The Ely miner., 1943-06-24

was apparently so well prepared
that the army had given us the radio
frequency Of the co-ordinating
planes-that big American air UNI
brella which would be spread over
US at dawn-in case we needed to
talk with them"
1--WE got out to the island passage
about ll:3o that night and sneaked
in close to shore" said Bulkelely.
The moon wasn't due until 2:30. I
was riding IN the Al boat, Ensign
Cox commanding, while Kelly had
his "a boat. We'd worked out our
strategy. II two destroyers showed
up, my boat was to tackle the lead
ing one and Kelly the second. If
only one arrived, my boat would at
tack her on the quarter, and Kelly's
on the bow.
AT five minutes to twelve Glover,
the quartermaster at the wheel,
called 'Look-there she ISL A black
object was coming round the point.
Jumping Jesus!' said Glover.
There she isl'-because it was no
little Jap destroyer but thunder
ing big Kuma class cruiser sliding
around that point-so clear we could
almost make out her 6-inch guns.
st gave our boat a hard right
rudder, sneaking in toward the
shore where the cruiser couldn't see
US. Apparently she was alone. Now
we curved out, into firing position,
on her port beam, making as little
noise as we could, and as she passed,
five hundred yards away, Cox fired
two torpedoes, but they straddled
her"
1--WE fired two from our side"
said Kelly, ''but they also missed"
''After that" said Ensign Cox,
1--WE in the Al boat made a wide
arc and attacked again with our last
two torpedoes-Bulkeley himself fir
ing them, and this time two of them
hit, right under the bridge. They
made no fash, but a good bump and
column of water. But even before
that the cruiser had walked up
probably saw the wakes of one of
the torpedoeS-anyway she speeded
up to twenty-five knots and her
searchlight came on and she waved
it wildly around In the air, proba-
bly, looking for torpedo planes"
"Our torpedoes were all gone in
the Il boat" said BuIkeley, "but I
turned around and ran astern of the
cruiser to draw her fire so Kelly
could get IN for his second attack.
Then we saw the destroyers, but
they wouldn't give chase, although
I tried to create the illusion of a
lot of boats by firing machine-gun
tracers."
when the cruisers searchlight
came on" said Kelly, 'I turned
right to cross her wake and came
in on her other quarter. She picked
me UP astern with her lights and
began banging away at me with her
secondary batteries-50-calibers and
4o-millimeter guns = from about
twelve hundred yards. The stuff was
going right over our heads in a con-
tinuous stream of fire.
But ! was good and mad because
our first torpedoes had missed" said
Kelly, $50 I decided to chase her.
I told one machine-gunner to fire
at her searchlight, which was blind
ing me, and the others to sweep her
decks to get her gun crews.
After few minutes chase, we
had closed In to three hundred yards
so close that her searchlight
seemed to be coming right down on
US from an angle-about like the
sun In mid-afternoon. Then / drew
out onto her starboard quarter and
fired our last two torpedoes-
overtaking shot. They were the last
two our squadron was to fire In the
war.
Then gave the boat hard right
rudder and started running away
for we were defenseless now except
for our machine guns. But the rain
of Jap tracers kept right on, and
suddenly another Jap ship showed
up fifteen hundred yards away. Both
started firing their main batteries at
me and we were trapped between
splashes all around US now, as close
as twenty-five yards. We started
zigzagging wildly, trying to dodge
the two searchlights, and also the
stream of fire which were criss-
crossing above our heads like wick
er basketry, and landing in the wa
ter all around US. It seemed like
weeks, but was probably only few
seconds. My junior officer, Ensign
Richardson, had the wheel, while I
was watching the cruiser through
my binoculars. Suddenly I saw
big splash and detonation in the
middle Of her belly-another two
seconds, another splash and deto-
nation right In her engine roomI
Our overtaking shots had both hit
homel Her searchlight went from
bright yellow to orange to red to
dull brick-red and finally winked out.
Every gun stopped firing. She was
jet-black now.
"But I didn't have much time for
philosophizing, because this other
destroyer was on my Starboard bow,
closing in, banging away with her
51z-inch guns and me with only So
caliber machine guns left"
Kelly got twenty-three salvoes of
51z-inch steel that night" said
Bulkeley. "But there was no doubt
that his two torpedoes polished of
the cruiser. / saw her searchlight
fade out, and heavy yellow smoke
arise. Her stern was under IN three
minutes-the destroyer put the
searchlight on her decks, where the
Japs were all running around, not
knowing where to go-and she had
sunk In twenty.
"But ! was running around with
three destroyers after me, which
were firing all they had, and could