Denver (CL 58) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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 ■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