West Virginia (BB 48) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 75 text:

Commence firing! Commence firingll' Fire one, was the calm word from plot, and the Wee Vee rocked back on her side in a great cloud of flame as our first salvo was on its way. My eyes were glued on the spotting glass now, waiting for the signal that tells us when our shots will land -hoping to get a glimpse of the target so as to spot the next salvo on. At this range it was almost too much to hope for a hit or even a straddle on the first salvo. The buzzer sounded, and Isaw our balls of fire arcing downward and WHAM! Right on: Ya hit 'iml Ya hit 'iml No change, no change! Out there on the horizon I saw a tremendous burst of flame. Only a heavily armored target would ex- plode our 16 inch armor-piercing projectiles on impact, and almost immediately we fired again. Salvo after salvo went out, and nearly all of them were right on. Part of the time I was halfway out of the director hatch, not even conscious of the concussion from the giants below, and Part of the time my eyes were glued to the spotting glass to help guide them to their mark. Our cruisers had opened up in rapid fire now, and soon our next battleship in column was Hring. Sheets of flame were bursting from the targets. Sometimes I caught glimpses of a great hulk sil- houetted in the flares-other times it looked like Niagara Falls out there from the splashes of the many salvoes. My pointer claims he saw the pagoda superstructure of a battleship. I was too busy on other details to confirm or deny. Plot reported the target slowing in the water, then turning around-and the Captain ordered Cease firing. Why Waste Bullets? And then I watched the great glowing masses on the horizon as reports came in that only one of our destroyers had taken a hit, and she was still under 9 I l -Courtesy Time Magazine control. One PT had rammed an underwater ob- struction, and the Strait was filled with Nips who had abandoned ship-or whose ships had abandoned them. The destroyers were picking up survivors those that would come aboard A few small targets were escaping out of the southern end of the Strait, but we had word that our planes would be out there to work them over as soon as It was light enough Until dawn we watched the great fires burning l6l

Page 74 text:

-.nk-,-.-.-,....... f f N ' et f-fvw1 f-I sz... ..,- . . , enemy to arrive. Then, about 2 3oo, one of our PT boats in the south entrance to the Strait reported a large black shape had entered and turned north, and we went to General Quarters. Then another report-a 'very large ship had passed through, but still out of range. Some time later the PT's were ordered to attack, and we wondered if they'd finish them off before we got a crack at the targets ourselves. The reports weren't clear-not all the Word came over the cir- cuit. But it seemed as if the PT7s hadn't done too much damage, and soon We were tracking out three of our destroyers which were sent to in- vestigate. We trained the director out on the Strait, and I promised my operator the biggest gedunk I could wangle out of the soda fountain if he picked up the targets before anyone else found them. Repel Air Attack! We were facing right down the Strait now, a strip of Water about fifteen mrles Wide and fifty miles long, and we strained our eyes to be sure not to mrss the faintest sign of the enemy s approach Several very large vessels were now reported moving up through the murky blackness, and oe casionally I'd look through my powerful spotting glass or raise up through the hatch to scan the hori- zon through my binoculars. But all was solid black- ness, and the faint glimmer of occasional lightning flashes still only lit up minor areas in the sky. Our destroyers were still moving out. , Suddenly-there they were! f'On target! Cn target! Commence tracking, plot! We were trained on a large enemy ship, sneaking up on us through the black of night, hop- ing to catch us unawares-and here We had him right in the notch! Soon other targets appeared, some of them large and others obviously the destroyer screen. Still out of range of our guns, they were coming straight at us at high speed. Their T was crossed! And by a lady who'd been rudely mussed up almost three years before, who was now out here for some satisfaction. We picked up the largest closest target, trained out our guns, and waited for the order to commence Hring. Destroyers Go In First We watched our three destroy- ers move in on the enemy's port beam, and checked and rechecked to be sure our range was not fouled by friendly ships. VVe got a little anxious about who was going to fire on whom first, our target was well within range now, brrt strll no or der L imc from the bridge Then things happened rn 1 hurry Vie sfm the destroyers open rrp, md the tnemx frnsu er back bfrlls of fir e loprng atross our lrne of srglrt rppal' Then our erursers torrrrrrcnttd hrrng, and their first salvo was lrrgh rn the sltx md vs tll on its vi ay when at oggg xr e got the xx or d ' ' ' .. , e ' 7 , P . ' . 7 ' ' - 4 1 rv. - 7 . '- Here They Come! I ently at short range because of the Hat trajectory. - V ic - 7 ' ' ,Z ' . !63l

Page 76 text:

SYM l l 'O 'O up brighter than ever, and we saw grea - ,. :'z 1a:4f,gjwa-rwal,-,,,,,,,.. , A -Wk 3-Tr, ..,,.:. H loot into the sky as the flames evidently on the horizon-enemv ships ablaze! The largest re si 0'low began to die down, when suddenly it loomed- reached the powder magazines and blew the re- The Yamashiro. So Sorry, Please! U t clouds of mains to smithereens. Bring On Some More! By o73o we had secured from General Quarters, and gathered in small groups on the quarter- deck to talk it over. VVe learned that our escort carriers were en- gaging another force to eastward, and that our fast carriers had been in action to the north. As this is written we have but fragmentary reports on the action-we donit even know just how large a fleet we'd taken on. But it was something pretty big, and the Hscrap iron Navy had really done a job. With no air sup- port in our phase of the battle, weld done more than send them back licking their wounds-we'd sent most of them to the bottom. The VVee Vee was no longer a virgin-but she was still a lady as she proudly maneuvered with her sister ships awaiting further orders. . 'I . Wi ii-ii X ug: X 5 , se, eff, sa l we 'J ii fl K7 - 733. Vigil ' I 3 Ft- ' X .L T. F- at ,Hy QQ. fi.. 55' 'X' fo t it .4 f a i la70l