Invited to the Formal…

…though not asked to Dance, per se…

The Gun Moll’s successor, USS Chicago (CA-136), was invited.  To Tokyo Bay for the formal, the formal surrender of Imperial Japan to the Allied Powers that is.  She and the three other heavy cruisers in Cruiser Division 10,  USS Boston (CA-69), USS Quincy (CA-71, division flagship) and USS St. Paul (CA-73) were four units of the powerful Baltimore-class of heavy cruisers joining in. They were among the numerous Allies vessels present at the formal surrender and the start of the Allied occupation of Imperial Japan 75 years ago.

Chicago was part of Task Force 35 (TF 35), a mixed cruiser /destroyer force that included battleship USS South Dakota (BB-57) and light carrier USS Cowpens (CVL-25) with the mission of making a demonstration of force in Sagami Wan (which leads to Tokyo Wan, aka Tokyo Bay) and to reinforce, support and cover other task forces and groups in the area when directed.  TF 35 included CruDiv 10’s four heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, 17 destroyers, four destroyer escorts, a dozen auxiliaries (including four hospital ships for liberated prisoners of war) and an LST, per Annex “A” to ComThirdFlt Op Plan No. 10-45.

Chicago and her task force approached Honshu on 26 August in accordance with Op Order 10-45 and at 0330 on Monday, 27 August commenced her approach with other vessels in accordance with ComThirdFlt entrance Plan #1 of August 1945.   During the morning Chicago was one of a dozen of ships in the formation that received mail from destroyer USS Knapp (DD-653).

At 0813 on 27 August lookouts on Chicago sighted Hu Shima (Oshima?) bearing 243 degrees (True)  By afternoon she reached Sagami Wan and at 1425 dropped anchor at Berth #8 in 16-½ fathoms of water in an anchorage in the northeast part of the bay.  From Berth #8 she took the following bearings to Eno Shima (left tangent) 029-1/2 degrees (T), Eno Shima (right tangent) 048 degrees (T), Imemuragi Saki (right tangent) 073-3/4 degrees (T), and Ubaga Shima 291 degrees (T).

Heavy cruiser USS Chicago (CA-136)  in her original configuration off the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 7 May 1945. This shot shows us the layout of her three main turrets, and the scout plane carried on her fantail. She wears the Measure 21 camouflage scheme. (historyofwar.org)

Sister-ship Boston’s war diary added some interesting details about this arrival after she dropped anchor at Berth #7, the center of which bore 175 (T), about 1800 yards from the western end of Eno Shima:  “Entry was made almost entirely devoid of incident.  Several floating mines were sighted but all were avoided… Nothing of importance took place the rest of the afternoon or night.  Some Japanese civilians were sighted engaging in fishing activity off the eastern tip of ENO SHIMA but appeared to be incurious concerning the Fleet.  No attempts to approach the ships were made.”

Two of the four Baltimore-class heavy cruisers of Cruiser Division 10 rest in the Sagami Wan anchorage.  Closest ship is USS Quincy, the division flagship of Rear Admiral Lloyd J. Wiltse, ComCruDivTen.  The island beyond is Eno Shima. (USS Boston (CA-69) photos, via NavSource, Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives #80-G-339379)

Having arrived in Japanese waters, there were certain precautions directed by the TF 35 commander.  Destroyer patrols and armed small boat pickets protected the anchorage from any prospective suicide craft.  Again, Boston’s war diary details some of this:  “SOPA (Senior Officer Present Afloat in a harbor with more than one US Navy vessel present) SAGAMI WAN (CTF 35) directed that condition of readiness I-Easy in the anti-aircraft batteries be maintained from sunrise to sunset with condition I-AA being set an hour before sunrise and for an hour after sunset.  Condition III was maintained through the night.  Material condition Zebra, modified, was maintained at all times.  Engineering plant was kept in readiness to get underway with half-boiler power at a moment’s notice and an anchor watch ready to slip the anchor was stationed at all times.  A small-boat picket patrol was maintained continuously around the anchorage, with BOSTON, designated guard ship for the patrol from ENO SHIMA eastward for three miles,  Motor whale boats from BOSTON, QUINCY, and CHICAGO patrolled area in rotation.”

Chicago remained anchored on 28 August in the same position.  Sister-ship St. Paul also contributed to the patrol effort, as her war diary reported a significant development in that morning, when at 0900 the ship’s No. 2 motor whaleboat, Ensign George A. Bentley in charge and on picket boat duty west of Eno Shima, rescued two escaped prisoners of war who swam out to them from Eno Shima.  John W. Wynn, British Royal Marines, and Edgar Tombell (USS San Juan war diary reports name as Pvt. E. D. Campbell), British Army Service Corps, had been captured at Hong Kong on 25 December 1941.  They were subsequently taken at 1030 to US light cruiser San Juan, the command ship of the specially- constituted Allied Prisoner of War Rescue Group and in the afternoon transferred to CTF 111.

1/32 scale model and diorama of a USN 26-foot motor whaleboat and crew rescuing a person at sea. (steelnavy.com)

The former POW’s described their camp life and the poor condition many of the prisoners were in – reported up the chain of command, this information prompted Admiral Halsey to order the POW rescue group to move forward into Tokyo Bay and commence recovery operations.  By 1910 on the evening of 29 August the first recovered POWs were aboard hospital ship USS Benevolence (AH-13); by midnight 739 men had been liberated from camps in the area.

Aboard USS Benevolence (AH-13) released prisoner of war Alfred Sorenson, US Army, contemplates a full meal in one of the hospital ship’s wards, 30 August 1945. Navy Nurse LTJG. Asplan is assisting. Sorenson had been captured at Corregidor, 6 May 1942. He was rescued from a POW camp in the Tokyo area.  (Naval Historical Center, via Ibiblio.org, Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Photo #: 80-G-490452)

 

Also on 28 August, Third Fleet ships discontinued the practice of darkening ship at night.  Per the Third Fleet War Diary “Ships showed standard anchor lights, gangway lights, and help movies topside. Ships underway showed dimmed running lights.  All ships were prepared to darken immediately should an emergency so require.”  Thankfully, there were no incidents.

 

On 29 August Chicago got underway at 0634 to fuel from USS Neches (AO-47).  She completed her fueling by 0829, got underway again and returned to the anchorage.  She dropped anchor at 0900 back at Berth #8.  Neches was the first oiler to enter Tokyo Bay and served as a station tanker that fueled 120 ships between 29 August and the end of September 1945.

Kennebec-class fleet oiler USS Neches (AO-47) under way in the Pacific Ocean, date and location unknown (NavSource)

Sister ship Quincy’s war diary reported an unusual sight on this 29th day, when two Japanese submarines, surrendered and now manned by American prize crews, stood into the area.  The Third Fleet war diary reports that Japanese subs I-400 and I-14 moored alongside submarine tender USS Proteus (AS-19) in Sagami Wan at 0930 that day.  Of note the I-400 was the first of a class of three seaplane-carrying submarines that were the largest submarines of World War II and for many years afterward.

 I-401 pictured here after surrender with USN destroyers in background.  The I-400-class submarines were 400 feet long, nearly 40 feet wide and displaced over 6,500 tons.  They carried a crew of 144 and three Aichi M6A1 Seiran seaplanes in addition to torpedoes and guns.   (Wikipedia)

The next day, 30 August, Chicago got underway at 0525 IAW ComCruDivTEN dispatch 291035 Aug 1945 to take up a fire support position IAW Para. 2A of Annex A, ComCruDivTEN Op Order 4-45, 291035 of August, 1945.  The war diary for USS Knapp reports the four heavy cruisers of CruDiv 10, light cruisers USS Wilkes-Barre (CL-103) and USS Springfield (CL-66), along with Knapp and other destroyers in Destroyer Division 100, covered the airborne landings that day as C-54 transport aircraft carried 4,200 paratroopers of the 11th Airborne Division from Okinawa to Atsugi Airfield in order “…to secure the surrounding area, evacuate all Japanese civilians and military personnel within a radius of three miles (4.8 km), and finally occupy Yokohama itself.” (11th Airborne Division, Wikipedia)

The map of Atsugi Airfield in Japan is annotated to show the headquarters of the 11th Airborne Division and its components as of August 22, 1945. The headquarters of the 187th Glider Infantry Regiment, the 188th Glider Infantry Regiment, and the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment are specified. Handwriting on the back identifies this map as being part of the President’s Secretary’s Files. The handwriting reads: “Truman Papers-PSF, Misc. File.” (Harry S. Truman Library)

Boston’s war diary stated that “…at about 0600, large flights of transport aircraft and bombers escorted by Army and Navy fighters commenced passing overhead as air movement of troops to ATSUGI Airfield began.”  Boston employed two floatplanes, one launched to relieve the other after a time, as spotter aircraft if naval gunfire support for the airborne troops inland was required, but it was not.  Quincy’s war diary reports her standby fire support position was in Sagami Wan, seven miles south of the anchorage at the near Eno Shima.  The cruisers were arranged in a north-south line and she also launched two floatplanes in succession for spotter duty.  It’s reasonable to assume that Chicago also employed her Curtis SC-1 Seahawk floatplanes in support of her assigned station or sector.  Quincy’s diary commented “All news received throughout the day indicated a orderly, bloodless occupation.  No need for active fire support at any time.”

U.S. Navy Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk (BuNo. 35299) single-seat scout floatplane in flight, circa 1945. (Wikipedia, from USN National Museum of Naval Aviation)

Of note, amphibious landings of Allied troops, Marines and sailors, also took place this day at forts guarding the entrance to Tokyo Bay and at Yokosuka Naval Base.   St. Paul’s war diary for 30 August indicates she  supported the landings by US occupation forces at Yokosuka Naval Base and used one of her floatplanes as a spotter over her assigned target area.  So aside from destroyer Knapp’s reference to specific ships involved in supporting the airborne landings it’s a bit unclear to the writer of this web log if Chicago supported the airborne landing at Atsugi Airfield from within Sagami Bay, or the amphibious landings at Yokosuka just inside Tokyo Bay, or maybe even both depending on the position of the vessel.

Marines of the 4th Regiment, 6th Division, come ashore at Yokosuka during initial landings in the Tokyo Bay area, 30 August 1945. They are in full battle gear in preparation for any treachery from the Japanese.  Their LCVP is from USS Waukesha (AKA-84), and they appear to be pulling a 75mm pack howitzer.  In the distance are the Japanese battleship Nagato (in the center) and Yokosuka dockyard facilities (at right). (Photo #: 80-G-421130, USN)

Chicago reached her station (unidentified in her war diary) at 0611 and patrolled on various courses at various speeds in the fire support area.  Things remained calm and quiet and at 1650 Chicago commenced her return to the now familiar Berth #8 and anchored at 1718.  There she stayed in Sagami Wan on 1 September.

Boston at anchor in Sagami Wan, with cliff-sided Eno Shima in the background. She wears the Measure 22 camouflage scheme.  (USS Boston.org)

Chicago noted in her War Diary on 1 September that she was anchored at Berth #8, that the OTC and CTG 35.1 (Rear Admiral J.C. Jones, Jr., USN) was embarked aboard USS Pasadena (CL-65) and that ComThirdFleet (Admiral William F. Halsey, USN) was embarked in USS Missouri (BB-63), anchored in Tokyo Bay.

It is apparent to the writer of this web log that although many Allied ships were “present” for the surrender on 2 September 1945, not all were actually in Tokyo Bay in proximity to USS Missouri.  Indeed, it appears that Allied ships were anchored in Tokyo Bay, in Sagami Wan, at Yokosuka naval base, and on patrol in waters nearby.  There is yet to be produced any kind of chart showing the anchored positions of the long list of Allied ships on 2 September 1945 during the surrender ceremony.  See the long list of vessels at:  https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/a/allied-ships-present-in-tokyo-bay.html

There may not be a chart but there are some clues about the disposition of the ships that day, like the war diaries of individual ships.  There are also images such as this undated photo taken from a B-29 Superfortress of a gathering of approximately 20 ships in Tokyo Bay, with USS Missouri identified at the lower left.  The prominent finger of land jutting into the water in the center right is likely Futtsu Misaki on the east side of Tokyo Bay.

And there is a nifty little chart of the Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Newfoundland that shows a berthing area for vessels in Sagami Wan and another in Tokyo Wan.  The source says US and RN heavy units left Sagami Wan on 30 August and proceeded into Tokyo Bay, leaving behind a dozen ships in Sagami Wan, though various ships’ war diaries reflect daily movement of ships back and forth between the two bays.

Map of course into Tokyo Bay for Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Newfoundland.  Note direction to Mt. Fuji at left, westward (Fujiyama) (wjdrnzns519.wordpress.com

 

Allied warships of the U.S. Third Fleet and the British Pacific Fleet in Sagami Wan, 28 August 1945, preparing for the the formal Japanese surrender a few days later. Mount Fuji rises majestically westward in the background.  Nearest ship is USS Missouri (BB-63), flying Admiral William F. Halsey’s four-star flag. British battleship Duke of York is just beyond her, with HMS King George V further in.  USS Colorado (BB-45) is in the far center distance.  Also present are U.S. and British cruisers and U.S. destroyers.  (Photo #: 80-G-339360, USN)

HMS Newfoundland, HMNZS Gambia and an unidentified force of US cruisers proceeded to Tokyo Bay on 31 August.  The British source also notes “Defense measures here include a pom-pom each side manned during daylight hours and a full cruising watch & lookout closed up at night,  Sentries are posted from sunset to ‘hands fall in’.

USS Boston’s war diary on 1 September reported that two sisters of CruDiv 10, Quincy and St. Paul, departed Sagami Wan with battleships USS Mississippi (BB-41) and USS Colorado (BB-45) and proceeded into Tokyo Bay with some other ships. Boston and Chicago stayed in Sagami Wan.

Chicago’s entry for 2 September, the day of the formal signing of Imperial Japan’s surrender aboard Missouri, only says “Anchored as before” in Sagami Wan.  Though surely the officers and men knew about the proceedings aboard Missouri that took place shortly after 0900 Tokyo time:

Chicago’s crew also surely witnessed the approach and overflight of 450 naval aircraft launched from fleet carriers east of Japan and then some 500 B-29s from the Marianas flying over the area after the ceremony.

Navy carrier planes fly in formation over ships of the U.S. and British fleets in Tokyo Bay during surrender ceremonies. Battleship USS Missouri (BB-63), where the ceremonies took place, is at left. Four-stack light cruiser USS Detroit (CL-8), a Pearl Harbor survivor, is in the right distance.  The naval aircraft included TBM Avenger torpedo-bombers, F6F Hellcat fighters, SB2C Helldiver dive-bombers and F4U Corsair fighter types. (Photo #: 80-G-490432 USN)

Chicago did transit from Sagami Wan to Tokyo Bay on 3 September and was in company with Missouri and other ships that were present at the surrender ceremony the day before.  She got underway at 0754 and Boston’s war diary reports that Chicago was the first ship in a column to enter Tokyo Bay that day, with the order as follows:  Chicago, Boston, Springfield, Wilkes-Barre, and battleships USS Idaho (BB-42) and USS New Mexico (BB-40).  Boston herself entered Tokyo Bay waters by 0947.  At 1200 Chicago anchored in Berth C-74 in 17 fathoms of water.  Boston dropped anchor at Berth C-73 in Tokyo Bay.  Chicago remained in Tokyo Bay through the end of the month, shifting to Berth F-45 on 9 September as the occupation of Japan proceeded.

This web log writer has been aboard the Iowa-class battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) with family, both when she was in reserve at Bremerton, Washington as well as years later in museum status in Pearl Harbor, a solemn sight with the remains of battleship USS Arizona (BB-39) nearby.

USS Missouri (BB-63) at left, her bow pointing towards USS Arizona (BB-39) resting in the water beneath the gleaming white Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii.  Ford Island lies beyond.  (pearlharbortours.com)

It’s also interesting to the writer of this web log that the Fletcher-class destroyer USS Knapp (DD-653) was part of Task Force 35 and also present in Tokyo Bay on September 2, anchored at Berth C-6 after serving on picket duty in Sagami Wan as part of Destroyer Division 100 the day before.  The author went aboard the preserved bridge section of USS Knapp with a shipmate in 2018 at its present location in the Columbia Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon.  Although it’s unclear of the proximity of USS Knapp to USS Missouri insofar as the surrender ceremony goes, they were in Tokyo Bay proper that day.  And USS Chicago joined them the next day.

Bridge of the Fletcher-class destroyer USS Knapp (DD-653) preserved at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon.  Knapp received eight battle stars for World War II service and served again in the 1950s before going into the reserve fleet.  She was scrapped in 1973. (Tiger Tales.wordpress.com)

For USS Chicago (CA-136) today, however, little remains, aside from an anchor for the ship that was saved when the ship was scrapped and later installed as a memorial display in 1995 on Navy Pier in Chicago.  Perhaps this anchor was used to moor the ship at Sagami Wan and in Tokyo Bay in August and September of 1945?  And thus in a way like USS Missouri and the bridge of USS Knapp is an artifact from the formal surrender of Imperial Japan.

This eight-ton anchor, located on the eastern end of the pier, was salvaged from the third of three U.S. Navy ships named for the City of Chicago. The anchor memorializes those ships and honors Chicagoans who served in the U.S. forces. (WTTW.com)

But for the purpose of this web log it’s worth noting that USS Chicago (CA-136) was part of the Allied armada present in the greater Tokyo Bay area for the formal surrender of Imperial Japan.  That is a fact of significance in the ship’s history.  And the waters of the Japanese Home Islands were an appropriate place to remember the service and sacrifice of her predecessor and crew, the Gun Moll of the Pacific, USS Chicago (CA-29) some 31 months before which helped make that victory possible.

 

References

USS Chicago (CA-136), War Diaries for August and September 1945

Image of Chicago off Philadelphia Navy Yard, at:  http://www.historyofwar.org/Pictures/pictures_USS_Chicago_CA136_1945.html

Third Fleet War Diary, August 1945

War Diaries for USS Boston, Quincy, St. Paul, Knapp, San Juan, Aug-Sep 1945

Report of Operations of the Third Fleet 16 August 1945 to 19 September 1945

Allied Ships Present in Tokyo Bay During the Surrender Ceremony, 2 September 1945, at:  https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/a/allied-ships-present-in-tokyo-bay.html

USS Neches (AO-47), Wikipedia entry at:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Neches_(AO-47)

HMS Newfoundland map and info at:  https://wjdrnzns519.wordpress.com/2017/08/31/august-31-fri-1945-tokyo-bay-japan/

USS Boston at Tokyo Bay, at:  http://www.ussboston.org/tokyobay.html

I-400-class submarine, Wikipedia entry at:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-400-class_submarine

1:32 26′ Motor Whaleboat Rescue Scene, at:  http://steelnavy.com/gallery_dioramas.htm

Smith, Charles R., Securing the Surrender:  Marines in the Occupation of Japan, at:  http://npshistory.com/publications/wapa/npswapa/extContent/usmc/pcn-190-003143-00/sec1.htm

MacArthur Reports, Volume 1 Supplement, Chapter II, Troop Movements, Dispositions, and Locations, at:  https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V1%20Sup/ch2.htm

Map of 11th Airborne Division at Atsugi Airfield, at:  https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/maps/m651-map-11th-airborne-division-atsugi-airfield

 

Chicago in at the End – August 15, 1945

Seventy-five years ago today, Imperial Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers and the guns went quiet in the Pacific ending the Second World War.  The Gun Moll’s successor was there at the end as US naval forces kept the pressure on the Empire to surrender.

The heavy cruiser USS Chicago (CA-29), the Gun Moll of the Pacific, is pictured here waterlogged after two torpedo hits during a change of towing vessels on the morning of her last day, January 30, 1943, during the Battle of Rennell Island.  The citizens of Chicago soon sponsored a new heavy cruiser bearing the name of the Windy City (NavSource CA-29)

Though Imperial Japanese Navy forces sank the Gun Moll of the Pacific USS Chicago (CA-29) on January 30, 1943, (See earlier post at:  https://gunmoll874518426.wordpress.com/2019/01/31/second-round-at-rennell-island/ ) the good citizens of Chicago did not take it lying down and soon bought enough war bonds to build a new cruiser bearing the city’s name.  The new Chicago was laid down at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on July 28, 1943, launched on August 20, 1944 and commissioned on January 10, 1945.

Seen under construction at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1944, the stern of the ship bears her name (NavSource CA-136)

The third US navy warship named Chicago (CA-136) was a powerful Baltimore-class heavy cruiser, arguably the best class of heavy cruiser of the war built by any nation.  See the general description and characteristics of the Baltimore-class at this link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore-class_cruiser

USS Chicago (CA-136) seen a few months after commissioning at the Philadelphia
Navy Yard, PA, on May 7, 1945 before deployment to the Pacific (NavSource CA-136)

By July, 1945 Chicago was in the western Pacific combat zone and served as an escort vessel in the carrier task force making raids against the Japanese Empire’s Home Islands, continuing this aircraft carrier escort role into August.  The new Chicago even directly paid back the Empire in shore bombardments conducted on coastal target on Honshu on July 14 (Kamaishi), July 29 (Hamamatsu) and August 9 (Kamaishi).

Photo taken from the port side amidships of USS Chicago during the bombardment of Kamaishi on July 14, 1945.  From left to right are three battleships, South Dakota, Indiana (firing, smoke billowing from 16-inch naval rifles) and Massachusetts, and heavy cruiser Quincy  (USS CHICAGO (CA136) Action Report on the bombardment of the Kamaishi Area, Honshu, Japan, 14 July 1945

In the July 14 bombardment of Kamaishi, she became perhaps the only Baltimore-class heavy cruiser (14 ships) to engage an enemy surface target during the war when she took under fire a Type C coastal escort vessel, CD-221, that tried to depart Kamaishi Harbor.  Chicago’s 5-inch guns, her secondary battery, forced the Japanese warship to abandon its sortie and return to harbor as her main battery of 8-inch guns fired on the primary targets assigned at the Kamaishi Iron Works.

Imperial Japanese Navy escort vessel CD-17, a Type C escort, is seen here in 1944.  CD-221 at Kamaishi Harbor was of the same type.  The ships largest guns consisted of two 4.7-inch weapons, one forward and one aft, quite a mismatch against the eight 5-inch guns Chicago could bring to bear from her secondary armament alone. (Wikiwand.com)

 

On the last day of the war in the Pacific, August 15, 1945, Chicago was part of the massive Task Force 38 including elements of the British Pacific Fleet.  The cruiser was assigned to Task Group 38.4, riding shotgun in a fast carrier formation conducting air strikes against installations and shipping in the greater Tokyo area. TG 38.4 consisted of fleet and light carriers, battleships, cruisers and destroyers.  Chicago was part of Cruiser Division (CruDiv) 10 assigned to TG 38.4 which included three sister ships, Boston, Quincy and Saint Paul.

Chicago’s sister-ship USS Boston (CA-69), also a member of CruDiv 10, is pictured here off the US West Coast on May 19, 1945.  The heavy armament of the class is apparent, nine x 8-inch guns in three triple gun turrets, 12 x 5-inch guns in six twin turrets – the quadruple 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns seen in the 12 circular mounts numbered four guns each for 48 of these weapons alone! (NavSource CA-69)

At 0430 she was in position as the carriers launched their airstrikes, steaming on various courses and speeds.  Carrier aircraft commenced attacking targets in the Tokyo area – in TG 38.4 the carrier Yorktown’s first fighter sweep of the day, 12 Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat fighters, lost four aircraft shot down over their target area against an enemy still fighting.

A Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat of Fighting Squadron 88 (VF-88) with the late-war Air Group 88 tail and wing code (RR) is moved by plane handlers after bursting a tire upon landing aboard USS Yorktown (CV-10) on July 30 1945.  The aircraft carries two external fuel tanks of different designs, possibly an adaptation to increase the endurance of CAP aircraft (Asisbiz.com/il2/Hellcat)

At 0538 all strikes airborne were recalled and others planned were cancelled when Admiral Nimitz directed the Pacific Fleet to cancel all air strikes as Japan accepted the terms of surrender; all airborne aircraft except for fighters on Combat Air Patrol (CAP) duty over the force returned to their carriers.  Chicago was located at 34-00-00 N 142-11-00 E at 0800 that morning; at 0915 came official word of the cessation of hostilities between the Allied powers and the Empire of Japan.  At 1200 noon Japan Standard Time Emperor Hirohito’s recorded speech reading the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the Greater East Asia War was broadcast to his nation.

Japanese citizens in a heavily damaged urban setting shed tears as they kneel down and listen to Emperor Hirohito’s broadcast announcing Japan’s surrender (End of Empire in Asia)

The situation was still tense, however, and in the mid-day hours several Japanese aircraft approached TF 38.  One was destroyed by anti-aircraft fire as it attacked nearby TG 38.1.  Five more enemy planes and three more enemy single-engine bombers carrying bombs were intercepted and shot down by the CAP fighter planes in the vicinity of the radar picket destroyers positioned forward of the force to provide early warning of enemy aircraft.   Word of the surrender and an official cease-fire order was still trickling down the chain of command within Imperial Japanese forces.

Warships of a portion of the mighty Task Force 38 maneuver off the coast of Japan on August 17, 1945, in a show of force after the Japanese surrender.  Nearest is the fleet carrier USS Wasp (CV-18).  There are five other fleet carriers, four light carriers, four battleships and assorted cruisers and destroyers in this photo. (US Navy photo via Reddit at i.imgur.com)

So ended the war in the Pacific and World War II with CA-136 in place of CA-29 and victorious on the enemy’s doorstep.  Due caution was warranted in case of other Imperial Japanese forces not yet getting the surrender word or disobeying it in a final show of the Bushido spirit.  Chicago’s time in the Far East was not yet done, as she would also be present for the formal surrender ceremony which took place aboard the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) on September 2, 1945.

 

References

War Diary for USS Chicago (CA-136), August 1945

War Diary for USS Yorktown (CV-10), August 1945

Tabular Record of Movement for CD-221, at:  http://www.combinedfleet.com/CD-221_t.htm

Type C escort technical data, at:  http://www.combinedfleet.com/Type%20C.htm

USN Aircraft Bureau Numbers at:  http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/thirdseries8.html

Surrender of Japan, at:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan

End of Empire in Asia, at:  https://www.endofempire.asia/0815-1-the-emperors-surrender-broadcast-3/

Impressive TF 38 photo on Reddit at:  https://www.reddit.com/r/WarshipPorn/comments/4x8doh/task_force_38_of_the_us_third_fleet_maneuvering/

Lucky Bouncing Joe aboard the Gun Moll at Savo

Joseph R. Daly, Ensign, United States Navy, not a member of ship’s company, bounced five feet above his bunk in sick bay when the Imperial Japanese Navy heavy cruiser Kako’s Type 93 24-inch torpedo smashed into the bow of USS Chicago (CA-29) at 0147 early on August 9, 1942.  For the naval aviator, shot down, burned and wounded literally only hours before, it was a rude awakening.  But on that terrible night at the Battle of Savo Island he was one of the lucky ones.

A wingman in a division of Fighting Five (VF-5) F4F-4 Wildcat fighters on August 7, 1942, Daly had flown in the Battle of Midway barely two months before in VF-6 off of Enterprise.  He recalled his squadron was in contact with the famous Torpedo Eight (VT-8) as that squadron made its fatal charge against the Japanese fleet.  He said VF-6 commander LT Jim Gray initially told his Enterprise fighters to go down and that they did, but only halfway before pulling out –  “Why?  Ask him” Daly wrote in his book “Luck is my Lady.”

Scant weeks before the start of the Guadalcanal campaign, the fighter pilots of Fighting Five are pictured here. 

Now with VF-5 aboard carrier Saratoga, Daly soon found himself over the invasion fleet off the coast of Guadalcanal and Tulagi, under the control of “Black Base,” who was the fighter director officer embarked aboard USS Chicago.  Black Base was responsible for coordinating the Combat Air Patrol provided above the invasion ships by aircraft carriers operating south of Guadalcanal.  The landings at Guadalcanal were the first time an FDO operated aboard a platform other than an aircraft carrier in combat.  This was due to the criticality of protected the invasion force, Task Force 62, which was physically separated from the carriers of Task Force 61, which had its own FDOs to coordinate fighter defense of the carrier force.  But the carriers also supplied the fighters that defended TF 62.  Chicago was the single ship in the landing force with the longest ranged radar, the CXAM, and the space to accommodate the FDO team, and thus served in a historic fleet defense role.

F4F-4 Wildcat VF-5 F12 was flown by LT “Pug” Southerland  on the first day of the Guadalcanal campaign, August 7, 1942 (www.asisbiz.com/il2)

The landings at Guadalcanal and nearby Tulagi took place on the morning of August 7, 1942 and by afternoon, the initial Japanese response arrived from Rabaul over 600 miles away.  Australian coastwatchers gave Allied forces early warning of the approach of 27 Mitsubishi G4M Type 1 bombers of the 4th Air Group (4th Kokutai).  Chicago’s radar detected them 43 miles away and the FDO, LT Robert Bruning from VF-5, set to direct the fighters of the invasion fleet to intercept.  RED 1, a formation of X Wildcats from Enterprise, was vectored by BLACK Base to a favorable position but then was diverted by the carrier task force FDO in case the Japanese should change course and try to attack the carriers south of Guadalcanal.  But they did not and it fell to SCARLET 2 and Scarlet 8, two divisions of four Wildcats each, to make the intercept.  Bruning placed the fighters at 12,000 feet apparently due to a thick cloud later at 13,000 feet, and right in the path of the oncoming Japanese planes.

Unbeknownst to the pilots in the SCARLET divisions, the American pilots soon found out that the Japanese bombers were accompanied by an escort of 18 Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighters of the Tainan Air Group (Tainan Kokutai).  The Zeros managed to interfere with the first four Wildcats of SCARLET 2 as they began to attack the bombers at 1315 hours; Division leader LT James J. “Pug” Southerland II was credited with knocking down two bombers but he was ultimately shot down (and survived) and the rest of his division was thwarted by the Zeros with two pilots MIA.

The screening warships of TF-62 also opened fire on the attackers.  Chicago was not attacked but after the bombers had cleared the area Chicago’s 5-inch guns on the port side of the ship opened fire briefly on a Zero fighter spotted at 1335 at about 5,000 yards range.  The aircraft flew in and out of clouds and the five-inch gunners fired at it intermittently for four minutes expending 26 rounds of AA common.  But gunfire from other ships holed several of the enemy bombers and seriously damaged at least one.

The bombers dropped their payloads at 1320, 156 bombs that landed and exploded harmlessly in the water between the defending warships and transports of the X-RAY area off Guadalcanal.  At about the same time as bombs were released the second division of four Wildcats, SCARLET 8 led by LT Herbert S. Brown, Jr., including ENS Daly in the fourth position, made their initial attacks against the enemy bombers.

A Roy Grinell painting depicts USMC Wildcat pilot Joe Foss making a high side pass against a Mitsubishi G4M during the later part of the Guadalcanal campaign.  LT Pug Southerland made such a high-side attack for the US Navy’s first aerial victory on the first day of the campaign, August 7, 1942 (Pinterest.com)

Brown and his wingman engaged the Zero escort while Daly and his section leader hit the bombers.  Daly made three firing passes and despite losing four of his six machine guns to mechanical malfunction, began another pass but was caught short by some escorting Zeros.  He was credited with two bombers destroyed according to the detailed reconstruction of this air battle in John Lundstrom’s “The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign”  (see pages 46 -63).  But the Zero escort would have no more of his interference and soon had Daly and his section leader LT (JG) William N. Holt in their sights.  Holt ultimately went MIA in the engagement; the 18 Zeros were too much for the eight Wildcats of Scarlet 2 and 8.

“With my plane on fire, my face and wrists burned, my left leg punctured by 20mm ammo, I bailed out as any intelligent guy would do – whether lucky or not.  I didn’t open the parachute for quite a drop, since the Zeros were buzzing around. Finally, when the waves looked rather big, I pulled the rip cord and landed in the Savo Sound.  I was floating, swimming, with my life-jacket, about a mile from the palm-tree-lined shore of Guadalcanal.  For four hours I swam toward that shore.  Despite my problems-blood and burns- I was going to make it when a cruiser plane, one of ours, landed beside me.”

It was an SOC-1  floatplane from the VCS-4 detachment from Chicago on anti-sub patrol that eventually spotted Daly in the water.  The aircraft landed, but the pilot, ENS John W. Baker, was cautious as he was unsure of the national identity of the man in the water.  He warily drew his .45-caliber pistol and then got a better look at the man, his face slightly darkened from his burns, then realized from Daly’s “joyous greeting” that he was an American.  Daly recalled “The pilot’s first inclination was to shoot me.  That’s because my burned face looked more Japanese than American.  But I have round eyes, not slanted, so he took me aboard the plane,  I now found out that my left leg didn’t work anymore, and that I had been bleeding in shark-infested waters for four hours,  Maybe they didn’t like my blood type-or maybe I’m just lucky!”

ENS Baker helped ENS Daly into the rear cockpit of the floatplane – Daly’s left leg had nerve damage from shell fragments and couldn’t support his effort to climb aboard the Seagull.  He then sought to fly to the nearest Allied cruiser to seek help for the wounded Daly.  This was cruiser Vincennes.  But an alert for an incoming air raid set the ships below into motion and the SOC orbited waiting for things to settle down.  By the time they did, Baker just returned to his homeship, Chicago, where he was hoisted out of the water at 1615.

Example of a Curtiss SOC Seagull being hoisted aboard a cruiser during floatplane landing/recovery operations. (www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar)

The wounded ensign was taken below to sickbay where medical staff treated his wounds.  When Daly awoke on August 8 he discovered his burns has swollen his lips “…so that I had to drink my meals through a tube, and my eyes were so puffed up and stuck together that I couldn’t see.”  Given the pace of the landing operation, with the transport and cargo ships still unloading Marines and equipment with the ever-present danger of enemy forces, there wasn’t an opportunity to transfer Daly to another ship which might have better tended to his wounds.  So the Wildcat pilot vectored into battle by Chicago’s FDO, retrieved by a Chicago floatplane, was aboard Chicago when all of a sudden, at 0145 in the morning on August 9, 1942, general quarters was sounded with the approach of unidentified vessels entering the area.

It’s not clear to the writer of this web log if ENS Daly was awake before the torpedo walloped the Gun Moll’s nose with a 1,080-lb high explosive warhead tore off the lower part of Chicago’s bow, but he was certainly awakened after being tossed five feet into the air off his sick bay bunk.  Lookouts on CA-29 noted orange flashes by Savo Island at 0142.  At 0143, five aircraft flares were noted illuminating the sea and sky in the direction of the transport area.  At 0145 heavy cruiser Canberra ahead of Chicago was noted turning to starboard and the next minute, 0147, Chicago was struck by an enemy torpedo (two actually, as one hit at a fine angle and bounced off) even as her five-inch guns commenced, largely unsuccessfully due to shell malfunction, firing star shells to illuminate their opponent.  Only six of 44 star shells fired during the battle functioned.  A minute later at 0148 she was hit by a shell on the starboard leg of her tall foremast about the height of the forward funnel.

Joseph R. Daly considered himself lucky at Guadalcanal as well as through his life.  He figured he survived being shot down, then being picked up from the sea after three destroyers had passed him by.  He was then taken to the one heavy cruiser of five Allied heavy cruisers that survived the Battle of Savo Island.  USS Astoria, Quincy and Vincennes were sunk and the heavily damaged Canberra scuttled.  Chicago luckily survived.

USS Chicago (CA-29) departs from Guadalcanal following the disastrous Battle of Savo Island, August 9, 1942 (NavSource)

Daly remained aboard Chicago until the ship reached Noumea, New Caledonia on August 14.  There he transferred to the hospital ship USS Solace (AH-5).

USS Solace (AH-5) (NavSource)

ENS Daly was later awarded the Navy Cross “For extraordinary heroism as wingman, Eighth Division, Fighting Squadron FIVE, during action against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands on August 7, 1942.  Participating in an engagement against a hostile force of twenty-seven twin-engined bombers, Ensign Daly, although viciously intercepted by Zero fighters, gallantly pressed home his attacks and personally destroyed two of the Japanese planes before they could release their bombs.  With courageous disregard for his own personal safety, he continued in the engagement until he was severely injured, suffering nine bullet wounds and second degree burns before his plane, eventually shot down by hostile fire, crashed into the sea.  By his superb airmanship and relentless fighting spirit, he contributed materially to the success of our forces in an attack which destroyed a total of five Japanese planes and effectively disrupted the enemy’s plans.”

After spending the rest of 1942 in hospitals, Daly eventually returned to service.  He later served in the Atlantic in VC-36 hunting German U-boats, and after six years as a naval aviator who attained the rank of LCDR then worked for many years in advertising.

In a similar vein, Chicago too was in repair for the rest of 1942, with some emergency work at Guadalcanal, some more at Noumea, then to Sydney for a temporary seaworthy bow before heading for Mare Island for a proper new bow, overhaul and refit.

 

References:

Lundstrom, John B., The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942, US Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1994

Daly, Joseph R., Luck is My Lady, Vantage Press, New York, NY, 1989

War Diary USS Chicago, August 1942

War Diary, USS Solace, August 1942

Type 93 Torpedo, at:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_93_torpedo

VF-5 squadron picture, at:  https://forgottenhobby.wordpress.com/2017/01/31/grumman-f4f-4-wildcat-of-fighting-squadron-5-vf-5/

USS Chicago (CA-29) – Memorial Day 2020

On this Monday, May 26, 2020 we remember those in uniform who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the people of the United States of America.  Not to be confused with Armed Forces Day (to honor those serving currently) or Veterans Day (to honor those who served), Memorial Day is a solemn occasion to remember those fallen in service to the nation.  “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).

USS Chicago and several destroyers are seen departing Guadalcanal after the Battle of Savo Island, August 9, 1942, in which she lost two crewmen. (NavSource)

A presidential proclamation has been released as we honor our fallen, taking note that 2020 marks 75 years since the end of World War II and victory over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan that cost us more than 400,000 American service men and women to ensure: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-prayer-peace-memorial-day-2020/

It may be forgotten by some amidst long weekend barbecues and such, but there is ample reason because of our freedom to remember those who made it possible.  All one has to do is make an effort.  Some ways to remember on Memorial Day are:

 

1. Remember a family member or friend who was lost in the service. Speak their name.  Share a memory about them.

 

2. Look around you at your family, friends and community, and appreciate all of what they mean to you, that you are able to do that because someone else laid their life on the line to defend it.

 

3. Visit a veteran’s cemetery and read the names, units and dates on the headstones. Find some for a unit you served in or a conflict you fought in.

 

4. In the future, non-COVID-19 time, participate in a Memorial Day ceremony or event in your community, or create one of your own today.
5. Pray for the fallen, their families and loved ones.

 

6. Fly Old Glory in their honor.

 

7. Take an active role as a citizen of the country and in your community, and express yourself to your elected representatives – perhaps too many of these are not working for the best interest of people and country but for partisan and self-interest. They are elected and even re-elected all too often.  Citizens shouldn’t be silent or indolent lest they lose what freedom and liberty we enjoy.  For freedom isn’t free, as we all should remember, on Memorial Day.

 

For USS Chicago (CA-29) there are 73 shipmates to remember on Memorial Day, including seven peacetime and 66 wartime sacrifices.  All but one of these are listed in the 2018 Memorial Day post at:  https://gunmoll874518426.wordpress.com/2018/05/28/u-s-s-chicago-roll-of-honor-memorial-day-2018/

There is one additional peacetime loss to add to the CA-29 roll of honor, Gunnery Sergeant Charles T. Ostick of the Marine Detachment, who unexpectedly passed away aboard ship on May 10, 1933 (though indicated May 16 on his tombstone).  A member of the Mar Det since before the ship’s commissioning, he was the first Chicago crewman lost in service.  He was subsequently buried in the Reed Cemetery in Polo, Ogle County, Illinois.  Fort more about him see last year’s Memorial Day post at:  https://gunmoll874518426.wordpress.com/2019/05/27/memorial-day-2019-remembering-gunnery-sergeant-charles-t-ostick-usmc/

Gunnery Sergeant Charles T. Ostick, USS Chicago Marine Detachment, pictured at an earlier point in his career. (Genealogytrails.com)

And in another Memorial Day-related development of note, the good citizens in Cardwell, Queensland, Australia have arranged for a memorial plaque to be created for the Coral Sea Battle Memorial Park there in honor of the ship and two Chicagomen lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea.

Coral Sea Battle Memorial Park in Cardwell, North Queensland, Australia. (Find-a-Grave)

Spearheaded by Ms. Anne Mealing, and with the direct support of the USS Chicago Reunion Association and President Don Elliott, the plaque was originally intended to be dedicated during this year’s observance of the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May; however, due to the COVID-10 situation this has been postponed.  Still, it is a most thoughtful gesture to be appreciated and speaks well of the bond between Australia and America which USS Chicago helped to make both pre-war and during the war.

In late March of 1941 USS Chicago visited Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, pictured here, as the flagship of a naval squadron sent on a Goodwill Cruise to the South Pacific.
(Collection of Graeme Andrews via NavSource)

References

Queensland War Memorial Register, at:  https://www.qldwarmemorials.com.au/memorial?id=387

USS Chicago (CA-29) images at NavSource Online:  http://www.navsource.org/archives/04/029/04029.htm

Armed Forces Day 2020

Today is Armed Forces Day here in the United States, an annual observance which honors the men and women currently serving in the six branches of the armed services.

A presidential proclamation for the day has been issued, which you can view at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-armed-forces-day-2020/

To the Submariners of today’s USS Chicago (SSN-721), stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and all those serving in our armed forces, a hand salute!

USS Chicago (SSN-721) arriving at Naval Base Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in September 2017, after changing her home port from Guam. (USN Photo from USS Chicago SSN-721 page in Facebook)

Pesky Torpeckers!

As dawn came on August 8, 1942, the ships of the screening group moved from their patrol stations by the three entrances to the sound and resumed their area coverage of the transports and cargo ships unloading off of Guadalcanal and Tulagi.  It wouldn’t be long before enemy aircraft again made their presence felt.

Mitsubishi G4M1 Type 1 land attack planes (later code named “Betty”) fly in formation in the early war period (Wikimedia Commons)

At the Japanese bastion 650 miles to the north, Rabaul, the Mitsubishi G4M land attack planes involved in the previous day’s level bombing attack were fitted with torpedoes turning them into torpedo planes/torpedo bombers (torpeckers in USN parlance) suitable for anti-ship attack.  They were joined by some additional G4Ms hastily brought in from the Marianas Islands to reinforce them, and took off in the morning to attack the Allied warships by Guadalcanal.  Australian Coastwatchers dutifully reported on the movement of enemy aircraft toward the lower Solomons and Allied forces prepared to respond based on the timing seen the previous day.  Chicago’s war diary noted receiving word of the Japanese aircraft at 0958 hours.

LIEUTENANT W.J. (JACK) READ, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVAL VOLUNTEER RESERVE, COASTWATCHER ON BOUGAINVILLE, SOLOMON ISLANDS, DURING WW II. (Australian War Memorial)

 

But actually, the Japanese priority that day was to find and attack the American aircraft carriers supporting the operation, and in the process of vainly searching for the carriers to the north of Guadalcanal and Tulagi, the Japanese naval aviators found an empty ocean and decided to attack the shipping they knew was present at the landing beaches.

In doing so they approached the area where Chicago’s radar watched rather later than expected, which messed up the timing of relays of Wildcat fighters sent from the carriers south of Guadalcanal to protect TF Tare.  TF Tare in response to the Coastwatcher warning had ceased unloading operations and put its ships into moving defensive formations.

In addition, the Japanese formation approached from the east, an unexpected direction, and benefited from the interference Tulagi and nearby Florida Island made for Chicago’s CXAM radar.  As a result, it was the Mk I eyeball of lookouts that first sighted the Japanese approaching.  The Gun Moll was close to the Tulagi area headed on a southwesterly course when at 1150 hours lookouts aboard the cruiser sighted the Japanese approaching from the east, coming over Florida Island at an estimated range of 15 miles.

Japanese Navy Mitsubishi G4M Type 1 land attack planes (Betty) make a torpedo attack on the Tulagi invasion force, 8 August 1942. The ship faintly visible in the center is HMAS Hobart, part of the Screening Group with USS Chicago. Guadalcanal is in the distance. The original photograph came from Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison’s World War II history project working files. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

By 1154 they were able to estimate the number of attackers at about 37 as they saw the Japanese bombers pass by to the south on a westerly course aiming to attack the ships off of Guadalcanal.  Chicago’s captain ordered her into a clockwise turn in order to face the oncoming bombers.  The Mitsubishi’s flew low, from 30 to 150 feet off the surface at an estimate 120-130 knots.  Only after coming into view did the CXAM radar breakout the low-flying airplanes from the background clutter.  But that didn’t stop Chicago crewmen from firing at the Japanese as they flew by.  Starting at high noon, Chicagomen fired at a range of 11,000 yards and began to radically maneuver the ship.  The starboard side guns fired first, and as the ship maneuvered the port batteries briefly engaged as well.

Unlike at Coral Sea, Chicago did not fire her main battery at the low-level flyers due to unfavorable target angles and the presence of other friendly ships in the area.  But as she came north in her clockwise turn she opened up with everything else, expending 142 rounds of 5-inch from all eight guns, 288 rounds of 1.1-inch by three of the ship’s four quadruple mounts, 1,267 20mm HE /HER Tracer cannon shells by 12 of the 20mm guns and 500 rounds of .30 caliber tracer and AP bullets from five of the weapons at the low-flying bombers.

In addition, Chicago’s maneuvering in a clockwise flow brought her bow around towards the attackers which caused her to pass by the Yoke Squadron on the opposite course heading west.  The Gun Moll inadvertently cut across the bow of light cruiser San Juan with her anti-aircraft guns blazing away at the Japanese.  San Juan turned away with full left rudder to avoid collision and the ships briefly crossed into one anothers line of fire and the both ship’s had to briefly hold fire as they passed one another on opposite courses, crewmen ducking behind splinter shields in case and errant round came their way.

Ships of Squadron Yoke off Tulagi and their screen maneuver during the Japanese torpedo plane attack on the Tulagi invasion force, 8 August 1942. Several Japanese Navy Type 1 land attack planes (Betty) are faintly visible in the center and at right. The ship in the left center appears to be USS San Juan (CL-54), with which Chicago almost collided in the maneuvering to take the aircraft under fire.  Other ships present include two destroyers, a fast transport and a heavy cruiser, with the latter very distant at the right. The original photograph came from Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison’s World War II history project working files. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

 

Fortunately neither ship damaged the other and they resumed fire at the torpedo planes.  Chicago ceased fire at 1205 after the enemy aircraft drew out of range past 10,000 yards  The Gun Moll sustained no material or personnel casualties in her defense of shipping.  Crew aboard her estimated eight enemy planes were shot down.  Chicago had fired on at least three aircraft seen to crash, and at least one of these was believed was due to Chicago’s gunfire alone.

It was an altogether ferocious reception the Allies gave to the Japanese low-level torpedo-bomber attackers, skimming the calm sea by tens of feet as they made their attack run.  A fusillade of anti-aircraft fire rose from the ships and G4M bombers began to flame or explode and fall into the war.  One stricken G4M crashed into the transport George F. Eliot, setting it afire.  Another got lucky and slammed a torpedo into the destroyer Jarvis, heavily damaging the ship.  The rest either missed or did not drop their deadly fish, but in the process lost heavily.  And after the warm reception from the ships, some Wildcat fighters that could respond tore at them also.  It became the heaviest single mission loss of G4M of the war.

Scene just after the Japanese torpedo plane attack on shipping between Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 8 August 1942. USS George F. Elliott (AP-13) is afire in the left center. She had been hit by a crashing enemy aircraft. The other two smoke plumes mark the locations of planes that crashed into the water. Collection of Admiral Richmond K. Turner, USN. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

No further enemy air attack occurred that day although around 1400 another air raid alarm came in and ships made preparation to repel air attack.  The alarm was cancelled around 1515 hours and ships settled back to the task at hand, either unloading personnel and cargo or screening those vessels doing so.

 

At dusk, Chicago and the other ships resumed their nighttime patrol stations, after another busy and tense day in the area of operations.  At 2123 hours Admiral Crutchley, RN, aboard Screening Group flagship HMAS Australia departed the Southern patrol formation with his ship, en route to an urgent conference called by TF Tare commander Admiral Turner, USN.

Photo #: 80-CF-112-4-63 Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, USN (left), and Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift, USMC, working on the flag bridge of USS McCawley (AP-10), at the time of the Guadalcanal-Tulagi operation, circa July-August 1942. Photograph from Department of the Navy collections in the U.S. National Archives.

He ordered Captain Bode aboard Chicago to take over the formation as he didn’t know if he would return later that night or not, depending how long this conference took.  For reasons unknown, Capt Bode did not assume lead position in the formation, the norm for a flagship in such a tactical situation.  If communications fails in battle, ships in a group would at least be able to conform to the movements of the flagship of the formation.  But Capt Bode chose not to do so, and instead HMAS Canberra became the lead and guide for the formation on its patrol in an easterly-westerly back and forth banner.  It would be Capt Bode’s first mistake of the night and sadly, not his last.

HMAS Canberra underway at left off Tulagi, during the landings there, 7-8 August 1942. Three transports are among the ships visible in the distance, with Tulagi and Florida Islands beyond. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Most crewmen aboard the Allied ships hoped for some relief from the many hours at general quarters, though personnel aboard the cargo and transport ships kept busy unloading trying to make up for lost time repelling enemy air attacks.  And initially it looked like it would be a quiet night, and few suspected that in the darkness of the new day beginning all hell would break loose around Savo Island as the Japanese made another counterattack

Opening Day

August 7th, 1942, was the opening Day” of the Guadalcanal Campaign, one of the hardest, sharpest and costly campaigns for the United States and Japan in World War II.  What at first seemed an easy pushover target became the focal point for some of the fiercest fighting in the Pacific War, and USS Chicago was there for the curtain rise, as well as the curtain call at the end of the campaign, but that is another story (See Rennell Island posted earlier this year).

After the Battle of the Coral Sea, in which Chicago took part screening carrier Yorktown during her raid on Tulagi and later with Admiral Crace and the Support Group racing to block the Port Moresby invasion force at Jomard Passage, the ship remained in the Southwest Pacific.   She continued to serve with the former AMZAC Squadron, redesignated Task Force 44 and played a prominent role in the “Battle of Sydney” as the primary target for IJN mini-submarines that infiltrated the harbor May 31-June 1.  Afterward Chicago continued patrols with TF 44, operating from Brisbane for much of the June-July 1942 period.

Three Allied heavy cruisers of Task Force 44 (formerly the ANZAC Squadron) at anchor in Brisbane circa May, 1942.  From left to right HMAS Canberra (D33), USS Chicago (CA-29) and USS Salt Lake City (CA-25) rest as a pair of Curtiss SOC Seagull floatplanes takeoff. (Source:  Wikipedia)

Late in July she and the other ships in TF 44 made for New Zealand where the Allied expeditionary force was forming (Task Force Tare, under the fiery Admiral Richard K. Turner) to make the landings in the Solomon Islands, at Guadalcanal, Tulagi and some adjacent islets.  For the upcoming operation, Watchtower, which later became known as Operations Shoestring, Chicago received an important role as a fighter direction ship.  Given her CXAM radar, she had the capability and equipment to host a fighter direction team which would coordinate the defense of the landing force with US Navy aircraft carrier fighter aircraft (Task Force Negat) assigned to support the landing operation.

Allied warships leaving Wellington, New Zealand, on 22 July 1942, en route to take part in the invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi. Photographed from USS Chicago (CA-29), looking aft along the starboard side from the forward superstructure. Note the ship’s CXAM radar (antenna turned sideways to viewer) atop the mainmast at upper right.  Next ship astern is USS Salt Lake City (CA-25). She is followed by the Australian light cruiser HMAS Hobart. A Curtiss SOC Seagull floatplane is in the foreground. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

From New Zealand the force sailed north for a landing rehearsal exercise at Koro Island near Fiji July 28-31 and then on to Guadalcanal.  With the transports sailing at the center of the formation, Chicago took station on “Circle 2” at about the 11:00 position of the formation, with other warships forming an outer circle around the vulnerable transports.

By 1615 hours on August 6, TF Tare changed into an approach disposition for the forces that would go to two different landing areas, Squadron X-Ray to Guadalcanal and Squadron Yoke to Tulagi.  Chicago was part of the TF Tare’s Screening Group, intended for broader area defense of the landings.  Besides fighter direction (called Black Base on the communications network, with the fighter direction team composed of officers and men from the carrier USS Saratoga) Chicago’s role for daylight operations was assigned to operate as part of the defensive screen patrolling the waters between the two landing forces, though for the initial approach Chicago and her firepower were at the lead of Squadron X-Ray at the head of two columns of transports headed for the Guadalcanal landing area.  The rest of Task Force 44 (designated as the Screening Group of TF Tare), cruisers HMAS Australia (Flagship of the Screening Group) , HMAS Canberra, HMAS Hobart and nine American destroyers were also part of the screening group.

A U.S. destroyer steams up what later became known as Iron Bottom Sound, the body of water between Guadalcanal and Tulagi, during landings on both islands, 7 August 1942. Savo Island is in the center distance and Cape Esperance, on Guadalcanal, is at the left. Photographed from light cruiser USS San Juan (CL-54) from a location approximately due east from the northern tip of Savo Island. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

 

At 0133 hours Guadalcanal Island was sighted by ships of Squadron Yoke which would enter the sound first, and by 0300 Yoke and X-Ray separated for their assigned areas.  As TF Tare entered the sound between Guadalcanal on the south and Tulagi to the north, it passed by Savo Island, a lone volcanic sentinel at the western end of the sound, soon to be named “Ironbottom Sound” due to the number of sunken ships littering its bottom, American, Australian and Japanese.  In the 0600 hours, bombardment of the landing beaches commenced, carrier planes arrived and added their bombs and strafing to the din of battle and past the half hour the landing of Marines began.

Fires burning among Japanese facilities and seaplanes on Tanambogo Island, east of Tulagi, on the invasion’s first day, 7 August 1942. This view looks about SSW, with Gavutu Island to the left, connected to Tanambogo by a causeway. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Enemy opposition in the Tulagi area was significant, as opposed to that encountered on Guadalcanal.  But soon the enemy made a presence in the skies overhead, and at 1045 Australian Coastwatchers in the northern Solomon Islands reported enemy bombers headed for Guadalcanal.  By 1315 hours, Chicago’s radar detected the approaching enemy aircraft 43 miles out and carrier fighters moved to intercept them.  The intercept was a bit late as some 20 twin-engine G4M bombers managed to drop their bombs on the ships off Guadalcanal from medium altitude at 1320 hours, hitting nothing.  Two enemy bombers were seen to crash and two more were damaged as the ships fired at them and the defending fighters attacked.  But nine Zero fighters escorting the bombers went on a rampage of their own and engaged American carrier aircraft over the sound providing interception and air support, shooting down nine F4F Wildcat fighters and an SBD dive bomber. Two more Wildcats were lost to fuel exhaustion on the way back to their carrier.

A formation of Mitsubishi G4M land attack aircraft seen through the clouds as they conduct a horizontal bombing attack Squadron X-Ray off Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942.   Aircraft at the right edge may be maneuvering from and/or has been damaged by attack by defending F4F Wildcat fighters, vectored to intercept by the fighter direction team aboard USS Chicago.  (Wikipedia)

More than an hour later, at 1445, a squadron of single engine Japanese D3A dive bombers suddenly appeared and attacked Squadron X-Ray.  For whatever reason, probably a low-altitude approach which masked them from radar detection, and/or the interference of the islands around the sound which affected Chicago’s radar, Chicago did not detect them and they attacked without fighter opposition.  They managed to hit destroyer USS Mugford with a bomb and lost several of their own to the ships anti-aircraft fire and our own fighters.  There was also some coordination issue involving the three aircraft carriers and which one was providing fighter coverage at a particular time.

One of the naval aviators shot down in fighting with the enemy Zero fighters was Ensign J. R. Daly of VF-5 from USS Saratoga.   He was spotted by one of Chicago’s SOC Seagull floatplanes and retried from the water with some burns.  At first the SOC pilot wished to take him to the nearest cruiser, but ended up returning back to USS Chicago where Ens Daly was treated in sickbay for his wounds.

A U.S. Marine Corps M2A4 Stuart light tank is hoisted from USS Alchiba (AK-23) into a LCM(2) landing craft, off the Guadalcanal invasion beaches on the first day of landings there, 7 August 1942. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

No further Japanese aerial counterattacks occurred on August 7, and by dusk as landing operations continued the ships of the Screening Group assumed new night patrol positions blocking entrances to the sound at three locations, in the channel to the east, and in the west to the north and south on either side of Savo Island.  Heavy cruiser Australia followed by Canberra and then Chicago took the south area to patrol, screened by destroyers Bagley and Patterson.  Heavy cruisers Vincennes, Quincy and Astoria covered the north approach with destroyers Helm and Jarvis whilst the eastern approach was patrolled by light cruisers San Juan and Hobart with destroyers Buchanan and Monssen.  In addition, two destroyers were positioned westward beyond Savo to serve as radar pickets guarding against and providing early warning of any approaching enemy surface forces. An uneventful night would pass, though continued enemy counterattacks from aircraft could be expected and also possibly from enemy warships and submarines responding a bit slower than aircraft to news of the landings.

US Navy destroyer USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) is seen escorting the troops transports and cargo ships of the Guadalcanal-Tulagi invasion force, circa 7-8 August 1942. Heavy cruiser HMAS Australia, flagship of the Screening Group of the landing force, is dimly visible in the far right distance, beyond the three destroyers maneuvering there. Photographed by Corp. L.M. Ashman, USMC. U.S. Marine Corps Photograph.

Memorial Day 2019 – Remembering Gunnery Sergeant Charles T. Ostick, USMC

A year ago this web log posted what may be the only consolidated list of U.S.S. Chicago (CA-29) crew losses, pre-war and wartime, available for the ship.   To this list of men we now add one more, for who may be the first recorded loss aboard the ship.  Today we remember Gunnery Sergeant Charles T. Ostick, USMC, a member of Chicago’s Marine Detachment.

Gunnery Sergeant (GySgt) Ostick, a native of Polo, Illinois, suddenly passed away aboard Chicago off the California coast on 16 May 1933.  Born on 9 September 1901, he was 31 years old.  No cause of death is given in the sources found.  He joined the Marines when he was 17 and was awarded in 1928 for his service in Nicaragua.  GySgt Ostick was an original member of Chicago’s MarDet, dating back to pre-commissioning days.

Gunnery Sergeant Charles T. Ostick, USS Chicago Marine Detachment, pictured at an earlier point in his career (Genealogytrails.com)

He was a career long athlete, active in football and boat racing in particular.  He was noted for his performance in boat racing and his coaching in the sport too.  In fact he participated in all three All Navy boat races and led his Marine team to the Scouting Force championship in 1932.

GySgt Ostick was survived by his wife Elsie Tingley of San Pedro, California, but they had no children of their own, his father, three brothers and three sisters.  He was buried in the Reed Cemetery in Polo, Illinois next to his mother.

Final resting place of Gunnery Sergeant Charles T. Ostick, in Reed Cemetery, Polo, Illinois. (Genealogytrails.com)

With the inclusion of GySgt Ostick, on this Memorial Day we remember and salute the seven Chicago crewmen lost pre-war and 66 more lost during the war, a total of 73 who gave their life in service to the country during the ship’s more than 12 years of service.

Second Round at Rennell Island

As dawn came up on 30 January 1943, Louisville managed to work speed up to five knots after steadying on a course of 150 degrees True while four destroyers, Conway, Edwards, Waller and La Vallette escorted the two cruisers, circling them like sharks at 20 knots.  The rest of TF 18 maintained station to the west southwest about ten miles away.

Post-event damage estimates calculated Chicago had taken aboard some 5,570 tons of water in flooding of her interior spaces, including the four machinery spaces, after the two torpedo hits the night before.  This gave her an estimated displacement of approximately 18, 895 tons, making it a hard tow.

Overnight Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey, commander of American forces in the South Pacific, ordered measures taken to save Chicago.  He could ill-afford to lose any warship in the ongoing slugfest for Guadalcanal.  Fleet tug Navajo, accompanied by destroyer transport Sands, was ordered from Guadalcanal and the tug to relieve Louisville in the tow effort and take Chicago to “Button,” the code name for Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Islands.  The auxiliary aircraft carriers were to maintain CAP over Chicago, and the task force centered around aircraft carrier Enterprise was ordered to the area to help counter any further enemy efforts.

Near the start of the forenoon watch on the morning of 30 January 1943, fleet tug USS Navajo, seen on the starboard side of heavy cruiser USS Louisville at right, took over the tow line for USS Chicago at left.  A Fletcher-class destroyer circles in the distance. (Source:  US Navy via Wikipedia)

At 0610 Navajo and Sands joined the tow formation, and a half hour later the rest of TF 18 joined up too.  At 0716 Louisville started to slow down and about ten minutes later transferred the towing wire to Navajo.  By 0740 Louisville completed her tow duties and rejoined the task force disposition as the formation sighted Rennell Island to the southwest about 20 miles away.  Navajo had everything secure for tow by 0805 and once commenced managed to eke out three to four knots in speed.

But ill “weather” was in the winds as Japanese scout aircraft were out and about, following up in the battle area after the fight the night before.  Though the CAP managed to chase them off, they found and reported Chicago’s position.  In response the Japanese launched 11 Mitsubishi G4M Type 1 Rikko of the 751st Air Group based at Kavieng, New Ireland, led by Lieutenant Commander Nishioka, and staging through Buka in the northern Solomons to make a daylight torpedo attack before Chicago could make good her escape.  This air unit was not proficient in night attack tactics anyway, so a daylight attack was really the only quick option to stop Chicago before she escaped, even anticipating heavy losses.  The ever efficient Australian coastwatchers sent word to Guadalcanal at 1445 of the formation passing by south of New Georgia, on a bearing towards Rennell Island, which estimated their time of arrival at the island of 1600.

But it appears a lack of coordination and communication between forces on Guadalcanal and TF 18 prevented any land-based fighters of the “Cactus Air Force” from providing any assistance and it is although Guadalcanal sent out a report at 1505 which was received on Chicago and Enterprise.  Apparently no arrangements were made to employ the fighter direction team aboard Chicago, perhaps a reflection of Admiral Giffen’s insistence on radio silence which thus precluded any employment of that means of command and control or situational awareness.  Unfortunately for the Gun Moll, Admiral Halsey ordered TF 18 to depart the scene at 1500 and return to Efate Island.

The departure of TF 18 created a quandary as the split of forces occurred without any supporting orders to the auxiliary aircraft carriers Chenango and Suwanee as to which ships to cover, TF 18 as it returned to Efate or the Chicago group headed for Espiritu Santo?  Indeed the small carriers were apparently unaware that TF 18 had even split up (Admiral Giffen did issue orders for them to cover Chicago but they were delayed in transmission and arrived only after Chicago was attacked that afternoon).  So Chicago was left with Navajo, Sands and four destroyers as her means of movement and escort.  The destroyers steamed around Chicago at 15 knots in a clockwise pattern on the 3,000 yard circle.  Chicago’s Captain Ralph O. Davis was in charge of the group.

Map of the South Pacific area in which the battle occurred (Source:   Destroyer History Foundation, Battle of Rennell Island, at:  http://destroyerhistory.org/actions/rennellisland/

By 1540 carrier Enterprise was but 37 nautical miles from Chicago and put a ten-fighter CAP over the cruiser.  Enterprise obtained a radar contact, on a Type 1 scout, and after a 40-mile chasee four Wildcat fighters shot it down.  When more aircraft were detected on radar at 1554 some 67 miles away, the “Big E” launched an additional ten fighters to protect herself and Chicago.  Meanwhile the auxiliary aircraft carriers experienced difficulty in launching aircraft and did not contribute to the developing situation.  They did launch aircraft later in expectation of an afternoon attack by the enemy against the cripple but they arrived by Chicago too late.

As the Japanese formation approached it appeared Enterprise was their target.  At 1635 the Enterprise’s fighter direction officer vectored six Wildcats over Chicago to intercept the incoming raid.  The G4Ms approached at 160 knots but increased speed as they decreased altitude to prepare for their attack.  They were crossing below 6,000 feet when the six Wildcats reached them with a 4,000 foot altitude advantage.  The fighters reached the Rikko as they got within 17 miles of the carrier, setting four fighters on the right side and two on the left side of the Japanese formation, ready to pounce on the bombers in a series of crisscrossing high-side runs.

The Japanese saw what was about to happen and turned away sharply from Enterprise and flew straight towards Chicago.  This left four of the Wildcats out of position and in a tail chase, while the other two Wildcats commenced to attack.  The two fighters shot down two G4M on their first pass, and on their second pass shot down one and damaged another, forcing it to drop behind the formation.

But eight intact Rikko and a cripple then approached the cruiser at 1620 hours they reached a speed of 200 knots 500 feet above the ocean and descending, with six original Chicago CAP Wildcats in pursuit joined by another four Wildcats led by the famed fighter leader Jimmy Flatley from a CAP over TF 18, all pursuing them into the gunfire from Chicago and her consorts.

Friendly fighters were seen to down at least one Mitsubishi before the torpedo planes reached gun range of the group.  Destroyer La Vallette positioned herself directly between the Rikko and Chicago and opened fire at 10,000 yards and shot down two of the approaching Rikko before they could launch their torpedoes.  Destroyer transport Sands, despite her inferior anti-aircraft armament, also made an effort to place herself in between the attackers and Chicago despite being 3,000 yards away when the attack started.  Six more Type 1’s soon fell but not before they were able to drop their torpedoes at Chicago from about 800 yards away.  La Vallette was in their path and was hit by one torpedo, apparently achieved by the fighter-damaged Rikko lagging behind the formation before it too was shot down, on the port side in the forward (No. 1) engine room which killed 22 sailors and badly damaged the ship.  The other five fish sped on towards hapless Chicago.

Lookouts aboard Chicago spotted the enemy bombers about seven miles (14,000 yards) out, and her starboard 5-inch battery opened fire in local control at 8,000 yards, with her automatic weapons commencing fire at their extreme ranges.  Two planes fell before they reached the ship.  Another was set afire on its approach and apparently tried to crash into the cruiser but missed and dropped into the ocean off her port quarter.  Another went down about 3,000 yards off the port quarter after passing over and being taken under fire by Chicago’s portside anti-aircraft weapons.  One more fell into the water off Chicago’s port bow, a victim of Navajo’s guns, probably.  Some difficulty was experienced in not hitting the friendly fighters which were chasing after the Rikko, and none are known to have been shot down or damaged by friendly fire.

Fighter claims numbered up to eight of the 11 attacking torpedo planes.  But determining exactly which ship or aircraft shot down a particular enemy plane in the heat and confusion of the battle with all kinds of bullets and shells flying about from ships and planes is hard to sort out.  Suffice it to say the attackers paid heavily.  Japanese sources indicate four Rikko actually survived the mission, three with one of their engines knocked out.  A single aircraft reached Munda Airfield on New Georgia while the other three, including the leader Nishioka, made it to Ballale in the Shortland Islands.  The seven losses made up 64% of the attacking force.

Navajo vainly tried to pull Chicago around into the direction of the attack coming in on her starboard beam but could not in time.  And unfortunately, most of the screen, destroyers Conway, Edwards and Waller, were on the distant side of the formation at the time.  It is unknown if anyone thought about using smoke to obscure the crippled cruiser, or if there was any time to generate it, but that didn’t happen either.

But the coup de grace for Chicago was in the water, even as her antagonists fell into the sea around her.  A torpedo hit forward of the bridge at 1624 by frame 33 dousing the forecastle and forward superstructure in water and debris, closely followed by three more in the area of the already damaged engineering spaces, striking between frames 60 and 80.  A fifth torpedo missed her passing astern.  Capt Davis, in command of Chicago only since December 1942 when the ship was under repairs at Mare Island, ordered his crew to abandon ship after the first torpedo struck, which was communicated the general announcing system and the battle telephones.  Life rafts and floater nets had already been made ready for launching.  Navajo cut the tow wire at 1630 and circled back to help pick up survivors (she picked up 22 officers and 267 men).

The U.S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Chicago (CA-29) low in the water on 30 January 1943, after she had been torpedoed by Japanese aircraft during the Battle of Rennell Island.  This photo may have been taken during transfer of tow from Louisville to Navajo on the morning of 30 January 1943. (Source:  US Navy via Wikipedia)

Chicago gave her crew about 19 minutes to get off, enough to get the rafts and floater nets into the water though there was some difficulty getting them off the port side as she heeled over to starboard.  The Gun Moll then rolled over onto her starboard side, colors still flying, slid into the briny deep stern first and was gone by 1643.  One of her 5-inch guns reportedly discharged as she went under, rendering a final salute.  The last visible part of the heavy cruiser was her brand new bow section, so recently fitted to her at Mare Island.  One of her SOC floatplanes floated off of her as she sank amd remained afloat, though with wings submerged.  Chicago sank in 2,000 fathoms of water at 11 Degrees, 25’ 30” South, 160 Degrees 56’ East.

For Chicagomen the question was now how long it would take to be rescued as the afternoon was rapidly heading towards evening.  That and the possibility of sharks, but it appears they were unmolested by these creatures, and recovery of survivors went well.  USS Waller picked up six officers and 129 men.  Sands picked up 370 men and nine officers.  Edwards retrieved 224 enlisted men and 24 officers.  La Vallette picked up one officer.  This officer and the men picked up by Navajo were later transferred to Conway.  Altogether 1,049 men were rescued by 1735 hours, though two later died of wounds.  A total of 41 men were lost in the daylight attack and another 21 in the attack the night before, a total of six officers and 56 men.  Their names are listed in the posting on this web log “U.S.S. Chicago Roll of Honor, Memorial Day, 2018,” at:  https://gunmoll874518426.wordpress.com/2018/05/28/u-s-s-chicago-roll-of-honor-memorial-day-2018/

On the way back to Efate with the rest of the Chicago group, Navajo had to take La Vallette in tow enroute as the destroyer suffered from engineering damage and could not make way. La Vallette suffered 22 killed from the torpedo hit.

Drama for the day was not over.  At 1815, the auxiliary carrier Chenango received word from Guadalcanal warning of another Japanese air raid, some 11 bombers and eight single-engine aircraft coming down the Solomons from the north and expected in the area by 1930 hours.  It appeared to be a repeat effort of the night before.  The carriers landed their aircraft before dark and made for a rain squall some three miles away.  Fortunately for them, and perhaps in a way for Chicago too had she avoided or survived the day attack, this night aerial assault did not materialize.  Had Chicago been attacked and sunk while still under tow at night on 30 January, her loss of life may well have been higher.

Japan claimed victory in the battle, sinking a battleship (Chicago again) and three cruisers and damaging others.  The Japanese could claim success with their night torpedo attack tactics, but given the punishing losses in the Guadalcanal campaign they had few trained and experienced aircrews left to continue such efforts on the scale seen in this battle.

In the American post-battle critique, at a critical time in the Guadalcanal campaign when it looked like the Japanese were trying to reinforce and the Allies needed every ship they could muster, Admirals Halsey and Nimitz found fault with Admiral Giffen’s handling of his task force in the battle.  The speed differential between the auxiliary aircraft carriers and the cruisers and destroyers was known before the battle, as was the fact that to launch and recover aircraft these carriers would have to turn southeast into the wind, away from the course to Guadalcanal.  The absence of a plan to contend with air attack and insistence on radio silence prevented TF 18 from getting better situational awareness on unidentified aircraft activity in the area, or making use of shipboard fighter control team aboard Chicago to direct the auxiliary carrier fighters to check things out.  Other hiccups had occurred to, as with the coordination between Guadalcanal land-based air and the task force, the disposition of escort ships in the day attack, etc.

Afterwards an irate Admiral Nimitz said in a staff meeting that if anyone leaked information about Chicago’s loss that he would shoot them.  (Details of the battle were eventually reported in US newspapers as early as 16 February 1943.)  Even the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral King commented on the battle, stating the formation type and distance between vessels was not appropriate to repel an aerial attack.

 

In retrospect it appeared the US had lost a valuable heavy cruiser in exchange for a few Japanese torpedo planes (albeit attrition and experience the Japanese could ill-afford to lose), but the attention the Japanese gave TF 18 and Chicago ensured that the American convoy bringing fresh Army soldiers to Guadalcanal and to relieve worn out Marines was able to accomplish its mission without interruption or loss, which we can remember was part of TF 18’s mission anyway.

As for the Gun Moll, her survivors went on to crew stations ashore in the South Pacific as well as new construction such as the light cruiser Mobile, CL-63.  And an enraged citizenry in Chicago bought enough war bonds to replace her with a new heavy cruiser of the Baltimore class named Chicago, CA-136, which was completed and in service in the Pacific for the final battles off Japan in the summer of 1945.

On this anniversary of her 30 January 1943 wartime loss, we salute the officers and men of USS Chicago, CA-29, the Gun Moll of the Pacific, and pay our respects to the honored fallen in battle.  They served our nation well.

Seen here in her prime 41 days before her loss in the Battle of Rennell Island, USS Chicago shows the various modifications she received during her Oct-Dec 1942 overhaul at MINY.            (Source:  Navsource page for CA-29 USS Chicago)

 

First Round at Rennell Island

As USS Chicago and TF 18 steamed at speed for the rendezvous with the Cactus Striking Force, their presence in the waters south of Guadalcanal was known to the enemy.  Not wishing any disruption to plans for withdrawing their forces from Guadalcanal in Operation KE, the Japanese perceived TF18, reported by IJN submarines, as a threat to contend with and prepared naval air forces for a twilight torpedo attack on the approaching American warships.  It would be the first time such a Japanese night air attack capability would be experienced by American forces, one of many nasty surprises in the Pacific War.

From Rabaul 16 Mitsubishi G4M Type 1 Rikko (Land Attack Plane) of the 705th Air Group and 22 Mitsubishi G3M Type 96 Rikko of the 701st Air Group were launched during the 1200 hour.

Mitsubishi G4M Type 1 Rikko in flight, date unknown.  (Source:  World War II Database via Pinterest)

One Type 1 experienced a mechanical problem and aborted the mission.  Seven of the Type 96’s were to serve as lighting/marking aircraft for the other attackers.

Scale model boxart from Hasegawa depicting a Mitsubishi G3M Type 96 Rikko conducting a torpedo attack.  (Source:  Scalemates)

The Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters of the daylight combat air patrol from TF 18’s auxiliary aircraft carriers returned to their ships as the sun set.  Then at 1910 unidentified aircraft were detected some 60 miles to the west of TF 18.  The aircraft approached and passed to the south of TF 18, into the dark eastern sky before turning to approach the task force from the east.  The task force was zig-zagging on a base course of 305 degrees at a speed of 24 knots.  The cruisers steamed in two columns and the destroyers were arrayed ahead and around the forward part of the columns in a sound screen, appropriate for submarines but leaving the formations flanks wide open, which the Japanese soon took advantage of.

Japanese aerial attack (dotted red line) on Task Force 18 on the evening of 29 January 1943 showing their round about approach to launch attack out of darkness.  Black arrows is TF 18’s course and how it was silhouetted against the western twilight.  (Source:  Wikipedia)

Aboard USS Chicago all eight boilers were steaming as she maintained her position in the right hand division 700 yards astern of the flagship Wichita.  Readiness condition Two was set, all anti-aircraft guns were manned, radar was manned and operating and the ship was darkened.  Chicago was set in material condition Yoke though all condition Zebra fittings were closed except for what was required for immediate access and ventilation purposes.

At 1918 cruiser Louisville warned of the suspected enemy nature of the approaching aircraft.  Chicago was also heard moments later over the TBS amplifying Louisville’s report.  The 705th Air Group attacked first at 1919 hours (or 1923, or 1926, depending on the ship and time piece reporting), after sunset and when TF18 was silhouetted against the nautical twilight of the western sky.  The aircraft attacked, and at 1924 destroyer Waller on the right flank commenced fire.  Right afterward Chicago’s starboard-side 5-inch and 40mm guns opened fire under full radar control.  An enemy plane was seen to crash between Waller and Chicago a short time after the guns began firing.

The Gun Moll went to general quarters and set material condition Zebra as her guns opened up.  Two planes approached from Chicago’s starboard beam and one of them dropped a torpedo at her from some 500 to 600 yards away, though the wake of the torpedo was not observed.  Another plane then crashed off Chicago’s port quarter.  The Japanese reported losing one of their number to the ships’ anti-aircraft fire, but failed to achieve any hits.  The G4M Type 1 attack is depicted in this Japanese wartime artwork, showing battleships instead of cruisers as the American foe.  It wasn’t the first time in the war that Chicago was mistaken for a battleship.

Japanese wartime propaganda artwork for the Battle of Rennell Island, 29-30 January 1943.  (Source:  http://history365days.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-1120.html)

Thinking the attack was over, Admiral Giffen ordered his ships to cease zigzagging and continue on course at speed in order to make up for lost time and reach the link up with the Cactus destroyers.   But the 701st Air Group was still lurking and after the unit’s dedicated lighting aircraft dropped flares and floating markers for the attackers to guide on, the G3M bombers hit the eastern side of TF 18 in what may have been the swan song for a mass attack in the war by the Type 96 Rikko.

At 1938 the 701st attacked from the starboard side of the formation.  One enemy aircraft was shot down off the starboard quarter of destroyer Waller.  Then another detected off Chicago’s starboard bow was taken under fire, hit repeatedly and crashed in a brilliant blaze close aboard Chicago on her port bow which undoubtedly silhouetted her for the other attackers.  Unfortunately Chicago became the focal point  for enemy attention and was hit twice on the starboard side by torpedoes.  The first struck at 1940 at about frame 100 near the after engine room, raising a water column estimated at 150 feet high, and knocked out propeller shafts 1, 2 and 3.  The fighting continued and two more enemy planes approached Chicago, which fired on them continuously with her automatic weapons.  Louisville astern of Chicago estimated them to be at 75 feet in altitude and took the nearer one under fire.  Both were seen to crash, one off Chicago’s port bow and another off her port quarter.  Two minutes later a torpedo wake was seen, all too late, coming in from a 110 degree relative bearing and hit Chicago near No. 3 fireroom at about frame 80 flooding it and the forward engine room nearly as fast, and knocked out shaft 4.  The ship lost power as steam pressure was lost and the rudder locked at 10 degrees left.  About a third of the length of the ship was flooded as she took a list to starboard that reached 11 degrees, and settled lower in the water.

Sister Louisville took a dud torpedo as did heavy cruiser Wichita on the starboard side of the formation, narrowly avoiding a greater catastrophe.  After the earlier battles for Guadalcanal there just weren’t many heavy cruisers left operational in the Pacific Fleet.  Two Japanese aircraft were shot down in this second attack according to Japanese sources, including the unit’s leader.

At 2008 Admiral Giffen ordered his ships to slow their speed and cease firing guns.  He had the formation reverse and head back toward crippled Chicago.  Japanese planes had a difficult time after that in tracking the American ships and the last of them left the area by 2335.

At 2020 hours cruiser Louisville was ordered to take Chicago in tow, and she skillfully maneuvered in the pitch black dark to effect that, using 60 fathoms of Chicago’s starboard anchor chain and her own towing hawser.  Destroyer Waller circled the two at high speed.  Starting at 2251 Louisville made way to take strain on the tow wire and by 2330 commenced turning to bring Chicago on a heading back to a friendly base, making a speed of but 3 knots towing her waterlogged sister.

Damage control efforts aboard Chicago were prompt and considering the damage rendered, effective.  The ship’s force established flooding boundaries and shored up bulkheads with timbers.  Emergency diesel generators were started and furnished power to emergency lighting, emergency and casualty power circuits, electric fire pumps and portable submersible pumps.

Bucket brigades augmented mechanical pumping efforts and the list was checked as was the freeboard remaining aft, only about six feet at the stern.  By midnight, No. 4 boiler was lighted and provided steam for fuel oil booster pumps in fireroom Nos. 1 and 2 that then pumped fuel from accessible oil tanks on the starboard side, lightening that side of the ship.  The list was thus removed at around 0230 as Louisville continued the tow with the rest of TF 18 nearby.

Some 41 shipmates were killed in this night attack, and more wounded (see post titled “U.S.S. Chicago Roll of Honor, Memorial Day, 2018” for the names of those killed in action that night).  Though badly damaged by two aerial torpedoes, with any luck, as the Gun Moll limped away with help from the battle area she would survive to fight another day…

Heavy cruiser USS Chicago (CA-29), at left, and her sistership USS Louisville (CA-28), at right, on the morning of 30 January 1943 before the second round of the Battle of Rennell Island, the last major engagement of the Guadalcanal campaign.  Both cruisers are of the Northampton-class, and one can appreciate how much water Chicago has taken on compared to the intact Louisville.  A Fletcher-class destroyer is in the distance (Source:  Wikipedia)