Evening star., 1943-01-04

tnat mlln0nS OF tracer shells went
right past that plane without hit
ting it, but some did strike it, and
at the right time. They struck just
before the pilot released his torpedo.
The plane was Jared out of its line
of flight and its torpedo was re-
leased well up in the air. 1t seemed
that the torpedo would drop on the
ship, but it passed over the fantail
and fell in the sea on the other
side aft. The planes wings were
shot of. 1t struck the water and
sank"
A third attack came 50 minutes
after the first, at 1919. It lasted
ii minutes, longer than either of
the others.
This time "a dive bombers and
torpedo planes came at the battle
ship.
Captain Out on Catwalk.
Il was on the catwalk in front
of the bridge" the captains report
stated, where I had no business to
be-"
A battleship'S bridge is armored.
Capt. Catch presumably was out on
the open catwalk so that he could
con his ship during an air attack,
for planes directly above cannot be
seen from the bridge. This time
a dive bomber got through.
Il saw its bomb released from not
more than 100 feet above the for
ward part of the ship. I hoped that
1t would strike turret and not the
deck, for it was a good sized bomb,
probably 500-pounder, and 1t
might blow a hole in the deck and
kill people underneath and certinly
it would kill many in gun crews on
the deck itself.
THE automatic guns forward were
manned by mess attendants, some
Filipinos, some Negroes. They never
stopped firing for second. Those
men are good
THE bomb did land on top of a
turret. That was the only hit we
took and it was the one that got
me-" damage to the ship long
since has been repaired)
A fragment of the bomb struck
Capt. Catch in the neck, severing an
artery, and the force of the blast
hurled him against the coming
tower, knocking him unconscious
aad tearing the muscles of his
shoulder The captain fell and the
executive officer took over the ship.
The attack passed.
Fighting Again in Three Weeks.
Less than three weeks later Capt.
Catch was up and declaring him.
self ready for another fight, al
though his left arm hung injured,
as it still does. The admiral in
command said, Il don't expect you
to strangle Japs" and Capt. Catch,
despite the injury, took the battle
ship into its second action.
This was a night battle, part of
what has since been called the
battle of Guadalcanal, where the
cruisers Boise and San Francisco
distinguished themselves. Those
cruisers, however, were not part of
the task force in which the battle
ship moved. This latter force was
made up of battleships and de-
stroyers.
I'VE headed into Windy Gulch
(the Americans name for the strait
between the islands of Guadalcanal
and Savo). We got into far corner
and slowed down. We found no
Japs, althpughsNe knew Sthat they
were somewhere about waiting for
us. They had set a trap, and we
were trying to find it, so we could
go into it and get caught. We
wanted to get caught. They
weren't expecting us; they had set
this trap for foxes and we didn't
think it would hold bears"
When above the northern tip of
Savo, the ships turned west. They
were cruising at a leisurely pace so
that the trap could be sprung on
them easily. 1t was. The battle
ships lookout spotted enemy ships
several miles away. These turned
out to be a large enemy cruiser
with two smaller cruisers following
in column.
The battleship's 16-inch guns
swung to drop their monstrous
projectiles at the range. They were
on the beam; flames from the big
leading cruiser Illuminated the
others. All three cruisers were sunk
before their own guns were within
range of the battleship.
Japs Unable to See Foe.
In a desperate effort to see the
thing that was hitting them, the
japanese fired a salvo of star shells
which fell thousands of yards short.
Capt. Catch reported: They
never knew just what sank them.
THE enemy now sprang the trap
he had set. Dead astern of us
destroyer Cor light cruiser was
picked up. Our after turret fired
three salvos We could see the Jap
burst into flame. His bow rose to As
degrees and he went down stern
first
The American force passed north
of Savo and turned south into
narrow passage west of that island.
These were bad waters for battle
ships, with narrow channels and
numerous shoals, so that maneu-
verlng was impossible. There was
no more casual speed destroyers
out ahead, the big men-'o-war in
column, they went up near top
speed. The battleship whose actions
are herein reported was astern.
Near the southern end of Savo
Island, japanese cruisers and de-
stroyers dashed out from along
side the cliffs, where they had been
safe from detection, and launched
torpedo attack on the American
destroyers.
Four searchlights from a Japa-
nese cruiser lighted the battleship,
and fire was opened by cruisers
and japanese battleship which
Joined the fight at that time.
Searchlights Go Out. =
Within second after the
searchlights were on us, our sec
ondary, batteries opened up and
their searchlights went out; then,
80 seconds later, our main bat
teries fired. We were fighting the