Gordon Pai’ea Chung-Hoon
The USS Sigsbee (DD-502) had served well in the war with Japan, downing 20 enemy aircraft while screening the carriers in their march across the Pacific. But on 14 April 1945, while serving on the destroyer radar picket line off Okinawa, it seemed her successful career was about to end. As the Japanese tried to turn the tide of war by preventing the loss of Okinawa, they attacked the U.S. invasion force with hundreds of kamikazes. One of the kamikazes evaded the curtain of antiaircraft fire thrown up by the Sigsbee and the other ships in the area and crashed into the destroyer aft of her number five gun. Twenty-three sailors perished in the explosion, and Sigsbee’s port engine was knocked out of commission. She lost steering control from the bridge and soon her main deck was awash, leaving the ship sinking and capable of only five knots. To make matters worse, more attackers swarmed in.
It was a situation that a sailor of less mettle would have evaluated as hopeless. But Sigsbee’s skipper, Gordon Pai’ea Chung-Hoon, a native of Hawaii, was no stranger to battle damage—he had been a young lieutenant serving on the USS Arizona (BB-39) on the morning of 7 December 1941. He was also a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, where Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s famous flag hangs in Memorial Hall with that naval imperative spelled out in white letters on a blue field: DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP.
Chung-Hoon did not give up his ship. Marvin Green, a gunner on mount number 45, credits his skipper with saving his life. Many of his shipmates agree. “We were in bad trouble, slowly but surely sinking,” recalls Green, but “we kept working to stop the flooding.” Under Chung-Hoon’s direction, the ship also kept up a steady rate of “prolonged and effective gunfire,” as his Navy Cross citation reads.
The Sigsbee was saved and returned to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Commander Chung-Hoon continued to serve after the war, ultimately attaining the rank of rear admiral. He died in 1979. On 18 September 2004, the Navy’s newest Arleigh Burke (DDG-51)-class guided missile destroyer was commissioned USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93) at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as shown on the cover of this issue of Proceedings.
USS Arkansas (BB-33)
The oldest, smallest, and least heavily armed U.S. Navy battleship to see combat during World War II was the USS Arkansas (BB-33), the second of two ships of the Wyoming (BB-32) class. The 27,243-ton, 562-foot Arkansas was commissioned on 17 September 1912. She first saw action on 22 April 1914, when 17 officers and 313 sailors from her crew of 1,036 went ashore at Veracruz, Mexico, participating in intensive fighting that resulted in two of her junior officers being awarded the Medal of Honor and two sailors killed—her only battle losses during her 34-year career. With the U.S. entrance into World War I in April 1917, the Arkansas was used in home waters for patrol and training duties until assigned to the British Grand Fleet, with which she served from July 1918. During 1925-1926, the battleship had her appearance greatly altered; she was equipped to burn oil in place of coal, her boiler uptakes were combined into a single funnel, the after cage mast was replaced by a low tripod structure, and a considerable amount of superstructure was added.
When the United States entered World War II, the Arkansas initially was employed to escort convoys; in that role, she escorted supply ships bound for the Operation Torch invasion of North Africa in 1942 before turning to training duties the following year. The ship saw no combat until the Normandy invasion, where she fired on German emplacements at Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944. Untouched by heavy return fire, the Arkansas continued her bombardment duties off the French coast until 25 June. Next assigned to the Operation Anvil invasion of southern France, the Arkansas bombarded targets between Cannes and Toulon from 15 to 17 August 1944.
After a refit at Boston, the Arkansas proceeded to the Pacific, where she participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima and began 46 days of fire-support operations at Okinawa. With the end of hostilities, the battleship was used to ferry troops homeward. Her final service came during the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb tests at Bikini, where the old veteran was sunk during Test Baker on 25 July 1946. The photograph shows the Arkansas as she appeared during April 1944.