Samuel N Moore (DD 747) - Naval Cruise Book

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, p DESTINATION TOKYO - LtfJBl,WQG.SOLUM f,, lReprint of a News Release sent from the SAMUEL N1 MDOREl,, , The momle thriller, 'Destination Tokyon, had much in common a recent surprise attack on shipping in Tokyo Bay by an American dr royer squadron, which included an emergency appendectomy under ely difficult conditions. The doughtyfsquadron,follow1H6 in the M of a devastating typheon, was pounding heavy seas at high speed town Tokyo Bay when E.M, Johnson, Slfc, USNR, of the USS SAMUEL NK MMOREQ was stricken with an acute case of appendicitis. Normally, such cases are transferred to the well-staffed and we equipped battloships which give a smooth ride even in stormy seas.. An the parent task force was several hundred miles away, Dr. Thomas A. of Ksrns, Lt.fMGP,USNR, elected to ceiduct the operation himself. Com- V' mander Hcration A, Lincoln, Captain of the vessel, concurred and securf ed permission from the squadron co tender, Captain T.H.Hederman, to fall out of formation in an effort to pursue a more comfortable course during the operation. The ship was on tho alert at General Quarters during.the entire ,T operation and although the attack on the Japanese bastion, O.Shima, gf in Tokyo Bay, was but a few hours away, the thoughts ef most of the -jg men were on their mate, Johnson, the sweating Dr. Kerns, and his 'i if able assistants, L.V. Hutchins, Crum, USN, V. Bradley, PhM2fc, USN, Xl and WQF. Brunson, PhM3fc, USNR. -- , l 'fa is Although Commander Lincoln headed his ship to the best advantage ri for the operation, occasional heavyznilssthrew the operating tools T rfy, halter skelter on the deck of the small, hot, nine by nine room. The incident lasted one hour and twenty minutes and when the doctor' wk W A M. and his hospital corpsmon emerged from the operating room they looked is far more fatigued than their non-complaining patient, Johnson. , qi . , in ' An excerpt from the Captain's report to the Squadron Commander 43 humorously, out accurately, describes the situation: HPatient doing' M nicely and feel confidant doctor will also recover.H The operation was a complete success and Johnson was on un-restricted duty twelve days'later. Q r T The scrtie of the squadron, which a few hours later surprised aW Japanese coastal convoy, resulted in one medium cargo ship sunk, one ' small cargo snip sunk, one medium cargo ship probably sunk and one 'f escort ship damaged. The squadron ,scsped with no casualties to 'ft either the ships or personnel. y c , ' y if llfllvlvkliiilokikikrfvlvi-Pkilvkill ' Illlthdtislhl

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MS 'Im ' ' 'E i ' . THEXTOKYO BAY SQRTIE EY DESTROYFR SJUADRON 2'. 61 CEep1-15 nt Ni3'fG'il Tleloasefi I NINE UQSJ DESTRCYERS BLAST JAP GONVOY , ' - ,urs F-..l.dm::L-1 125 TOKYO BAY 1 Qwith Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet of T 'Japan July 26 -,- Miami Tribune - - W J , On the dark and windy night of 1 q .Lb 4 M,V, July 22, nine destroyers oi the Third T 5 Q'if-e Fleet catfooted into Tokyo Bay and E blew hell out oi a Jeyiuose convoy in T an operation comparatle to a Japanese 5 fp' W sea raid on hlcatraz Island or a Nazi ,gQH 'F W swoop around the Statue of lzborty, T Mitw ' Captain T. H. hederman, Mashington,D.4 5 comhanded the sensational op nation, , which was carried out without the los: ? of a single ship or a single man. Tl l was disclosed today by Lieutenant H,h i Beal, 28, Lakeville, Connecticut, an . officer on Hedorman's staff. y prised by an earthquakc,H Beal told ct I respondents. uu ,, ' -1 ' HThe sea was choppy and a storm was blowine un north not far ewa H Bt c a said. Uwe moved in off O Shima lshanu and saw the twinkling lights along the little island chain at the e- rance to the bay. We thought all hell would pop then, but it didn't O Shima.Island lies directly athwart the entrance to Tokyo Hay. It is Japan's corregidor. The nine'cans', running in a colum. at high speed, swept into the mouth of the bay about midnight. Suuccnly we picked up targets in the vicinity of Norkinai Suki Peninsula, and at that range we knew they were bigger than picket boats or destroyers. It was a big convoy trying to sneak out by night along the coastline We closed to l0,000 yards end operzd fire with our torpedocs. It wa so quiet W0 could hear down the line, as the tin fish hit the water, exclamations of 'two torpedoes away' and other signals from other destroyers. In less than four minutes 18 torpedoes were streaging through the water at the same time the 'tin cans' opened up with the fiveminch guns. It was apparent that not until that moment were the Japanese aware of the destroyers' presence. We saw one-half ship rxplode and then another caught fire. They tried to turn and run aw. but we reversed course and blazed away. They tried to fire back, bu apparently the enemy was shooting anti-aircraft guns. Some of our think thc Japanese think they were under an ai: attack. U.S, Planes had been overhead as we started the attack. The one-sided battle lasted less than half an hour. The convoy, which consisted of three merchant ships and one escort ship, was left sinking. One was knowr to have escaped. We can officially claim two ships sunk, one possibl sunk, and a damaged escort vessel.N 4 The raid was the first surface action in history inside Tokyo Bay. T HThe Japs would have been less su

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. -l..-Y..-eil, vv, c JUNE5. 1945 -BHG-76-if-X-X-I-J!--R-if-X96-DHHGQG lwas 8 quiet night and the Sammy's right to make a steady roll, And every Mack had hit his rack, his share of sleep to toll. . we had heard the warn of a coming storm That another was soon to break our boom With a crash it came, the spray and the The Sammy pitched and a seaman bitched, The director crew looked out at the blue and a mighty rain, and a gale of 90 but each man had faith and had turned to miss the blowQ was something we didn't know, peri Q in hera weve appeared. The torpedo deck became a wreck, and the motor whaleboat sheared, In a moment another, the first wave's brother, hammered at LE, A bulkhead gave and the mighty wave filled stateroons with the sea. Two men were penned in a darkened den twixt the head and 105. They heard a shout from someone without, HCharlie, are you alive?H He picked from the deck amidst the wreck a rod with which to pry, A And then he heaved and the men were freed, ne longer trapped in to die. The word was passed and the Captain asked Repair 2 to They worked like mad mith the gear they had and every The Lieutenant steeledyfrom a snlinter shield the meta The mattress supply whether wet or dry was stuffed'in 'with.a mighty lunge the Sammy plunged and NChipsU had bear a hand. station was manned. l to breech the gap. the leaking crack. smashed his leg. A Pharmacist Mate heard of his fate and set about snlinting the neg, The storm raged onhv The skinper conned. A quiet man was ho. - . With calm resource the Ceptain's course was always into the sea. The radio whined. A floating mine was adrift An explosion was heard and a shudder occurred In his usual tone he took the phone and asked VA valve has blown and there is shown, no damagen was in those mountains of green, that startled even he. - his men to report. the retort . while down in the gloom of the engine room the blowers had gone to pot. Amidst sweat and heat and blistered feet brave men kept boilers hot. Not one, but some of the men succumbed to the heat of one eighty five. - They were carried above by a shipmnte's love for fresh air to keep them alive But through it all, by sweat and gall, the turbines continued to go. An enginecr's hand was sought by each man to show how much we owe. It was the fate of the Bo's'ns Mate fhile working with the pumps, To smash his head on the overhead. Got a three inch gash, not a lump, Another man get out of hand and went out on deck to Two jackets for friends of his, I guess, but almost A wave attacked the depth charge rack and an ashcan Three men on a line braved the foamy brine to throw rl' fcontinued next pagcl rf 1, retrieve, get permanent leave. went for n ride. it over the side. X