Evening star., 1942-06-17

struck the siren lanyard housing,
causing the big whistle on the fun
mel to howl. This continued Incl
dentally-a long, low, groaning note
that probably expressed the pain
and agony Of the doomed Lexington
perfectly-for many minutes.
ll:22 a.m.-"Tham"-once more
the Lexington lurched beneath our
feet. The fourth torpedo hit.
1l:22h a.m.-"Baloom"-now the
fifth torpedo, all on the port side,
amidships and forward. Looking of
the bridge I could see the water
foaming and laced with torpedo
trails. They seemed to be coming
from all directions and in unlim-
tied numbers.
looked out to starboard to see
how the rest of the ships were far
ing and counted five planes burning
on the water. Japanese planes 60
ing away were being followed by
our starboard guns that trailed
tracers into and after them.
I saw a huge waterspout near the
other carrier and I thought-she's
being hit, too. Later I found it was
miss by huge bomb.
The dive bombers still were COM
ing down, only a second or so apart.
Most of their bombs were falling
toward the after end of the ship,
close but not quite hitting.
More T0rpedo Planes.
I looked up. We could see the
Japanese machines diving in q
chain. AS 1 watched I would see
bomb leave a plane. The plane
would continue down, gradually
f1attening. Its machine guns and
wing cannon would wink momen-
tarily; it would sweep over the Lex
ington's deck and then would be-
come tiny shape, swiftly dimin-
ishing in size as it sped away.
11:25 a.m.-"Seven more torpedo
planes" the lookouts called again.
From the port side"
The anti-aircraft fire was so hot
that the pilots in those planes were
anxious to get away. They failed
to press home the attack like the
first group. All of them dropped
their torpedoes while still at As
degree glide and more than 200 feet
above the water, and then turned
away, never coming closer than
within 1,500 yards of the Lexington.
Again we swung to avoid the tor
Nn6nnS To tho orhoorI iv,
to present as little target as pos
Sible. The Japs came in, famed
out over a wide arc. All the tor
pedoes seemed to be porpoising bad
ly. Two among the first group dis
appeared, and when they reappeared
they were on the ships other side,
having made their porpoising dive
deep enough to pass right under
meath us.
Three Parallel Ship.
Hold her steady, captain. hold
her steady" suddenly cried Comdr.
Duckworth, the ships air officer.
He was out on the navigation bridge
dancing up and down with excite
ment and with his hands out as If
to press torpedoes away.
We've got three that are exactly
paralleling US; if We turn We'll COL
lect one sure!"
11:27 am.-Five more Japanese
torpedo planes appeared in the CEN
ter of the fleet. They singled us
out, spread out and bored in toward
our starboard (righD side. With
the entire feet firing at them they
dropped their fish" a long way
out. The old Lexington. still charg-
ing ahead despite her wounds,
turned once more, and all these
missed.
Two Japanese planes with tor
pedoes slid in through the feet fire.
These turned aside from the Lex
ington. passing astern of us, and
dropped their fish" at the cruiser
on our port quarter. The ship
swung, avoiding the torpedoes. The
cruisers gunners got a direct hit
on one of the two planes. The
plane just disappeared in q clap
of thunder and flame.
1872 am.-The last of the dive
bombers swung by, raking us with
his gunfire as he passed. The bomb
fell close but missed, and suddenly
there was silence.
49 Jap Planes Downed.
In all this furious. close-packed
action. our fighters and scouts had
not been idle. One hundred and
three Japanese planes came over.
Forty-nine fell in a 20-mile radius
around us, downed by our planes
and ships guns. The guns in all
took 10, an all-time high for a
fight of this kind. Our pilots,
heroes every one, got "a.
1t. Hall in a scout downed two
torpedo planes and then when at