Rodman (DD 456) - Naval Cruise Book

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1 Removing Unexploded Bomb -W if 4 Capfurvd Jap Pilot bring hr-ought aim-aff! from ROHM.-1.N S Whulcbuat 18

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lt was another hour a.nd a half before the gruelling attack was over, an hour and a half of desperate efforts to control the flames, limit the flooding and pump dry the compartments that could be isolated. Part of the time the rudder was jammed full left, causing the ship to steam in circles until that could be freed. But during this time the guns of the RODMAN were not idle. Machine guns were blazing away at the attackers continually. The after five inch gun kept up an almost steady barrage of fire as more and more attackers roared in from small islands nearby. Some were shot down only a few thousand yards away. Many were picked off by fighters. Others closed to within less than 50 yards before they were knocked down, only to crash into the water in flames. A few even crossed over the crippled ship flying low and crashed near her on the opposite side. One crossed so low that his wing clipped oi the trainer's sight on the starboard 40 millimeter mount and loud- speaker mounted nearby. A small minesweeper came alongside and the wounded were transferred under the care of a medi- cal officer and the pharmacist's mate. The ship's chief pharmacistls had been killed when the first plane hit and the task of rendering first aid to the burned and wounded was consequently a gruelling one for the medical department, left so shorthanded. By this time the fires in the superstructure were under control and the captain had definitely de- cided that the ship could be saved, provided she did not take another serious hit. A skeleton crew was kept aboard and the remainder were transferred to the minesweeper alongside or to life rafts from which they could be picked up by other SWQGDQTS- 17

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With the skeleton crew and with emergency phone rigged between the control engine room, secondary conning station and after steering station, all efforts were bent toward bringing the ship back to port. Through the night she steamed under her own power by magnetic compass with occasional assistanceas to the course to steer being rendered by one of the nearby sweepers. It was 0330 on April 7, twelve hours after her first hit, that she finally arrived off Kerama Rhetto, the island group southwest of Okinawa that was captured some days before the main invasion and used as a forward base. A rescue tug provided breakfast for officers and crew and brought her into port. in After emergency repairs were completed, in Kerama Rhetto, the RODMAN returned to Charles ton, S. C., for complete repairs. She was in Charleston when the war ended. 19 l