August 19 1942 - Today, I returned by high wire from the USS San Juan to the Big E. Later in the afternoon, I went to the wardroom and two young Ensigns came in and sat down by me. One of them introduced himself as Ensign Fields and I didn't catch the name of the other man. Ensign Fields, or "Marsh" as he was called, was about five foot six inches tall and was quite roly-poly. He was very neat and clean, but his trousers were bunched at the waist. They looked like they were about four sizes too large for him. Marsh seemed quite impressed that he had seen me fraternizing with LCDR Slim Townsend on the San Juan. (Generally, LCDR's didn't associate with Lt (jg's). I told him about the mission that we had been on together. He asked me about smoking in the wardroom. I explained to him that he could smoke unless the OOD had announced that the smoking lamp was out. After these two officers left, another officer came over and he said, "I see that you have met Ensign Marshall Fields IV, the multi-millionaire from Chicago." I had only heard of the Marshall Fields Department Store in Chicago when I was in Chicago for my Midshipman training.
While we had been gone from the Big E, the carriers USS Wasp and USS Saratoga had joined with us. Also, on the 17th, the USS Hornet had left Pearl Harbor for our area. Many other ships are being mobilized for our area. It is the hope of many of our men that we will be able to get back to the West Coast for some leave and recreation. Lt. (jg) Max Graham has received orders to back the states for some kind of duty. He can't leave for his new assignment yet, because we are out in the middle of the ocean. He can transfer custody of the registered publications though and we will transfer them to Ensign Wells as soon as possible. Ensign Kelley will be the assistant Division Officer. Woltemate and Lovelace didn't want any other assignments. Any other division would assign officers, but CDR Dow didn't want to have me assign anyone to any job that they didn't want. This leaves me as the Flag Division Officer, Officer in Charge of the Coding Room, Officer in charge of all training of the Flag Radiomen, Signalmen and Yeomen. Yeomen are like secretaries. They do typing, shorthand and filing.
August 20 - Marshall Fields is assigned to the Communications Division. He reported to me today for assignment. He had already reported to the Ship's CWO, but he learned that I was in charge of the Coding Room so he came to me. He let me know though that he didn't want to do this kind of work, but would rather be in gunnery. He said that he has secretaries back home in his office that typed all of his letters and that he wasn't going to learn how to type. He said that he would use the hunt and peck system and would be slow. But that he would do the work. With that kind of an attitude, I didn't want him. I told him that we didn't get to pick our assignments. He was so insistent though, that I suggested that he find a junior gunnery officer who would trade assignments with him, then he would need to get the Gunnery Division Officer and the Ship's Communication Officer to agree to the transfer. This was all worked out and he didn't have to work a single day in communications.
I was quite impressed with his ability to get along with his fellow officers. One day his watch was ended and the group of about seven officers came down to the wardroom. Recently we had received a supply of small bottles of Coca-Cola for the officer's mess. They sold for 5 cents per bottle. The leader of the group said, "Marsh, you should buy our cokes today." Marsh said, "No, it's Bob's turn, I bought them two days ago." The group then chastised him and said that he was rich and that thirty-five cents wouldn't break him. Marsh was emphatic though that he would buy when it was his turn, but only when it was his turn. This happened every day as they came down after their watch was over. Another recurring theme was his trousers. His trousers were too big around the waist and his buddies called him "Satchel Pants." Generally, they just called him "Marsh". He explained how he got the trousers that were too big. He said that he went to the store, (I assumed that he meant the Marshall Fields Department Store). He just scooped six or eight pairs of khaki work trousers from the shelf. Several of these trousers were four inches or more too big around the waist. His buddies said, "Oh come on Marsh, toss them out and get some that fit you properly, or at least have them altered to fit you." He replied that this was just a work uniform and it didn't matter much how it looked. He said, "I'll just wear these for gunnery duty and for GQ. I'm not paying to get a pair of work trousers altered."
August 21 - Lt(jg) Graham, Ensign Wells and I spent the afternoon taking an inventory of the secret and confidential materials so that they could be transferred to Ensign Wells. The process took longer than we anticipated, because Ensign Wells double checked and triple checked everything. I didn't blame him. Nothing can ruin your career quicker in the navy than to lose a registered publication. Since my watch this morning, I haven't had any sleep. now I have to go on watch again at midnight. That'll be 24 hours without sleep.
August 22 - My coding watch was from midnight until 5:45 AM. There's no use going down to sleep, because while we are at sea we have General Quarters (GQ) just prior to daybreak every morning. While we were at GQ, our radar picked up an irregular blip so we are held at GQ until almost noon.
Can you imagine? I am a one and one half stripe Lt.(jg) and I have Charley Fox, who is a three stripe Commander, working under my directions on the coding Board. He is the ship's Supply Officer. It is almost noon and we are about sixty miles south of San Cristobal Island. One of the flag officers came in to see Charley Fox. he said that although we still have some bogies on the radar screen, that the Admiral is going to set Condition Two. Condition Two meant that we will be released from GQ and that half of the crew will be able to have lunch. Charley told him that he had anticipated this and that his cooks had cooked many roasts and that they could make some quick sandwiches to serve with some hot soup.
To me though, it meant sleep. I went down to the Captain's Office where Ensign Malberry Smith, one of our CWO's was at his battle station. Ensign Smith handled the registered for the ship, just like Ensign Wells now handled the publications for the Flag or for the Admiral. Ensign Smith welcomed GQ, because it gave him a chance to catch up on the corrections to the ship's secret and confidential publications. If we were to "Abandon Ship", Ensign Smith would be responsible for destroying all of the ships classified codes and other publications. Everything that the Admiral did was separate from what the ship did. The ship could still function with codes and other secret documents if the Admiral should be transferred to another ship or station. I told Ensign Smith that I was going to sleep and to awaken me if we went to GQ again. I pulled a life preserver from the overhead to use as a pillow and promptly went to sleep on the hard steel deck in Captain Davis' office.
It seems that I had scarcely dropped off to sleep when I was awakened by Ensign Lovelace, who was shaking me. I asked, "Are we at GQ again?" He said, "No, but you were asleep." I said, "Of course I was asleep. I haven't slept for thirty-six hours." He said, "But there are some bogies on the radar screen. What if they would come over and drop a bomb on you while you were asleep?" Very disgustedly, I said, "Well, if they drop a bomb on me what difference does it make if I'm awake or asleep? Now go away and let me sleep." You'd have to know Ensign Lovelace to see the humor of this. He was a lazy worthless worker, but every time GQ sounded, he was the first to arrive on station with big wide scared eyes. I slept again. While I slept, twelve of our fighters went out and shot down the big 4-engine Kawanishi flying boat. (This is the same bogie, I believe, which we had seen on our screen since early morning GQ.
Aug 23 - Today our aviators claimed that they sank two submarines.
Aug 24 - We don't know this yet, but today is the target date set by Admiral Yamamoto for the recapture of Guadalcanal.
The USS North Carolina, a new big battleship is travelling along at our stern now. It gives us a lot more confidence because it haws quite a few anti-aircraft guns. It can go at a much greater speed than our old battleships could. The new aircraft carrier, USS Wasp was also with us, but has had to leave us to be refueled.
1000 Hours- A couple of PBY's sent us by radio, contact reports of a Japanese task force. The reports were practically worthless, because we didn't know the location of the PBY's. Our own aircraft are searching, but can't find the enemy force.
1300 Hours- CDR Edward P Stafford, USN, wrote in his book, "The Big E", "another search. . . over the hostile ocean to the north on what was probably the most eventful scouting flight in history."
1400 Hours- The Saratoga is about ten miles away. We have contact with the enemy and a battle commences. The enemy knows where our task force is and their three carriers with thirty six bombers, twelve torpedo planes and a large group of fighters are en route to attack us. My nemesis, Ensign Lovelace came running in the coding room all excited. He said that he couldn't be at GQ in the Flag Secretary's Office, because he wouldn't be able to get rid of the publications in case of "Abandon Ship." I went down to the Flag Office and stood Lovelace's watch for him. My duty now was to get rid of all publications if we were given the order to "Abandon Ship."
Our aircraft are out and have located some enemy aircraft. The pilots are talking to each other on the radios. Our OOD has piped the radio transmissions over the intercom so that we can all hear what is going on. The pilots seem to be having a lot of activity. While we are in the battles, OOD talks to the crew over the intercom so that we know what is going on.
1710 Hours - We can hear aircraft coming in to attack us, but we wonder if the bridge has been bombed, because suddenly there is a dread silence on the intercom. Tremendous explosions are erupting from all parts of the ship and our guns are barking continually. I was going to try to just tell this story from my own experiences, but I believe it better if I tell what was happening on the ship in general.
1714 Hours - The after elevator is just aft of the superstructure. The coding room is on the superstructure, but of course, I was not there when a bomb hit the starboard forward corner of the elevator. Three civilian photographers filmed the attack of the enemy airplanes and one camera showed the flight deck crew running for cover. As soon as the bomb hit, the men went right back on the flight deck carrying out their duties. Thirty-five men down below were killed from this bomb hit. Thirty seconds later a second bomb hit quite near the first bomb hit. One of these two bombs wiped out the chief petty officer's quarters, the steering engine room, the elevator machinery room and was next to our powder magazine and ammunition locker. The ammunition was hot from the bomb explosion. Ensign Jim Wyrick, a young naval academy Ensign quietly and quickly took control. He organized a work party, jumped down into the uncontrolled fire and formed a human chain, passing the unexploded ammunition and hot powder up the ship and over the side into the ocean. He got severe burns on his hands in his successful effort to save the ship. If any one of the powder charges had exploded, it would probably have blown up the entire powder magazine and in turn have sunk our ship. He and these men were real heroes in my book. (Later we were able to see the film of the bombing. The photographer was wounded, but stuck right with his camera and caught the whole episode on film.)
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| The third and last bomb, dropped by an aircraft piloted by Kazumi Horie who died in the attack, hits Enterprise, causing minor damage. Smoke from the first two bomb hits can be seen in the upper left of the picture.[39] |
1716 Hours - We received a third bomb hit right over my head. Luckily for us (and for me) it was a dud (defective) (grandson note: In the book USS Enterprise, it calls this blast a "partial detonation"), but even so, it caused enough damage to put our middle elevator out of commission. Those of us who are below deck don't know which of all these explosions are hits and which are near misses. Often a near miss can knock the ship around worse that a hit can.
1717 Hours - The attack has ended, but we still haven't heard anything on the intercom.
1810 Hours- It is kind of nerve racking down here. Our phones are all dead and we still have not received any word from the OOD. We know that the ship is severely damaged, because we felt the ship lurch about fifteen times in the three minute time interval from the first hit until the last. The ship is tilted or listing about three degrees to starboard. If the word has been passed to "Abandon Ship", we didn't receive it.
1815 Hours- With great relief, we hear the sounds of aircraft landing. Maybe things aren't as bad as we had imagined.
1850 Hours- We can still hear aircraft coming in to land, but all of a sudden, the ship makes a violent turn to the left, then to the right, then to the left again. (Are we dodging torpedoes?) This time the ship is staying on a full left turn and seems to be violently churning through the water. "Collision" is sounded. We go in reverse. Our loudspeaker still isn't working so we don't know what is happening. The reversing slowed us to about 10 knots, but we are still listing. We had been listing so badly that the loose chairs and anything else that isn't tied down rolled around on the deck. (Are we sinking?) If we are sinking, we can't dispose of the publications until we get the order to "Abandon Ship."
Note: We learned later that the Big E, which had been travelling at about 27 knots, had lost control of its rudder. One of the near misses had probably hit near the stern of the ship and had affected the rudder. No malfunction was evident until we had made a turn and then the rudder went fully to the right and stayed there. I remembered us as going at hard left rudder, but I guess my memory was at fault. During the five minute attack on us (which seemed more like an hour), thirty bombs were dropped at us. Most were misses or near misses. We who were down below thought that about fifteen bombs had hit us. Also, the ship was listing so steeply that it seemed that the ship could roll right over. Each near miss sent us sideways and felt like hits. We have no control of the ship and almost ran over the USS Balch, a destroyer. That was when the reverse engines were turned on. The Captain sent a "Breakdown" visual message to all ships to disregard our movements. This meant to get the heck out of our way.
We were travelling at about 27 knots at hard right rudder, which tilted the deck and we were going around and around in circles. Our rudder was as big as a house and weighed thousands of pounds. The chairs all rolled over to the starboard side and even typewriter carriages would not stay put. We'll be a sitting duck if an enemy finds us in this condition.
Our radiomen copy messages from a broadcast station (either Radio Honolulu or Radio South Pacific.) We had a big burly radioman assigned to this task, but when he couldn't control the typewriter carriage, he panicked and threw off his headset (just as Ensign Fox had done at Guadalcanal). The only other man available at the time was a tiny little guy who hadn't been in the navy very long. He typed with one hand and moved the typewriter carriage with his other hand and didn't miss a letter.
Meanwhile, down in the Flag Office, we don't have a clue as to what is going on. I personally feel that, because we are listing so much that we have been flooded on the starboard side and that we are sinking. Finally, the speed of the ship lessens and as it does the tilt of the deck decreases. (Note: We learn later that while we were going around in circles, our radar operators spotted thirty more enemy dive bombers that passed within ten miles of us. We were lucky that they didn't see us. We have been saved by divine providence. Considering the condition of the ship, we could never have survived another attack from such a formidable group of planes.
1850 Hours - The rudder has been fixed and the helmsman has control of the ship.
1900 Hours - We slowed down. We stop listing and are almost on an even keel.
2000 Hours - We can hear the rumbling of an intercom in a distant compartment so we know that our intercom isn't working. I decide to take a run up to the coding room to find out what was going on. As I left the flag office, there were two men lying on stretchers in the passageway. I can tell by the configuration of the sheet covering one man that his left foot is missing. Further along on the way, I saw some men looking over the catwalk. I went over to look and saw a big hole down on the flight deck where a bomb had broken through our deck. I was told that only three bombs hit the ship. All of the other explosions, which we had felt were near misses. The officers in the coding room were pretty excited. The first two bomb hits had shaken the men up quite a bit. They told me that GQ had been ended quite some time ago so I ran down to the flag office again to tell the men to secure form GQ. This time, the man with a missing foot had the sheet over his head so I knew that he had died during the short time in which I was gone. I now felt remorseful that I hadn't stopped to give him a word of comfort.
2015 Hours - Our TBFS (Torpedo Planes) returned to the ship to land, after a fruitless search for the enemy. Two of them land, but the third one smashed into the super structure. The only thing that the other four planes could do now was to go find the USS Saratoga (Sara) and land on her.
Aug 25, 1942 - Ross Glassman met me today by saluting. He didn't get promoted to Lt. (jg) with all the rest who were in line for promotion. I tell him not to salute me, but he said that he is now junior so he should salute. I'll tell more about him later. He told me to go look down into the gun gallery which was like looking down into a football field. When I looked into the devastation and ruins a boom was carrying a gun with the man still sitting at the controls. His face was burned away and his teeth grinned out at me. Hi hands still clasped the controls and they were burned black up past the wrists. His upper arms were muscled and white. There were other things to see, but my eyes were riveted on this one man.
The Japanese attack force yesterday consisted of thirty six dive bombers and about twelve torpedo planes. As I mentioned earlier, three of the bombs hit the target. Many of the bombs were too close for comfort. Two of our other aircraft carriers, the USS Lexington and USS Saratoga were originally planned as cruisers. Part way through construction, the plans were changed and they became aircraft carriers. They were good, effective ships, but were not as maneuverable as the USS Enterprise or the USS Yorktown. The enemy was able to sink them because they couldn't dodge bombs or torpedoes like the Big E or the Yorktown could. They Big E's captain, Captain Arthur C. Davis has been our captain since Jun 30, 1942.
The elevators are used to take aircraft down to the hangar deck for repair or storage. They are also used to take aircraft up to the flight deck for launching. Now that two of our elevators are inoperable, there is a lot of congestion on both the flight an hangar decks. This not only increases the workload, but also requires a longer time to do the necessary work.
Aug 26, 1942 - We are ordered to Tongatabu for temporary repairs. The ships crew is divided into three groups at Tonga. Each group has shore leave for two hours. I was able to buy a cheap tapa cloth. It didn't take long for three thousand men to buy all available good from the natives. One of the natives offered me a lot of money for my special dark glasses. I really needed the glasses or I would have given them to him. I wouldn't be able to get another pair until we returned to Pearl Harbor.
We are now ordered back to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Scuttlebutt (rumor) has it that we are going back to the states for sixty to ninety days for repairs. The "rumor-mongers" say that Pearl doesn't have the facilities to repair the ship. Many men are highly elated, because if we get back to the states for a couple of months, everyone should get a short leave to go home for a couple of weeks. When I say "we", I don't include myself, because I know that if the ship goes to the west coast, those of us on the "Admiral Flag Allowance", will be taken from the ship to await the next available aircraft carrier.
Sep 1, 1942 - From CINCPAC came the message, "Deliver Well Done to Enterprise."
Sep 10, 1942 - We entered Pearl Harbor today for overhaul. I just happened to be at the quarterdeck when the gangplank was put over the side. Before the gangplank was even secure, CINCPAC's Flag Lieutenant nimbly strode aboard and saluted the flag and the OOD. He asked to see the C&R Officer (Construction & Repair.) This was Lieutenant Commander Herschel A. Smith who just happened to be close by. The Flag Lieutenant blurted out "Admiral Nimitz wants to know how long till you're seaworthy? (Note: If I had been the Flag Lieutenant, I would have found a more private place to have the conversation.) Smith answered quickly, "Just put me down a steel plate to cover the hole in the number three elevator." Of Course, this spread like wild fire around the ship and some of the men could never forgive LCDR Smith for this answer.
Thenceforth, his name instead of Herschel Smith was "Horses Ass Smith". Gloom and despair set in among some of the officers and men. They feel that we have earned a much-needed rest. One high ranking ship's officer went down to his room and accidentally shot himself in the foot while cleaning his gun.
Sep 15, 1942 - The USS Wasp was sunk by enemy torpedoes. This is heartbreaking news for the crew of the Big "E", because we know that now we certainly will return to the South Pacific as soon as we are able and there is no hope of any kind of leave nor recreation.
The Big 'E' was designated as (CV-6). The torpedo plane squadron was "Torpedo-6", the bombing plane squadron was "Bombing-6", and the fighting plane squadron was "Fighting-6". Every other carrier's plane squadrons were numbered similarly after their carrier's number. For example, the USS Yorktown was (CV-10) and her squadrons were all numbered "10". The battle has changed all of that. Some of these squadrons from the Yorktown are now on the Big 'E'. Some are on Guadalcanal etc. I don't know whether it will ever be straightened out again. I'm sorry for the aviators who have fought so valiantly and now that the Big 'E' is going to Pearl Harbor, these pilots are being left behind to keep up their strenuous schedule from Guadalcanal or other locations. (Note: The following is a quote from the Navy Department. 'In this engagement, Enterprise underwent one of the most furious air attacks in history. Although damaged by three Japanese aerial bombs and attacked by an estimated fifty enemy planes, the ship pulled through to tell of shooting down forty four enemy planes (of which 15 were shot down by anti-aircraft fire). . . The first Japanese attempt to drive the American forces from Guadalcanal had failed.')
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