Local Yokel
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Action off Attu, July 1942
Toccata: Waters east of Attu Island, night time, 24-25 July 1942
In the late hours of 23 July R Adm Yoshitomi’s 5th Escort Group makes landfall at Attu, and is almost immediately in contact with the US Sugar boat that is stalking the island’s approaches. Patrol Boat 31 makes what seems to be an accurate attack on the submarine, but with hindsight the damage appears to have been less than is initially hoped, and almost certainly the submarine gets a contact report off to the Allied command for the North Pacific. The ‘S’ boat bears away westward, and the Japanese, confident that the way is clear to land their reinforcements, order Takeda’s group of transports to enter harbour, followed by Cdr Sanami’s minelayers.
On the following day, an Army Ki-46 reconnaissance plane sights a force of Allied warships about 350 miles due east of Attu. The observer reports them as three heavy cruisers and one light cruiser, and his report is judged to be the sighting of an oncoming bombardment group, expected to include CA Chester and CL Trenton, both of which participated in the previous bombardment of Attu on 7 July.
For once events are proceeding exactly in accordance with the Japanese script, and Combined Fleet’s ambush plan is immediately put into operation. The transports hurriedly quit the vicinity of the island, the plan being for Sanami’s minelayers to follow after laying their cargoes. This exercise miscarries, as the minelayers do not receive the necessary order to lay, but it matters little for they remain undetected. Yoshitomi’s escort group heads out to sit on top of the Sugar boat, keeping it down whilst Onishi’s Guard Force rushes in from the west at top speed, ready to confront the expected US bombardment group that is approaching from the east. Meanwhile Yamada’s carriers begin their run from Kommandorski Island to the predicted launch point against the survivors of the night-time clash. Location of these is to be assisted by the eight Type 0 seaplanes embarked in Kimikawa Maru, which also begins a high-speed advance to a point NE of Attu.
For a change the seas around the Western Aleutians are not wracked by storms, but instead the opposing navies must contend with that other staple of Aleutian weather: dense fogbanks that drift aimlessly across the warships’ path, impenetrable to the Japanese lookouts’ superb 12 cm binoculars, but no obstacle to the radars that now adorn the masts of their opponents. So it is that the oncoming Americans get wind of the Japanese presence well before the starboard lookout on Onishi’s van destroyer, Oshio, first glimpses the sparkle of destroyer Smith’s bow wave as the American force breaks free from the confines of the fogbank that has cloaked it to a point not 4000 yards distant from the Guard Force.
There, however, the American advantage ends, for although the radar’s warning alerted American commander Shock to his enemy’s proximity, his jaw must have dropped as the parting fogbanks reveal the presence, not of Yoshitomi’s expected anti-submarine ships, but the towering pagodas of Onishi’s two 14” battleships. These are accompanied by three cruisers and a half-dozen destroyers, all of whom are frantically training their torpedo mounts in the direction of the Americans and cranking in a hastily computed firing solution.
Possibly because the sudden appearance of the Americans has taken them by surprise, the aim of the Japanese destroyer men is not good – with one notable exception. Lieutenant Sugiyura has drilled his crews well, and the second weapon fired from Hibiki’s forward torpedo mount finds its mark in the starboard quarter of CL Trenton, in way of the cruiser’s torpedo storage. Immediately Trenton is in desperate straits: the hull’s structural integrity has been seriously compromised and propulsion off the starboard engine is lost at once for reasons which, in view of the events that shortly follow, will never be known. Additionally, one of the ship’s SOC seaplanes is now blazing fiercely, and serving as a convenient aiming mark for the Japanese gunners. Possibly it is due to this that shortly thereafter Ise succeeds in landing three, perhaps four 14” rounds on Trenton, one of which ignites the forward magazine and thereby ensures the ship’s complete destruction.
There follows a brief but violent melee in which Hibiki, concentrating her fire upon Trenton, receives two damaging hits from Smith. Smith in turn takes an 8” round from Takao, whilst Hyuga manages to land a 14” hit upon destroyer Hughes. Vanguard destroyer Oshio pours further fire upon Hughes until the latter likewise succumbs to a magazine explosion. Meanwhile Hyuga’s secondary batteries dish out punishment to both Hughes and Clark before the two surviving US destroyers succeed in ducking into the cover of a fogbank.
Both of the American ships are now well alight, however, and the glow from their fires flickering within the fog serves to lead the Japanese to them, so that it is not long before the Guard Force acquires and re-engages its quarry, this time at an opening range of 9000 yards.
And this time the traffic is almost exclusively one way. Though she too is alight, Onishi cannot refuse Hibiki’s request that she be allowed to close survivor Clark, and her guns pound the US destroyer mercilessly, landing no less than fifteen 5” hits and leaving her opponent a useless hulk. Meanwhile Hyuga and Takao concentrate on Smith, so as to leave her, too, a flaming wreck by the time the Japanese break off the action.
Comes the dawn, and the two limping US survivors are located 60 miles south-east of Attu, presumably making a forlorn bid for the haven at Adak that is still more than 300 miles distant. The intervention of Yamada’s aviators is almost certainly superfluous, and it is ironic that the US force has been so severely handled that its remnants are unable to retreat far enough to come within torpedo strike range from Yamada’s carriers. Regardless, the primary strike of 32 bomb-laden attack planes goes in and despatches the wrecked American warships with four further hits apiece. When the follow-up strikes by Junyo’s dive bombers arrive on the scene they find nothing amid the fog patches but long slicks of oil and floating debris: the detritus of defeat.
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Attu Island at 91,35
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
SOC-3 Seagull: 1 destroyed
Japanese Ships
BB Ise, Shell hits 3
BB Hyuga, Shell hits 3
CA Takao, Shell hits 4
CA Atago, Shell hits 1
CL Kiso
DD Makinami
DD Oshio, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Yamagumo
DD Hibiki, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Ayanami
DD Asagiri
Allied Ships
CL Trenton, Shell hits 13, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Hughes, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
DD Smith, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Clark, Shell hits 2, on fire
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Attu Island at 91,35
Japanese Ships
BB Ise, Shell hits 1
BB Hyuga
CA Takao
CA Atago
CL Kiso, Shell hits 1
DD Makinami
DD Oshio, on fire
DD Yamagumo
DD Hibiki, on fire
DD Ayanami
DD Asagiri
Allied Ships
DD Smith, Shell hits 16, on fire, heavy damage
DD Clark, Shell hits 26, on fire, heavy damage
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Day Air attack on TF at 92,36
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 23
B5N2 Kate x 32
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
DD Smith, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Clark, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
1 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
6 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
5 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
5 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
9 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 92,36
Japanese aircraft
B5N2 Kate x 4
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
DD Clark, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 92,36
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 3
D3A2 Val x 7
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
DD Clark, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
7 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 92,36
Japanese aircraft
D3A2 Val x 5
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
DD Clark, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
5 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
 Attachment (1)
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