Evening star., 1944-05-11
Son Of Morgenthau
Among Survivors Of
Destroyer Sinking

The American destroyer Lansdale
was sunk in the Mediterranean
April 20 after a valiant fight against
a group of German torpedo planes,
two of which were shot down, the
Navy Department revealed late yes
terday.
/ 1t. Robert NJ Morgenthau, Hope
well Junction, N. Y, son of the
Secretary of the Treasury and
executive officer of the Lansdale,
was disclosed to have been among
the survivors. The destroyer's COM
mander. 1t. Comdr Douglas NICK.
Swift, Springfield, Mass, also sur
vived.
The Navy Department did not re-
veal the number of casualties, but
described them as moderate" The
Lansdale, ship of modern design,
displaced 1920 tons.
Battling against overwhelming
odds, the Lansdale continued to
pour a stream of antiaircraft fire
at the attacking planes after a
torpedo hit her amidships and her
decks were awash, according to the
Navy Department account. The
battle was marked by high per-
sonal heroism on the part of both
officers and men, many of whom
were picked up after being adrift
for hours in the sea.
Attacked at Dusk.
The sinking was at dusk as the
vessel was moving through a CLASSY
sea with her entire crew at battle
stations in anticipation of an at
tack.
Suddenly a group of German
planes appeared out of the semi
darkness and launched torpedoes
agaist the ship. The speedy vessel
was soon hit in vital part and
sank rapidly.
One of the casualties was 1t.
q. g. George E. Haines, "a, of
Greenwich, Conn, the gunnery off,
Ger. 1t. q. g. James E. Bevers. %.
OF Belllngham, Wash, related that
during the three hours in which
men OF the Lansdale were in the
sea or being rescued, 1t. Haines
swan around without life pre-
server encouraging everybody in
the water"
BY the time the destroyers did
come along, he wasn't around" 1t.
Bever said. He just did too much.
I guess"
The survivors were rescued bv
Coast Guard escorts and delivered
to shore station within IL hours.
1t. Bever said he was on the
bridge with 1t. Morgenthau, vet
eran of three years in the destroyer
service, when the attack came.
Describes Plane Attack.
II was the assistant communi-
cations officer on board and was at
my battle station" he said.
suddenly we saw two planes
coming in from starboard about IS
feet OF the water. A torpedo whiz-
zed past our bow and second later
a second one hit.
The lights went out, bounced
against the rail, then back and nv
head hit the bulkhead. The lights
came on again, then there was a
second explosion and the lights
went out. This time, for good.
The ship started to settle. Then
tBe sEpper's voice was saying Pre-
pare to abandon ship.
L know everybody says the same
thing who has been IN on a deal like
this, but mean 1t. He was calm and
so was everybody else. There wasn't
any commotion or anything.
"All this time those fellows on
deck were shooting at the planes.
They got the first one-the one that
missed us with q torpedo. And an
other one, too. We had colored mess
attendants firing from one of the
antiaircraft guns and they were
firing while the decks were awash.
Why, they were firing until they
were ordered over the side.
Joseph Frank Jay, yeoman, second
class, 20, of Detroit, Mich. said, "One
of the funniest things IN my life
happened when / was swimming
away from the ship"
MY battle station was at a 4O-mm
gun" Yeoman Jay related. When
that order came to abandon ship,
got over the side and started to