Okin awa ' x c4 β’ if.iV ::- San Narcco f arcwo (; SanAntomg YapO PelcLeu Anaaur O oOcs o ' Ji sj ' y Iwo Jima TKjs is the official score as of March, 1946 r A Tiniano jpSaipan O Roto Guam ' i - k - k siUIithi o β’ 4 LIFE ABOARD THE U.S.S. DENVER A BIOGRAPHY OF THE CL 58 1942-1945 Dedicated TO THE MEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN ACTION OLIN FRANCIS BEEBE PETER CHARLES iSHAIDO r LOUIS FREDERICK COTALING RIVET JOHN DAIGRE JUSTUS JOHN DREFS BUSTER ELI FANNING HAROLD EARL FIELDING JOSEPH JAMES GERACI JACOB MARTIN GRACE ALVIN PERRY HIETT WILLIAM HORAK CLYDE BRADLEY JACKSON CHARLES FRANCIS JUROVICH GEORGE FRANK KASPER THAMES FREDERICK NORRIS NORBERT JOSEPH REEDER CLAUDE FRANCIS TARKINGTON JAMES WILLIAM THOMPSON JOSEPH PETER GULAS JOSEPH GARLAND VIA CHARLES EDWIN WHITE -k - ' HjiKf Milk ..« ' iw , U.S.S. Denver, CL 58 ' V r . Commander James D. Ferguson, Executive Officer Cflj ' tiJiii Thomas F. Dardcn, Commanding 4} Rcar-Aiimiral R. B. Carney f Rear Admiral R. P. Brisfof Rent- Admiral A. M. Bledsoe Story of Our Captains CAPTAIN R. B. CARNEY put the Denver in commission and guided her through the Consolidation of the Southern Solomons and running the Slot. He was detached on 24 July 1943 and became Chief of Staff to Admiral Halsey with the rank of Rear Admiral. Captain Carney vas re- placed by Captain R. P. Briscoe who took the ship through the battle of Empress Augusta Bay and was in command when the Dniver received her torpedo hit. On Feb- ruary 22, 1944, Captain Briscoe was re- lieved by Capt. A. M. Bledsoe. Captain Briscoe attained the rank of Rear Admiral and became ComPhibGroup 14. Captain Bledsoe brought the ship through all the battles of the second cruise including the Philippine landings until April 6, 1945, when Capt. T. F. Darden took command through tne Balikpapan bombardment and brought the ship safely home to the States again. Captain Bledsoe was advanced in rank to Rear Admiral and became ComCru- Div.l {5 The Denver was launched at Camden, Nciv Jersey on April 4, 1942 46 ACTION REPORT-U.S.S. DENVER THERE is plenty of reason for men of the Diiu ' ir to be proud of their ship, and they are proud of her, and not a little bit thankful for her luck. For the Daivcr ' s story does not quite cover three years, yet in that time she is credited with the destruction or assist of 7 Japanese warships and 14 Japanese aircraft and has participated in 14 shore bombardments, most of which covered amphibious landings. On the other side of the ledger, she has had her share of hits and near misses, having had 3 Nip eight- inch projectiles pass completely through her without exploding, but getting hit by an aerial torpedo within the next ten days in November, 1943. She had one Kamikaze crash close aboard in October, 1944, holing her starboard side and causing minor flood- ing. Her topside men have -watched lots of bombs fall, and her below decks personnel have heard the explosions. But for all this, she has let the Japs take only 20 of her men and less than that number wounded. Except for a brief training cruise through the fog banks of Chesapeake Bay after she w as commissioned in October, 1942, the Denvar ' s story is one of the Pacific War, and commences after her arrival at Noumea, New Caledonia, on February 5, 1943. The con- solidation of the Southern Solomons was beginning, with emphasis on disrupting the enemy ' s Tokyo Express rims to airstrips and bivouacs at Munda and Kolombangara. She joined Admiral A. S. Merrill ' s task force of cruisers and destroyers, which by force of circumstances then existing in the Solomons was a small and ever-changing organization. On the nights of March 5 and 6 the Den- ver drew first blood. With a group assigned to bombard Kolombangara the Denver was approaching the harbor, her guns loaded with High Capacity projectiles for shore bom- bardment. Rounding a point of land, her radar operators picked up two targets through the darkness lying dead in the water. As all hands were at GQ, it was but a mat- ter of seconds before the first salvo was streaking through the night towards the targets. The H.C. projectiles caused great explosions topside and evidently cleared off all personnel, for not a shot was fired in return. The Denver is officially credited with the sinking of two destroyers, but the men in the directors and the control stations feel certain that the tripod masts illuminated by the tremendous explosions could belong only to Jap cruisers. However, they were not given long to discuss the matter, for the vessels were both beneath the waves in less than ten minutes. Thereafter, bombardment operations in the Solomons became routine to the extent that they were a complement to I. r training activities. On the nights of June 30-July 1, 1943, the Denver participated in a mine laying and bombardment operation, the purpose of which -was to mine the southern outlets of the enemy ' s base at Bum and to destroy his air facilities in this sector preliminary to the New Georgia assault on July 1. This raid was made in a rainstorm so thick it was impossible to see your hand in front of your face. At Ballale, on this strike against an airstrip, was conducted the first blind spot- ting operation participated in by the Denver, {7 In the Cliaiiis Main Deck Aft {R} her air coverage having gi en up and returned home because of the weather. This raid repre- sented the greatest penetration by surface craft into enemv held territory of the war to that date. And after these preparations, the Dini ' tr found herself in a verv busv lulv, dur- ing which the Cruiser Division to which she was attached was running The Slot almost nightly with another bombardment of Munda airstrip in support of projected troop movements thrown in. This activity was followed by a brief period of training and rest, but by October the Dliii ' lt and her running mates were a part of the task force which opened the Bougain- ville Island campaign with a bombardment of the Buka-Bonis airstrips in northern Bougainville on the night of the 31st, and a strike on southern Bougainville the morn- ing of November 2. This action included a somewhat timid air attack by 70 Jap Vals, Bettys, and Zekes in which this ship shot down at least two planes. The night bombardment of the Buka- Bonis installations caught the Japanese so by surprise that they confusedly thought them- selves under air attack and fired their guns harmlessly skyward while our ships meth- odically pounded them from the sea. But surprise in the north alerted the Jap gun- ners to the south in the Shortland area and three, five, and six-inch batteries opened fire there without delay. The Dciutr ' .s gun- ners, however, quickly silenced three three- inch and one six-inch emplacement in her sector before they could get her range. Only twenty-four hours later occurred the night engagement of Empress Augusta Bay, the Dfiuvr ' 5 most spectacular battle. Although there are many of the old salts who are not sure yet just e.xactly what happened that night because of the utter darkness, the engagement has since been reconstructed. The stage for this sea battle was the north end of the Solomon Sea, about thirty-five miles west of Empress Augusta Bay. When intercepted, the Japanese task force, com- prising twelve units in three groups, namely four destroyers, four cruisers, four destroyers, was on a direct course between their base at Rabaul and Empress Augusta Bay. Their apparent intention was to intercept and de- stroy our transports and supply ships un- loading there, and bombard the Marines ashore. Admiral Merrill ' s orders were ex- plicit: prevent any such occurrence. He exceeded his orders by not only doing just that, but virtually destroying the entire opposing force as well, never at any time, however, leaving even the tiniest entrance to Empress Augusta Bay where into a segment of the Jap force might slip in the heat of battle. With the surprise element in his favor, the choice of battle site was Admiral Merrill ' s. He had two alternatives: fight off uncharted shoals surrounding Em- press Augusta Bay, or farther westward in an area permitting more sea room. The former was chosen despite its disadvantages, because the mission was to maintain units in position across the entrance to Empress Augusta Bay. To compensate for the selec tion of the less favorable of the two battle sites, however. Admiral Merrill ' s strategy encompassed pushing the enemy westward in an area permitting more sea room. Admiral Merrill chose thusly, first, in order to gain more sea room to aid maneuvering; secondly, to enable the movements of any possible cripples to the unengaged side of the battle 9 β ' fpjWvriM KWgmj -r Niglit FiriiiQ Boil ' Wave i 10 line; and thirdly, to keep at all times the battle line between the Japs and Empress Augusta Bay. The enemy was west-north- west of us when intercepted. We stood in on an intercepting course between them and Empress Augusta Bay to cut them off from the latter. Our general movement was to the west, away from the bay as we com- menced firing at 0249. Our first salvos were fired to the starboard on a southerly course followed by sixty-five solid minutes of in- tensive long range gunnery duelling. Our ships started hitting almost immediately. Meanwhile the confused enemy column was resorting extensively to star shells to illumi- nate us. Float type Zeros were overhead dropping flares to aid them. In a heavy rain, the scene was one of utter confusion. Our ships β were twisting and turning, constantly maneuvering, yet somehow never losing sight of specific targets. Dark brown clouds of gun smoke were billowing up everywhere to merge into the low-lying rain clouds. From sea level to a height of only several hundred feet, star shells and flares were fur- nishing almost incessant illumination. The enemy ' s eight-inch salvos appeared almost as one enormous explosion when seen from the line of fire. Great geysers of water were shooting up on all sides of us. Every time a star shell broke into light, it brought into sharp relief the churning water, split up by anywhere from six to nine gun salvos Sev- eral ships of our formation vere burning around us. Others were smoking heavily, dead in the water. Almost incessant illumi- nation was aiding the accuracy of the enemy gunfire, so Admiral Merrill ordered our ships to make smoke, and ordered counter-illumi- nation bv star shells short of the enemv line. Great, thick, black rolls of smoke slid out of the funnels emphasizing the eeriness of the picture. Sixty-six minutes after the first salvo was fired, the backbone of the enemv battle line was broken. Those of his units that were able to do so were running away. Our battle line ceased firing at 0400, but it was not until 0545 that our last shot was fired by a destroyer salvo w hich put the final touch on the last cripple, an enemy can of the Fubuki class. The entire three-hour action had been fought in a circle with a radius of thirty miles. Three hours earlier the enemy had been sighted thirty miles off- shore. In the interim the battle had raged east and west about thirty miles and north and south about twenty miles. Secure from General Quarters was sounded about six in the morning as part of the crew staggered below for a well-earned cup of coffee. This respite was not for long, however. At 0745 GQ soundee with the raucous blare of A A call over the speakers. The gun crews racing topside were greeted with the sight of large groups of enemy planes coming in, sixty or seventy Aichi 99 dive bombers, easily identifiable by their fixed landing gear. At 0804 all hell busted loose. The Nips came in in scattered groups in glide- type forty-degree dives, strafing as they swooped past. Not a single bomb hit was scored in even the subsequent waves of bombers. The completion of this action marked the closing of twelve hours at battle stations out of the preceding thirty-two. It was here in the battle of Empress Augusta Bay that the Dtiuvr first tw o-blocked her rabbit ' s foot. Two eight-inch shells passed through the ship without striking armor and exploding; a third shell simply ventilated -Ill Radio Central SUy Plot Main Engine Control Mdcliinc Sliop Clllircll SlTI ' llTM CIC {12}. number one stack. One of the shells which passed through the ship played tag with number two barbette in its circuitous route as It missed the armor, causing white hairs among lower handling room personnel when they later viewed the holes. After the most exciting 72 hours of her existence, the DemtT retired to Port Purvis in the Solomons to lick her wounds and was then ready the evening of the ninth to escort the Third Echelon to Bougainville. The next few nights were sleepless for the D(.iircr men who remained at battle stations all night heckled by Jap planes which some- times only dropped flares but more often came in to attack. The night of 12-13 November started inauspiciously with two air attacks, both driven off by our AA fire. At 0451 all ships in the formation commenced firing at several enemy planes. A destroyer skipper shouted on the TBS, Torpedoes in water headed toward big boys. At 0455 while turning left at full rudder to avoid torpedo wakes, the Denver felt a tremendous jar which seemed to lift her out of the water and leave her quivering in the air. She had been hit in the after engine room by an aerial torpedo and immediately listed 7 degrees. Lights went out and the gyro repeaters and steering engines went dead. Soon she lay dead in the water, listing now thirteen degrees, too close to Rabaul and 200 lap planes for comfort. Excited by the increasing list a few men threw life rafts overboard until Captain Briscoe calmly announced, We ' ll take her home, boys. The engineers soon had us going ahead at about four knots on one shaft as the C and R men removed the list by pumping all the starboard tanks. The de- stroyers continued to steam frantically in circles around the Dimvr until the Sioux, an ocean-going tug, took her under tow about 0730. A sight muster of the crew revealed that twenty men were missing and thirty-seven wounded. Of those missing, two had been; stationed on a gun just above the torpedo hole, five had been in the handling room of mount five, and the rest had been in the after engine room. The rest of that day and night were spent steaming toward Tulagi at six knots at General Quarters in constant fear of an air attack with no air cover and less than half of the AA battery operative. The morning of the fifteenth, amid cheers and blasts on whistles from other ships in the harbor, the DnirtT proceeded to her anchorage in Port Purvis. There followed a dreary time with men eating topside, working night and day in oil and debris of all sorts, removing ammuni- tion, and repairing the ship. The bodies were recovered and taken to Tulagi ceme- tery A memorial service for the Denver men lost in action was held on the forecastle on November 18 by Chaplain Hindman, who was assisted in the service by a Priest from a neighboring ship. On November the 21st, a cofferdam having been constructed in the after mess hall, the ship got underway for Espintu Santo in the New Hebrides, towed by the U.S.S. Pawnee. She arrived there the 24th and went into a floating drydock a few days later. In three weeks the tremendous hole in the side had been closed and number three engine was back in commission. {U} SUy2 Hoistiiifj 111 tlic SOC SOC aitdjap Q Boat ' C Dii ' isiOM Insfn tioii 40 mm. Director FlU ' llMSJ u} December the 21st found the Dtm r home- ward bound via Samoa and Pearl. The Golden Gate Bridge was sighted in the late afternoon of January 2 and that night the ship tied up in Mare Island for a four-months overhaul and repairs. Work was commenced on January 2, 1944 and completed May 8, 1944. During this time her crew was given well-earned leave and rest, but training for further combat was not overlooked. Post repair training was conducted m the San Diego-San Clemente area. Diiult men still talk of their Mare Island duty; their description of it, in a word, is: Good! Always a fighting ship, however, in com- pany with the LI. S.S. Frankliii she joined Task Force 58 at Eniwetok and got into the thick of the Marianas campaign by partici- pating in the Third Bonins Raid on July 3-4, 1944. The raids on Iwo Jima, Haha Jima, and Chichi Jima Islands, now famous but then hardly known, were primarily carrier strikes, but the cruisers got in a little Fourth of July celebration at short range on Iwo Jima airstrips and other installations. As soon as the Dciu ' tr ' s portion of the bom- bardment was completed, she pulled off and everyone came topside to watch the heavies bombard for a while. Following the July 3-4 raids, the Dliu ' lt continued to operate in the famous Task Force 58 in the Marianas Campaign until early in August. This period saw the substantial completion of the Saipan Campaign and the start of the Guam and Tinian operations. Task Force 58 flew almost daily strikes against Guam, Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. Late in the month a two- day raid was made on Yap, Woleai, and Ulithi, but thanks to the excellence of car- rier fighter operations, both day and night, all enemy aircraft were splashed outside surface ship A A range. Early in August, 1944 she rejoined her old cruiser division, and became the flagship of Rear Admiral R. W. Hayler, and in Sep- tember earned the name of lighthouse buster when she shot down the Angaur Lighthouse during the Palau bombardment. Aircraft bombs did practically no damage to the structure, and the five-inch which began the Dciu ' cr ' .s- attack on it did nothing but leave little black spots on the side. The light was suspected of being used as an enemy command and observation post and had been the target of a number of ships to no avail. The Razor then closed to 3,000 yards and Turret 3 put thirteen out of fifteen six-inch projectiles into the masonry tower which dropped with a satisfactory crash and a cloud of dust. A bit later the Diinvr was back at Ulithi β this time to cover a landing. In view of light opposition expected, the bantamweight bom- bardment group included only this ship and two destroyers. She bombarded the islands outside the lagoon while mine sweeping was conducted inside the lagoon and main- tained a scheduled fire at the northern end of the atoll. During the bombardment a small native dog was seen trotting uncon- cernedly along the beach. A six-inch salvo left the guns of the Denver ' s main battery with a roar. When the dust cloud on the beach cleared oft, there was nothing but clear sand to be seen. At the end of the bombardment of the island, a reconnaissance detachment was put ashore and returned with two natives who informed the Army interpreter that all Japs had left three weeks 05 Trained to Port 40 ' s in Action 16 before, hence the lack of any return fire. The ahernoon of D Day at Ulithi wound up with a picnic and swimming party on the Vieach But Pacific Fleet cruisers just don ' t have things that nice for long. The DcMiir ' . ' i divi- sion joined the Seventh Fleet and by the middle of October was in the thickest part ot the Philippine liberation campaign. Dur- ing a typhoon she fired a bombardment on Suluan Island in support of a Ranger Unit which secured the island, and thus claims to have fired the first big gun salvo in that campaign at 0801 on October 17, 1944. The main landings on the beaches of Leyte were complicated by the still threatening typhoon, but on the 19th the Dtinvr ' .s guns were again blazing away at targets in the vicinity of Dulag town, and on the 20th the landing occurred without opposition. After the landings, the bombardment group lay off the beachhead during daylight hours anc4 accommodated the Army spotters by placing call fire as the troops moved inland During the pre-assault bombardment and the call-fire which followed, Dciiicr was credited with damage and destruction of Japanese supply dumps, trucks, pillboxes, and other installations. At night the bom- bardment group patrolled the southern part of Leyte Gulf, ready to meet any surface threat from Surigao Straits, either east or south. The Diinvr was present when this threat materialized late on October 24, 1944. Submarine and plane sightings throughout the 23rd and 24th showed the enemy to be concentrating in the Mindoro area for what could only mean an attempt to de stroy our fleet units protecting Leyte Gulf and thus cut off and annihilate our land forces on Leyte and nearby islands Soon after 0100 on the 25th contacts from PT boats stationed at the southern entrance re- porteci sightings of several ships entering the straits from the southwest between Camiguan and Bohol Islands. The story writ- ten the night of the 24th and the day of the 25th IS now well known, and has won its place as one of the actions that broke the back of Japanese naval strength. It is the Story of the Battle of Surigao Strait where the Japs met the ghost battleships of Pearl Harbor. Due to the great popular appeal of these old Pearl Harbor BB ' s and in rendering the honors certainly due them, it IS felt that the story of the splendid job done and tremendous fire put out by the cruisers has never been fully told. The Jap forces were believed to have been composed ol two battleships, four cruisers, and ten destroyers. Tactically, the situation could hardly have been more unfavorable for the enemy. He ran a gauntlet of our PT boats and destroyers only to arrive at the northern end to find on his first contact that his T had been crossed by the superior force under Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf. The Diiu ' tr formed part of the left flank forces and it can be seen from her action that the cruisers were along for more than the ride. Almost from the moment of com- mencing fire at 0350 observers on the Diiircr saw enemy ships in flames. Her gunners opened on target and immediately went to rapid salvo fire, and the first target was reported on fire in one minute. By 0400 her main hatterv target lay dead in the water and burning fiercely; it had without doubt been hit by many other of our ships, too. The five-inch battery then opened on another 17j. Wake Carrol in tfie Snow Mason β Heaving Line Bilge Pump Convoy 40β No. 6 4l8 target, but the target was soon lost. For the next thirty minutes the action was fast, and several targets were taken under fire, only one of which appeared not to be in flames. At this time the remaining Japs who could run were doing just that. At 0630 the Dnuvr, Colioiiliuj and three destroyers were ordered to chase the cripples and finish them off, and shortly after 0700 they were shooting at a Katori class light cruiser that was dead in the water with her bow blown off. The target sank in ten min- utes and there was evidence of at least three other ships sinking or having sunk near the Jap cruiser at this time. Debris, fires, masts settling, small boats and wreckage littered the area. At 0730 in the morning the engage- ment was broken off and the Task Group headed north to be in a position to help a group of CVE ' s that was reported to be engaged with another Jap force. But the Denver did not get in on this and it is another story. However, the fact that she was not needed w as another stroke of luck for she had nearly exhausted her allowance of armor piercing projectiles and her high capacity projectiles had been pretty well used up on the shore bombardment. And in all Leyte Gulf she could find only 1100 six-inch AP ' s which she had to share with the Coliiml ' ui. Shooting at the Jap was an exercise the gunners en- joyed, but loading ammunition ' ith a sky full of bogies is no fun; the lads on the Dcii- I ' tT knew they had participated and done their share in a real surface action, and no one can ever talk them out of it or snow them under. A few days later the DLintr ' s AA boys got credit for an assist on a Jap Val and the ship Itself fell victim to one of the first Kamikaze attacks. It happened on October 28, and the plane was repeatedly hit by AA guns and plunged into the sea about fifty feet off the starboard quarter. No per- sonnel casualties were sustained, but the near miss of the plane and its bombs caused moderate underwater damage. Again Lady Luck was aboard β plus a number of fancy lead slingers. This Kamikaze was quickly followed by others in small numbers on that day and in force on the 29th, but thereafter the Divine Winds blew less strongly, and the Denver was sent off to get patched up β this time to Manus in the Admiralties. At Manus she was given excellent treat- ment by the repair ship Medusa, whose ex- perts performed the neat trick of listing her to port some fourteen degrees and very satis- factorily patching the hole in her starboard side. By this time Manus had recreation facilities that were welcomed by all, and liberty on the beach fortified by a few cold beers was greatly enjoyed. As a matter of fact, the repair crews were a little too efficient to suit all hands, for in a few weeks the Denver was again ready for action. She returned to the Leyte area in late November to help complete the securing of that area. Enemy action at that time con- sisted only of sporadic air attacks, and the only close call was a bomb dropped 200 yards off the starboard quarter. Four men were wounded, none seriously, by the re- sulting bomb fragments and the Jap bomber disintegrated in pulling out of its attack dive. No wonder the men of the Denver feel that not only can she get the job done β she ' ll get you back from it! In mid-December, the Denver participated 09 Clcfliii ' tiij Tnrri-t 4 .SiiMsct lit Sco Oo}- in the Mindoro operation, working with the Carrier Escort group which provided convoy and beachhead cover. The group was sub- jected to numerous air attacks in which the Dcmvr sustained no damage, but accounted for two more Jap aircraft. This operation went well and the cruisers returned to Manu.s tor logistic replenishment, including Christmas dinner. Before they left the Mindoro area the men from the ship were able to get ashore and do a little sight-seeing on their own. For almost everyone this was their first experience with the water buffalo, which they ran into around San Jose. The e er-present souvenir hunters found an un- exploded Jap torpedo on the beach and pro- ceeded to try their hands at dismantling it without the benefit of professional advice on the subject. When the nLiuvr men left it, the torpedo was no longer alive. With their little screwdrivers and pliers they managed to take away all the vital parts as trophies of the Pacific War. Some people are just born lucky. That liberty turned into rather an all night affair for one of the men in the B division who got lost in the jungle and wandered around all night. The Japs evi- dently did not enjoy a stranger in their midst, so they took a few pot shots at him. He was finally rescued in the morning by a Marine scouting party who found the bedraggled fello β’ sitting perched up in a tree. At the first of the year 1945, the Denver departed Manus for the Lingayen Gulf oper- ation, operating as part of the covering group of cruisers, CVE ' s, and destroyers. Operat- ing well at sea, this group was not subject to suicide attacks on the scale experienced by the bombardment ships in the gulf, but did receive considerable attention from Jap planes in the course of which three more were splashed by her AA guns. With the Lin- gayen landing successfully completed, the task of cleaning up the Philippines was left to the Seventh Fleet cruisers, and the OiMrir became part of the mopping up and con- solidating force. Not all of these operations required the full cruiser force, but the Dciiicr still got in on landing operations in Zambales, Batangas Province, Grande Island in Subic Bay, Nasugbu, the Mariveles-Corregidor assault, Puerto Princessa, Palawan, stood by at Zamboangaand Iloilo, and again participated in operations at Malabang, Parang, Cotabato vicinity of South Central Mindanao, and the last amphibious operation of the Philippines in Davao Gulf, thus firing the last as well as the first big gun salvo in the Philippine campaign. These operations became routine to the Dcnrcr ' 5 gunners, but this was nicely broken by a couple of liberties in war-torn Manila, the first of which occurred on April 2 and copped another first for the Dciu ' cr. Steaming as flagship of Rear Admiral R. S. Riggs at the head of the cruiser division, in column, she was the first heavy U.S. man-of- war to enter Manila Bay since the beginning of the Pacific War. On June 7, 1945, the Dnuvr got underway from Subic Bay in company with her old friends, but not for another job in the Philip- pines β their task was completed there. This time the mission was that of furnishing dis- tant cover for the amphibious operations in the Brunei Bay area of northwestern Borneo β another cruiser division being the bambard- ment group. But the Jap cruisers reported to be at Singapore gave no trouble (one did come out at the time and was sunk bv a 21 Looking Forward GcdunU Stand Fresh ScflgMll Signal Light Anderson, Armour, Benson, Glcnnon, Ahrams Services in the Hangar Deck 4 22 British submarine), so the Diiiivr and her group were detached from the area when the landing was completed successfully about lune 1 1 . The division proceeded to Tawi- tawi Island in the Sulu Archipelago for re- plenishment before the Balikpapan operation β perhaps the longest and shootingest in the Dcm ' cr ' 5 career. The group left Tawitawi on June 13 to cover the preliminary mine sweeping opera- tions and to furnish pre-landing bombard- ment. From the fifteenth of June until the DciUYT was detached on the first of July, she was in continuous Condition 1 or II during the daylight hours β along with some more of the same as conditions required at night. By Dog Day, July 1, our Naval forces off Balikpapan totalled eight United States, three Australian, and one Dutch cruiser and their accompanying destroyers. Our shore bombardment was so intense that Australian troops landed at the oil-rich Jap-held hot spot without casualties. The high points for the Denver were several: she was ordered to sink one of our own mine- sweepers that had been damaged by Jap shore batteries; she got her last assist of the war when one of several attacking Jap planes was shot down during a night raid; and she had two more close calls, once when Jap bombers dropped three sticks of bombs which landed within eight hundred yards of her and again when one of our own B-24 ' s headed for a strike on the beach inadvertently dropped a bomb much too close for comfort while the Demer was alongside β of all things β an ammunition ship. Whew! Plank owners as well as boots cussed and discussed that incident for some time. The Demcr does not claim all of the firsts ' and lasts of the Pacific War, but the unique experience of firing at shore installations while fueling is certainly worth mention. While along- side the U.S.S. Cliefiielict for fuel, with the smoking lamp out, Jap shore batteries opened up on our mine sweepers. The Deiirer im- mediately returned that fire and silenced the batteries, for the time being at least, all to the delight of the crew of the tanker, for it was not often they got to see big guns in action so near at hand. After further replenishment and a week ' s rest at Leyte, the Deiu ' cr and her gang joined up with some larger fellows to go north. With Rear Admiral F. S. Low in command of the task force which included the mighty battle cruisers Giuuii, and Alaska, the Demer left Leyte the morning of July 13, 1945 for the now famous Okinawa Island in the Ryukyus and entered Buckner Bay at 0739 on the sixteenth. Even the old-timers aboard the Demer felt they were entering hallowed waters, for it was in these waters that the Kamikaze at- tacks reached their peak, and more such attacks could certainly be expected any time. The task force remained to fuel just that day, and before nightfall was underway again on what was expected to be one of the most exciting operations of the Deiu ' er ' s career β an anti-shipping sweep of the China Coast north to Shanghai. After playing tag with two typhoons for nearly four days, the task force entered the sweep area the evening of the 21st and early the next morning made contact with the China Coast. But except for tossing a few five-inch shells at a bogy that night, which turned tail in a hurry, the Denver had no targets. Subsequently sweeps made during 03}- C-hildcrs, Fliicto, Kiiriilccliiuii, MiiIlnL-v Iiisf ' alioM I ' v Ciif ' tiiiii Carney of the TliiiJ Division 24} the following several weeks proved as fruit- less; the Japs were gone or were saving up for another occasion. Without knowing it, the Denver ' s gunners at 2145, the night ot July 21st fired their last shot in anger driving off an enemy snooper, for at about 0815 in the morning of August 1 5 while she was going alongside a tanker in Buckner Bay to refuel, the news of Japanese Government acceptance of Allied surrender terms was received. While this news was somewhat anti- climactic and had been expected, it was re- ceived with great enthusiasm by all hands. The ever-sharp and on the ball signal gang hoisted the general signal cease present exercises, designating WAR along with one or two other miscellaneous and strictly irregular items in competition with other signals hoisted by other ships. But if such activity caused an arched eyebrow by a senior officer, it was certainly unnoticed; besides, everybody was feeling pretty good. So still in a spot that could be hot at any moment, the Dciiivr saw the end of World War II β just exactly two months short of three years of continuous fighting, or licking her wounds in preparation for another tussle with the enemy. Remembering that Japs are tricky and lacking official confirmation of the surrender of Japan, Denver remained in a full war-time status. As time passed the fact was realized that we had won a decisive victory, and delay of the surrender was of a technical nature onlv. On the ninth of September, Demer de- parted Buckner Bay for good and steamed to Japan, where she was to act as a part of the covering force for the evacuation of prisoners of war, and later tor the landing of our Sixth Army troops in the Wakayama, Japan, area On arrival off the target area she steamed back and forth for several days before enter- ing, covering her accompanying escort car- riers. On the fifteenth she entered and anchored in Wakanoura Wan, just oft Wakanoura and Wakayama, Honshu, Japan. On the seventeenth and eighteenth of September the Dciiier experienced perhaps the worst weather she has ever faced in the form of a typhoon which swept the area. The ship rolled severely, registering a thirty- six degree roll at the height of the storm. Winds were registered up to eighty knots while gusts were as high as one hundred knots. Life lines were rigged to keep men from being washed completely overboard by the tremendous swells that washed over the main deck, foaming around the turrets. The pilot house was a scene of feverish activ- ity with the Captain at the con jockeying the ship around the anchor trying to keep her headed into the seas and oft the beach. Some of the ships were not so lucky, for they ended up on the shores of Wakanoura with some loss of life. In fact the Deiiivr dragged anchor with only one anchor down less than a thousand yards β a shorter distance than any other ship in the harbor with the excep- tion of the hospital ship CoiLsuliituni. When the center of a typhoon passes within fifty miles of a ship, things begin popping β in- cluding the barometer, which fell to 28.88, a new low for most of the old salts. The coming of the cold gray dawn, with the calming sea, saw some mighty weary men seeking their sacks β C and R who had been kept busy with the anchor chain and running after leaks about the ship β gunners ' mates 05}- Fontaine ami Hattlcr in Pilot House Houston, Barry, Lt. Comdr. Wagner, Alli ' n, Captain Dardcn, Lt. (jg) Waters on open hridgc {26} removing fuses from projectiles and trying to keep powder cases from shiftmg β the sick bay boys swabbing up broken ether bottles β and Sammy Gould in the canteen up to his knees in broken Coca Cola jugs. During the next four weeks the ship ' s personnel roamed the beaches and backroad of Wakanoura in search of souvenirs on their liberty days. Then, on the fifth of October in 1945 at midnight, the Captain awoke the ship with the pleasing announcement, The Dtiu ' tr has just received orders to return to the United States on the twentieth of the month. The DcmtT departed Japan on the twen- tieth as scheduled, heading east. After a two-day stop at Pearl Harbor, vhere the boys vented some of their pent-up steam, she left, streaming her 1040-foot home- w ard-bound pennant, supported by aero- logical balloons. On November fourth she arrived at San Pedro, California, and moored in continental U.S. waters for the first time in more than seventeen months. After four days of liberty for the men she headed south to the Panama Canal, which was transited on the sixteenth of November. The liberty in Panama City and Balboa was second to nothing the men had ever been through. The trip from there on in was uneventful, and on the morning of the twenty-first of No- vember, the Denver arrived in Hampton Roads β home at last. While statistics are not always too inter- esting. It IS believed that a few facts will round out the story of the Denver at war. Rear Admiral R. W. Hayler flew his flag as Commander Cruiser Division Tw elve in the Denver from August to December, 1944, when he was relieved by Rear Admiral R. S. Riggs, who remained in the Dcm ' cr until April, 1945. Her war-time commanding officers were Cap ts. R. B. Carney, R. P. Briscoe, A. M. Bledsoe, and T. F. Darden. At the orders of these four officers, the Dcm ' cr ' .s gunners fired 18,249 rounds of six-inch, 22,746 rounds of five- inch, 65,993 rounds of 40 millimeter, and 32,074 rounds of 20 millimeter projectiles β and that is some shooting; under their watchful eyes and guidance she steamed slightly over 150,000 war-time miles β and that IS getting around. Her mileage record is relatively not as high as her shooting record, but her men are willing to attribute that to the fact that she got where the fighting was going on and stayed there until it was over. DENVER MARINES UNITED STATES MARINES are found aboard every capital ship in Uncle Sam ' s powerful fleet. The Diiuit Marine Guard, though small in number, definitely established themselves as one of the most outstanding organizations of this fighting Cruiser ' s complement. Manning two quadruple forty-millimeter anti-aircraft guns, the Dcmir leathernecks proved their mettle. During the incessant Japanese Kamikaze attacks in the battle of Leyt e Gulf in the Philippines, the Marine guns were a potent contribution to the heavy machine-gun battery. Duties of a sea-going Marine are not so glamorous as those of a Fleet Marine who stormed the beaches of many a Jap-infested Pacific isle. Serving high ranking Naval {21} officers as orderlies together with interior guard duty constitute the mam duties of the sea-going Marine However, they have also acted as orderlies during the several Sum- mary Courts-Martial which have taken place on board the Dcmcr. The standards main- tained bv the ( ' inrir Marine Guard have shown the efficiency so necessary in the suc- cessful operation of a warship. Commanding the Denver ' s Marine Detach- ment at the war ' s close was 1st Lt. W. H. Frey, formerly of the Twenty-fourth Regi- ment of the Fourth Marine Division. Second in command was 2nd Lt. Joseph A. Bell, who came aboard from the carrier U.S.S. HiiMcocl-. Unforgettable to former members of the detachment are the names of Maj. R. M. Ash and Capt. W. T. Kuhlmey. Leaving the Denver, Ma|or Ash joined the First Marine Division. With this division he lost his life in battle on Bloody Nose Ridge during fighting for the airstrip on the island of Peleliu in the Palaus. First Lt. R R Miner of the famous Second Marine Raider Battalion was the other officer who served aboard the Dcmvr. Gunnerv Sergeant Stanley B. Place, one of the Marine Corps ' most colorful NCO s. was in direct charge of drills, and it was through his untiring effort and the sweat of his men that the Douir Marines became molded into one of the Fleet ' s topnotch de- tachments. Gunnery Sergeant Place was well qualified to impart knowledge of the Corps to his new recruits, for he had served Marine Garrisons throughout the world. Other outstanding NCO ' s were Master Gunnery Sergeant H. Sample and Platoon Sergeant John Wassil. The smart military appearance and cour- tesy so evident in the ranks of the DiMiyt Marines will always remain a highlight when this famous ship ' s name is mentioned. PACIFIC LIBERTY LIBERTY in the Pacific was conspicuous _i mainly for its absence. During almost three years of Pacific warfare until V-J Day, the number of liberty ports for the Denver could be counted on your fingers. After by-passing Hawaii, the first stop for the Dnu ' cr was Bora Bora with its beautiful blue- green water breaking on the beach and the colorful jungle beyond. All hands were granted swimming over the side, but only the PO ' s and the officers were allowed to go ashore and investigate the native village. The same arrangement for liberty was the case at Noumea, New Caledonia, where the PO ' s tried their hand on the French girls with high school French, but they did not get very far with it. While other ships were busily engaged in running the slot, the DtiiiiT steamed down to Havana Harbor and made an at- tempt to sink the Rock with little success. Here was nothing but jungle and a beer stand. The only good attributes of the place were the wild oranges and cocoanuts free for the picking and the occasional plane rides the men were able to pick up from the air- strip. It was here that CruDiv 12 became known as The Hollywood Squadron ' because the crew went into whites promptly at leOOdailv. {28} Tlic Detachment W ' assil, Johnston, Hering, Place, Greenman Lt. Frey and Lt. Miner Inspection hy Lt. Frey Marine AA Creti ' Present Arms on Easter at Grande Cflptijin Bledsoe Denver BmiJ at Sxthic Lt. SclmiHc ami Duffy on GraiiiK ' iO} Espiritu Santo saw the first decent liberty port which the Dcmvr put into. The recrea- tion facilities were quite good with tennis, baseball, football, and handball. The swim- ming was excellent and the cat-eye hunting was unsurpassed. Duffy ' s Tavern, South Pacific Branch, was quite the place to go for a beer and an occasional stop at the soda fountain. This base was fairly well built up, with an open-air theater for USO shows, because of having been an outpost of the Palmolive Soap Company. Purvis Bay, Tulagi, was merely Havana Harbor all over again only worse because of being so ad- vanced a base. Again there was nothing but |ungle, cocoanuts and big black natives, not too friendly. On the second voyage the Dcmcr finally made it to famed Hawaii where the men had their last taste of liquor for many a month. On Eniwetok, which was nothing more than a coral reef, they drank beer on the blistering beach, swam, and got fungus infection. From Eniwetok it was then back to Purvis Bay to indoctrinate the new second cruise men into the rigors of liberty practically in the jungle. Manus turned out to be the Christmas spot for the year 1944, and a hot one it was, but there was lots of beer and the recreation was good. After Manus liberty came Grande Island in Subic Bay. This had been a former U.S. base before the |aps took it over. Our original guns and ammunition xre still there along with numerous booby traps which got three of the Mc ' iilpihcr ' i men on the first day. Manila liberty began first with a con- ducted tour which turned out to be rather unsatisfactory entertainment. However, the succeeding liberties were nothing short of amazing. Manila was filthy both morally and physically. Her streets and women were dirty and the whiskey was dynamite. It tasted like a combination of turpentine, lin- seed oil, and gunpowder, and it had the same effect on a man ' s stomach. Some of the men were able to get out to the Santo Tomas prison and met a few of the former prisoners. When the Dniivr arrived at Okinawa, the Navy was just opening a recreation spot on the island of Tsuken Shima in Buckner Bay. Daily liberty parties traveled back and forth to the beach via LCI ' s for their ration of three cans of beer each and a wandering tour of the Okinawan tombs. Most of the men were satisfied to )ust look in at the entrance, but a few of the more adventurous crawled right in along with the skeletons. Wakayama was one of the final stepping stones on the way back, along with Hono- lulu. Liberty in Hollywood and Los Angeles was a bit different from anything out in the Pacific, but It did not take long for the DcmvT crew to get back into the swing of a real liberty port again. O ' } {32 Lookout on f.B. Director Stan J by to Loucr G.iiigiiay Captain Carney Inspects S Division 33 Sunset in hcytc Cease Present Operations β WAR lu ' ojima Battle Line Denver lon range dueling at Surigao Comdr. Patterson Announces V-J Day Bomhardment of luo 04 LIFE IN A BOXKITE THE aviation unit of the [Xiuvr came aboard on the East Coast and stayed aboard throughout the Pacific War until she returned to Norfolk and went into the Re- serve Fleet. During this time the unit oper- ated as a scouting force, did visual spotting for shore bombardment, and accomplished air-sea rescue w ork. The record of the ac- curate shore bombardments in which plane spotting was used is proof of the fine work done by the aviators. Spotting for shore bombardment was not always merely a matter of lazily flying in circles watching the shells explode far be- low. During the first bombardment of Iwo, pilots Haseltine and Yesko, with their radio- men Ivy and Lyons, narrowly missed death when attacking Jap Zeros were diverted by a scout from the SiiiiUi Fc who was shot down instead. A few weeks later during the Jap operation the fly-boys were called upon to demonstrate their daring by landing in Jap infested water s to rescue a downed fighter pilot. All the hazards of cruiser aviation are not encountered during actual combat. Perhaps the two most dangerous times in a cruiser flyer ' s life is the catapulting and the recovery of his aircraft. Never in all the many launch- ings of Denver ' s planes has a single plane been lost; however, two planes were lost during recoveries in rough weather when they broke loose from the sled and were sucked into the ship ' s wake and capsized. Ensign Anderson and Tucker, pilot and radioman of the plane lost at Angaur, were picked up by the Dcmcr, but Ensign Wyss and Mendez, occupants of that lost at Borneo, had to wait for a destroyer to rescue them. The Dtiuir ' .s airmen even have the dis- tinction of being fired at by Jap ground troops. While flying at a very low altitude on a spotting hop at Leyte, Yesko and his raidoman Tucker ran into some AA fire from a 25-calibre automatic rifle. Thinking that since the Japs opened up against him they must have been guarding something impor- tant, he went down for a closer investiga- tion. On this run one of the Jap bullets went through the radioman ' s shoe, but the plane returned safely with only a few holes. At Balikpapan the buzz-boys ran into the greatest opposition in the way of anti-air- craft fire. All experienced the unpleasant- ness of being shot at β this time by 20mm. and 3-inch gunfire. They even had to do a little dodging of our own shells when a U.S. ship mistook our SOC for a Jap Pete and took a few pot shots at it. Borneo was dangerous to the air spotters on yet another count β the Jap shore batteries. Ensigns Wyss and McNickles were maneuvering in their spotting circles for the shore bombard- ment from the Denver when suddenly the Jap five-inch batteries opened on a group of minesweepers approaching too close to the beach. This caught our two SOC ' s in a deadly crossfire as the shells whistled by them in their downward trajectory. For- tunately they were able to get out of that hot spot immediately. Perhaps the less glamorous, but nonethe- less important job of the aviation unit is the maintenance crew. It may be said for them that the Dawcr never lost a plane because of faulty workmanship or lack of proper care. 05 Shrine End of Liberty Wakanoura W ' liii oo JAPAN ON the 21st of September, 1945, the Sixth Army transports steamed into Wakanoura Wan and began unloading troops into landing barges. Soon there was a mov- ing line of LCI ' s, LST ' s, and other small craft dumping the fully equipped soldiers onto the beach by the Wakayama steel mills. The soldiers, ever alert for Jap trickery, quickly formed their units and cautiously began moving inland to secure their beach- head . ' hile this tense drama, the armed in- vasion of the Japanese home island, was being enacted, the Dim ' cr ' . ' i first regular liberty party was calmly disembarking onto the concrete ]etty a short distance away in Waka- noura, Our invaders, instead of being armed with rifles and machine guns, swarmed ashore well equipped with cameras and a craving for souvenirs. The Japs were at first a trifle bewildered, uncommunicative, and patronizing; however, when they became aware that the American sailor was more interested in souvenir hunt- ing than in the destruction of their homes and property, their attitude rapidly changed. This change was most noted in the price of their goods as the cost began to rise. What at first cost but a yen or two soon required ten or twenty yen as they discovered the gullibility of the Americans. The small fishing village of Wakanoura became a huge business enterprise. Hundreds of street- front stores and counters sprang up over- night, well stocked with typical Japanese warrior dolls, chopsticks, trays, pottery, picture scrolls, kimonos, and sheer silk. Some few who were a little more adept at scavenging and had more capital were able to pick up Samurai knives and swords. It was not an uncommon sight to see a Dtiiivr sailor standing perplexedly in front of a wizened little Jap trying to convert yen to dollars and cents to see whether he was get- ting gypped or not. It didn ' t take long for the bartering bargains to become mere pur- chases. This of course took most of the glamour out of the buying spree, but so goes the trend of economics. Some of the more adventurous roamed the back streets looking for bargains of one type or another. Most of them found what they were looking for. Those who walked as far as Kainan or Wakayama found evidence of what a few of our B-29 ' s can do β crumpled walls, flattened buildings, and cities burned to the ground. No matter how ciiligent the liberty parties were in looking for beautiful kimonos or swords, they still were not able to match the souvenirs brought back by the Di;ni ' cr ' .s permanent shore patrol. These men, living right in the village of Wakanoura, soon had the local natives and police force acquainted with the fact that they weren ' t kidding when they spoke. That permanent shore patrol gained more fear and respect from the natives than any other group of Americans, and they capitalized upon it quite well. More than one declared he would not mind staying on in the Japanese area if he could have that type of duty all the time. With the exception of the Manila affray, liberty in the Wakayma-Wakanoura area was 37 Barry, Tuhhs, Willson, LcBIaiic Honey Dipper Street Car β WaUayama Style Cemetery turned Commercial Young Belles of WaUanoura Pastoral {38} the sole taste of civilization for Dciiiir sailors in the entire Pacific β war. Because of this they went in as veritable tourists trying to remember as much as they could to retell back home. The oxen-drawn carts β the hordes of Jap children crowding around a bewildered sailor with chewing gum or chocolato to trade β the dinky street car with Japs hanging all over the outside β the minute teacups β the strange dress worn by the women, with the obi tied in a large bow behind β the uniformed children marching to school with their little name tags includ- ing school, address, and blood type β the miniature size of the toddling babies in the streets β the mat floors and strange beds in the flimsy paper houses β the monumental religious shrines along all the roads β the queer harnesses used to carry the babies on their mothers ' backs even while the young- sters slept β the toothy grins in the ugly, sore-covered faces β and the ever-present hand w aving in front of their faces to signify no β all became stock parts of the tall tales passed on to open-mouthed wives and sweethearts. .. . -Β«. , - :rt.Β₯i.-rf . ' ;,:--- ...y L 5 Ji M . i 1 wm β ' WHBll. 4 β Irft . F Lt f- f β jwi ' r wTv h 1 f 1 5 kK i β rW«« Tii ' o BojT, Joe? Piggy Back Manual Labor {39} Tlu- E.iJ p pF ' X ' A OMliui 1 i Iwo Jima Tiniano jySaipan O Roto Guam Ulitlii This is tke ojficial score as of March, 1946 i i ' k ?Sa - '
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