Hancock (CV 19) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 73 text:

kg! Y, i .N ' 1 P Gs Katori Class Cruiser Hit By Ha1mah's Planes in East China Sea Um ,JW r , ,, V. T , x D' I v. 3 . Down by the Stern- Janaary 12, 1944

Page 72 text:

Carriers of Task Force 38 From high over the Hannah, a Kamikaze peeled over into a dive on the handi- capped pair as sharp knives flashed to sever the connecting hoses and lines. ln a matter of seconds the batteries of the Hannah picked off the enemy plane with a direct hit at seven hundred feet immediately overhead. Again the Hannah's decks felt the impact of fragmentarybits of the plane but the heavy engine and bomb carried over the starboard side and crashed into the fantail of the Halsey Powell fifty feet away, penetrating the thin deck plat- ing and t-he heavier gun mount. The blow eliminated steering control on the destroyer which immediately sheered t-o port while the Hannah backed emergency to the din of howling blowers as the carrier's four huge screws churned up white foam giving the big ship sternway in a matter of seconds. From the island, Captain Hickey lost sight of the crippled destroyer as she careened across the bow and under the flight deck overhang. Watchers waited with braced feet for the grinding .noise of steel under the momentum of the Hannah's 33,000 tons but the Halsey cleared by inches. N Scarcely had the destroyer episode passed when the Enterprise became the subject of another attack, receiving a bomb -hit in spite of the cross-fires set up by the Hannah and other ships' of the force. The cruiser Astoria shot down

Page 74 text:

One of 15 Jap Tankers Hit Off Camrcmh Bay- Jcmucwy 12, 1945