Denver (CL 58) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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