Daly (DD 519) - Naval Cruise Book

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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I , I I I I4 u I I III Ig! .......4......A.........-... ---. ..... ..-...., II P. II II I Il! I? In I I E :I ,C I I I is I! 5 I I I I I I II z xr I ,gp II I I It E I Iii II 'I lx I I, is iv I: I. ., II II III 51, I I I MII -. -. -,.,... f ,-. ..- .... JT a n L-. 1. ....-L. I I Forty From New York, course was set for Cape Cod Canal and Massachusetts Bay. At Massachusetts Bay a rendezvous took place with other destroyers and the new Lexington, the aircraft carrier that was built to replace the older fight- ing Lex. i After a few exercises with the Lex, the ship pulled into Commonwealth Pier, Boston, and again liberty! e The ship left Boston, and course was set for Norfolk, Va. Here the Lex- ington had to go into dry dock for a number of days, and that suited the boys very well, the more liberty, the merrier. On 22 July 1943, the Lex was ready for sea, the DALY and accom- panying destroyers escorted her to the Panama Canal. Here the little force wasbroken up. The Lexington and the other destroyers went one way, the DALY the other, but not without giving the boys a taste of liberty in Colon and Balboa. There were many big heads the morning the ship departed from Balboa into the Pacific. By this time, scuttlebutt had been getting around concerning the tour of duty the ship was to serve in the Aleutian Islands. It all remained scuttle- butt until our departure from San Diego, the Captain broadcast over all cir- cuitsg uOur next port of call will be Adak, Aleutian Islands. This seemed to smell of action, fo-r only about one hour's flying time from Adak was the .I ap-held air base of Kiska. The anxious crew brought their destroyer into Kuluk Bay, Adak Island, Aleutian Islands, early in August 1943. The presence of large naval forces gathered there made it very obvious that the Japanese strong point of sKiska they had heard so much about was soon to be scratched from the list of .I ap held island bases. THE ASSAULT AND OCCUPATION OF KISKA As a unit of the United States Pacific Fleet fFirst Fleet and North Pacific Forcej the DALY was assigned to a reserve force of transports whose job was to reinforce our troops on Kiska after the initial landings. Everything ran smoothly and quietly until, just after midnight of 17 August, the general alarm was sounded and all hands leaped from their bunks and manned their battle stations. Everyone remained on his toes for an an- ticipated torpedo attack by enemy submarines. One of our destroyers suffer- ed from a violent underwater explosion. This event brought the first battle fear to the crew as they waited for information on the explosion. It was soon learned that it wasn't 'a torpedo that caused the explo-sion, but a mine. One of our ships had been seriously damaged. When the estimated number of casualties of this ship was announced there were many scared faces on board. Fighting .laps was one thing, but mines, underwater obstacles, was another. When the occupation of Kiska was completed, the ship started back to Adak for fuel, provisions, etc., for the remainder of the time in the Aleutians, the battle was against weather and mountainous seas. The ship experienced many rugged days and nights while on patrols from Adak as far as Attu. Storms in the Aleutians seemed to come from nowhere and at any time. Theswur of duty in the Aleutians lasted from August until November 1943. During this period, there were enjoyable trips as well as the unpleasant ones. The ship made a modified tour of the Aleutian Islands. lVIost of the crew had the opportunity to go ashore on Kiska. Then down to Dutch I-Iarbor, where liberty was granted, giving the'-boys the opportunity of visiting small Unalaska. For days everyone talked about the way they were robbed at a little souvenir shop at Unalaska and the brawl they had with members of the crew of one of the other ships in the squadron. From the latter part of September until our time of departure from the Aleutians, the DALY operated with a cruiser-destroyer task force of the Ninth Fleet. Nothing of importance happened during the long, tireso-me patrols. One night, while on patrol around,Attu Island, word was received that ten Jap- III ' If :I II I F - II . ' I ' 5 51, - . - I-I I I i' Yip-Hwnnrv An f . , Y

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'E' - ' , ,.,,,,,..'2'.-I'......l'f...:'?!..11..-...,. - f---:ly-R -- --- - H if-111, ...... .... Forty two Her Adventures K continued j anese medium bombers, believed to be uPnettys , were working over our air- fields. Early in November, the ship left Adak en route to a new assignment. Now the day was coming, for everyone Pearl Harbor lay the active war zones and plenty of laps. Pearl Harbor for knew that beyond Harbor. The foul warm. There was sea was calm, not On Thanksgiving Day 1943, the ship arrived at Pearl wear gear was tucked away, for here the weather was very no comparison with this area and the Aleutians. Here the even the slightest sign of fog. The period in Pearl Harbor from Thanksgiving Day until 9 December 1943 was one of more advanced training than that which had been previous- ly experienced by the crew. Long, hard periods of anti-aircraft, anti submarine and fighter-direction exercises were conducted. The boys all knew that they were being prepared for a really tough schedule in the not-too-distant future. On 9 December 1943, the DALY departed from Pearl Harbor en route to Milne Bay, New Guinea, via Funi Futi, Ellice lslands, and Espirito Santo, New Hebrides lslands. The ship anchored at Milne Bay, New Guinea. Then came the meeting of Commanding Officers, which usually led the crew to believe that something very important was coming up. Most of us' had guessed from scuttlebutt that the ship was to participate in the assault and occupation of Cape Gloucester, New Britain. lt wasn't only scuttlebutt that prepared the crew for what was coming off g there was much more than that. The Captain, for the first time, calledl the crew to the fantail. The word was passed throughout the ship on all circuits: uAll hands lay aft to the fantailf' How well everyone got to know those words! Those words on many occasions meant that stores were coming aboard or ammunition was coming on board, but scuttlebutt again served its purpose. Scuttlebutt even got around that the Captain would call all hands to the fantail at such-and-such a time. Usually a good part of the crew would be there waiting before the ,word was even passed. The Captain finally would make his appearance and all hands would come to- attention. With maps of our objective areas in hand and an admirable smile on his face, the Captain would say: 6GWell, where are we going this timen? If someone didn't holler Hthe States or 64Sydney, they let out the chosen scuttlebutt. The Captain would then give a big smile and commence his prepared talk on the operation. It usually started something like this: uWe have been granted the privilege of operating with a force of destroyers escorting LSTs to Cape Gloucester, New Britain. Then he'd tell us what to expect when we got there, -the strength of the enemy in surrounding areas, and, most important of all, the particular Job the DALY had been assigned to do THE ASSAULT AND OCCUPATION OF CAPE GLOUCESTER On the 24 December 1943, the ship left the Buna Roads, New Guinea, en route to Cape Cretln, New Guinea, for a rendezvous with an echelon of LSTs and a tug The rendezvous took place at the scheduled time, and the DALY, as a unit of Task Force 76, U S Seventh Fleet was off on her first mission in the Southwest Pacific On the day after Christmas 1943 the force arrived at the channel entrance to Borgen Bay Cape 4 loucester and proceeded to patrol the area north of Cape Gloucester The LSTs went off to their deslgnated beaches to unload troops and tanks, trucks and artillery guns that would soon blast the Japanese from every stronghold that they presently held on the Cape Everything went smoothly and quietly The boys kept saying to each other It s another llq1Sk3 Finally during the late afternoon the silence was ous a1r battle was belng fought by our air patrols and the enemy aircraft A number of these planes were getting through ou1 air patrols and the ship s combat informatlon center blared away with reports of unidentified aircraft ' U U . , . . O I rw 1 9 9 J 9 A . 66 9 o 79 . . . 1 . . . , 9 0 7 broken by the general alarm. There were enemy aircraft in the area. A furi- O . . . . 9 I Q ' . , I f