page_title: Charles L. Carpenter
section_title: Sinking of Helena
hierarchical_section_title: Charles L. Carpenter / World War II / USS Helena / Sinking of Helena
caption_attribution_description: English: Torpedo damage of the U.S. Navy light cruiser USS Helena (CL-50) in the Battle of Kuly Gulf on 6 July 1943. The bow broke off after the first hit. Minutes later two torpedoes hit amidships after which the ship jacknifed.
context_page_description: Rear Admiral Charles L. Carpenter was a Naval officer, holder of the Navy Cross, Purple Heart and whose career encompassed combat action in Nicaragua. He was involved in all three Theaters of Operations in World War II and naval combat in the Pacific. He commanded attack transports during the war and commanded an animal research vessel in the post-World War II era Operation Crossroads series of atomic bomb tests. He earned nine Service Bars, the U.S. Navy Combat Command Insignia, and foreign decorations from the governments of Nicaragua, Peru, and Spain. Of his 30 years of active military service, 22 years were spent at sea or on foreign shores serving his Country.
context_section_description: Helena was later assigned to the several bombardments of Japanese positions on New Georgia in January 1943. One of Carpenter's shipmates, Lt. Bin "Red" Cochran[e], commanding the aft 5-inch battery on Helena, shot down a Japanese Aichi D3A Val dive-bomber with the second of three salvos of VT-fuzed shells, near Guadalcanal. The fuzes were manufactured by the Crosley Corporation and this was their first kill of an enemy aircraft. Helena's guns rocked the enemy at Munda and Vila Stanmore, leveling supply concentrations and gun emplacements. Continuing on patrol and escort in support of the Guadalcanal operation through February, one of her floatplanes shared in the sinking of the submarine Ro-102 on 11 February. After overhaul in Sydney, Australia, and a brief leave, Carpenter was back on Helena headed to Espiritu Santo in March to participate in bombardments of New Georgia Island, soon to be invaded.
  On 4 July 1943, Carpenter navigated Helena into the Kula Gulf just before midnight. Shortly after midnight on the 5th, her guns opened up in what was to be her last shore bombardment. The landing of troops was completed successfully by dawn, but during the afternoon of 5 July, word came that the Tokyo Express was ready to roar down once more and the escort group turned north to meet it. By midnight on 5 July, Helena's group was off the northwest corner of New Georgia, three cruisers and four destroyers composing the group. Racing down to face them were three groups of Japanese destroyers, a total of 10 enemy ships. Four of them peeled off to accomplish their mission of landing troops. By 01:57, the Battle of Kula Gulf had begun, Helena began blasting away with a fire so rapid and intense that the Japanese later announced in all solemnity that she must have been armed with "6 inch machine guns". The gunners fired 2,000 six-inch rounds and 400 smaller rounds during the battle. Ironically, Helena made a perfect target when lit by the flashes of her own guns, which was compounded by the fact that Helena had fired all her flashless powder in the preceding bombardments and was left with standard smokeless powder, which produced immense flames when fired.
  Captain Cecil had positioned himself on the "fighting bridge" an open air command area. This was just below the forward main battery directors in an area that protruded a bit giving him panoramic observation of events. Directly below Cecil's position was the enclosed pilot house where Commander Carpenter stood overseeing operations there. Communications were done by a voice tube. Before Helena opened fire to port at 0157 hours, Carpenter and the rest of the crew were at their battle stations. About seven minutes after she opened fire at about 0203 hours, Helena was hit by a torpedo. The first enemy Type 93 torpedo, also called a Long Lance, could travel at 48–50 knots (89–93 km/h; 55–58 mph) and impacted Helena on the port side just below number one turret (near frame 32) tearing off the bow of the ship. As the tall column of water thrown up by the explosion began to fall, the ship staggered then began to surge ahead as the bow sheared off to starboard.
  Further explosions by two more torpedoes that hit under the second stack, port side (near frame 82 and about frame 85) less than two minutes later at about 0205 caused catastrophic and terminal damage. Men were thrown about twice with each following explosion and the force was greater the higher up in the ship's structure. This is the time that Carpenter was injured. The forward movement of the ship along with the massive structural frame damage caused the ship to twist and jackknife around the damaged area. The ship's momentum quickly fell off and began to flood. The center part twisted to 45 degrees port sinking first. It dragged the rear of the ship down until the stern was vertical. Men quickly realized that the damage was fatal and began to abandon ship. About 22 minutes after the ship was first hit the ship sunk, at about 0225. In the meantime, Carpenter – who had been wounded in the legs – and others of the crew abandoned shi
caption: US Navy War Damage Report drawing of fatal damage to the USS Helena which was sunk on 6 July 1943.
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