Brooklyn (CL 40) - Naval Cruise Book

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- The Moroccan Expedition was the part of Allied strategy in which the BROOKLYN figured prominently.-The Naval component of this Expedition, commanded by Vice Admiral Henry K. Hewitt, was known as the Western Naval Task Force, while the Army group, under fiery Major General George S. Patton, Jr., was designated Western TaSk,F0rce. The prime objective of Admiral Hewitt's Naval TaskfForce, To establish the Army on beachheads near Mehdla, Fedala, and Safi tall within a 125-mile radius of the jack-pot, Casablancal, and support the subsequent coastal military operations in order to capture Casablanca as a base for future military and Naval' operations. Casablanca Harbor was choked with French naval vessels of every type in the early hours of Sunday, 8 November 1942. Both officers and enlisted personnel were energetic and capable, and they resented any interference to French Affairs, no matter how wellmeant. Both considered Britain, and any country siding with Britain . . . Enemy. There was marked contrast between the determined resistance of the French Naval units off French Morocco and the token opposition which our land forces met. , The 8th of November was five minutes old as BROOKLYN arrived off the key striking point of Fedala, one-time pleasure resort some 12 miles northeast of Casablanca. Supposedly, at German insistence, the spa had been transformed into a fortress. As landing craft skimmed.1n to Fedalian beaches from the hugh, grey transports hovering off-shore thad been led there, through a swept channel, by an earlier French convoyl, all four French batteries began lobbing shells into the anchorage of the U.S. Naval transports. BROOKLYN'S 15 six-inch rifles let loose and grew scorching hot as She answered shell for shell. The largest of the defending artillery installations, Batterle Port Blondin, located three miles from Fedala at Chergul, was soon neutralized by accurate and relentless fire from BROOKLYN. Meanwhile, the battered remnants of the U.S. Naval attack on the French Fleet at Casablanca broke out of the devastation that had been their refuge and sortied to scatter the cluster of ships standing off Fedala. The speeding men-of-war were intercepted and engaged by the Center Fire Support Group and BROOKLYN pitched into the melee. BROOKLYN fired unmercifully at the enemy ships, and received the only damage of the war when a French shell struck the main deck and fortunately ricocheted into the sea without exploding. Six of her crew suffered injury from flying splinters. Dexterous Skipper Denebrink, through erratic maneuvers and radical course changes, was able to keep the ship from the accurate line of fire emanating from the French guns. BROOKLYN'S deck was literally covered with red dye from the near misses of enemy shells. But the annihilation of the entire French force was all but complete. The tranquil South Atlantic disclosed no trace of the two dozen ships of the vaunted French Navy. They lay grotesque in twisted and burned-out wreckage in Casablanca Harbor, many having been scuttled at their moorings. Of those making a dash for freedom, one destroyer remained afloat. About 1000, the part played by BROOKLYN in the great Allied victory was almost canceled by catastrophe. A French submarine had sneaked into a position when BROOKLYN'S broadside hove into view in her periscope. The French skipper had the dream torpedo problem - a solution and fired six torpedoes for a certain kill. Commander G. G. Herring, an ex-submariner, informed the Captain he had been on this course a little too long, and he had just observed a bubble on the port bow from the opening of torpedo doors of a submarine. Captain Denebrink ordered, Hard left, and the ship responded just in time to allow the torpedos to pass harmlessly down the starboard side running close together in a good spread. -Q i i U +I r Captain F.C. DENEBRINK, USN., 11f8f42 on the bridge of BROOKLYN with his helmet on backwards to easier use his binoculars to identify surface and air targets of the enemy. There were only five torpedos, the sixth had jammed in the tube and did not clear the submarine. So sure was the submarine skipper of a kill that he settled to the floor of the harbor to listen to the explosions and the breaking up of a warship. All was silent except for the screw noise of BROOKLYN proceeding to do her assigned task. T0 THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE BROOKLYN ' 'il 'il 'il When we left port I announced to you that we were off to battle. f. Each day brings us nearer to the zero hour and the order commence 1r1ng . I want to tell you how I feel about things right now. Well, I have never been happier in my whole life. We have always taken this war and battle readiness seriously in the BROOKLYN. We came into the navy to fight. We have been itching to fight. In fact this war is our dish. As your Captain let me say this: The way we do this job of ours for the next two weeks is the most important thing ever to happen to us. Believe me. If we follow the ball - and we always know deep down inside just how hard we are trying - we will have something substantial and good to- lock up in our ditty boxes. But if we bitch things up the memory of our failure will be a bitter, humiliating disappointment which will persist al- ways. The memory of man is like that. We. must win the coming battle. They don't pay off for second place. But first of all, we must make sure we get into the battle. What a hell of a note.it would be to let the enemy slip us a mickey finn while we weren't on the Job enroute. Battle means killing or getting killed these days. Make no mistake about that. We cannot hope to win without spilling blood. But we spill a lot less ghlen we win than when we lose. None of us is worried a damn about that er. Th1s.l tell you. If we shoot first, hit first, kill first -- then we can win. To achieve that superiority over the enemy we must be alert, smart, and above all, have the guts and determined will to win. . I am not too particular about being so polite in battle. To be blunt, if we 1 can Wm by - - - - - -, then you can bet your bottom dollar I'm going to let him have it. No one is ever entirely ready to fight. But it is my supreme and honest to God conviction that we are as ready as we ever will be. I have absolute confidence in you and I want you to know it. In the days that lie ahead I ask no officer or man to give more to assure 1 the victory than I do, be it life itself. -I have a sneaking hunch that we will all enjoy a hell of a big liberty in Times Square about December fifth. F. C. Denebrink, Captain, U. S. Navy, A Commanding. - L

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'r4?E1'5v r',,,ffXQ-ii?.-fifffq5s+'E.:.f3+ ,j ifyygy I f dj .. S?2y.rXQQeN., Q. - -A-,,g.sw .,g,g,?4,5.s, k . L K., , , V. f?,fg,,gq.-rf. 5 - I. - -' . ,.,,,s,Ns, . . ffcgit, 573, , if A . . f - . we , . -1 rf f s . . xv f,..4s,Agg5,55,g-V.. .I 5 X N, Nc, N US I I I L AC-SHIP BROOKIXN 111111 .DIRHIIIILD IN Alfiifx I ll U I ATILS DESTRGYERS IBEIQTHAQD All IVILSTHRN H- 11'.4Rlr. As the curtain of cordiality covering the international situation was slashed to ribbons on 7 December 1941, the USS BROOKLYN was basking in the sun as she exercised off Bermuda. - As her outraged country made ready overnight to wage war, so did USS BROOKLYN. Three days after Pearl 'Harbor attack, cruiser BROOKLYN put to sea with the ill-fated Wasp and three sleek destroyers, proceeded to the waters off Vichy-controlled Martinique on her first war mission. The ship's guns remained primed until it was ascertained that the French warships in that area were friendly to the cause. BROOKLYN'S first brush with the newly-declared enemy came on 14 December 1941 as she patrolled. A German submarine was reported in the vicinity and BROOKLYN quickly catapulted her planes. The submarine was caught in a rain of accurately-aimed bombs as she was breaking the surface. Blasted apart, the U-boat slipped to the depths leaving behind her a trail of oil slick and floating debris. Since the submarine was never recovered from her sub-surface sepulcher, BROOKLYN'S flyers could not be credited with a definite kill but it is believed that she went down with all hands. The BROOKLYN cruised to New York City when the Martinique tension had satisfactorily diminished. Her anti-aircraft batteries were modernized and the ship undertook her next mission, assisting in the transportation of First Division Marines to Panama. On the return voyage, escorting the famed British liner Aquitania, the BROOKLYN encountered a German submarine Wolfpack off the New Jersey coast. The ship's planes and accompanying destroyers successfully broke up the attack, then rushed to aid a merchantman engaged in 2 surface action with one of the pack's stragglers on the orizon. The summer months of 1942 were devoted to escorting convoys of vitally needed men and materials to the badly battered homeland of our British Ally. With BROOKLYN'S Skipper Stone as Convoy Commander, the ships sailed from New York on the first run, stopping to pick up more units at Halifax, Nova Scotia, then ploughed through sub- infested North Atlantic waters to deposit their Yank troops in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Greenock, Scotland. Then the BROOKLYN shepherded her empty charges back to ' AM!ZRICA.'xf Hampton Roads, Virginia. During the cruiser's brief stay at Hampton Roads, on 12 June 1942, Captain Stone was relieved as her Commanding Officer by fellow Captain fpromoted to Rear Admiral in 19445 Francis ' C. Denebrink, USN. By mid-July BROOKLYN was back in New York. On 6 August 1942, BROOKLYN left New York City for her second trans-Atlantic convoy trek. Submarine contacts were frequent, but the convoy arrived unmolested at Greenock, Scotland. The return trip to the United States 'was not without incident. A few days out of New York, BROOKLYN hurried to the rescue of the burning transport Wakefield tex-S10-million luxury liner Manhattanj, a major unit of the convoy. Risking damage to his ship, Captain Denebrink twice skillfully maneuvered BROOKLYN alongside the port quarter of the burning transport. Flames raged uncontrollably throughout the Wakefield as her 1500 passengers and crew members were snatched from danger by the ships that circled her. Fleet tugs and salvage vessels scurried to fight the fires, eventually extinguishing them. The smoldering giant transport was towed to Boston Harbor, later restored to operational specifications and returned to her troop-carrying activities. Atlantic Fleet Commander in Chief, Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll, dispatched a letter of hearty commendations to Captain Denebrink for his performance of duty as officer in charge of the Wakefield rescue. BROOKLYN'S Commanding Officer was later awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for Smart display of seamanship and ship handling. X A By the fall of 1942, the United States had substantially recovered from her initial setbacks and built up her machine to allow her to entertain her own thoughts of aggression. The projected Allied invasion of North Africa had progressed beyond the map-consultation stage. The landings were not to be perpetuated without reason. First, it was essential that the Allies control the North African coastline, for an Axis incrusion into this area would have proven a powerful menace to the Western Hemisphere. Second, the landing of American troops in North Africa would answer the fervent pleas for the establishment of a second front which came from a bleeding Russia.

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- 'Q V . I I Q N I I 1 I I I . IAII,Kssllr'i:lIr':lI'i'r'-slvrlusi lhis is how the silenced batteries of Fort lvl Hunk on I guns ot the U. S. fleet. Building Ill center foreground has been leveled and bomb V ' the coast of French Morocco ztpnezired to the crew of I and shell' hits can be seen near the batteries at the right. This, and the other S. Navy recomiaisszaiice'plain- after lhztt fortress was batlerecl into submission by l l'Qli1Zll'k2lbl6 fotos on these pztges, were niaclev by U. S. Navy aerial fotographers. You're looking down on the har- ' bor of Casablanca after it was hammered by American guns. The French battleship Jean Bart, 21 huge hole in herstern, stands at her ,berth Cleft, centerl. Smoke still pours from bombed warehouses. Arrow points to outline of sunken drydock and circled is a sunken French destroyer on her side in the channel. U. S. Write rs, E ewitnesses Tell tories of rench Landing By The Associated Pri-ss The French Fleet at Casablanca came out fighting and almost succeeded in blasting a way through the American blockade, and French Marines put up a terrific battle at Fedhala when American forces made their surprise landing on the Atlantic Coast of Moroc- co early last Sunday, it is disclosed today in the first eyewitness accounts received here. ' The Americans succeeded in completely sur- if 1 prising the French defenders, arriving off the shores wl1ile they still were lighted, it was dis- QVV, closed. ' '.,' 5 QQ. Many stirring. fast-moving incidents were re- lated by Associated Press war correspondents QEi, g5A y f'f '5, Hamid v cl-1.115 Boyle and John A. tSkippe1-J Moroso, Ill, in their first eyewitness accounts of the landings. These graphic accou11ts. written before the surrender of Lhe'Frc.-ncn colony, show that the fighting there was fierce: but that the French did not 'cally want to fight and often apologized ' ' r I ' for fighting after they were captured. JOHN MORQ59 Boyle, received the rifles of two surrendering Scnegalcse who got ashore in the third assault. wave at Fedhala, 12 miles northeast of Casablanca, after a ducking in the Mediter- ranean. Moroso was in the thick of ine naval :u-tion, seeing itlthrough straw, ..,. ,,... . .. ,, from a light cruiser wnich blazed the way into Fedhala with guns roaring. U '52iff2:.5?t-,:gi1?': Moroso, 32-year-old native of Charleston, S. C., was aboard one of the first troop convoys to carry the second AEF io northern Ireland and has covered other operations of the Atlantic Fleet. ' Uvlorcso is well known in Norfolk. He visited the offices, as he frequently does, of the Virgin- ian-Pilot only a day or two before he left to goin the American convoy sailing for Africaj. Boyle, 751-vear-old Kansan, is on his first F ,Q .2-QQ.'.l,'.-j,ZQi'gij assignment as a war correspqiident. A mem- ber of the AP staff in New York for five years be- H fore goinv abroad. He is a Graduate of the Uni- AROLD BONE versity of' Missouri School on Journalism. Stories on Pages 2 and 3 xiii? :if Q I2 E. I 41.. xiao - -4