Shannon (DM 25) - Naval Cruise Book

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ef Gut' projectiles were seen actually hitting the as well as bursting near him, but he kept coming. the end of his dive he pulled out, several tlxousand from the ship, and pressed his attack in a low The forties and twenties opened up, adding their hits 120 those of the main battery. Still he came, held up g by God only knows what! Plot reported, Range against the stops! The advance range was zero-we were tiring point-blank. -l0mm projectiles were pouring into the engine, The twenties were hitting him everywhere. Five inch bursts surrounded him. And still he came. VVe braced ourselves for the crash . . . But it never came. At only 1800 yards-10 seconds before he would have hit- his left wing was knqcked off. The Val rolled over onto his side and his right wing hit the water. XVith a blinding flash and a great pall of smoke, the plane exploded, throwing a geyser of water into the air. Relief escaped our lungs as we relaxed and wiped our brows. Chalk up another for the Sassy Shannon! By 1410, the sweeping operations were completed. WVe returned to Hagushi. ' The following week was spent in uneventful operations as part of the Hagushi AA screen, conducting fueling, and in availability alongside the tender Cascade in Kerama Retto, to prepare for the coming East China Sea sweeps. Official UAS. Navy Pll0fUflF'Uf7!I . . But he never reached his mark. Official US. Navy Photograph And still he came. TURNOVER IN COMMAND June 10, while the ship lay at anchor in Kerama Retto, the crew was gathered on the boat deck to witness the turnover of command of the Shannon. Everyone hated to see Captain Foster leave, although we were all glad that he was going to get a well-deserved rest and shore duty. Lieutenant Com- mander Ingram's reputation had preceeded him, so we knew that in VVild Bill, as he was affectionately known in bull sessions, we were getting a fine new captain. Before turning over the Shannon to her new skipper, Captain Foster addressed his men: W'e've been through a lot together on the 'Sassy Shannon'. It was only nine months ago yesterday when we gathered together on this ship for the first time. Men from all parts of the nation, many of you putting to sea for the first time. I told you at that time that our battle efficiency depended on the spirit of teamwork, that each man must learn his job, and that all efforts should lead to one purpose-to make the Shannon the fightin'est ship in the Navy. I'm proud to say that you haven't let me down. The gun- ners have stuck by their guns, the engineers by their throttles, the CIC personnel, the repair parties, the communication gang, and bridge personnel have all done an outstanding job with the result that we have handled every assignment our Navy or the Japs have given us. U1 can thank you only in words for your loyalty and your splendid performance, but I won't forget and the nation won't forget what you have done. The memories of these past few months will be with me forever. It is hard to leave a ship and a crew with which one has been so close and on whom one has been so dependent, but that is the way progress is made. I had command of a ship before, so the Navy drew on my experience to start the 'Sassy Shannon' on her career. Now it is time to pass along a well seasoned ship and an experienced and efficient crew to new hands-to introduce new ideas. I depend on you to give Captain lngram the same fine support you have given me so that the Shannon-my ship and your ship-may ever fly her colors proudly with the best, and that you, my men, will always hold your heads high with pride in your accomplishments. XVhen Gunner Koerner left, he gave me this four-leafed clover saying: 'You'll need this more than I will.' I am passing this to Captain Ingram as the ship's good luck piece, but the real reascn for the Shannon's luck is your own skill and the kindness of God Almighty. May he continue to guard you and guide you. Remember your 'Uncle Ed' will not forget you, and I'll always be looking for news of the Shannon and her men. Goodbye and good luck. 53 5 1

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The future looked unpleasantly exciting whgn We made rendezvous with Task Group 32.3 nprthwest of the Keramu island of Yakabl Shima. Area Zebra, ' wlnch our group was to Sweep, was 2000 square miles in area, extending northeast of lap-held Miyako xblnma, the northernmost island in the Sakishima group, The southwestern end ot Zebra lay less than 20 miles from this island, on which there were several airlields, making air attack extremely probable. Capt, Townsend, CominRon 3, in the Gwin QDM 333 was in command of the Task Group wlnchiconsisted of the Breeze KQDM 183, Shannon, Smith, and Gwin in support of the AM's and other small craft. At dawn on the 1-lth, the sweeps streamed their gear and fell into sweeping formation, as the DM's took station astern for Supporting duties. As soon as all ships were on station, the sweeps began their hrst pass in a northwesterly direction. Two passes were made the first day,.cutting no mines. That night we retired to the east, returning to the area in the morning in time for the sweeps to stream gear, preparatory to sweeping. The second day was also uneventful, no mines being cut on either the northwesterly or southeasterly pass. Buoys were laid by the DM's to mark the limits of each pass and to fix the starting point of each successive day's sweep. The afternoon of the third day, June 16th, provided the first excitement. Enemy aircraft approached the area apparently on reconnaissance, but did not come close enough for our guns or the CAP to engage them. The following day the first Jap moored mines were cut and destroyed. This necessitated changing from an exploratory to a clearance operation. June 18th, our progress took us into the heart of the mine- field, for, on the second pass, numerous mines were swept. These were all sunk or destroyed by the PGM's. During the afternoon another Jap snooper plane was picked up. Our CAP gave chase, keeping him away from the ships. Although he was not even given a chance to attack, the sighting of this plane and knowing that he had seen us made us uneasy, VVe couldn't understand why the Japs did not attack in force. We were certain they knew of our pre- sence. But none ever did. On completion of sweeping operations the next day, during which numerous mines were swept and destroyed, the Task Group formed a cruising disposition to return to Kerama Retto for logistics. While the maneuvers of forming up were in progress, several enemy planes were picked up. The fighter director in the Smith sent our CAP out to intercept before the Japs could get too close. This strategy worked, for upon Slghting our planes the Japs turned and ran for their base, which we assumed to be Miyako Shima. TG 32.3 anchored in Kerama Retto on the morning of June 20, and spent the next two and a half days fueling and taking on stores for the last phase of the Zebra sweep. SURPRISE ATTACK The clear, bright evening quiet of our second day in port was suddenly violated by the rude chatter of guns 22 and 26. Taken completely unawares, no one knew what was happen- ing, but the fact remained that whatever it was it was happen- lflg foo close. No one ever before had moved so fast in man- ning his battle station. Many arrived topside just in time to See two Jap fighters crash into the seaplane tenders Curtiss CAV 43 and Kenneth Wliiting CAV 1-lj, only 3000 yards off our port bow. Although we stayed at general quarters for the next three hours, no more enemy planes approached the area. During this time, information was grad- ually pieced together to form the story of the attack. The two Jap planes had somehow gotten into the until Wilson, GM sc, and Disipio, s ic, gunners on ff . number two and number six ready 20 mm machine f , , SUHS, sighted them coming in low over the hills f ,4 'x of Hokaji Shima. As the first of these planes attacked and then crashed into the Curtiss, the other circled the harbor. Our guns opened up as the plane -- 7 if 'fag f Al f If . I . area undetectedg their presence was not known - iff ,ff MIYAKO SI-IIMA approached, and each very accurately poured 60 rounds into UIC Ulfilet. The Jap was either turned by our fire or had already picked out his target, for he continued to turn and dove on the Whiting, crashing close aboard her, 'The Shannon was the first, and practically the only ship in lxerama Retto to hre on the planes. The action was so un- expected and so rapid that no one knew what was happening until the harbor was rocked by explosions and fire on the unfortunate victims. Wilson and Disipio are to be highly commended for their rapid, cool-headed, and effective action in the situation. At 1850, June 22, the Task Group again sortied on the south- west .entrance to Kerama Retto to return to the Zebra area. Arriving early the next morning, the AM's streamed their gear and made one last northeasterly pass before starting the check sweep. Only a few mines were cut during the day, and, on completion of the day's sweeping, the area was con- sidered cleared and the operation completed. We returned to lxerama Retto and anchored, early the next morning, June 24th. During the Zebra operation, approximately 120 mines were swept and destroyed. June 25th the Shannon was granted a five day availability alongside the destroyer tender Hamul CAD 201. OKINAWA CAMPAIGN ENDS Organized resistance on Okinawa was declared to have ended on June 21, after eighty-two days of bitter fighting. Mop- ping up of two small enemy pockets still remained to be done, but the worst was over-for the ground troops, at least. The campaign had been a bloody and trying one. PfOgfCSS in the north had been rapid, against scattered opposition, and organized resistance in the northern two-thirds of the island had ceased by April 22. Advance in the south, however, had been stubbornly contested. From April 4 to May 26, our lines advanced only four miles, and it took from May 26 to June 21 to cover the remaining ten miles to the southern tip of the island. On June 18, while observing an attack of the Marine 8th Regimental Combat Team, Lieut. General S. B. Buckner, Commanding General of the Tenth Army and the Ryukyus Forces, was instantly killed by a shell burst. Command of the ground forces was then assumed by Major General R. S. Geiger, USMC, until after the capture of the island. June 23, General J. W, Stilwell, USA, relieved General Geiger, and assumed command of the occupation and garrison forces. About 548,000 men of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps had taken part in the operation as a whole, with 318 com- batant vessels and 1139 auxiliary vessels, exclusive of personnel landing craft. The Navy had suffered heavy losses at Okinawa through no fault of its owng that was one of the prices that had to be paid. The time element was closely connected with the extent of our ship casualties. By its very nature an amphibious in- vasion implies advancing a huge number of vessels, both combatant and noncombatant, from a zone dominated by one's own landbased air forces into one hitherto dominated by the enemy's. Our vessels are localized by the landing so that the enemy had not the problem of finding them, 'but only of hitting them. The longer the Navy must remain in support ot assault troop operations, the more vulnerable it is to attack, and the higher is the proportion of personnel and slnp casual- ties. Slow progress on the ground is directly reflected, there- fore, in naval losses. Between March 26, when the first damage was done, and June 21, when organized resistance had ceased, over 250 vessels of all classes, from battleships and carriers down to ' destroyers and landing ships, had been hit by air attack, by far the greatest proportion of them in suicide crashes. Some 34 destroyers or smaller 5 craft were sunk. Early warning of impending P- attacks proved to be the best countermeasure, and for this purpose destroyers and destroyer types were stationed as pickets at appropriate distances from the concentrations of heavier shipping. These pickets took the heaviest losses themselves, but in so doing they undoubtedly saved many bigger and more valuable vessels, during a critical three months. 55