Louisville (CA 28) - Naval Cruise Book

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152 FOLLOWING US OTHER SHIPS OPEN UP IN RAPID SUCCESSION in naval battle? What the hell Was Wrong with the old man? Open upl Doubts, curses, misgivings such as these flashed through our minds. Those of us ,With binoculars thought We could vaguely make out the portentous hulls of the enemy ships. Doubts were giving Way to a gnawing, helpless fear when the word was passed, Stand by for main batteryf, The range Was 17,000 yards, almost close enough for our secondary battery. It appears that difficulty had been experienced getting ships into position. With further delay impossible, Oldendorf gave the Word 120 open fire. Two rapid Warning buzzers alerted us. Bodies stiffened, hands cupped protect- ingly over the ears. Suppose We missed! The lap's Hre was going to be just as benefited by the closer range as ours-. A blinding spurt of Hre billowed int0 massive, rolling flames, filled with acrid, orange smoke. The Lady lifted a few feet, recoiled to port and shook as her nine- gun salvo hurled over a ton of steel and .A

Page 179 text:

Night becomes a phantasmagoria of blinding flashes and Of shapes, now silhouetted, now illuminated. The roar of the big guns is deafening. 154 explosives at the approaching column of ships. At 0350, we had touched off the greatest ship-to-ship naval battle of World War Two. Lazily, indifferently, the tracers arced through the air. With nothing stationary to serve as a comparison, that was the impression one received as he watched. Actually those projectiles were traveling over 2,000 feet per second. Other ships opened up at our signal. Night was day as their guns belched flame and fire. Our attention was riveted on the first group of shells fired as they descended toward the target. A hit! Our second salvo drowned the mighty cheers. The lead J ap ship was a mass of flames shooting hundreds of feet into the sky. What an awe-inspiring sight! The enemy never quite knew what happened as salvo after salvo tore into him, ripping ships apart like matchboxes, setting off maga- zines that scattered the remnants of bat- tered hulls into oblivion. Time and again, the Lotfs guns roared. Shaking and shuddering from stem to stern with each blast of the turrets, we continued our devastating fire. At 0404 a lap destroyer closed enough to allow our secondary battery to open up. With both batteries aboard hurling death and destruction, the Louisville proved her mettle. During that decisive battle she fired more main battery eight-inch shells than the total of all calibers fired by the six battleships added together. Admiral Oldendorf later paid tribute to her greatness by beaming proudly, NRC- member, an eight-inch shell which hits iS far better than a sixteen-inch that misses. ln utter confusion, the laps broke formation and retired. By dawn, only Thi? dying and the dead remained. 0ur left flank made a sweep down the channel to