Ultimate Destroyer Battle

http://www.dd-692.com/ormocbay.htm ^

[ken5050]

bump to read later

[varmintman]

Sumner class. The basic idea at Ormoc was that they were going to have 12 of those 5” guns firing at that port facility nearly from beyond effective range of Japanese guns or torpedoes using radar fire control with only the three knife-edge bows of those destroyers showing to anybody as targets.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

But....you probably already know all about this.

[varmintman]

[tanuki]

Great story!

[houeto]

Me too!

[sasportas]

The account of this battle is enough to warm the heart of this old destroyerman. The account of the battle is so real you can almost smell the gunpowder and hear the explosions. The green crews of the three destroyers certainly got their baptism of fire! After such a knock down drag out fight they had to have become battle hardened veterans from then on.

As one who has read much WW2 history, I wonder why I had never read about this raid. It ranks right up there with the famous David vs Goliath, destroyer vs battleship and cruisers battle of Leyte Gulf (”The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors).

[xkaydet65]

With due respect to the Sumner and Gearing Class DDs and those who sailed in them, but I believe the Fletcher Class DD was on appearance, the single most beautiful warship ever designed. It was visual perfection.

[Eye of Unk]

Bump for later.
Too big for phone screen.

[doorgunner69]

Wonder if it was any of those that I heard firing at night.

Funny, the sound of them firing was just about the same as the sound of 122mm rockets taking off in the distance. You'd just hear a "boom-boom-boom" in quick sequence. Got fooled more than a few times.

[CaptainAmiigaf]

When Ship naming made sense.
1. Aircraft carriers———Famous battles or noted ships
(Midway, Enterprise, Yorktown 1 & 2 etc)
2. Battleships-——States
3. Cruisers (Heavy and light) Cities of the USA
4. Destroyers To honor sailors KIA
5. Subs FISH (Wahoo, Tang, Sea Bass etc)
6. Destroyer Tenders (mine) Areas of USA “Frontier”
7. Sub Tenders Famous (people) names of sub history
8. LSTs Counties of USA
9. Transports Often for deceased Generals or Admirals
and lots of others.
when we heard just the name of a ship, we knew what she was.

[varmintman]

http://www.dd-692.com/

[varmintman]

This was a major disaster for Japanese forces. The three U.S. destroyers apparently expended their entire stock of 5” ammo on that place, literally thousands of rounds in a target-rich environment. There’s no way to believe any air raid could have done as much damage.

[Oatka]

The gun crews had performed like superhumans as they at times would load and fire our 5-inch guns at near machine gun rate. It was reported that in one 15 minute period in the battle they had cycled over 1,000 rounds of 5-inch shells through the ships' guns.

This was one helluva story and triggered a lot of memories by this 1950s vet.

In boot camp (1951) we were treated to a rapid fire exercise by a destroyer gun crew on a single-barrel 5" 38 (barrel length = 5" x 38). Those guys looked like pistons working up and down as they loaded and "fired". I distinctly remember thinking how cushy the gun captain's job was, having only to hit the "spade" (firing lever) every few seconds.

Later on we went through the ammo handlers' drill, loading that 52-pound projectile in the hoist (ammo was semi-fixed - projectile separate from the case). We were warned not to put our fingers over the base as we loaded the projectile nose-first into the hoist. Sometimes it hesitated, sometimes it went up immediately and if you had your fingers over the base, they could be snipped off. It was tough handing those heavy shells by just gripping them around their sides.

One thing that struck me as how advanced we were in WWII in that, as the shell was hoisted upward, the part where the nose rested rotated and set the fuse to burst as whatever altitude the gun director fed into the machinery. This equipment was from the pre-proximity fuse days.

Years later I read about the USS Houston in action off Java in 1942 and having their 5-inchers on "automatic". I wondered what they meant, dug around, and found out that was a term used when the gun directors took control and fired the gun as soon as the round was seated rather than waiting for the gun captain. Some people who saw her in action thought she was on fire because of the rate of fire she was spitting out.

"Greatest Generation" indeed.

[Mat_Helm]

My father in law was on the Moale (DD-693). I have read the after action reports for some of her action after hearing him tell me stories to compare with his memories and first hand account of events from his perspective. He passed away around 5 years ago. One of his vivid memories from this action is from a dive bomber strafing the ship and tracer and phosphorous cannon shells dancing off the deck. In another action when a Kate or Zero was hit and came apart over the ship and killing sailors just below him. His action station was a loader for one of the quad 40mm’s and a flaming boot landed in from of him from the Japanese pilot. He said it was surreal with all the noise and carnage and he just started laughing at the boot.

[Sergio]

bkmk

[BikerTrash]

bumpmark

[Wildbill22]

I agree, but the Sumner and Gearing were much more heavily armed with dual 5” turrets, whereas the Fletcher had only single turrets.

I think, as an amateur historian, that the single most important advantage we had was probably the radar directors in the main batteries, without which air power and superior numbers of adversary surface forces may have likely changed the outcome. This proved to be a heavy, if not decisive advantage in several surface engagements in the Second World War.

Superior US military technology. Nothing like it.

[houeto]

Enjoyed that very much. Thanks varmintman.

[Wildbill22]

That is a great story.

Thanks for posting.