Evening star., 1942-02-13

their planes"
over to begin the festivities (pro-
viding always the impatient Japs
didn't jump the gum in about an
hour.
Up on the searchlight platform
long out Of use-above the bridge, .
stin wind was sweeping over the
ship and for the tropics it was fairly
chilly-it always seems chilly some
how before battles. From this point
you could look down over nearly all
the forepart Of the ship and 1t was
plain that everything was under
control. There wasn't . sound from
anywhere save the well deck where
the airplanes were warming up. You
might not have known that several
hundred men were draped about
massive piles, turrets, lookout posts,
the round steel verandahas Of gun
positions, signal stations and what
not, II . trick Of the moonlight had
not given the CLINT of their blue
steel helmets.
Play BY Play Account.
The ship, you judged was ready,
whatever might happen to it. And
this is the way it happened-
8. a.m.-The moon was still big,
yellow and brilliant-too brilliant.
Aft. the seaplanes began to gurgle
and roar.
6:l5-The guns of the after turret
swung skyward. Suddenly unseen
planes were catapulted out OF the
black in noisy sequence. They rose
as gray blots against the gray sky
with ghastly blue halo Of hot vapor
clinging to them.
6:40-The sun seemed to be strug-
Cling up through lowlying clouds.
Eight seaplanes came across the dim
light and took on westward in for
nation. The land was plainly visible
now OF starboard. II the Japs had
anything up the sleeve ready for de-
livery We would be finding 1t out
presently.
, 6:45-The lookout called that
smoke was coming up from the
island, dead ahead. 1t was plain
to the naked eye, hanging low over
the land though only q little differ
ent from the cloud formations in
the smoky light Of dawn.
The island Is q typical coral atoll-
. string Of little palm covered islands
ctrcling . lagoon. 1t was low on the
horizon Notwithstanding the trees,
hardly visible in the dim light save
for the breakers eternally feathering
its reefs.
Planes came up on our starboard
bow. The lookout called. The null
tiple pompoms- Chicago pianos, the
trade calls them-pointed their glis-
tening pipes upward and swung
about on the platform like the
throne of . movie organist. But
the lookout identified the planes as
our own.
The strafing of the atoll was fin
ished. The bombers were going
back and the job from here In is
ours.
Forward Turrets Break Loose.
Z am.-The ship swung farther
in toward land. With terrible alb
ruptness the big guns in the forward
turrets broke loose with a train of
conclusions that seemed likely to
wrench apart everybody and every
thing aboard. Four shells lit in
the lagoon and topped up high
fountains. Other ships in the unit
joined in the fire. Other shells
made odd patterns At the south
end Of the largest island of the
atoll now lying on our starboard
bow.
With field glasses it was easy to
identify this island as our principal
objective. Among the palms YOU
could make out the wrecked towers
OF the radio station. Some of the
buildings were afire behind the trees.
7:0S-The lookout called '"Ship
dead ahead. SIR" There 1t was
half way between us and the hori-
zon-a little thing like an ocean,
going tug, but more likely q we'll
armored patrol boat. 1t had come
btthely from the dawn to run
squarely across the bows of a de-
stroyer-a bit ironic.. The tub and
the destroyer began to shoot it out.
7:07-There came suddenly the
smash Of q time fused shell almost
atop the bridge OF the ship ahead
OF us-land batteries! Where had
they been? Three more shots came
over. This time they struck with
out exploding. All seemed short.
All our guns went on firing regu-
larly, not to say brutally. One of
the enemy batteries made no at
tempt at concealment. You could
see the yellow flashes where it fired
from the beach. More crumps
seemed to be floating over from the
south end Of the island, and q couple
OF ack-ack batteries had begun to
throw stun into the clouds over
the lagoon.
7:l5-The light was getting better
now. and We had q chance to note
the odd things that were uncovered
as our Shells painstakingly tore this
particular South Sea island to bits.
There were wharves stretching out
into the opalescent lagoon-dwell-
ing places on the white beach most
ly hidden by the north isIand-and
things made Of concrete that erupt-
ed large chunks and great pillars
OF gray smoke when dynamite ex.
ploded under the trees. The land
batteries. if you cared to watch
them, were still at work. You could
see flashes, even II the shells by
some odd chance passed you by.
Ship Heels Over.
7:26-There was an open spot be-
tween two Of the islands in the
chain where you could see across
the reef into the lagoon. AS we
looked the ship turned up in this
frame. She looked to be q freighter
Of about 5000 tons and apparently
had been blasted out of the shelter
Of the north island by unexpected
-