Acts of Valor: Thomas J.

Hudner • The Rise of the Japanese Carriers

U.S. Naval Institute April 2018

www.usni.org

BATTLE
of the ATLANTIC
Turning the Tide
ACTION REPORT:
The Bogue’s First U-boat Kill

Coast Guard Comes of Age in WWI

The Wreck—and Rescue—
of the Cruiser Helena
Civil War Army-Navy Op
on the Mississippi
 HISTORIC AIRCRAFT
A Low, Slow Plane for Limited War
I
n the era of supersonic, high-flying
jet aircraft, a slow, low-flying, turbo-
prop plane proved especially valu-
able to the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps,
and Air Force. In 1964, North American
Aviation’s OV-10 Bronco was the winner
in the competition for a counterinsurgency
(COIN) aircraft.
U.S. NAVY
AnOV-10BroncoontheamphibiousassaultshipOkinawa(LPH-3)in AnOV-10AinflightinFebruary1969.Arelativelybasicaircraft,ithada
1981.
At the time, the United States was
becoming deeply involved in the Vietnam
conflict, and the Marine Corps put forth
a requirement for a light armed reconnais-
sance aircraft (LARA), which morphed
into the COIN concept. The selection of
North American led to an order for seven
YOV-10A prototypes, with the first taking
to the air on 16 July 1965.
North American was a giant in the
aviation field. The firm had produced,
among many other aircraft, the T-6/SNJ
Texan  trainer, P-51 Mustang  fighter,
B-25/PBJ Mitchell  bomber,  F-86 Sabre/
FJ Fury  fighter,  X-15 aerospace rocket
plane, and B-70 Valkyrie and B-1 Lancer
bombers, as well as  the Apollo  command
module, the second stage of the  Saturn
V rocket, and the Space Shuttle orbiter.1
In sharp contrast to the firm’s many
advanced technology products, the OV-10
was a relatively basic aircraft. It had a
slender, two-seat fuselage set beneath a
high-mounted wing carrying twin engine
nacelle-tail booms. The main wheels of
the tricycle landing gear retracted into the
engine nacelles. On production aircraft,
three fuselage and two sponson weapon
attachment points could carry 3,300
pounds of bombs, missiles, rockets, and
machine guns.
12
By Norman Polmar, Author,
Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet
The first production OV-10A flew on
6 August 1967. Following assignments
to training units, the aircraft was deliv-
ered to its first operational unit, Marine
Observation Squadron (VMO) 2 based at
Da Nang in South Vietnam. The squad-
ron’s first armed recce missions were flown
in July 1968. The Marines also used their
slender, two-seat fuselage set beneath a high-mounted wing.
Broncos to escort helicopters, which
often were taken under ground fire. (One
Marine OV-10A was shot down over South
Vietnam and its two-man crew captured.)
Navy Light Attack Squadron ( VAL)
4, the Black Ponies, was established on 3
January 1969, and it deployed to South
Vietnam, primarily to provide fire support
for Navy riverine craft and, later, South
Vietnamese soldiers. Game Warden—the
codename for the riverine operations—
required faster convoy escort and more
air support than could be provided by
the UH-1 Huey helicopters of Helicopter
Attack Squadron (Light) 3 that supported
those operations.2 The Navy unit flew 14
“borrowed” Marine OV-10s.
Employed exclusively in the attack and
escort roles, VAL-4’s aircraft carried com-
binations of the SUU-11 7.62-mm minigun
pods, Mark 4 20-mm cannon, 2.75-inch
air-to-ground rocket pods, and CBU-55
fuel-air explosive bombs.
These planes ranged into the skies
over Cambodia as well as South Vietnam.
VAL-4 was withdrawn from Vietnam and
disbanded in 1972, ending Navy use of the
OV-10. The squadron lost seven Broncos
to various causes in Vietnam. The only
other Navy squadron to fly the plane was
Antisubmarine Squadron (VS) 41 at North
Island (San Diego), California, which
served as the training unit for the aircraft.
The Marines kept flying Broncos for
another two decades, the last being dis-
carded in 1993. The Air Force flew them
into the 21st century, with an upgraded,
OV-10G aircraft being deployed as part
of Operation Inherent Resolve against
U.S. NAVY
Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.
Those aircraft were in the combat theater
for six months.
The Air Force used the OV-10A in
the forward air control role in Vietnam
beginning in 1968. A history of Air Force
operations in Vietnam stated, “Visual
reconnaissance by low performance
aircraft is still an absolute necessity.
Maneuverable, fixed-wing aircraft still
have a place in this role, and the OV-10A
performed better than expected.”3 It was
noted, however, that there was a require-
ment for quieter aircraft that could fly
over targets without being detected. That
need led to the Navy-sponsored QT-2PC/
YO-3 “quiet” aircraft. 4 Eventually, 126
OV-10s went to Air Force squadrons in
South Vietnam.
A total of 157 production aircraft went
to the Air Force and 114 to the Marine
Corps and Navy. In addition, 16 new-pro-
duction aircraft went to Indonesia, 40 to
Thailand, and 16 to Venezuela, with 24
aircraft produced for West Germany as tar-
get tugs. Former U.S. aircraft also went
to Colombia, Morocco, the Philippines,
and Venezuela. The National Aeronautics
and Space Administration took former ser-
vice aircraft for research work, while the
Department of State contractor DynCorp
U N I T E D S TAT E S N A V A L I N S T I T U T E
International used them to support anti-
drug efforts in South America, and the
Bureau of Land Management used the
aircraft for fire-fighting. The last were
employed to mark targets for aerial tankers
and coordinate their efforts.
The aircraft in U.S. military service
underwent several upgrades and modifica-
tions. The Air Force and Marine Corps
both modified OV-10s for the night obser-
vation/gunship system (NOGS) role,
providing a lengthened nose, laser range-
finder, forward-looking infrared, night
sight, and other modifications as well as
larger engines (redesignated OV-10D;
the Air Force effort was codenamed Pave
Nail). Some aircraft also had an XM197
20-mm gun turret fitted beneath the
fuselage. The first of these OV-10D con-
versions flew on 9 June 1970 and was eval-
uated in Vietnam as well as in the United
States. The subsequent Marine Corps
Project OV-10D+ provided new wiring
and stronger wings to extend service life.
(Eighteen of the German target-tug air-
craft also were fitted with a J85-GE-4 tur-
bojet engine mounted in a nacelle above
the fuselage.)
J. M. C
A IE LL A
OV-10A BuNo 155494, the 202nd Bronco
off the production line, was delivered to
the VAL-4 Black Ponies on 23 January
1969 and deployed with the squadron to
Vietnam. Arriving in country on Easter
Sunday, 6 April, it was barged ashore from
the transport Seatrain and flew from Vung
Tau Army Airfield.
Squadron technical reports for 1969 noted:
[O]ne aircraft carried a large part of the
load on Sunday, 16 November, when
Det Alpha at Binh Thuy put in 12 air
strikes in one day. BuNo 155494 flew
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • APRIL 2018
Among several proposals for follow-on
aircraft that were not undertaken were
the OV-10T cargo variant to carry 8 to
12 troops or 4,500 pounds of cargo in an
enlarged fuselage, and the OV-10X, a light
attack variant with a computerized “glass
cockpit,” additional sensors, and smart
(guided) bomb capability.
The standard OV-10 also flew trials on
board aircraft carriers. In 1983, Marine
aircraft conduct flight operations on the
Nassau (LHA-4) and in 1985 from the
large carrier Saratoga (CV-60). The Broncos
could land within 300 to 350 feet of flight
deck without the use of arresting gear.
The OV-10 Bronco was a most success-
ful aircraft—flying in combat with three
U.S. services and flying in several other
air forces. Ceiling: 28,800 feet
1. North American Aviation became part of  North
American Rockwell in 1967, which became Rock-
well International in 1973, which became part of
Boeing in 1996.
2. The comprehensive account of VAL-4 in Vietnam
is Kit Lavell, Flying Black Ponies: The Navy’s Close
Air Support Squadron in Vietnam (Annapolis, MD:
Naval Institute Press, 2000). The author flew 243
combat missions with VAL-4.
A Two-War Two-Service Combat Veteran
one patrol flight and six scramble mis-
sions. . . . delivered 84 Zuni rockets,
133 2.75 rockets, and 21,000 rounds of
7.62 ammo in one day—total ordnance
weight in excess of 12,000 pounds.
This aircraft left Vietnam on 5 April
1972, when the squadron was disestab-
lished. It was converted from its original
“A” configuration to “D+” in 1979 and
assigned to VMO-4. From there it went to
weapons testing at NAS Patuxent River
then to the VX-5 Vampires at China Lake,
California.
OV-10A BRONCO
Type: light attack/observation
Crew: pilot, observer
Max. weight: approx. 14,444 pounds
Engines: 2 Garrett-AiResearch
T76-G-10/12 turboprop;
715 shaft horsepower
each
Length: 39 feet, 10 inches
Wingspan: 40 feet
Wing area: 291 square feet
Height: 15 feet, 1 inch
Max. speed: 281 mph
Cruise speed: 223 mph at 18,000 feet
Range: 450 miles with
maximum ordnance
Armament: 3,300 pounds bombs,
missiles, rockets, gun
pods
3. COL Gene Gurney, USAF (Ret.), Vietnam: The
War in the Air (New York: Crown, 1985), 84.
4. See N. Polmar, “Silent (By) Night,” Naval History
31, no. 5 (October 2017), 58.
In July 1988, it was transferred to the
Marine Corps at Cherry Point, North
Carolina. Sent to Saudi Arabia in
September 1990 and assigned to VMO-2,
it served in combat from the inception of
Operation Desert Storm in January 1991
until the war’s end in June, having been
based at the King Abd Al-Aziz Naval Base.
After its return to the United States
VMO-2 was deactivated in May 1993, and
the Bronco was transferred to the Flying
Leatherneck Museum at Marine Corps Air
Station Miramar in San Diego, California,
where it remains today. —J.M.C.
13
HISTORIC SHIPS
From ‘Old Hoodoo’ to Target Ship
T
he first USS San Marcos must
rank among the shortest-lived
commissioned U.S. warships,
having a service life (above
water) of just 34 days. Before her demise on
22 March 1911, however, she had a 16-year
career as the USS Texas (Second Class
Battleship No. 1), the U.S. Navy’s first
battleship. At that, she was an odd duck.
In the 1880s, battleships were in their
infancy, and while the goal of heavy arma-
ment and armor was defined, the ships’
form was not. The Texas was authorized on
3 August 1886 in parallel with the armored
cruiser Maine (Armored Cruiser No. 1, later
Second Class Battleship No. 2). Her two
single 12-inch gun turrets were mounted
en echelon—the port turret slightly forward
of amidships, the starboard one slightly aft.
This gave both guns end-on fire. A 12-inch-
thick armored redoubt encircled the turrets,
together with the central conning tower.
The Texas, of British design but con-
structed at the Norfolk Navy Yard, was
long in gestation, taking six years to com-
plete after keel laying. Decidedly second
class at her commissioning in 1895 (first-
class centerline armed battleships were
already in production with many more and
more powerful main guns), she remained
the most formidable battleship in the U.S.
arsenal for only three months. At that
point, the Indiana (Battleship No. 1), had
been launched after just four years.
Early on, the Texas earned a reputation
as a jinxed ship and the nickname “Old
Hoodoo.” Her hull was found to be weak
and required additional reinforcement
and thicker bottom plating beneath her
engines. Further, a burst pipe caused her to
The USS San Marcos
rests at anchor in
March1911justbefore
the initiation of
gunnery trials. Note
the canvas screens
riggedtoincreaseher
target area.
60
By J. M. Caiella
sink at her New York Navy Yard mooring. South Carolina. To free the name for a new
The moniker appears to have disappeared battleship Texas (BB-35), she was renamed
in the wake of her performance just three the San Marcos on 3 February 1911.
years later, on 3 July 1898, when she played During the subsequent 34-day peri-
a significant role in the destruction of od, the battleship proved her worth. In
the Spanish cruisers Vizcaya and Cristobal March 1911, she was anchored in shal-
Colon during the Battle of Santiago. low Chesapeake Bay waters near Tangier
After the Spanish-American War, the Island, Virginia. There she was shelled by
battleship cruised with the North Atlantic the battleship New Hampshire (Battleship
Fleet until she went out of commission on No. 25) and sank in 30 feet of water on
3 November 1900. She was recommissioned 22 March. Lieutenant R. S. Edwards wrote
for six years from November 1902, serv- for the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings
ing mostly reserve duty at Norfolk. After a in 1917, “The [all-or-nothing] scheme of
briefdecommissionedperiodfromJanuaryto protection is based on the data furnished
1 September 1908, the Texas was activated by the firing at the San Marcos.” This pro-
as a station and receiving ship at Charleston, tection relied on very heavy armor on the
waterline and other sensitive points and
USS San Marcos dispensed with thin topside and secondary-
(Second Class Battleship No. 1) battery armor. All U.S. battleships after the
Nevada (BB-36)—the first laid down after
Displacement: 6,315 tons the San Marcos tests—were so designed.
Length: 308 feet, 10 inches In 1938, Lieutenant Commander
Beam: 64 feet, 1 inch Radford Moses, one of about 200 officers to
inspect the ship before and during the tests,
Draft: 22 feet, 6 inches recollected them for Proceedings:
Armament: 2 12-inch/35-
We fired a few minutes and then
(in 1895) caliber guns
inspected her again to obtain the first
4 6-inch/30-caliber
data. We continued firing for three
guns
days as the San Marcos rested easily
2 6-inch/35-caliber
in the mud, examining her frequently
guns
and conducting various trials and
12 6-pounder guns
tests. At the end of the third day we
6 1-pounder guns
were all deaf even though wearing
4 37-mm Hotchkiss
ear protectors and usually cotton in
revolving guns
addition. . . .
4 14-inch torpedo
At first glance Ripley [of “Believe
tubes
It or Not” fame] would be interested
Complement: 392 officers and in one of these photographs, which
enlisted men shows . . . the nose of the [7-inch]
shell rest[ing] peacefully on the iron
handrail above the point of impact.
(True to the tradition of American
naval humor one of our boat’s crew
found the nose and poised it here, as
he said, “to puzzle the ‘highbrows’ in
the Bureau of Ordnance.”)
The San Marcos was stricken from the
Navy Register on 11 October 1911 but
NAVALHISTORYANDHERITAGECOMMAND
continued to be used as a static target
through the end of World War II. In 1959,
much of her remaining upper works were
destroyed and the remainder pushed down
into the mud of the Chesapeake Bay. As
Lieutenant Commander Moses aptly noted,
“It is even possible that the old Texas did
more for naval progress in those 3 days
than in the previous 16 years!”
U N I T E D S TAT E S N A V A L I N S T I T U T E
 Doctrine and
Technology in Action
I
n May 1943, Allied forces used a This group—shortly to be referred to as the projected track of Convoy ON 184, to
newly adopted offensive doctrine and Sixth Escort Group—proceeded without avoid a tail chase and to scout ahead of the
technological innovations to reverse the incident to Iceland arriving outer entrance convoy.
course of the Battle of the Atlantic. The swept channel at 1500, May 17. The USS The Lea had been delayed several
British, followed by the Canadians, led the Belknap (DD-251), Osmond Ingram (DD- hours at Iceland for repairs and fuel. She
way in the North Atlantic. But the U.S. 255), and George E. Badger (DD-196) overtook the Sixth Escort Group and
Navy also played a role there. were ordered to Reykjavik for refueling assumed position in the antisubmarine
On 20 May, the 23 U-boats of Wolf and provisions while the Bogue and Greene screen at 0900 Z.
Pack Mosel were assembling a patrol line (DD-266) proceeded on to Hvalfjordur. At dawn on May 19, three planes were
in the North Atlantic air gap as westbound The Sixth Escort Group had received launched to locate and cover the convoy.
Convoy ON 184 approached. Protecting the orders to escort the SS Toltec from Iceland At 0545 Z one of the planes reported
39-ship convoy was its close escort, Canadian to join up with ON 184. At 0035 Z on sighting the convoy bearing 130 degrees
Escort Group C-1, comprising the Canadian May 18, the Bogue and Greene got under T, distance 20 miles. Upon intercepting
destroyers St. Lauren and St. Croix, the way and proceeded to rendezvous with the convoy, the Toltec was delivered to the
British frigate Itchen, and three Canadian the Belknap, Badger, Osmond Ingram, and Commodore.
corvettes.Augmentingthesewarshipsduring Toltec. At 0211 the rendezvous was effected At about 0930 Z the Bogue’s destroyer
the transit through the air gap was a support and course was set to cross ahead of the escorts took previously assigned positions
groupwhoseassignmentwasoffensive—tofind
and sink U-boats.
That unit was built around the USS
Bogue (CVE-9), which was making her
fourth Atlantic crossing. Before setting out,
while in Belfast, the carrier received a key
piece of antisubmarine equipment: a high-
frequency direction finding (HF/DF) set,
which could detect the bearing of U-boat
radio transmissions. It quickly would prove
its worth, enabling one of the Bogue’s TBF-1
Avengers to home in on a Mosel submarine,
which shortly thereafter became the first
U-boat “kill” by escort carrier planes. That
was after other Bogue Avengers had heavily
damaged three other German submarines.
What follows is an edited version of the
Bogue’s action report of the cruise, which is
found in Record Group 38 at the National
Archives in College Park, Maryland.

From: Commander Sixth Escort Group

To: Commander in Chief Western
Approaches
Subject: Report of Proceedings—USS
BOGUE Escorting Convoy ON 184
NATIONAL ARCHIVES

In compliance with sailing orders the Bogue DepthbombsfromLieutenant(j.g.)

departed Belfast Lough at 1837 Z, May 15, WilliamChamberlain’sAvengertumble
1943, and effected rendezvous with surface down on the unsuspecting U-569.
escorts of Task Group 92.3 less the USS
Lea (DD-118) off Lough Foyle at 2200 Z.1

20 U N I T E D S TAT E S N A V A L I N S T I T U T E
 in the convoy’s antisubmarine screen and
the Bogue took station in the Commodore’s
column astern of the escort tanker.
Flight operations were held on May 18,
19, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25.
On May 21, a TBF-1 on patrol attacked
a submarine on the surface and probably
sank it.2
On May 22, five attacks were made by
planes from the Bogue on four submarines.3
One submarine surrendered, after
being attacked by two TBF-1s, and was
subsequently scuttled by the crew. The
U-boat captain, 2 officers, and 21 enlisted
ratings were rescued and taken as prisoners
by the St. Laurent, which had been sent to
the scene following the surrender of the
U-boat to the plane.
The attacks on the other three
submarines on May 22 resulted in the
probable sinking of two and the probable
inflicting of heavy damage to the third.4
From the time the Bogue left Belfast, a
continuous watch had been maintained
on the newly installed HF/DF. Three
radiomen from the Bogue manned this
equipment under the supervision of Sub-
Lieutenant J. B. Elton, RNVR, who had
been assigned by CiCWa to assist on
this trip.5 The HF/DF equipment proved
invaluable. On the morning of May 22,
this equipment was used to home one of
the TBFs. At 1051, an HF/DF bearing
was obtained on a submarine, but before
this bearing could be transmitted, a
TBF on patrol had already attacked the
submarine. In the afternoon, an HF/
DF bearing was directly responsible
for the attack on the submarine which
surrendered.
An interesting point about the HF/
DF bearing referred to above was that the
U-boat was transmitting a 59 group enigma
message on series eight. Shortly thereafter,
Naval Service Headquarters Ottawa’s
dispatch 221956 Z was received which is
quoted below:
The Bogue’s Avenger Attacks
21 May 1943
1. Flying 60 miles from Convoy ON 184,
Lieutenant Commander William M. Drane
spots a U-boat’s wake, circles ahead of
the submarine, and attacks, releasing four
depth bombs from 50 feet. The heavily
damaged boat, U-231, is forced to head
home for repairs.
22 May
2. Lieutenant (junior grade) Roger C.
Kuhn spots a surfacing U-boat, U-468,
and attacks, exchanging gun fire with the
submarine as he closes in. Two of his depth
bombs heavily damage the boat, which
remains on the surface down by the stern
for more than an hour before slowly sinking
below the surface and heading back to
France.
10 TH OF 58 AND 59 GROUP
ENIGMA MESSAGES ON SERIES 8 AT
1323 Z AND 1727 Z FROM VICINITY
OF ON-184 OR HX-239 PROBABLY
THE LATTER X NO EVIDENCE THESE
TRANSMISSIONS FROM U-BOAT IN
CONTACT
3. F4F Wildcat fighter pilot
Lieutenant Richard Rogers sights
a U-boat, U-305, 35 miles ahead
of the convoy. The submarine
quickly dives.
4. When U-305 surfaces, Avenger
pilot Ensign Stewart Doty spots
her at 1005 and closes in as she
heads toward ON 184, 16 miles
away. After Doty drops his depth
bombs, the U-boat appears to
go out of control before slipping
below the waves. Two minutes
later her bow breaks the surface
with the boat at a 45-degree
angle, before she again settles
below the water.
5. U-305 eventually resurfaces
and shortly after noon is spotted
by Lieutenant (junior grade)
Robert L. Stearns. Despite 20-mm
antiaircraft fire from the boat,
Stearns drops his four depth bombs from
125 feet. The heavily damaged U-boat
dives, breaking off her pursuit of the convoy
and heading for home.
6. That evening, Lieutenant (junior grade)
William F. Chamberlain is investigating a
HF/DF bearing when he spots a U-boat
in the position reported. Catching the
submarine, U-569, by surprise, he drops
four depth bombs that straddle the vessel.
7. When U-569 surfaces 30 minutes
later, Chamberlain’s relief, Lieutenant H.
S. Roberts, is overhead. After he drops
his four depth bombs, the submarine
surrenders and her engineer officer scuttles
her, going down with the boat. Twenty-four
of her 46-man crew are rescued, including
her skipper, Oberleutenant Hans Friedrich
Johannsen.

USS Bogue (CVE-9)

1. 1837 and 2200 Zulu time, or Greenwich mean

time.
2. The submarine was heavily damaged but not
sunk.
3. Only three U-boats were attacked.
4. The other two U-boats attacked were heavily
NATIONAL ARCHIVES

damaged.
5. CiCWa—Commander-in-Chief Western Ap-
proaches.

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • APRIL 2018 21

 A PROMI
Oil-soaked survivors of the USS Helena
congregateonboardthedestroyerNicholas.
Meanwhile,hundredsoftheill-fatedcruiser’s
othersurvivorsstillafloatinKulaGulffaced
an uncertain fate.
34 U N I T E D S TAT E S N A V A L I N S T I T U T E
 The loss of the cruiser Helena was a demoralizing blow to the
U.S. Navy. But the daring rescue of her surviving sailors gave
the ship’s story an uplifting ending.
By Mike Stankovich
T
he heavy rumble of naval gunfire contin-
ued intermittently throughout the hell-
ish morning. As the sky grew lighter,
the sea had become less crowded with
drifting clusters of men desperate for res-
cue. Determined to save all of them, the two
destroyers—their decks packed with hundreds
of oil-coated men—stayed to the last possible
moment. Finally, at sunrise and under enemy
fire, they pulled out. At some point during the
long, grueling early hours of 6 July 1943, a
shouted promise was made to the men tread-
ing water: The destroyers would “be back” for
them.
Central Solomons Battleground
The lull in offensive action in the Solomon
Islands following the capture of Guadalcanal
had ended. Late June and early July 1943 found
U.S. amphibious forces assaulting areas of the
Japanese-held central islands, including New
Georgia’s Rice Anchorage. Supporting Marine
Raiders and soldiers ashore was a U.S. Navy
task group (TG 36.1) built around three power-
ful light cruisers of Cruiser Division Nine—the
SE KEPT
USS Honolulu (CL-48), St. Louis (CL-49), and
Helena (CL-50)—and screened by a revolving
cast of Squadron 21 destroyers.
It had been a very tense, demanding week
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
for the ships operating as a quick-reaction
force out of Segond Channel, Espiritu Santo.
Since departing their New Hebrides anchorage
on the afternoon of 28 June, they had been
almost constantly at sea, expecting combat.
The time was spent patrolling the Solomon
Sea to keep the ships close to New Georgia
Sound—“the Slot”—a long, narrow body of
water dividing the roughly east-west string of
islands comprising the Solomons. It was down
the Slot that the periodic nighttime “Tokyo
Express” (mainly destroyers with their deadly
“Long Lance” torpedoes) would make sorties
to reinforce and resupply Japanese troops scat-
tered on islands of the chain. TG 36.1 had
slipped into Tulagi Harbor twice, on 3 and
4 July, just long enough to refuel the cruis-
ers once and the destroyers twice. When they
sortied from Tulagi on Independence Day, it
was with orders to head west to create some
fireworks with shore bombardment work.
In the enshrouding nighttime darkness of
4–5 July, the warships entered the watery cul-
de-sac of Kula Gulf from the Slot. They were
soon pounding the Japanese airstrip at Vila on
the southern tip of Kolombangara Island with
rapid fire from their five- and six-inch batter-
ies. The cruiser column, with destroyers ahead
and trailing, made the sharp left turn near the
bottom of Kula Gulf and within a few minutes
was sending high-capacity rounds into the enemy
anchorage at Bairoko on New Georgia. One of
the lead destroyers, the USS Strong (DD-467),
was torpedoed and sunk, but most of her men
were saved. TG 36.1 then headed toward Tulagi.
Once there, a survivor-laden destroyer entered
port while the remaining five warships continued
35
steaming for the Coral Sea and more patrolling. However, a
midafternoon dispatch had them reversing course to intercept
a “probable” Tokyo Express run into Kula Gulf. A couple
of hours after sunset, two destroyers, the USS Jenkins (DD-
447) and Radford (DD-446), joined their sisters, the Nicholas
(DD-449) and O’Bannon (DD-450), in the screen protecting
the cruisers.
Missing Cruiser in Kula Gulf
Steaming at 29 knots up the Slot, TG 36.1 was off north-
ern New Georgia at midnight. At 0137 on 6 July, under a
moonless and cloudy sky, the first of several surface radar
contacts was made on some ships exiting Kula Gulf. Battle
DuringtheBattleofKulaGulf,flashesfrom6-inch
gunsoftheHelena(left)andtheSt.Louisfiring
toportilluminatethenight.Momentslater,three
enemy torpedoes slammed into the Helena.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Formation “A”—a column of ships with destroyers lead-
ing and trailing the cruisers—was ordered by the officer in
tactical command, Rear Admiral Walden Ainsworth in the
Honolulu. Just shy of 0200, the line of U.S. warships com-
menced firing on Japanese targets leaving Kula Gulf. In the
middle of the cruiser line, the muzzle flashes of the Helena’s
6-inch rifles were extraordinarily bright aiming points for
the enemy (the cruiser had expended her flashless powder).
Five minutes after opening fire, the Helena was struck by
torpedoes. Following at 1,000 yards, the St. Louis had to
turn to the right to avoid her. The Helena slowed to a stop
as the sea fight swirled past her shattered hulk. Ripped open
by a trio of Long Lances, the cruiser sank slowly enough to
allow her men to scramble overboard. But they struggled to
swim in the heavy, clinging fuel oil that gushed from the
Helena’s ruptured hull and rose to the water’s surface. The
few life rafts cut adrift quickly were occupied by oil-slimy
men with other sailors clutching the attached lifelines, all
hoping for U.S. warships to return and retrieve them.
About an hour after the Helena was hit, Admiral Ain-
sworth ordered the Radford to make a radar sweep for enemy
ships in Kula Gulf. As the destroyer commenced her search,
36
the Honolulu, north of the gulf, vainly tried to contact the
missing Helena by signal blinker. Later, during a second
sweep of the gulf, the Radford bathed a radar contact in a
searchlight beam from 3,100 yards—it was the raked bow
of a broken ship. At 0332, Radford observers identified the
number “50” on the drifting bow and the search for survi-
vors began. The Nicholas was ordered to assist and reached
the survivor area moments before the Radford. Both destroy-
ers lowered volunteer-crewed whaleboats and commenced
rescue operations.
Ordeal of the Survivors
The task group, less the Nicholas and Radford, departed for
Tulagi at 0430; time was precious and dawn (with the in-
evitable marauding enemy aircraft) was just over two hours
away. Obviously, the longer the destroyers could remain in
the area, the more men they could snatch from the sea and
the Japanese, but the drifting survivor field was right where
the enemy warships were. Thus, that night’s battle action
likely was not over. Both destroyers made numerous radar
contacts, all presumed hostile, over the following hours.
Time and again they quickly had to get under way, leave
the vast survivor field, and charge off to attack an enemy
ship or ships. They fired their 5-inch main batteries; they
fired torpedoes; they dodged torpedoes. And after each en-
gagement, they doggedly returned to pull men from the sea.
The survivors thrashed about in the black, choking oil,
most held afloat only by their bulky kapok life vests. For the
majority, the struggle was mercifully short, thanks to their
rescuers. The dauntless destroyermen worked furiously, help-
ing sailors climb up the oil-slippery cargo nets draped over
the ships’ rails as multiple reports of approaching Japanese
warships deluged their skippers. The intermittent sniping
continued between the destroyers and various seaborne en-
emies. There were near misses but no damage to the U.S.
ships. Ultimately, with sunrise only minutes away, the de-
stroyers were forced to leave the area.
During the start-and-stop fighting, some men were left
clinging to the destroyers’ rope nets when the ships’ en-
gine rooms went to full power. While some of them had
climbed high enough to escape the rush of bow-wave water
and eventually were able to clamber aboard, others were
washed back into the sea. One of the latter was popular
Commander Elmer Charles Buerkle, the Helena’s execu-
tive officer. Buerkle, one of the few commissioning officers
who had remained on board the cruiser, had fleeted up
from assistant engineering officer, and was known for the
fairness, even temperament, and hardy laugh that brought
him respect from all. When he fell back into the sea he
was without a life jacket; the dedicated officer then drifted
into oblivion.
With their decks packed with hundreds of survivors, the
Nicholas and Radford headed toward Tulagi. Between them,
U N I T E D S TAT E S N A V A L I N S T I T U T E
 Paraso Central Solomons,
Early July 1943
Lambu Lambu

VELLA LAVELLA
New
Georgia
Battle of Kula Gulf Sound
Helena sunk
6 July “The Slot”

Visu Visu Pt.

KOLOMBANGARA
Kula
Gulf

GIZO U.S. Landing

Vila Rice Anchorage 5 July

NEW GEORGIA
Bairoko
U.S. Landing
Solomon Sea 2 July

Munda Pt.

U.S. Landing
30 June

RENDOVA

the destroyers had wrested 745 men from fate’s fickle grasp.
Yet there remained fully one-third of the Helena’s comple-
ment still adrift in the dangerous waters of the Slot.
The destroyermen departed with heavy hearts, but they
resolved to return for the many men left behind, including
seven of their own boatmen. They knew what might await
their brothers-in-arms. By mid-1943 any U.S. serviceman
involved in Pacific combat understood—through reports,
personal observation, or simple scuttlebutt—that their in-
tractable and brutal Japanese foes could be expected to cru-
elly abuse, torture, and even kill their captives. The Helena
had been a very well-known, popular, and hard-fighting ship
of the South Pacific Force, and it was imperative that her
men be recovered. Consequently, the Navy pulled out all
stops to extricate the remaining survivors, and in doing so
made a resounding statement.
There were two groups of survivors hoping for a ship to
return for them. A large cluster of men gravitated to the
floating bow of the sunken cruiser but eventually left it be-
hind after a passing Navy bomber dropped some inflatable
rubber rafts. That group was led by Lieutenant Commander
John L. “Jack” Chew, the Helena’s combat information cen-
ter officer and assistant gunnery officer. They were com-
KELLY OAKS
pletely at the mercy of wind and current, drifting westward
with the oil and debris field.
Commanded by the cruiser’s skipper, Captain Charles
P. Cecil, a smaller group of 81 survivors, with the seven
destroyer boatmen on board three motor whaleboats, pur-
posefully were making their way east toward New Georgia.
Later that day, they made landfall on the north shore of
the island near Visu Visu Point. Well after dawn the next
morning, they were retrieved by two destroyers. The USS
Gwin (DD-433) and Woodworth (DD-460) had been dis-
patched in a daring two-ship dash up the Slot to search
for survivors. With all the rescued on board the Gwin, and
the whaleboats burned, the two destroyers high-tailed it
to Guadalcanal, where the survivors were transferred to a
waiting transport.
Stranded on Vella Lavella
That left Lieutenant Commander Chew’s group, which be-
came more strung out with the slow drift toward Japanese-
occupied Vella Lavella Island, northwest of Kolombangara,
and became ever smaller as exhausted men floated away dur-
ing the following two long days and nights. On the morning
of 8 July, Chew and two others decided to swim for the

N AVA L H I S T O R Y • APRIL 2018 37


During a large group
ofsurvivors’weeklong
stay on Vella Lavella,
LieutenantCommander
John Chew kept the
sailors and Marines
busy with a routine of
exerciseandcleaning
theirjunglecampsite.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
island; the rest stuck with the rafts and paddled in that
direction. During the late afternoon, the swimmers were
picked up by local natives in a canoe who took them ashore
and then paddled back out to bring in the rafts.
The natives, who spoke Pidgin English that Christian
missionaries had taught them, hated the Japanese, mur-
derers of many of their people. They led all the men they
brought ashore into the hills for safety. By the end of the
day, there were 104 Helena survivors, including several
in bad condition, in the small jungle camp where they
were all taken. Chew soon got things organized to main-
tain health, safety, and naval discipline. Major Bernard T.
Kelly, the commander of the Helena’s Marine detachment,
organized a police and security force with his five enlisted
Marines and a few recruited sailors. Food was scarce for
everyone, but the locals shared their meager resources with
the survivors.
Other survivors were farther west, around the bend of the
coast, but contact between the groups was limited only to
messages. A missionary on the island made radio contact
with an Australian coastwatcher. It was not very long before
command decisions were being made.
On 14 July, two destroyer transports (APDs) of Transport
Division 12 were ordered on standby in Tulagi Harbor. The
next morning, they departed for Guadalcanal’s Koli Point to
rendezvous with four destroyers of Captain Thomas J. Ryan’s
Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 12. The six ships, TG 31.2,
got under way in the early afternoon, headed northwest.
The USS Dent (APD-9) and Waters (APD-8) formed in
column with the Maury (DD-401) trailing and the other
three destroyers—the Taylor (DD-468), with Captain Ryan
on board; Gridley (DD-380); and Ellet (DD-398)—spread
out around the column. They pointed their bows toward
Vella Lavella and “the rescue of Helena survivors.”
A couple of hours after the ships had departed Guadal-
canal, another quartet of destroyers slipped out of Tulagi
Harbor. With orders to be the distant screening force for the
38
other group, these four Fletcher-class destroyers—the Nicho-
las, O’Bannon, Radford, and Jenkins—had been nearby when
the Helena was sunk, as well as at the Battle of Kolom-
bangara, fought just two nights earlier. With DesRon 21
commander Captain Francis X. McInerney still on board
the Nicholas, they were keeping their promise to return for
the men that the Nicholas and Radford were forced to leave
behind.
Dangerous Rescue
The survivors had been on the island for seven days when
word was relayed to Chew that he and his men were to be
extracted early the next morning. Plans were made for the
trek down the hills and through the thick jungle to Lambu
Lambu Cove. They started out in midafternoon, hoping to
make it through the jungle before sunset but not wanting
to arrive at the beach too early in case the Japanese inter-
fered. There was some confusion getting everyone together
on the beach, but they all eventually made it to the ren-
dezvous location, leaving them with nothing to do except
nervously wait.
While Chew’s sailors groped their way to the beach, TG
31.2 was making turns toward the first extraction at Paraso
Bay. After passing Cape Esperance on Guadalcanal, the
APDs and their escorts avoided the Slot by heading west
into the Solomon Sea. Their course had them passing south
of the Russell Islands at about the same time that Chew’s
group of survivors started their jungle trek. About seven
hours later, TG 31.2 passed Rendova Island from well out to
sea. It was nearing midnight as the formation passed through
the Gizo Strait. Rounding the eastern tip of Vella Lavella,
the formation turned left, proceeded into the Slot, and ran
up the island’s northeastern coast.
At 0120, the formation arrived off the entrance to
Paraso Bay, and while three destroyers patrolled, the Taylor
led the APDs through the reefs ringing the bay. After 20
minutes of minimal headway and several course changes,
the APDs proceeded toward the rendezvous in a cove also
called Paraso. At 0155, barely making headway, the Dent
exchanged signals “with a small boat in accordance with
[the] previously arranged procedure.” The ADP slowed to
a stop and lowered three of her Higgins boats. Stopped a
little farther out, the Waters lowered her four boats, which
followed the others toward the beach. Meanwhile, McIn-
erney’s four covering destroyers came within sight of Ryan’s
destroyers patrolling outside Paraso Bay.
A little more than an hour after leaving the APDs, the
seven Higgins boats returned and moved alongside their
respective destroyer transports. Once the boats were hoisted
on board, the officers and men of the Waters were disap-
pointed to find that their boats were empty—the Dent boats
had embarked all 61 survivors and one Japanese prisoner,
who had been captured by natives guarding the Americans.
U N I T E D S TAT E S N A V A L I N S T I T U T E

AftertheirdaringrescuefromVellaLavella,Helenasurvivorslineupforsupplies.TheywouldarrivebackontheU.S.WestCoaston17August,six
weeks after their cruiser was sunk.
Within minutes the APDs were under way, and by 0332 they
were taking station in formation with Ryan’s shepherding
destroyers, headed down the coast for Lambu Lambu Cove
at 23 knots. Twenty-one minutes later, the Dent turned right
at the curve of the coast and immediately slowed to five
knots. Within five minutes the escorting destroyers were
patrolling and the APD, lying to, had lowered her boats.
The Waters was a few minutes behind, and her boats headed
for the beach well after those of the Dent.
Impatiently waiting at Lambu Lambu Cove were Lieu-
tenant Commander Chew and his men. Suddenly, around
0400, the APDs appeared from the gloom. Chew thought
“it was the most wonderful feeling in the world to see
[their boats] coming in.” After the boats beached at the
appointed spot, machine guns ready for action, the survi-
vors and some Chinese civilians who had fled from the
Japanese when they had arrived on the island, were em-
barked. In just over 30 minutes, the Dent’s boats returned
with most of the evacuees, followed by the Waters’ boats
at 0443 transporting the remainder. Chew was in the last
boat and among the 40 who were “quickly embarked” on
board the Waters.
Ryan’s destroyers then maneuvered to take stations
ahead of the APDs, which worked up to a 25-knot dash
down the Slot. Shortly after sunrise, McInerney’s cover-
ing force joined and assumed screening stations astern of
the formation. By 0730 a large number of friendly aircraft
were flying protectively overhead. On board the trans-
ports, the ecstatic and immensely relieved survivors were
enjoying their salvation as well as hot soup and fresh cof-
fee. Seven hours later, the APDs moored in Tulagi Harbor
and the exhausted Helena survivors were transported to
a camp ashore.
N AVA L H I S T O R Y • APRIL 2018
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Dispiriting Loss, Uplifting Ending
The loss of the Helena was a demoralizing blow for the U.S.
Navy. But the rescue had an important aspect besides the
singularly critical issue of the survivors’ salvation: It became
a tremendous morale booster for the entire South Pacific
Force. The Navy accomplished the improbable by send-
ing thin-skinned destroyers in harm’s way to retrieve the
stranded U.S. servicemen in an area where Japanese forces
abounded and were on high alert. Against very long odds,
the successful conclusion of the survivors’ saga underscored
an unstated but profound pledge: Every effort would be
made to recover any and all marooned Allied service per-
sonnel, no matter the circumstances. Hence, 166 Americans
were saved and, undeniably, a promise kept.
Sources:
Action Report for 6 July 1943, USS Helena, Record Group (RG) 38, Na-
tional Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD (hereafter
NARA II).
CDR John L. Chew, “Some Shall Escape,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
71, no. 8 (August 1945).
USS Helena (CL-50) website, www.usshelena.org/c150.html.
William C. Henderson Jr., Escape from the Sea: The USS Helena—Pearl
Harbor to Kula Gulf and Beyond (published by the author, 1995[?]).
Samuel Eliot Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific (vol. 3), Breaking the
Bismarcks Barrier (vol. 6), History of United States Naval Operations in
World War II (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1954, 1950).
LT C. G. Morris, USNR, with Hugh B. Cave, The Fightin’est Ship: The Story
of the Cruiser Helena (New York: Dodd, Meade & Co., 1944).
War Diaries, USS Honolulu, St. Louis, Nicholas, Radford, Gwin, Taylor,
Dent, Waters, and Maury, RG 38, NARA II.
Mr. Stankovich, a lifelong naval and military history enthusiast, is a proud
Marine veteran of the early 1970s. Having made a career in procurement
in the metals recycling industry, he now lives in Georgetown, Texas. He is
honored that his only other published story, “The Hardest Choice,” can be
found in the first quarterly issue of Naval History (Winter 1988).
39