Read Online Down to the Sea by Bruce Henderson - Free Book Online Page B

running low on fuel.
    The destroyer was heading back through columns of smoke to rejoin the squadron when Burke came on the radio: “We have a target smoking badly at 7,000 yards. We’re going to open up.”
    Suddenly, tall waterspouts erupted all around Spence —the destroyer was being straddled by incoming shells. “Cease firing!” came the urgent call from Spence over the TBS. “Cease firing! Goddammit, that’s us!”
    â€œAre you hit?” an anxious Burke radioed.
    Told by Spence they had been spared by near misses, Burke came back with a classic naval repartee: “Sorry, but you’ll have to excuse the next four salvos. They’re already on their way.”
    The destroyer zigzagged to avoid the shells raining down.
    When the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay ended shortly before sunrise,the bloodied Japanese force was limping its way back to Rabaul in disarray without having fired a shot at the troop transports or the Marines ashore. *
    At 8:00 A.M. , two formations of Japanese bombers and torpedo planes appeared overhead. A total of sixty enemy planes from Rabaul carried out a coordinated attack, some bombing from high altitude while others dropped low to release torpedoes and strafe the decks of the American ships, which put up a thick blanket of antiaircraft fire and downed twenty planes while taking no serious hits. Spence —nearly out of ammunition after expending some 2,000 rounds of 5-inch shells in the battle—was credited with three shoot-downs.
    Strand and his shipmates had been “scared plenty for a while” that morning, but they “overcame fear, and the encouraging results gave strength, courage and high spirits to the crew. A good deep breath was drawn by all.”
    A week later, a Spence lookout sighted a life raft with men aboard. As they approached, seven Japanese who appeared to be downed aviators could be seen lying “sprawled over…in grotesque positions.” As Spence closed on the raft with the intention of snagging it with a grapnel and bringing the bodies aboard, the Japanese “suddenly came to life.” One man who seemed to be the officer in charge stood up and yelled something. Making it clear they would not be taken prisoner, he pulled out a machine gun and pointed it at Spence . All hands on deck scurried for cover as a 5-inch deck gun swung into position and was trained on the raft. Before the disbelieving eyes of Spence crewmen, the officer turned toward a raft companion, who put the muzzle of the weapon in his mouth. The officer pulled the trigger, blowing off the back of the man’s skull. Two others followed suit until one man balked. He was held down while the officer did the brutish deed. When the officer was the last oneleft, he made a brief “fanatical speech” in Japanese directed at the officers on Spence ’s bridge, then shot himself, toppling into the bloodstained sea, which by then was “swarming with sharks.” Those who witnessed the bizarre incident came away realizing they faced an enemy capable of “the most weird things.” A search of the raft revealed that the airmen had left classified publications and maps. While Spence had no prisoners to turn over for interrogation, a “very good intelligence haul [was] made just the same.”
    On the afternoon of November 24, the Little Beavers got under way from New Georgia Island for a high-speed sortie after receiving urgent orders from the headquarters of Admiral Halsey, who in October 1942 had been placed in charge of the South Pacific command based at New Caledonia. * Naval Intelligence, which had broken the Japanese code and was reading intercepted radio dispatches, had learned of a planned evacuation of 1,500 military personnel off Buka, an island north of Bougainville. Burke’s mission was to get his destroyers quickly into position off Buka to intercept the enemy naval force of unknown size and