Daly (DD 519) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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Her Adventures fcontinuedl approaching. Soon, dogfights between our air patrols and the .laps were sighted on the horizon. The OTC shouted the order over the TBS for all ships to stand by to -.repel enemy air attacks. V ' It was a matter of minutes before every gun on the ship blazed away at enemy planes diving in from all sides. One of these planes managed to obtain a direct hit on the sister ship of the DALY, the U.S.S. Brownson fDD518J . She was sinking fast. A good many of the crew saw the horrible sight that shall never be forgotten. The Brownson burst into flames amidships, and her crew was streaming over the sides into the shark-infested waters oil' New'Britain. - Enemy planes again came in at us dropping bombs that landed 50 to 100 yards in the wake and on the starboard beam. The ship's' guns blasted two of the attackers from the sky. The ship ceased maneuvering radically and took position to rescue sur- vivors from the Brownson. Both boats were lowered into the water and rescue operations began. The gunners watched the sky eagerly for enemy planes, the ship was dead in the water providing a perfect target for the enemy planes had they come in again. Rescue operations continued until every survivor was aboard. They were treated quickly. Every man that could be spared from his battle station assisted, saving the lives of many o-f the survivors. s The crew of the DALY was no longer a green crew. They had now seen war. They were no longer eager to get into battle with enemy planes, but when the enemy planes came around they gave them a hot reception, knowing it was either the DALY or the planes. The air-sea battle at Cape Gloucester was long remembered by all those who were present. We now knew that we had 'to be on our toes, we had to do our jobs and do them well. This battle gave good evidence of what future was in store for us in the Pacific. It meant teamwork-something the officers and men exemplified. U A Enemy planes appeared in the area quite often during the remainder of the day. Our air patrols performed a marvelous job of intercepting the larger numbers of enemy planes before they got into- position to attack. Be- tween the anti-aircraft firing from our ships and the splendid. work of our air patrols, over 80 enemy planes were shot down during the assault and occupa- tion of Cape Gloucester. Following Cape Gloucester were operations reinforcing the .Cape and new assaults on New Guinea. Q THEF ASSAULT AND OCCUPATION OF FSAI-D-OR, N. G. On New Year's Day 1944, the ship departed from its base at Milne Bay via the regular routes to escort and cover amphibious units, Seventh Fleet, to the Saidor Area, New Guinea, for the assault and occupation of this enemy area. It was not a very difficult operation, as our fighter cover prevented enemy planes from interrupting the operation. A few, days after the initial landing, the ship made numerous trips from Saidor to various bases on New Guinea, escorting reinforcements back to Saidor. - After the situation was well in hand, the ship returned to base at Buna, N. G. Early in February 1944, the DALY was released from duty with Task Force 76, for a ten-day liberty and recreation period in Sydney, Australia. Arriving in Sydney on the 8 February, liberty parties streamed ashore. We all had a well-earned, enjoyable time. Everyone from the Captain to the greenest seaman second class made out well in Sydney Ship's parties and dances went over w1th great success, and, as the Captain told the crew in one of his fantail get togethers, the hunting was very good in Sydney When the period of liberty and recreation was over the ship proceeded back to base at New Gulnea and was reassigned with the Seventh Fleet Thls 0 ' . V 66 ' 99 Q O I . I 9 . Forty Four Q