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wobbly -> Diary (4/5/2003 7:21:05 AM)
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PRIVATE DIARY: Daniel Curruthers
1st may 1942
Sleep, SLEEP!!! When will they let me get some? I’ve been on the go since getting into Australia in Sydney 5 days ago, can it be so short a time – feels like an eternity? Made landfall and the lads that I came over with decided that a sampling of the local drinking establishments was in order. I have to say the local brew is excellent although the imported stuff from over the ditch is superior ( :D ). Makes me think that the Aussies have a point when they say ours is like sex in a canoe.
3 days on the binge and my liver decided it would rather leave me for another man – I swear I coughed it up with the remnants of baked dingo or whatever it was the bloody Aussies fooled us into believing was local cuisine.
All in all a superior session of brain destruction I have not had; however, to get the call your ship is on 24 hour emergency orders to sail when you are still about 1000 miles away form it’s berth, hung like a rogue elephant, is enough to make a man consider suicide.
Anyway, I’ve made it – 1000 miles of flight in the noisiest C49 and then three hours in a truck find me at my bunk on the USS Chicago: the finest fighting ship in the US Navy. We are putting to sea in a hurry, as the powers that be believe that the Jap is about to pounce – Not on my watch! It’s very close to not being my watch though, if it hadn’t been for an acute case of appendicitis with the guy I’m replacing and I’d still be in Sydney…..in bed mmmmmm
We are putting to sea in an interception force, although I don’t know how many ships are involved. In fact, at the moment I just want to crawl up and catch up on beauty sleep.
May 3rd
Well, we cruised out of Townsville and stopped somewhere south of New Guinea; we then turned around and went back to Townsville???? What gives here? WE smashed through heavy seas, got caught in a huge wind squall/storm. The catpult that launches teh seagulls was busted (sys dam 3) and all for what.
Whats more we rfuel the ships and are putting to sea again - this time under Lee. We have more ships in the Task Force and that makes me a little happier. Talking to some of the crew - especially Legs Lasater, this Lee guy has some fine moves, Being a ships cook gives you the proper perspective I guess.
At least I've caught up on some sleep.... oh and the weather seems clear, will it last?
May 8th
With the clear weather we again have put to sea, and at last the reason is starting to filter through to the troops. Apparently the Japs have been sending warships down to Port Moresby, in the south of New Guinea, and shelling the airbase and facilities there. With this becoming a regular occurence the brass are trying to create a little greeting force - namely us!
Yesterday one of the seagulls we launched (repairs having been made to the crane) managed to sight the offending ships, they fired at our seagull and I have now seen my first battle damage - albeit minor. Everyone is very tense, some of the guys thought we should have chased the Japs but in reality we would never have caught them. In preparation for the imminent battle we did some firing practise today at a sled towed behind on of the destroyers, man we balsted that thing to pieces; the japs aren't going to know what hit 'em!!!
May 9th
Unbelievably the sea is now perfectly calm. Spending the remains of this evening watching the sun go down over the stern, for such a savage place it can really turn on the charm when it wants. An alert has just sounded, all hands to General Quaters... I'll get back to this then!
It's 4am and I can't sleep, my god was that the most intense life experience or what!!! The reason for the alarm was the detection of another enemy force going into Milne Bay. Our battle group put on full steam and headed for the intercept. It was a beautiful night, half a moon and visibility for miles. I can't describe the feeling of anxiety and tension that built as we neared combat. Would they be there? How many would there be? Would we be hit? Would I be hurt, or worse? All these things roll around your mind, your stomach a pit of acid that sloshes at its sides, burning itself worse as the trepidation grows.
As best I can make it out we were coordinated into 2 squadrons of 2 cruisers and 4 destroyers separated by about 2000 yards, the Cruisers in the centre making points of a rectangle, the destroyers screening outside these.
Portland, our sister ship, was leading us into the bay when it was suddenly hit; from the location of my 5 inch gun I could not see the hit, but it was probably a torpedo. There was quite a lull after this and the Portland lost speed, taking on water, we slowed and separated from the Australia and the Chester.
About half an hour after the initial attack the Australia suddenly opened fire out to the east. The Chester also joined in and now I could see the object of their fury. A light cruiser by the looks was now on fire from stem to stern. We trained our gun on her but she was masked by the Chester who was almost directly in the way. Very quickly this enemy Cruiser was sunk.
We continued through the bay in a wide high speed arc when the Portland opened fire. Despite it's wounds she had noticed a destroyer this time, trying to escape directly away from us. The first rounds of the Portland went wide, the destroyer returned fire but aimed at us. It's shells came in missing out to port, one was close enough to cause shrapnel to bounce off the side of the ship - paint damage only. Both squadrons now split further to unmask all guns, including ours, and we let all hell loose on this poor little destroyer. It literally came apart under the barrage. In my minds eye I can still see the jagged outline of it's bridge, haloed by massive fires consuming it in Dante's vengence.
No further targets presented themselves and we were most defnatly in dangerous waters. Continuing at high speed we excited the bay and headed back South. The Portland is unable to keep up as we head south, she detaches with a destroyer, and is soon left behind. As always we are kept in the dark as to what we do now, but at present we head south. the enemy know we are here now so the next move will probably be theirs.
I am a combat veteran!
May 17th
The little port in Townsville is over-run with shipping. Everything painted grey is parked up taking on stores, fuel or getting repairs. The port is nowhere near big enough to take all these ships at a proper dock at the same time. Ships are rotating in and out of each dock and a plethora of Aussie swabbies desend upon it to do whatever it is that must be done. Chicago is now at anchor having had its float plane crane properly overhauled (was only cambat repaired previously).
I sat on the public wharf the kids use to fish off and watched what I could of the scene. 4 or 5 cruisers, many destroyers and even the Yorktown and Lexington are in port. This is the first time I have managed to get this close to the aircraft carriers, they are impressive, but I wonder how they would go up against a battleship!!! I suppose the whole idea is to not let battleships get close.
Sam Johnstone (a friend in my 5" crew) and I went to a dance party in town last night, which is the real reason for being on the docks - again I need some air. I met a young Aussie "sheila" named Nancy; we danced the night away and I drunk just a little too much beer. I know I asked her if she wanted me to walk her home and I am pretty certain she said something about me not being able... This morning however I got a phone call from her at the base. How she managed to track me down I don't know, but the short of it is I am invited to her mother's place for tea tonight!! Tea, what is it with tea!
Back at the the ship and there goes the "tea". We are putting to sea again, effective immediately. The rumour mill is grinding and it looks like it may be Milne bay again. Apparently the Japs have attempted a landing there. I am really excited!
May 19th
It is 11:45 PM and we are at general quarters. All hatches are buttoned, everyone is in the battle stations. We are part of a 2 cruiser 5 destroyers surface attack force making another foray into the, now enemy held, port of Milne Bay - Gili Gili. This time I feel diferent, we have the ships and the crews to take this war to the Japs and unless they have surprise they aren't up to the task. They may be able to pull one over the Limeys and the Dutchies, but unless they attack before declaring war they haven't a chance! Petty Officer Kruger - master of our 5" - is a little more sceptical.
May 20th
All a false alarm! We cruised into Milne Bay hunting or any targets and there weren't any! It appears, whatever evidence the Navy had, was wrong.We have just been released from general quarters and I have a chance to sleep. Hopefully I can mend bridges with a certain female once we get back to port.
May 21st
We aren't heading back to port! As light broke around the world off to the East I was on duty and looked out over the breaking waves and notice ships. More ships than we had in our task force, and more imortantly the unmistakable shape of an Aircraft Carrier. As the light got better it started launching planes, what type was a little hard to tell; the distance and the terrible weather making identification hard. In fact flying planes at all in this must be an excercise in losing your sanity.
We have steamed North again for most of the day. No doubt there is a target out there somewhere but the weather is terrible. It isn't so much wind, although you get that with rain, it is the rain itself. It is as if a swimming pool, slit form tip to tip, is dumping its contents on the ship. The TF has spread out and are relying on radar to keep position. Using such methods nearly result in our colliding with a destroyer. With much flashing of lamps, yelling and waving, the destroyer notices us and turns away - back into the murk. The day ends with little respite on the horizon.
May 22nd
I have woken to a far better weather picture. Clouds still dominate the sky but you can see breaks and more importantly, through those breaks I can see aircraft. Many many aircraft all forming up after lauching from the Carriers - there are two of them it seems; probably Lex and Yorktown from Townsville. We also start launching our float planes, 3 of them are sent in Northerly directions, the forth kept for some other reason - reserve maybe. The planes have finished forming and move off to the north.
We keep station outside the Carriers; which are launching fighters intermittantly for defense of the fleet. We are all expecting an enemy move, apparently we were scouted some time yesterday by the enemy. Again the waiting is the hardest thing; to stay on edge for hour after hour wears you out!
11:55AM planes are returning, they are banking over us as they line up to land on their carriers. It is hard to tell how many have returned.
2:23PM The planes are launching again - it seems we haven't finished giving it to the enemy. Again they head off to the north. No sign of the enemy.
6:56PM and they are back. The carriers gather their flock and at about 8:40 we abruptly turn to the south and put more steam to the engines.
May 23
Like a thief in the night we have again separated from the carriers. They might be heading down to Townsville because it appears we are on our way to Cairns. From here it is not such a run to Gili or Port Moresby if we are required. This probably means Nancy, in Townsville, will liken my name to mud and from henceforth want nothing to do with me.
May 24
We are docked at the port in Cairns. I am on repainting duty today - woopee. Bit of excitement yesterday when a sub was sighted right in the bay - this didn't happen until the afternoon. In the failing light I think they missed nailing him. With the weather again closing in he will probably escape - forecast is for thunder storms.
May 25 - 27th
Little to report
May 28th
We have just returned from another sprint up the coast of Northern Australia. The Japanese are again getting frisky so we put to see in a 5 cruiser strong TF. For some reason or other we are back in Cairns that night. I have it on reasonable authority that there was a bombardment of the field at Port Moresby and we were in striking distance - I don't understand this trepidation. We have shown we are more than a match for the Japs, let us at 'em!
May 29th
Early morning and we have put to sea again. A beautiful day with little in the way of clouds. Apparently the Japs aren't playing around this time: the coast of Port Moresby is alive with ships. Alot of talk amongst the lads - will we go in? Is it likely we will meet more than a small naval force this time?
Wait one sec firing on the other side of the Task Force...
May 30th
It almost seems pointlesss to be writing this down, however I wanted a written version of the events during this war and I suppose I will look back on this as the defining moment. I may have thought we had the wood on the Japs in a surface action but Pearl Harbour was about air attack, somehing this TF has just suffered a massive version of!
We were initially attacked by some dive bombers - the intense feeling of vulnerability is incredible. These planes came over at about 10,000 feet and then started a long dive. They dont appear to dive as steeply as the US navy pilots did when I saw them training. We were at about the point at which they started their dive - they aimed at one of the ships on the other side of the TF. Our Five inch gun was joined by the rest of the AAA armament on the ship in throwing lead at the diving aircraft, 2 exploded in quick succession, then another was hit and forced out of it's dive - it headed back the way it came trailing smoke. We weren't stopping them all though, and these guys had courage. The air was suddenly clear of planes only to show the New Orleans was on fire - she had been hit at least twice - once forward where an ugly black mark showed down the side of the ship and a far more serious hit behind the funnel - where a serious fire was now burning.
The TF turned back towards Oz and put on full steam - but ships cannot outrun planes. Obviously there was a carrier group out to the West because we up to our armpits in planes again. This time the dive bombers were joined by torpedo planes - now these guys weren't courageous - they were suicidal. They attacked at about 100 feet. Dropping the torpedoes meant lining up on the ship and flying a straight course - into the hell storm of AAA. I lost sense of time, the ship began radical manouevers, turning in sharp circles while full power was applied to the screws. Our 5 inch gun was aiming at a dive bomber that had decided we were its target - we exploded it in midair but it also released its bomb - this was the first hit we suffered this day. It hit well forward, and I was surprised at the lack of effect. Just slightly louder than the guns and then a black cloud of smoke. Another bomb hit the stern of the ship starting a fire somewhere below.
Lookouts shouted a warning that the torpedo planes have decided to join in. They pull off a beautiful manouever, attacking from both sides simultaneously. Four attacked from our quarter; one was hit by one of the forward guns and detonated in a huge flash, its torpedo being hit. The others release their fish, a further plane dips it's wing into the sea and cartwheels spectacularly - the shape of a man flying into the air remains in my mind. All 3 fish hit us, one right below our five inch is a dud, but the other 2 make up for it. The ship lurches bodily sideways, everyone in our gun platform is thrown to the deck, usually via the walls. Then another detonation sounds and the ship lurches again - the planes attacking from the other side have also found their mark.
Everyone in our battle station has been injured to some extent: cut heads, wrenched sholders, I have broken my ankle. We however, have come of lightly compaired to other stations. Jason Donovan, a guy that lived around the block from me when I was young walked past our gun - his face a pale mask of shock - his arm missing from the shoulder down. A corpsman notices him and lies him down.
The ship is in a bad way, the only thing that gives us a chance is the initial dive bomb attack. Any watertight doors that were open previously were most definately closed when we were hit. the torpedo that hit us from the other side appears to have jammed the rudder - we still have steam to make about 10 knots but can only utilise it to go in circles. Due to this we have been isolated from the TF (or what remains of it).
The Australia has sunk - hit by many torpedoes she broke in half and sunk in little time. A grouping of the Minneapolis and a couple of DD's are trying to rescue survivors - there will be precious few of these I think. This act of good faith is however their undoing - the Japs have not finished with us by a long way. The Minneapolis and her escort are set upon by the afternoons attacks. We are powerless to help them as the range is too great. She is hammered by numerous torpedoes and bombs; rapidly following the fate of the Australia whom she came to help.
Warned by the forming attack on the Minneapolis we come to full available power and begin carving circles in the water. Another flight of the accursed torpedo bombers singles us out and begins their runs. Many of our AAA sations are out of action so the fire that greets the planes is minimal. However, we are fortunate, the fettered circles we are turning make aiming difficult for them. We are again struck by a dud torpedo and no others find us. The planes fly over the ship, their rear gunners straffing as they pass.
More planes have attacked another of the hurt mini-TF's that have formed, it looks like fresh smoke is climbing above those ships. Thankfully this is the last attack they mounted yesterday and we are released to take stock of this terrible loss.
The Chicago is in a bad way, listing to port and settling low in the water. the Torpedo that stuck forward has apparently gone right through the ship. The torpedo that damaged the rudder system has countered the list somewhat. The fires are under control but the seagull that caught fire is still causing problems.
I am moved to the infirmary to have my ankle splinted but the corpsmen have men of such higher need than myself - and truely I cannot take being in a room of such anguish - that I splint it myself and hobble back to the damage control. Burns must be the most horrific of injuries to suffer!
4 am and we are under way, the calm weather which made bombing so easy has now at last, helped us. With untiring work the afterguard have managed to cut away the hindrance and the rudder is free to move. We have teamed up with the Chester. She has fires still burning but is shipping less water. We stay close and use what fire fighting capacity we can spare to spray her down.
With repairs taking time we havn't put much distance between ourselves and the location in which the attacks happened. What does the new day hold - more horror?
May 30 evening
We have just had the most harrowing, and I'll admit, terrifying day of our lives. It has been a constant battle against fire, up to your chest in water, on the end of a fire hose, prying tortured steel, hammering nails into shoring. All of it done with the soul assaulting fear of an attack from the sky or beneath the waves. They just had to attack - but didn't. What god smiled upon us, what freak of fate decided we should make it through such a day - more why do I survive when 104 of my crewmates did not?
Chicago is a morgue, the dead smother the forward deck, their covered bodies lying on the blackened steel - itself bent upwards and charred - as if clawing at the sky: maybe in lament for its dead crew?
I have worked until I cannot stand, all on a broken ankle, something I would never have done before yesterday. The pain is strangely comforting - a constant reminder that I am alive.
We have continued towards Cairns, in a snake like path - the rudder refuses to hold a course. It has so many warps and bends that it can't decide which direction it wants to push us.
May 31
Blessed port - heavenly Cairns. Unbelievably we have made it. Smoke still hangs over the ship like a pall. The tugs and workmen meet us and start taking over the fight to save our ship. I will not write much more I am off to the hospital to get this ankle seen to properly and then sleep.
10 June
I have been taking it easy for the last week and a half. The ankle has been straped and splinted properly by the medical staff at the local hospital here in Cairns. Most of the injured crewmen who came off the boats went to military hospitals setup at the barracks of the local Australian defense force and at the American medical contingent at the Port. I was a definate non-critical so went locally. Had a nice nurse wrap my leg...
The Chicago has put to sea. To tell you the truth I thought they were mad. She has lost her list and they have put plating over the holes the torpedoes made, but she is most definately not a fit fighting ship. The blackened paintwork and non-water integrity armor plate bent in weird angles. She is the last ship to sail from those that made it back to port. Hopefully she makes it back to Noumea and then on to Pearl - she can't be properly repaired here. It was a strange and empty feeling watching her leave.
As for me, well I don't know what I am going to do, the navy in their infinite wisdom have informed me I will be required for duty again, once fit, on another fighting ship. No time frames and no clue as to what ship. In the meantime I will take my time getting better. I don't think I will be rushing to face the war again. In fact I am having pretty bad nightmares at the moment - mainly of fire and planes - they are a bit incongrous but they are terrifying - I wake up in a sweat - yelling...Had a bit of time off from writing to my diary as really I haven't been up to much. I have been travelling on my way back to Pearl for placement in a new ship. I am not sure which one I am assigned to, and wont find out until I get there.
2nd July
I am writing this on the beach by Noumea, New Caledonia where I am waiting on a ship to get me to Hawaii. I took the train back down to Brisbane, spent 2 nights there and then down to Sydney. There I met Simon Summerfield, a family friend that I haven't seen for years. He is in the army airforce flying mitchells, he has had a torrid time of it. On their first mission against some shipping going into Gili they lost 3 planes - he hit 2 ships though! We both drank to lost companions and then drank again to country, then to the aussies, then the kiwis, then it all gets a little hazy, I could hardly feel the ankle anymore - ahh beer. The "pubs" here close at 6 o'clock so it turned into speed drinking - we managed to latch onto an HQ quatermasters aide and that was the end of it. I woke up under a tarpaulin, behind a shed at the docks - the MPs were 100 feet away form me!
Sitting here, as I am, on the beach, I can see into Noumea harbour and the similarities with Cairns are depressing. Blackened ships with their decks bent back, glass smashed, listing like the wounded sailors they held. There is again not enough berth space to hold them all and small lighters are working alongside injured ships that can stand at anchor.
A flight of twin engine bombers is taking off from the airfield just out of town - I can see them forming up overhead and they are heading out to the East. The mood here is pensive at best bordering on fearful. Wunpuko, a base further north, was taken by the Japanese a few days ago and they have landed troops at Luganville and Efate. These are major ports for our war effort - is there nowhere the japs can be held? It is a long time since basic, I don't know how crash hot I will be with a rifle - wasn't that good at basic actually.
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