Richmond (CL 9) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 21 text:

' ' K t 'f9 :l 1 'J l - 3 31. + 2 l TO NCRTHERN NAVAL BASE s Q America is big and so are Americans. Lieut. Cmdr. Rule consults with Japanese I I 1 IE X lX 4 517 5. iN l x 0 1 if l23 5 3 pilot While boatswain mates Burbage and r, Worley look on. ,AQ L i as Bandy-legged Jap chief signalman gives Word to the home folks that the Americans are coming. 4 My i 575 ,, Unhappy and sullen-faced, they bowed gs to the officer sent to escort them to the Rich- 5 11'l01'ld,S bridge. And then, closely guarded, , the three little men, whose leaders' big ideas fl had blown up in their faces, trotted off to the 53 pilot house. ls 5 i 9 l i 5 Yes, it's too late. Three unhappy 3, Nips consult KaWai's Watch dur- ing the trip into Ominato. v -F I3 5 '54 4 S. 3 'S V Y-Y ,V , ...N 7, ,, MJ Z, , ,, -A-K-Mw3:ailf,e. 1 V gg . ,, ,v----mx ,. ., , -iuvwlrf

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2 . , , ' 5, V! . , .1 . r, l N E-,Sf 'E J' 5 I n, 'Wig JAPANESE PILOTS POINT WAY Sour-faced Japs enroute to r RiclJm01zd's bridge. i What's over there? Cap- tain Leppert, With hand up- raised, questions Japs on navigational landmark. Rumpled and un- happy Jap pilot, L i e u t . C m d r . Kawai, Watches his assistants board. At 0600 on the morning of September 8, 1945, three stumpy Japs, dressed in rumpled green, climbed up the ship's sea ladder and over the rail. Under-slung and buck-toothed souls, they were the pilot, interpreter, and signalman supplied by the senior Japanese commander in the Northern Honshu-Hok- kaido area. Less than a month before they were actively fighting. But this day, their nation hopelessly beaten, they were aiding the occupation of the Ominato Naval Reserva- tion.

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1 +1 HE chief naval base for the area of North- ern Honshu and the island of Hokkaido was located on the shores of Mutsu Bay at Ominato. Here the japanese naval leaders puz- zled over the problems of protecting their sea Hsheries in the Kuriles and covering their mer- chant fleets and coastal carriers from American air, surface and undersea strikes. Restricted to Japanese as Well as foreigners, no one except the enemy's armed forces had seen the Ominato Naval Reservation until American sea dogs under Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher arrived there in September of 1945 to accept the base's surrender. Scattered thru the Wooded slopes of Kama- buse Yama, that puffed its shoulders behind che base area, were numerous gun emplacements to defend the naval reservation. Similar emplace- ments were located on the narrow-waisted plain before the mountain. Thru binoculars an alert observer could see trucks and cars hidden among the trees along the shore to protect them from aerial observation. Despite the importance of the base to the enemy, its extent and facilities Weredecidedly inferior to even advanced bases of our own. The buildings had a slap-dab, temporary appearance, their glassless windows gazed blankly at the World around them, and the roads running to and from the area were mere dirt tracks. Even a quick glance made one wonder how such a poorly equipped people could challenge a nation so richly provided with the mechanical drive and the engineering skill of our own country.