaking and minor floods
made
it
sloppy underfoot.
The Houston was wounded and there
was
still
practically out of
fight left in her, plenty of
ammunition, but
it.
These events accompanied by many others played upon in the
minutest detail, until at
last
my
senses
my mind
became numb and
I
relaxed in sleep. It
was nearly 2400 when, Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!, the nerve Alarm" burst through my wonderful cocoon of
shattering "General sleep
and brought me upright on both
months of war in
that gong, calling
deadly earnest.
battle station
It
all
meant only one
and get ready
to fight.
feet.
hands
Through two and a half had rung
to battle stations,
thing,
"Danger"
—man
your
So thoroughly had the lessons of
The Galloping Ghost war been taught found myself
in
gong that
as to the sharp, heartless clanging of that
my
89 I
shoes before I was even awake.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! The sound echoed along the steel
bulkheads of the ship's deserted deviltry
we were mixed up
grabbed
my
when
me
tin
hat as
against the bulkhead.
inch bricks and I
flashed
We
knew
I
my
wardroom and
serted
wondered what kind of
room and was
I felt
putting
it
depressed. I
on
them but they
boys weren't wasting them on
that the
light to assist
me
through the de-
in passing
passageway
into the
didn't
seem
at the other end,
know what we had run
to
and climbed the ladder leading I
head
were desperately short of those eight-
group of stretcher-bearers and corpsmen were assembled.
As
my
from the main battery roared out overhead, knocking
a salvo
mirages.
the
I left
interior. I
now, and somehow
in
one
getting to be
hell
asked
I
into. I left
them
to the bridge.
climbed there was more
the five-inch guns were taking
where a
firing
up
from the main
battery,
and now it
was
On
the
the argument. I realized that
of a battle and
I
started running.
communication deck where the one-point-one's were getting into action, I
passed their gun crews working swiftly, mechanically in the
darkness without a hitch, as their guns
Momentarily
They were Before
The
I
I
pumped
out shell after
shell.
caught a glimpse of tracers hustling out into the night.
beautiful.
reached the bridge every gun on the ship was in action.
noise they
made was
knockout punches.
How
vals, the blinding crash of the
main
it
was
all that,
to hear, at
measured
inter-
battery, the sharp rapid crack of
the five-inch guns, the steady methodic
one-point-one's; and above
The Houston was throwing
magnificent.
reassuring
pom, pom, pom, pom, of the
from
their platforms high in the
foremast and in the mainmast, came the continuous sweeping volleys
machine guns which had been put there
of fifty-caliber
weapons, but which
now suddenly found
as anti-aircraft
themselves engaging enemy
surface targets.
As
I
stepped on the bridge the Houston became enveloped in the
blinding glare of searchlights. Behind the lights I could barely discern the outlines of Jap destroyers. for their
heavy units which
They had come in close to illuminate from the darkness. Battling
fired at us
desperately for existence the Houston's guns trained on the lights, and as fast as they
were turned on,
just as fast
were they blasted
Although the bridge was the Houston's nerve center, to find out
what we were up
against. This
I
out.
was unable
was mainly because the
90
End
Pearl -Harbor to the
Malay Barrier
in the
man
tempo* of the battle was so great and every vitally
concerned with
his
immediate^ duty that
I
such a time and ask a question that had
in at
What we had
stationed there so
was reluctant to butt
little
relative
We
loaded transports, twenty destroyers, and six cruisers.
middle of other's
this
mass of ships before
fire
in the
wounded by
mortally tinued to
fire
and Houston immediately
ships, the Perth
and turned sharply
an
to starboard in
However, the fury of the Japs was not
effort to
to be denied
break
free.
and the Perth was
torpedoes. Lying dead in the water she con-
with everything she had until Jap shells blasted her to
and she sank.
bits
When the
were
was aware of the
either side
presence.
Suddenly surrounded by
opened
meaning.
actually run into was/Jater estimated to be sixty fully
Captain Rooks realized that the Perth was finished he turned
Houston back
face of
At
no escape
into the heart of the Jap convoy, determined in the to sell the
close range the
Houston
dearly.
Houston pounded the Jap transports with every-
thing she had, and at the
same time fought
were attacking with torpedoes and
shellfire.
off the destroyers that
Jap cruisers remained
the background, throwing salvo after salvo aboard
The Houston was
taking terrible punishment.
our after engine room, where
it
A
and around
in us.
torpedo penetrated
exploded, killing every
man
there and
reducing our speed to fifteen knots.
Thick smoke and hot steam venting on the gun deck from the engine
room temporarily drove men from their guns but in spite of it. Power went out of the
back and stayed there
which stopped the flow of five-inch
empty magazines.
Men
hand, but debris and spite
from numerous
in the
fire,
hits
came
shell hoists
from the almost
attempted to go below and bring
fires
of this they continued to
stowed
shells to the guns,
they
after
shells
up by
blocked their way. In
using star shells which were
ready ammunition boxes by the guns.
Number Two
turret,
smashed by a
flames flashing up over the bridge.
direct hit,
The
blew up, sending wild
heat, so intense that
it
drove
everyone out of the conning tower, temporarily disrupted communications to other parts of the ship.
when
The
fire
was soon extinguished, but
the sprinklers flooded the magazine our last remaining supply of
eight-inch
ammunition was ruined, which meant
was now without a main
Numerous
fires
Houston
that the
battery.
were breaking out
increasingly difficult for the
men
to
all
over the ship and
it
became
cope with them. Another torpedo
The Galloping Ghost plowed
into the
Houston somewhere, forward of the quarterdeck. The
force of the explosion
ized then that
we
Slowly
made
we were done listed to
the ship tremble beneath us,
to fire, although
it
was obvious
and ordered him
down
to
still
that the his voice
commission continued
in
end was near.
was strong
the ladder which already
ing; instead I
jumped over
must have
summoned
had
I
did not wait to go
a capacity crowd, with
the railing to the deck below.
probably a fortunate move, for just as bridge, killing several men.
It
as he
sound "Abandon Ship."
heard the words "Abandon Ship"
I
I
jumped
I
this, for five
Despite the fact that
I
last airplane
would come
figured
on the
in
spread
and a
handy, but
its
bottle I
was
people were there ahead of me.
we were
still
the target for continuous shells
and the ship was slowly sinking beneath
Men
wait-
That was
a shell burst
useless wings in the darkness. It contained a rubber boat
of brandy, both of which
men
on the port catapult tower
trotted out
where the battered and unflyable hulk of our
not alone in
I real-
for.
torn at the Captain's heart, but
When
and
starboard as the grand old ship gradually lost
steerageway and stopped. The few guns
the bugler
91
us, there
was no confusion.
went quietly and quickly about the job of abandoning
ship.
Fear was nowhere apparent, due possibly to the fact that the one thing
we
feared most throughout the short space of the war had
happened. Captain Rooks had come down
goodbye
to several of his officers
off the
bridge and was saying
and men outside
when
his cabin,
a
Jap shell exploded in a one-point-one gun mount, sending a piece of the breach crashing into his chest. Captain Rooks, beloved by officers
and men, died
When
in their arms.
Buda, the Captain's Chinese cook, learned that the captain
had been
killed,
he refused to leave the
ship.
He
simply sat cross-
legged outside the Captain's cabin, rocking back and forth and ing "Captain dead,
Houston dead, Buda
die too."
moan-
He went down
with
the ship.
During
this
time
I
made my way
to the quarterdeck.
sprawled on the deck, but there was no time to find were.
Men
hangar
in
floats that
from
an
my
Dead men lay out who they
division were busily engaged in the starboard
effort to bring out a seaplane
pontoon and two wing-tip
we had filled with food and water in preparation for just If we could get them into the water and assemble them
such a time.
92
w# had
as
End
Pearl .Harbor to the
Malay Barrier
in the
so designed, they would
make
a fine floating structure
around which we could gather and work from. hurried to the base of the catapult tower where
I
worked rapidly
I
to release the lifelines in order that we, could get the floats over the side
and into the water.
I
uncoupled one
Up
moment
until that
oil
and
me,
when
must have been too fascinated with the
I
sudden torrent of fuel
this
could think of was
all I
found myself
I
salt water.
unreality of the situation to truly think about
ened, but
heard no explosion,
us. I
me and
but the deck buckled and jumped under
suddenly engulfed in a deluge of fuel
and was working on the
line
second when a torpedo struck directly below
fire. It
and become
it
fright-
and water poured over
oil
was the most
helpless sensation I
my life. Somehow I hadn't figured on getting was gripped with the sudden fear of blazing person and covering the surface of the sea. I was
ever had experienced in hit
now
or killed, but
my
on
fuel oil
panicked, for
have been
I
I
could figure no escape from
it.
The same thought must
minds of the others, for we
in the
raced from the
all
No
starboard side to the shelter of the port hangar.
sooner had we
cleared the quarterdeck than a salvo of shells plowed through
it,
ex-
ploding deep below decks.
Events were moving
and the Houston
fast,
about to go down. There was only one idea
was
her death throes was
in
left in
my
mind, and that
who were going over the side in increasing made my way to the port side and climbed down
to join the others
numbers. Quickly
I
the cargo nets that were hanging there.
edge
I
dropped
warm Java
off into the
was aware
above the surface
I
by many men,
swimming
all
When Sea.
I
reached the water's
When my head came
that in the darkness
I
was surrounded
for their lives. Frantic screams for help
from the wounded and drowning mixed with the shouts of others
make of men
attempting to battleground
swam
to get
I
had no desire
few hundred yards away
the death of
had come
my
ship.
in close
The
sea
was an
I
ship's suction.
As much
my
deliberately firing
I
turned, gasping for breath, to watch
and illuminated her with searchlights as they raked fire.
Many men
struggled in the water
near the ship, others clung desperately to heavily loaded to
as
to join her in a watery grave.
She lay well over to starboard. Jap destroyers
her decks with machine-gun
and then
oily
pitted against the terrors of death. Desperately I
beyond reach of the sinking
loved the Houston
A
contact with shipmates.
horror,
I
life
realized that the Japs were coldly
on the men
in the water.
The concussions
rafts,
and
of shells
93
The Galloping Ghost
swimming men sent shock waves through the water that slammed against my body with an evil force, making me wince with pain. Men closer to the exploding shells were killed by this bursting in the midst of
concussion alone.
Dazed, unable to believe that
all
was
this
real,
Japanese searchlights
I
saw the Houston
roll
floated there,
I
By
watching as though bewitched. The end had come.
the glare of
slowly over to star-
board, and then, with her yardarms almost dipping into the sea, she
paused momentarily. Perhaps
I
only imagined
but
it,
seemed
it
though a sudden breeze picked up the Stars and Stripes
two blocked on the mainmast, and waved them gesture.
Then with
one
in
as
firmly
still
last defiant
a tired shudder she vanished beneath the Java
Sea.
The magnificent Houston and most but in the oily sea around their last battle.
me
of
Hundreds of Jap
soldiers
the flotsam of their sunken ships; and as
swim
for their lives,
I
my
shipmates were gone,
lay evidence of the carnage
and I
wrought by
sailors struggled
amidst
watched them drown or
smiled grimly and repeated over and over,
"Well done, Houstonr
THE LONG, HEARTBREAKING STRUGGLE pines
sula
drew
rapidly
to
a
close:
Corps were hemmed
II Philippine
and were
Wainwright's in
on both
left
of
it,
PHILIP-
decimated
I
and
Bataan Penin-
sides of
pushed down toward Mariveles Bay,
steadily being
fronting on the beleaguered fortress of Corregidor.
was
THE
IN
The Navy, what
consisted of a few auxiliaries and motor torpedo boats
under Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell, Commandant of the
purged Cavite Navy Yard. Food and water were dire that General
MacArthur
in dire supply, so
offered bounties to Philippine guerrillas
who would brave General Homma's hordes
to bring
Japanese promptly countered by threatening to
kill
them any
in.
The
guerrillas
caught smuggling. With the situation worsening by the hour, President Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to leave the Philippines and as-
sume command in Australia. With March 11, 1942.
regret the General
and
his family
departed on Certainly
little
introduction
is
necessary for MacArthur.
preme Commander of the Allied Forces the architect of the
campaign
in the
to drive the
South
Pacific,
enemy from
his
As Suhe was newly-
94
Pearl
Harbor
to the
gainecl strongholds in the
End
in the
Malay Barrier
He had begun the war as Army and, simulPhilippines. He was the recipient,
Southwest
Pacific.
a retired Lieutenant General of the "United States taneously, as Field Marshal of the as
was
his father before him, of the' Congressional
Few Americans
in history
Medal
of Honor.
have garnered more honors during a
life-
time of service to their country.
MacArthur's evacuation from "The Rock" until quite recently,
when
his reminiscences
is
an oft-told
story.
were published,
it
But
was
never narrated by the controversial MacArthur himself. The "Buck" to
whom
Bulkeley,
he refers
who
is
of course the ubiquitous torpedo boat officer,
evacuated the General's entourage.
GENERAL OF THE ARMY DOUGLAS MACARTHUR
10.
RETREAT
Darkness had now
from the
and the waters were beginning
fallen,
faint night breeze.
tering silence
had
fallen. It
was
The
stench of destruction.
The enemy
as though the
smell of
filth
dead were passing by the
thickened the night
raised
my
feel a
sudden, convulsive twitch in the muscles
someone
cap in farewell
ask,
gruff reply. I
"What's
salute,
and
could
I
my face go of my face. I
feel
his chance, Sarge, of getting
in five."
FT-41. "You may
Buck,"
cast off,
air.
I
white,
heard
through?" and the
"Dunno. He's lucky. Maybe one
stepped aboard
to ripple
had ceased and a mut-
firing
I said,
"when
you are ready." Although the its
size
flotilla
consisted of only four battle-scarred
was no gauge of the uniqueness of
its
PT
mission. This
boats,
was the
desperate attempt by a commander-in-chief and his key staff to
move
thousands of miles through the enemy's lines to another war theatre, to direct a
new and
intensified assault.
Nor
did the Japanese them-
selves underestimate the significance of such a
movement. "Tokyo
Rose" had announced
I
gleefully that,
hanged on the Imperial Plaza
in
if
captured,
would be publicly
Tokyo, where the Imperial towers
overlooked the traditional parade ground of the Emperor's Guard divisions. Little did I
the as
first
dream
that bleak night that five years later, at
parade review of Occupation troops,
I
would take the
salute
supreme commander for the Allied Powers on the precise spot so
dramatically predicted for
my
execution.
95
96
Pearl,
The
Harbor
End
to the
Malay Barrier
in the
at Turning Buoy just outside the Then we roared through in single file, Bulkeley leading and Admiral Rockwell in PT-34 closing the formation. On the run to Cabra Island, many -white lights were sighted the
tiny
convoy rendezvoused
minefield at 8 p.m.
—
enemy's signal that a break was ade.
The
engine
is
noise of our engines
Several boats passed.
it.
get rough. Spiteful
As we began
The
sea rose and
waves slapped and snapped
it
evi-
began to
at the thin skin of the
was becoming poorer.
boats; visibility
grew
PT
had been heard, but the sound of a
hard to differentiate from that of a bomber, and they
dently mistook
little
attempted through the block-
bfeing
closing
on the Japanese blockading
fleet,
the suspense
tense. Suddenly, there they were, sinister outlines against the
curiously peaceful formations of lazily drifting cloud.
hardly breathing, for the
first
Ten
identify ourselves.
Twenty.
seconds.
A
We
waited,
would summon us
burst of shell that
full
minute.
No
to
gun
spoke; the PT's rode so low in the choppy seas that they had not spotted us.
Bulkeley changed at once to a course that brought us to the west
and north of the enemy and again,
was
this
craft,
and we
slid
by
in the darkness.
Again
to be repeated during the night, but our luck
held.
The weather
deteriorated steadily, and towering waves buffeted our
war-weary, blacked-out vessels. The flying spray drove against
tiny,
our skin
like stinging pellets of birdshot.
down
would
in
space as though about to breach, and then
would break away and go forward with a experience afterward as what
it
rush.
must be
to take
by 3:30 a.m. the convoy had scattered. Bulkeley hours to collect the others, but without success.
It
own,
his
rendezvous just
was a bad night
a trip in a
down
off the
tried for several
Now
uninhabited
each skipper
Cuyo
Island.
At dawn, Lieutenant (j.g.) V. E. saw what he took for a Jap de30 knots through the early morning fog. The
for everybody.
Schumacher, commander of stroyer bearing
describing the
I recall
like
The four PT's could no longer keep formation, and
concrete mixer.
his
a
the other side.
seeming to hang free
was on
fall off into
up the near slope of a steep water peak, only to The boat would toss crazily back and forth,
trough, then climb slide
We
at
FT -32,
torpedo tubes were instantly cleared for action, and the 600-gallon gasoline
make
drums
jettisoned to lighten the vessel
a run for
"enemy" was seen
it.
Just
before the
to be the
PT-41
signal
—mine.
when to
the time
fire,
the
came
to
onrushing
97
Retreat
The first boat to arrive at Tagauayan at 9:30 on the morning of March 12 was FT-34 under the command of Lieutenant R. G. Kelly. PT-32 and Bulkeley's FT -41 arrived at approximately 4 p.m. with
FT -32
running out of
aboard were placed on the two other
fuel; those
A
already crowded craft.
submarine which had been ordered to join
We
us at the Cuyos did not appear. intensified,
still
waited as the day's
on the water camouflaged
spots
stifling
heat
as well as possible
from the prying eyes of searching enemy airmen. Hours passed and last
we
could wait no longer for Ensign A. B. Akers' PT-35
arrived two hours after
ward
into the
we
left). I
Mindanao Sea
for
gave the order to
move
at (it
out south-
Cagayan, on the northern coast. This
time Rockwell's boat led and FT-41 followed.
The
night
was
clear,
the sea rough and high.
Once more, huge and ahead through the dark. Instantly
we
hostile,
We
cut engines, cleared for action
ticked into minutes, but
no
signal flashed
steamed slowly westward across our path.
we had been mistaken safety
loomed dead
a Japanese warship
were too near to run, too
—
late to
dodge.
and waited. Seconds
from the battleship If
for part of the native
as she
we had been seen at all, fishing fleet. Our road to
was open.
We made
it
into
Cagayan
together the officers and style," I told
at
men
7 a.m. on Friday,
of both PT's. "It
them. "It gives
me
March
was done
13. I called in true
great pleasure and honor to
naval
award
the boats' crews the Silver Star for gallantry for fortitude in the face of heavy odds."
THE LAST GASP OF THE PHILIPPINES PT SQUADRON came on April 9
at
Cebu.
New
Jersey-born Lieutenant
Richardson, executive officer of PT-34, stout
little
warship. After working his
now
way
tells
(j.g.)
Haf
of the death of his
into the hills,
Richardson
ultimately became a Major in the Resistance and there remained until repatriated in 1944. His collaborator, Ira Wolfert,
Prize for his
news dispatches from Guadalcanal.
won
the Pulitzer
IRA
WOLFERT
side
and Cebu
.
II.
ALL GONE,
The entrance
to
on the other and
Cebu is
NOW
Mactan Island on one
City has
bordered by shoals. Navigation
is
further compli-
when even-
cated by the fact that, particularly at night in wartime thing
blacked out. there are no distinctive points there that can be
is
used for
When you've seen one much seen it all. It
fixes.
you've pretty itself
.
We It
.
just
Island,
runs on and on repeating
.
went into the wrong channel and ran aground on a
worried
us.
the Filipinos
One
past time
had taken us
when we had run aground
for Japs
ashore in the Thirty-Four s punt to if
Cebu
part of the coast of
and shot holes try to dig
jut of coral.
close to shore,
So
into us.
I
went
up a tug and. anyway.
that failed, to block off whatever shooting there might be with the
morning sun. But by the time railroad station there
—
the tide
Four s crew had gone over
I
got a telephone
had started
to
—
come
at Minglanilia. the
in
and the Thirty-
the side and rocked her off the coral and
taken off south in the direction where they thought Cebu
lay.
took Kelly time to figure out he was going wrong and backtrack.
It
didn't get into the approach to Cebu City until dawn. By then was standing on Pier One with an ambulance, waiting for the Thirty-
and he I
Four I
to tie up.
could see the Thirty-Four working busily towards
air-raid alert sounded.
9fl
Then
I
saw four Jap
us.
float planes
Then
coming
the in.
All Gone,
Now
began
99
jump up
looking for whatever had pickled their cruiser.
I
and down. "Jesus,"
ran back and forth a
I
said,
"For Christ sake!"
Army
way. There was an
little
lieutenant
I
to
standing there,
a
tall,
powerfully built middle-aged man. "What's the matter?" he asked,
and
"Why,
I said,
I'm not on
for Christ sake, they're going to get
the
way
could
I felt. I
he knew by the excited way he
tell
looked around to see what could be done about anything to be done. But I felt
boat and
it."
He knew
how
my
I
—Jim Cushing,
liked
him
away
right
a fellow about thirty-five
been a wrestler once and then a chromium miner
it.
There wasn't
way he knew years old who had
for the
in the islands before
joining the war.
The Japs came on in a "V". They then peeled out of the "V" one to dive. They dove strafing and they dove right into the fire of
by one
the Thirty-Four. But torpedo boats in those days weren't
are today,
and we had only two
what they
on board and two lousy
twin-fifties
Lewis guns. The boys dished out what we had and the streams of tracers crossed each other in mid-air while at
myself and letting
flat
and
He
didn't
still-seeming.
I
change course
groaned
the water near by
mouth. Then
I
saw
it,
just
my voice. He knew what he was
until the last possible splinter of a at all to
The boat kicked
on the port
my
at the top of
right.
all
second so as to give the Jap no time flipped the boat over.
ran up and down, tearing
out and saw the boat rigid under
Kelly was an iron-minded man, doing.
I
noises run out of
bomb coming
the fat, yellow
held there
little
change aim. Then he
to the right
and the bomb
hit
side.
rail. That's the way it looked from The whole world stopped for me. White water stood up and hung there suspended. Smoke curled out of it while it stood there. The smoke curled like spumes of snow blown off a snow-smothered tree. Then the small, dark green Thirty-Four weaseled through, all motors roaring, and I shouted, "Missed! Missed! God-damn, if he didn't make them miss," and looked full at Cushing and he grinned
I
thought
where
back
I
at
But
it
had
hit
on the
was.
me
—
with
as I
all his
found out
strength. later
—Harris
smack altitude
that
into the Jap.
The Jap had
on the pull-out from
one Jap plane crashed
its
started to smoke.
dive.
(J.
It
couldn't gain
(Later verified reports proved
to the south
got one," Harris yelled to Martino
W. Harris, Torpedoman He had been putting bullets
(P.
2/c) on the port turret was already dead.
and west of Cebu City.) "I
Martino,
CTM)
on the
star-
End
Pearl Harbor to the
100
boarcl turret. "See
See
it!
Did you
it!
see it?" turning his
and following the plane fron>starboard
yelled
and neck stretched to receive the bomb
him
let
Malay Barrier
in the
finish
what he was
and drove up behind
Then
saying. Tfreff
splinter.
it
head
to port with
went
as he
head high
The bomb
splinter
under
his chin
in right
his face into the flesh of his brain.
more bombs and more strafings. One engine went another. The starboard turret stopped working when a machine-gun bullet in the thigh. The Lewis gun forwhen Hunter (C. M. Hunter, CMM) had his upper arm bullet. One of a stream of bullets ripping open the
there were
out and then
Martino took
ward stopped broken by a
canopy of the forward compartment
can opener went into the
like a
wounded below, and knocked up through his pelvis and bladder and intestines. The last gun on the boat went out of commission when a Jap bullet tore it right out of Ross's hands (W. L. Ross, QM 1/c), the bullet caroming off the gun and opening his thigh. And now Kelly was in trouble up to his neck and over that,
groin of Reynolds, lying
up
to his ears
and the
no guns
hairline of his forehead, with
left
with
which to fight back and only one engine with which to maneuver.
saw him sputter and wallow out of
sight
I
behind Kawit Island. Then
he did not reappear.
jumped into Cushing jumped 1
a car.
me.
in after
and we tore on down with hand on
don't
I
to
know how
He
baroto
took
—
was too
any reason.
didn't have
He
to Kawit.
excited. just did,
We
drove
us.
had gone away.
a dugout canoe
I
I
horn and foot pressing the gas pedal through the floor-
airplanes
it,
it.
Tanke, the nearest point
board, the ambulance piling after
The
got
I
—
there
I
ran
down
somehow,
to the I
beach and got a
don't remember, just
suppose, and paddled with Cushing for the sound of the
Thirty-Four's engine.
We
could
still
hear
it
going.
Then we saw the Thirty-Four aground behind one of those native
bamboo see
it
fish traps.
The
flag
was
still
there. It
flapping sluggishly in the breeze as
suppose your country
is
always
if
like that. It
made me
feel strange to
nothing had happened. goes on and on in
its
I
own
way whatever happens to you, but it made me feel strange to see the flag flapping away in the same old way, and then I scrambled over the stern and I remember the engine blowing fumes in my face and my and then there the whole thing was wrinkling my face up "whew!"
—
flat
before me.
A
sieve, that's
what
it
looked
like, the
deck there, a
mangled-up sieve of bullet holes with blood dripping through them. Kelly had got the
wounded ashore on Kawit. They had
lit
out so
—
All Gone, fast they hadn't
They had
had time
to shut off the
the dead behind.
left
I
Now
101
still
working.
one engine
found Harris lying quietly below,
laid him, KIA, certainly that, oh absolutely that Torpedoman 3d Class, United States Navy. I remember
where they had
KIA:
Harris,
running topside after
that, thinking
who'd ever have thought Harris
would be a KIA, and then seeing Kelly come wading back. "Congratulations, Mr. Kelly,"
"Well," he said, "well,
.
.
."
words, and then said, "Hell,
I
I said,
on
his
being
alive.
and stumbled around a
little bit
in his
wasn't worried about me. Hell, they
can't get me. I'm too tough." I
was so glad
absolute truth,
him
to see
I
told
him
wounded ashore on
Mrs. Charlotte Martin, an American
"Oh
table.
true, that
the
lived at
was the
dead and the
Cebu with her
Reynolds became con-
"I'm going to be very
That was the only thing he
no," she told him, "only for a
Then
who
at the hospital helping.
on the operating
said to her.
was
floating
the doors to the forward compartment.
husband, "Cap," was scious
that
and then we got busy
sick, ain't I?"
he
said.
little
while."
she leaned forward to stroke his forehead and saw he was
dead.
We had
tried to save the Thirty-Four. After all
their pair of pliers
Dad
and ten-pound hammer.
Cleland's boys
Tom
Lt.
Jurika
still
made
the inspection. There were two pilot boats for the party. There were a
help and other people
lot of Filipino soldiers to
—
including Jurika
and Cushing. Then two Jap planes interrupted them with a sneak attack.
They chopped
off their engines
and came gliding soundlessly
out of the sun, then cut their engines back in with a Godawful grind
and came on shooting.
They cut the Number Two pilot boat just about in half. Then they came back for the Number One boat. Everybody was trying to wade ashore. They were spread out in a rough line about forty-five feet on getting ashore. There were about
long, all intent
water and four inches of slimy
whether
came
it
was
into the
guns going hitting
at
faster to
Number One once
sounded
— one
mud
under
it.
You
swim or wade. Then boat behind.
It
fifteen inches of
couldn't figure out
the explosive bullets
sounded
like
two machine
from the plane, and the explosive
just like there
bullets
was a machine gun working on the
pilot boat.
Then the planes went for the men. They strafed Some tried to dive under the water. They saw
line.
the center of the the white-beaded
Pearl Harbor to the
102 line of
End
in the
Malay Barrier
bubbles from the bullets, but they couldn't stay under. They
couldn't keep the water over positive
them bs
buoyancy there because
Incidentally, those
it
who swam
a cover.
There was too much
was so shallow. got- td the
beach faster than those
who waded.
When
the attack
third fellow
was
over, there were
who had squeezed
compartment
in front of the
been clasping
his
cabin of the
knees and legs to
been to the diving plane.
A
out through a lower right
fit
bullet hit rib,
two dead and there was
a
himself for safety in a small forward
Number One
boat.
He had
himself in there. His back had
him
in the right shoulder,
came
and then went on through the thigh
bone, coming out just above the knee, and after that had gone leg, breaking the shinbone on the way out. him and four major bones broken by the one
through the calf of his
He had
six holes in
bullet.
And
the Thirty-Four
tree, hopelessly
was on
fire.
She was burning
like a
Christmas
and beyond redemption.
WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE DOOLITTLE TOKYO RAID, first
of the strikes on the enemy's homeland, the end of April 1942
marked
the lowest ebb of America's fortunes in the Pacific; never
again would they sink so low.
PART
II
WAR
THE
IN THE
ATLANTIC
WAR CAME
AS LESS OF A SHOCK TO THE EAST COAST. IN
effect, hostilities
between the United States and Germany had begun
several
months before Pearl Harbor.
tember
4,
A
de facto war had erupted Sep-
1941, when U-652 fired torpedoes
was en route
at destroyer
Greer, which
to Iceland. President Roosevelt reacted bitterly, terming
the attack ''piracy" and declaring that "from
now
on,
if
German and
war enter the waters the protection of which is necesAmerican defense, they do so at their own risk." Thus ended the "short of war" policy. It had been inaugurated soon after Dunkirk Italian vessels of
sary for
with the controversial exchange of
fifty
old destroyers for British
bases in Newfoundland and the West Indies, and had been continued
with
little
significant change, other than
sures, until the 1st
Task Force 16
Marine Brigade was
in June, 1941.
At
hemispheric defense mealifted to
this time, the
Newfoundland by
United States Navy
undertook the escort of convoys to Iceland (by Admiral King's nition within the
on a regular
Western Hemisphere and therefore
basis.
Now
a second destroyer, Kearney,
in
defi-
our purview)
was attacked by 103
104
The War
in the Atlantic
a U-boat, and on October 31, a third,
Reuben James, was torpedoed
and sunk with a heavy
disaster brought
loss of
life.
The
impact of the vicious submarine warfare
Noted
home
the full
in territorial waters.
and muralist ^Griffith Baily Coale, a reserve in the next convoy astern of the doomed Reuben James. In his memoirs, he speaks of the fateful night. illustrator
Lieutenant
Commander, was
LIEUTENANT COMMANDER GRIFFITH BAILY COALE
I.
ATTACK
Half awake because of the unusually easy motion of the ship, in the
unaccustomed quiet
am
I
conscious of the monotony of her listening
tubes.
A
sudden loud explosion brings
that
is
a torpedo and not a depth charge. Spring from
it
jump
upright.
Know instantly my bunk,
for the bulkhead door, spin the wheel releasing the dogs,
land on the deck in a It is
me
not us.
A mile
split
second, with General Quarters
ahead a
rising cloud of
black loom of a ship. With a
and
rasping.
still
dark smoke hangs over the
terrific roar, a
column
of orange flame
towers high into the night as her magazines go up, subsides, leaving a great black pall of
smoke
licked by
moving tongues of orange. All the
ship forward of No. 4 stack has disappeared.
upon
We move
rapidly
down
and
slides
her, as her stern rises perpendicularly into the air
A
moment, and two grunting jolts of her depth charges toss debris and men into the air. Suddenly my nostrils are filled with the sickly stench of fuel oil, and the sea is flat and silvery slowly into the sea.
we know it, we hear the cursing, praying, and hoarse shouts for help, and we are all among her men, like black shiny seals in the oily water. The Captain leaps to the under
its
thick coating. Before
engine telegraph and stops her, rushes to the bridge side, sees glance,
and
gives a sharp order to put her slowly astern, for
all
at a
our way
has carried us through them and over the spot where she just has been. In a minute
we have backed our way
carefully
among them and 105
The War
106
in the Atlantic
stopped again. Orders calmly barked, and every
Cargo nets rigged over
precision.
"We
ing.
are the
Reuben James' men!" comes
and then we know.
The
crisis.
But the bobbing blobs of
blown up and choking with caught in molasses.
by a vast
We
are
work
for heav-
from one
in shouting in
raft,
men
more
are
and water, they are
oil
now
is
in a
Thrice
pitiful.
animals
like small
black circle of water, surrounded
in a
The men
lines are slipping
unison
and organization
to initiative
isolated
silver ring of oil slick.
and the hove
us
a chorus
huddled greasy forms, packing the overloaded
magnificent and their team
example of quick return
a fine
acting with cold
7
•
spirit of these
life rafts, is
man
made ready
the^side, lines
toward
to port are drifting
through their greasy,
oily hands.
Soon many eager hands are grasping our cargo net, but our ship's upward roll breaks their weak and slippery hold. Instantly officers and men are begging permission
to
go over the
side,
on a
three of our officers are ten feet from the ship
and several chief petty
make
lines
fast
and
no time
in
reeling raft,
are clinging to the net, trying to
officers
around the slimy bodies of the survivors so that
dozens of strong arms above on the deck can heave them aboard.
The
first
man
from the
is
oil.
Forward
man below me and
hear his
hauled over the amidship
an isolated
lofty bridge I see
rail
vomiting
choking curses. Half blind, he sees the bridge above him. His cursing ceases
— "A
line, please, Sir!"
hove and he side,
I
is
I
my
cup
towed amidships to the
see the obscure
cigarette lighter
it
line is
Crossing to the starboard
mass of another loaded
and waves
A
hands and shout.
nets.
in the darkness.
raft.
One man
They shout
ignites a
in chorus,
They are drifting away to leeward. We shout through megaphones: "Hang on! We'll get you!" One man alone is trying to swim toward us. "Come on buddy!" I bellow, "you can make but our lines
fall short.
it!"
But the
line
course of their
hove with great drift.
It is
skill falls
a lengthy
— and we
chart the
short
and desperately hard job
to get
men aboard. Our men are working feverishly, but less than half have come over the rail and thirty-eight minutes have passed. The
these
horizon light
is
dull red with the
makes
the mass of our
coming of the dawn, and the increasing
inert ship
an easy target for the submarine
which must be lurking near. One of our destroyers is continually circling us, as the Captain bellows from the bridge: "Get those men aboard!" After sixty-five minutes a few exhausted
our
side.
The Captain
says to
me "We :
men
still
bob along
are in great danger.
I
cannot
107
Attack and her company much longer."
risk the ship
Now
A
contact directly astern with a submarine!
phone buzzes
in
the wheelhouse
left.
There all
is
nothing for
We
it.
—
The
the other destroyer gets
tele-
too!
it
order the ensigns on the raft aboard with
haste, the engine telegraph
is
snapped
full
We
leaving two survivors to swirl astern.
ahead, and
we
away and
roar
We
water tinged with blood color in the dawning.
leap away,
the other de-
stroyer lets go a pattern of depth charges, the white rising
columns of
search, lose contact,
and the other ship picks up eleven men while we
and
return,
We
hope she got the two we had
back
two or
there are
...
three
to leave!
A
circle her.
comes
third destroyer
and we
to relieve us with orders to search the spot until noon,
with thirty-six survivors, and the other rescue ship, catch up with the
convoy
fleeing
at twenty-five knots.
"Secure from General Quarters!" Ten-thirty and
Hot
breakfast!
coffee
—Lord, The
since five twenty-three!
ladders are covered with
two
to see
perfectly
wardroom,
oil
ship
is
and the smell of
and ears
we can go
—her
it.
decks, rails and
At lunch
I
still
plastered with oil in spite of
and the men's clothes are piled along the decks
men
learn that
all
we had many
Two-ten p.m.
—
friends
officers'
We
bunks.
up of the forward part
among them. The
the peremptory rasping of General Quarters!
lookouts have sighted five ships. British corvettes
jackets,
life
black and soggy
in
with hemorrhages are put into
the officers died with the blowing
of the ship, and
am amazed
into the holy precincts of the
the scrubbing that they have given themselves! Ropes,
masses. Four
and they give
to
have been on the bridge
a mess
naked ensigns walk
their eyes, hair,
We
nectar!
it's
When
nearer they turn out to be five
At nine
satisfactory signals.
o'clock,
with intermittent moonlight, the gunnery officer high above the bridge
has picked up what he thinks sion to
fire star shells,
five shots.
a sub on the surface.
is
and with
splitting roars
Hardly has the whine of the
He
last five-inch
when
the whole surface of the distant horizon
burst,
and we make out an English corvette,
asks permis-
our No. 2 turret
off
shell
brightly
is lit
fires
ceased
by
their
her station. In the
dark wheelhouse the Captain turns to me: "Is today more than you bargained for?" "No, Sir!" "Well,
he says with a air to
grin.
At
that
I
eastward, followed by heavy
General Quarters! to investigate,
Two
corvettes
and report
hope
moment two
to us
firing.
it's
close
enough for you,"
star shells burst high in the
Again the dreary
rattle of
and one of our destroyers dash
off
by phone that a couple of escort ships
had seen two German subs on the surface sneaking
in
towards us, had
The War
108 openetl
fire,
So for the
made them
last
battle light in
dive,
and dropped ash cans where they were.
time that day, General*Quarters
twelve o'clock.
eerie
in the Atlantic
I
grope my way down from
my
Hallowe'en
hall, into is
my
is
over and
turn in at
I
the bridge past the
sealec^up cabin, post
my
dim
—and an
log
ended.
WITH THE U-BOAT WAR IN SPATE BY DECEMBER
7,
1941, Nazi submarines rampaged along the East Coast with almost total impunity.
where;
Torpedo death came without warning and was every-
shipping
losses
mounted
precipitously.
270,000 tons of Allied merchant shipping were next it
month
In
lost to the
the figure soared to 427,000 tons; and three
exceeded 600,000 tons, despite the best
efforts
some
January
U-boats;
months
of the
later
United
Navy.
States
The
ordeal of our merchant service
is
ably described in the follow-
ing excerpt by the prolific Felix Riesenberg, Jr., author of several
books about the sea and a reporter for the now defunct San Francisco
News
at the
conclusion of the war.
FELIX RIESENBERG, JR.
2.
ATLANTIC SLAUGHTER
Winter gales that lashed the North Atlantic
in
early January
had
blown themselves out by the eleventh of that month when a group of twenty
German U-boats
stations off seaports
filed
down
from Halifax
bother these submariners the
way
to it
the East Coast to take assigned
Miami. The freezing cold did not
would
their victims
:
they were
veterans of the northern convoy route or had fought the
Royal Navy
in
RAF
Channel waters. Here were the world's most
all
and
skillful
underseas fighters; no one of them would miss eight shots at a ten-
knot tanker or need even a small part of one hour to sink some
unarmed World War I freighter. America was about to witness a slaughter that would make Japanese submarine operations seem amateurish for
all
their deadly toll.
Closing with the shore, the
Germans tuned
meter wave-band and were amazed
by the coastal defense
at the
into the six-hundred-
information being given out
stations of a nation at war.
Rescue work was
in
progress as a result of the recent blow and ships at sea were freely
The
was releasing not only the
announcing
their positions.
route of
planes but also the time schedule.
its
easier for the
air patrol
To make
U-Boats the glow of brightly lighted
cities
things even
showed
far
Each German commander waited impatiently for a signal. This was to be the code word Paukenschlag (bang on the kettledrum) which would be flashed by Admiral Karl Doenitz to open the ravage against American merchant shipping. off shore.
109
The War
110
in the Atlantic
Doenitz, then forty-nine years of age and a former submarine officer, fall
was
complete control of
in
of France he
had moved
his
U-Boat operations. After the
all
headquarters to a
Kernevel
villa at
overlooking the Bay of Biscay near #re Concrete sub pens of Lorient.
Here
in the big operations
room Doneitz and
his staff
had worked
top speed for a month to organize Operation Paukenschlag.
The Harbor attack had come as a surprise to the Germans, so it was necessary to recall U-Boats from the Mediterranean, South Atlantic at
Pearl
and Arctic. Details of assigning
making
stations,
ments and correlating intelligence were done morale of the
refueling arrange-
in record
time.
The
and seagoing personnel had never been higher
staff
was
the neutrality restriction
as
Doenitz expected to show the
lifted.
world a splurge of sinkings that would never be forgotten.
So
far in the
almost
war German U-Boats had sunk 1,017
five million tons.
Only
sixty-six subs
had been
ships totalling
and these
lost
were being more than replaced by the twenty new boats delivered each month. In March the effectiveness of the underseas be greatly enhanced by the addition of the
thousand-ton tanker submarines.
U-Boats
main
On aces.
to return
homeward
indefinitely off
the eve of the
It
first
fleet
would
"milch cows," the one-
would no longer be necessary
for
and torpedoes; they could
re-
for fuel
United States seaports.
American campaign Doenitz had
Gunther Prien who made the spectacular
lost a
raid into
few of
his
Scapa Flow
was buried under the Mediterranean along with Karl Endrass who had earned the Oak Leaves to the Iron Cross. But there were many experienced commanders,
men
Many
Hardegen, Gengelbach, Reschke carrier
Ark
of the submariners were former merchant marine
offi-
and Guggenberger, who sank Royal.
like
Britain's
new seventy-plane
cers whose knowledge of commercial shipping was invaluable in hunt-
ing and recognizing cargo prey.
While waiting for the chance to attack American
man submarine command agents.
Some
of these
were
ships, the
sailors
Street restaurant with information
who
drifted
up
to
an Eighty-sixth
which was transmitted via short-
wave radio by German American Bund members. In the
German
Ger-
had been receiving regular reports from
New
Orleans,
consul, an ardent yachtsman, forwarded charts of the
passes out of the Mississippi to which were added special markings. did not matter that in
January ten seamen found
were given long sentences by a carry on the work.
New York
court.
guilty as
It
Nazi spies
There were others to
>/-,?
—
113
Atlantic Slaughter
The U-Boats poised
known
for attack that winter were
as
Type
VII C. These 770-ton boats were 220-feet over all, twice the length of the wooden Sub Chasers of World War I that were sent out to challenge them; their surface speed was seventeen knots and submerged they could make to catch all
they
These speeds enabled the subs
eight knots.
but a few American ships of that day; even under water
moved
average convoy.
faster than the
Between 1940 and 1945 the German yards
built
that ranged
up
to eighty-five
hundred
659 of the VII
and men on voyages
C's which carried a crew of forty-four officers
miles. Before the
end of the war
they were equipped with "schnorkels," radar, anti-surface raiderdefenses and complicated plotting tables for automatic aiming.
At
the
beginning they were comparatively simple and depended mostly on the skill of personnel.
The
early killers were pierced with four
bow
torpedo tubes and one
Each carried either twelve or fourteen of the one-ton missiles, and mounted one 20-mm. anti-aircraft cannon and Twin Flak on deck. These were the sea wolves whose commanders received stern tube.
—on
Paukenschlag
the flash
the twelfth of January with
commence
attack set for the following day.
Admiral Doenitz, a
restless
man, paced the gleaming
floors of his
eyes lifting continually to the big wall charts of the world.
villa,
Gold-headed pins marked the U-Boat clusters of
kills;
soon he expected to see
them between Newfoundland and Florida Straits. In a trial, for Hitler and his closest advisers were as
sense Doenitz was on
land-minded as the policy-makers of World
War
I.
After a quarter of
a century the judgment of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz on the
high
command was
German
again true: "They do not understand the sea."
But the Fuehrer would understand
figures
on destroyed tonnage.
Paukenschlag opened one day early and for Doenitz the smashing start
was dramatically
been a British ship
—
apt. In
1914
his first kill as a
the Cyclops. That
was
also the
commander had name of the ten-
thousand-ton freighter blasted without warning on January twelfth south of Halifax.
To
sunk
and the Latvian Ciltvavia went under within
Cape Sable went ninety-four men. The same day a Pan American tanker was in the north
their death in the frigid waters off
Cape Hatteras. Radio broadcasts were
interrupted through the next two days and
newspaper extras carried banners Boats.
A
sight of
to
big British freighter and a
announce the arrival of the UNorwegian tanker were sunk off
The War
114
in the Atlantic
Long-island. American seamen ready to
or coming on the coast,
sail,
knew what they could expect. The first American victim was to be the Esso tanker Allan Jackson, bound toward New York from Cartagena, just passing Diamond Shoals off Cape Hatteras at one thirty on the dark morning of January eighteenth. Deep in the water with a 72,870-barrel cargo of Colombian crude sea.
The
the ship
oil,
was pounding out ten knots over a
flat
bridge watch sighted ahead, on lookout for Winter Quarter
Lightship.
Captain Felix W. Kretchmer lay on his settee
arm propped on a
injured
wheelhouse and
pillow.
He
engines lulled him.
He was his
when he dozed
praying for luck
bank across
off.
Then
to the inboard bulkhead.
Shocked awake, the skipper had
mendous explosion sounded
with an
bells strike in the
rhythmic throb of the
his tired eyes closed as the
he was hurled from
fully dressed
heard three
just gained his feet
close below; this time he
through a doorway into the bathroom.
Two
when
a tre-
was catapulted
torpedoes had ripped into
the Allan Jackson.
Before he could
came
rise a
sweep
of solid flame
second time, Captain Kretchmer saw a gust
his cabin.
the hiss of spreading
fire
He was
From
trapped.
out on deck
and the grind of twisting metal. The
He
deck canted sharply; the skipper grasped a shower stanchion.
moved
could feel the ship sagging and unconsciously
his feet
on the
hot deck. Paint began to peel as the flame tongues from the cabin
An
licked toward him.
Instinctively he
his
head toward the porthole behind him.
headed that way. Hampered by
desperately to get through the port and finally
A
raging
oil fire
lit
from the boat deck
agonizing, shrill scream
caused the skipper to turn
his
fell
bad arm he fought
out on deck.
the sea around the foundering ship for three
hundred yards. Ladders, decks, the metal boats and even heavy davits
had crumbled. Purple water sloshed over the
Above
bridge deck. night as
men became
ined such a Still
bridge.
fishplates
on the lower
the noise of the holocaust shrieks pierced the living torches.
No
one aboard had ever imag-
hell.
master of his ship, Captain Kretchmer clawed toward the
The
vessel's papers
the engine room:
hands had
—
a radio message
distress
flares
—
call
thoughts raced through the skipper's mind. His
just gripped the ladder
loose. In the next instant
was surprised
—
at its
rail
when
they were wrenched
water rose up to his armpits and at
warmth: the ship was
in the
first
he
Gulf Stream. The
115
Atlantic Slaughter
water swirled and a great sucking noise drowned out the roar of the inferno; under the sea
went the skipper.
With a mighty lung-straining
effort
Captain Kretchmer struggled to
By some
the surface clear of the burning water.
touched a small length of board. As he clung to
bumped
debris
him.
He
miracle his hand
it,
a large piece of
did not shout for help because the
first
object
he sighted was the hull of a large U-Boat, metal sides glistening in the flicker of the fire.
The
hours and fought
off
in the
man, kept
faith
through seven
morning.
The
torpedo to strike the Allan Jackson had been spotted just
first
one
after
skipper, a brave
unconsciousness until a destroyer picked him up
thirty
from the bridge by twenty-five-year-old Melvin A.
Rand, Second Mate. He saw the creaming phosphorescent wake 125 feet off
and shouted, "Hard
left!" to the
Rand was knocked
then
off his feet,
tossed overside. With
man
at the wheel.
Before the
was ripped open amidships. Mr.
ship responded to her helm, she
lifted
on a deck grating and
him went Third Mate Boris A. Vornosoff. They officer, Francis M. Bacon who leaped. The
shouted up to the junior three
and
men
lashed themselves to planking and tried to
legs clear of the
Drifting off they their bodies
drifted off
Back
Clausen and they
felt
their
arms
water when sharks were attracted to the scene.
saw pain-maddened men writhing blindly on deck,
enveloped
still
aft,
lift
in flame.
Before daylight Mr. Bacon died and
lashed to his spar.
where the crew berths his
men had been
in
a tanker, Boatswain Rolf
playing cards in the
messroom when
the forward part of the Jackson jerk from the two explo-
By the time they reached the deck, No. 4 Eight men quickly launched the starboard boat; sions.
Engineer was lowered into flames licked at them.
They
it.
No
lifeboat
was
afire.
the injured Chief
sooner were they water-borne than
struggled to get clear of the side and were
saved from cremation by the discharge of a condenser pump. But the force of the stream pushed
propeller which
was
still
them astern
into the
back bent. By great good luck they ratched later they
backwash of the
turning over. Oars dug into the oily water, clear. Fifteen
minutes
picked up Stephen Verbonich, the Radio Operator. In the
morning they were picked up by the destroyer which found the two mates and the captain. Cruising fished the bodies of four
in the area, the
naval vessel also
dead from tangles of blackened wreckage.
One of these was young Carl Webb, be named two years later.
a wiper, after
whom
a ship would
The War
116 Ashore
in the Atlantic
that morning,
still
men
vors gave newspaper
suffering
from extreme shock, the
survi-
the "eyewitness" accounts. These were a
preview of what lay ahead for unarmed merchant ships, a sample of the experience through which any mai? might expect to pass
men
hazardous waters. Twenty-two
sailed these
if
he
lost their lives in the
torpedoing and burning of the Allan Jackson.
The Germans
struck again off Hatteras in the pre-dawn darkness
of the following day and sent
Savannah Line
two torpedoes
into the thirty-year-old
freighter City of Atlanta. Ancient plates buckled; the
sea poured in so fast that the vessel heeled over on her
The starboard lifeboat hung Eighteen men who scrambled into the
before she lost way. inboard.
dumped
as
capsized in the
it
three survivors were picked
The
at
swaying
port boat were
men were
killed.
Only
daybreak by a Seatrain Texas
ship.
falls.
up
beam ends
useless,
Forty-four
A tlanta
had scarcely settled when a U-Boat slipped up Malay and boldly opened fire with its deck gun. Brave men stood by in the engine room when Captain John Dodge called down that he was going to run. The tanker was bound from City of
astern of the tanker
Philadelphia toward Port Arthur in ballast; a shot into her gas-filled
hods would blow the ship to pieces.
The
sixty-nine-year-old skipper
bounded
in
and out of the wheel
house yelling course changes to the quartermaster. shelter as the
U-Boat raked
the decks
and were put out; the
Fires started
riddled; cordite
Men ducked
from two hundred yards after
for
astern.
house and funnel were
fumes choked the men who huddled
in the passage-
ways, ready at any instant to leap overboard.
The
stern chase continued for
where the U-Boat turned away. Captain Dodge care-
close inshore fully felt his
two hours and the Malay was driven
way
off
soundings, then shaped a course for Old Point
Comfort and radioed the Navy. The danger seemed averted when the
Malay was suddenly hit amidships by a torpedo. Unnerved men lowered a boat while the tanker was through the water and made falls;
two were thrown overboard
The Malay limped
plowing
as the boat
was whipped around.
into port.
U-Boats sank the Frances Salman and the Norvana days along with Allied vessels so that the Atlantic Coast
still
the mistake of releasing the forward
was twenty
ships sunk,
toll in
in the next
two weeks
two hundred merchant
dead. In addition there had been a dozen
collisions
two
off the
sailors
and several
groundings when ships and some navigational aids blacked-out. The
117
Atlantic Slaughter press, sea unions
Why
Washington.
and steamship companies demanded action from don't
we put guns on our merchant
ships?
Where
is
Navy? Months would pass before the U-Boats were seriously challenged. To the Germans Operation Paukenschlag was less demanding, and far more sport, than training exercises in the Baltic. The bright lights of Boston, New York, Atlantic City and Miami Beach were friendly the
reminders of Berlin. They also served to
make
excellent silhouettes of
and
ships that were so carefully blacked-out. Night-club, restaurant
theater owners insisted
on flashing
neon
their
invitations: in
war
re-
laxation was necessary to keep up morale.
To make
things even easier for themselves, the
U-Boat comman-
ders resorted to guile. In the darkness of January twenty-fourth, off the Virginia Capes, a
U-Boat sank
a big foreign tanker
and from
its
glow picked up the outline of the ore carrier Venore. The submarine raced ahead for an hour then stopped to wait in the path of the
oncoming American This
The
is
vessel.
the lightship.
You
are standing into danger.
bridge watch of the Venore snapped to the attention as the
blinker message
was
read. Captain Fritz
Duurloo rubbed
and
his chin
scowled.
Direct your course to pass close to me,
came
the followup
U-boat whose commander peered into the darkness.
from the
He watched
bulk of the ship begin to swing and gave the order to
fire
the
One and
Two. Deafening explosions thundered around the Venore. Ears ringing, wits dulled
by
When
way.
fear, the
crew
tried to
launch boats before the ship
survivors were rescued next morning twenty
lost
men were
missing.
As
the
month
were bagged.
two
off
of January neared an end
On
two more American ships
the twenty-sixth the Francis E. Powell was cut in
Delaware Breakwater with a
loss of four lives.
Four days
later
a U-Boat surfaced in the path of the Rochester a few hours out of
New
York. One of the lifeboats ran afoul of the submarine and
fended
off,
then rowed with
all
their
might
in fear of
being machine-
gunned. Tough young Germans jeered at them and opened blank
fire
point-
at the ship.
U-Boat commanders gave their crews a chance firing the deck guns. There were many stories war of boat crews being machine-gunned, but there is no
Whenever to
men
blow
off
during the
possible
steam by
The War
118
in the Atlantic
substantiated record of Americans being so slaughtered by the Ger-
mans.
It
was the Japs who were
this atrocity
.
.
proved to have committed
definitely
.
Public indignation increased as the^U-Boat blitz continued un-
The Navy
checked.
established a system of defense based on the
1929 Coastal Frontier Forces and placed antisubmarine
officers,
in
command
the best of
its
Admiral Adolphus Andrews. The new Eastern
Sea Frontier, responsible for the safety of merchant ships sailing
between Canada and Florida, had only the most antiquated equip-
ment with which
to fight a fleet of
Ten World War
thirty.
I
submarines then estimated
surface units were supported by four blimps and six
This force did not even
at
subchasers joined three seagoing yachts. The
Army
bombers.
alone engage, the enemy.
sight, let
Available naval vessels in the opening months of the war had
been ordered to transatlantic convoy duty. Guns and armed guards
went
to ships
bound
for
England and Russia. All
aircraft
were being
The Royal Air Force refused to release a number of American-built bombers that were about to be flown to Britain on Lend Lease. Merchant seamen were as expenddirected to higher priority theaters.
able as the soldiers fighting against hopeless odds on Corregidor:
other group of the Nation's citizens were Hitler reminded the world of this
month
of February opened.
He
left in
when he came on
no
peril.
the air as the
ranted the threat that the U-Boats
and that American ships and seamen would
were only
just beginning
soon
the full might of his submarine
feel
any such
blitz.
He
attempted to
frighten sailors off the sea with the warning that any so foolish as to sailors stood scant
The Fuehrer's
chance of ever returning. threatening prophecy was almost immediately car-
ried out in a sinking that brought as
tragedy as any disaster of
The Standard launched
in
Oil
World War
Company
of
much
suffering
and human
II.
New
Jersey tanker,
W. L.
Steed,
1918, was logging no better than eight knots on February
second as she drew abeam of the Delaware Capes. The ship was low in the water, carrying sixty-five
thousand barrels of
oil,
and seas that
broke over the forecastlehead swirled above the well deck to cover the catwalk. A strong northwest wind brought a driving snowstorm;
men who had been burned by the Caribbean sun two were now bundled up and shivered as they looked out manes
days before at the
white
of angry seas that broke under the blizzard.
The nerves
of
all
hands were on edge.
A
submarine had been
119
Atlantic Slaughter
and had been seen at intervals up until sunset At seven that night a suspicious light showed astern and the master was called. Captain Harold G. McAvenia, a veteran of World War I, changed course. When the danger seemed past, the ship was brought about to buck the gale again. All boats were swung out; sighted two days before
February
first.
most of the men drank coffee through the
room wearing
life
night,
huddled
mess-
jackets.
made
Eight bells struck for midnight and the Third Mate
Rough Log
in the
entry for the
first.
Wayland, Second Mate, who
The watch was
relieved
the last
by Sydney
gave an account of the events from
later
twelve forty-five a.m. onward. Here are extracts from that officer's report:
Without warning of any kind the ship was suddenly struck by a torpedo on her starboard
side,
forward of the bridge,
at her
No.
3
tank, setting the oil afire.
At
was proceeding generally
that time the vessel
erly direction,
about 80 miles
off the
two miles
The next
thing
I
a northeast-
Delaware Capes. The sea was
bad, with a strong northeasterly wind. ing the visibility
in
It
was snowing hard, mak-
at best.
heard was the engine being stopped by the
captain in the pilot house and the general alarm sounded. ter
ordered
me
The mas-
two amidships boats ready for lowering.
to get the
Second Mate Wayland carried out
his orders
and took No. 2 boat
which he successfully launched into the heavy sea with fourteen men. His report told that
all
boats cleared, leaving no one aboard, but that
he never again sighted any of them. to see
From
his
boat the
two big U-Boats which shelled the Steed
men were
until she
able
blew up. His
account continued:
Weather conditions were
fierce,
with the snowstorm and dan-
gerous northwest seas running. Everyone in the boat was suffering
from
cold,
due mostly to lack of clothes.
The men in lifeboat #2 died one after another until February 5, when Chief Mate Einar A. Nilsson and myself were the only ones alive.
On
the
6, Nilsson showed signs of weakAt about 9:30 A.M. I sighted a steamer and made every effort, waving and hailing, to
morning of February
ness and extreme fatigue.
coming
close to us
get her attention, as she
seemed
to
go past, but
around, headed for us, and picked us up.
finally she
hove
:
The War
120
in the Atlantic
This was the British freighter Hartlepool which continued on her
voyage and landed the two
They were
Halifax on February and Mr. Wayland concluded his /-,?
officers ^at
sent to the hospital
ment:
Mr. Nilsson died the following day.
I left
the hospital
ninth. state-
on Febru-
ary 28, after recovering from the pains and suffering experienced.
Another account of the sinking was given by Able Seaman Ralph Mazzucco who was in No. 3 boat with Joaquin Brea, the Boatswain, and Able Seamen Raymond Burkholder and Louis Hartz and Ordinary Seaman Arthur Chandler. of the sinking Steed, they
As
they were swept around the stern
had the
first
sighting of
one of Doenitz's
newest U-Boats Just
then
a
large
submarine,
estimated
about 2,000 tons,
at
painted a light gray, with guns forward and abaft her conning tower, appeared on the port side.
Men
immediately manned the
guns; the forward one appeared to be a 4-inch and the after one a trifle
smaller.
They
started shelling the ship.
The seamen watched
the
German
lob shells into their ship with
astonishing accuracy despite the heavy seas that clawed at the gun-
They then
ners.
tried to
make
contact with the other boats but were
swept by a walloping cross breaker that carried away oars together with the
their
Soaked by
tiller,
rudder,
sails
icy water they bailed frantically to
all
but three of
and boat hooks.
empty the
boat.
The
report from No. 3 continued:
After struggling a couple of hours
we had
the boat bailed out
and then went under the canvas boat cover for protection from the heavy spray and strong wind. Some of us kept joking and talking through the night to keep lay
down
tried to
in a life preserver
wake him and
the forward
and
up our morale. Finally Chandler fell asleep. The next morning I
realized that he
was dead.
We
carried
him
to
end of the boat.
The same morning Burkholder became delirious. Shortly after noon he died and was also carried forward. It was so bitterly cold that we decided to start a fire. The lamp in the boat being broken, we poured oil from it on some wood we had chopped up and placed it in the water bucket. The fire burned steadily and helped to dry our wet clothes and thaw us out to some extent.
Perhaps
it
saved our
lives.
By
cutting
up
the thwarts, stern
121
Atlantic Slaughter
forward sheets, bottom board, and one of the oars, we
sheets,
managed
to
night until
keep the
fire
going the rest of the day and during the
we were picked up by
a
Canadian auxiliary
cruiser,
HMCS Alcantara. Brea, Hartz and Mazzucco were taken to Halifax and although
badly frozen they
A
recovered.
all
report on the disaster reached Standard Oil from
final
Town, South Africa, following the arrival there of Raby Castle. She had picked up a boat on February hundred miles to seaward of the position
Cape
the British vessel twelfth
some four
which the Steed was
at
men in that boat but only Elmer E. He had been Second Assistant Engineer and
torpedoed. There were four
Maihiot,
was
Jr.,
alive.
died three days after being rescued.
Only four men survived the ordeal while the
list
of the dead could be
To
thirty-four perished.
added other frightening
statistics to
show
war projected through the loss of a single vessel. The cargo of the W. L. Steed, broken down into a retailing unit, amounted to more than one quarter of a million gallons of oil or one
the course of
On
million quarts: close to five hundred thousand dollars.
her war-
time voyages the ship had carried forty-five times that value of crude oil.
Had
she continued unmolested through the war, this single vessel
would have delivered
six million barrels.
seas, the
U-Boats
Many were
attacked
While the open boats of the Steed battled winter
upped
two ships a day.
their sinking average to
so close to shore that Florida and
New
Jersey residents
came down
to
the beaches to watch the carnage. Travelers in commercial aircraft
were witnesses to daylight attacks
Morgan, a
retired
watchman
and Gulf. Timothy
in the Atlantic
of Sarasota, Florida, never forgot the
strange experience of seeing a tanker burst into flames five thousand feet below.
'The boat looked
"We circled
while the pilot called shore to get help and
a toy," he recalled years later.
like
low enough to see the submarine dashing black smoke.
Then
tiny white boats
from the burning boat
off.
—four
of
we came down much them crawled away
I
never saw so
—
like little bugs."
Frantic calls to the
Navy by passenger
airliners
brought only belated help; Eastern Sea Frontier in still
without adequate equipment.
and spectators
late
February was
The onshore wind
menacing boom and crack of gunfire and drove
White beaches became covered with petroleum scum and dead
fish,
sodden
life
jackets
carried
in a pall of oil
and smashed boats,
rafts
the
smoke.
littered
with
and decking.
:
The War
122
in the Atlantic
among
Small boys searched the shore and parts of
human
ica in the
bodies. This was the^ unprotected coastline of Amermonths of January, February and March of 1942.
Into the seaports half
the things they found were
naked.
showed the
came
Many wore strain of a
exhausted,' 'unnerved dirty
men, oilsmeared and
bandages over horrible burns. All
wretched experience. But old
lifetime of sea service, together with teen age
men
boys on their
with a
first trips,
showed a common defiance. "Give us guns," they continued to demand. Their answer to the stock reporter's question was, "Hell yes, I'm shipping out again." There was no braggartism and few asked for
more than a drink or might be sea they
drifters,
a cigarette. In ordinary times
many
them
of
troublemakers, drunks and brawlers; under stress at
showed great courage and
ship, their clothing or
later a fierce pride.
Without
their
any possessions, they proclaimed the dignity of
man.
The waterfront bars and
restaurants frequented by sailors were
plastered with warnings:
A SLIP OF THE LIP
MAY
SINK A SHIP
THE ENEMY
DON'T BLAB
IS
LISTENING
Nazi informers were everywhere and U-Boats were being fed
infor-
let them make the best use of their torpedoes. The Germans chided men in lifeboats for being a few minutes late or early at their rendezvous; officers were astonished to hear U-Boat commanders tell them their destination and the cargo they had been carrying.
mation that
From the decks of the big gray submarines motion pictures were now being taken of the burning ships under shell fire as crews scrambled into the boats. Machine guns were trained on the survivors to bring out a realistic look of fear while the cameras ground. Later,
audiences in Berlin would have no doubt about victory over so less
spirit-
and ragged an enemy.
Navy communiques were handed
Enemy submarine of
activity
out to the newspapers
continued
last
North America from Cape Hatteras
southward to the Florida
Straits
.
.
week to
off the
East Coast
Newfoundland and
.
Strong counter measures are being taken by units of the Navy's
East Coastal
Command.
123
Atlantic Slaughter In Paul's Bar and the Dutchman's on Eleventh Avenue,
and
between there and the Ship's Light on Charles
in all the bars
New
Street,
Orleans, seamen shrugged
Out
the true count in February.
when
his legs.
Men
and
Navy
off the coast.
San Pedro a
in
ticket, lifeboat certificate, identification
on
they read a
had been sunk
that claimed twenty submarines
tattoed
New York
sailor
release
Zero was
had
AB
his
numbers
social security
shipping out went "schooner-rigged," taking
only bare necessities and checking valuables at the union halls or
Seamen's Church
Institute.
Good-byes
to wives
and families took on
the aspect of finality.
At
when some
the height of the sinkings,
was
sort of coastal patrol
USNR,
so badly needed, Captain Arthur O. Brady,
privately voiced a
many who were old enough to rerum runners these days?" he knew every inch of water fellows "Those asked, half humorously. from Florida up to the Bay of Fundy." Veterans of the Jersey Coast, Long Island and Florida beaches, suggestion that had occurred to
member
Prohibition.
"Where
where they smuggled booze
But
boats.
are the
in the 'twenties,
in the spring of
had operated
1942 those of them not
fast,
armed
in prison
were
playing the black market or cargo filching along the waterfronts.
Through
the
the pattern of
month U-Boat
of February the public because familiar with
Most
attack.
survivors told of surprise and
shock; the tanker disasters brought explosions and burning.
Men
could not remain on the scorching decks but usually the only place to
jump was
into a sheet of flame.
overlaid with searing
To
the U-Boats the merchant ships were like
a hunt. great
Here was the paradox of
Each commander was out
enough
to earn
water
him
the
commencing on February Reached operational
game
to be
bagged
in
to get a tonnage-destruction figure
Oak Leaves
an extract from the log of U-504 as
it
to the Iron Cross.
Here
is
swept the waters of Florida
twenty-first:
area.
Fired double salvo at tanker steering
south in ballast. Hit fore and
chased a merchant ship but later
icy
fire.
aft.
lost
Ship sank by stern. Next evening her in a rain squall. Half an hour
sank a four-masted ship in night attack. Ship turned
Steered south for Jupiter. Attacked large tanker. plosion and ship at once burst into flames.
turtle.
Tremendous
ex-
She was carrying
12,000 tons of petrol. Picked up destroyer noises. In the bright moonlight sighted enemy and dived.
Was
attacked with depth-
charges and pursued for three hours, but although
enemy passed
The War
124
in the Atlantic
overhead several times he did not attack again, and
A
off.
later
little
made submerged
from heavy seas which impeded
7, 000- ton
action. Set course for
Bombay
slow speed. Sank a ship making for
motor
on a
daylight attack
which blew up. Serious damage sustained on deck
petrol tanker
of
finally cleared
cars.
Ship blown to
bits.
.
home
at
carrying deck-cargo
.
.
This cold account described what by that time was a commonplace slaughtering in the ocean jungle off the sandy coast of Florida. the
Merchant Marine Naval Reserve
of wartime sinkings
list
possible to write the obituary of the ships that
The were
killed
fell
was the tanker Republic,
ship caught
first
From it
is
victims to U-504.
whose crew
five of
by the explosion. The four-masted ship was a Cuban
vessel,
and the tanker reported
Jupiter
was the
Cities Service
to
have burst into flames north of
Empire. All her lifeboats on the
star-
board side were smashed; twenty-three of the crew huddled on one
and seven men were burned
raft,
The merchant
to death.
ship that escaped in the rain squall on February
SOS was
twenty-second was the Green Island. Her
America's
first
Pacific-bound convoy out of
escorting destroyers raced ahead but
New
picked up by
York. One of the
was rammed by the Green
land which mistook her for a sub in the fading
light.
A
second de-
stroyer
made
The bound
petrol-tanker caught just before the sinking of the vessel
the depth-charge attack
was
Is-
on U-504.
BombayAt the time of her torpedoing Sumner addressing delegates to a Pan American
Brazilian.
Welles was in Rio de Janeiro defense conference.
Operation Paukenschlag reached
March when for a
little
more than two months was 145
dred thousand tons and
Marine
furious
a
Institute
comparative
climax midway
the U-Boats sank twenty ships in one week.
six
hundred
attempted
to
lives.
impress
in
score
ships totaling eight hun-
The American Merchant the
public
general
the average freighter carried an
statistics:
The
cargo equal to four trains of seventy-five cars each!
A
with
amount
of
standard tanker
loaded enough gasoline on one voyage to supply the holder of an "A" ration
sent to
book with gas
more submarines
commission the
Fuehrer a
total of
for thirty-five thousand years! Admiral Doenitz to the
first
American
station
and was getting ready
tankers and supply boats.
two hundred
ships,
He
promised the
one million tons, by April
first.
On
the last day of
March
the compilers of ship losses
made
an-
:
125
Atlantic Slaughter
other record entry: in slightly over twenty-four hours the U-Boats
sank
six vessels: City of
New
York, Tiger, T. C. McCobb, Menomi-
and Allegheny.
nee, Barnegat
New York
Thirteen days after the City of
went under Robert "Pat"
how
Peck, an ordinary seaman, came into a Delaware port and told the big
American South African Line motor ship was slugged one off the coast as she bucked a head gale and waves that
hundred miles
ran twenty feet from trough to crest. Only one of the ship's four boats cleared and in
old
girl,
it
were crowded twenty persons, including a three-year-
her mother and two other women.
men
Half the for there
died in the next ten days.
were no weights
The
were hideous
burials
which would
to sink the corpses
just float
who had sobbed constantly since the abandoning, hysterics when her mother died. "Please don't throw my
away. The child,
gave way to
Mummy in the water.
Please don't."
U-Boats, lurking between the
number
Down
East coast and Florida
was necessary for them
Straits,
to
burn
at night.
They
refueled or took on ammunition and supplies without fear;
com-
had so increased
in
that
it
navigation lights to avoid collisions
manders even exchanged
on deck
stretched out
Miami
In
visits.
when they surfaced
In Southern waters the Germans
to acquire sun tans.
there were rumors that U-Boats were receiving regular
milk deliveries from a local dairy.
It
was said
that ticket stubs
from a
Flagler Street movies had been found in the pockets of submariners
captured offshore. The
FBI
boats refueling the enemy,
men
investigated five
all
of
them
hundred reports of small
false alarms. J.
Edgar Hoover's
did capture saboteurs near Ponte Verde, just south of Jackson-
and twenty-seven
ville,
Miami Naval Air
aliens
Station at
were rounded up
in the
lee
Opa-Locka. These German,
of the
Italian
and
Japanese aliens were operating with radios, cameras and binoculars.
The United
Navy was being sharply criticized, even by its Commander-in-Chief who was then carrying on a confidential correStates
spondence with Prime Minister Winston Churchill
.
.
.
Roosevelt
wrote .
.
.
My Navy
marine war officers
has been definitely slack in preparing for this sub-
off
our coast. As
have declined
than two thousand tons.
We
still
have to learn
the
West
Indies.
I
need not
it.
tell
you, most naval
terms of any vessel of
You learned the lesson two years ago. I expect to get a pretty good By May
less
coastal patrol working
I
in the past to think in
1
from Newfoundland
to Florida
and through
have begged, borrowed, and stolen every vessel
The "War
126
in the Atlantic
of every description over eighty feet long a separate
command
"Roosevelt's
them
Navy" was under
politicians
—and
I
have made
who had
attack by
many
amateurs, some of
screame'd against prewar appropriations.
Enemies of the Administration pointed accusingly to the from Britain and longed for the
islands leased
this
with the responsibility in Admiral Andrews.
string of
exchanged de-
fifty
stroyers.
and lubberly ad-
While pundits of the shore offered caustic vice, the
Luxury
Eastern Sea Frontier battled delays, red tape and selfishness.
lighting at
Miami and West Palm Beach
did not go out until
convoy escort
the end of the winter tourist season; sufficient ships for
were not delivered
merchant ships
and the
until April,
—from Hampton Roads
first
to
protected
Key West
—
movement
of
started in mid-
May. After hundreds of merchant seamen had died, most of them in night attacks, daylight coastal navigation sailing
was put
into force. Ships
between Maine and Delaware Bay anchored overnight
ton and
New
Bos-
in
York. Because there were no such convenient stopping
places south of Hatteras, artificial ports were constructed. These were
pens built out of huge booms and submarine nets, spaced 125 miles apart. Freighters fields;
and tankers were herded
in at sunset
through mine
during the day they were escorted by 1918 destroyers released
from Iceland convoy duty.
The "leap-frog" convoys at the start were far from effective and the U-Boat sinking average remained at better than two per day. But Admiral Doenitz did not
like
even the mildest opposition and in the
spring directed his U-Boats to the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. In these unprotected waters the
Germans promptly
new
established a
slaughter record.
The problem America speed, was one of
how
faced,
and needed
to replace
LEAVING THE NAVY AS monumental
struggle
ahead,
let
to solve with the greatest
merchant ships and crews
IT us
.
.
.
SHAPED UP FOR THE turn
to
the
events
aboard
an Esso tanker at sea during the U-boat invasion. Able Seaman John J. Forsdal of R. P. Resor was aboard the 12,875 ton merchant-
man when sixth
she
voyage to
survivors.
It was during her fiftywas one of her few Forsdal and Kingdom, the United
fell
prey to an enemy submarine.
JOHN
FORSDAL
J.
"WIPE THE OIL
OUT OF MY
On
EYES!"
February 19, 1942, the R. P. Resor, commanded by Fred Marcus
and with Chief Engineer Travis L. Lumpkin
in charge of her engine-
room, left Houston, Texas, with a cargo of 78,729 barrels of fuel
oil,
bound, via Baytown, for Fall River, Massachusetts.
She carried a merchant crew of 41
Navy gunners
ensign and 8
complement of instructions
of her
and men. With the
armed guard, she had a
50. Sailing without escort, she followed
and maintained a
About two days out zigzag courses
officers
total
blackout
of Baytown, Captain
—long courses on each
at
Navy
night
.
total
routing .
.
Marcus began Mexico and
steering
leg in the Gulf of
shorter courses, of 15 minutes each, north of Miami. In addition to the crew's lookout watches, the
and
night, posting
gun
aft.
one
man on
armed guard maintained lookouts day the
monkey
bridge and another at the
On the night of the 26th, Captain Marcus was in the wheelhouse when Third Mate Graham P. Covert took over the 8 to 12 watch Ordinary Seaman Orville R. Hogard was stationed as lookout on the .
.
.
wing of the bridge.
The evening was
fine
and
clear.
There was a
light northwesterly
breeze, small ripples on the water, and a long, moderate, lazy easterly swell. It
was a
brilliantly lighted
better than half a
moon
showing.
moonlight night, there being a
The sky was
little
cloudless and the night
127
The -War
128 was
clear
st>.
Jersey shore.
I
in the Atlantic
New
could distinguish the individual lights on the
The evening was cold and
it
was necessary
to
wear
heavy clothing and ear muffs.
From
Seaman JForsdal was taking his trick at The Resor was then steering a base course of 30 degrees
8 to 10 p.m. Able
the wheel.
by gyro-compass and zigzagging
and
speed 15 degrees to the
at full
A
right of that course at intervals of 15 minutes.
was on lookout duty atop the on the
house and a seaman stood watch
pilot
The wheelhouse.was blacked out and
foc'sle head.
was not showing navigation
left
Navy gunner
When
lights.
Forsdal
the vessel
the bridge at
left
10 p.m. the ship was steering the zigzag course heretofore explained.
From 10 hour
p.m. to 11 p.m.
proceeded to the
I
I
foc'sle
was on standby
At
duty.
the latter
head and relieved Ordinary Seaman
Hogard. The Resor would soon be about 20 miles east of Manasquan Inlet,
N.
J.
Just before 7 bells,
Suddenly
I
was standing
I
on the port bow. Although not
points
was
indistinct. I did
due
to the
walked
slightly to port of the stem.
sighted a dark object lying
low
far distant
along the port side toward the
few seconds
from the
vessel,
after I sighted the vessel,
I
immediately turned and
bell, to
which
I
report the craft.
could see that
I
her white light was about 5 feet above her green and red side lights
A
thought might be a
small fishing boat, she turned on her navigating lights.
The
it
not hear any engine or a motor exhaust, possibly
sound of the Resor's bow waves.
aft
water about two
in the
lights.
were then about 200 to 300 yards away and were heading
for a point
midway between
the stem of the Resor
and the break of
the foc'sle head.
A
second or so after the strange vessel showed her navigating
lights, I
rang two strokes on the
bell
and then reported by voice
to the
bridge: "Small vessel about two points on your port bow, sir!"
bridge answered: "Aye! Aye!" craft until I reported
As
I
it,
From
the time
I
first
The
observed the
only 10 to 15 seconds had elapsed.
turned to walk forward,
I
saw
that the lights
were about
three points on the port bow. They were too dim to show any part of her hull and after a few seconds she switched them off. Thinking that
she was a fishing boat because of her small outline and not realizing that a submarine
would venture so close
to shore,
I
resumed
my
lookout without giving further thought to the vessel, which had
disap-
moon was
either
peared
in the darkness.
At
this time, as I recall, the
aft or on our starboard quarter.
"Wipe the Oil Out I
my
had continued
My
of
129
Eyes!"
lookout for a minute or two,
when
of a
all
sudden I felt and heard a violent explosion on our port side. Within what seemed a fraction of a second the Resor was aflame from her bridge aft and debris was hurled high into the air. I was thrown to the deck and lay there momentarily
in a
myself from falling fragments
I
foc'sle
dazed condition. Then to protect
crawled under a platform on the
head which had been constructed for a gun.
up and went down to the fore deck. In was now clearly visible, about 400 to 500 yards distant. The enemy four points on our port bow and vessel, without lights, appeared to be on her way to the Jersey shore and I could hear the noise of a heavy Diesel exhaust. Then she disap-
When
it
seemed
safe, I got
the light of the flames, the submarine
peared from view.
Removing my
lifebelt
and heavy overcoat,
put the
I
lifebelt
on
again and proceeded to the foremast rigging on the port side, where tried to size
that the fire
found a
line
up the
whether
situation to see
was too
severe.
Then
could go
I
decided
aft. I
released the portside
I
I
life
raft,
hanging over the side and lowered myself into the water,
which was icy cold.
When heavy
shoulder ship
about 50 yards from the ship, as
oil,
was
I
I
I
kept on swimming in
heard a second violent explosion. Looking over
saw
that the oil floating
afire. I
had
to
swim out
on the water
in the vicinity of the
to the sea at least
20 minutes
away from the burning oil. About this time I heard a voice and paddled toward
A
my
it,
to get
shouting.
man calling nearer by. It was Radio Operator Clarence Armstrong and I swam in his direction. Sparks shouted to me and to the other man in the water, whom I could not identify: 'Come over here so we can be together.' He also moment
told us he
later I
heard another
had a
life raft.
Jersey shore and
I
The Resor was then between
us and the
could see the mass of flames growing steadily
worse.
Covered with more and more strong, answering
oil,
I
struggled hard to reach
him each time he shouted. In the
Resor, after a period of time
I
cannot estimate,
which was about half a mile distant from the around the tion. I
lifelines I rested for ten
Sparks was hanging to a
I
ship.
light of the
up on the
raft
flaming
arrived at the raft,
Hooking my arms
minutes or so in a state of exhaus-
lifeline
on the other
side of the raft.
was heavily weighted down with cold and clinging
tion of climbing
Arm-
taxed
my
oil;
the exer-
strength so seriously that
I
The "War
130
was unable seemed
to
in the Atlantic
do anything but
While lying on the
Guard
my
to be paralyzing
down. The cold and the heavy
took to be a Coast
I
patrol boat. I told Sparks to'-keep his chin up, that help
could locate
was was shouting toward the boat so they she passed us she turned around and put a
When
us.
on the
searchlight
managed
I
I
Then
raft.
my
to get
was thrown, attached
a lifebuoy
arms through the ring but sea.
grasp. I
I was hauled off the raft into the headway pulled the life ring from my
return slowly to the raft, but as
attempt to climb aboard not reply
when
I
Soon afterward
I
warmer
in the water, I did not
still
hanging on, but did
had died.) a rope was put under my arms. came along and the line secured to my cannot remember what happened after that
came over
to
me and
a picket boat
body was passed until
I felt
Armstrong was
talked to him. (Forsdal did not know, at that time,
that the radio operator
small boat
it.
to a
as the vessel
Then the patrol managed to
went ahead boat's
A
oil
r
observed what
raft I
coming. At the same time
line.
lie
body.
to
it.
I
found myself on board the boat, which landed
me on
the
New
Jersey coast.
Another man had been hauled out of the water by the picket boat before they rescued me.
He was
a
member
of the
Navy armed guard
named Hey. According of the
to Chief Boastwain's
Mate John W. Daisey, commander
Coast Guard picket boat that rescued the two survivors,
"Forsdal was so coated with thick congealed his clothes
with
oil
blob of
we
and
his life jacket off with knives.
couldn't get
him aboard. Even
his
oil that
we had
They were mouth was
to cut
so weighted filled
with a
oil."
THE NORTH ATLANTIC WAS FRAUGHT WITH DISAGREEable duties and by far the worst was the
Murmansk Run.
while under the aegis of the Royal Navy, was our primary
Russia and Sea.
States lost
some twenty percent
of her
war shipments
on the Murmansk Run, because of the combined attack of
U-boats and the Luftwaffe. The
stirring
and Lieutenant Stephen L. Freeland.
Murmansk is reCommander Earl Bur-
drama
counted by Captain Walter Karig, Lieutenant ton,
with
extended from Iceland and Spitzbergen into the Barents
The United
to Russia
This route, lifeline
of
CAPTAIN WALTER KARIG,
LIEUTENANT EARL BURTON AND LIEUTENANT STEPHEN L. FREELAND
MURMANSK RUN
At
first,
Navy.
armed guard duty was the
A
normal greeting extended
least
to
coveted assignment in the a
shipmate
who
received
orders to the Armed Guard was "Well, so-long fish-bait. It was nice knowing you." An exclusive society was projected, "The Bitter Enders," whose membership was limited to Armed Guard personnel surviving a torpedoing.
Someone
Armed
originated a paraphrase that the
Guard ironically adopted as its war-cry: "Stand by. Prepare to Fire. Abandon ship!" Or, even more to the point, after "Sighted sub: sank same" became "Sighted sub. Glub! Glub!" famous, was the Armed Guard version
—
Men
— and boys—who had never seen
turned from one
Armed Guard
salt
spray in their lives re-
cruise veterans of both the sea
and the
war.
There was one run that became wardroom and
was
told
and retold by those that lived through
liberty legend. It
to tell
it.
And
the
men
who had been on it were forever considered a little higher in the Armed Guard veterans. It was the "Murmansk run." The German armies were at the very gates of Moscow by the end
echelon of
of 1941. Relief, in the
form of American war
supplies,
had
to get
through to the Soviet forces. The shortest practicable route for
this
material was over the Arctic Circle and around the North Cape of Norway down to the port of Murmansk or into the White Sea to
131
a
1
The War
32
in the Atlantic
Archangel. Bitter weather and a ruthless enemy combined to
most dangerous of voyages.
that the
make
r
Not only was there danger from enemy submarines, based all along Norwegian coast; German airfields* were close at hand, and more serious potential menace than either the heavy units of the
—
the
—
German
fleet,
the
Von
Tirpitz, the Hipper,
and Scheer and Lutzow
together with squadrons of destroyers lurked in the deep rugged Alten Fjord, a constant murderous threat against anything smaller than a battleship daring to pass near their
To combat
lair.
these heavy craft, the British
Home
Fleet
had
tain a constant patrol of the waters with ships of similar
armament. More than Russia-bound convoy. ready taken serious
the
this, It
Home
Fleet
was a heavy duty
losses.
had
for a
main-
to
armor and
to protect each
navy that had
Help was needed, and help was
al-
forth-
coming.
On March
26, 1942,
Task Force 99, under the command of Rear Jr., USN, sailed from Casco Bay, Maine,
Admiral Robert C. Giffen, for
Home
Scapa Flow, to operate with the
his flag
Fleet.
The Admiral
flew
from the battleship USS Washington (Captain Howard H.
Benson, USN, commanding)
and
his
J.
force comprised the carrier
Wasp (Captain John W. Reeves, Jr., USN), the cruisers Wichita (Captain Harry W. Hill, USN) and Tuscaloosa (Captain Norman C. Gillette, USN), and the destroyers of Desron 8 (Captain Don P. Moon, USN). The Wasp was detached from the Task Force for a special mission upon her
arrival,
and the remaining ships took up
their share of the
burden of keeping the big German vessels bottled up out of harm's way. Late in June a special job came up, one which promised action and, possibly, a chance to end the threat of the
German
vital
"fleet-
in-being." Reconnaissance and intelligence agreed that the Tirpitz
and the Nazi
cruisers
were being readied for
sea.
At
the
same time
one of the largest and most important convoys was heading for Mur-
mansk.
The Tuscaloosa and Wichita were
assigned to the Cruiser Covering
Force to escort the convoy from Iceland around the North Cape
under the
command
of
Admiral Hamilton, RN. The Washington
joined the heavy units of the
Home
Fleet under the
command
of
Admiral Tooey, RN.
The prime mission
of the Cruiser Covering Force
was
to get the
Murmansk Run
133
convoy through, with the secondary mission of luring or delaying any heavy units of the Nazis into range of the big boys of the Allied force.
German
and submarine attacks were expected
air
Murmansk which made Hitler angry. The
in great strength; a
convoy had got through with
previous
particular convoy,
PQ
little
damage,
17, being cov-
ered represented some seven hundred million dollars' worth of arms
which made the Nazis anxious.
for hard-pressed Russia,
Germans was convoy
prize for the
mansk, scheduled
PQ
to pass
1
PQ
13,
An added
outward bound from Mur-
7 to northward of North Cape.
was lured out together with one or two cruisers (reports do not agree), a large screen of destroyers and a whole fleet of covering aircraft. She eluded the heavy ships of the Home Fleet, and,
The
Tirpitz
while she never struck at either convoy, her presence in the area
caused the Cruiser Covering Force to be withdrawn. The convoy
and found
scattered
way
its
to
Murmansk
as best
could under
it
continued heavy air and undersea attack.
"Heavy
air
daily entry in
and undersea attack" could well have been a standard any log of an Armed Guard officer. It would have
fitted naturally
and normally
after that other standard entry
"Steam-
ing as before."
One
Murmansk run is Lieutenant Robert B. Gainesville, Georgia, now skipper of a destroyer
of the veterans of the
Ricks,
USNR,
escort,
who was awarded
Armed Guard
of
the
Medal presented
Silver Star
first
to an
officer.
Lieutenant Ricks was assigned to SS Expositor in February, 1942.
Even by
this
time there were not enough
gun crew. To man
full
—machine
caliber striker
his
guns, Ricks
"striker" in
men
to give every officer a
one 4-inch 50-caliber gun and four 30-
had only four seamen and a signalman
Navy language meaning an
enlisted
man
study-
ing for non-commissioned promotion.
At nine o'clock left
in the
morning of March
Pier 98 in Philadelphia and headed for
4,
1942, the Expositor
New
York. Here, a cargo
was taken aboard which caused the Armed Guard crew shivers against
which
their
few
pea jackets were no protection.
The cargo was 5,000 rounds
mm.
to feel a
shells and 5,000 cases of
of
75-mm.
TNT. With
shells,
5,000 rounds of 37-
this lethal
load aboard, the
in a convoy bound for the Clyde Loch Long off Gourock, Scotland. At 2:30 in the March 27, the ships dropped anchor in that great convoy
ammunition ship was incorporated
Anchorage morning of
in
berthing spot. But the Expositor was not unloaded.
On
April
1,
they
The" War in the Atlantic
134
were on the move again,
in company with three other American SS Lancaster, Alcoa Rambler and Paul Luckenbach. The morning was clear and the weather was fine. The water of Loch Long lapped gently on the gray stQfte seawalls of Gourock. The gun crew watched the brown hills of Scotland fade in and they swapped
merchant
ships,
wise cracks about April Fools' Day. Their destination was certainly the Soviet Union,
and on
whom
would the joke be
they didn't
if
make
it?
At four o'clock that afternoon the lead ship in the convoy began to A message had been received from the British Admiralty ordering the convoy to return to Gourock. Anchored again in Loch Long, the reason for the return was made known. The DEMS Office (Defensive Equipment for Merchant Ships, the counterpart of the Navy's Armed Guard) had decided the ships were insufficiently armed. To the men of the Expositor, this was another certain proof that they turn.
were embarking on the hazardous Murmansk run.
Next day additional guns arrived on board, two 20-mm. Oerlikon
AA
machine guns and one twin-mount Hotchkiss machine gun.
was an embarrassment of
riches.
The
been complicated before with only
battle bill for the
five
men
to
man
It
gun crew had
five guns.
Now,
with additional guns, volunteers from the merchant crew had to be drilled in their use.
On
April 7, the quartet, under Admiralty orders,
which now consisted of twenty-five sian, its
left
Lismore Island, Scotland. Three days
of Lorn, off
ships,
for the
later,
Lynn
a convoy
American, British and Rus-
steamed out of the Lynn of Lorn bound for Reykjavik, Iceland,
on the way
last stop
to
North Russia.
On
the
15th the ships
arrived off Reykjavik harbor and were ordered to Iceland's convoy
anchorage area, Hvalfjordur Bay. Their only excitement en route had
been watching the destroyer-escort explode sixteen floating mines by gunfire.
There the ships remained for ten days, surrounded by grim, brown cliffs from whose tops bristled anti-aircraft artillery. It was remote from Reykjavik's few urban attractions, and the crew heard with relief that they were to be on the move again, even though it was
lava
now
officially
Then
at
announced: "Destination, Murmansk."
0800, April 26, the convoy began to move.
On
the second
day out of Iceland, lookouts reported what was to be a continuous hazard
The
all
the
third
way
to
Murmansk
—
floating mines.
day was stormy. The sky was low and goose-feather-gray
—
—
Murmansk Run and occasional snow
blotted out ships ahead.
flurries
morning when a plane was heard,
seemed
By
flying very high.
It
135 was
still
the sound,
it
to be circling.
"One
God-damned
of those
vultures," a veteran
merchant seaman
growled.
The plane kept
"He's radioing our position, speed and
circling.
course," the seaman added knowingly.
knows enough for
it
to
"And
keep out of range. He's
he's smart.
The bastard
just a spotter. We'll
be in
in a little while."
"What do you mean?" "Bombers,
that's
a novice asked.
what."
The Expositor plodded along with
the convoy. All hands grew as
fond of snow as a small boy with a new with the
flurries,
"I don't says.
was
Thus
reviled.
remember how many planes
"We had
just
sled.
Sunshine, alternating
and then
for four hours,
there were," Lieutenant Ricks
passed through a snow squall and were in the
when we saw them coming in on our starboard bow." The signal to commence firing was hoisted. The entire convoy seemed to open fire at the same time. The planes roared over the firebelching ships, their bombs falling off to the starboard side of the convoy. The bombers climbed higher and disappeared into the
clear
clouds.
Nobody had
a chance to say "scared 'em
the planes screamed
aimed
down through
from the merchantmen stant.
the clouds
at the lead ship in the port
guarding the convoy opened
It
fire
fire
hey?" before one of
on a dive-bombing run
column. The anti-aircraft cruiser
with every gun on her deck.
in the first three
was a blanket of
off,
such as no
German
expected to face. The bomber never came out of
about 150 yards
dropping
its
That was
The
off the port side of the
bomb
its
pilot
in-
had ever
dive. It crashed
number one column without
load.
all.
Expositor's
baptism of
Guns
columns joined on the
fire.
Armed Guard crew had had
Not very
Buzz
exciting at that.
its
indoctrinating
—whoosh— bang
bang! But the old-timers muttered something about "luck" and won-
dered aloud what the next time would be
"We
felt
pretty
good about
it,"
like,
and how soon.
Lieutenant Ricks
recalls.
shot down one of the planes, there was no damage done
had driven
off the others. Spirits
The convoy wallowed along
"We had
to us
and we
were pretty high."
resolutely,
and without molestation.
The War
136
Then
3:30 the following afternoon, two more "vultures" were
at
sighted.
Again the
gun range. They five
in the Atlantic
hours
later,
spotters carefully^avoided flying over the
convoy
in
They were still there mamcaifie up from evening mess blink-
circled far out of firing range.
when
the last
ing at the bright arctic sun. Then, as
the pilot
if
had spent
all
that
time building up courage, one of the planes suddenly streaked toward
As
the port wing of the convoy.
bomber
range, the
screening clouds.
the anti-aircraft fire began to find the on a wide track and climbed high into
tilted off
A
moment
later
it
flashed over the
second try and again the anti-aircraft
convoy for a
forced the plane to seek
fire
cloud refuge. The pilot seemed determined to have at least one shot at the ships.
The
third time he
came out It was
at the port wing of the convoy.
poured into the plane and followed
it
of the clouds in a steep dive his last.
as
The companion bomber made no attempt
it
Streams of tracers
crashed into the ocean.
to attack. It straightened
out and disappeared over the horizon.
Gun
crews remained
in flurries
at their stations
and there was the
on watch.
It
was
feeling that something else
still
snowing
was going
to
happen. It
lacked about an hour for sunset, which
o'clock in the morning
when
Commodore
the
is
to say
it
was one
hoisted a signal.
"Expect attack!"
Three planes were slanted
opened
in
toward the starboard and the ships
fire.
"This was our
first
glimpse of torpedo bombers," said Ricks. "The
three planes continued their approach in formation toward us.
looked
like
an attempt to pick
in low, flying
Then
about
fifty
off the leading line of ships.
or seventy-five feet above the water."
the torpedoes began to drop.
eyes on the planes.
It
They came
Above
The men
at the
guns kept their
the ear-splitting chatter of the ordnance
they heard the hollow, reverberating explosion that even the novices
knew meant torpedoes had found targets against hulls. The starboard plane of the trio crashed in flames, as its companions sheered off into the clouds. Then the gunners could look around. They saw the SS Bothaven, the Commodore's ship, plunging bow first
into the water while
men
spilled from the decks and swam had been launched. Where SS Cape
toward Corso had been was a flame-shot column of smoke. "The explosion of that ship sent flames five hundred the three lifeboats that
air,"
feet in the
said Lieutenant Ricks. "The entire mid-section seemed to blow
Murmansk Run up.
The
ship
was a flaming mass.
It
sank
in
137
about thirty seconds, and
no survivors." SS Jutland, steam pouring from her vents, was dead in the water and its crew taking to the boats from decks that inched closer and
there were
closer to the sea.
"Three ships sunk by two torpedoes?" somebody demanded. submarine must
And,
as
if
"A
have got one of them."
in confirmation, the Expositor's
lookout shouted: "Sub-
marine!"
"Where away?" The sea beyond the convoy's perimeter was empty. The lookout was correct fantastically correct. A conning tower was
—
convoy and
rising in the very center of the
just a
few yards from the
Expositor's starboard quarter!
"The periscope was only about ten or fifteen feet away from the Lieutenant Ricks, "and the submarine was surfacing. It was so close aboard that none of our guns could be brought to bear, no machine guns, no broadside guns, no nothing. And noship," reminisces
body
else in the
convoy could shoot
at
without hitting us
it
—loaded
TNT. It One of the cooks aboard the Expositor was standing on the fantail by the stern gun when the sub's conning tower bubbled up under his bulging eyes. The man stood there, unable to believe what he saw. Then he turned to the mute gun, which had been depressed to its lowest trajectory. The mess hand rushed over to the piece, grabbed it was kind of embarrassing to say the least."
with
by the barrel and
tried to tug
it
into position to fixe, grunting
and
groaning as he pulled.
The submarine continued
to surface until the
conning tower was
awash, while the Expositor widened the distance from
By
it.
the time the submarine was 25 yards away, the 4-inch gun
could be brought to bear on the
The gun was
still
tower, at 30 or
too high.
40
German
craft.
The second was
yards.
The
first
a direct hit on the conning
was blown completely
It
shot missed.
off.
After the second shot, the submarine appeared to be sinking.
Water boiled up watched the yelled:
The of her
oil
in a great froth of air
and bubbles. As the man
spreading over the submarine's grave the lookout
"Torpedo track
off port
bow!"
ship jolted as her screws went into reverse.
bow
the torpedo hissed
"I think the submarines
its
and
operation on a job like this,"
way
A few
feet in front
to nowhere.
aircraft
worked
in
very close co-
Lieutenant Ricks calculates. "The
re-
The 'War
138
in the Atlantic
connaissance planes did nothing but circle the convoy, evidently radioing to the subs, or to where the message could be relayed to them,
our position, course and speed. Then the subs would
convoy and
as
submarine that hurt by
some
lie
ahead of the
we came by would - lei us have it. This particular came up in the center of the convoy was evidently
had been dropped by Cape Cor so was hit." This marked the end of enemy action for that day. But as the ships fell into their convoy position, filling up the gaps left by the torpedoed, a fourth casualty was discovered. A British corvette had the
DEs and
of the heavy depth charges that
corvettes after the
disappeared in the melee, wiped out by a torpedo.
The only casualty aboard the Expositor was a seaman's dungarees. The deck hand, his arms full of 40-mm. ammunition, was on a ladder path of the 4-inch gun's
in the
'The concussion ripped Lieutenant Ricks
recalls.
there in a daze for a
deck
to the
blast.
his pants off,
"He
and
moment, and then dropped
after them.
I
literally
didn't have a stitch
Somebody ran
to pick
his shells
him
mean
on him.
He
and tumbled
up. There wasn't
any more of a scratch or bruise on him than there was pants. just dazed, and he couldn't quite figure out
off,"
stood
He was
why he was mother-
naked."
May
3
was almost logged
as an uneventful day, but a
few minutes
before midnight the attack signal was again jerked up the halyards.
This time the Germans changed
tactics.
Two
torpedo bombers ap-
They launched the flotilla. It was
peared, one on each wing of the convoy.
their tin fish
simultaneously against both flanks of
a clean miss
the
all
way around. No torpedo found
its
mark, nor did a shot from
the anti-aircraft guns.
Although evidences of submarine
activity
continued for the re-
maining week of the voyage, there were no further engagements with
Germans. The Armed Guard crew could not loaf the time away, however. Watches had to be maintained at any cost and the men the
worked with
On May
little
rest
and
less sleep.
6 the convoy anchored in the harbor of Murmansk. The
port could accomodate only about ten ships at the docks, which had
been bombed and rebuilt many times with timber.
As
the Expositor berthed, a sailor standing near Ricks
made
in-
quiry about liberty ashore. "I've dated
all
women me a date
kinds of
observed. "I'd like to get
in the
world except Russians," he
with a Russian."
Murmansk Run He
leaned over the
rail to
woman
watch a Russian
up
ing along the pier below. She stopped to pick
139
stevedore walk-
a length of piling
obstructing the path and nonchalantly tossed the 120-pound log out of the way.
The
"On second
sailor spat reflectively into the water.
thought," he said, "I don't believe
I
care to meet
women."
these
Now
the weather sided against the Germans.
so hard for two days that the vessel's stern
The
bridge.
blizzard
hampered
grounded the Luftwaffe
and with
it
that curved
the
skimming
was
snowed
It
from the
invisible
Then
the sun
it
came
out,
low
hills
close over the ridge of
around the harbor.
Twelve of the big multi-motored
The gun crews went
ducks.
snowed.
unloading considerably but
until the third day.
the bombers,
It
headed for the
aircraft
everybody
into action;
sitting
else scattered for
shelter. It
seemed impossible that the Germans could
miss.
They
did; the
gunners didn't. Only nine of the bombers flew back toward Finland,
two brought down by gunfire and one by a Russian
fighter plane that
buzzed up to meet them. After the Expositor unloaded she traded places with an
ammuni-
tion ship. "I don't
know whether
that
ammunition ship had been spotted or when we had taken
not," said Lieutenant Ricks, "but that afternoon
her anchorage out in the stream
by
six dive
we were
the target for a direct attack
bombers.
"Bombs dropped
fore
and
aft
and
missed by about a hundred yards.
bombs, but we weren't
to both sides of us, but they
We
hit."
The next day, about the same time in the early bombers came again. This time the misses were nearer. "In fact," Ricks recalls, "the spray from the
obscured the
ship.
The
British destroyer that
prepared to answer 'No damage' a second
came heading for us. "The bombs fell so near like a
dog shakes a
The twenty-two
afternoon, the
bomb
sitting
Just as
flight
completely
on our
of dive
bombers and
rat."
bombThe men were anxious to New buildings were all made
ships were unloaded in twenty days, despite
Murmansk was
star-
our signalman
that the concussion lifted the ship
ings, blizzards and inadequate wharfing.
leave.
first
was
board quarter signaled to ask 'What damage?'
shook her
all
were completely circled by
a pile of rubble.
The "War
140 of
wood
in the Atlantic
so that they could be reconstructed quickly. There
was the
International Club, open to everyone, for hot tea, chess and tattered
old magazines in six languages, but the ship was the most comfort/n 7 when off duty.
able place to stay
On May
21 the convoy
Twice
left for Iceland.
in the first three
days submarine contacts were made.
Late in the afternoon of the third day the sun
—
a reconnaissance plane began
firing range. Presently a
above the ued.
Then each dropped two green
were dropped, signals But, as
if
vulture-like circling
beyond vigil
tantalizing surveillence contin-
flares.
Ten minutes
later red flares
a Hurricane fighter plane was
flares,
catapulted from a British ship.
It
bomber. Both planes disappeared evidently lost
by the clocks, not by
to lurking submarines.
response to the
in
its
late
torpedo bomber joined in the circular
For three hours the
ships.
—
started in pursuit of the torpedo
cloud bank, where the fighter
in a
prey, because ten minutes later the Hurricane re-
its
turned and started to close in on the second
German
plane. Seconds
torpedo bomber popped out of the cloud and turned to join
later the
But
the fight.
was too
it
savage burst of
late to save the
reconnaissance plane.
from the Hurricane sent the
fire
first
A
Nazi crashing
into the sea. The bomber fled, and the Hurricane streaked after it. The pursuit vanished over the horizon. The convoy churned on, the empty ships riding high. Then a shout went up from the decks of the watching ships. The Hurricane was
returning
—
alone.
a boat put out to
It
it.
pancaked on the water near
The men crowding
A
the pilot taken aboard, his plane abandoned. flutter of flags
in
mother ship and
saw
little
while later a
broke out on the Englishman. The pilot had died of
wounds. For the remainder of the day
mast
its
the rails of the other ships
honor of the
fighter
who had
all
flags
given his
were flown
life
at half
to save the ships.
Next day the now familiar shores of Iceland were
sighted.
The
voyage was almost over. There was the sub-infested water between Reykjavik and
New York
to cover, but after
ready been through that seemed almost a
remained
in
of the ship
and the Armed Guard
chore.
officer
The
ships
official
were permitted to go ashore,
business only.
June 10 the confinement was broken. The ships
escort. Eight
long
humdrum
al-
Iceland for two dreary, chafing weeks. Only the master
and then for the transaction of
On
what the men had
days
later the
way from home.
A
men were reminded
that they
left still
under
were a
steamer on the edge of the convoy was
Murmansk Run torpedoed. Four
aboard other
men were
Two
ships.
141
the rest taken
killed in the explosion,
days later another was torpedoed and sunk.
Both times the attackers escaped, undetected. the Expositor dropped anchor just off
At one o'clock on June 28,
New York
the Statue of Liberty in
had returned with
all
116 days, the ship
miles,
One Armed Guard crew
harbor.
hands intact from the Murmansk run
— 12,000
and the metaphorical scalp of one
safe,
submarine nailed to the mainmast.
was
It
—
just
another voyage;
tougher than most, easier than some. Ricks's adventures were probably duplicated scores of times.
They
are related here not because they are exceptional, but because they
And
are illustrative. gantlet to
The
tell
not
all
gun crews survived the German-Finnish
their stories.
route to Archangel was,
anything, worse than the
if
Murmansk
run for being longer. Consider the experiences of Lieutenant Albert
Maynard, USNR, Armed Guard
officer
on SS Schoharie, which
brought a shipload of tanks, ammunition and food to
convoy that numbered
forty ships at sailing,
Murmansk
in a
and twenty-seven upon
arrival at the subarctic port.
The convoy was one
of the
more important,
in the constant line of
supply to the Soviet Union. Stalingrad and Leningrad were in what
seemed
to
be the
last stages of siege
and destruction. To make
deliv-
ery of the desperately needed supplies as secure as possible, the British
provided the convoy with an escort of a converted aircraft carrier,
a light cruiser,
two
antiaircraft cruisers, twenty-one destroyers
small fleet of corvettes, minesweepers and trawlers itself.
It
And
yet, a third of the
convoy was
was on Sunday, September
Iceland, that Lieutenant
—
and
a
a task force in
lost.
13, 1942,
on the seventh day out of
Maynard looked over the side in the course merchantman instantly blotted out
of
gun inspection
in
steam and smoke. Before the signal to scatter could be raised, a
to see a British
second ship was torpedoed.
The
superstitious in that
taste for the
number
13.
pack of submarines ran
convoy had reason
to confirm their dis-
Before that September day was done, a wolfriot inside the
thirty-seven Heinkel torpedo planes
convoy's columns, a swarm of
made an
attack at 25 feet above
the water, and a half dozen Ju-88s subjected the ships to a dive-
bombing right,
down
attack.
others later
left
A
total of ten
merchantment was sunk, some out-
crippled with corvette protection only to be sent
by the Nazis'
aerial rear guard.
The War
142
in the Atlantic
Lieutenant Maynard, with desperate sincerity, described the
lulls in
the battle as the unforgettable parts of the daylong fight with an
enemy who alternately dropped from the sky or rose from the ocean depths. The business of fighting off- dive bombers above, torpedo planes at deck level, and submarines,
too wholly occupying to
is
permit mental note-taking.
"During the attacks our reaction was not bers.
"But
of us
was not downright scared."
in the
letdown periods of quiet,
The view over
may
the side
fright,"
it
Maynard remem-
would be
silly to
was not cheering. Cargo ships
say one
in
convoy
not pause or break the established pattern to rescue the ship-
wrecked. That job
for the escorting warships.
is left
Armed Guardsman to own ship passes through
But
men
it
does not
boost the morale of the
see
the icy brine as their
the flotsam of battle;
when
they are humanly prone to wonder
it
will
struggling in
be their turn to cling
with numbing fingers to a shattered spar and see the ships go by.
"There were men
"Some
recalls.
of
sticking out their slid
in lifeboats,"
Maynard
them swearing, some praying, and some mockingly
thumbs and
by not a hundred
Monday was
and men
in the water,
feet
calling 'Going
my
way, mister?' as we
from them."
inaugurated by the torpedoing of a tanker early in the
morning. At noon thirteen torpedo planes came out of the clouds and concentrated on the carrier, whose
own
fighters shot
down
six of the
enemy without loss. Half an hour later twenty Heinkels swarmed over One of them torpedoed an ammunition ship which disintegrated just as the plane skimmed over the stricken vessel's masts; the horizon.
and
the explosion blasted the Nazi plane
Day
in,
crew
to atoms.
day out, the Heinkels and Junkers plagued the convoy. The
thirteenth ship flotilla
its
was
stood in for the
fight off attacks
Finnish dive bombers just as the battered
lost to
straits of the
White Sea, but the convoy had
to
every day at sea of the four remaining, and for the
four moonlit nights of unloading at Archangel.
"And
that," Lieutenant
pened on our
had
trip to
Maynard concludes,
Archangel," a
to grab a fifty-caliber
boring in on the
nard muses.
about
all
that hap-
during which he himself once
train
it
against a
Schoharie. The plane disappeared
and smoke, and tumbled "I think that
trip
gun and
"is
Voss-Ha 140
in a blur of flame
"just like a ball of fire" into the sea.
was the most fun
I
had on the
entire voyage,"
May-
Murmansk Run
143
THE PROBLEMS POSED BY THE DISASTROUS RUN OF convoy
P.Q.
Churchill, of the
17
Great
to
Murmansk
Britain's
most imposing
The
formidable
figures of the
ing the event he reveals Stalin.
are
his
discussed
wartime
by
Sir
leader
Winston
and
Twentieth Century. In
one
recall-
correspondence with Roosevelt and
strain of Churchill's grave responsibility
is
evident in the
following excerpt, one which also gives us a penetrating glimpse of Britain's ineluctable strategist at work.
WINSTON
CHURCHILL
S.
.•'•
P.Q.17
In view of the disaster to P.Q.17 the Admiralty proposed to suspend the Arctic convoys at least
till
the Northern ice-packs melted and
receded and until perpetual daylight passed.
I
felt this
would be a
very grave decision, and was inclined not to lower but on the contrary to raise the stakes,
Prime Minister
on the principle of
to First
Lord and
First
'In defeat defiance.'
Sea Lord
15 July 42
Let the following be examined:
Suspend the stant.
sailing of
P.Q.I 8 as
now proposed from
See what happens to our Malta operation.
If all
18th in-
goes well,
bring Indomitable, Victorious, Argus, and Eagle north to Scapa, together with
air
ice,
results so
144
much
If
at least
we can move our armada
at least a
able to fight our
hundred
line,
fighter aircraft
way through and out
twenty-five de-
again,
and
in
convoy under
we ought if
fight
to be
a fleet action
the better.
could not however persuade
kind of
and
but seeking the clearest weather, and thus
out with the enemy.
an umbrella of
I
'Didos'
umbrella and destroyer screen, keeping southward, not
hugging the it
available
Let the two 16-inch battleships go right through under
stroyers. this
all
my
Admiralty friends to take
which of course involved engaging a
vital force to
this
us out
145
P.Q.17
of proportion to the actual military importance of the Arctic convoys. to send the following telegram to Stalin, about
I
had therefore
I
obtained the approval of the President beforehand. 17 July 42
Prime Minister to Premier Stalin
We
which
began running small convoys to North Russia
in
August
1941, and until December the Germans did not take any steps to
From February 1942
interfere with them.
the size of the convoys
was increased, and the Germans then moved a considerable force of U-boats and a large number of aircraft to North Norway and
made determined
attacks
on the convoys. By giving the convoys
the strongest possible escort of destroyers
and anti-submarine
craft
the convoys got through with varying but not prohibitive losses. It
Germans were dissatisfied with the results which were being achieved by means of aircraft and U-boats alone, beis
evident that the
cause they began to use their surface forces against the convoys.
Luckily for us however at the outset they
made use
of their heavy
surface forces to the westward of Bear Island and their submarines to the eastward.
The Home
Fleet
an attack by enemy surface sent off the Admiralty
severe
if,
as
was thus
warned us
that the losses
We
An
tack. In the case of
their surface
decided however to
loss of one-sixth, chiefly
P.Q.17 however the Germans
manner we had always
forces in the their
would be very
attack by surface ships did not materialise,
convoy got through with a
prevent
May convoy was
was expected, the Germans employed
forces to the eastward of Bear Island.
the convoy.
in a position to
forces. Before the
from
at last
sail
and the air at-
used their
They concentrated
feared.
U-boats to the westward of Bear Island and reserved their
surface forces for attack to the eastward of Bear Island. story of P.Q.17
convoy
is
not yet clear.
At
the
The
final
moment only four Nova Zembla
ships have arrived at Archangel, but six others are in
harbours. time. I
At
The
latter
must explain the dangers and
ations
when
We
do not think
Bear Island or where
powerful
attacked from the air at any
difficulties of these
the enemy's battle squadron takes
extreme north. of
may however be
the best therefore only one-third will have survived.
German
it
it
right to risk
shore-based
Tirpitz
our
convoy operstation in the
Home
Fleet east
can be brought under the attack of the aircraft. If
few most powerful battleships were
damaged while
its
to
one or two of our very
be
lost
or even seriously
and her consorts, soon to be joined by
The War
146
Scharriftorst , tic
in the Atlantic
remained
in action, the
would be [temporarily]
by which we
live,
our war
many
as
and the building up of a
of the Atlan-
Besides affecting the food supplies
effort
would be crippled; and above
American troops ?across
the great convoys of
presently to as
lost.
command
whole
80,000
the ocean,
all
rising
month, would be prevented
in a
really strong
Second Front
1943 ren-
in
dered impossible.
My
naval advisers
German
surface,
to
me
that
if
they had the handling of the forces,
air
present circum-
in
would guarantee the complete destruction of any
stances, they
convoy
tell
submarine, and
North Russia. They have not been able so
make
out any hopes that convoys attempting to
perpetual daylight would fare better than P.Q.I 7.
with the greatest regret that
we have reached
attempt to run the next convoy, P.Q.I
8,
far to hold
the passage in It is
therefore
the conclusion that to
would bring no
benefit to
you and would only involve dead loss to the common cause. At the same time, I give you my assurance that if we can devise arrangements which give a reasonable chance of
at least a fair
you we
of the contents of the convoys reaching
again at once.
The crux
of the problem
German warships
as dangerous for
what we should aim
at
Meanwhile we
some
sian Gulf
convoy.
.
.
make
them
make the Barents Sea make it for ours. This is
to
is
as they
doing with our joint resources.
to send a senior officer of the
with your officers and
proportion start
will
I
should like
R.A.F. to North Russia to confer
a plan.
are prepared to dispatch immediately to the Per-
of the ships which were to have sailed in the P.Q.
.
You have
referred to
combined operations
in the North.
The
obstacles to sending further convoys at the present time equally
prevent our sending land forces and air forces for operations in
Northern Norway. But our
officers
gether what combined operations tober,
when
better
if
ours will
there
is
a reasonable
you could send your
come
should forthwith consider to-
may be amount
possible in or after
of darkness.
officers here,
but
would be
this is
impossible
we we can
beat back
if
to you.
In addition to a combined operation in the North,
how to help on your Rommel we might be able ing
tumn
It
Oc-
to operate
on the
left
southern flank. to
If
send powerful
of your line.
The
are study-
air forces in the audifficulties of
main-
taining these forces over the trans-Persian route without reducing
your supplies
will clearly
be considerable, but
I
hope
to put de-
147
P.Q.17 you
tailed proposals before
beat
first
am
I
Rommel. The
sure
battle
would be
it
in the
in
is
our
We
near future.
now
intense.
common
.
.
must however
.
interest,
Premier
Stalin, to
have the three divisions of Poles you so kindly offered join their compatriots in Palestine, where
we can arm them
would play a most important part
fully.
in future fighting,
These
as well as
keeping the Turks in good heart by the sense of growing numbers to the southward.
I
hope
value, will not fall to the
this project of yours,
which we greatly
ground on account of the Poles wanting to
bring with the troops a considerable mass of their
who
children, soldiers.
are largely dependent
The feeding
burden to
us.
We
women and
on the rations of the Polish
of these dependents will be a considerable
think
it
well worth while bearing that burden for
the sake of forming this Polish army, which will be used faithfully for our
common
selves in the
bring If
it
advantage.
We
are very hard
Levant area, but there
is
enough
up for food our-
in India
if
we can
[from] there.
we do not
get the Poles
we should have
to
fill
by
their places
drawing on the preparations now going forward on a vast scale for the
Anglo-American mass invasion of the Continent. These prepa-
rations have already led the
Germans
bomber groups from South Russia nothing that
is
we and your grand struggle. The
which geography,
interpose. I have
shown
need scarcely say
President and
I
this
is
I
are
salt
water, and the enemy's air-power
telegram to the President.
got a rough and surly answer.
23 July 42
Premier Stalin to Premier Churchill I
me, there
the Americans will
searching for means to overcome the extraordinary
ceaselessly
I
withdraw two heavy
to France. Believe
useful and sensible that
not do to help you in
difficulties
to
received your message of July 17.
drawn from
Two
conclusions could be
Government refuses to continue the sending of war materials to the Soviet Union via the Northern route. Second, in spite of the agreed communique concerning the urgent tasks of creating a Second Front in 1942 the British Government postpones this matter until 1943. 2. Our naval experts consider the reasons put forward by the it.
First, the British
British naval experts to justify the cessation of convoys to the
northern ports of the U.S.S.R. wholly unconvincing. They are of the opinion that with goodwill and readiness to
fulfil
the con-
I
The War
148
in the Atlantic
tracted obligations these convoys could be regularly undertaken
and heavy it
losses could be inflictecr^on the
also difficult to understand
enemy. Our experts find
and to explain the order given by the
M the P.Q.I 7
Admiralty that the escorting vessels
should return,
whereas the cargo boats should disperse and try to reach the Soviet ports one by one without any protection at
Of course
all.
do not
I
think that regular convoys to the Soviet northern ports could be effected without risk or losses.
But
in war-time
no important under-
taking could be effected without risk or losses. In any case,
never
I
expected that the British Government would stop dispatch of war
moment when
materials to us just at the very
Union
the Soviet
in
view of the serious situation on the Soviet-German front requires
more than
these materials
ever. It
obvious that the transport via
is
Persian Gulf could in no way compensate for the cessation of
convoys to the northern ports. 3.
With regard
to the
ing a Second Front
with the seriousness
second question,
Europe,
in
it
am
I
i.e.,
afraid
Taking
deserves.
the question of creat-
it is
fully
present position on the Soviet-German front,
most emphatic manner
hope you
not feel
will
frankly and honestly
my own
into
account the
must
state in the
Government cannot acqui-
that the Soviet
esce in the postponement of a Second Front in I
I
not being treated
offended
that
Europe I
[have]
until 1943.
expressed
opinion as well as the opinion of
my
colleagues on the question raised in your message.
These contentions are not well-founded. So
war
'contracted obligations' to deliver the
had been particularly stipulated
at the
from breaking
far
supplies at Soviet ports,
them
that the Russians were to be responsible for conveying sia.
All that
we
did beyond this was a good-will effort.
allegations of a breach of faith about the
aide-memoire was a solid defence. while to argue out willing until they
all this
gle could hardly spare a
The
Second Front
with the Soviet Government,
Hitler,
word
and who even
As
Rus-
to the
it
worth
who had been
totally destroyed
in our
common
strug-
of sympathy for the heavy British and
losses incurred in trying to send
them
aid.
President agreed with this view.
Former Naval Person agree with you that your reply
President to I
to
in 1942, our
did not however think
were themselves attacked to see us
and share the booty with
American
I
it
time of making the agreement
great care.
We
to Stalin
have got always to bear
in
29 July 42 must be handled with
mind the
personality of
149
P.Q.17 our Ally and the very
No
fronts him.
and dangerous situation that con-
difficult
one can be expected to approach the war from a
world point of view whose country has been invaded. should
in the first place, quite specifically that
course of action in 1942.
I
I
think
we
he should be told
try to put ourselves in his place. I think
we have determined upon him
think that, without advising
a
of the
precise nature of our proposed operations, the fact that they are
made should be
going to be
While
told
him without any
qualifications.
think that you should not raise any false hopes in Stalin
I
relative to the
Northern convoy, nevertheless
we should run one
there
if
any
is
agree with you that
I
possibility of success, in spite of
the great risk involved. I
am
still
we can put air-power
hopeful that
Russian front, and
would be unwise
am
I
discussing that matter here.
ate.
I
have a feeling
was
them
if
they
believe
it
that
urgent and immedi-
would mean a great deal
it
the Russian people
fighting with
is
I
on the
on condition
to promise this air-power only
the battle in Egypt goes well. Russia's need
Army and
directly
knew some
to the Russian
of our Air Force
manner.
in a very direct
While we may believe that the present and proposed use of our
combined Air Forces
is
strategically the best, nevertheless I feel
that Stalin does not agree with this. Stalin,
mood
to
engage
I
imagine,
in a theoretical strategical discussion,
is
in
no
and
I
am
sure that other than our major operation the enterprise that would suit
him
the best
is
direct air support
on the southern end of
his
front. I
therefore let Stalin's bitter message pass without any specific
rejoinder. After
the
all,
campaign was
the Russian armies were suffering fearfully and
at its crisis.
*
At a conference the Fuehrer
of the
*
*
German Naval Commander-in-Chief
on August 26, 1942, Admiral Raeder
Evidently the Ally convoy did not
our submarines and voy, have forced the
aircraft,
which
enemy
to give
sail.
We
can thus assume that
totally destroyed the last
up
with
stated:
con-
this route temporarily, or
even fundamentally to change his whole system of supply
lines.
Supplies to northern ports of Russia remain decisive for the
whole
conduct of the war waged by the Anglo-Saxons. They must preserve Russia's strength in order to keep
The enemy
German
forces occupied.
will most probably continue to ship supplies to North-
The War
150
em
in the Atlantic
Russia, and the Naval Staff must therefore maintain subma-
same
rines along the
be stationed
in
The
routes.
greater part of the Fleet will also
Northern Norway. The reason for
making attacks on convoys
possilple,
besides
this,
3s the constant threat of an
enemy invasion. Only by keeping the Fleet in Norwegian waters can we hope to meet this danger successfully. Besides, it is especially important, in
man
view of the whole Axis strategy, that the Ger-
'Fleet in being' tie
after the
down
the British
heavy Anglo-American losses
The Japanese
the Pacific.
Home
in the
Fleet, especially
Mediterranean and
are likewise aware of the importance of
measure. In addition, the danger of enemy mines in
this
home
waters has constantly increased, so that the naval forces should be shifted only for repairs
and training purposes. *
was not
It
Russia.
until
By now
*
*
September that another convoy
the
scheme of defense had been
set off for
revised,
North
and the
convoy was accompanied by a close escort of sixteen destroyers, well as the
new
of the
first
fighter aircraft.
As
intervene, but result
enemy
left
to the attack.
German
was provided by the
surface ships
fleet.
made no attempt to The
the task of attack to the aircraft and U-boats.
was a particularly aircraft
escort carriers, the Avenger, with twelve
before, strong support
This time however the
as
fierce battle in the air, in
which twenty-four
were destroyed out of about a hundred which came
Ten merchant
ships were lost in these actions
more by U-boats, but twenty-seven way through.
in
and two
ships successfully fought their
Not only did almost the whole responsibility for the defence of fall upon us, but up to the end of 1942 ... we provided from our strained resources by far the greater number of aircraft and more tanks for Russia. The figures are a conclusive answer to those these convoys
who
suggest that our efforts to help Russia in her struggle were luke-
warm.
We
gave our heart's blood resolutely to our valiant, suffering
Ally.
The year 1942 was
not to close without
the thankless task the Royal
Navy had
its
flash of
triumph upon
discharged, and
we must
trench upon the future. After the passage of P.Q.I 8 in September
1942 convoys
to
North Russia were again suspended. Later major
P.Q.17
151
operations in North Africa were to claim the whole strength of our
naval forces in
home
Russia, and the studied. It
on
waters.
means
was not
until late in
hazardous voyage.
its
But supplies accumulated for delivery
to
of protecting future convoys were closely
December
It sailed in
that the next
two
or seven destroyers, and covered by the
parts,
Home
convoy
set out
each escorted by Fleet.
The
first
six
group
The second had a more eventful passage. On the mornDecember 3 1 Captain R. Sherbrooke, in the destroyer Onslow, commanding the escort, was about a hundred and fifty miles northeast of the North Cape when he sighted three enemy destroyers. He immediately turned to engage them. As the action began the German heavy cruiser Hipper appeared upon the scene. The British destroyers held off this powerful ship for nearly an hour. The gun-flashes of the action drew to the scene Admiral Burnett with two British cruisarrived safely. ing of
ers, Sheffield
and Jamaica, from twenty-five miles away. This
racing southwards, ran into the
German
force,
pocket-battleship Liitzow,
which, after a short engagement, disappeared to the westward in the twilight.
The German
admiral, thinking that the British cruisers were
the vanguard of a battle squadron, retired hastily.
running
fight followed.
During
this brief
German destroyer at close The two German heavy ships and
engagement the Sheffield sank
a
range.
A
their six
escorting destroyers struck at the convoy which Sherbrooke guarded.
But
this stroke failed.
The convoy
arrived safely in Russian waters with the loss of one
more than slight damage to one merchant ship. who had been severely wounded in the early stages but continued to fight his ship and personally to direct operations, despite the loss of an eye, was awarded the Victoria Cross for destroyer and no
Captain Sherbrooke,
his leadership.
Within the German High
Command
were far-reaching. Owing to delays
Command
High
first
the repercussions of this affair
in the transmission of signals the
learnt of the episode
from an English news
broadcast. Hitler was enraged. While waiting impatiently for the out-
come
of the fight his anger
bitterly of
was fostered by Goering, who complained German Air Force on guarding
wasting squadrons of the
the capital ships of the Navy, which he suggested should be scrapped.
Admiral Raeder was ordered
to report immediately.
On
January 6 a
naval conference was held. Hitler launched a tirade upon the past
record of the tion
if
German Navy.
'It
should not be considered a degrada-
the Fuehrer decides to scrap the larger ships. This
would be
The War
152 true only
he were removing a fighting unit which had retained
if
A
full usefulness.
of
in the Atlantic
parallel to this in the
Army would
cavalry divisions.' Raeder was ordered to report in writing
all
he objected to putting the capital ships out of commission. Hitler received this
memorandum
he treated
meet
his
demands.
A
bitter conflict
why
When
with derision, and
it
ordered Doenitz, the designated successor to Raeder, to to
its
be the removal
make
a plan
between Goering and Raeder
raged round Hitler over the future of the
German Navy compared
with that of the Luftwaffe. But Raeder stuck grimly to the defence of the service which he had commanded since 1928. Time and again he had demanded the formation of a separate Fleet Air Arm, and had been opposed successfully by Goering's insistence that the Air Force
could accomplish more at sea than the Navy. Goering won, and on
January 30 Raeder resigned. tious
He was
Admiral of the U-boats. All
replaced by Doenitz, the ambieffective
new
construction was
henceforth to be monopolised by them.
Thus allied
fought by the Royal
this brilliant action
convoy
to Russia at the
Navy
to protect an
end of the year led directly to a major
enemy's naval policy, and ended the dream of another
crisis in the
German High
Seas Fleet.
AT THE HEIGHT OF THE ATLANTIC WAR ADMIRAL King,
who was charged
ing together
all
of our
combatant sea
with the Secretary of the
boat
activities
with the solemn responsibility
Navy
in
and countermeasures.
A formidable at the
naval
officer,
Ohio-
outbreak of the war. Dour,
and a "book" man, one scarcely associates Cominch moments, and yet there were numerous occasions when
straight
with lighter this
forces, filed a progress report
which he candidly summarized U-
born King was sixty-three years old
ramrod
of weld-
man, who had come up through submarines and naval
aviation,
could turn outward on a far different level from successful pursuit of the war.
One such occurred
beset with problems,
student school.
who was
He
in the chaotic winter of
was the
recipient of a letter
took time
have your
you have
to
off
letter of
do
when King,
from an eighth grade
writing a biographical sketch of the Admiral for
from the war
Dear Harriet: I
1943,
my
January 6
to reply:
— and am
interested to learn that
biography as part of your English work.
—
P.Q.17
As I
to
your questions:
drink a
little
wine,
now and
I
smoke about one pack
I
think
movie
153
I like
then.
of cigarettes a day.
Spencer Tracy as well as any of the
stars.
My hobby is cross-word puzzles —when they are different. My favorite sport is golf— when I can get to play it
otherwise,
Hoping
I
that
am
fond of walking.
all will
go well with your English work,
Very E.
J.
I
am
truly
yours,
King
Admiral, U.S. Navy
Let us return to King's report.
FLEET ADMIRAL ERNEST
J.
KING
/-,7
6.
COMINCH TAKES A HARD LOOK AT THE U-BOAT SITUATION The submarine war
.
.
.
has been a matter of primary concern since
the outbreak of hostilities. Maintenance of the flow of ocean traffic
has been, and continues to be, a vital element of
Operating on exterior front, the
lines
of
all
war
plans.
communication on almost every
United Nations have been dependent largely upon maritime
transportation.
The
success of overseas operations, landing attacks,
the maintenance of troops abroad and the delivery of
war materials
to
Russia and other Allies concerned primarily with land operations has
depended ability to
factor
—
to a large extent
keep
it
the availability of shipping
often the controlling factor
which the Allied High
The
upon
principal
and the
moving. Shipping potentialities have been the major
Command
menace
—
in
most of the problems with
has had to deal.
to shipping has
been the large
fleet
of sub-
marines maintained by Germany. Our enemies have employed the
submarine on a world-wide
scale,
but the area of greatest intensity
has always been the Atlantic Ocean where the bulk of
German U-
boats have operated.
The German U-boat campaign is a logical extension of the submarine strategy of World War I which almost succeeded in starving Great Britain into submission. Unable to build up a powerful surface fleet in
preparation for World
War
II,
Germany planned
submarine campaign on a greater scale and to
154
this
to repeat her
end produced a U-
Cominch Takes a Hard Look
155
U-boat Situation
The primary mission
of this underwater navy
to cut the sea routes to the British Isles,
and the enemy undersea
boat
was
at the
fleet
of huge size.
work on this task promptly and vigorously. The United States became involved in the matter before we were
forces went to
formally at war, because our vessels were being sunk in the transAtlantic traffic routes. Consequently, in 1941,
Royal Navy
assist the
to protect
detail elsewhere in this report these
50 old destroyers assignment of our
on threatened
own
to
measures included the transfer of
—
in the latter part of
1941
—
the
naval vessels to escort our merchant shipping
trans- Atlantic routes.
The submarine close.
and
to the British,
we took measures
our shipping. As stated in more
was improving
situation
as
1941 drew toward a
Escort operations on threatened convoy routes were becoming
more and more
effective. British aviation
had become a potent
factor,
by direction action against the U-boats, and also by bringing under
German over-water air effort that had augmented the submarine offense. Our resources were stretched, however, and we
control the
\
could not, for a time, deal effectively with the change in the situation
brought about by our entry into the war on 7 December 1941. Our
whole merchant marine then became a legitimate boats,
still
sufficient
remaining
numbers
immune. Our
erto
full
target,
and the U-
pressure on the trans-Atlantic routes, had
to spread their depredations into wide areas hithdifficulty
was not already engaged
was
that such part of the Atlantic Fleet as
in escort
duty was called upon to protect the
troop movements that began with our entry into the war, leaving no
adequate force to cover the
posed to possible U-boat
many maritime
The Germans were none too quick opportunity. It was not until more than of
war
that U-boats
move took
first
January 1942.
the
We
traffic
areas newly ex-
activity.
began
form
expand
to
in taking
a
month
advantage of their
after the declaration
their areas of operation.
The
of an incursion into our coastal waters in
had prepared for
seaboard our scant resources
this
in coastal
by gathering on our eastern antisubmarine vessels and
number of yachts and miscellaneous Navy in 1940 and 1941. To reinforce
aircraft, consisting chiefly of a
small craft taken over by the
group the Navy accelerated
program of acquiring such fishing boats and pleasure craft as could be used and supplied them with such armaments as they could carry. For patrol purposes we employed all available aircraft Army as well as Navy. The help of the this
its
—
Civil
Air Patrol was gratefully accepted. This heterogeneous force
The War
156
was useful ships. It
in the Atlantic
in keeping lookout
may have
and
sunken
in rescuing survivors of
Some extent with the freedom of heavy losses we suffered in coastal waters
interfered, too, to
U-boat movement, but the
during the early months of 1942 gay'c abundant proof of the already well
known
opponent
fact that stout hearts in
as
The Navy was deeply teered by the
make and
men who
courageously risked their
them no
effort
force of adequate types.
which had been early in 1942.
was spared
British
had
lives in
to build
means,
up an antisubma-
began
to
come
into service
and Canadian Navies were able
vessels to
order to
to be better
Submarine chasers, construction of
initiated before the war,
The
some antisubmarine escorts were it
grateful for the assistance so eagerly volun-
the best of available means, but there
to provide
rine
boats can not handle an
little
tough as the submarine.
work with our
robbed to reinforce coastal
areas.
to assign
Ocean
coastal forces.
These measures made
possible to establish a coastal convoy system in the middle of
May
1942. Antisubmarine aviation had concurrently improved in quality
Army
and material and training of personnel. The volunteered the services of the First especially trained
The
and
effect of these
outfitted for antisubmarine warfare.
measures was quickly
Frontier (the coastal waters from they were
first
Air Force had
Bomber Command which was
applied.
Canada
felt in the
Eastern Sea
where
to Jacksonville)
With the establishment of the
initial
coastal
convoy (under the command of Vice Admiral Adolphus Andrews,
Commander
of the Eastern Sea Frontier) in the middle of
May
1942,
sinkings in the vital traffic lanes of the Eastern Sea Frontier dropped off nearly to
zero and have so remained. While
ble to clear those routes completely
—
there
it
is
has not been possi-
evidence that nearly
always one or more U-boats haunt our Atlantic Coast in that area long
When began
—submarines
ago ceased to be a serious problem.
the Eastern Sea Frontier
to spread farther afield.
became "too
hot," the U-boats
The coastal convoy system was ex-
tended as rapidly as possible to meet them in the Gulf of Mexico
(under the
command
of
Rear Admiral
J.
Admiral
J.
Commander command of Vice
L. Kauffman,
Gulf Sea Frontier), the Caribbean Sea, (under the
H. Hoover, Commander Caribbean Sea Frontier), and
along the Atlantic Coast of South America. The undersea craft
made
a last bitter stand in the Trinidad area in the fall of 1942. Since then coastal waters have been relatively safe.
The problem was more
difficult
to
meet
in
the
open
sea.
The
Cominch Takes a Hard Look
at the
submarine chasers that do well enough
157
U-boat Situation
in coastal
waters are too small
and other ocean escort types could
for ocean escort duty. Destroyers
not be produced as rapidly as the smaller craft. Aircraft capable of
long overseas patrol were not plentiful, nor were aircraft carriers. In
consequence, potection of ocean shipping lagged to some extent.
By
come under con-
the end of 1942, however, this matter began to
trol,
as
our forces slowly increased, and there has been a steady
improvement ever
The
since.
Atlantic antisubmarine campaign has been a closely integrated
international operation. In the early phases of our participation, there
was a considerable mixture of were met as best they could
forces, as the needs of the situation
be.
For a time some
British
and Cana-
dian vessels operated in our coastal escorts, while our destroyers were
brigaded with British groups in the Atlantic and even occasionally as far afield as north
power and balance,
Russian waters. As Allied strength improved it
became
in
possible to establish certain areas of
national responsibility wherein the forces are predominantly of one nation. This simplifies the
but there
still
are
forces of two or
and always there
problem of administration and operation,
—and probably always
will
be
more nations work together is
close coordination
in
—some
areas where
in a single
command,
deploying the forces of the
several Allies.
There
is
a constant interchange of information between the large
organizations maintained in the Admiralty and in the United States Fleet Headquarters (in the form of the Tenth Fleet which coordinates
United States anti-U-boat
activities in the Atlantic)
to deal with the
problems of control and protection of shipping. These organizations, also, in
keep
in intimate
touch with the
War
Shipping Administration
the United States and with the corresponding agency in Great
Britain.
Command
of antisubmarine forces
—
air
and surface
—
that protect
shipping in the coastwise sea lanes of the United States and within the
Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico
is
exercised by sea frontier
manders, each assigned to a prescribed area. The
Panama area where the naval sea Commanding General at Panama.
except in the
under the
command
frontier
is
as a closely knit team,
well as other naval operations forces in a single
command
in
it
is
—
to
the policy
—
in
weld together
each area.
naval
commander
Since aircraft and surface combatant ships are most effective
working
comis
when
antisubmarine as air
and surface
The War
158
in the Atlantic
In the Atlantic Ocean, beyond the coastal area, anti-submarine forces
—
and surface
air
command
—
are part
of Admiral Ingersoll.
ctf
One
the Atlantic Fleet under the
of the units of
Admiral Inger-
the South Atlantic Force '(Vice Admiral Ingram
soll's fleet is
manding) which guards shipping
com-
in the coastal waters south of the
Equator and throughout the United States area of South Atlantic. Vice Admiral Ingram's command includes highly efficient surface and which country has wholeheartedly joined our team
air units of Brazil,
of submarine hunters. This team, incidentally, turns
face raiders and other bigger
game when
guns on sur-
its
enemy provides
the
the
opportunity. It
appropriate to express her appreciation of the services of
is
Netherlands antisubmarine vessels which have operated with exemplary efficiency as part of the United States Naval Caribbean Force
ever since
we
entered the war.
Antisubmarine warfare
is
primarily a naval function, but, in ac-
Army and
cordance with the general policy of working together,
Navy need
forces that are available turn to together arises.
Thus
happens that there are instances
it
aircraft join in the
when naval
Army
make
example of
Air Force Anti-Submarine
members antisubmarine specialists. It operated, (now Major General) T. United States and abroad until last November
,
is
regretted that
details of
in
of Brigadier General
W. Larson, in the when the Navy obtained enough equipment ( 1 943 ) tasks so well performed by this command. It
this is
Command
its
command
under the
An
phases of
1942, which was given the equipment and training
the spring of
necessary to
in the early
resources were inadequate.
the formation of the
Army Army Air
which
in
submarine hunt. The assistance of the
Force has been of great value, particularly the war,
on the enemy when
it
is
to take over the
not possible at this time to go into the
our antisubmarine operations in
great pleasure to recount the
this report. It
would be
many praise-worthy exploits now would jeopardize the
antisubmarine forces, but to do so
a
of our
success
The U-boat war has been a war of wits. The weapon of stealth, and naturally enough the German
of future operations.
submarine
is
a
operations have been shrouded in secrecy.
It
has been of equal impor-
tance to keep our counter measures from becoming known to the
new
tactics
of forces working against the submarines as well as
on the
enemy. There
on the part
is
a constant interplay of
part of the submarines themselves,
new
devices and
and an important element of our
Cominch Takes a Hard Look
enemy from knowing what we
success has been the ability to keep the are doing and what
we
159
at the U-boat Situation
are likely to
do
in the future. It
is,
also, of the
utmost importance to keep our enemies from learning our anti-
submarine technique,
lest
they turn
it
to their
own advantage
in
operations against our submarines.
ALTHOUGH THE U-BOAT MENACE WAS
STILL
FAR FROM
under control, an American offensive was launched November 1942, which secured for us North Africa
—
the
first
step
8,
on the long
road to the eventual storming of Hitler's Fortress Europa. This was Operation "Torch," undertaken two weeks after the British
commenced
winning drive from Egypt westward. Aimed
its
Morocco, with a secondary invasion
in Algeria,
both operations under the same high
background of
With the
Army French
at
"Torch" (embracing
command) opened
against a
political intrigue.
of France in 1940, control of that nation's govern-
fall
ment devolved on Vichy. However, Marshal Henri Petain and
commander
military
in
his
North Africa, General Maxime Weygand,
were erroneously thought to oppose collaboration with Germany.
Keenly aware of
this,
President Roosevelt planned diplomatic
moves
calculated to prevent the powerful French Toulon fleet (as distin-
guished from the Casablanca
from
fleet)
falling into Hitler's hands.
Admiral William D. Leahy and Ambassador Robert D. Murphy were ordered to work on Weygand's sympathies, while General Charles
de Gaulle of the Free French lent additional support. Roosevelt's vent hope was that the Toulon
would remain
fleet
Allied invasions were launched, and with a
was a
minimum
For even
as
Murphy
strove to
of bloodshed.
form a nucleus of French
loyal to the cause of freedom, collaborationist
Hitler in Berchtesgaden and signed
known
inactive while the It
order.
tall
Tunisia.
fer-
When on
in
pro-German
treaties
to
visited
regarding
July 25, 1942, the Darlan-Hitler liaison
London, plans were made
officers
Admiral Darlan
became
go ahead immediately and to
secure a foothold in North Africa before anything else developed. In strategic 1.
concept the joint plan envisioned the following:
"Establishment of firm and
(a) between
Oran and Tunisia on
mutually supported the Mediterranean,
lodgments"
and (b)
in
The War
160
in the Atlantic
French Morocco on the Atlantic, tinued and intensified
in
order to secure bases "for con-
ground and«ea operations."
and rapid exploitation of these lodgments"
"Vigorous
2.
air,
"in
order to acquire complete control" pi. French Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, and extend offensive operations against the rear of Axis forces to the eastward.
"Complete annihilation of Axis forces now opposing the BritWestern Desert, and intensification of air and sea
3.
ish forces in the
operations against the Axis in the European Continent."
On
August
14, Lieutenant General
appointed Supreme
Commander
Dwight D. Eisenhower was
Allied Expeditionary Force.
His
headquarters was at Norfolk House, London, where planning for the
combined operation was already in progress. One month later "Torch" assumed its final form: Task Force 34, under Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, included a Western Task Force, U.S. Army, which the redoubtable Major General George United States
Army
in
Patton and 35,000
S.
troops were embarked from the United States; a
Commodore Thomas Troubridge, RN, with about 39,000 United States Army troops underway from the United Kingdom to Oran; and an Eastern Task Force under Rear Admiral Sir H. M. Burrough, RN, with about 33,000 (British and American) Army troops, bound from the United Kingdom to capture Algiers. Center Task Force under
For our purposes it is not necessary to go into the preliminary work done by the Amphibious Force Atlantic Fleet; we need only discuss the invasion, focusing attention on the Western Task Force until the stage
is
set for the Battle of
Casablanca. Aggregating one
hundred and two warships, transports and sea, the
auxiliaries
when
Western Task Force got underway from Norfolk on October
24, despite a caustic prediction from Patton that the
break down
at the last crucial minute.
"Never
place. If
within one
you land us anywhere within
week
of
D-Day,
I'll
fifty
go ahead and win
Navy would
in history,"
"Blood and Guts", "has the Navy landed an army
and
united at
at
observed
the planned time
miles of Fedahla and ." .
.
These chicks came home to roost as the United States Navy, after a circuitous voyage in clear weather with no incidents marring the
passage, arrived at
deadline ern,
the
—
its
destination at midnight August 7
—
exactly
on
and the Western Naval Task Force broke up into South-
Northern and Center Attack Groups
North African
coast.
The
off assigned targets
along
landings at Fedahla, fifteen miles north
of Casablanca, were punctuated by misadventures and
stiff
French
Cominch Takes a Hard Look resistance.
The epochal day dawned
ground swell and
The
at the
gifted
fair
light offshore winds.
Rear Admiral Morison
U-boat Situation
161
but hazy, with a moderate
The
invasion was on.
details
the explosive
D-Day
events at sea. Twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Morison under-
took his formidable naval history as the result of an interview with President Roosevelt and Secretary of the
missioned him a Lieutenant
ment of
his
choice
our Navy at war.
United
He
Commander
—documenting
Navy Knox, who comwith the writing assign-
and interpreting the story of
served aboard eleven different ships and covered
States' participation in every theatre of war,
Combat "V." The following is the first of three distinguished work which appear in this volume.
and was awarded
the Legion of Merit with
selections
from
his
REAR ADMIRAL SAMUEL ELIOT MORISON
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The Naval
167
Battle of Casablanca
fire tomorrow, never forget the motto of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts whose name we proudly bear. That motto is: Ense Petit Placidam Sub Libertate Quietem, With the
duty to open
Sword She Seeks Peace under with
we
Liberty. If
wield the sword, do so
the strength in this mighty ship to destroy quickly and
all
completely.
At 2215 November
7 Admiral Giffen's group turned
away
to the
Southwestward, and during the night steamed over a trapezoidal course whose base ran parallel to the coastline, about twenty-one miles off shore. After completing the last corner of the trapezoid at
0515 November
big ships continued
8, the
and
Light, turned westerly for spotting
on
NW
eighteen-fathom shoal bearing 14 miles
168° course to the
a
N
by
from El Hank
0610 proceeded to catapult nine planes patrol. The shore batteries at Fedhala Giffen was too far away to Admiral but
at
and anti-submarine
were already opening
He
hear the report.
fire,
caught Admiral Hewitt's "Play Ball in Center"
over the wireless telephone at 0626, but
this did
not apply to the
Covering Group. Catapulting planes from a cruiser or battleship in early morning twilight
is
one of the
finest sights in the
poised on the catapult, snorts blue
fire
modern Navy. The
from
its
plane,
twin exhausts.
The
ship maneuvers so that the plane will shoot into the wind. Flag sig-
made from
nals are
the bridge and rhythmic
plane dispatcher on the rushes headlong
down
overboard. Just as
charge
is
heard.
it
fantail.
A
arm
nod from the
the catapult like
signals
pilot,
from the
and the plane
some hagridden diver going
leaves the skids, a loud crack of the explosive
The plane
falls
a few yards towards the water, then
and flies off and away. Immediately after launching their planes the Massachusetts, Witch-
straightens out
ita
and Tuscaloosa ran up
battle ensigns, bent
on twenty-five knots,
battle formation. The four destroyers steamed in a halfyards ahead of the flagship, whch was followed in 3000 moon about column by the two cruisers at 1000-yard intervals, their "long, slim 8inch guns projecting in threes from the turrets, like rigid fingers of
and assumed
death pointing to the object of their wrath with inexorable certainty."
had reached a position bearing about west northwest from Casablanca, distant 18,000 yards from Batterie
At 0640, when El
the formation
Hank and 20,000
began an easterly run, holding the same range. Ten minutes one of the flagship's spotting planes reported two submarines
harbor, later,
yards from battleship Jean Bart's berth in the
it
The War
168
in the Atlantic
standing out of Casablanca Harbor, and at 0651 radioed: "There's
me from
an anti-aircraft battery opening up "on
came within twelve tered "bandits" at
bow one
0652 and
The
? Am coming
signaled-:
with couple hostile aircraft on in front!"
my
The
salvo,
in
on starboard
—
Pick 'em off
tail.
I
am
the
up on these planes with their 50701, and shot one down. The other retired; and
inch batteries at
first
burst
big ships opened
almost simultaneously battleship Jean Bart and El firing.
One
beach.
Batter up!" Another spotting plane encoun-
feet.
Hank commenced
coast defense guns straddled Massachusetts with their
and
five
or six splashes from Jean Bart
fell
about 600
yards ahead of her starboard bow. Admiral Giffen lost no time in giving his group the "Play Ball!" Massachusetts let go her
first
16-
inch salvo at 0704. Actually Jean Bart was shooting at the cruisers astern; she never saw, or at least never recognized, Massachusetts
during the action; so our mighty battlewagon making her fighting
debut was reported to the Germans via Vichy as a "pocket battleship."
Jean Bart, the newest battleship of the French Navy, almost 800 feet
long and of about the same tonnage as Massachusetts, had never
been completed. Although unable the
Mole du Commerce
in
to
move from her
birth alongside
Casablanca, her four 15-inch guns in the
forward turret and her modern range-finding equipment made her a
harbor,
defense
On
On
Hank promontory, just west of the was a battery of four 194-mm (approximately 8-inch) coast guns and another of four 138-mm guns facing easterly.
formidable shore battery.
El
the other side of the harbor toward Fedhala, at a place called
Table d'Aoukasha, was a somewhat antiquated coast defense battery.
We
had assumed
had been
laid.
that the approaches
The
would be mined, but no mines
sea approaches to Casablanca were, however,
nicely covered
by gunfire. For several minutes Massachusetts and Tuscaloosa concentrated
on Jean Bart, commencing
fire at
ing out to 29,000. Wichita
opened
of 21,800 yards, using her
own
a range of 24,000 yards and openfire
on El Hank
at
0706
One
penetrated an empty magazine.
A
made
five
second penetrated below
the after control station, completely wrecking large hole
range
plane spot. Massachusetts fired nine
16-inch salvos of six to nine shots each at Jean Bart, and hits.
at a
it,
and the nose made a
below the waterline. The third and fourth did not meet
sufficient resistance to detonate
about 0720,
hit the
an armor-piercing
forward turret (then
firing
shell.
The
fifth, at
at Massachusetts),
ricocheted against the top of the barbette, and then into the city,
The Naval where
was recovered and
it
ralty building.
The impact
turret in train, silencing
eight hours. Thus,
guns
at
set
up
169
Battle of Casablanca
French Admi-
as a trophy at the
jammed
of this shell on the barbette
the
Jean Barfs entire main battery for about
one of the primary defenses of Casablanca, whose
extreme elevation might have been able to reach the transport
area off Fedhala, was eliminated in sixteen minutes.
Throughout
this action,
and splashing
setts
heavy
stuff
was whizzing over Massachu-
in the water close aboard.
Admiral Giffen and
Captain Whiting disdained the protection of the armorcased conning tower, and directed battle from the open flying bridge.
The Admiral
once remarked, as an enemy salvo passed close overhead, "If one lands at
my
feet,
I'll
be the
first
to line
up
to
make
a date with Helen
of Troy!"
Tuscaloosa concentrated on the submarine berthing area in Casablanca, then shifted to the Table d'Aoukasha shore battery, while
Wichita, having fired twenty-five 9-gun salvos at El
lenced
Hank, and
si-
temporarily, took over the submarine area in the harbor at
it
0727. The range was then 27,000 yards. At 0746 the Covering Group changed course to 270° and commenced a westerly run past the targets, firing on El
Hank, Table d'Aoukasha, and
harbor. This action was broken off at
telephone message relayed from the quit firing
Army
—you
—you
are
killing
our
0835
Army
own
are killing townspeople,
in
ships in the
consequence of a
ashore, "For Christ's sake
troops,"
and "This
is
from
no opposition ashore." Subse-
quent investigation proved that these casualties were caused by the
Cape Fedhala, when firing on our troops at the upper edge of Beach Red 2. Up to that time, the only certain damage inflicted by either side was on the Jean Bart. The French scored no hits on the Covering Batterie
du
Port,
Group, although they made several straddles and near misses, and one
shell
passed
through
the
flagship's
commissioning
pennant.
Around 0745 bombing planes' and warships' projectiles sank three merchantmen in Casablanca and also three submarines, Oreade, La Psyche and Amphitrite. Anyway, somebody sank them at anchor. Yet, in spite of all the efforts by Covering Group and carrier planes, eight submarines sortied successfully between 0710 and 0830, and some of them were shortly to be heard from. The shore battery at
—whose guns were described by French only vieux" — was du y
Table d'Aoukasha as "tout ce qu'il
a
a
plus
silenced
officer
temporarily,
and the modern El Hank battery remained completely operational. The Covering Group had become so interested in pounding Jean
—
The War
170
Hank
Bart and El
in the Atlantic that
its
mission of containing the
enemy
ships in
Casablanca Harbor was neglected. Ar0833, when they checked
fire,
Massachusetts, Tuscaloosa and Wichita had reached a point about sixteen miles northwest of the harbor entrance,
from our ships engaged
and twenty-five miles
unloading troops at Fedhala. Admiral
in
Michelier, anticipating that this westward run would place the big ships at a safe distance, ordered the destroyer squadrons under his
command
from Casablanca and sneak along the coast
to sortie
break up the landing operations ate
at
to
Fedhala. This was his one desper-
chance of defeating the "invasion."
Beginning
0815, the following French ships sortied from Casa-
at
blanca:
Destroyer Leaders of 2500 tons, 423 feet long,
five
5V2-inch guns,
four torpedo tubes, 36 knots
MILAN ALBATROS
Capitaine de Fregate Costet Capitaine de Fregate Pedes
Destroyers of 1400 tons, 331 feet long, four 5.1 -inch guns, six
torpedo tubes, 36 knots
L'ALCYON
Capitaine de Corvette de Bragelongue
BRESTOIS
Capitaine de Fregate Mariani
BOULONNAIS
Capitaine Corvette de Preneuf
FOUGUEUX FRONDEUR
Capitaine de Corvette Begouen-Demeaux
Capitaine de Fregate Sticca
command
This force was under the
Lafond
in
of Contre-Amiral Gervais de
Milan. Light cruiser Primauguet sortied
commenced he was been ordered to
still
the
0900. Adfirst sortie
ignorant of the nationality of the ships he had
Other
fight.
last, at
when
miral Lafond later informed Admiral Hewitt that
officers later
confirmed
this surprising
fact.
Spotting planes reported the sortie to our Center Attack early as 0818. transports.
strafed
Wildcats
and
and bombed the
Dauntless
dive-bombers
ships, but they continued
knocked one of the bombers down; is
Group
as
There then began an anxious twenty minutes for the
its
entire
on
from
their course,
crew was
only twelve miles by sea from Casablanca, not
Ranger
much
lost.
and
Fedhala
to cover for
destroyers capable of thirty-six knots; and the transports at that
mo-
ment were so many sitting ducks for a torpedo attack, or gunfire for that matter. At 0828 the French destroyers began shelling landing boats that were seeking Beach Yellow west of Cape Fedhala, making
The Naval on one, and
a direct hit
also firing
patrolling a few miles to the
salvo that started a
0834 was
at
hit
fire
by a
on Wilkes and Ludlow, who were
westward of the Cape. Ludlow delivered a
on the Milan, then
back on the
fell
cruisers.
Swanson
to intercept the
French
force.
was dispelled by what one of
The French
"the most
main
and
Wilkes
Anxiety on board the trans-
their officers
The four
beautiful sight he ever saw."
pronounced ships
to be
went tearing
pack of dogs unleashed: Wilkes and Swanson with
into action like a their
24,000
to
must have believed that they had us on the run.
Admiral Hewitt now ordered Augusta, Brooklyn, ports
and
which took her out of action
fires
and straddles followed her out
yards range, and Wilkes too sailors
retired at flank speed,
which entered the wardroom country and
shell
exploded on the main deck, starting for three hours. Splashes
171
Battle of Casablanca
batteries yap-yapping, dancing
ahead
like
two fox
terriers,
followed by the queenly Augusta with a high white wave-curl against her clipper bow, her 8-inch guns booming a deep "woof-woof '; and finally the stolid,
like ten
make when
scrappy Brooklyn, giving tongue with her six-inchers
couple of staghounds, and footing so fast that she had to
At 0848,
a 300-degree turn to take station astern of her senior. the
enemy was not more than four
18,500 yards, rapidly closing to 17,600; French
action opened at
came uncomfortably
shells
miles from our transports,
close but failed to hit; at about
0900
range was opened by the enemy retiring toward Casablanca, to draw us under the coastal batteries.
Admiral Hewitt
at nine o'clock
care of the French ships.
and
at
0918 opened
and Brooklyn broke the
fire
fire at
off
19,400
in at
27 knots,
yards, closing to 11,500.
and returned
to
Augusta
guard the transports, while
support destroyers engaged the Batterie du Port on Cape
Fedhala, which had reopened time.
ordered Giffen to close and take
The Covering Group came
fire,
and quickly silenced
it
for the third
In meantime the French destroyers sent up a heavy
smoke
screen and followed the excellent defensive tactics of charging out of it
to take a crack at their formidable
off the spot
enemy, then
planes and range finders.
credit," reported the
gunnery
in again to
throw
"Our enemy deserves much
officer of Tuscaloosa, "for
superb sea-
manship which permitted him to maintain a continuous volume of
fire
his light forces while exposing them only momentarily. One wellmanaged stratagem observed was the laying of smoke by a destroyer on the unengaged bow of the enemy cruiser, which effectively ob-
from
scured our 'overs'
"
These French destroyers did indeed put up a
fight that
commanded
^The War
172
the admiration of off;
in the Atlantic
all.
The Covering Group was unable
them
to polish
hurling 8-inch and 16-inch ammunition at these nimble-footed
light craft was a bit like trying to hit a gr^ss hopper with a rock. At 0935 Giffen changed course to 280° "because of restricted waters,"
and began another run
to the
westward, exchanging shots with the
French destroyers and El Hank.
The minutes around 1000 were
the hottest part of this action.
Several things happened almost simultaneously. light cruiser
Primauguet (7300 tons, 600
and twelve torpedo tubes) sortied which peeled
off
French
beautiful
guns
two of
to assist the destroyers,
from the smoke screen group and headed north on the Covering Group. Massachusetts,
deliver a torpedo attack
range of about
The
feet long, eight 6-inch
and Tuscaloosa,
miles,
1 1
to
at a
landed a
at a little less,
couple of salvos on the van destroyer Fougueux. She blew up and sank in lat. 33°42' N, long. 7°37' W, about 6% miles north of Casablanca breakwater. About the same the flagship's
Within
body.
moment
Massachusetts
minutes
three
wakes about 60 degrees on her port bow, yards.
The
big battleship
of the spread,
Hank
a shell from El
hit
main deck forward and exploded below, injuring no-
and
just
sighted
distant
four
under one thousand
was maneuvered between Numbers
made
away along her starboard
it;
side.
Number 4
torpedo
3
and 4
passed about fifteen feet
Four minutes
later four torpedoes,
from submarine Meduse, narrowly missed Tuscaloosa; and
1021
at
another torpedo wake was sighted, passing 100 yards to port. The
French
just
missed sweet revenge for their too impetuous Fougueux.
While the Covering Group was making
this
run to the westward,
sinking ships and dodging torpedoes, three French destroyers began to
edge along shore toward the transports. Our big ships were
Hewitt
0951 ordered
at
cept the enemy.
his
When
now
area, so
Admiral
two cruisers and three destroyers
to inter-
well below the horizon, as seen
from the transport
the Brooklyn received this order, she
was
operating to the eastward of the transport area. Captain Denebrink in his eagerness steered a straight course for fifteen minutes,
managed
at
1010, by a timely 90-degree turn, to dodge
from the submarine Amazone, sand yards. Augusta, General Patton and
who was
staff
fired at a
five
just
range of about three thou-
fueling a plane
and preparing
to set
ashore, catapulted the plane, cut adrift the
waiting landing craft and stood over to support Brooklyn, as a bridal
and
torpedoes
handsome
bouquet with her guns spouting orange bursts of flame.
The second morning engagement, which commenced
at
1008 when
The Naval Battle one of the French destroyers opened eral
when Augusta came
in at
1020.
fire
on Brooklyn, became gen-
On
the one side were the
by Wilkes, Swanson and
cruisers screened
cruiser Primauguet,
two destroyer
173
of Casablanca
Bristol;
leaders,
on
two
the other, light
and four destroyers. Au-
gusta and Brooklyn steered radically evasive courses: ellipses, snake tracks,
and
figure eights
—dodging
every few seconds, and foot-
shells
ing so fast that their screening destroyers with difficulty kept out of the way. Brooklyn gusta.
"Her
was very impressive, reported an observer
followed by one or more fire lasting
in
Au-
consisted of ranging salvos with one or two guns,
fire
full salvos,
spotted,
and then a burst of rapid
Her adversary was then
a minute or so."
steering north-
westerly to open the range, so as to give her guns the advantage; at
seven and a half to nine miles from the
more than black specks merging
in the
enemy one could
of ships constantly emerging
see
little
from and sub-
smoke, and gun flashes snapping out of the screen. At
1046 Brooklyn received the only
hit suffered
by either
cruiser, a 5-
inch dud.
So intent was Brooklyn upon the task the Covering
at
hand
appeared over the horizon to the westward,
firing,
off
and large geysers
had been dodging, shot
of green water, far higher than anything she
up
that she forgot about
Group; and when the superstructures of three ships
her starboard bow, officers on the bridge thought for a few
seconds that the enemy had led us into a trap the Richelieu, Gloire and
—
were
that these ships
Montcalm from Dakar. It turned out that Hank, making a few passes at Brook-
the green splashes were from El lyn,
and that the three ships hull-down were, of course, the Covering
Group
returning. Great relief
on the bridge! At about 1035 Massaon Boulon-
chusetts signaled her re-entry into battle by opening fire nais,
who,
hit
by a
full
salvo
from Brooklyn,
rolled over
and sank
at
1112.
By 1100 Massachusetts had expended approximately 60 per of her 16-inch ammunition, and decided that she
came
balance in case that bad dream, the Richelieu,
cent
had better save the true.
Accord-
ingly she pulled out of range with three screening destroyers, while
Captain Gillette
in
Tuscaloosa assumed tactical
command
heavy cruisers and Rhind, with orders to polish
They closed range
to
two
enemy
fleet.
light cruisers
were
off the
14,000 yards, closer than our
of the
at the time.
At about 1100, action, cruiser
just before the
reduced Covering Group swung into
Primauguet took a bad beating from Augusta and
The War
174
in the Atlantic
Brooklyn. Holed three times below the waterline, and with an 8-inch shell
the
on No. 3
turret, she retired
toward" the harbor, and anchored off
Roches Noires. Milan, with
followed
Almost
suit.
at the
five hits, at least three of them 8-inch, same moment, destroyer Brestois was hit
by Augusta and a destroyer. She managed to make the harbor
The planes
Ranger
from
near
her
strafed
the
jetty.
with
waterline
Holed below the
.50-caliber bullets, but did not hasten her end. waterline, she sank at 2100.
There were now only three French ships
They formed up about 1115, apparently with a torpedo
delivering
of
reduced the
fire
action outside the
Frondeur and L'Alcyon, and destroyer leader
harbor, destroyers Albatros.
in
to
attack on the
behind
zigzagging
ineffectual
cruisers,
the intention
smoke
a
soon
were
but
from El Hank. After a number of straddles and near misses, shore battery scored one living
hit
on Wichita
at
compartment on the second deck,
them
of
seriously; the fires
same
later the
cruiser
by
screen
and Wichita. They had good support, however,
of Tuscaloosa
1
this
128, which detonated in a
injuring fourteen
were quickly extinguished.
men, none
Ten minutes
dodged a spread of three torpedoes from one of
the French submarines. Wichita and Tuscaloosa, however, gave back far
more than they
down
at
strafing.
got.
Frondeur took a
the stern; like Brestois, she
Albatros was
hit twice at
hit aft
and limped
was finished
off
into port
by
aircraft
1130, once below the waterline
forward and once on deck; with only three of her guns functioning she zigzagged behind a
smoke
screen, shooting at Augusta.
At
that
moment Ranger's bomber planes flew into action, and laid two eggs amidships. The fireroom and one engine room were flooded, and the second engine room was presently flooded by another hit from Augusta. Albatros
Immediately
went dead after,
in the water.
around 1145 or 1150, action was broken
reason of two rumors, one false and the other misleading.
off
by
News
reached Admiral Hewitt from a plane that an enemy cruiser had been sighted southwest of Casablanca, and he ordered Wichita and Tusca-
loosa to steam
down
the coast in search of her.
munication teams ashore came word
Army
"Army
From one
of our
com-
officers conferring with
Cape Fedhala. Gunfire must be stopped during this conference." Such a conference was being held, but Admiral Michelier knew nothing about it, and the senior French officer French
officers
at
present, a lieutenant colonel,
had no authority
except to surrender Fedhala, where
all
to decide anything
resistance had already ceased.
The Naval
Battle of Casablanca
175
the eight French which took part in this
morning engage-
ment, only one, L'Alcyon, returned to her berth
undamaged. But
Out of
Admiral Michelier had a few cards
still
up
his sleeve,
and proceeded
to
play them well.
The eighth of November had developed into a beautiful blue-andgold autumn day, with bright sunlight overhead, a smooth sea almost unruffled by light offshore wind, and a haze over the land to which
smoke from
gunfire and
smoke screens
contributed. Sea gulls with
black-tipped wings were skimming over the water, and so continued
throughout the action apparently unconcerned by these strange antics
human
of the
race.
At 1245 Brooklyn and Augusta were and
ports;
their crews,
who had been
hours, were trying to grab a
had managed chose
this
to get
little
patrolling
around the trans-
at battle stations for twelve
cold lunch. General Patton at last
ashore from the flagship. Admiral Michelier
opportune moment, when the Covering Group was chasing
a ghost cruiser to the westward, to order a third sortie from Casa-
blanca, led by a aviso-colonial
resembled a
light cruiser.
named La Grandiere. At
a distance she
She was followed by two small avisos-
draguerurs (coast-patrol minesweepers) of 630 tons, armed with 3.9 guns, called La Gracieuse and Commandant The three vessels steamed along the coast as if headed for the transports. The French, as ascertained later, were simply trying to pick up survivors from the sunken destroyers, but their course then looked aggressive. At the same time two destroyers who had not yet sortied, Tempete and Simoun, remained near the harbor entrance, milling around temptingly in order to attack some of our vessels under
inch
anti-aircraft
Delage.
the
fire
of El
Again
it
Hank. Albatros was
still
outside, but
dead
in the water.
was Brooklyn, Augusta, destroyers and bombing planes
the rescue. Action closing to 14,300.
which the cruisers
damaged by one
to
commenced at 1312, range 17,200 yards, rapidly Again the enemy put up a smoke screen, through were unable to find their targets. La Grandiere was
of the
bombing
planes, but returned to harbor safely,
and the two small avisos were not touched. During
this short action a
tug was observed towing in Albatros,
who was bombed
brazen
little
and strafed on the way, and
finally
beached
at the
near the Primauguet and Milan. This was a bad
Roches Noires
move on
the part of
the French, because in that position they were easily attacked
from
seaward by carrier-based planes who were not bothered to any great extent by the harbor anti-aircraft defenses. Primauguet that afternoon
^The War
176
in the Atlantic
bombings and strafings from Ranger's planes, and her whole forward half was completely wrecked. A direct hit on suffered several fierce
her bridge killed the captain, the executive, and seven other officers;
Rear Admiral Gervais de Lafond was*
seriously
wounded, but recov-
ered.
By 1340
the Covering
Group was coming up again
fast
from the
westward, and for the third time that day Admiral Hewitt handed over the duty of engaging the enemy to Admiral Giffen, while Captain
Emmet's command resumed
patrol duties. Massachusetts fired one
salvo at the small ships, and was promptly engaged by El
ceased
minutes
after ten
firing
Hank, but
order to conserve ammunition.
in
La
Wichita and Tuscaloosa stood in toward the harbor, and engaged
Grandiere and
At
A Ibatros.
the height of this action Colonel Wilbur, accompanied by a
French guide and Colonel Gay and driven by Major F. M. Rogers,
made
a second auto excursion into Casablanca in the
suading the French from further resistance.
them pass under
flag of truce after
army headquarters
in
in
The advance
dis-
post
disarming the party. They called
let
at
Casablanca, and after ascertaining that the
Colonel's friend General Bethouart was in
was
hope of
command, proceeded
jail,
and that Michelier
Admiralty on the waterfront. As
to the
they passed through the streets of Casablanca, flying the American
waved and cheered, and a friendly crowd gathered whenever they halted to ask the way. About 1400, word was sent in to Admiral Michelier requesting an interview. An aide came flag,
the population
out, saluted,
remained
at attention,
refused to receive them. his best
and declared
that the
As Major Rogers was beginning
Harvard French, El Hank
let fly
Admiral
to argue in
a salvo at Wichita. "Voila
votre reponse!" said the Admiral's aide.
The
last
ruse of Admiral Michelier had succeeded.
Tuscaloosa, although not
hit,
from El Hank that they broke
Wichita and
were so frequently straddled by gunfire off action at
1450. Dive-bombers from
also engaged this shore battery, but inflicted no lethal damAt 1530 Admiral Giffen signaled Admiral Hewitt, "Have seven loaded guns and will make one more pass at El Hank." So this day's furious shooting ended in a well-earned tribute to "Old Hank," as the
Ranger
age.
bluejackets
The
final
named
this
French shore
battery.
score of the battle of Casablanca
United States Navy suffered one
hit
is
very one-sided.
The
each on destroyers Murphy and
Ludlow, cruisers Wichita and Brooklyn and battleship Massachusetts.
The Naval Three men were
177
Battle of Casablanca
on board Murphy and about 25 wounded, by
killed
40 landing boats were destroyed by enemy action, most of them by airplane strafing when on the beach. The Army casualties ashore that day were very slight. The the Sherki battery. Approximately
French Navy
4 destroyers and 8 submarines sunk or missing;
lost
Jean Bart, Primauguet, Albatros and Milan disabled. Casualties to
French armed forces were stated by the
vember
490
to be
Fedhala were
in
Casablanca were
War Department on
and 969 wounded. All coast batteries
killed
all
23 Noat
our possession at the end of D-day, but those at still
in
Admiral Michelier
French hands, and operative.
had
still
his
two principal
assets, the four 15-
194-mm and four 138-mm coast As long as these, and the several
inch guns of Jean Bart and the four
defense guns of Batterie El Hank.
mobile and fixed batteries of 7 5 -mm
were undamaged, the Admiral was French naval and
air
aged, but the main
from being
power
in
American
attained;
and
in a
guns around Casablanca,
good position
Morrocco had been
to bargain.
irretrievably
objective, securing Casablanca,
until
ships into Casablanca they
field
we could
get the transports
were highly vulnerable
to
dam-
was
far
and cargo
submarine or
air
attack and also in danger of foul weather damage.
In general,
it
may be
was the
ering that this
said that the results were respectable, consid-
first
major action of the Atlantic Fleet; but no
more than might reasonably be expected from American local superiority in
gun and
air
power. Nothing had occurred to upset the princi-
ple that coastal batteries have a great advantage over naval gunfire.
Brooklyn to be sure had done a good job on the Sherki, but even her
bombardment technique could not have silenced a determined and The value of naval air power was well
well-trained crew of gunners.
demonstrated; for the speedy destruction and driving planes
left
down
of French
the cruiser-based planes free to spot fall of shot, while
carrier-based
bombers and
fighters delivered attacks
on ships and
shore batteries.
The French observed
their traditional
economy
in the use of
am-
munition; but the American ships were lavish, considering that they
had no place Roads.
If
to
replenish their magazines that side of
the dreaded
Dakar
fleet
questionable whether the Covering shells to defeat
Of
Hampton
had turned up next day, it is Group would have had enough
them.
individual ship performances, that of Brooklyn
intelligently directed
was
typical for
and courageously sustained aggressive
action.
The War
178
in the Atlantic
Her men- remained at battle stations from 2215 November 7 to 1433 November 8, with a single forty-minute interval at noon, and no hot
The teamwork and morale of that ship was outstanding. Even the smallest mess attendant, when questioned after the action as to what he had done, since the anti-aircraft gun for which he passed ammunition had food, without showing signs of discouragement or fatigue. ,
never
fired, said, "I
awful
lot of that!"
mostly kept out of people's way,
Equipped with the
latest devices to
sir
—but
I
did an
keep main battery trained on
a target while steering evasive courses at a speed of thirty-three knots,
Brooklyn delivered an amazing shower of
projectiles,
and
as she zig-
zagged and pirouetted, delivering 15-gun salvos and continuous rapid fire
from her main battery, her appearance, with great bouquets of
flame and smoke blossoming from her 6-inch guns, was a delight to the eye,
if
not to the ear. Brooklyn went far to prove, in this action, that
the light cruiser
is
a
most useful all-around
almost 1700 rounds of 6-inch
fighting ship.
common and
She expended
about 965 rounds of 6-
inch high-capacity, on this joyful day of battle, without a single misfire.
At
the end of the day Admiral Hewitt sent this message to
Captain Denebrink: "Congratulations on your gunnery as evidenced
by silencing Sherki battery and on your aggressive offensive action
shown throughout Augusta
the day."
also put in an outstanding performance.
her space and communication
facilities
Athough much
of
were taken up by the two staffs, Captain Gordon Her 8-inch guns could not,
admirals and two generals on board, and their
Hutchins fought his ship cleverly and
well.
of course, shoot as rapidly as the 6-inch of Brooklyn, but they prob-
more damage. The Covering Group destroyed the Jean Bart as a fighting ship, and probably accounted for the Fougueux and Boulonnais. Massa-
ably did
chusetts,
on her shakedown
morale; her turret
cruise,
men showed
was
full
of fight and tip-top in
unusual endurance in handling the 16-
inch shells for hours on end; out of her 113 officers and 2203 men,
only three were in sick bay during the action. to the battery
on El Hank,
carried only armor-piercing
gaging enemy battleships.
would be of
(HC)
slight use in
that
If
she did
little
(AP) 16-inch shells, with a view to enIt was well known that AP projectiles
shore bombardment, for which high-capacity
shells with instantaneously acting fuses are required,
miral Hewitt's staff
made
damage
was because of her ammunition. She
and Ad-
every effort to procure a supply of these for
The Naval her; but at that time the
AP
Bureau of Ordnance could furnish none. The
simply drove the gunners of El
direct hit
179
Battle of Casablanca
Hank
temporarily to cover; only a
on one of the emplacements could have silenced the battery
permanently.
The
They acted
destroyers too were well handled.
utility ships,
shepherding
as all-around
the landing boats to the line of
departure in
dangerous proximity to the shore batteries, delivering accurate and powerful
fire
on ship and shore
and transports from torpedo
ships
appear again and operations.
One
and screening the capital
targets,
attack.
Many
of their officers will
again in this history, especially in Pacific
commended by
of several
tenant Franklin D. Roosevelt
Jr.
USNR,
their skippers
gunnery
Ocean
was Lieu-
officer of
Mayrant,
"for controlling and spotting main battery with skill and good judgment under highly adverse spotting conditions." These conditions were partly
due to the inexperience of plane
sunlight
pilots, partly to the glare of
on the water between our ships and
their targets.
Perhaps the best story of the battle comes from destroyer Wilkes, when screening Brooklyn and Augusta in their fight with Primauguet
and the French destroyers. The
engine-room telephone
officer at the
heard loud reports, and more speed was called
up there?" he
inquired.
"Enemy
for.
"What's going on
cruiser chasing us,"
Before long he was almost thrown
off his feet
was the
reply.
by a sudden change of
more speed was called for. "What's going on now?" he asked. "We're chasing the enemy cruiser!" course, and even
WITH THE NORTH AFRICAN INVASION ACCOMPLISHED and the Tunisian campaign begun, the way was clear for expansion of the Allied lodgment. Although heavy fighting was to continue at Casablanca until the 11th,
we had
the "soft underbelly" of the Axis and were
nevertheless penetrated
on the long road
to victory.
Before turning to another aspect of the North African campaign, let
us touch briefly on the international political situation. General
Marshall's
official
comments
are pertinent:
General Eisenhower had announced that General Giraud would
be responsible for
civil
and military
the French military officials to
affairs in
North Africa, but
on the ground were found
to
be loyal
Marshal Petain's government. President Roosevelt's note to
The War
180
in the Atlantic
the French Chief of State had assured Marshal Petain of our desire for
ing.
a liberated France, but the
Our ambassador was handed
Vichy answer was disappointhis passport on 9 November,
and orders were dispatched from 'Vichy to resist our forces,
to
French Africa units
which by then had already accomplished
their
missions except on the Casablanca front.
Unexpectedly, Admiral Jean Darlan, Petain's designated successor and
commander in
Algiers. ...
He was
chief of
all
French
forces,
was found
taken into protective custody, and
to
when
be it
in
was
found that the French leaders stood loyal to the Vichy government, a series of conferences immediately followed with the pur-
pose of calling a halt to the French resistance against General Patton's task force in the vicinity of Casablanca.
morning of
11
November, the Germans
When, on
invaded
the
unoccupied
France, Admiral Darlan rejected the pseudo-independent Vichy
government, assumed authority
in
North Africa
Marshal Petain, and promulgated an order
manders
in
North Africa to cease
hostilities.
Casablanca a few minutes before the
final
be launched on the early morning of
1
An
1
to
in the
name
of
French com-
all
This order reached
American
assault
was
to
November.
important sequel to the North African landings
by Walter Muir Whitehill, King's biographer.
is
described
—
FLEET ADMIRAL ERNEST
AND
CDR.
J.
KING
WALTER MUIR WHITEHILL
8.
SUMMIT CONFERENCE
In the days following the North African landings
it
became
clear to
the President that a conference to determine strategic plans for 1943
would
shortly
become
necessary. Late in
November, Mr. Churchill
proposed that Marshall, King and Hopkins repeat
down
of July, but the President felt the need of sitting
the Russians either in Cairo or
Moscow. As
it
London
visit
at a table
with
their
appeared that free
discussion with the Russians could take place only on the highest level,
Stalin himself
gested a state velt's
new
housed
was
invited to participate.
Mr. Churchill sug-
Atlantic Conference in Iceland, with the three heads of in ships lying together in Hvalfjordur,
comment—
but Mr. Roose-
"I prefer a comfortable oasis to the raft at Tilsit"
turned plans toward North Africa, which offered a more suitable climate at this season. In the end Casablanca in French
Morocco was
chosen. Although Stalin never came, the President, the Prime Minister,
the
Combined Chiefs
of Staff, and other governmental representa-
assembled there for a ten-day conference, designated by the code word SYMBOL. Tremendous precautions for secrecy were obtives
served during the outward journey, particularly as the President had
had declared war nor flown since he became President. Leahy, who accompanied him, was stricken with bronchitis early in the journey, and so, to his keen neither left the country since the United States
disappointment, was
left
behind
at Trinidad.
181
The War
182
On
^January,
in the Atlantic
advance of the President's party, King
in
left
Wash-
ington by air for Borenquen Field in northwest Puerto Rico. Generals
Wedemeyer accompanied him
Somervell and nold, and Sir
John
Brazil, off the
crossed the equator for the
was spent
at
first
Landing
Marrakech
at
Moses Taylor, and to see sights
terized in
The next
the South Atlantic by night to Bathurst,
in
as far as
French Morocco on the afternoon of villa
after dinner strolled in the city.
—not even
by Mr. Churchill
Gam-
Agadir where they flew
12 January, they spent the night in a handsome
mood
flight
of the Para River, King
time in his sixty -four years.
and skirted the coast of Africa
inland.
mouth
Belem, before the party continued to Natal, Brazil.
The planes then crossed bia,
During the
Dill traveled in another plane.
from Borinquen toward night
while Marshall, Ar-
owned by Mrs.
King was not
in a
the bazaars of this ancient city, charac-
Sahara"
as "the Paris of the
—
for he felt that
such matters he had done his duty adequately in the course of his
European
cruises of
1899 and 1903. During the hour's
flight to
Casa-
blanca the following morning, Sir John Dill accompanied King and reminisced about his duty in India and Palestine.
Casablanca had been chosen for the ence
largely
of the
site
SYMBOL
Confer-
because convenient and secure accommodation was
The Combined Chiefs, with Anfa Hotel, some four miles south of
were lodged
available there.
their staffs,
in the
the city, while the Presi-
dent and the Prime Minister each had an attractive
The teenth,
Joint Chiefs of Staff
and again early the following morning
King
basic
concepts
at
near by. thir-
to lay their plans for
once suggested that world-wide strategy and
the conference. strategic
villa
met on Wednesday afternoon, the
should
be
discussed
first,
and
strongly
stressed the need of determining the proportions of the total effort that should be delivered against
urged that we
resist
any
effort
Germany and
on the part of
from a discussion of world-wide
against Japan.
He
the British to deviate
strategy in favor of any particular
operation until the basic strategic concepts had been settled.
He was
greatly concerned at this time with preventing the building
up of a
large excess force of troops in
North Africa with no immediate pros-
pect for their useful employment. In this he was in full accord with
Mr. Churchill, who several weeks previously had observed: "I never
meant the Anglo-American Army spring-board and not a sofa."
to be stuck in
North Africa.
It is
a
183
Summit Conference
WHILE DOENITZ EXPANDED HIS U-BOAT OPERATIONS TO meet the
crisis of
the
still
invasion in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic was
principal
scene
submarine
of
warfare.
Early
1942
in
Rear Admiral Jonas H. Ingram's South Atlantic Fleet, built around four light cruisers operating from Recife, Brazil, beat down stiff opposition from U-boats which had taken a heavy
toll
the Trinidad-Recife grid. Another impressive group
Wing. After mopping up apex,
it
German
in
of shipping in
was Fleet Air
Iceland-Greenland-Newfoundland
the
Bay
shifted operations to the
of Biscay
and the Azores.
shipyards, however, turned out U-boats as quickly as they
were sunk (by war's end 810 had been produced) and when one area got too hot for Doenitz he moved elsewhere. From October to De-
cember 1943 U-boats concentrated
in the Central Atlantic to feed
Allied convoys, and the pressure there increased accordingly.
juncture
the
enemy introduced
which drew a bead on a
the
acoustic
ship's propellers.
torpedo,
At
on
that
Zaukoenig,
However, the Navy coun-
tered with "Foxer," a device of parallel rods which clacked together
when towed and was
calculated to lure Zaukoenig from effectual
attack.
But the best antisubmarine weapon devised was the Killer-Hunter Group; a merchantman converted
to a
baby
flattop, or "jeep carrier",
screened by several destroyers. The raison d'etre of this outfit was to kill
submarines, and
it
did.
The procedure
called for the carrier's
planes to find the U-boat on the surface and either destroy
bombs, or
if
it
with
the submarine dove, to coach in a destroyer. This
was the case on the afternoon of October 3 1 when U-91 was spotted and bombed by a Block Island Avenger. As the hour was growing late, Captain A. J. "Buster" Isbell sent destroyer Borie surging ahead to search.
An
old flush decker, the tin can reached the area after
dark and soon obtained three solid contacts on her sound gear. A depth charge attack was launched, after which the destroyer's crew heard and
A 1812
felt
heavy explosions below. But the night was not over.
swashbuckling story which is
Hersey.
told
by the
is
strongly reminiscent of the
brilliant Pulitzer Prize
Presently Master of Pierson College
Hersey covered the war
in the Atlantic
and
War
of
winning novelist, John at
Yale University,
Pacific for Life
Magazine.
JOHN HERSEY
LAST BATTLE
U.S.S. BORIE'S
In a black,
windy night of October 1943, the U.S.S. Borie, an
numbered 215, was making \l l/i uncomfortable knots through the Atlantic seas. She had just sunk one submarine and was looking for another. It was 1 :53 a.m. old destroyer
A
kind of electric shock
hit the Borie's
blacked-out bridge as a
voice announced contact with an unidentified craft bearing
190°,
west of south. That contact was the beginning of one of the
just
strangest ship-to-ship contests in the history of fighting at sea.
The commanding officer of the Borie was standing just to the right of the helmsman in the wheelhouse. He was Lieut. Charles H. Hutchins, at 30 one of the youngest destroyer captains in the U. S. Navy and one of the very few
in this
war
while only a lieutenant.
When
he learned of the contact he lowered
his
head and raised
with
a
his
arm
club in his hand
to
be given charge of a destroyer
in a characteristic gesture
—
like a
about to strike an adversary
man
—and
he
shouted: "Flank speed!"
As
the Borie gained speed she began to pitch and
pound very hard.
Destroyers are wet ships, and they are wettest at high speed. The
waves that night ran 15 and 20
feet high,
and by the time the Borie
reached 27 knots, black water was knocking at the highest towers of the ship.
So heavy was the
the bridge
184
— 30
feet
sea's
above water
impact that four of the portholes on level
— were smashed. The portholes
—
185
U.S.S. Bone's Last Battle
were of 34 -in. into the
glass, 15 inches in diameter.
After that water splashed
wheelhouse through the broken ports. The temperature of the
water was 44°Fahrenheit, 12°above freezing. In a short time the Borie lost surface contact with the target. Lieut.
Hutchins
at
once assumed that the enemy had submerged.
the sound apparatus
—
He
ordered
the device which hunts for underwater objects
by means of echoing sound waves
—turned
on.
Soundman Second when every-
Class Lerten V. Kent had only sent out a few impulses
one on the bridge,
listening to the
ping, heard a clear
and
sound machine's slow ping-ping-
solid echo.
Soundman Kent waited
for a
second echo before he roared: "Sound contact! Bearing one nine oh."
The Borie moved
Soundman Kent reported every twist The "talkers" on the bridge men with
in slowly.
—
submarine's bearing.
in the
power telephones
and engine rooms
to guns
—
quietly told the
what was happening. All through the ship the men were
had gone through
excited.
crew
They
dull months. After the first cruise escorting the
converted merchantman carrier U.S.S. Card, some of the Borie's
crew had hung a service indicating that they
had
flag for
finally
men
transferred to other ships
gone to war.
As the old destroyer closed the range on her quarry, Chief Torpedoman Frank G. Cronin got the "ash cans" of TNT set on their racks
When
aft.
the Borie got directly over her target, Lieut. Hutchins gave
the order to drop an orthodox deep pattern. Instead of the usual
small
one
number
for a pattern, depth charges
after another in
began
flying off the stern
an almost endless procession. Something had
gone wrong with the depth-charge-releasing mechanism. Soon Sound-
man Kent
could hear the rumble of
the sensitive sound stack. ins
ordered a floating
The depth-charge accurate.
It
To mark
many underwater
explosions in
the point of attack, Lieut. Hutch-
flare to
be dropped.
attack
was not only on a grand
forced the submarine to the surface.
scale:
Lieut.
it
was
Hutchins
thought the submarine might surface on his right and behind him.
Therefore he ordered his 4-inch guns trained on the starboard quar-
But the wily German turned around underwater before surfacing. This was the first of a series of tricks on both sides which gave this ter.
duel
its
The
man
weird quality. first
man
First Class
to see the
U-boat on the surface was Fire Control-
Robert Maher.
When
the submarine
popped up
to
The War
186 and
port
astern,
Maher
screamed: "There yards away.
As
if
by
It
in the Atlantic
it
is
—
forgot his
formal naval vocabulary and
just to the fight of the flare!" It
was 400
was huge and almost white.
reflex,
momentV thought,
without a
Lieut. Hutchins de-
cided that he could swing his ship around faster than the gun crew
could train their 4-inch guns around, so he put his head down, raised his right
arm
in his
clubbing gesture and roared to his helmsman,
Seaman Third Class James M. Aikenhead, to put the wheel hard right away from rather than toward the submarine. Lieut. Hutchins ordered the searchlight turned on. This lit up the sleek gray target, but it also gave the Germans something to shoot at. The Borie got the first shot in, with the No. 4 gun, astern, about halfway through the circling turn. It missed. Then all the Borie 's guns opened fire. Men on the Borie could see Germans scrambling out on the conning tower and manning the machine guns there. The Borie straightened out and went after the submarine, verging
—
up she would be broadside
to the right so that as she caught
to the
enemy. The submarine could make about 12 knots, and the Borie
was now pounding out 27
The gun their big
again.
duel was one-sided.
The Germans never attempted
to
man
deck gun, for the U-boat's deck was awash and great waves
were breaking over the gun. In any case the second or third salvo
from the Borie
Men
lifted that
gun
of the Borie later said they
Soon the destroyer began
off the
saw the gun
to pull
Americans could see Germans
deck and threw
clearly
but underwear
others in dungarees.
The long
When
Some were
in midair.
and
The U-boat had Germans were obviously
close-to.
the conning tower in nothing
dressed
Many wore bandanas
in
sweaters and shorts,
of green, yellow and red.
hair of those without bandanas disgusted the Americans. the destroyer's
German guns a
They came out on
pants.
in the sea.
up alongside the submarine, and
apparently been surprised, because several straight out of bed.
it
fell silent
machine guns found the conning tower, the
and never
fired again.
machine gun he would be horribly
killed.
As each German ran
to
There were times when no
Germans were visible. Then, in response to long training to pick out some specific target, whether human or not, gun captains began screaming: "Bend up their guns: get those goddam guns bent up." The U-boat commander, seeing himself out-gunned, tried to outmaneuver Lieut. Hutchins. He swung left and aimed his stern, which carried the sting of torpedo tubes, at the destroyer. Lieut. Hutchins
swung
left too, at first gently,
hoping to stay broadside to the U-boat
on the outer of two
aimed
made
187
But the German kept
his stern
parallel curves:
Borie and fired a torpedo, which missed. Then Lieut.
at the
He had Aikenhead
Hutchins tricked the German. This
U.S.S. Bone's Last Battle
German
the
rudder.
left
UGerman
think the Borie was going to cut across the
and come up inside
boat's stern
turn full
curve. Therefore the
its
straightened out. Lieut. Hutchins turned hard right again and the
was
situation
just
ships running
a
what
it
on roughly
had been a few moments before
—
the two
parallel straight courses, with the destroyer
behind the U-boat but catching up.
little
For the next few minutes the Borie' s guns drummed the submarine.
The
yard, but to
gun stopped working. Gun
electric firing circuit of the forecastle
Captain Kenneth it
J.
Reynolds
gun once by pulling the lan-
fired the
broke. Rather than take the time to find a piece of string
make new
lanyard, he began to trip the firing pin with his hand.
could not get his hand out of the way
so that his forearm and wrist were
swelled up to three times normal
He
time to beat the 25-in. recoil,
in
brutally
size.
pounded, and
later
All the time the heavy seas
were breaking over the forecaste gun and a Negro mess attendant, Steward's
it
Mate Second Class Ernest Gardner, twice grabbed and just as he was being washed overboard.
man
saved a
The Borie caught up with the German and began to pull ahead and was time to ram. The men of the Borie had dreamed, as all de-
stroyermen dream, of ripping into the side of a U-boat and putting
down.
Many
times, at the wheel,
Helmsman Aikenhead had
it
talked of
ramming. Just three days before, Lieut. Hutchins had jokingly taken a piece of chalk and
drawn on
the center porthole, directly in front of
and two
the helmsman's eyes, three concentric rings their center.
Now,
He
called
it
the Borie 's
ramming
therefore, Lieut. Hutchins put his
lines crossing at
sight.
head down and
lifted his
clubbing arm and shouted: "All right, Aikenhead, line her up. Get the sight on."
Aikenhead spun the wheel and right
sir, I
in a
few minutes said quietly: "All
got her on."
Lieut. Hutchins shouted an order to be passed
on
to the crew:
"All stations stand by for ram!"
The
talkers bent their heads
parroting, singsong voice of
all
and said talkers:
into their
phones
in
the
"All stations stand by for
ram."
The German seemed danger.
Men
It
to be holding his course, as
appeared that there would be a
if
unaware of
his
fine collision.
on the destroyer braced themselves for the pleasure and the
The War
188
in the Atlantic
shock. Lieut. Hutchins rushed out into the open on the the bridge and held tight to the windscreen there.
braced the wheel. Gunnery Officer Lieut. Walter H. Dietz
on the director platform, it
tight.
Everyone was
fell in
wing of
left
Aikenhead emJr.,
topside
love witrpthe range finder and hugged
set.
Then in the last few seconds the German swerved sharply left and a huge wave lifted the Borie. These two things made the moment of impact a disappointment to all hands. There was no shock. No one could hear a crunching noise. The wave lifted the Borie's bow high and put it gently on the deck of the submarine, just forward of the conning tower.
Momentum and the bow slide for-
30° angle imposed by the German made the Borie's
ward on
the submarine's. There
craft. In the Borie's
had met
And
until the
was scarcely any damage
to either
forward engine room no one even knew the ships
down came to
order came
so the two ships
to stop all engines. rest,
bow
over bow, at an angle,
locked in a mortal V.
Disappointment
when
the
men on
at the collision at
the destroyer
down. Lieut. Hutchins worked
once gave way to a crazy elation
saw how they had the German pinned his
clubbing arm as
one's brains out and roared: "Fire! Fire! yelled: "Yipee!"
—over and
over.
Men
Open
if
beating some-
fire!"
Then he
on the bridge threw
their
just
arms
around each other and danced, shouting, "We've got the sonofabitch, we've got the sonofabitch!"
The
searchlight bathed the conning tower
and
all
guns which could
bear opened up at a 30-foot range. For their part the Germans did not lack a
mad
courage.
They kept coming up out
tower hatch trying to get to their guns, even
man
their hopeless guns.
The
sight
in
of that conning-
death agonies trying to
was a horrible one. One German
20-mm. shell. His head and shoulders flew one way, his trunk another. Some shells took Germans and pitched them bodily overboard. One U-boatman stood there a second was
hit
squarely in the chest by a
without a head.
The situation affected different men Seaman First Class Carl Banks,
ator
boy, finding himself
now
variously.
Range Finder Oper-
ordinarily a shy, quiet, gentle
with nothing to do since range had been
reduced to zero, marched up and down the director platform shouting: "Kill the bastards! Kill 'em! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
seated and laughed loudly and cracked jokes.
Edward N. Malaney walked
to
the
left
Other
men were
Seaman Second
wing
of the
Class
bridge and,
189
Bone's Last Battle
(7.5.5.
amazed at the size of the submarine, said: "My God, what's that? The Bremen?" Other men went quietly about their work. Chief Quartermaster William Shakerly kept taking thorough notes in his log, and in the
chartroom Executive Officer Lieut. Philip Brown methodically
completed
Then
his plot of the course of action.
in the
middle of the bedlam Lieut. Brown went out on the
bridge and reported to the captain. the plot,
sir.
The
hell
He
saluted and said: "I've secured
with charting this battle. All the essential facts
are right underneath us."
And
Lieut.
Brown went
to the flag bags,
where small arms were stowed, and picked himself out a tommy gun.
Gunnery
Officer Dietz looked
form a few minutes
later.
down on him from
He saw
the director plat-
his quiet-spoken friend standing
German torso tommy gun like a
there, with his rimless glasses on, waiting cooly until a lifted itself
on deck across the way, then
raising his
professor raising a pointer at a blackboard, and pulling the trigger
and
killing
another man.
All through the ship,
came
"people's war"
men.
He
men
acted
own. The phrase
their
mind
as he
watched
his
men responded to the months of Brown had given them, and to their
gave very few orders. The
careful training Executive Officer
own
now on
into Lieut. Hutchins'
initiatives.
Everyone found something
to do.
Standing on the galley deckhouse only about
1
5 feet
away from the
conning tower, Fireman First Class David F. Southwick pulled a inch knife out of
its
sheath and threw
running for a gun. The knife
German went
hit the
it
German
at
a
five-
German who was
in the
stomach, and the
overboard. Chief Boatswain's Mate Walter C. Kurz
picked up an empty 4-inch shell case weighing nearly 10 pounds, waited for a
German
to climb out of the
case, hit the target squarely
and had the
tower hatch, threw the
satisfaction of seeing
shell
him
fall
Mate Richard W. Wenz, the strongest who could pick up huge depth charges alone and set them in their racks, now could not be bothered to find the key to the small-arms locker, so he broke the wooden door down with his fist. into the sea. Chief Gunner's
man on
the ship,
He distributed tommy guns to
.45-caliber all
ney, unable to find flares
could not
kill
pistols,
12-gauge
shotguns,
rifles
and
Seaman Second Class Edward Malaany other weapon, fired a Very pistol whose signal free hands.
but could burn nastily.
The gun crews worked as automatically as their weapons and with greater flexibility. Some machine guns should not have fired because
The War
190
in the Atlantic
they had steel splinter shields between them and the submarine. crews, at great risk to their tearing
them open, and
Loaders were injured by
had
the guns thereafter
from
flying steel
gun decided that ammunition was not coming climbed into the seat of the
climbed out, ran for another
way.
Among
the
all
shell
him
20-mm. machine guns
fast
enough, ran
shell, thrust
— and kept
fire.
Negro
loader on No. 4
who had been
firing pointer,
fired,
first
to
deckhouse racks, grabbed a heavy
to the after
clear fields of
the splinter shields.
Cook Christopher Columbus Shepard,
Officers'
The
guns through the shields,
lives, fired the
his
it
home,
blinded,
gun going
that
there were only two jams
during the whole battle, and each was cleared in a matter of seconds.
Gunnery son:
"No
Officer Dietz
at the
captain can do very wrong
enemy"
of an
— who
—had
if
drop of a hat
we
He had
will
killed
this
was eager
word:
"We
to
will
not board."
The
a reason for this order.
very well. At least 35
fight
Germans had been
above decks was going
killed.
Nobody had been
on the Borie. But serious reports were coming up
talkers
quote Nel-
he lays his ship alongside that
trained a boarding party, and he
board the submarine. But Lieut. Hutchins passed not board,
will
from the bowels of the
to the bridge
The engine rooms were
ship.
flooding.
The German enemy had not done this to the Borie: the weather The high seas had twisted the two ships, had reduced the V until
had.
and had banged the two
the enemies lay nearly parallel, gether.
The submarine,
pressures,
was better able
whose skin was only
%
hulls to-
withstand tremendous underwater
to
built
to survive the grinding than the destroyer
6 of an inch thick.
Water began pouring
into
both engine rooms. In the after one, a damage control party was able to stuff the leaks
enough so
that
pumps could keep
the water down.
But the forward engine room became hopelessly flooded. There the water crept up, waists,
and
to the
first
men's knees, then to their
finally to their chests. Since the
engines were steam-tight
from within, they were, of course, watertight from outside, and they kept going even
when submerged. As
water tore every mobile thing sloshed around the
and other
debris.
and Fireman behind some
and soon the men were being
room along with floor plates, gratings, small casks Machinist's Mate Second Class Edd M. Shockley
First Class live
free,
the ship rolled and pitched, the
Mario
J.
Pagnotta crawled and floated
steam pipes dragging mattresses behind them, to
to plug the holes; but their efforts
washed
out. Chief
in
try
Engineer Lieut.
191
U.S.S. Borie's Last Battle
Morrison R. Brown ordered everyone to
He
leave.
stayed alone to do
what he could. ramming, the two ships worked
Finally, 10 minutes after the
The
of each other.
free
and maneuver began
incredible contest of wit
again.
The submarine
pulled ahead and out to the
could see that the enemy intended to get his again,
and
more torpedoes. That made
to fire
Officer Ensign fired.
But
a
He
own.
to fire torpedoes of his
Lawrence
heavy sea threw the aim
The U-boat went the
two ships traveled
boat had
its
the proper calculations and
aimed
tail
too.
But
destroyer's
and
and the Borie did
Most
of the time the
straight at the destroyer.
torpedo room and prevented
A
U-
good 4-
may have
pene-
the firing of any
more
inch hit on the submarine's starboard Diesel exhaust trated to the
missed.
was smaller than the
in concentric circles.
threatening
Lieut. Hutchins decide
The torpedo
off.
into a tight left circle
the submarine's turning radius
on the destroyer
ordered the tubes manned. Torpedo
Quinn made
S.
Lieut. Hutchins
left.
tail
torpedoes. Lieut. Hutchins felt frustrated
than the enemy.
He
by
his ship's inability to turn shorter
kept having the illusion that his ship was going in
a straight line, while the submarine
want
his right
her
was turning away. He did not
to lose his victim at this late hour.
left,
arm
He
kept beating the
air
with
and shouted over and over: "All right, Aikenhead, bring
dammit, bring her
left."
Helmsman Aikenhead, who weighed
130 pounds and was
only
very tired from the stiffness of the Borie's wheel, kept saying in a
pleading voice: "But, Captain, Lieut. Hutchins
I
am
left, I
compass which was moving around very
how many had
in the
am
left."
would not believe Aikenhead
times the two ships
back of
his
mind
made his
fast.
until
he looked
at the
Hutchins did not know
that dizzy circle. All the time he
planned rendezvous next morning
with the Card and her other destroyers, the Goff and the Barry. did not want to lose his position, so
turned in those merry-go-round nal floating flare.
moved The
The
ships
it
circles, to
was a
relief,
He
as the Borie
catch glimpses of his origi-
had made many convolutions but had not
far.
circling
was of no advantage
tricked the submarine again.
He
to the Borie, so Lieut.
turned out his
light,
Hutchins
hoping that the
U-boat would count on shaking the destroyer by sneaking out of that tight circle
and away. The submarine did
just that. Lieut.
Hutchins
The War
192
snapped on the
in the Atlantic
and soon found the
light again
streaking off in a northeasterly direction.
U-boat
glistening
Range was 400
The
yards.
Borie pursued. All through the battle so far Xht } Bo?ie had been to the right of adversary. Lieut. Hutchins decided to break through to the other
its
side, so while
he chased the enemy he pulled
an order which helped to win the
Aikenhead was about
shallow.
helmsman
tain ordered the
stroyer pulled
up
time, the
left.
he gave set
Cap-
relieved.
ramming, sinking the enemy by
first
an obsession aboard the Borie. The de-
to the left of the U-boat. Lieut. its
Hutchins ordered a
course until the
away
time, instead of turning sharply
German
And now
ordered depth charges
The submarine again held
collision course.
moment. This
still
He
to collapse at the wheel, so the
In spite of the failure of the
crashing into him was
battle.
as he
had the
last first
turned sharply toward the Borie.
This brought up something entirely unexpected: the U-boat captain
had decided
stroyer.
With her
down and ram
to pull the temple pillars
the de-
thin skin the Borie stood to lose everything
by being
rammed. had one of
Lieut. Hutchins
genius.
To
helmsman
combat
his instantaneous flashes of
everyone's puzzlement on the bridge, he ordered the to turn hard
left,
new
and he ordered the starboard engine
stopped, the port engine backed
full.
This had the effect of throwing
the ship into a skidding stop, with the stern end swinging to the right
toward the oncoming submarine. At precisely the correct moment Lieut. Hutchins lowered his
head and raised
his non-existent club
shouted to his Depth Charge Officer Ensign Lawrence Quinn
:
and
"Okay,
Larry, give 'em the starboard battery."
Ensign Quinn flicked three switches. Three round shapes arched the
wind and
fell
within feet of the submarine
Borie 's flank.
Men
side
in
and
The submarine lurched out mammal and came to a stop very close to the
one on the other. They went of the water like a hurt
— two on one
off shallow.
on deck said that
if
there
had been another coat of
paint on either ship that would have been a collision.
Somehow like a
the
German submarine managed
dying animal
in the very act of
—
like a
good Spanish
this
was and
to start
dying refuses to admit that he
around astern of the Borie and shot
By
again. It
bull that refuses to die
off at
is
up
dying.
It
slipped
an angle.
time the Americans, though for the most part unhurt, were
dazed by the stubbornness of the enemy. The
officers
on the bridge
193
U.S.S. Borie's Last Battle
have a very hazy
memory
what happened
of
next.
There were various
zigs and zags. Apparently the Borie closed in to a convenient range.
Now He
at last the
up
sent
moment
—
was beaten.
to realize he
white, green
and red Very
flares.
A
later Lieut. Hutchins saw an answering signal from the hori-
He went
zon.
U-boat captain seemed
distress signals
compass and checked the bearing of
right to the
this
other enemy-220°.
The 4-inch gunners gave
the U-boat
its final
They
crippling blow.
The submarine dropped to The Borie got in really close. The Germans seemed to be trying to abandon ship. They huddled
hit the
starboard Diesel exhaust again.
four knots.
on the conning tower. In before the order reached
who was It
still
which he
a compassion
understand, Lieut. Hutchins ordered stations
all
all
Gun
later did not quite
guns to cease
Captain Kenneth Reynolds,
gun painfully by hand, got
firing his
blew the bridge structure, with
all its
But
firing.
off
one
last
round.
occupants, right off the
U-
boat.
Water from
bow
lifted
the hole by the exhaust poured into the submarine. Its
dripping out of the rough sea.
The
ship slipped under the
waves and exploded horribly underwater. After one hour and four minutes of admirably tenacious fighting, the submarine sank.
At once
had had enough
fighting for
The Borie was
maximum
He and
Lieut. Hutchins turned his ship away.
one
night.
Only one engine would
in serious trouble.
speed was
now 10
knots, which a
could easily exceed. The ship was generators were out.
the Borie
still
Her
run.
surfaced submarine
The
taking water forward.
The water condensers were impaired
so that the
turbines were not getting the absolutely pure, saltless steam they
needed. Lieut. Hutchins reported by radio to the Card: "Just sank
number two ming.
May
in
combined depth-charge
attack,
gun
and ram-
battle
have to abandon ship."
Lieut. Hutchins tried desperately to get the ship to the rendezvous,
which was
set for just after
dawn.
He
gave the order to lighten ship.
Everything that could be was thrown over the side their chains,
:
both anchors and
ammunition, machine guns, torpedoes and
mounts, depth charges, the searchlight, range finder,
hundreds of smaller things. let
over the side to sink
afloat
it
—
A
for
fire
hole was cut in the lifeboat and it
had the number 215 on
might identify the Borie to the enemy. During
conscientious storekeeper
first
class
named Joseph San
huge
their
director
it,
this
and
it
and
was
if left
process a
Philip
came
to
The War
194
in the Atlantic
the bridge holding the Title list
B Book
in his
hand. This book contains a
of things aboard ship for which "the captain has
had
to sign his
personal responsibility. Storekeeper Philip said: "Sir, who's going to take the responsibility for
all this Title"
B
we're throwing away?"
stuff
Without saying a word Lieut. Hutchins took the the storekeeper's hands and
Dawn
The
it,
from
too, in the sea.
its
The emergency
fuel so that the Borie
officers sat
gasoline generator for the radio had
was now
silent.
around the radio room, wondering what
Someone took out a cigaret and lit it with a Lord remembered having seen some lighter desk.
B Book
broke overcast: the Card's planes would have a hard time
finding the Borie.
used up
dropped
Title
Word was
fluid
passed through the ship to send
to do.
Robert H.
lighter. Lieut.
on another
officer's
all lighter fluid
to the
The generator worked long enough on these contribuRadio Operator Cameron G. Gresh to send: "Can steam
radio shack. tions for
Commencing to sink." much salt had built up in
another two hours.
At 9 a.m. so
the turbines that the blades
locked and the destroyer went dead in the water.
The only hope now was Borie.
If
that planes
from the Card would
the Borie could send out radio signals the chances of their
doing so would be
much
better.
Someone thought
sick bay. After being cut with kerosene right.
find the
Radioman Gresh
three dots
and a dash
to stand for Victory.
worked the generator
it
sent: "Getting bad."
—
the letter which in
And
of the alcohol in
Then he
all
Allied lands has
a plane rode that letter in
all
sat tapping out
come
and found the
Borie.
The Card,
the Barry and the Goff steamed
Card inquired by signal light how replied: "I want to save this bucket
up
at
about noon. The
things were going. Lieut. Hutchins
But things went from bad spected the ship.
if I
to worse.
This took as
can. Give
me
a few hours."
Executive Officer
much courage
Brown
as the battle
itself.
in-
He
forced himself into most of the ship's compartments, never knowing
which hatch would be the
would be hopeless
Toward dusk
last
he opened. His report indicated that
the
Card and her
escorts returned.
for a rescue ship to go alongside the Borie,
time for to
men
to be transferred
do but have them After his
it
to try to save the ship.
off,
was too rough
by breeches buoy. There was nothing
get into the bitterly cold water
men were
It
and there would not be
Lieut. Hutchins
went
and
cling to rafts.
to his
room and
—
195
U.S.S. Borie's Last Battle
found a
flashlight.
And
then the young captain went, alone and miser-
through the various deserted compartments of his
able,
and engine rooms, the commissary
into the firerooms
messing compartments, into finally
back
dark and
to his
silent.
first
officers'
own domain,
ship
and
stores
country and the wardroom, and
the skipper's cabin.
The
ship
was
all
All hands had abandoned her. So the captain went
out on deck and, with the battle flag of the U.S.S. Borie under his
arm, slipped over the side into water only 12° above freezing. in the fight but in that water that 27 men were lost. For who were lost it must have been much as it was for Gunnery Officer Dietz, who was very nearly lost. A slender man, he had never It
was not
those
thought himself strong. thought
it
would
Goff drifted
kill
When
he
him. But he
down on
it.
He
first hit
that breath-taking water he
managed
grabbed a
to cling to a raft until the
life-line
and pulled himself up
so that his hands held the edge of the deck and of safety. But his
hands were so cold that he could not hold on.
He
water. belt
—
a
He
slipped along the side of the ship, held
mere rubber tube under
back
into the
up by
his life
fell
his arms. Life lines
caught at his
The Goff's framelike propeller guards hit him in the head and pushed him under. He thought: "I must get away from this and wait." He pushed away from the ship. But when he tried to paddle back his arms would barely move. His mind refused to admit defeat but kept shielding him from fear. "They will come after me," he kept saying to himself. He fainted. Luckily for him his head fell backward instead of forward. A few minutes later hands pulled him aboard the throat.
Barry.
The margin
of luck
Ensign Richard E. into the Goff
who were
St.
was not quite so wide
for the
27 who were
John had pulled himself halfway up a
when he dropped back
into the water to help four
too far gone to help themselves.
They made
it.
lost.
life line
men
Ensign
St.
John was caught under the destroyer and drowned. Engineering Officer Lieut.
Brown, who had
tried bravely
engines going in water up to his neck, was
and alone
lost.
to
keep the
So was Ensign Lord,
who had probably saved the ship by thinking of lighter fluid for the radio. The enlisted men who were lost were: Alford, Blane, Blouch, Bonfiglio,
Cituk, Concha, Demaid, Duke, Fields, Francis, Kiszka,
Lombardi, Long, McKervey, Medved, Mulligan, Pouzar, Purneda, Shakerly, Swan, Tull, Tyree, Wallace, Winn. Lieut. Hutchins could not stand
Goff
in the
up when he was taken onto the
darkening evening. Later he took a hot shower and shook
The "War
196
in the Atlantic
under the steam. Then he had a rubdown, some hot chocolate, a sip of brandy and a little exercise. He "spent most of that night on the bridge, waiting for
At
men
dawn and made
sunrise the Goff
face
down
a glimpse of his ship. a last
in their preservers.
sweep for survivors. She found 10
Then
she went to the Borie.
The
destroyer had drifted about 20 miles and had settled badly. Lieut. Hutchins stood
a
Grumman Avenger
second plane
hit
on a strange bridge and watched
attacked with a heavy
her amidships.
A
his ship as
bomb and missed.
third holed her again, badly.
Borie, her back broken, lifted her protesting
bow and
A
The
then settled
fast.
THE COUNTRY'S CALL TO ARMS WAS ANSWERED BY THE flower of our youth, and
Fahey
of
among
the eighteen-year-olds
Waltham, Massachusetts, who
October 1942 and was assigned
enlisted in
was James
the
Navy
in
to the light cruiser Montpelier.
Contrary to regulations, Fahey assiduously kept a war diary and
was fortunate interruption.
in
that he jotted
down
his thoughts
without
official
SEAMAN 1/C JAMES
J.
FAHEY
IO.
ENLISTMENT DAYS
October
Navy
1942:
3,
got the makings of a
and cannot
get carsick I
my
took
Navy today. It very poor sailor when they
enlisted in the U.S.
I
ride
looks like the got me.
I still
on a swing for any length of time.
physical examination at the Post Office Building in
Boston, Mass., a distance of about ten miles from Waltham, Mass. fellow next to told
him
me was
the Sea Bees
the old trolly car
October ton,
on
7,
and
1942:
my way
to
rejected because he
would take him.
felt like I
the Fleet
On
was color
the
way home
I
A
They
blind.
relaxed in
Admiral himself.
got up early this morning for
my
Great Lakes Naval Training Station
trip to
in
Bos-
Chicago,
Illinois.
Before leaving It
I
shook
my
was a clear cool morning
headed for the bus
father's
as
my
at the corner of
hand and kissed him goodbye. Mary, brother John and I
sister
Cedar
Street.
car were crowded with people going to work.
Post Office Building in Boston
goodbye.
.
.
I
trolley
reached the
shook John's hand and kissed Mary
.
After a long tiresome day of hanging around
way
The bus and
When we
to the train station.
The group was very
we were large
finally
on our
and they came
New England states. With a big band leading the way we marched through downtown Boston before thousands of people. It took about half an hour to
from the
reach the North Station and at 5:30 p.m.
we were on our way. 197
The War
198
When and
in the Atlantic
the train passed through
could picture the folks at
I
an empty place
me
easy for
we should
city
it
was beginning
home having some
at the table for
to feel sad
my
supper. There would be
time. It
would have been very
and lonely with fhese thoughts
not give in to our feelings.
my mind
in
we always gave
If
our judgment we would
feelings instead of
to get dark
in to
but
our
by the wayside when
fall
the going got rough. It will
two to a
be a long tiresome
October
8,
1942
nowhere today. last century.
and
:
and our bed
The long troop
looked
It
like a
we
be the seat
will
sit in,
train
stopped
in the
middle of
scene from a western movie in the
All you could see was wide open spaces with plenty of
and a small railroad
fields
trip
seat.
station. It felt
good
to get
some
fresh air
change after the crowded conditions on the
stretch our legs for a
train. Some of the fellows like myself mailed letters and cards home. The postmark on the mail was Strathroy, Ontario, Canada. It was a warm sunny day so we sat on the side of the tracks while waiting for
the train to get started again.
At Great Lakes: On
the evening of Oct. 9
we
pulled into the
stockyards at Chicago and stayed there for some time.
another chance to get some fresh
air
ground for a change. All the people were
at their
At
windows looking was on
last the train
dirty lot
when
its
in
gave us
and walk around on
solid
the big tenement buildings
at us. final leg of the
We
journey.
the train finally pulled into Great
ing Station in the early
It
were a
tired
Lakes Naval Train-
morning darkness. The weather was on the
chilly side.
They
got us
up bright and
of a large drill hall.
We
early after a few hours sleep
were far from being
physical examination but that was the
took a long time.
We
went from one doctor
downstairs and from one
head our
to toe
first
We
room
to another.
and even asked us our
shower
in
way we
some
religion.
in
on the
floor
condition for a
started the day
and
to another upstairs
and
They checked us from At last it was over and
time. It sure felt good.
spent four weeks of training and lived in barracks.
Our com-
pany number was 1291. A Chief Petty Officer was company and our chief was liked by all. Some of the Chiefs are hated because they go out of their way make it as miserable as possible. They enjoy getting the fellows up in
two
in the
morning and have them stand
long time with very
little
it
clothing.
charge of each
to at
at attention in the cold for a
Enlistment Days
The
who
instructor
recruits.
He
taught us judo enjoyed taking
from
sent one of the boys
it
my company
out on the new-
to the hospital in
Our chief was boiling mad and if he could have hands on this punk he would have done a job on him.
gotten his
a stretcher.
You
learned that your days of privacy were over while you were in
the
Navy and
life
again.
they would not return until you were back in civilian
When you
one enjoyed sleeping
tight. It
going to
you
was
like sleeping
fall
out
We there
will
if
on a
never forget our
was no hair
to cut. It
hammocks because
tight clothesline.
you turned
You
over.
all
first
you were always
etc.,
alone.
in the
on your back
can't sleep
took a shower,
ate, slept,
you were never
part of the crowd,
No
199
You
felt like
you were
on your back but
safe
felt
they were too
night.
haircut.
When
was shorter than
the barber got through
was funny
short. It
to see
a nice looking fellow with a beautiful crop of hair get into the barber's chair
and leave with no hair
Great Lakes
at all.
the largest naval training station in the world and
is
they also have one of the best football teams in the country.
I
had the
pleasure of talking to Bruce Smith the ail-American back from Min-
He was the number one football player You could not help but like him. He slept
nesota.
1941.
We
in the
country in
in our barracks.
always marched to the mess hall for our meals and kept in step
by singing loud and strong. I
had
to
go to sick
call
one day because of a bad blow to the
received in a boxing bout but they did not do anything for
though the pain was he goes to sick
We
killing
call, that
he just wants time
were kept on the go
over. It
me. They think everyone
at all times
was home sweet home for
us.
off
and
We
is
ribs I
me
a faker
even
when
from work. at last
our training was
were very proud of our
uniform as we boarded the train for home. After a nine day leave we returned to Great Lakes and stayed here for two days before leaving for Norfolk, Virginia, our next stop.
Late Friday evening Nov. 21, a large group of us boarded a truck for the pier. It
the ship with
was
my
a great feeling as
sea bag in one
with blankets, mattress, is
the U.S.S. Montpelier.
and a warship
We
slept in
staggered up the gangway to
my
a light cruiser.
It is
The name of At last I have
shoulder.
the ship a
home
at that.
our
hammocks
were assigned to divisions. division.
over
etc.,
I
hand and the mattress cover loaded
I
in the
went
mess
hall at first
but then
to the 5th division. It
is
we
a deck
The "War
200
in the Atlantic
some time before we know our way around this large ship. It is over 600 feet long and ha£ many decks and compartments. Today at eight in the morning we left Norfolk for the Philadelphia /-< 7 Navy Yard ... It will
take
KILLER-HUNTER GROUPS REMAINED ACTIVE IN THE ATlantic for yet
clined.
On
another year, and U-boat sinkings correspondingly de-
June
4,
1944, a Group built around the jeep carrier Gua-
dalcanal found U-505 about one hundred miles off the coast of
Africa and
commenced one of the most daring attacks of the war, the enemy submarine was captured intact. The saga of
only time an
Guadalcanal's hunt
who
is
recalled by
served as the carrier's
Rear Admiral Daniel V. Gallery,
commanding
officer.
REAR ADMIRAL
D. V.
GALLERY (RET.)
II.
THE CAPTURE OF
"Frenchy to Blue Jay!
As
I
1
have a possible sound contact!"
reached the bridge the Chatelain was wheeling out of our
destroyer screen, a long creamy
and "emergency"
rine"
U-505
wake
boiling
up
the mike and broadcast to the
I
"submagrabbed
Task Group: "Pillsbury and Jenks help
Frenchy (code name for destroyer Chatelain)
We
astern, the
whipping from her yardarm.
flags
—
others follow me!"
reversed course and got the hell out of there at top speed.
carrier
smack on
the scene of a sound contact
—
room brawl! she'd who have work to do.
the middle of a bar
room
for the boys
is
better
like
move
an old lady fast
A in
and leave
squawk box: "Put those two Wildcats we've got in the air on Frenchy's contact!" Then, with the Flaherty and Pope scurrying after us, we swung into the wind, sounded general quarters, I
hollered into the
and scrambled
A lain
to battle stations to launch
more
planes.
salvo of twelve depth charges arched into the air
from the Chate-
and splashed
ocean rumbled,
quaked and erupted would have
Seconds
into the sea.
into great white
later the
plumes of water. Ordinarily we
to wait for several anxious minutes while the ocean's
reverberations died out, and then have the tin cans begin a wary
search of the area sibly
—hunting
for
oil,
another sound contact. But
the blasts, a Wildcat pilot
wreckage, a dead whale, or pos-
this time,
almost immediately after
named John W. Cadle sang out on
the
201
The War
202
in the Atlantic
radio, "Sighted sub! Reverse course
Frenchy and head where I'm
shooting."
Cape Blanco, Cadle could
In the clear Atlantic waters off
see the
long dark shape of the sub running completely submerged and ma-
neuvering to go deeper and shake
off the destroyers.
Cadle pushed
over and cut loose with his four .50 caliber guns. These couldn't
damage it
the
submerged sub, but the
showed us where
bullet splashes
was.
Chatelain swung around and dropped another salvo.
As
the depth-
charge plumes were subsiding, Cadle shouted, "You've struck
oil,
Frenchy! She's coming up!"
Half a minute later the huge black shape of the U-505 heaved
up from the depths, white water pouring
off
itself
Our quarry was
her sides.
at bay.
When
a sub surfaces like
this,
you never know exactly what
it's
going to do. She might be coming up to surrender, but she also might be planning to get off one
bottom with
her.
To
play
salvo of torpedoes and take you to the
last it
safe,
you should clobber her with every-
thing you've got.
This time, however, we were going to try something different.
our
last cruise
smack
in the
On
we'd gone after the U-515 and she'd surfaced right
middle of the Task Group. We'd been forced to throw
everything but the kitchen sink at her before she finally up-ended and sank. After we'd fished her skipper out of the water, he told us that his only
purpose
in surfacing
was
to get his
gone out of him. We realized then that
crew
off
we could
if
—
get
the fight
had
on board the
sub quick enough, we might be able to prevent the scuttling and capture ourselves a U-boat. Accordingly, the orders had gone out that
nobody was
to hit the sub with
enough time keeping her
any heavy
afloat without
stuff, as
we'd have a tough
blowing a hole
in her our-
selves.
Not
since
1815 had an American naval vessel captured and seas, but we were going to U-505 broke surface and her hatches popped the task group, "I want to take this bastard
boarded a foreign man-of-war on the high try
it.
open,
The moment I
the
broadcast to
alive!"
Small black figures scrambled out of the hatches and swarmed onto the decks of the sub. Pillsbury, Chatelain and Jenks
.50 caliber and 20 millimeter guns, and the
opened up with
men who
weren't hit at
once dived into the water. Within a few moments her decks were
The Capture
—nothing was moving. She was running Unless was loaded with armed men — booby-trapped, abandoned
about 8 knots,
at
fully surfaced, in a tight circle to the right.
barked from the squawk boxes on
firing!"
she was mined,
a sitting duck.
she
or
"Cease
203
U-505
of
all
bridges, fol-
lowed by an electrifying cry that hadn't been heard on a U.S. ship for 129 years:
"Away
Whaleboats plopped
all
boarding parties!"
into the water
I
manned by
Lt. Albert
and took
wounded
ing U-boat like harpooners after a boat,
Navy
David and
1 1
off after the flounder-
whale.
As
the Pillsbury's
overhauled the sub
sailors,
broadcast over the TBS. "Heigho, Pillsbury! Ride 'em, cowboy!"
Not very salty, but it got the message across. David and his boys had every reason to believe there were still Nazis below decks, setting time bombs and opening the scuttle valves. Even if all the Germans were gone, the U-boat was settling rapidly by the stern and looked as if she was going to up-end and sink any minute.
I
my men
suppose
thought about these things as they plunged
through the choppy sea toward the dying ship, but the
moment
their
whaleboat touched the U-boat they leaped out on her slippery decks. It
was the
men had
time any of these
first
ever set foot on a subma-
rine.
"Follow me!" David
scrambling up the
yelled,
toward the conning-tower hatch
—an
superstructure
opening about the
size
of a
sewer top that leads straight down 20 feet into the U-boat. A dead man was lying at the top of the hatch, his glazing eyes staring emptily at the men as they started down. David glanced quickly down into the
dark hatch, knowing that almost anything could be waiting for them
down and
in the blackness below.
S.
E.
Wdowiak,
He
gestured to two men, A.
and they plunged
down
into the
W.
Knispel
bowels of the
ship.
Instead of a burst of gun of engines,
still
fire,
driving the sub
their only greeting
was the
eerie
hum
in her crazy circle to the right.
As
soon as he realized the Nazis were gone, David ran for the radio
The sub gave a shudder and her stern raised slightly. Any minute she might make her last dive, but he knew the risks were shack.
justified
if
he could find the Nazis code book.
The primary
books before abandoning the 1,000 miles, and
when
It
was a 100-1 chance.
orders of any Naval skipper are to destroy his code ship,
we had been
even
if
breathing
there
down
is
no enemy within
the U-boat's throat
she surfaced.
David burst
into the radio shack, looked quickly around,
and saw
—
The War
204
in the Atlantic
had paid
that his long shot
Everything was intact
off.
cipher machines, charts of the EnglislTChannel mine
and
tion signals,
men
all
—code book,
fields,
recogni-
He and
submarines.
tactical instructions for
his
quickly passed everything up the' "hatch to the whaleboat. This
would turn out
be the greatest intelligence windfall of the U-boat
to
war.
While David and still
had
circling,
his
boys were removing the secret
settled another ten degrees
by the
files,
stern.
the sub,
Time was
running out, when another lad, Zenon Lukosius, motor machinist
mate
first class,
was pouring and pipes
in.
in
decided to see what he could do about the water that
Surrounded by the bewildering maze of gauges, valves
the
main control room, and
under him, while water swished past the leak. Finally he found
it
— an
his feet, he carefully
around
The cover was gone. Luke bent down, fishing
off.
the floor plates.
mass of wreckage and sea water, and found the
in the swirling
He jammed
it
back
in place, set the butterfly nuts,
the inrush of ocean.
Had
he taken one minute longer,
cover.
been too
it
would have
the Guadalcanal had a whaleboat alongside the sub, with a
handpicked party that included our only submarine "expert"
own
—
my
pig boats and could
tell
U-505's paper work
about the
Chief Engineer, Earl Trosino, and
a lad
who had been a yeoman on one we wanted to know
us anything
and
filing
system.
though never aboard a submarine before, was our
one of those engineers who know machinery musical instruments.
He can walk
quick look around, and rest of the
men
are
As Trosino and
still
came
circling sub,
smashing the
like
is
Toscanini knows
room, take a
order out of chaos while the
trying to figure out
his party
Trosino, even
real expert. Earl
info a strange engine
start bringing
which way
is aft.
alongside, a large swell picked
up and dumped them, whaleboat and deck.
and checked
late.
By now
of our
looked for
8-inch stream of water spouting
through a sea chest with the cover knocked
The water was now above
feeling the ship settling
them
on the deck of the stillwhaleboat and spilling them all out on the all,
They pulled themselves together and scrambled down
the con-
ning tower.
Trosino said abruptly to David, "I'm going to stop these engines
up on deck and stand by
you
get
and
started above.
But,
when Trosino stopped
rapidly by the stern
—
to pick
the
up a towline." David nodded
motors, the sub began settling
the only thing that
had kept her
afloat
was the
The Capture
When
planing effect of the hull.
Trosino
felt
of
205
U-505
the floor plates tilting
under him, he slammed the switches back and the sub forged ahead
and rose again
me
in the water. Earl told
later that as
he played with
those switches, any one of which might have been booby-trapped, his hair
was standing on end
myself next day
booby
when
I
as
as wire.
stiff
I
had the same feeling
went aboard the sub to disarm a suspected
trap.
While Trosino was stopping the motors, Gunner Burr was doing a
We knew
job with a very short future.
that every
Nazi sub had 14
demolition charges scattered throughout the ship and designed where the switch was, so Burr went rooting around uncovering charges and
He
ripping the wires off of them. thirteen.
We
found and pulled the fangs on
didn't find the fourteenth until two weeks later in Ber-
muda, but by
we had
that time
had goofed and
left it
on
located the firing switch
safe, so the
—somebody
charges couldn't have exploded,
anyway.
The
now attempted
Pillsbury
to take the
runaway sub
steamed up alongside on the outboard arc of the heaving
line
aboard
The
bow
flipped a long underwater gash in her
Pillsbury hauled clear
and radioed
they have to be towed to stay afloat, but
can do
we
to
me, "Sub says
don't think a destroyer
it."
That dumped the job
my
in
lap.
didn't like the idea of taking
I
clumsy, water-logged tow
when
have to land soon, but
didn't have
finally laid
I
and we
the switches again
and
She
and put a
this
alongside and the sub's thin plates.
in tow.
cowboy roping a runaway steer. But steers U-boat. The destroyer crowded too close
like a
have horns and so did
circle
dead
had planes
I
much
in the air that
choice. Trosino pulled
down
held our breath as the sub slowed
all
in the water.
on a
would
She was down by the stern about
20 degrees, her conning tower was almost awash and she seemed be
settling
lower every minute.
she might be gone
when we
when and
if
thrifty as possible
you come
it
to land planes
to
by ear as you go along, crossing each it.
I
told the planes in the air to be as
with their gas supply, and
spot where the sub was wallowing like its
now
got back.
In such a spot you just play
bridge
took time out
If I
to
we steamed over
a drowning dog trying
to the
to
keep
nose above water.
We
laid
our stern within heaving
line
range of the U-boat's snout,
got a messenger line over, and the boys hauled our inch-and-a-quarter
wire aboard, working knee-deep in the green seas that broke across
—
206
The War
the deck.
When
in the Atlantic
they reported
As we picked up speed then
kicked the engines ahead.
I
the sub rose again and took a better trim, but
noticed that she was
I
secured
it
still
circling.
She swung way out on our
starboard quarter and hung there witlj.'our big wire taut as a fiddle-
Trosino to put the rudder amidships, and he an-
string. I signaled
swered, "Electric steering gear
because after torpedo room
I
had four planes
in the air
we
with "Junior" (as
is
NG.
Can't get
prayer, and brought the planes
U-505)
booby trapped."
reluctantly
into the wind, said a short
We
were smack in the
middle of the U-boat lanes, had been hanging around for hours,
and we had every reason
off a report
on our
position.
gas, so
dragging her
Since there was no strain in doing
in.
immediately launched a couple of others.
this I
hand steering gear is
which would soon be out of
called the
on our starboard quarter, we swung
heels
at
flooded and hatch
to
this
one spot
suppose that Junior had gotten
There would be a
full
moon
that night
submarines and very bad for aircraft carriers with subs in
ideal for
tow.
At sunset we brought our boarders back and I got a first-hand report from Trosino. He said he had pumped some of the water out, didn't think any more was coming in, and that unless we hit bad weather he thought we could save our prize. That night our sonar operators let their imaginations run riot. According to their dope
They had
fleet.
several
we were surrounded by
"possible sound contacts"
reported
the whole Nazi U-boat
all
over the place, and
"submarine screw noises." The radar operators
caught the fever and spotted disappearing radar blips by the dozen.
Some
of the lookouts even sighted
scopes." I
I
guess
steamed too
maybe fast
I
what
I
began calling "Porpo-
got nervous at that, because during the night
and parted the towline.
We
drifting sub until sunrise, keeping track of her
had
to circle the
by radar. Early next
morning we got another towline aboard, and Trosino and a few others and I went over to look into that booby trap. I was an ordnance post-graduate and
felt
that
I
knew
quite a bit about fuses and
firing circuits.
The booby
trap
was on the watertight door leading
into the after
torpedo room. This door had been dogged shut when our ing party went aboard, and that way. after
The Nazis
in
first
deference to the trap they had
boardleft
it
that we'd fished out of the water claimed that the
torpedo room was flooded, and the stern trim seemed to confirm
The Capture this,
we had
but
to get in there
we were going
if
207
U-505
of
to straighten out the
rudder.
The booby open
was a fuse box with the cover accidentally jarred
trap
such a way that you couldn't move the main dog on the door
in
without closing the fuse box cover. There were dozens of circuits leading out of that box, and any one of
explosion charge. led to perfectly
I
of,
it
looked
we knew
looked
baby wasn't loaded.
They shook
we
for a
few minutes,
The men watched me, not speaking. booby trap the Nazis would think
much
time
—
and that
considering they would have
to flood the torpedo
they hadn't put out any other traps.
"Well,
box
at the
that they'd gotten off in a hell of a hurry,
had only a few seconds
said.
I
like the type of
wouldn't have given them
And
led to an
traced a few of the circuit wires, and found they
normal places.
thinking over the possibilities.
While
them could have
looked
I
can't stand here
up
all
set the trap.
decided that
this
"What do you think?"
to you, captain."
day looking
slammed
I
I finally
at the other boys.
their heads. "It's
"Here goes, boys!"
room and
damn
at this
thing," I
the fusebox cover shut.
Nothing happened.
We
carefully eased the
door open, ready to jam
it
shut again
water squirted out, and found the torpedo room was dry. bled
if
scram-
connected up the hand steering gear, and put the rudder
in,
amidships. Trosino pleaded with gines, charge the batteries, I
We
wished
later that I'd let
me
to let
and bring the sub
him do
it,
him in
start the diesel en-
under her own power.
but at the time
I
was
afraid he
might open the wrong valve and lose her.
He found let
him
a
way
and persuaded me sub's
to recharge the batteries,
run the diesels.
propellers
to
He
tow
at
even though
motors. Trosino had set the switches to
up
pumps
to
wouldn't
10 knots. This high speed turned over the
which spun the armatures of the sub's
make
generators, and they in turn charged the batteries. to use the sub's
I
disconnected the clutches on the diesels
empty the
electric
the motors act as
We
after ballast tanks
were thus able
and bring her
to full surface trim.
Back on board the Guadalcanal, I went down to sick bay to see the Nazi skipper, whose name was Harald Lange. He had shrapnel wounds in both legs and was propped up in a sitting position in his bunk. Lange was a big angular man of about 35, and looked more like a
preacher than a U-boat skipper.
208 I
^Doolittle's
walked
in
and
Raid
to the Battle of
Midway
my name is Gallery. I'm commandHe bowed respectfully but said nothing.
said, "Captain,
ing officer of this ship."
"We have your U-boat He looked up quickly,
in
tow,"
I said.
his face as
"No!" he
cried. I pulled out
his cabin,
and he lowered
some
shocked as
if I
had slapped him. from
pictures of his family, taken
his face into his hands, muttering in perfect
English, "I will be punished for this."
him
tried to cheer
I
"The Nazis
up.
"A new government
said.
will take over,
"I will be punished," he said.
him saying he had
are going to lose the war,"
and
this will
Four years ago
I
be forgotten."
got a letter from
good job on the Hamburg docks, so
a
I
his fears
were apparently unfounded. After getting the sub
away on
now
—
worry
left
didn't
have enough
I
Bermuda. Nothing running out of a tow, but rescue.
pumped
He
to
left
in this
split off a
just
world can make a skipper look in the
one big
fleet
alone
let sillier
than
water waiting for
(Commander-in-Chief Atlantic) came
tanker and the
and
fuel oil,
reach even the nearest port,
and wallowing around dead
oil
CINCLANT
we squared
out and fully surfaced,
Bermuda, 2,500 miles away. I had had stretched the glide too far on my
a course to
my
to
tug Abnaki from an Africa-
bound convoy and we rendezvoused with them in mid-Atlantic. The Abnaki took over the towing job and, after a long swig of oil from the tanker,
On tional
we headed
for
Bermuda.
June 19 we steamed into the harbor entrance with the
broom proudly
tagging along behind.
tradi-
hoisted at our mast head, and Junior obediently I
turned her over to the commandant, U.
Naval Operating Base, and got
his official receipt for
S.
"One Nazi U-
boat No. 505, complete with spare parts."
People often ask me,
"Why
did the
U-505
give
up so
easily?"
Actually, she didn't give up any easier than most of the other
Nazi subs that were sunk fatally
wounded,
it
at sea.
When
a skipper thought his boat
was standard operating procedure
give his crew a chance to escape and be rescued. ately surfaced
was
going down. the
I
was and
sub ever deliber-
under attack unless her skipper was convinced that she
finished, but
subs remained
No
to surface
600
I
knew dozens
afloat for hours,
of cases in which these
abandoned
under heavy bombardment, before
think the real answer to
U-505 with such comparative ease
why we were able to capture that we caught her by sur-
is
prise.
Something
like
pounding depth charges can be pretty damn unnerv-
—
The Capture put
ing, to
know
mildly.
it
From
209
U-505
of
apprentice seaman to skipper, they
all
they've only got seconds to decide what to do. If they blow
may make
their tanks in time they
it
and get
to the surface
off
before
down
the boat takes her final plunge. If they wait too long, they go
When
with her.
shock waves are smashing against your
hull, you're
being slammed crazily about in the water, your lights are out, and
men
your
are screaming that your pressure hull
to think calmly.
Lange believed
ruptured,
is
men were
that his
right
hard
it's
about the hull
being ripped open, and came to the surface. Scores of other U-boat
made
skippers have
the
same
decision,
and
if
my men
hadn't been
able to pull off a crazy stunt never before attempted in submarine
U-505 would have gone
warfare, the
to the
bottom
just like the other
600.
For extreme heroism Lieutenant David got the Congressional
Medal
Honor, Wdowiak and Burr got Navy Crosses, and the
of
rest
of the Pillsbury's original boarding party received the Silver Star.
Perhaps the most remarkable part of
this fantastic
business was the
Germans never found out that we had captured the Uwe learned that she'd been listed as sunk, just like all the others that had failed to return. The Nazis continued to use the codes we'd taken off the U-505, and we read every order they sent fact that the
505. After the war
out to their U-boats. This was the main reason for our high rate of
The Nazis changed
sinkings during that last year.
their codes every
few weeks so that we wouldn't get too familiar with their pattern, but the key to
all
these routine changes
and we adjusted
The main 3,000
back a
men
to
changes
to their
credit for keeping the
in
our task group.
We
Bermuda and explained
hunch
that
some
in
in the
U-505' s code books,
we
the vital importance of secrecy.
it,
I
had
had picked up souvenirs, so
anything they'd taken off the sub.
out that a souvenir's no good unless you can show
about
did our own.
Germans in the dark belongs to the got them all together on the way
of the boarders
asked everyone to turn
was
just as easily as
and any bragging would endanger
it
I
I
pointed
around and brag
security.
Not only
that,
man who disobeyed my order. I anWashington had told me that the stuff would all be
but I'd throw the book at any
nounced
that
returned after the war.
Next day we were swamped with the damndest I'd
ever
seen
—
pistols,
everything but torpedoes. collect all that stuff
cameras,
How
from a sub
officer's
caps,
collection of junk
name
plates
they had the time and patience to that might sink any minute
I'll
never
210
know. Anyway,
to the Battle of
Midway
shipped all the souvenirs off to Washington, and anybody saw of them? The chairborne commandos the Pentagon glommed onto them for keeps. Now, whenever I
was the
that in
Raid
Qoolittte's I
last
meet one of the lads who was what
his first
oculars you
words
will
made me
be
in that Jjoafding party, I
— "Captain, where
know
exactly
the hell are those bin-
turn in?"
AT LAST THE U-BOAT MENACE HAD BEEN CONTAINED, and no longer posed a threat to our very left
to fight with; only
survival.
new boats and green
Germany had
little
crews, and few of these
with the stomach for aggressive submarine combat.
Now
attention
shifted to the Mediterranean, Mussolini's
"Mare Nostrum," and
next phase of the struggle against the Axis.
We will
the
return to the Medi-
terranean theatre after a look at the developing war in the Pacific.
PART
III
DOOLITTLE'S RAID
TO THE BATTLE OF
MIDWAY
ON APRIL the news
Toyko
18,
that
a
1942,
AMERICAN MORALE SOARED WITH
flight
of
B-25 Mitchell bombers had attacked
in a spectacular daylight raid.
Considering the staggering suc-
cession of catastrophes which
had befallen the Allied nations since the outbreak of the war, the psychological value of the strike was incalculable.
Briefly,
this
is
the story behind the daring mission:
Early in 1942 King and his operations
officer,
Captain Francis
J.
Low, decided upon a blow against Japan designed to uplift the spirits of the American citizen. With the cooperation of General H. H. "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General of the Army, their plan envisioned sixteen B-25 Mitchells embarked in a United States Navy task force to a point several hundred miles from the enemy's mainland. From there the bombers were to hit Tokyo. However, as
211
—
212
the planes
to the Battle of
Midway
would not be able
to friendly
fly
Raid
_ Doolittle's
dangerous for
to return to the carrier, they were to China and land thereT The mission was extremely
all
concerned, but particularly for the Navy, as Japanese
search planes and patrol boats were --vectored out to seven hundred miles from the mainland.
But accepting the
risks
(subsequent arrangements were made with
General Chiang Kai Shek) sixteen bombers, aggregating two hundred officers
and men under the command of Brigadier General James A.
Doolittle,
were given a month's training
out on the
airfield.
Then
at
from a
practice takeoffs were conducted
Eglin Field, Florida, where
marked
carrier "flight deck''
planes were equipped with special
the
launching gear and flown to San Francisco to await the arrival of the carrier Hornet.
So secret was the mission that not even Captain Marc
A. Mitscher, her commanding
officer,
knew anything about
On
cious cargo until a few days before loading.
the pre-
April 2 Mitscher
joined up with Halsey in Enterprise, the flagship, and cruisers Nash-
and Vincennes, four destroyers and a
ville
force got
underway
fleet oiler,
and the task
Enterprise providing the combat air patrol.
"Cheers from every section of the ship greeted the announcement," stated Mitscher's Action Report,
"and morale reached a new high,
there to remain until after the attack well clear of the
With the
combat
persistent
ing his sea voyage, a
was launched and the ship was
areas."
memory
of the sunken Prince of Wales disturb-
wary Halsey
led his
Task Force 16 through
rough seas to a launching point considerably farther out than he wished, because of the presence of Japanese patrol boats
dred and sixty-eight miles from the heart of Tokyo.
On
—
six
hun-
the morning of
April 18, a gray and windy day, Halsey launched the planes.
The
psychological effects of the Doolittle Raid were minimized by the fact that
Tokyo was conducting
a
mock
the planes arrived over the city at
air raid the
same day, and when
noon Japanese
citizens
assumed
they were part of the show.
Thirteen bombers singled out the enemy capital and the other three
continued on to blast targets in the Osaka-Nagoya area. of the extraordinary mission
is
now
told
by
USAF, an aviation writer of note and He presents the tense drama at sea before
Lt.
Col.
An
account
Carroll V.
Glines,
a highly-rated
pilot.
launching.
combat
LT. COL.
CARROLL
V.
GLINES
I.
LAUNCH PLANES!
Each passing hour was now more fraught with danger. The tensewas evident everywhere. It could be felt in the wardroom,
ness
the crew's mess, on the bridge and in the engine room. to
Japan could they go without being spotted?
No
How
close
one knew.
To
add to the uncertainty was an English-speaking radio-news program "Reuters, British news agency, has anin Toyko: nounced that three American bombers have dropped bombs on Tokyo. This is a most laughable story. They know it is absolutely impossible for enemy bombers to get within five hundred miles of Tokyo.
originating
Instead of worrying about such foolish things, the Japanese people are enjoying the fine spring sunshine and the fragrance of cherry
blossoms."
The sion as
log of the Enterprise for April 16, shows the increasing ten-
Task Force Sixteen plowed
"0501
—Launched
first
into
enemy-dominated waters:
inner air patrol of 6 fighters, followed
5, 4 and 6 fighters each. No Launched first scouting flight of 13 scout bombers to search sector 204-324 to distance of 200 miles, followed in the
throughout the day by patrols of contacts.
afternoon by scouting
flight of 8
204-324
150 miles.
to distance of
torpedo planes to search sector
No
Activity increased the next day.
contacts.
At 5:37 A.M.
the Enterprise
213
:
214 ^
Doolittle's
Raid
to the Battle of
Midway
launched 18 scout bombers for three-hour search missions. During
pumped aviation gasoline and fuel oil aboard and then, along with the Cimarron, topped off the cruisers and destroyers. At 2:45 P.M., the destroyer Nonssen and both tankers
the morning, the Sabine the Big
left
E
the formation to await the return of the larger ships after the
A
25's were launched.
detached.
The two
B
short time later the other destroyers were
carriers
and four
cruisers left
now
increased their
speeds to 20 knots. Hardly had the destroyers and tankers receded
from view when the wind picked up and increased
to gale force.
Meanwhile, the B-25's had been spotted on the deck for
The
lead bomber, Doolittle's, had
Lieutenant
left
takeoff.
feet of clear deck; the last one,
Farrow's, hung precariously out over the stern
Bill
of the carrier.
467
Two
white lines were painted on the deck
—one
wheel and one for the nose wheel of the bombers.
ramp
for the
If the pilots
kept their plane on these lines they could be assured of clearing the
wings by about
carrier's "island" with their right
The excitement aboard
the Hornet increased
Up
completed and the Mitchells positioned.
Hornet, Mitscher and Doolittle huddled over a
"Jimmy, we're
the
in
when
its
refueling
was
on the bridge of the
map
table.
enemy's back yard now," Mitscher said
calmly. "Anything could happen from here on
our
six feet.
in. I
think
it's
time for
ceremony."
little
Doolittle agreed
.
.
.
When
the Enterprise
had merged with the
Hornet's force, mail had been exchanged and Mitscher had received
some
correspondence from the Secretary of the Navy, Frank
official
Knox. Enclosed were some medals which had been presented Vormstein, John B. Laurey, and Daniel
men,
to
commemorate
Knox
at the time,
"attach
it
had asked to a
bomb and
return
to
it
Pennsylvania, on
"Following the lead of you,
Sir,
their
my
March
former
Japan
in that
manner."
home
ally find its
way back
in
fleet
Knox had forwarded
me and
mates in forwarding thru
a
bomb
trust that
bomb Kojimachi Ku
company with
throne of the 'Son of Heaven' in the
it
to
Tokyo,
will
I
eventu-
that will rock the district of
Toyko."
the medals to Nimitz at Pearl Harbor, asking
that the request be complied with at the appropriate time.
propriate
in
2
Jap commemoration medals via
herewith enclose the one issued to
Navy
January 26, that Secretary
in the letter of
Quigley, formerly of the U.S.S. Kearsarge, wrote from his
McKees Rocks,
H.
the visit of the U.S. Battle Fleet to Japan in
1908. Vormstein and Laurey, both working in the Brooklyn
Yard
to
Quigley, ex-Navy enlisted
J.
time seems to have
come
"The ap-
sooner than they realized,"
Launch Planes!
215
Mitscher said, grinning. "Let's get your boys together and comply with these instructions from on high."
Over the loudspeaker came port to the flight deck!"
When
"Army
the announcement,
crews, re-
everyone had gathered around a
bomb
had been brought on deck, Mitscher made a short speech about the medals and handed them to Doolittle. Lieutenant Steve Jurika, that
having heard about the ceremony, added the medal he had received
from the Japanese
in 1940.
The group posed for pictures and kidded each other goodnathem wrote slogans on the bomb like "I don't want to set the world on fire, just Tokyo" and "you'll get a BANG out of this!" They knew the time for departure was drawing nigh. Dog tags turedly. Several of
were checked and
last
innoculations made. Already their survival
equipment had been handed out and the eighty men who were going
on the raid had been loaded down
like
Boy
over-eager
Each
Scouts.
crew member had been issued a Navy gas mask, a .45 automatic, ammunition, a hunting knife,
clips of first
aid
kit,
canteen, compass and
life
flashlight,
emergency
rations,
jacket. Besides their clothes,
most had added an assortment of extras
B-4 bags such
to their
candy bars and extra razor blades. "Shorty" Manch,
cigarettes,
foot, six-inch co-pilot
on Bob Gray's crew, planned
as
six-
to take along his
phonograph and records. "Sally" Crouch, navigator on Dick Joyce's crew, ever mindful of the lectures about the lack of cleanliness in the Orient,
jammed
rolls of toilet
paper into
his bags.
They were hoping
and
their lightheaded-
for the best but being prepared for the worst,
ness soon
became forced
as each
man wondered
about his personal
chances for survival.
Mechanical hourly.
On
difficulties
had been croping up on every plane almost
the 16th, Lieutenant
blower while he was running
up
a platform so an engine
it
Don up.
Smith's right engine cracked
Navy
its
carpenters hurriedly rigged
change crew could remove
it.
It
was taken
below decks to the machine shop, quickly repaired and replaced.
Gun
turrets did not function correctly, hydraulic lines
still
leaked,
spark plugs fouled and gas tanks dripped. The anxiety of the crews
mounted
as Doolittle
and inspected
went from plane
broomstick guns in the
to plane, questioned the crews,
from the nose wheel
their planes rear.
On
tires
to the false
the afternoon of the 17th, he called
the crews together.
"The
time's getting short
now," he told them. "By now every
were originally supposed
to take off
single
the alarm
is
sounded.
We
on the 19th but
it
looks like
it'll
one of you knows exactly what to do
if
-
216
Raid
Doolittle's
be tomorrow instead. This
to the Battle of will
be youp
Midway Be ready
last briefing.
to go at
any time.
"We
however,
well,
you
rest of
as a
should have plenty of warning jfjwe're intercepted. I'll
Tokyo
take off so as to arrive over
will take off
two or three hours
at
The
my
fires
and can use
later
goes
If all
dusk.
homing beacon."
Doolittle reiterated the plan in full and, for the last time, gave the
men a chance to back out. Again, no one took him up on his offer. He then gave instructions about the 5-gallon gas cans which were to be stowed in the rear compartment. "Don't throw out the empty cans as
you use them," he cautioned. back toward the Hornet.
directly
holes in
"If
When
you do,
them and throw them overboard
all at
leave a
you'll
the cans are
all
same
the
trail
empty, punch time.
Now,
any questions?"
There was one question
that
had bothered many of the men but no
it up. One of the pilots, however, decided that he know what the Boss's answer would be so he asked, "Colonel, what should we do if we lose an engine or something else goes wrong and we have to crash land in Japan?" Doolittle's answer was quick. "Each pilot is in command of his own plane when we leave the carrier," he answered. "He alone is responsible for the decision he makes for his own plane and crew. Each man must eventually decide for himself what he will do when the chips are down. Personally, I know exactly what I'm going to
one had yet brought
wanted
to
do."
The wardroom group asked,
"Sir,
fell silent.
what
will
Doolittle didn't elaborate so one of the
you do?"
"I don't intend to be taken prisoner," the scrappy
swered. "If
my
plane
is
any target
I
my crew
your twenties and
if
I
decision. In the final analysis,
each
man
letters,
to decide
will
an-
full life.
what he
it's
up
Most
to
it,
full throttle,
do the most damage.
were you, I'm not sure
same
He
out and then dive
can find where the crash
I'm 46 years old and have lived a in
man
crippled beyond any possibility of fighting or
escape, I'm going to bail into
little
of I
each
you fellows are would make the
pilot and, in turn,
will do."
then cautioned them to get rid of any and
all
identification,
orders and diaries that would link them with the Hornet, their
unit in the States of their training.
The B-25 crews labored all day on the 17th preparing their planes Ammunition and bombs were loaded aboard. Last minute engine run-ups were made and crew survival equipment placed in
for battle.
:
217
Launch Planes! each plane.
thoughtfully climbed on board the Hornet
Doc White had
in San Francisco with 80 quarts of bourbon
—
man
a quart for every
going on the raid. During the voyage, he exchanged
it
with the
Navy
medics for pints of medicinal rye. These would be easier to carry in the B-24 bags he reasoned and, if they had to bail out, could be stuffed into their flight jackets.
He admonished the group again to now an air of extreme
take care of cuts they might get. There was
urgency that was
by
felt
all
on the Hornet.
Commander Apollo Soucek, the Hornet's Air had issued "Air Department Plan for Friday, 17 April 1942":
Earlier that day, Officer
The Big Bombers on the flight deck will be loaded with bombs during the day. The sequence of events in connection with loading and respotting
will
be as follows
Complete fueling
( 1 )
ships; tanker shoves off.
(2) Push #02268 and #02267 clear of number 3 elevator. (3) Bring incendiary bombs to flight deck via number 3 elevator;
commence
loading on accessible airplanes.
bombs
(4) Start bringing heavy
commence
elevators;
(5)
When
all
elevator
3
enough (6)
One
and
bomb
loading on accessible airplanes.
bombs
incendiary
to flight decks via regular
pull
are on flight deck, secure
number
#02267 and #02268 forward
far
for loading purposes.
half
hour before sunset, respot the deck for
Note: All loading
will
take-off.
be done under the direct supervision of
Captain Greening, U.S.A.
By
sunset, loading
and positioning were complete. All planes
had been fueled; only personal baggage had Twenty-four hours gone.
later,
As had been
started
if all
went
well, the
to be stored aboard. 1
6 bombers would be
the practice during the voyage, poker
games
below decks the instant work was done. The night of April
17 was no exception.
At midnight on relieved Ensign
J.
the Hornet, Ensign Robert R. Boettcher
A. Holmes on watch as
officer of the
noted in the ship's log that the Hornet, in company
Deck.
had
He
with Task
Groups 16.2 and 16.5, was steaming darkened on a course of 267° at 20 knots. The ship's bell chimed off the half hours as the midnight-to-four shift went about its routine chores. Boettcher's task was to stay alert for signs of any enemy sea or air activity and keep the Hornet knifing ahead on course.
When
the six bells signalling 3 a.m. were chimed, Boettcher
218
^
Doolittle's
Raid
to the Battle of
Midway
yawned and asked for a^cup of coffee. He had drained when a message was flashed from the Enterprise that knotted his stomach: "Two enemy surface craft reported." The Big E's radar had Spotted two enemy ships off the stretched,
the last waning drops
port
bow
at a distance of
twenty-one thousand yards. All watch
hands stared into the inky blackness; two minutes
later a light
appeared on the horizon.
The
Enterprise's short range, high frequency radio crackled out
a curt order for detection.
As
station.
A
ships to
come
right to a course of
the ships obeyed, general quarters
man on
every
all
way
the six ships fought his
half
hour
later, the
enemy
350° to avoid
was sounded and
to his assigned battle
ships faded
from the radar
screen and the westerly course was resumed at 4:11 a.m. For the
Task Force, the day had begun even though the been sounded to
resume
had
to their cabins
their interrupted sleep.
dawn
search
F4F Grumman
fighters
At 5:08 eight
The B-25 crews went back
at 3:41.
"all clear"
the
flight
and
and three
fighter patrol consisting of
SBD
Douglas scout bomb-
ers took to the air
from the Enterprise
two hundred
Three more scout bombers were launched for a
miles.
to search to a distance of
combat air patrol above the Task Force. The weather, which had been moderately rough during the night, was worsening. Low broken clouds hung over the area; frequent rain squalls swept over the ships and the sea began to
bellow up in 30 foot crests. Gusty winds tore the tops off the waves
and the spray blew across the decks of the
ships,
drenching the
deck crews.
The
three
SBD
pilots
climbed to the bottom of the broken
clouds in a "single plane relative search."
O. B. Wiseman sighted a small patrol
craft.
At 5:58, Lieutenant
He
quickly reversed
course for the Enterprise. Fixing his position as best he could on his small plotting board,
Enemy
surface ship
276° true
—42
—
he jotted
latitude
down
a message:
36-04N, Long. 153-10E, bearing
miles. Believed seen
by enemy.
Wiseman handed the message back to the gunner in the rear seat and made a throwing motion with his hand. The gunner knew what to do. He reached in his pocket for a bean bag message container, stuffed the paper inside and peered over the
219
Launch Planes! side as
down
SBD
Wiseman dived
for the Big E's flight deck.
and the gunner opened the canopy.
to slow his plane
was
Wiseman put
directly overhead, the
flaps
When
the
message plopped down on the deck
and was scooped up on the run by a deckhand and delivered
to
Halsey on the bridge. Halsey's reaction was immediate.
He
ordered
220°
all
Task
ships in the
The question uppermost in everyone's mind was whether or not Wiseman had been seen. About an hour later, at 7:38, another enemy patrol Force to swing
vessel of about
to
left
thousand yards away.
It
to
avoid detection.
150 tons was sighted from the Hornet only twenty
was every reason and reported.
a course of
If
the
Hornet could see the small
to believe that the
became a
certainty
when
the Hornet's radio operator
intercepted a Japanese message which had originated
where close by. J.
Still
vessel, there
Task Force had been sighted
further confirmation
came
at
from some-
7:45 when Ensign
Q. Roberts sighted the enemy vessel only twelve thousand yards
away.
The moment
of decision
had come. Halsey ordered the Nashville
to sink the patrol boat. In the log of the Enterprise
was noted the
following:
By
agreement
previous
mander
with
Lt.
Col.
Doolittle,
flight
com-
16 B-25 planes on the Hornet, the plan was to
of the
launch one plane from a position approximately 400 miles east of
Inuboe Saki
at a
time to permit arrival over
Tokyo
at sunset.
The
other planes were to be launched at local sunset to permit a night attack on Tokyo. However, in case the presence of the force detected,
it
diately. If at
launched from 550 miles from Inuboe Saki, the arrival
arranged destination was remote possibility.
point in excess of at
650
miles,
it
If
launched from a
was calculated impossible
Hushan, the arranged destination. These factors were
ered and as our position was patrol
was
was understood the planes were to be launched imme-
vessel
previously
known
contacted,
to
to arrive
all
consid-
have been reported by the
Adm. Halsey ordered
the
planes launched.
The message Halsey
flashed to Mitscher
on the Hornet was sent
at
8:00 a.m.:
LAUNCH PLANES X TO COL. DOOLITTLE AND GALLANT COMMAND GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS YOU.
220
Doolittle's
Raid
Midway
to the Battle of
on the Hornet's bridge when the message came, hurshook hands with Mitscher and leaped down the ladder to his
Doolittle,
riedly
cabin, shouting to everybody he saw, "O.K. fellas, this
is
Let's
it!
go!" At the same time, the blood-chilling klaxon sounded and the
announcement came over the loudspeaker: "Army planes!"
pilots,
man your
The B-25 crews had not been fully aware of the drama going to this point. Some had finished breakfast and
on around them up were lounging eat; several
were shaving and preparing to
in their cabins; others
were
A
asleep.
still
few had packed
most were caught completely unawares when the Although
their collective goal
"Shorty"
differently.
He grabbed
his portable
He had
minute to ask
his
call
B-4 bags but
came.
was the same, the 80 men
Manch had
and a carbine.
their
his
phonograph
own
ideas about
buddy, Lieutenant
cake
Bob
tin
reacted to take.
two .45 caliber
as well as
his records in a
all
what
pistols
but decided at the
Clever, navigator
Lawson's "Ruptured Duck," to put the precious
platters
last
on Ted
under
his
Clever reluctantly agreed.
seat.
Doc White
hurriedly passed out the two pints of liquor to each
man. Lieutenant Dick Knobloch ran from plane
to plane
handing up
bags of sandwiches he had gotten from the galley.
Army and Navy men ingly wild confusion. stuffed
up
poured
all
Engine and turret covers were ripped
into the rear hatches.
chocks pulled away.
over the Hornet's deck in seem-
A
off
and
Ropes were unfastened and wheel
"donkey" pushed and pulled the 25's
into
position along the back end of the flight deck.
The Hornet's speed was increased and her bow plunged viciously The deck seemed like a crazy seesaw that bit
into the towering waves. into the water
bow
each time the
Once each plane was
position, the job of loading could be
in
completed. The gas tanks were
bombers back and filled
all
forth to break
they could pour in a few quickly
dipped.
topped
off.
up any
air
more quarts
Navy crews rocked
the
bubbles in the tanks so
of precious gasoline. Sailors
the ten 5-gallon gas cans allotted each ship and passed
them hand-to-hand up
The Hornet's
into the rear hatches.
control tower displayed a huge blackboard which
noted the compass heading of the ship and the wind speed. As the crews
up
jammed
their personal belongings aboard,
Hank
into the forward hatch of each plane, wished the
and
said, sadly, "I sure
wish
I
Miller climbed
crew good luck
could go with you guys.
I'll
be holding
—
Launch Planes! up
a blackboard to give
glance before you
On
Doolittle
signal,
warmed them
up.
you any
your brakes
let
in
minute instructions. Give
last
me
a
off."
the lead plane
Near the bow on
Osborne stood with a checkered
221
engines and
started his
Edgar G.
the left side, Lieutenant
He began
hands.
flag in his
to swing
the flag in a circle as a signal for Doolittle to ease the throttles
forward. Osborne swung the flag in faster and faster circles and
Doo-
pushed more and more power on. At the precise instant the deck
little
was beginning
its
Doolittle's wheels
upward movement, chocks were pulled from under and Osborne gave him the "go" signal. Doolittle
released his brakes and the Mitchell inched forward.
Ted Lawson,
waiting his turn in the "Ruptured Duck," described
their leader's takeoff:
With
full flaps,
motors
at full throttle
and
his left
wing
lunged slowly into the teeth of the gale that swept
His
wheel stuck on the white
left
wing, which had
line as
if it
far out over
waddled and then
the port side of the Hornet, Doolittle's plane
down
the deck.
were a track. His
right
barely cleared the wall of the island as he taxied
and was guided up
to the starting line,
extended nearly to the edge
of the starboard side.
We watched bow.
If
him
hawks, wondering what the wind would do
up more speed and held
Hornet
lifted
up on top
speed, Doolittle's plane took his ship almost straight
whole top of
of a
off.
up on
wave and cut through
He had its
yards to spare.
props, until
it
we could I
at full
He hung see the
watched him
a tight circle and shoot low over our heads line painted
on the deck.
log of the Hornet for April 18 records that Colonel Doolittle
was airborne hours
run toward the
to his line, and, just
B-25. Then he leveled off and
his
come around in straight down the The
off in that little
he couldn't, we couldn't.
Doolittle picked
as the
like
and whether we could get
to him,
at
8:20 a.m. ship time. Instead of following him three
later, as originally
planned, the second plane, piloted by Lieu-
tenant Travis Hoover, had to take off just five minutes later.
"Hoover kept
Hank
his
nose in the up position too long," Lieutenant
Miller recalls, "and nearly stalled the plane. After the third
plane took
off, I
"STABILIZER IN NEUTRAL" on they saw and took my advice.
put the words
the blackboard. I'm pretty sure
"Succeeding take-offs were
all
good except one
—Ted Lawson's
222 ~
Doolittle's
Raid
because he either forgot
to the Battle of
Midway
his flaps or inadvertently
away with
the 'up' position instead of 'neutral.' But he got
'The
put them back into it.
on three other planes were/ up as they maneuvered into but the flight deck crew caught them before take-off. The
flaps
position,
only casualty to the planes themselves was a cracked nose glass on Lt.
Don
Smith's plane
one ahead of took
it.
when
was rammed
it
into the tail cone of the
There wasn't enough damage
worry about so he
to
off in order."
The
last
plane on the deck, piloted by Lieutenant Bill Farrow,
seemed earmarked
from the
for disaster
start.
Since
its tail
was hang-
ing out over the end of the deck, the loading of the plane's rear
compartment could not be completed
until the
15th plane, Smith's
had moved forward. Six deck handlers held down on the nose wheel while Farrow taxied forward. Just as Smith revved up his engines,
and the men moved away from Farrow's nose wheel, Seaman Robert
W.
Wall, one of the
six,
lost his footing.
The sudden
caused him to lose his balance and the combination of the slippery, pitching deck threw
him
gust of air
air blast
ler.
There was nothing Farrow could do. The prop chewed
left
arm and threw him
and carried him time
aside.
to sick
and
into Farrow's idling left propelinto Wall's
His deck mates quickly rushed to him
bay where
arm was amputated
his
a short
later.
Farrow's plane was Doolittle
off at
9:20, exactly one hour after Doolittle's.
had 620 nautical miles to go
to reach
Inuboe Saki, the
nearest point of land; Farrow's distance was calculated at an even
600 miles with
Hornet's position
the
officially
fixed
at
35° 55^,
153°19'E.
While the Doolittle crews had been getting ready on the Hornet, the cruiser Nashville
began pumping
shells at the patrol vessel
Ensign
Roberts had sighted. Roberts made a glide bombing attack and
dropped a 500-pounder but caliber
it
missed.
He
strafed with a lone .50
machine gun but could see no damage being done. Other
planes joined the attack.
The War Diary
of the Nashville describes
the action this way:
0748—Enemy
ship bore 201
°T
at a
—Received order from Adm. same. 0753 — Opened with main 0752
range of 9,000 yds.
Halsey to attack vessel and
sink
fire
9.000 yds.
battery firing salvo
fire at
range of
223
Launch Planes!
0754—Shifted 0755
0756
to rapid
— —Resumed Checked vessel.
fire.
fire.
Target could not be seen.
firing.
Bombing planes made
They returned
guns and a
light
the
enemy
attack on
machine
of the planes with
fire
cannon.
—Enemy headed toward 0801 —Bombing This on enemy made another enemy. returned by 0804 — Opened This was returned but enemy 0809 —Bombing planes made another Changed course enemy. order 0814 — Increased speed 25 0819 — Commenced 0821 — Steadied course 095T. Enemy on 0823 —Enemy 0827 — Commenced maneuvering Attempts pick up one man proved 0846 — Went 25 knots 0757
the Nashville.
planes
attack
ship.
the
fire
shells fell
fire
fire.
short.
attack.
to the
to close the
left in
knots.
to
firing salvo fire.
a
vessel
fire.
vessel sunk.
survivors.
to
to rescue
to
The skipper
unsuccessful.
sighted
to rejoin mission.
of the Nashville, Captain S. S. Craven, added an addi-
tional note in the log to explain
why
had taken so long to sink the noted that "938 rounds of 6"
it
small, apparently fragile vessel.
He
ammunition were expended due
to the difficulty of hitting the small
target with the
which
heavy swells that were running and the long range
was opened. This range was used
fire
in
at
order to silence the
enemy's radio as soon as possible. The ship sunk was a Japanese patrol boat
and was equipped with radio and
anti-aircraft
machine
guns."
As soon
as the 16th
B-25 had
left
the deck, the entire task force
reversed course to the east and proceeded at the
Navy
calls
full
simply "getting the hell out."
own
speed in a maneuver
The Hornet, now
di-
planes up on deck and
vested of
its
load of bombers, brought
assumed
its
aerial role of scouting in collaboration with the Enter-
prise.
The
fact that the
enemy
its
patrol vessel
had gotten
before being sunk probably meant that every
its
message
enemy plane and
within range of the American force would be searching for
off
vessel
it.
The
assumption was well founded for aircraft were spotted on the radar screen of the retreating Enterprise but none miles.
The low clouds and poor
visibility
came
closer than
were proving to be
allies.
30
224
Doolktle's Raid to the Battle of
At 11:30, Ensigns R. M.
Midway
Elder, R. K. Campbell and
Bomber Squadron Three were launched from
of
single-plane searches to the southwest.
W. Arndt
ant R.
make
to
first
a contact.
Two
deck.
dive
later,
bombing
firing
surface
sighted a 150-foot patrol
radio antenna towering above
tall
attacks were
Campbell pressed the attack
Lieuten-
enemy
Ensign Campbell was
force.
At 11:50 he
boat painted dark gray with a
C. Butler
the Enterprise on
few minutes
led a three-plane flight off to attack
58 miles from the task
vessels reported
the
A
J.
made but no
hits
its
were scored.
both the .50 caliber and .30 caliber
guns but only minor damage could be seen.
A
few minutes
after
Campbell's attack, Lieutenant Arndt and his
two wingmen attacked another
Three 500-pound and
vessel.
five
100-
pound bombs were dropped, again without success. As the War Diary of the squadron wryly noted, "there was no apparent damage from bombs except for one 100-lb. bomb near miss which evidently stopped the
fire
on one small caliber
used radical maneuver and returned
beal"
AA gun AA fire
located
time.
was about 125
It
behind.
The enemy
gun."
Ensign Butler, searching another sector, sighted boat.
aft.
with what appeared to
He made
feet long
three separate
still
a third patrol
and was towing a smaller boat
bomb
bomb each 500-pound bomb
runs, dropping
The two 100-pound bombs were duds but
the
one
landed close aboard on the port side causing fragmentary damage. After the bombing, Butler strafed both boats until his ammunition
was gone. He thought he had sunk the smaller boat and damaged the larger one. After landing he reported that hits
from enemy
fire
— not
"own plane
received three
serious."
What Arndt and his squadron mates could not do, the Nashville As soon as the scout bombers retired, she opened fire on the
did.
bobbing patrol boat
at forty-five
hundred yards. Firing
off
and on for
the next twenty minutes with her 5-inch and 6-inch guns as she closed
Overwhelmed by the quanup a white flag and the Nashville circled, the enemy boat
the distance, she finally obtained results. tity
of lead that filled the
Nashville ceased
firing.
air,
the Japanese ran
While the
slowly sank. Five survivors were spotted and quickly hauled aboard suffering
from shock, immersion and
fright.
Only one, Seaman Sec-
ond Class Nakamura Suekichi, was injured
wound
slightly
with a bullet
in his cheek.
men aboard the patrol boat, the Nagato Maru, Suekichi. He reported in a letter to the author that ".
There had been according to
1 1
.
.
Launch and
the waves were high that day
70-ton Nagato
Mam
interrogators that he
went below
and
said,
could not help worrying that our
I
would capsize
at
any moment."
to rouse his skipper, Chief Petty Officer
in his cabin.
there are
"Sir,
He
told
Navy
had spotted some planes while on watch and
The skipper assumed they were Japan and stayed
225
Planes.
the usual
A
Gisaku Maeda.
morning patrol planes from
short time later Suekichi tried again
two of our beautiful
carriers
now dead
ahead."
This time
Maeda was wide awake. No Japanese
posed to be
in his patrol
He
area.
from
"At
his sea bag, put
it
to his temple
that time," Suekichi said,
the Fifth Fleet, that the
sadly,
He went below
beautiful but they are not ours." pistol
rushed on deck, studied them
and said
intently through his binoculars,
were sup-
carriers
and pulled the
"we radioed
enemy had been
"Indeed they are
to his cabin, took a trigger.
the Kiso, the flagship of
sighted.
When
the
American
shells. The enemy became more severe, but we really doubted whether they could hit us, so we pointed our small gun at the enemy. Looking back on our actions now, we acted foolishly. But, after all, we thought we were fighting for the great spirit of Nippon. Since we had communicated the discovery of enemy ships and planes, we were positive that no damage would occur in Japan."
cruiser fired
on
us,
I
could actually see the approaching
airborne attack by the
While the Nashville was completing the action, the planes returned to the Enterprise to re-arm.
Smith, however, could not
One of them, piloted by Lieutenant L. A. make it. Without warning, the SBD's en-
gine began to lose oil pressure and he had to ditch. His plane had
been
by the small caliber
hit
gunner,
AMM2C H.
fire
from the picket
ship.
He and
his
H. Caruthers, were rescued shortly thereafter by
the Nashville.
The excitement
of the day
was not
yet over.
marine was sighted and attacked before
it
A
small
enemy
sub-
hurriedly submerged un-
damaged. Other Japanese patrol vessels and freighters were sighted but not attacked. staff,
the
number
When of
the day's activities were studied by Halsey's
enemy
vessels
found was surprising. Halsey
ported that "in addition to the radar contact with two craft
0310, actual contact
showed one submarine, 14 PY's
re-
made
at
(patrol vessels)
and 3 AK's (probably "mother ships" for the patrols) concentrated in
an area about 130 miles by 180 miles.
A
similar concentration
was
reported by a submarine just returned from patrol in the East China
Sea which stated that 65 sampans had been sighted in an area just
)
226 ^
Doolittle's
about the same the degree to
Raid
Midway
size as that mentioned above. These are indications of which the Japanese are using these small craft for
patrols
and screens around
tion of
enemy land-based
these planes
to the Battle of
Halsey made no men-
their vital areas."
patrol planes which
had found the task
force, there
had
is
also
been seen.
If
no doubt they would
have attacked the carriers offensively, which the patrol vessels could not.
at
The escaping task force steamed at full speed during the night and dawn the next day began its patrols again. No more enemy ships
were sighted but one scout bomber from the Hornet, overdue from
morning
the
patrol, ditched in the water out of gas only seven miles
from the Enterprise. The plane, piloted by Lieutenant G. D. Randall with radioman T. A. Gallagher aboard, sank in 30 seconds. Neither the plane nor the
men were
recovered.
took Task Force Sixteen exactly one week to the hour after
It
launching the B-25's to reach Pearl Harbor. Before docking, Halsey sent a "Well Done" to his skippers and termed the mission a success. "The Japs chased us all the way home, of course," Halsey wrote later. "Whenever we tracked their search planes with our radar, I was
tempted to unleash our to reveal
fighters,
but
I
knew
it
was more important not
our position than to shoot down a couple of scouts. They
sent a task force after us; their submarines tried to intercept us; .
.
.
and
even some of their carriers joined the hunt; but with the help of
foul weather
and a devious course, we eluded them ..."
(Not one B-25 was and others landed
in
lost
over Japan; some splashed off the coast
China; only two pilots were captured by the
enemy and subsequently
executed.
INSPIRATIONAL ARTICLES, LIKE SEA VICTORIES, WERE precious few that dismal spring.
The
best of
them appeared
in the
Proceedings and was written by an idealistic young commander, Ernest M. Eller, who went on to a distinguished war career after service on Admiral Nimitz' staff in early
Naval
Institute
lieutenant
1942.
A
gunnery expert,
Eller's
Cincpac was the preparation of
primary area of responsibility with
fleet
war reports and
training. Later,
commanded an attack transport and participated in the landings on Makin and Okinawa, for which he received the Legion of Merit with Combat "V," He is presently the Director of Naval History. Eller
REAR ADM. ERNEST M. ELLER
2.
"HOW SHALL WE
We
suffering
the
win
shall
the
war
that
idealogies
of
WIN?"
brought
has
nations
and despair unequalled since the vast upheaval ending
empire
of
We
Rome.
destiny of world leadership that of the United States.
We
on
and go
win
shall
the
to
grand
the opportunity and the duty
is
must win or decline
dishonor and death of a nation that
is
to
futility,
to the
given great strength, great
vision, great opportunity to direct earth's fate, but fails to stand
to
its
We
part.
shall
win but
it
will
not be by material.
It
up
will not
be by warships and planes, tanks and guns, or soldiers and sailors alone. It will not be
have and
all
by training and morale. All these things we
are necessary; but
all
and
are useless
all will fail
shall
without
leadership. It
was not from lack of material, however much
that France
was crushed
in the disastrous
this
was
at fault,
days of 1940. She was
badly led and badly inspired, in war and preparation for war, just as the English since.
had been up
The material
to that time,
deficiencies
though they have learned much
that
entered into France's defeat
have, however, been played up to such a point that they whitewash
and hide a gland and
far this
more
serious deficiency.
There
is
danger
in
both En-
country of placing such reliance on material that
shall forget the soul of war, forget that material
is
only for
men
we to
227
228 ^ use,
is
Raid
Doolittle's
given
Midway
to the Battle of
only by men, and even then has
life
wise and courageous direction of
little
value without
menln command.
we must hold in our hearts constantly as we go unknown future. We must not,' in recognizing one cause for defeat, make material our god the body rather than the life. We must remember constantly that although material, preparation, and such truths
It is
into the
—
all it
similar things will aid in winning the war,
—weak
We
leadership.
to the highest degree
can
and
still
other elements of strength
all
The most stupen-
for lack of leaders.
fail
dous factory output may not be
may be
have
one thing alone can lose
utilized, the strongest military
might
allowed to rot away and our proposed colossal material
strength be wasted for lack of moral courage in a few men, perhaps in
one man, when the day of
crisis
War
comes.
a contest not
is
of
machines but of men.
That God
on the side of the strongest battalions, as Napoleon
is
once cynically remarked, merely
may
numbers, as was
in
may
or
his fate to
prove
in his declining
wisdom having
leadership when, inspiration and rely
not be true; but strength
on mass of numbers. That strength
is
in Italy
not
years of
he came to
not merely in material was
also Napoleon's destiny to reveal, glowingly,
campaigns
failed,
is
and Austria with ragged,
by
his early
ill-fed,
amazing
and ill-equipped
armies that were irrestible when led by him. Military strength
measure
many
as so
difficulty of
is
not a tangible quality that
we can weigh and
tanks, guns, planes, or even men. This
war games and the error of many people
about our nation's future role
in the present
component
resolution,
and energy of men
Leadership
is
has
in it)
the soul of
come from
in posts of
all
human
a
world upheaval. In every
fateful period of history the ultimate balance of strength
the largest
is
in thinking
(and usually
the integrity of purpose,
high responsibility.
endeavor.
It is
the flame that
enabled the French under Clemenceau, Joffre, and Foch to stop an
unstoppable it.
It is
the
German Army in 1914, because these men willed to stop magic of German success so far in this war, and of the
unexpected Russian resistance.
It is
burned low and sooty, that France It is
upon
it
that
we should
for lack of this flame,
fell in
place our
which had
1940. first trust,
upon man's moral
courage, upon his irresistible determination to win, to drive his purposes to a conclusion, to strike on past
all
concentration of intent that knows no barrier.
hazard with ceaseless It will
be the power of
leadership that must and will direct us into the great future; and
it
'How
Shall
We
229
Win?"
alone will be the decisive and concluding force in this titanic struggle
between the
hope and darkness.
faiths of
France suffered the crushing defeat of 1940 because she was led by
men who
believed in the
German
sap
power
of the defensive. She placed her faith
blockade and the Maginot Line, which were supposed to
in walls, in
strength until economic
strike the killing blow.
remaining strong by
sitting.
leon's admirals a century
and
English Navy would wear out idling.
How
How
false!
mind. The great heart of ness
comes
to
a half earlier in their struggle against port, they thought the
in
fleets
use while their
in
own gained
strength
patently untrue to any but a timorous
man grows on
privation and danger. Flabbi-
muscles not from use but disuse. Weathering the hard-
ships of continuous sea keeping, the British Fleet
sinewy and proud of that
would
collapse
spiritual
She was as fatefully wrong as were Napo-
English sea power. Mooring their
by
and
She was fattening herself on an easy war,
its
strength to endure.
It
grew strong and
was the French above
declined, deteriorated in material, in discipline,
fleet
all
in
morale and confidence. Under similar conditions the French armies of today
weakened sleeping behind
man Army,
ceaselessly
on the move
strength in the school of action.
Man his
brings his ruin
own mind. Ruin
is
Maginot Line, while the Ger-
the
upon
.
.
in
drill
and attack, gained
.
himself. Defeat or victory
always deserved.
How
fatally a
comes out
of
may
in
people
three short generations learn their error, achieve great deeds, and
then sink into inaction again!
How much
people, their fortunes, their lives, resolute or indolent souls of a few
IN APRIL,
their futures
all
men
the destiny of a whole
.
.
.
hang upon the
!
WHILE THE UNITED STATES MAINTAINED A war
defensive posture in the Pacific, Japan, according to a three-fold plan, prepared to
move toward new conquests
:
to Tulagi in the lower
Solomons, and Port Moresby, southernmost Allied outpost in Guinea, for the purpose of achieving Sea;
to
Midway and
the
air
supremacy
in
the Coral
Western Aleutians for the purpose of
strengthening her defense perimeter and forcing a decisive
gagement with the United Slates Navy; and
Samoa chain
New
to the
for the purpose of severing the line of
New
fleet
en-
Caledonia-
communications
between the United States and the Anzac nations. The enemy was
230 -
Doolittle's
soon challenged
Raid
in the first
to the Battle of
two areas, and
Midway
as a result the third opera-
came about. The Imperial Japanese Navy began Operation "Mo," the first offensive, with carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, borrowed from Nagumo's Carrier Striking Force based in Ceylon and from Vice Admiral Inouye's Fourth Fleet based at Truk and Rabaul. The rest of tion never
the
"Mo"
force consisted of a Tulagi Invasion Group,
Group bound
for the Louisades.
command was
and
a joint
a
Support
Covering Group. Overall
exercised by Inouye in Rabaul. near the northern ex-
tremity of the Solomons.
Fortunately United States
Army
cryptographers, working closely
with Naval Intelligence, had broken Japan's secret code and as a result
Nimitz by April 17 knew the enemy's precise intentions. After
hastily conferring with
MacArthur. who was able it
indeed a major enemy thrust and
to be
was
supply about
was decided
three hundred Allied land-based aircraft, it
to
met with
that this all
was
available
military power.
The
Battle of the Coral Sea which followed, the
carrier-air conflict of the war.
is
first
exclusively
told in four parts: the preliminaries
by Nimitz and naval historian E. B. Potter, Chairman of the Naval History Department at the U.
by men who participated
S.
Naval Academy, and the other parts
in the battle.
FLEET ADMIRAL CHESTER W. NIMITZ
AND
E. B.
POTTER
3
CORAL SEA PRELIMINARIES
The Japanese wanted Port Moresby and
New
their positions in
ing airfields in northern Australia, of
their
advance
projected
in order to safeguard
Rabaul
Guinea, to provide a base for neutraliz-
and
toward
in order to secure the flank
New
Caledonia,
Fiji,
and
Samoa. They wanted Tulagi, across the sound from Guadalcanal in
the lower Solomons, to use as a seaplane base both to cover
the flank of the Port
Moresby operation and
quent advance to the southeast.
Moresby was
To
to support the subse-
the Allies the retention of Port
essential not only for the security of Australia but also
as a springboard for future offensives.
In the Japanese plan a Covering Force built around the 12,000-ton carrier
Shoho was
first
to cover the landing
on Tulagi, then turn back
west in time to protect the Port Moresby Invasion Force, which was to
come down from Rabaul and around
the
tail
of
New
Guinea
through Jomard Passage. There were close support forces for both landings,
and
in addition a Striking
and Zuikaku was
to
Force centered on the Shokaku
come down from Truk
to deal with
any United
States forces that might attempt to interfere with the operation.
Land-
based aircraft were counted on for scouting and support. Altogether there were six separate naval forces engaged in this dual operation.
Such complex division of forces was throughout most of the war. So
typical
far, against a
of Japanese strategy
weak and disorganized
231
232 ^
Raid
Doolittle's
enemy,
had worked
it
to the Battle of
well,
and
tration so long as the forces
together
close
ciently
it
was not inconsistent with concen-
were properly coordinated and
render mutual
to
Midway
support.
suffi-
But when the
Japanese disregarded these two important conditions they met with disaster.
In the Coral Sea, Japanese coordination was to be provided by a
command. Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inouye, Commander
unified
Fourth Fleet, was to direct
all
from
forces, including land-based air,
Rabaul. The Allied
command was
was to be fought
General MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Theater,
but
it
in
was understood
not so well integrated.
The
was
result
that Allied land-based
and naval forces were under separate commands without
air
battle
would remain under Ad-
that any fleet action
miral Nimitz' strategic control.
The
effective
coordination.
Since the Pearl Harbor attack, the United States had broken the
Japanese naval code and thus possessed the enormous advantage of
and rather detailed
accurate plans.
Even
so,
meet the threat
it
Sound undergoing ary.
the as
was no easy matter
to gather sufficient forces to
Moresby. The Saratoga was
to Port
enemy's
concerning the
intelligence
damage
repairs for the torpedo
still
in
Puget
sustained in Janu-
The Enterprise and Hornet did not return to Pearl Harbor from Tokyo raid till April 25. Although they were hurried on their way
soon as possible, there was
little
likelihood that they could reach
The only
the Coral Sea in time to play a part. available were
Admiral Fletcher's Yorktown
the South Pacific for
some
time,
carriers immediately
force,
which had been
in
and Rear Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch's
Lexington group, fresh from Pearl Harbor.
From Noumea, New
edonia came the Chicago, while Rear Admiral
J.
C.
Crace
Cal-
RN
brought H.M.A. cruisers Australia and Hobart from Australia. The Japanese, overconfident from their long series of easy successes, as-
sumed
that a single carrier division
was
sufficient to
support their
new
advance.
The two American
carrier groups,
which had been ordered to join
under Fletcher's command, made contact
on
May
1
.
Two
in the southeast
Coral Sea
days later Fletcher recieved a report of the Japanese
landing on Tulagi. Leaving the Lexington group to complete fueling,
he headed north with the Yorktown group, and during the 4th series of air attacks
nese naval craft.
two groups on
He May
made
a
on the Tulagi area that sank a few minor Japathen turned back south and formally merged his 6.
The two
carriers
were to operate within a
Maj. Gen. (then Lt. Col.) James H. (Jimmy) Doolittle wires a Japanese medal bomb. The ceremony took place on the deck of the USS Hornet (CV-8), from which the Army bombers took off for the raid on Japan, 18 April, 1942. Navy Department. to the fin of a 500-lb.
An Army part in the
off from the deck of the USS Hornet on U.S. air raid on Japan. Navy Department.
B-25 takes first
its
way
to take
%*3 >
v
33£ "V
> The Yokosuka, Japan, Naval
Base, taken from a B-25 during Doolittle's raid
on Tokyo, 18 April, 1942.
The Japanese aircraft carrier Shoho, after being torpedoed Coral Sea, 7 May, 1942. Navy Department.
••
in the Battle of the
Hi
W&Bm
The
final stages
of the sinking of the Shoho, taken by a plane of the
USS
Yorktown (CV-5). Navy Department.
The
aircraft carrier
USS Lexington (CV-2) burning Navy Department.
Coral Sea, 8 May, 1942.
following the Battle of the
r
The USS Lexington abandoning
ship.
The burning Lexington
hands have abandoned
after
all
Navy Department.
ship.
Navy Department.
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Damage on Midway 5, 6,
in the
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Island before the Japanese raiders were repelled, June 4, hit by Japanese bombs. Gooney birds
The burning oil tanks were foreground. Navy Department.
1942.
During the Battle of Midway, Japanese planes try to escape an A.A. barrage. carrier at the right is the USS Yorktown (CV-5). Navy Department.
The
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The Yorktown under
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The
photo shows yior/:/ow/i just as she susattack. Heel is due to turning. Navy Department. The second photo was taken just as a second torpedo struck the Yorktown during the second attack. Note the Japanese plane which has just crashed into the water. Navy Department. attack.
first
tained a hit in the uptakes during the
first
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anti-aircraft fire, four Japanese bombers come in low Guadalcanal Island to attack U.S. transports. Black bursts show the intensity of the U.S. A. A. fire. Navy Department.
Running a gauntlet of at
from two enemy planes set on fire by the USS President Adams Guadalcanal, 12 November, 1942. To the right is the USS Betelgeuse (AK-28). Navy Department.
Smoke
rises
(AP-38)
off
The sinking of
the
USS Wasp (CV-7)
off
Guadalcanal.
Navy Department.
A
Japanese bomb splashes astern of a U.S. carrier as the enemy plane pulls out of its dive above the carrier. The Battle of Santa Cruz, 26 October, 1942.
Navy Department. *
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An American
from the air in the Battle of Santa on the right is turning sharply. The U.S. destroyer Smith (DD-378) has just been struck by a burning, falling Japanese plane. On the left two screening vessels are seen. Navy Department.
Cruz.
A
task force being attacked
carrier
The USS Smith
after being struck by a falling Japanese plane. After the plane struck the ship, a torpedo attached to the plane exploded, causing casualties
and damage. Navy Department.
f_^3^ rm
The USS Hornet (CV-8) under attack the USS Pensacola. Navy Department.
in the Battle of
Santa Cruz. Taken by
Japanese torpedo bombers attacking the USS Hornet. She was sunk in engagement at Santa Cruz. Navy Department.
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this
Lt.
John F. Kennedy,
USNR. Navy Department.
Task Force 17 maneuvering to evade attack by Jap planes in the Second Battle of Santa Cruz. Taken by a plane from the USS Hornet (CV-8).
A. A. Burke on the bridge of the the ships of
DESRON
23.
USS
Charles Ausburne (DD-570), one of Beaver Squadron insignia on the Photo.
Note the
side of the bridge. Official U.S.
Navy
Little
233
Coral Sea Preliminaries
and destroyers. Admiral Fitch, be-
single circular screen of cruisers
cause of his long experience with carriers, was to exercise tactical
command
during air operations.
Fletcher's uniting of his forces
and Zuikaku with
their escorts,
was
Shokaku
luckily timed, for the
having swung around the southeast-
The Japa-
ern end of the Solomons, had just entered the Coral Sea.
nese Striking Force was commanded by Vice Admiral Takeo Takagi,
with Rear Admiral Tadaichi Hara in
commanding
coming around the Solomons, hoped
riers in a sort of pincer
movement.
He
the carriers. Takagi,
to catch the
American
car-
almost succeeded, for on the
evening of the 6th he was rapidly overhauling the American force, then refueling, and was actually within 70 miles of the Americans
when he turned north. At dawn on May
7,
the
American task force was
cruising
on
a northwesterly course south of the Lounisiades, which form an extension of the
New
Guinea
tail.
A
little
before 0700, Fletcher detached
three cruisers and three destroyers under
them
to
Admiral Crace and ordered
push on to the northwest while the carriers turned north. The
detached vessels were to prevent the Port Moresby Invasion Force
from coming through Jomard Passage, regardless of the fate of the American carriers, which Fletcher expected would come under attack during the day. In sending Crace forward however, Fletcher was depriving a part of his force of carrier air cover and at the same time further weakening his already
Thus
far neither
weak
carrier anti-aircraft screen.
Takagi nor Fletcher was sure that the other was
in
the area, though Fletcher had information that three Japanese carriers
were involved
in the operation.
Takagi was depending on land-
based searches which actually sighted the American carrier force but Fletcher's air searches were defeated by
failed to get
word through.
bad weather
to the northeast,
where the two Japanese heavy
carriers
were operating.
To
the northwest
however the weather was
the 7th reports began to
ing in this direction.
come
At 0815
clear,
and early on
in from American scout planes search-
a pilot reported
"two
carriers
and four
heavy cruisers" not far north of Misima Island, whereupon Fletcher ordered attack groups launched from both his carriers. The 93 planes
were well on their way before the scout returned and
it
was discov-
—
ered that the report was an error due to improper coding scout had meant to
Fletcher
made
that the
report two cruisers and two destroyers.
the courageous decision to let the attack proceed,
234
^
Doolittle's
Raid
to the Battle of
Midway
probably thinking that with the Japanese Invasion Force nearby there must be some profitable targets. His boldness was rewarded at 1022
by a report which placed an enemy carrier with several other vessels only 35 miles southeast of the point t6ward which the strike had been
The
sent.
attack group had to alter course only slightly for the
new
target.
The Americans came upon the Shoho about 1 1 00 and, in the first made by American pilots on an enemy carrier, smothered
attack ever
bomb and few minutes. Upon
her with a
1
3
seven torpedo
which sent her down within
hits,
their return, Fletcher decided to withhold a
two enemy carriers were located. Moreenemy knew his position, and it seemed he would soon come under attack.
second strike
until the other
over, he suspected that the likely that
The Japanese series of errors
on the
failed to attack Fletcher
on the 7th only because of a
which by evening reached the
Before 0900
fantastic.
7th, Inouye, directing the Japanese operation
from Rabaul,
One was
Fletcher's; the
had reports of two American
carrier forces.
some 45 miles to the west, was in fact Crace's cruiser-destroyer force. Then came a report from Takagi of a third American carrier in the eastern Coral Sea. This last was actually the oiler Neosho, which had been detached from Fletcher's force the evening before and was other,
proceeding with the destroyer Sims toward a rendezvous.
At 0950 Japanese navy planes took
off
from Rabaul
westernmost of the United States forces. The Japanese
to attack the
pilots returned
with reports that they had sunk a battleship and a cruiser. Actually Crace's force survived without
damage both
by B-26's from Australia, which mistook
The
identification of the
Neosho
Japanese operations, for Hara
at
this attack
and another
his vessels for Japanese.
as a carrier
had a serious
once launched a
full
effect
upon
attack
on the
The Sims with three hits went down her crew. The Neosho took seven but remained afloat
hapless oiler and her escort.
with most of until
her crew was taken off four days
This erroneous attack tion.
As
mined
later.
Tagaki and Hara facing a
night approached, the weather closed in, but
to destroy the
damage
left
American
Hara was
deter-
carriers before they could further
the Invasion Force. Selecting 27 pilots best qualified in night
them out at 1615 estimated the American carriers lay. operations, he sent
It
critical situa-
was not
a
bad gamble,
in the direction in
for in the foul weather
which he
and poor
the Japanese actually passed near Fletcher's force.
visibility
The American
235
Coral Sea Preliminaries
combat
air patrol,
planes and shot
vectored out by radar, intercepted the Japanese
down
An
nine.
hour
later several of the returning
Japanese, mistaking the American carriers for their own, actually
attempted to join the Yorktown's landing circle until American gunners shot
down one and drove
showed planes
circling as
off the others.
The Lexington's radar
for a landing about
if
30 miles
to the east,
which seemed to indicate that the Japanese carriers were very close indeed. Of the Japanese striking group, ten had been shot down,
and eleven others went on
their carriers.
The
into the water in attempting nightlandings
Hara recovered only
six of his 27.
American
pilots of these planes reported the
carriers only
50
60 miles away. Thus each of the opposing commanders was aware of the proximity of the other. Both seriously considered a night surto
face attack,
weaken
and both abandoned the idea because they hesitated
their screens with
Battle of the Coral Sea
to
an enemy near. Thus the main action of the
was postponed another day.
Actually the distance between the two forces was greater than either
commander imagined,
for postwar plots
show
were
that they
nearly a hundred miles apart.
Thus
had been together in the Coral Sea for two had twice come within a hundred miles of each other
far the antagonists
days, and
without exchanging blows.
On
the evening of
May
7 each of the
opposing commanders felt that the enemy was uncomfortably close. There was every likelihood that a decision would be reached the next day. During the night Fletcher withdrew to the south and west, while
Takagi moved north. For both commanders everything depended on locating the
enemy
as
promptly as possible on the morning of the
Both launched searches a
little
reported the other almost simultaneously a
The
contest of
May
8 started
8th.
before dawn, and the scouts of each little
after
0800.
on curiously even terms. Each force
contained two carriers. Fitch had available 121 planes, Hara 122.
The Americans were
stronger in bombers, while the Japanese enjoyed
a preponderance in fighter
and torpedo planes. The Japanese
had more combat experience, and
their
torpedoes were
pilots
better.
another respect the Japanese enjoyed a significant advantage.
In
By
moving south through the night Fletcher had run out of the bad weather area in which he had been operating, and on the 8th his force Japanese remained within the
lay exposed
under clear
frontal area,
under the protection of clouds and rain
skies, while the
Essentially the battle consisted of a
squalls.
simultaneous exchange of
236
^
strikes
by the two carrier
Doolittle's
Raid
Midway
to the Battle of
Between 0900 and 0925 both Amer-
forces.
That of the Yorktown,
ican carriers launched their attack groups. consisting of
24 bombers with two
with four fighters, departed
and nine torpedo planes
fighters,
About 1030
first.
the dive
bombers found
the Japanese carriers with their escorts in loose formation. While the pilots took cloud cover to await the arrival of the torpedo planes, the
Zuikaku disappeared
into a rain squall.
Hence
the attack
fell
only
on the Shokaku.
When
SBD's began
the torpedo planes approached, the
Although the attack was well coordinated, successful.
was only moderately
it
The slow American torpedoes were
bombers succeeded
dive
their dives.
easily avoided, but the
two bombs on the Shokaku. Of
in planting
the Lexington group, which departed about ten minutes later than the
Yorktown's, the 22 dive bombers failed to find the target. Only the eleven torpedo planes and the four scout bombers found the enemy.
Again American torpedoes were ceeded
in
adding another
Shokaku. These three being; because the
to the
hit
damage
The Japanese had fighters at
two already sustained by the
deck prevented her recovering
to her flight
succeeded
tance of 20 miles, ers, the
to
sent off their group of
proceed to Truk.
70 attack planes and 20
about the same time as the American launching. Although
American radar picked them up
fighters
but the bombers suc-
put the Shokaku out of action for the time
Takagi detached her, ordering her
planes,
the
hits
ineffective,
in intercepting still
at
70 miles away, only three
them before
the attack.
At
having met no interference by American
a disfight-
Japanese planes divided into three groups, two of torpedo
planes and one of bombers.
The two American circle
were together
carriers
of screening vessels,
in
the center of their
but evasive maneuvers gradually drew
The screen divided
them
apart.
circle
undoubtedly contributed to the Japanese success
NOW THE
fairly evenly,
.
.
.
JAPANESE DEVELOPED THEIR ATTACK ON
Yorktown and Lexington,
the former
spread and instead taking a
bomb
combing the wakes of a torpedo
hit,
which did not seriously im-
pair her fighting effectiveness. But the slower it.
but this breaking of the
This phase of the battle
is
vividly
"Lady Lex" was
in for
recounted by the carrier's
Coral Sea Preliminaries skipper, Captain Frederick C. Sherman, one of the officers in the
Navy, who rose
wrote feature
articles
True to naval
doomed
vessel.
to full
237
most decorated
Admiral and upon retirement
on naval subjects for the Chicago Tribune.
tradition,
Sherman was
the last
man
to leave the
ADMIRAL FREDERICK
C.
SHERMAN
,'•
4"
ABANDON
At 10:14
a
SHIP!
Yorktown
fighter
on combat patrols spotted a Kawanishi
four-engine flying boat and promptly shot
radar showed a large group of
it
down. At 10:55 the
enemy planes approaching from
the
northeast.
At 11:13 the Lexington's lookout sighted the first of the atThe battle was on. The weather was bright and sunny, with hardly a cloud in the sky. The Japanese had no difficulty in finding us. On the sparkling, tropical sea, we were visible from miles away. Our move to the south the night before had given the enemy this advantage, but it also meant that they had no cloud cover to mask their approach. The clear tackers.
visibility
gave our anti-aircraft guns
Fighter direction was
still
in its early stage of
was on board the Lexington for were 17
in
all,
eight
full play.
development. Control
the fighters in the
all
with Lieutenant "Red" Gill as fighter-direction early
There
air.
from the Yorktown plus the Lexington's officer.
model radar we had on board picked up the enemy
The
nine,
single,
aircraft at a
distance of 68 miles, but gave no indication of their altitude.
those old radars
enemy
planes.
We
it
was
felt
also
that
if
distinguish friendly
from
our fighters were sent far out on
inter-
difficult
ception, they might miss the contact,
and thus be wasted.
We
On
to
owing
to differences in altitude
were also influenced by the
belief that the
torpedo planes represented the greater hazard and that they would
238
Abandon come
239
Ship!
we kept our fighters close in overhead, at 10,000 feet, ready to attack when the enemy groups arrived at their "push-over" point. The Dauntless dive bombers on anti-torpedoin low. Accordingly,
plane patrol were stationed at 2,000
learned in this battle that to break up an air attack to intercept
at
it
remembered
a
much
that this
it
was necessary
greater distance from the carriers.
was the
first
We
6,000 yards out.
feet,
carrier duel in history,
It
must be
and we were
learning our tactics by experience. Nevertheless, our defending planes
did a magnificent job.
Five Lexington fighters were vectored out at
oncoming
craft.
group of 50 to
1 1
:
02
to intercept the
They made contact 20 miles away and reported one 60 planes stacked in layers from 10,000 to 13,000
with torpedo planes in the lowest level, then fighters, then dive
feet,
bombers, then more
Two
fighters in this group.
had been sent low
to look for torpedo
other three fighters in the intercepting unit climbed madly
and dashed
for altitude
down
and 24
of our five fighters
The
planes.
There were approximately 18 torpedo
fighters.
planes, 18 dive bombers,
in to attack.
Engaged by the Zeros, they shot bombers before they started
several but were unable to stop the
The two low
their dives.
dropped down for
torpedo planes as they
fighters attacked the
their part in the battle, but
were unsuccessful
in
stopping them.
The in
air fighting
with the
now became
enemy and
the sky
a melee.
Our own
was black with
planes were mixed
flak bursts.
The Japa-
nese spent no time in maneuvering, but dived straight in for the
The huge Lexington dwarfed
kill.
the other ships in the formation and
bore the brunt of the attack.
was
It
roaring
beautifully coordinated.
down
in steep dives
From my
bridge
from many points
I
saw bombers
in the sky,
and torpedo
planes coming in on both
nothing
I
bows almost simultaneously. There was could do about the bombers, but I could do something to
avoid the torpedoes.
As
I
straight
thin
saw a bomb leave one of the planes, for where I stood on the bridge. Had
armored shield?
no use dodging, and
had work
The
to
ideal
do
if
If it
to
my name on
not, there
to try to
way
had
was no need
I
seemed
better
it,
I
to be
coming
duck behind the
thought, there was
to worry.
At any
rate, I
evade the torpedoes.
drop torpedoes was for groups of planes to
simultaneously on both bows. In this method,
toward one group to parallel to the other.
it
The timing was
its
torpedoes,
vital.
it
if
let
go
the target ship turned
presented
its
broadside
The enormous Lexington was very
240
^
Doolittle's
slow in returning.
When
over.
It
Raid
Midway
to the Battle of
took 30 to 40 seconds
she did start to turn, she
put the rudder hard
just to
moved
majestically
and ponder-
ously in a large circle. Maneuverability was greatly improved in later carriers.
As
I
seemed
saw the enemy torpedo planes coming to
me
They were approaching
in
and the din was
1,000 yards away,
I
McKenzie, for hard
motioned left
all
to the
rudder.
it
we
seemed an
It
of anti-aircraft
full
helmsman, Chief Quartermaster
seemed
around
was
air
considered
the planes to port were about
enemy planes
in all directions
were also dropping
The
When
terrific.
started to turn, just as the
The water
on both bows,
steep glides, faster than
practicable for torpedo dropping. bursts
in
that those to port were closer than those to starboard.
eternity before the
bow
started disgorging their fish.
of torpedo wakes.
full
Bombs
Great geysers of water from near
us.
misses were going up higher than our masts, and occasionally the ship
shuddered from the explosions of the ones that In less than a minute, the
first
hit.
torpedoes had passed astern.
We
quickly shifted rudder to head for the second group of planes. These split
up
Then
it
on both bows, the hardest maneuver for us
to fire
became
a matter of wriggling
as best we could to remember seeing two beam, and there was nothing I
and twisting
avoid the deadly weapons heading our way.
wakes coming
straight for our port
to counter.
I
could do about them. The wakes approached the ship's side, and
braced myself for the explosion. Nothing happened.
I
I
rushed to the
starboard bridge, and there were the wakes emerging from that side.
The torpedoes were running too deep and had passed completely under the
My
ship.
on the bridge was Commander H.
air officer
S.
Duckworth,
"Don't change course, Captain!" he exclaimed. "There's a torpedo on each side of us running parallel!"
50 yards on
Enemy
either
beam and both
planes were being shot
We
held our course with a torpedo
disappeared without
finally
down
right
and
around us was dotted with the towering flames of casses. still
One
plane turned upside
slung on
its
belly.
framework around the explained
why
Before
it
missile's
down
as
sank,
we
left,
hitting.
and the water
their burning car-
hit the water, its
torpedo
noticed a peculiar
wooden
it
nose and propeller mechanism. This
the Japanese were able to drop their torpedoes at such
high speeds and altitudes.
The cushioning
devices permitted
them
to
enter the water without excessive shock to the delicate machinery. It
was a scheme Japanese
still
at least a
undeveloped by our ordnance experts, and gave the
temporary superiority
in
torpedo warfare.
•
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