The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-02-05

mounts.
The next 70 minutes were filed
with the glare Of strange lights,
with close calls from torpedoes
launched ct close range and With
death In the form Of Japanese air.
craft flying q matter Of yards
abreast our warships at attitudes Of
20 to so feet.
When the Japanese had exhaust
ed their first terrific effort, one that
was well planned and daringly exc.
cuted, they lost our main force for a
couple Of hours. Then the battle
was resumed briefly In one out.
skirt sector, and finally abandoned
by the japanese, our transport,
some carrying troops, still were safe.
All reached their destinations.
During the time our battle sta
tons were manned, from 7:24 q. M
until lO:45 p. m, the commander
OF our task force unanswered his
units brilliantly during the run
ming battle. And 1t was only this
maneuvering which saved his ships
from the deadly torpedo planes used
IN combination with q sensational
utilization Of color flares.
The close scrapes Of every ship
IN our force can best be illustrated
by those experienced by the vessel
on which was stationed. We faced
two torpedoes. One missed widely
and every man watching 1t breathed
Thank Godl"
But the next "fish" aimed in our
direction came closer. At first It
looked like q sure hit. But It only
scraped the side Of the ship, and
failed to detonate.
The original Japanese attacker,
the one who set off our first fire,
soon was followed by waves Of 9TH
ers which came in In formations of
from two to six. Most Of the
Japanese aircraft were identified as
Mitsubishi IFS or Nakajima cts,
both types ironically being tmita-
tons Of American bombers. The
Mitsubishi is patterned after the
flying fortress and the Nakajima
after our Douglas devastator.
The Japanese opened their at
tack at the most propitious time
as dusk was falling. While they
could still see our formation, they
outlined 1t with hundreds Of tiny
colored float lights, dropped from
the air.
After darkness settled, the battle
area was O. panorama Of these col
ored lights, against which the sharp
flashes Of our fire were outlined,
Here Is q brief log of the rim
ming battle:
7:24 p. r1.-Call to battle stations.
Firing at twin-engined enemy plane
attacking our gunmounts begins al
most Immediately. First plane fol-
lowed by six single engined hombers
racing in from our port quarter.
7:26-Firing begins on our star
board beam and tracerS dispense all
imaginable colors and freaktsh pat
terms In the sky.
7:S3-Bomb explosions heard: In
two minutes the boys firing the
anti-ircraft on our port bow bring
down an enemy plane.
7:42-Plane on our starboard
quarter and the secondary batteries
on the starboard beam open up.
7:45-Giant twin-engined Mitsu-
bishi crashes into the sea so yards
off our port quarter after brushing
foremost Of warshlp to our rear.
Cheers from the boys on the war
ship can be heard above the gun
fire.
7:47-More cheering as second |
plane crashes almost in the same |
site as the first, plringing into the |
sea gracefully like tired swallow.
7:49-BombS of our starboard |
beam at an estimated distance OF
1000 yards; then more bombs of
port.
7:51-Another wave Of planes
coming In, drawing o great cres-
cendo from our guns.
8-Two torpedoes launched at our |
ship from several hundred yards;
both misses, but the second close |
enough to scrape. Plane which |
launched second fish scars impu-
IDENTIFY over our bow and o torrential |
hail of tracer fire follows his red |
and green signal lights into the !
horizon as he escapes.
8:08-Another plane down to |
port, q thick black column Of smoke
marking its entry into the sea. At
the same time, another enemy plane
seen aflre to starboard.
8:16-Machine cunning from
more planes passing over our star
board.
8:3O-TaSk force commander gives |
cease fire order. The commander |
ordered absolute silence. Bombers
could be heard roaring in the Vi
cinity occasionally, trying to re-
locate the task force. Task force |
maneuverS quickly.
An hour later, an enemy bomber |
located one Of our destroyers on
the fringe Of the unit, and dropped |
a red, green directional flare. Fire |
from the destroyer's main batteries |
drove on the attacker.
We had been at battle stations |
three hours and Is minutes when |
the all clear came. We went below
In relays for coffee, cigarettes and |
the swapping Of yarns on what we'd
seen.