Anthony (DD 515) - Naval Cruise Book

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BAEARDING THE LION IN HIS DEN Shortly after the middle of February, one of the squadrons of destroyers who was acting as the covering force was ordered to bombard Rabaul, New Britain Island, to destroy supplies and any enemy shipping found in the harbor. It was really something for a group of destroyers to steam right into the mouth of the vaunted enemy stronghold of the South Pacific, but the raid was very Successful and not 9- Ship Wa-S damaged- We sighed with relief for them, and the comment was freely passed that they had been lucky to catch the enemy by surprise, but woe-be-tide the next ones to try it. Two nights later we were speeding up St. George Channel for that very purpose! We left Purvis Bay on the 23rd for Treasury'Island, practicing torpedo attacks enroute. It was a grand sight watching the squadron steam out of Purvis Bay, trim grey little warships, bristling with guns and eagerly awaiting the opportunity to trade punches with the enemy. The next night we left Treasury Island and headed up St. George Channel between New Ireland and New Britain. At the entrance to the outer harbor our ,division headed in While the other division 'steamed on, look- ing for shipping and waiting in reserve just in case. As we approached Credner Island, we saw a light blinking as if to warn of our approach, but for some reason we were allowed to steam in unmolested. Opening fire with all five guns, we poured the shells out at almost machine gun rate of fire. Our sister ship was doing the same, and in but a matter of seconds, there was a brilliant fire blazing in what had been an enemy supply dump and barracks area. Still the batteries on Credner Island were silent, and we were thankful. A battery in the Vunapope area fired a few shells at us, but we put it out of business before he got the range. As we steamed back and fourth pouring shells into the blazing supply area, PT boats were re- ported heading our way, and we decided that it was time to withdraw. Shifting our fire to the inner harbor area where we struck what possibly was a supply ship at anchor we started' to retire. Again we safely negotiated the most dangerous part of the harbor, right imder the very muzzles of the shore batteries and out to comparative safety. We continued to sweep north in the hope of running into enemy shipping, but we had no luck, and soon it was time to turn our bows toward friendlier waters. Miles away, our other division could see the fires we had started, and pictures of the area taken the next day proved the success of our venture. So ended our second bombardment. We never could figure out why the shore batteries didn't blast us out of the water, but there are many of us who are satisfied to give the 'credit to some higher power looking down on us and protecting us as our gtms 'spoke out in the name of humanity and freedom. WE JUIMP RIGHT PAST KAVIENG Our next invasion took us beyond Kavieng, that other stronghold of the enemy, and the morn- ing of the 20th of March found us covering the landing of Marines on Emirau- Island, one of the St. Matthais Group about 75 miles northwest of New Ireland. The trip up was uneventful, and our principal hostile act at the objective was to strafe the south end of a small adjoining island when machine gun fire from this island was seen to be endangering our landing craft. The reports on the actual presence of .laps on this little island were contradictory, and it was even reported that there were no Japs on Emirau at allg however, the effect of our 40 MM fire must have made the Marines: feel better, and when we ceased firing, there were definitely no further splashes near our boats. We don't claim this for a bombardment, but we sure made a lot of noise and we almost made a landing ourself as we approached within 1000 yards of the beach. . With the marines firmly entrenched, and the Seebees hard at work on the airstrip, we steamed between Guadalcanal and Emirau to bring in supplies. This continued until the 20th of April, when we left Purvis Bay on a surprise escort trip with a merchant ship. Upon beings detached at sea, we were ordered to proceed to Havarmah Harbor, Efate, for duty with the battleship task force--Some- thing was in the air and we hoped that it would be good. BACK TO CIVILIZATION We had not reached our destination when the news came in that we were going there to escort the Battleship Task Force to Sydney, Australia, for Rest and Recreation . That was good news if' there ever was good news. We left Havannah Harbor on the 24th of April and arrived at the en- trance to Port Jackson, Sydney on the morning of the 29th after a journey that was spent in get-- , -9-- .

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bogies and the Japs provided us with many excellent pyrotechnic displays on several of the nights that we spent steaming back and forth from Guadalcanal to Bougainville. The snooper planes would drop the flare to illuminate us for bombers or torpedo planes, but epgcept for costing us the loss of our sleep, we received no disasterous effects. We also learned to love the dark nights, and to shud- der at the thought of being out in the bright moonlight. Our monotonous job was broken only by a quick trip to Noumea in the latter part of November when we escorted some returning transports, and we made the most of the opportunity. What had seemed to be somewhat primitive and not too inviting a place when we had arrived there direct from Hawaii and the states now took on new beauty as we arrived there in the relatively cool - breezes after the heat and strain of operating in the Solomons. BARGE HUNTING AT NIGHT The next diversion from the Milk Run was an assignment we received late in the afternoon of January 20th, 1944g we were detached along with the USS PRINGLE to proceed to Bougainville Strait between the southeastern tip of Bougainville Island and Choiseul Island. Both were enemy held, and our PT's had been making regular attacks on their barge traffic, when, on the night of the 19th, they had encountered a Jap Motor Gunboat. This was a bit large for them, and we were the answer, and an effective one. Shortly after midnight we spotted a group of troop-carrying barges moving between the islands, and opened fire. The gunboat which had been covering them, and hadn't been-spotted up to that moment, opened fire on the PRINGLE. We immediately shifted our fire to this craft and were in turn honored by their shifting their fire to us, and a stream of tracers passed over the bridge. We returned the compliment by directing our 5 inch, 20 and 40 MM fire on it. It was but a matter of a few minutes before it was reduced to a mass of burning wreckage. The interest in our work was heightened by the reporting by our spotting plane, an invaluable Black Cat, of high speed wakes heading toward us, and we knew that we were in for an encounter with enemy PT's. Shortly thereafter a torpedo wake was sighted heading for us, but again we dodged a fish by radical maneuvering. We turned our guns on the PT's and they retired to the safety of the shoreline, but only after we had definitely damaged one or more, and possibly de- stroyed them. . To leave this part of our story without a word about our friends, the Black Cats would be shortsighted, indeed. In all of our experiences in the Solomons, we were looked over at night by these true friends and they were a source of continual comfort to us as we steamed close to enemy held waters in the danger scented night. This particular plane was heard to remark to 'another in the vicinity, They are shooting hell out of everything and they won't even let me drop my bombs . This was indeed typical. Later, we did allow him to drop his bombs on some barges that had taken shelter in the reefs near the beach where we were unable to get at them. This soothed his hurt feeings. The early morning light found us steaming at 30 knots for our refueling base at Hathorn Sound, happy in the knowledge of having destroyed a goodly number of enemy small' craft, and having definitely broken up his operating schedule for some nights to come. A return trip the next night, which was fruitless, proved this. THE NEXT STOP-GREEN ISLAND After having spent a couple of weeks putting the ship back in first class shape and getting some AA firing practice, we were ready to set out on our next invasion. The initial landings on -Green fN1SS8.11J Island were made on the morning of the 15th of February 1944, and having escorted 'the LST group to the objective, we were scheduled for fire support duties. These did not materialize due to the absence of any appreciable number of Japs to oppose our landings. The main interest was 'the large number of hecklers which surrounded and illuminated us most of the night. We did lr-ave .a small surprise raid early in the morning, but the combined fire of the ships, plus the assistance of our P-38's took care of these SBD's with wheels down and excellent lessons in the importance of llookouts and recognition were demonstrated. ...g.. S I r ..

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ting our blues cleaned up and our plans made for one riotous stayin that most famous metropolis. We had planned for this moment during our entire stay in the South Pacific, now We were there. I The first liberty party left the ship about noon, and from then until we staggered up the gang- way at midnight six days later all hands cooperated to banish all thoughts of the War and to have one grand vacation. It wasn't the states, but ,some thought it was even better. VVe didn't have our families there, but no one can say that the friendly people from down under didn't do their utmost to -make us feel at home. In turn, we invited a good number of their fair sex to help us celebrate at the two ship's parties which were held at one of the halls in the heart of the city. Both parties were smashing successes. ' ' ' . The following Saturday was a sorry one indeed, for we had grown very fond of this beautiful city and its inhabitants, but the war couldn't wait, and we' turned our bow once more toward Ha- vannah Harbor. At least, we had our memories of a Week! of heaven, and that would help until We could finally head toward home. I ' WE HEAD NORTH AGAIN I After a short period of training and rehearsals, in company with the rest of our squadron and eescorting the battleships and joining cruisers and carriers enroute, we headed for the Central Pa- cific. When we got underway on the morning, of June 2nd, We did so for the first time Without our first Division Commander, Commander Edmund B. Taylor, USN. He had gone ahead to take over the duties of Squadron Commander, and Commander Frank J. Walsh of the USS WADSWORTH Wasacting Division Commander. It was truly a period of change, enroute we got orders for a new skipper as Well. ' , ' The group arrived at Roi Anchorage, Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshalls on the 8th, fueled, pro- visioned and on the 10th headed westward toward the Mariannas. We had a new member in our ship's company, Commander Clyde J. Van Arsdall, Jr., USN Cthen Lieutenant Commandery who was to be our new skipper. 'We had done our job in the Solomons, where the enemy had been checked and then turned backg now we were heading for his own territory, Saipan, Island in the Mariannas, Arriving at Saipan with the bombardment force, We lost no time in getting into action. The heavies bombarded until the middle of the morning, when they headed 'out' to se, and in company with the WADSWORTH, we closed the coastline. Steaming along just off shore, we poured 5 inch shells into the various machine gun emplacements and other targets of opportunity. We had been given the privilege of being the first destroyers in the group to bombard the island. The morning of the 15th found us once more screening the heavy units as they covered the initial landing on Saipan Island. Thus we added one more major bombardment to our record as we cov- ered our fourth invasion. The day passed swiftly and nightfall found us ready for more action. We headed south and the first light of the 16th found us off Guam. Here again, the heavy units began the softening-up process that made it possible for the Marines to land. ' FAMOUS FIFTY-EIGHT Our bombardment was broken off by orders to head north to await further orders. The Jap Fleet was going to accept our challenge, and We were going to be privileged to be there. Our Orders came in later in the day, and that night we left our group to join Admiral Mitcher's already famous Task Force FIFTY-EIGHT. This was indeed a far cry from playing guardian angel to LST's, but both jobs were necessary and we went where duty called, There could have been no one on the ship who didn't thrill to the first sight of this mighty task force as we first sighted them in the distance. They covered the entire ocean, and no matter where one looked, there were more carriers, battleships and cruisers, and of course, out in front of all were the sleek grey destroyers. The Mighty A was proud indeed to be a part of this mighty striking force. - The reports of the Jap Fleet were proved correct when on the morning of the 19-th, the reports of Many Bogies began coming in from all directions. It was the all out attack of the air arm of the Jap fleet. Needless-to-say, We were ready for them, and the raids were broken up by our gallant -1o- I