Foote (DD 511) - Naval Cruise Book

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. were aTTacking The beached I.ST's. Orders came Through ThaT we were To reTurn and screen The TIOaTing TreighT Trains againsT TurTher aTTacks. The USS CONVERSE and The USS JENKINS accompanied us To The scene OT acTion. One OT The LST's had been hiT bad and was burning. The Tire and rescue parTy was called away Trom Our ship To aid The burning LST. We began TO circle abOuT and in a Tew minuTes gOT word ThaT anOTher TIighT OT Twelve TO TiTTeen enemy aircraTT was approaching and had eluded our cOmbaT airpaTrOI. This was our TirsT TasTe OT whaT mighT be called ACTION. A couple OT The planes aTTacked us, One OT Them coming Trom dead asTern, dropped several bombs which landed TiTTy TeeT broad on The pOrT beam. The OTher planes never gOT ThaT close. The damage TO The enemy was Tour or Tive planes: One deTiniTeIy by The EOOTEQ One probably by The EOOTE: One by an LST: One by The CONVERSE and One by a Triendly TreighTer. We suTTered a Tew shrapnel holes and Tive minor personnel casualTies. We were an exciTed and lucky bunch. We IeTT The Torward area Tor EspiriTu SanTOs in The New I-Iebrides abouT The 8Th OT OcTOber and sTayed down There unTiI The 26Th OT OcTober when we joined The cruiser Task Torce and proceeded To cover The American landings on Treasury Island. We really ThoughT we were in Tor sOmeThing wiTh a Torce ThaT size buT The Japs never showed Their Taces and everyThing wenT OTT according To plan. So Tar as we know There was only one ship damaged in ThaT operaTiOn. The USS CONY which Took Two severe bomb hiTs. Toward The IasT OT OcTOber we goT underway wiTh TE 39 To cover The landings aT Empress AugusTa Bay, Bougainville. We swung norThwesT under cover OT darkness and bombarded The Buka-Bonis airTieId area To prevenT shorT range aerial inTerTerence wiTh The landings. The Japs really goT iT poured On.Them ThaT nighT. There iusT seemed To be no end To The sTream OT shells ThaT poured Trom The cruiser's guns. IT was quiTe a sighT. AT dawn The Task Torce bombarded The ShorTland Islands group aT The sOuTh- wesTern Tip OT Bougainville. AT This Time The Task Torce Commander goT word ThaT a Jap Torce was heading Toward Empress AugusTa Bay and we were Ordered To inTercepT. Three hours beTore dawn On The 2nd OT November The Task Torce made cOnTacT wiTh The enemy Torce and a melee ensued. AT 0301 hours a Japanese Torpedo ex- ploded under The EOOTE'S TanTaiI, Taking I9 good men wiTh iT. In addiTiOn To These I9, I5 men and I oTTicer were wounded. For a Tew minuTes iT was Touch and go wiTh shells popping around us and Tlares IighTing The nighT sky buT The cruisers ringed us wiTh a smoke screen aImOsT immediaTeIy and The acTiOn sTarTed To move away Trom us. ATTer we were hiT Paul Caldwell WT 3fc said ThaT he came ouT OT The aTTer Tire- room and said To himseIT, IT I sTand here. one will hiT here Tor sure. I beTTer keep I4

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STaTes soil - alThough we didn'T know iT Then - Some oT The boys goT inTo Trouble wiTh Those pleasanT NorTolk shore paTrolmen Tor having Their haTs aT The wrong angle on Their heads. On Ivlay I9Th we IeTT NorTolk bound Tor Coco Solo, Canal Zone. We spenT a shorT Tew days aT Balboa on The wesTern side oT The big diTch. We leTT Balboa on June 3rd, i943 wiTh The USS CLAXTON and had an unevenTTuI voyage To Noumea New Caledonia, arriving on June 28Th. fl There Tollowed a period oT Two or Three monThs consisTing oT convoy, drills and anTi-subramine warTare. In SepTember oT 1943 we Toined up as a uniT wiTh DesTroyer Squadron 23: CI-IARLES AUSBURNE TDD57OT, SPENCE TDD 478T, CONVERSE TDD 509T, EOOTE TDD 5I IT, DYSON TDD 572T, STANLY TDD 478T, TI-IATCI-IER TDD 5l4T, and The CLAXTON TDD 57lT, all welded inTo a uniT desTined Tor The Solomon Islands Tame as The LITTLE BEAVER SOUADRON'. DESRON 23 was Toined wiTh TE39. The heavier uniTs oT The Torce comprised The USS COLUMBIA TCL 56T, USS DEN- VER TCL 58T, USS IVIONTPELIER TCL 57T and The USS CLEAVLAND TCL 55l. The lasT days oT SepTember and The TirsT days oT OcTober are a mass oT TighT- ing memories. We made almosT nighTly runs up TI-IE SLOT The narrow corridor oT waTer ThaT bisecTs The Solomon Islands-so narrow ThaT larger uniTs Than a desTroyer were helpless in iT. lVlosT oT our sailing we did aT nighT because oT The consTanT ThreaT oT The enemy airpower. In Those days America was noT as sTrong in The Solomons as she mighl have been. By day we would lie in PorT Purvis on Florida Island across The channel Trom Guadalcanal. We made our own liTTle recreaTion beach and had swimming parTies over The side when we were aT anchor. Islanders would come ouT in Their Bum BoaTs and skin The hide oT The crew Tor souvenirs which in general were carved Trom ma- hogany wood. Here again iT was The same as Casablanca .... The only language The naTives knew was. . . FIVE DOLLARS ...and up. Some nighTs we sTayed in porT and had movies on The TanTail. IT seemed ThaT every Time we did This The Japs would sTage an air-raid on Guadalcanal. They would send abouT I5 planes over I-lenderson Eield while we sTood aT our baT+le sTaTions waTching and waiTing all anxious To geT back To The movies. EighTing a war is one Thing buT why make iT personal by robbing you oT your movies. On The las+ nighT oT OcTober we were up The sloT wiTh The PATTERSON and The lvIcCALLA hunTing Tor barges when The IVICCALLA had a sTeering casuaIiTy and rammed The PATTERSON sheering oTT her bow and killing eighT oT her crew. We screened The Two inTured ships during The nighT and in The morning we Took aboard CapTain E. R. Walker, COMDESRON 4, Trom The damaged PATTERSON. By dawn a Tug Took Them under Tow while we sTayed, To convoy a group oT LST's To Vella Lavella. There was also a number oT APD's in The convoy. When They had unloaded aT Their desTinaTion we headed To The rear area wiTh The APD's leaving The LST's beached. We had TusT arrived aT New Georgia Passage when we goT word ThaT planes I 3

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moving, and so he did. We all TelT like ThaT. When a snopper plane came overhead, we Tired on him, no one Topside knew we were going To open Tire because we ThoughT The acTion had IeTT us behind. ThaT's The sTuTT oT which grey hairs are made. The Tollowing dawn our Task Torce came back over The horizon. The USS TI-IAT- CI-IER passed us a Tow line and began To Tow us aT Tive knoTs buT iusT as The Tow line was secured 60 enemy planes appeared and passed overhead going direcTIy Tor The cruisers. They never even Tipped a wing in our direcTion buT There were a number oT TervenT prayers said while our TaTe hung on The Tip oT some Jap airwing Com- mander's Tongue. The cruisers drove The planes oTT and abouT ThaT Time a beaTuiTuI IiTTIe TIeeT Tug, The USS SIOUX, arrived To Tow us back To PorT Purvis. IT may be only a Ii+Tle rusT-buckeT To some, buT ThaT morning The Queen Mary couldn'T have looked any beTTer. We arrived in PorT Purvis a Tew days laTer and sTayed a monTh alongside The USS WHITNEY geTTing paTched up well enough To make The Trip Trom There To EspiriTu Tor Tinal repairs beTore reTurning To The UniTed STaTes. We had no screws, we had no rudder, all oT The aTTer TwenTies and The depTh charges were gone and gun :l:l:5 was iammed in Train, everyThing up To The base oT gun :l:l:5 was a ToTaI loss and The resT oT The ship was buckled like a model T chassis. On November 28Th I943 we sTarTed Tor EspiriTu escorTed by The USS SELF- RIDGE who had had everyThing blown oTT Torward oT The bridge in a running baTTle wiTh some Jap desTroyers. ThaT was on odd sighT, an auxiliary Tug Towing us and a crippled desTroyer escorTing us. We sTayed in The New I-Iebrides unTil January 2OTh when we were suTTicienTIy paTched up To reTurn To The UniTed STaTes behind a I9I9 Tanker, The S.S. GULF STAR. The BOBOLINK IATO I3II, which had Towed us Trom PorT Purvis, was To be hiTched asTern oT us and used as a rudder. We moved along aT a speed ThaT varied Trom 3 To 6 knoTs unTil we ran inTo rough weaTher, The Tail end oT a hurricane, and snapped our rusTy Tow cable. We rolled around helplessly Tor Three days while The crew caughT sharks Trom The quarTerdeck and beaT Them on The head wiTh chipping hammers. We were Towed To Pago-Pago, TuTuiIa, American Samoa, To awaiT The arrival oT a new Tow cable and The boys goT The TirsT look aT reasonably civilized womanhood. We conTinued our journey on February 4Th I944 and arrived in San Pedro CaIiTornia on March 4Th I944. There sTarTed The greaT days. lmmediaTely upon arrival in San Pedro we were puT inTo drydock. By The Time The ship was well inTo The dock The TirsT liberTy parTy was sTraining aT The leash. The dock Toreman called over and Told The G.Q.D. ThaT he'd have The gangway over in abouT Two hours, iusT as soon as The keel seTTIed on The blocks. By ThaT Time The whole bunch scheduled To sTarT on leave was sTanding on The TorecasTIe shiTTing Trom one TooT To The oTher. The execuTive oTTicer, LT. Comdr. M. S. Schmidling, came ouT and yelled over To The Toreman, I'II give you Ten minuTes To geT ThaT goddam plank over here Tor These boys or I'm going To know The reason why! I 5