Salt Lake City (CA 25) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 15 text:

months later, when censorship had been lifted, was revealed to me in the wardroom of the Salt Lake City by several of her younger officers: Lt. Comdr. David D. Hawkins, the navigator, of Berkeley, Calif., Lt. Comdr. larnes T. Brewer, the gunnery officer, of New York and Conway, N. H., Comdr. Theodore H. Kobey, the engineering officer, of Bisbee, Arizona, Lt. George A. O'Connell, Ir., assistant gunnery officer, of Norfolk, Va., and Lt. Lyle B. Bamsay, fire control officer, of Abilene, Texas. The story of that action-packed night is best told in their own words: The laps had been running their Express every night until it got monotonous. So this Sunday night, we set out to derail the Express. It was pitch black, except for heat lightning. We searched in several places and failed to find it. We thought we had muffed the ball. We steered dead ahead for Savo and at close range we discovered the enemy. With the luck that rewards the aggressor, we had Walked into something more important than the Guadalcanal Express. The enemy had four heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, six destroyers and at least one transport. Apparently, they were out to bombard our marines on Guadalcanal and to land in force. Iapanese battleships were also playing around. We BATTLE OF CAPE ESPERANCE 1 l

Page 14 text:

that her missiles were the tirst American naval shells ol the war to fall on lap-held land. Military installations on Wotje were ruined and seven to nine cargo ships were sunk. One twin-engined bomber was shot down and another damaged by the Salt Lake City. TWO, lap planes made bombing runs on the ship, but skillful maneu- vering caused them to miss by lOO yards. On February 24, the task group bombarded Wake Island and on March 4, its planes struck Marcus Island. There was no surface bombardment ot Marcus. A month later, the Salt Lake City set out as an escort for one of the war's most adventurous strokes, the Doolittle raid on Tokyo. It was a Salt Lake City lookout who, on April l8, discovered the -Iapanese picket boat which caused the early launching of the B-25 raiders from the carrier Hornet. The lap was sunk by the U.S.S. Nashville and the task force was not molested. Then the tide ot war took the cruiser south, where Australia was in peril. Until late Iuly, she operated in that area, part of the time with a joint allied force under command of a British admiral. On August 7 to 9, the Swayback helped cover the landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi, the first American land counter- oftensive. ' She then went back to patrol. lt was a perilous task in a disputed ocean. Cn September l5, the carrier Wasp was sunk by Iapanese submarines only l,UOU yards from the Salt Lake City. The Swayback helped rescue survivors. The time was one ot doubt. The battle tor Guadalcanal had developed into a grim struggle ot men, planes and ships. The Salt Lake City was attached to a task group assigned to stop the Iapanese Tokyo Express , which was claiming the sea lanes for its own. lt ran into the enemy on the night of October ll, in the action known interchangeably as the Second Battle of Savo Island or the Battle ol Cape Esperance. The story of the tide-turning battle, wrote Ioseph Driscoll, a staff correspondent of the New York Herald-Tribune tive 10

Page 16 text:

didn't see them, but we picked up one of their aviators who had run out of gas. It was thirteen minutes before midnight when the Salt Lake City and the other American cruisers opened fire on the leading lap destroyer. The Salt Lake City was firing at such close range that it had to depress some of its guns and its hot shells whistled between the masts of an American destroyer caught in between. We think 'Uncle lim' Brewer, 'Georgie Porgie' O'Connell and 'Ace' Ramsay are the best gunners in the world. They had been training their guns together for two years and on this oc- casion they were as cool and efficient as if they were at a practice session. The first victim was an enemy light cruiser, illuminated by star shells. The ten guns of the Salt Lake City barked simul- taneously and ten big fingers of fire and metal jabbed the enemy in vital parts. The order to cease fire came immediately as the enemy ship was ablaze and there was no sense in wasting ammunition. The second target for the Salt Lake City was a heavy cruiser. We sat there waiting for her to come up. Nobody was excited. lt was like waiting for a cockroach to come across the table, we knew we could step on her any time we wanted to. The Salt Lake City stepped with two salvos, twenty shots, blow- ing up the enemy's whole midsection. The third victim was an auxiliary. The Salt Lake City and her companions pounced and she went down by the bow, stern up. The fourth was a destroyer, one of three that had launched a torpedo attack. The Salt Lake City gave her one salvo. When the smoke cleared, nothing was to be seen of the destroyer. At 0005, running out of fresh targets, the Salt Lake City turned again on its first target, the wounded light cruiser and handed her eight salvos. Large fires and explosions were noted. By 00ll, part of the' American task force had vanished in pursuit of the enemy while the Boise Can American light cruiserl, directly ahead of the Salt Lake City, was afire and falling out tok avoid torpodoes. 12