The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors

by James D. Hornfischer

  LeClercq, John S., II [Lt. (jg), USS Samuel B. Roberts]. Letters home. Various dates, Aug.-Oct. 1944. From the collection of Robert LeClercq.

  Lupo, Thomas J. [Lt. (jg), VC-68, USS Fanshaw Bay]. Letter to author, May 17, 2002.

  Mackay, Donald E. [Lt. (jg), USS St. Lo]. Letter to author, Nov. 7, 2001.

  Mayuzumi, Haruo [Capt., IJN Tone]. Letter to Henry A. Pyzdrowski, July 23, 1984. Courtesy of Henry A. Pyzdrowski.

  McClintock, Elden L. [Ship’s Historian, USS Fanshaw Bay]. Correspondence with various shipmates.

  Mercer, Bill [S1, USS Johnston]. Letters and e-mails to author, various dates.

  Michiels, Larry [shipmate of Cox. Samuel Booker Roberts]. Letter to Lloyd Gurnett, Sept. 7, 1984. Courtesy of George Bray.

  Miller, Vernon [WT1, USS Fanshaw Bay]. Letters to Harold Kight, Mar. 14, 1986, and Apr. 12, 1986. Courtesy of Harold Kight.

  Mittendorff, William. Letter to Mrs. John S. LeClercq and narrative titled “Johnny Was Like That.” Undated, circa Mar. 1947. From the collection of Robert LeClercq.

  Moser, Leonard [AMM1, USS Fanshaw Bay]. Letter to Harold Kight, Apr. 25, 1986. Courtesy of Harold Kight.

  Moylan, J. Dudley [Ens., USS Samuel B. Roberts]. Letter to Mr. and Mrs. John S. LeClercq, Oct. 25, 1954. From the collection of Robert LeClercq.

  Letter to George Bray, May 27, 1984. Courtesy of George Bray.

  Orgill, Dale V. [AMM3, USS St. Lo]. Letter to author, Feb. 9, 2002.

  Philipps, Ernest [AOM, USS Fanshaw Bay]. Letters to Harold Kight, Jun. 1986 and Aug. 18, 1986. Courtesy of Harold Kight.

  Pyzdrowski, Henry A. [Lt. (jg), VC-10, USS Gambier Bay]. Letter to author, Mar. 15, 2001.

  Reid, J. M. [USS Samuel B. Roberts]. Letter to Mrs. John S. LeClercq, Sr., Jan. 16, 1945. From the collection of Robert LeClercq.

  Rhodes, Dusty [S1, USS Johnston]. Letters to author, Sept. 13, 2001, and Nov. 6, 2001.

  Rinn, Paul X. [Capt., USS Samuel B. Roberts, FFG-58]. E-mail to author, Dec. 3, 2002.

  Roberts, Everett E. [Lt., USS Samuel B. Roberts]. Letters to William Katsur, Feb. 15, 1995, and Feb. 16, 1996.

  Rohde, Dick [RM3, USS Samuel B. Roberts]. Letters and e-mails to author, various dates.

  Rutter, Robert [Lt. (jg), USS Heermann]. Letter to author, June 22, 2002.

  Saunders, Gene [VOC-2 (observation composite squadron), USS Fanshaw Bay]. Letter to Harold Kight, Dec. 12, 1986. From the collection of Harold Kight.

  Skau, Rudolph H. [CTM, USS Samuel B. Roberts]. Letter to George Bray, undated (probably May 1984). Courtesy of George Bray.

  Steinberg, Julius [Lt. (jg), USS Heermann]. Letter to author, Apr. 5, 2001.

  Stevenson, Tom [Lt. (jg), USS Samuel B. Roberts]. Letter to Mrs. John S. LeClercq, Sr., Dec. 1, 1944. From the collection of Robert LeClercq.

  Letter to author, Mar. 30, 2001.

  Letter to Mark G. Pond, Oct. 25, 1982. Courtesy of Tom Stevenson.

  Turner, Bob [AMM1, USS Fanshaw Bay]. Letter to Harold Kight, Dec. 1986. Courtesy of Harold Kight.

  Van Brunt, Tom [Lt. VC-65, USS St. Lo]. Letter to author, Mar. 17, 2001.

  Vaughan, Courtney Sprague [daughter of Rear Adm. Clifton A. F. Sprague]. Letter to author, Oct. 15, 2001.

  Welch, Ellsworth. [Lt. (jg), USS Johnston]. Letter to author, Nov. 7, 2001.

  Internet Sites

  USS Gambier Bay/VC-10 Survivors Association website: www.ussgambierbay-vc10.com

  USS Johnston/USS Hoel Survivors Association website: www.ussjohnston-hoel.bigstep.com

  USS St. Lo (CVE-63)/VC-65 Association website: www.stlomidway6365.org

  USS Samuel B. Roberts Survivors Association website: www.de413.org

  Battle off Samar website (by Robert Jon Cox): www.bosamar.com

  Source Notes

  The account of Admiral Kurita’s passage that begins and ends the opening section draws from Cutler, Battle of Leyte Gulf, 219-21; Field, Japanese, 76, 86-87, 98; Prados, Combined Fleet, 662-67; Toland, Rising Sun, 682, 702; Ugaki, Fading Victory, 492; and Woodward, Battle, 87-88. The depiction of midwatch aboard the Samuel B. Roberts is based on Copeland, Spirit, and George Bray and Tom Stevenson interviews. “Douglas, where do we go from here?” …“Leyte, Mr. President…,” Morison, History, vol. 12, 7. “The President… I shall return,” Manchester, American Caesar, 292-311; Potter, Nimitz, 385. MacArthur Returns to Philippines … [headline], Dallas Morning News, Oct. 20, 1944, 1; MacArthur on the beach, Toland, Rising Sun, 676-77; Morison, vol. 12, 136-37; Prados, 401. “Skunk 184 Degrees…” and other TBS transmissions presumably overheard on the Roberts during midwatch are taken from the radio logs and action reports of the Daly, Boise, and West Virginia. The ship had rolled so sharply …, Vince Goodrich interview. As ever, sailors learned …, Ernie Pyle, unpublished dispatch, www.de220.com/Life%20on%20a%20DE/DE-Life.htm. “Hey, Captain …” “That’s not a storm …,” Bray interview.

  Chapter 1

  “May she be a sound ship …,” Brown Victory Dispatch, Nov. 25, 1944, 1. Train ride to Houston, George Bray, Vince Goodrich, Dudley Moylan, Richard Rohde, and Jack Yusen interviews. “I know what it’s like for you guys …,” Rohde interview.

  Chapter 2

  Construction and commissioning of the Samuel B. Roberts, Copeland, Spirit, Tom Stevenson and Richard Rohde interviews. Bob Copeland’s childhood, Harriet Copeland interview. “He stood on his own …,” Copeland, 3. “Lloyd knew his navy …,” Copeland, 3. Samuel Booker Roberts on Guadalcanal, Gismo [Roberts ship’s newsletter], Aug. 4, 1944; Program, Dedication of the Taffy 3 Memorial Monument, Oct. 23, 1996; Copeland, Spirit, 5. “If launching may be likened to birth …,” E. B. Hopper, foreword to Ships of the United States Navy (Dept. of the Navy, Naval History Division, 1975). Commissioning ceremony, www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq108.htm. “I think I overdid it…” and “There’s an old saying …,” Copeland, 17; Harriet Copeland interview. “Jack Roberts had made his own way …,” Copeland, 9. What a ship! and “What are you guys looking at?” Jack Yusen interview. In a stained-glass window, Dudley Moylan interview. “We were short of destroyers,” Copeland, 29. “They are rough and tumble little ships …,” Ernie Pyle, www.de220.com/Life%20on%20a%20DE/DE-Life.htm. Destroyers escorts (DEs) were every bit the equal of destroyers …, see data in Friedman, Destroyers, 412, 421. Roberts ’s collision with a whale, Stevenson, Rohde, and Yusen interviews; Copeland, 11. “I was belowdecks when there was a great shock …,” Gene Wallace quoted in Brown Victory Dispatch, Jan. 13, 1945, 2. “It is legendary in the Navy …,” Copeland, 11. “My dad figured …” and “I want to talk to you …,” Bud Comet interview. Background on Everett E. Roberts, Everett E. Roberts, autobiographical narrative. “As fast as a slide rule …,” Copeland, 6. “As long as I have the confidence and trust…,” John LeClercq, letter to his mother, Aug. 31, 1944, 4. Bringing the dog Sammy aboard: In Spirit (12) Copeland credited himself and Lloyd Gurnett for bringing Sammy aboard ship; George Bray said some enlisted men did it. Speculation flew in The Gismo …, Gismo, Aug. 4, 1944.

  Chapter 3

  This account of the Roberts’s crossing-the-line ceremony is from Copeland, Spirit, 19-26, and Vince Goodrich and Richard Rohde interviews.

  Chapter 4

  History of the destroyer, Friedman, Destroyers, 7, 11, 111, 167-68. “The hunting dogs of the fleet,” Urbanski, Heermann, 1943-46, n.p. The USS Hoel’s wardroom, Myles Barrett and Clarence Hood interviews. “Nelson touch,” in Mahan, Mahan on Naval Warfare, 201-2. Amos Hathaway’s photographic memory, Harold Whitney interview. “He was a son of a bitch,” Julius Steinberg interview. Bebb feared his skipper would resent…, Edwin Bebb interview. A handful of marbles …, Steinberg interview. “This is going to be a fighting ship …,” Hagen, “We asked for the Jap Fleet,” 9-10. Account of the Johnston during the Marshalls invasion, Jesse Cochran, Robert Hagen, Robert Hollenbaugh, and Ellsworth Welch interviews; accounts by Edward Block, Milt Pehl, and others in Mercer and Chastain, The Fighting and Sinking of the USS Johnston. “Damn it, they need fire support,” C
ochran interview. “The captain put the make on him …,” Hagen interview. “The gun boss could fire a hundred shots …” and “We were all so green …,” Hagen interview. An average rate of fire for a five-inch/38-caliber crew, Roscoe, Destroyer Operations, 18. “You may now bring on the Japanese fleet,” Hagen, “We asked for the Jap Fleet,” 10. “Mr. Hagen, that was very good shooting,” Jim Correll interview.

  Chapter 5

  Ziggy Sprague, “tousled hair swinging fore and aft,” “clever in nearly every sport,”

  Lucky Bag in Reneau, Remembered, following p. 152; Wukovits, Devotion, 14. Sprague in Rockport, Massachusetts, Reneau, 7; Wukovits, 3. “Fleet aviation must be developed …” and “the advantage will lie …,” Spector, At War at Sea, 138. “Instrument face,” Reneau, 36; Wukovits, 29. Pensacola aviation fatalities, Wukovits, 25. “Aviation is essentially and fundamentally …,” Spector, 146. “Just a lot of noise,” Wukovits, 26. Sprague and Annabel Fitzgerald, Wukovits, 39-41. “We’re not prepared …,” Wukovits, 48. The Tangier at Pearl Harbor, Reneau, 87-88. “I was eating, drinking, and breathing aviation,” Halsey and Bryan, Admiral, 52. Sprague “came in quietly …,” Wukovits, 83; “took a very green crew,” Wukovits, 86. “The air group is the only reason …,” Wukovits, 84. “You can train a pilot for $50,000 …,” Taylor, Magnificent, 236; Reneau, 130; Arleigh A. Burke in Wooldridge, Carrier, 169. “When he was promoted from Captain to Admiral,” Reneau, 118. Capt. Douglass P. Johnson of the Fanshaw Bay , William Murry interview. “Piss on them then,” Fantails [USS Fanshaw Bay newsletter], Jul. 25, 1986, 3. “The commanders of all fleets … patriotism, and subordination,” www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq59-7.htm. Bogan was a “first-class horse’s rear end,” Joe Harrington, “Turn On the Lights.” “The entire crew [of the Fanshaw Bay] was incompetent” and “the worst ship I’d ever seen …,” Y’Blood, Little Giants, 171; Wukovits, 113. “For the first time … hadn’t received an Essex -class command,” Christopher W. M. Carson, undated letter to Clifton Sprague, quoted in Reneau, 200. “A conglomeration of farmers …,” Leonard Moser, supplement to letter to Harold Kight, Apr. 25, 1986, 2. “Active men need …,” “Planning the menu …,” Cook Book of the United States Navy, 1944, 3. “Hey, we had good chow …,” Harold Kight interview. [A] large mess serving 1,000 men …, Cook Book, 13. Sinking of the Liscome Bay , Y’Blood, 1-9; Dix, Missing, 11. “A jeep carrier bears the same relation … not wholly successful results,” Fletcher Pratt, “Jeep Carrier at Best a Makeshift Affair,” Boston Globe and Overseas Press Service, 1944. History of CVE development, www.usmm.org/peary.html; Y’Blood, 34-35; Vice Adm. Fitzhugh Lee, in Wooldridge, Carrier, 204; www.aws.org/about/blockbuster.html. “Boy, I thought we’d bought the farm …,” Vernon Miller, letter to Harold Kight, Apr. 12, 1986, 10-11. Fanshaw Bay damaged off Saipan, Joe Sisul, “Navy Days;” Leonard Moser, letter to Harold Kight; Thomas Lupo interview and letter to author.

  Chapter 6

  Background on World War II–era pilot training: Bill Brooks, Larry Budnick, Joe Downs, Earl Gifford, Royce Hall, Wayne Hammett, Thomas Lupo, and Thomas B. Van Brunt interviews. “Damn Navy …,” Van Brunt, “A Bird’s-Eye View.” In some divisions on the St. Lo, as many as 90 percent of the men requested transfers, Donald E. Mackay, letter to Michael F. McKenna, May 20, 1982, 17. “We respected their view …,” Brooks interview. Pilots could see submarine silhouettes, Downs interview. Sinking of USS Seawolf , Brooks and Downs interviews; Morison, History, vol. 12, 27-28; Wukovits, Devotion, 113-14; Y’Blood, Little Giants, 107-8. Aircraft production and pilot recruitment, Spector, At War at Sea, 148; Vice Adm. Herbert D. Riley, “Filling the Pipeline,” in Wooldridge, Carrier, 102; Lawson and Tillman, Carrier Air War, 152-57. “Like getting into a shoebox,” Brooks interview. Like “a Hollywood premiere, Chinese New Year’s and Fourth of July rolled into one,” Morison, vol. 8, 302; “I heard pilots express the opinion …,” Rear Adm. James D. Ramage, “Turn On the Lights,” in Wooldridge, 180-81. Lt. Cdr. Ralph Jones’s “big glom,” Brooks interview. “We razzed the torpedo pilots a lot…,” Budnick interview. Background on aerial ops over Leyte, Earl Archer, Bill Brooks, Joe Downs, Earl Gifford, Thomas Lupo, Richard Roby, and Thomas B. Van Brunt interviews. “Hey coxswain …,” Van Brunt interview. “Landing on half a block of Main Street…,” Ernie Pyle, in David Nichols, ed., Ernie’s War, 395. “They came out like sausages …,” Rear Adm. Herbert D. Riley, in Wooldridge, 102.

  Chapter 7

  Discussion of the Sho plan is based on Prados, Combined, 586-87, 606, 608. Halsey’s strikes on Formosa, Morison, History, vol. 12, 92-95; Prados, 608-9. “… nothing but so many eggs thrown …,” Morison, vol. 12, 93. Activation of Sho-1 plan, Morison, vol. 12, 91; Prados, 621; Field, Japanese, 23-39. Ozawa’s force composition is based on Prados, 644–47; Morison, vol. 12, 320-23. Halsey’s orders to “cover and support” MacArthur “in order to assist in the seizure … of the Central Philippines,” Morison, vol. 12, 58. “… large scale logistic preparations …” Prados, 615.

  Chapter 8

  “Like elaborate religious scrolls” and “These battleships will be as useful … as a samurai sword,” Prados, Combined Fleet, 126-27. Japanese dissent to the Sho plan, Koyanagi, “The Battle of Leyte Gulf,” in O’connor, The Japanese Navy, 109; Prados, 588. “To intercept and destroy … in a Decisive Battle,” Prados, 587. “Please give the Combined Fleet the chance …,” Cutler, Battle of Leyte Gulf, 67. U.S. air strikes on Nishimura, Morison, History, vol. 12, 190; Prados, 629; Tully, 2. “Skunk 184 degrees, 18 miles,” TBS radio log, in USS West Virginia action report; Morison, vol. 12, 213. The wording varies slightly in USS Boise’s TBS Log Sheet.

  Chapter 9

  Morison’s chapter in History, vol. 12, 198-241, is the most gripping and authoritative account of the Battle of Surigao Strait to date. Toland’s account in Rising Sun, 697-703, is based on many Japanese sources. In his valuable article, “Shell Game at Surigao,” Tully traces the discrepancies and dispels much of the confusion surrounding the action. As he explains, some authors, including Cutler, Field, and Woodward, relied on an errant Japanese source and in so doing transposed the identities of the Fuso and Yamashiro. “Too beautiful to serve our purpose,” USS Daly action report, 2. The ships up the strait heard a tremendous racket and “I’ve got a big one in sight…,” Holloway, “Battle of Surigao Straits.” Like “animals in a cage,” Morison, History, vol. 12, 215. A “huge, red-hot iron plunged into the water,” Shigeru Nishino, skipper of Shigure, quoted in Toland, 699. “Notify your maximum speed,” Tully. “Each explosion was a round ball …” and “The ship which was hit…,” USS Daly action report, 4. “Two faint [explosions] and a loud snap” and “Flames reaching above the mastheads,” Tully. The West Virginia’s gunnery officer laughed aloud …, Woodward, Battle, 114. The devastating accuracy of this gunfire …, Morison, vol. 12, 228. “It seemed as if every ship …,” Oldendorf quoted in Astor, Crisis, 385-86. It seems that the Shigure’s skipper mistook Nishimura’s own ship for the Fuso , Tully, citing the Naval War College analysis of the battle. A projectile-man … broke his left hand …: USS Boise action report, Executive Officer’s Report, 2, identifies this man as S1 Clayton M. Boone. “We have arrived at battle site,” Shima quoted in Toland, 701. “Burning like a city block,” Morison, vol. 12, 236. “I HAVE RUDDER DIFFICULTIES,” Falk, Decision, 163. “If we continued dashing,” Falk, 164. “In the pale pre-dawn twilight…,” Holloway. At daylight seven heavy pillars …, USS Daly action report, 6. “All survivors in water are Nips …” and “Let them sink,” USS Daly action report, Enclosure C, Voice Radio Log, 5.

  Chapter 10

  “The fact that I survived …,” Hara, Japanese, 4. “Large target…,” USS Denver to Oldendorf at 0421 hours, per USS West Virginia action report, TBS Log Sheet. “Keep track of enemy …,” Berkey to McManes at 0333 hours, in USS Boise action report, 7. “We have one dead in the water …,” McManes to Berkey at 0348, in USS Boise action report, 8. “We have quite a few survivors in the water,” Cdr. M. H. Hubbar
d to Oldendorf at 0557, USS Daly action report, Enclosure C, Voice Radio Log, 5. “Pick them up …,” Capt. T F. Conley to skippers of DesDiv 112 at 0611, USS Daly, Enclosure C, 5. “Take three destroyers …,” Oldendorf to Hayler at 0636, USS Boise action report, 12. “By God, I think we finally got ’em,” Tom Stevenson interview.

  Chapter 11

  “We do not mind death,” Ito, End, 100. “I know that many of you are strongly opposed …,” Prados, Combined Fleet, 631; Ito, 100. “After the spray and smoke had disappeared…,” Morison, History, vol. 12, 172. “The giants of Japan’s Navy …,” Ito, 11. The construction of the Yamato is discussed in Spurr, Glorious, 24-27; Japan’s overall shipbuilding strategy is discussed in Ito, 11, 12, 15-18. “Strike! Repeat: Strike! …,” Halsey and Bryan, Admiral, 214. The destruction of the Musashi is from Cutler, Battle of Leyte Gulf, 146-53; Field, Japanese, 66-69; Lawson and Tillman, Carrier Air War, 131-33; Prados, 639-42; Toland, Rising Sun, 686-94; and Ugaki, Fading, 488-91. “Damn fool! My responsibility is so great…,” Toland, 691-92. “probability is great…,” Ito, 108.

  Chapter 12

  IF WE CONTINUE WITH OUR PRESENT COURSE …, I TO, END, 108. WITH CONFIDENCE IN HEAVENLY GUIDANCE …,” Prados, Combined, 641; a slightly different translation appears in Morison, History, vol. 12, 189. Background on Vice Adm. Willis Lee is from Halsey and Bryan, Admiral, 257. Discussion of Halsey’s mission orders is from Potter, Nimitz, 416. Halsey’s decision to attack Ozawa’s decoy force is discussed in Potter, Halsey, 417, and in Morison, vol. 12, 193-96. The reports that the carriers Amagi and Katsuragi had joined Ozawa, erroneously circulated by JICPOA, are discussed in Prados, 649. “Before we’re through with ’em …,” Morison, vol. 3, 212.