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ing fire overhead. I quickly drew on my clothes
hall al*f
The customary prewar ways lasted right up to the time war started. I remember 6 December, the day before the Japanese attacked. Saturday morning inspections were an institution in the Navy before the war. On that particular day, the inspector was Rear Admiral H. Fairfax Leary, Commander Cruiser Division Nine and Commander Cruisers Battle Force. Leary had been in the job since early in 1941 when he relieved Admiral Husband Kimmel. I was then an ensign, serving in the new light cruiser Phoenix (CL-46). The men were in their whites, lined up in rows for personnel inspection. When it came to the inspection of the ship herself, Leary had on his white gloves so he could check for dust. How irrelevant it would all seem 24 hours later.
The end of Saturday inspection was the traditional signal for liberty call, and I went ashore for the day and evening with two fellow ensigns, Garth Gilmore and Ellsworth Marcoe. We returned to the ship probably about 0200 on Sunday morning, planning to sleep late. We were to be in leave status all day Sunday and planned to return ashore again on Sunday afternoon. In the meantime, the Phoenix would provide a free night’s lodging, which was a consideration for some of us less affluent ensigns.
I was awakened at 0755 by the loudspeaker, which was saying, “Set Condition III in the antiaircraft battery.” This was an alert condition in which only the duty section was involved, and 1 was not planning to respond. Instead, I grumbled something to my roommate, who was the same Ensign Gilmore of the night before. I complained about yet another damned drill, and in Pearl Harbor on a Sunday morning, no less. In probably no more than 10-20 seconds, this
was all changed. I heard the sound of feet running the deck overhead. Then came the sounds 0 ^ Klaxon horn and an announcement, “All hands, g ^ eral quarters.” This meant us, and we starts move out of our bunks. The voice on the loudspe || now became shrill as the message changed t0 ^ hands, general quarters! Man the antiaircraft bat j,. This is not a drill!” The words “This is not a cf were repeated over and over, almost pleadingly- .£ If I needed anything further to accelerate 01' was the sound of our .50-caliber machine gut>s j raced up the ladder to the main deck. I si—. £{
remember the sight of our communication 0 ^
Lieutenant William K. Parsons, attired in >,T1 late whites, standing there waving his arms at u^tjy held a batch of papers in his hand (he had evi been on duty) and was shouting, “Come on, £ on. It’s war, it’s war.” By now, I was flying llP more decks to my station in sky forward, whic trolled the four 5-inch/25 antiaircraft guns 0 ^y starboard battery. I was propelled on my j°urn n\% the sight of a torpedo plane that flew past the at deck level. It carried a big red ball on the si ^ I reached my station, our battery was already c ^ ing out. The awnings which were still up fr°n admiral’s inspection had to be taken down s‘j_ ^ guns could train out. Locks were chopped 0 ammunition boxes. „en
The Phoenix was moored that morning u ^ two buoys in a berth known as C-6, located Aiea landing. She was about 1,000 or so yar s the north end of Battleship Row along the east 0( of Ford Island. The Nevada (BB-36) was the neare
^ e battleships to us. Also near the Phoenix was the ^°spital ship Solace (AH-5). Because of the lack of Sh-level horizontal bombers—the kind of planes I Capable of directing fire at—during the initial of the attack, I found myself an unwilling oc- Pant of a front-row seat from which to witness the °ceedings. The sight that my eyes beheld from j.rJ Perch at the forward part of the superstructure is (, 'cult to believe, even today. The sky seemed
'‘lied i- , i i li. i_ l.......................... __
Mod
eci with diving planes and the black bursts of ex
'll,
th,
lr>g antiaircraft shells. Our batteries were among °Se firing shells in “local control,” which meant at the fire was originated from the guns them-
adV;
hoi
his,
th,
es- The Japanese planes were too close to take antage of the more sophisticated automatic con- 'C'hich was normally provided by my station. In
er)ce, the guns were laying out a pattern of steel in
j hope that the Japanese planes would fly through
s be damaged in the process. I have often de-
5ti °e<^ t^le exPer'ence as ak*n t0 trying to swat an
^ Sty swarm of bees in the confines of a telephone
°°th. To make matters worse, our shells were set \vlr»
^ h a minimum peacetime fuze setting which would
safe
V:
flod,
bp,
Permit them to explode until they had reached a distance from the ship. In addition, some of the s were defective, with the result that the unex-
ed projectiles were coming down ashore. Our Weapons under those conditions were the ma- guns, which accounted for a number of enemy craft.
e °y shortly after 0800, the harbor was a riot of f Plosions and gunfire. I looked at the battle line, ^>rn which huge plumes of black smoke were rising.
S1 Watched, I saw the Arizona (BB-39) wracked by a
chi
a'ti
hie
°ceedings / December 1980
tremendous explosion. Her foremast came crashing down into the inferno. Since I was in the corresponding station in my own ship, I naturally thought about what my own fate might be in the next few minutes. Bombs were exploding on the naval air station at Ford Island and the Army air base at Hickam Field. A Japanese torpedo plane came down our port side. It couldn’t have been more than 150 feet above the water and looked as if the pilot had throttled down, having just launched his torpedo at the battle line. He banked to the left as he got opposite us, as if to turn away. I could see .50-caliber tracer slugs going right out to the plane and passing through the fuselage at the wing joint. Suddenly, flames shot out from underneath, and he continued his turn and bank to the left until he had rolled over onto his back. A great cheer went up from our crew, because his demise was apparent. Unfortunately, he crashed onto the deck of the seaplane tender Curtiss (AV-4), inflicting a number of casualties among her crew.
On our starboard side, the old repair ship Vestal (AR-4) was beached, with her port side blackened by fire. Another plane came in, low over the water, toward our starboard quarter. This time, I saw a cross fire of tracers from the Phoenix and other ships. There was an explosion on the plane, and in the next instant there was nothing left but its debris descending to the water. Moments later, I heard the “zing" of a
' 73
bullet whistling by. Later, tve discovered a hole in the shield of the Range Finder 5 (flagplot) below us. Of course, the air was so full of flying bullets and shrapnel by that time that it was impossible to tell the source, but that bullet constituted the total damage inflicted on the Phoenix that day.
The first wave of the attack seemed to end sometime around 0825 or so. About that time, the Phoenix attempted to get under way. We cast off and tried to go out around Ford Island, via the north channel. Signals from the naval base informed us that enemy submarines had been spotted and that the submarine nets at the entrance to the harbor were closed or being closed. So we were directed to return to our mooring. At about 0840, the second wave hit us. Motor boats were making hurried runs across the harbor to return those officers and crewmen who had been ashore for the weekend. I can still see them making their way to our ship amidst the splashes of bullets and falling shrapnel. During this period our captain and executive officer returned aboard.
The second attack featured some high-level bombers, which brought my director into action. We fired numerous rounds at the aircraft, but much to my dismay, I did not see any flak bursts from our shells. We later replaced the ammunition, but I never learned the cause for the failures. The second attack inflicted further damage on Pearl Harbor, but for
some reason, the Phoenix did not come under atta.CKt Perhaps it was because our ship’s slim outline di present as attractive a target as other ships and cause we were moored alone and thus harder to bit At any rate, shortly after 1030, when the sec°n^ attack was over, the Phoenix did cast off and bef^ her sortie. While our guns were still firing. vv’e . tempted to steam out the north channel. Once agal
to
warning of submarines in the channel forced uS turn around and head back toward our berth- we went out the south channel. As we proceeded the once-proud battleship row. we turned l)
binoculars on the terrible scene. We saw ship a ship in devastated condition, and the hangar on
Ford irders-
Island was nothing but a skeleton of charred g)r' ^ Scores of ruined patrol planes lay in a heap °n runway. Flames were still licking up from H*c Field. After another submarine warning and one look back to the shipyard where the Pennsyll'arI' (BB-38) lay in dry dock, apparently undamaged, streaked for the open sea at 30 knots.
As we headed out, we could hear the cheers
from
the sailors on the shore. One airman, astride the p
rofl-
ched
toon of his overturned floatplane, waved his clenc fist in the air as we passed through the harbor
trance. We finally made the open sea unscathed- though we affectionately referred to our ship aS£ "Phoo Bird,” she rightly deserved the ‘‘Lucky Phoenix”—both that day and later in war. Her name, although deriving from the Arizona, also comes from the bird in an ancie0t in ble. When consumed by fire, it rose from >ts ashes. Rather apt, in retrospect.
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