Lowry (DD 770) - Naval Cruise Book

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ei'-her directly under the ship or very closely astern, and exploded at the end of its run. Lucli was with ug again. We Continued the rest of the month with the Same lxind of duty. General quarters most of the time' under attaclghfregugntly and a gegerally tired we were. e as o e mont we a ain iliilcierrifhnorth, this time with the Drexler. Againqwe had a tough time. Early one morning we were at- tacked by a large formation of enemy fighters and bombers. Our tighters engaged their fighters but their bombers succeeded in getting through to us. The tirst missed us by a few feet and crashed into fhe Drexler. The second and third planes went down in flames close aboard. Number four finished the game however. He started for us then changed his mind and headed for the Drexler, now dead in the water. A marine fighter was right on his tail pouring everything he had into the bomber to no avail, His run was good and he crashed into the Drexler, hit- ting a boiler and magazine and completely demolish- ing the shift There 1whas a terriyfic explosion reaching hi h into t e air. e next t ing we saw was the bogw of the ship protruding from the water and then even that had gone. She had lasted only about 45 seconds after the second hit. lt was a terrible sight. Planes were still all around. Our combat air patrol was engaging them on all sides. We were all alone now. lt was a lonesome feeling. The LCls moved in and began piclring up the survivors. They loolred bad. Losses had been heavy. Finally the attaclc was over. Additional destroyers had come out from Hagushi Beach to help us and the rescue was completed. We were all dead tired. Things were fairly quiet from then on until we were relieved by another ship. We headed for Hagushi for a much needed rest. The rest consisted of worlzing during the day and staying at geneyralcguarters most of the night with enemy planes over ea . Our next piclzet station was number 5. Things were rather lively here too. We had to dodge a typhoon. On our return we piclzed up a large formation of enemy planes and successfully directed our fighters to intercept and shoot them down The next evening Ye went to general quarters on the Captain's hunch. although no planes were lmnown to be in the area. We had no sooner set Condition I than the first plane appeared over the horizon, low on the Vfdter, coming in fast. Our companion ships wefeni di general quarters so wr- opened up on the Plane riqht away. Hr- closed to 2000 yards and then WEN down in flames. We piclmd up 0l10t'her trying to qet in astern of him and qot him ef Ydl'dS. We were aqdin relieved and while en the way baclr to the beach pifglmd up seven .laps flflhi Canoe attempting to escape from Okinawa. ey Put up no struggle though they were a bit uP '1

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us we were lo proc-eed lo Kerama Rello on lhe lirsl ol May and be oullilled lor radar pickel, and lighler direclor duly. This was really il. lnlo Kerama we wenl, picked up a lighler direclor leam and some gear, received lhe condolences ol all our friends and headed lor radar pickel slalion number 2, lhe hollesl slalion ol lhem all. We were localed aboul 60 miles norlh ol Okinawa, righl in lhe middle ol lh-e mosl direcl roule lrom Japan lo Okinawa. Wilh us was anolher deslroyer, some LCl gunboals and our assigned Marine lighler planes from Okinawa. Wealher was soupy lhe lirsl couple ol days and allhough we picked up several conlacls none pressed home an allack on us. This was loo good lo be lrue and sure enough lhings changed soon. Early morning on May 4, I945, we slarled picking up enemy conlacls. Bogies. were all over lhe place. We look several und-er fire and blazed away wilh no resulls. Soon our nighl lighlers arrived on lhe scene and a couple ol Nips bursl inlo llame and lil in lhe drink. There is no beller sighl lhan lo be peering inlo lhe darkness and suddenly see a large llame slowly lurn and plunge lrom a high allilude inlo lhe waler when you know lor sure il is lhe enemy. All lhe aclivily gave us our cue. We were cerlain lhere would be plenly ol aclivily lhe nexl day. We were righl. :S ' as J Earlyilhe nexlw morningflvord began lo come in from all slalions ol inlense air aclivily lrom all sides. All lhe ships were liring, lhe Marines were learing inlo lhe Jap suicide planes and conlusion was ram- panl. Our slalion was slill quiel lor some reason. As always, bad news began lo com-e in. Of lhe lhree slalions norlh ol Okinawa all lhe ships lrom lhe slalions on eilher side ol us were eilher sunk or badly hil including our sisler ship lhe lngraham. The ship wilh her had gone down and lhe lngraham was badly hil aller pulling up a lerrilic ballle, The slalion on lhe olher side ol us was. also wiped oul. Thal lell us. Soon we picked up a group moving in on us. Radar showed lhem as 'Friendly bul lheir aclions seemed quile suspicious so we walched lhem carelully. Bolh planes began lo climb lhen separaled. The upper plane began wobbling his wings and we opened lire. He headed lor us in a slraighl dive. Aboul I500 yards' away he bursl inlo llames, swerved and crashed inlo lhe waler belween lhe LOWRY and lhe olher pickel ship. Suddenly a plane was sighled only a lew hundred yards aslern aboul 25 feel above lhe waler. We had been played lor a sucker by lhe lirsl plane and lhis second sui- cider had gollen in on us belore we saw him. We gol off a lew 40s and 20s al him bul our luck had run oul. ll looked lor sure as- lhough lhere would be quile a lew winners ol lhe Purple Hearl in shorl order. There were. However, his luck was none loo good eilher, Jusf as he was lurning lo crash us he misiudged his dis- lance. He wenl righl belween lhe barrels on Mounl No. 3. His wing slruck lhe lace plale ol lhe mounl, caving in lhe shield. However lhe main body ol lhe plane and lhe bomb ricocheled off lhe lop ol lhe Mounl, semi-scalped Joe Bass, lhe mounl caplain, bounced over lhe lorpedo lubes, Mounl 44 and lhe whale boal and landed in lhe waler aboul I5 leel lrom lhe ship, exploding wilh a lerrilic concussion. The ship was sprayed lrom slem lo slern wilh bomb lragmenls, parls ol engine, wing and luselage. Men on all sides were hil, some so badly lhey lell lo lhe deck, olhers nol wounded so severely remained al lh-eir guns. The repair parlies wenl inlo aclion. Several small fires were pul oul. They began lo pick up lhe wounded and move lhem lo lhe wardroom. The engineers wenl lo work and repaired lhe dam- age done lo lhe engineering spaces. All hands did a splendid iob. Many ol lhe wounded refused lo leave lheir slalions. ln lhe middle ol all lhe conlusion anolher suicider slarled lor us. Bolh ships were liring wilh everylhing lhey had and down he wenl in flames. The scrap was over. We had been hil hard bul nol as hard as we lhoughl we would be when lhe Nip was lirsl sighled. We had shown we could lake il as well as pul il oul. Things were plenly lough and everyone cam-e lhrough wilh flying colors. We were all mighly proud ol our ship and ils crew. Our losses, 2 killed, 23 wounded in aclion. Any elalion we mighl have lell disappeared al lhe knowledge some ol our shipmales wouldn'l be going home wilh us.. During lhis lracas lhe Marine pilols had been in il wilh Japs all over lhe place and -every so ollen anolher smoke lrail and lire on lhe waler signified anolher slanl eye had died 'For lhe emperor. Thal nighl we lranslerred lhe wounded lo a PCE lor lurlher lransler lo a hos-pilal ship. ll was ralher lricky business lrying lo gel lhe wounded o'FF lhe ship wilh enemy planes in lhe vicinily al all limes. They were finally away and headed lor Hagushi Beach wilh all our besl wishes lor a speedy recovery. The nighl lighlersi gol anolher plane lhal nighl. A couple ol days laler we were relieved and headed lor Kerama Rello aller slopping by on lhe way lo pick up a Marine pilol in lhe waler oll a Jap island. We all ilched lo lhrow a lew 5 inch inlo lhem bul no largels were visible. We resl-ed and replenished lor a couple ol dayS and lhen headed oul lor Radar Pickel slalion N0- I6 lo lhe wesl ol Okinawa. We all ligured lhis would be ralher a quiel slalion. Things weren'l loo bad, however we were visiled quile delinilely on on-e occasion. One nighl loward sunsel a Jap plane caughl us llal looled. He was wilhin 500 yards low on lhe waler before we saw him. H dropped a lorpedo and lurned away. One ol lhe MarlneS caughl him and shol him down, The lorpedo passed

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relucfanf fo come aboard. We fook fh-em fo Okinawa and furned fhem over fo fhe Marines for quesfioning. ln a few days we wenl' fo pickef sfafion No. I IA, where we had fhe usual acfivify and infercepfions of enemy planes affempfing fo gef fo Okinawa. We supporfed fhe operafions' of Marines landing on nearby islands. Planes affacked nearby ships buf didn'f bofher us. Our nexf and lasf pickef sfafion was number l5, always known fo be a lively spof. lf lived up fo ifs expecfafions. We were involved in a six hour nighf engagemenf wifh whaf seemed like a 'Thousand planes alfhough if is rafher cerfain fhere were con- siderably less fhan 'rha'I'. Ther-e was a full moon ouf fha'l' nighf and visibilify was very good. Jusf abouf 'rhe 'rim-e if seemed as 'rhough we were really cooked, a complefe eclipse of fhe moon 'rook place fo save fhe day, or rafher 'l'he nighf. Things quiefed down again, fhe eclipse was over, fhe affacks picked up and +his' 'rime smoke from fhe smoke screen af Oki- nawa drif'l'ed up and covered us. During fhis affair we succeeded in shoofing down one Jap plane. We used up all of our ammunifion fhaf nighf and had 'ro go info fhe beach 'ro replenish, fhus ending our four of picke'I' du'l'y. A pleasanl' day i'I' was foo. ll' was all over. H had been a rough fime and we were all complefely worn ouf, buf no one could be prouder of fhe ship fhan we all were of fhe LOWRY. She had come fhrough operafions fhaf had caused fhe sinking or heavy damaging of over 60 desfroy-ers and had come 'Through on fop. She wasn'l' a good ship any more, she was a greaf ship. Our nexf operafion was in connecfion wifh fhe mine sweeping force operafing befween Okinawa and 'l'he China coasf. Our acfivify 'rhere consisfed of dodging mines, which were very plenfiful, and sfanding by fo profecf 'lhe sweeps from planes or Jap surface ships. lf was rafher a quief fime in general alfhough a large horned mine passing close aboard is enough excifemenf for fhe average person. All we wanfed fo do now was go somewhere and res'l'. We had gone over four monfhs wi'l'hou'I' secur- ing 'l'he main engines or fhe wafches and everyone was nearly af fhe end of his endurance. Finally a+ fhe end of July we were ordered fo Leyfe for a resf, recreafion and overhaul. H' was fhe happiesf momenf we had known in many monfhs. Jus'r fo know we were leaving 'l'he area for even a liffle while was fhe besf news possible, We were finally on our way. Everyone was relaxed and happy af 'rhe prospecf of a shorf snorf and fhe ending of wafches of all kinds. On fhe way down w-e were picked up by a Jap reconnaissance plane and all hands expecfed our vacafion fo end before if began. Lafer fhaf affernoon we sighfed a large column of smoke from fhe far horizon. We sfarfed for if af all spe-ed. We didn'f arrive on fhe scene unfil lafe 'rhaf nighf when we picked up a large amounl' of wreckage. Upon invesfigafion we found evidence fo show if was all fhaf was leff of fhe USS UNDERHILL, a DE fhaf had been sunk fhaf affer- noon by Japanese submarines. We scoured 'rhe area for any survivors and 'l'hen commenced searching for fhe sub. ' I+ was abouf fhis fime fhe ship suffered by far fhe greafesf fragedy of her career. A working parfy was removing some decon'l'amina'l'ion gear from one of 'rhe voids. According fo fhe label if was impos- sible for 'rhis maferial fo explode. However such did no+ prove fo be fhe case. The righf condifions- were presenf and a 'Terrific explosion fook place. Nearly 25 men were iniured by fhe blasf and fhe gas fhaf escaped. Quick work by fhe repair parfies gof fhe majorify of 'rhem ouf in shorf order. All hands 'Turned fo wifh a will and -every efforf was made fo help fhe iniured. One man was killed insfanfly and 'rwo ofhers died shorfly fhereaffer. l+'s one fhinq fo have men killed in baffle and ano'I'her 'l'o see 'l'hem die in an accidenf, unavoidable fhough if may have been. We made 27 knofs all fhe way fo Levfe and 'rransferred all fhe injured fo a hospifal ship for freafmenf. Mosf of fhe boys were back on 'I'he ship in a comparafively shorf fime buf some were iniured so badly fhey were senl' fo fhe Sfafes for freafmenf. They were fhe lasf casualfies we were fo suffer and probably fhe mosl' fragic. The Jap proposal of surrender found us sfill in Leyfe Gulf near fhe end of a much needed res'l' and repair period. From 'rhere we fravelled up near fhe coasf of Japan where we operafed wifh fhe big car- riers, providing air suppor'I' for fhe occupafion forces. The end of 'rhe frail finally came, and we enfered Tokyo Bay on Sepfember I6, l945. Affer a brief sfay in Japan home wafers, we leff for Okinawa, picked up some passengers, and headed for good old Uncle Sugar. Ocfober 2I found 'I'he Lucky LOWRY fied up af fhe fool' of Broadway, San Diego, California, U.S.A.