N a v a l O r d e r o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s – S a n F r a n c i s c o C o m m a n d e r y Mission: History Studiorum Historiam Praemium Est

Volume 1, Issue 6 HHHHHH 6 July 1999 1943: ‘The Slot’ Remains Hirohito’s Private Lake As Express Clobbers U.S. with Torpedoes Reinforces Positions In Solomons with Nighttime -Transport Sorties During the summer of 1943, the Japanese attempted — often success- fully — to reinforce their forces in the Solomons by sending convoys from Bougainville through The Slot, the body of water that separates the Solo- mons into two strings of islands. Two islands in the southwest string were New Georgia and Kolombangara, and they are separated by the Kula Gulf. Jap supply ships could enter Kula Gulf at night, discharge troops or cargo and be back in Empress Augusta Bay in time for breakfast. On 5 July, the Third Fleet learned ABOUT 80 FEET of USS Honolulu’s bow points straight toward D avey Jones’ locker, with chains that a Jap “Tokyo Express” was head- still neatly in place. Japanese “long lance” torpedoes were still a m ystery to the U.S. N avy after ing south for The Slot and sent Rear two and one-half years of war, and the N ips rem ained better night-fighters. Admiral Pug Ainsworth’s Task Group 36.1 to meet it. Ainsworth’s flag was in 1704: As Naval Prizes Go, was ’s the light cruiser Honolulu and he had two other light cruisers, Helena and St. Brass Ring, and the Royal M arines Took it For Her Louis, along with four . It met the enemy, three destroyers screen- Attack on the Rock Un- sia and her recent enemy, the Dutch. ing seven other destroyers being used to planned, The war is immortalized in history ferry troops, shortly after midnight, the books by recounts of the Battle of morning of 6 July. The War of the Spanish Succession Blenheim. Its lasting legacy for nearly At 0157, all three American cruisers was fought from 1701 to 1714 to decide three centuries has been British posses- began firing at the same target, the de- the successor to a childless King sion of Gibraltar, the rock that guards stroyer Niizuki, quickly demolishing Charles II of , who had be- the entrance to the Mediterranean. her. But her torpedoes had been queathed his nation and all of her do- The war got off to a bad start for launched and, at 0203, found Helena, minions to the Duc d’Anjou, the grand- England when Admiral Benbow’s cap- blowing off her bow all the way back to son of Louis XIV of France. The possi- tains deserted him when in chase of a turret 2. The next two torpedoes sank bility of such a merger was looked upon Spanish squadron in the . In her. Meanwhile, American fire had with baleful eyes by other European Europe, Sir , an admiral shifted to Nagatsuki, which was driven nations. Thus it was that England found who knew how to make omelets from ashore where she was destroyed by herself allied in war with Austria, Prus- broken eggs, failed to take Cadiz but, aircraft during the day. The Nips were learning that a Spanish fleet (Continued on page 3) (Continued on page 2) PAGE 2 MISSION: HISTORY VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6 ‘Land the Landing Force’ — Under Shore Bombardment From the Battle Line, Royal Marines Head for the Beach

USS Indianapolis

B. 15 November 1932 New York Ship Building Co. D. 29 July 1945 12° 02’N, 134° 48’E

At 0900 28 July 1945, USS Indianapolis departed on a direct route to Leyte, unescorted though she was ordered to sail through waters known to harbor Japanese . The Indy had no sonar either. Destroyers with sonar were on station in the Bonins, in case a B-29 ditched. B-29s had a crew of 10. The Indy SEEM S LIKE N EW TIM ES, as M arines m ake an opposed landing at an enem y citadel under cover had a complement of 1,196. of the big guns of ships of the line. Only this tim e it’s England’s C orps of Royal M arines, the cita- At 2332 29 July, the Indy del is G ibraltar and the M arines m ust provide their own m otive power. sailed across the bow of Lt. Cdr. Mochitsura Hashimoto’s I-58. Though They Policed the Empire for Three Hundred Years, Six torpedoes were launched at a M arines Say ‘Gibraltar’ is the Only Battle Flag They Need to Fly range of 1,500 meters. Two ripped off the Indy’s bow. The (Continued from page 1) An amphibious landing of English Indy went down at 2350 and 880 was in Vigo Bay under protection of Royal Marines captured an eight-gun sailormen perished. Her , French warships, raided the harbor, battery undamaged and turned the guns Charles Butler McVay III, was created a lot of destruction and took a on Spanish defensive emplacements. At court-martialed. Today, Congress large part of the treasure. is asking why. In 1704, Rooke was back in the Mediterranean under orders to attack the French port of Toulon. The attack failed and the French were reinforced orable terms. The Spaniard marched out with a strong fleet from Brest, forcing of Gibraltar with three guns and provi- Rooke out of the inland sea. In the At- sions for six days. Prince Hesse- lantic on 17 July, he met with a squad- Darmstadt became the new governor ron under Sir Clowdsley Shovell. Nei- and Royal Marines the new occupants. ther admiral wanted to go home with The War of the Spanish Succession nothing to show for his voyage, so on continued until 1714, though the Treaty Rooke’s responsibility, they decided to of Utrecht ending it was signed in 1713. attack Gibraltar, Pillar of Hercules, guardian of the Mediterranean. Not much had changed — the Duc On 21 July, the English-Dutch fleet d’Anjou as Philip V was still king of put into Gibraltar Bay and immediately Spain. But Rooke’s extemporaneous landed a shore party of Marines under enterprise had brought England her Prince Hesse-Darmstadt to take and greatest naval prize ever — Gibraltar hold the isthmus connecting the Rock — and with it, the Med. with the Spanish mainland. A dead flat And though the British Corps of calm forced Rooke to warp his ships TO ROYAL M ARIN ES, “G ibraltar,” on banner Royal Marines policed an empire for into position to assault Gibraltar. They under crown, says it all. nearly three centuries and have fought were ready on the morning of 23 July, scores of famous battles, to this day when 12 English and six Dutch ships- this point, the Spanish governor, the only one battle flag appears on its of-the-line poured about 15,000 can- Marquis de Salines, realized it was nonballs into the Spanish positions, pointless to continue the fight and was badge. Gibraltar is enough. driving the enemy from their guns. allowed to surrender to Rooke on hon- VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6 MISSION: HISTORY PAGE 3

“THE SLOT” IS A N AM E bestowed by the U.S. N avy on the body of water that separates the two strings of islands constituting the Solom ons. It has m ade it into the m ainstream , as can be seen in THIS ARC HAEOLOG IST’S ‘D IG ’ is at the this m ap from The N ational G eographic. The Japs used Bougainville (in green at upper left) as a bottom of Aboukir Bay, and the item he is staging point for supply runs to positions in the Solom ons. Both night actions of July 1943 oc- m easuring is a bilge pum p in L’Orient, flag- curred near Kolom bangara, which lies between Vella Lavella and N ew G eorgia. ship of French Adm iral François Brueys. Light Cruisers’ 6-Inch Guns 1999: Late-Breaking News from Nelson’s Victory at Nile in 1798 No Match for Nip ‘Long Lance’ This just in from Aboukir Bay, near Brueys’ flagship, the huge, 120-gun Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile L’Orient, determined last week that (Continued from page 1) where, on 1 August 1798, Sir Horatio two nearly simultaneous explosions able to land their troops on Kolomban- Nelson, a junior rear admiral of Eng- caused her loss, not a sole blast as gara, accomplishing their mission. land’s , routed a French Nelson reported in his account of the A week later, on 13 July, Ainsworth fleet commanded by Admiral François battle. was on his 15th patrol up The Slot when Brueys. As was Nelson’s wont, he con- Notes, letters and reports by Eng- he again encountered the Tokyo Ex- centrated his force at just a few points in lish officers and sailors present at the press. This time he had Honolulu, St. the enemy line. One of those points was all-night battle were unanimous in Louis, HMNZS Leander and 10 de- Brueys’ flagship which beat off the at- recounting that a fire raging in the stroyers and the Japanese had a light tacks but was herself set afire. The fire French flagship had touched off a cruiser, five destroyers and five de- proved fatal to L’Orient. single explosion of gunpowder stored stroyer-transports. Allied fire literally Members of a joint French- in the hold of L’Orient. No account of blew Jintsu out of the water, but a tor- Egyptian team of marine archaeolo- the Battle of the Nile written in the 201 pedo hit badly damaged Leander. There gists combing the sunken wreckage of years since is known to attribute the were so many destroyers between the cruiser forces that neither side fired, ship’s loss to more allowing the destroyer-transports to than one explosion. again land their troops. The U.S. de- The marine archae- stroyer Gwin was sunk in the action and ologists, led by Franck Honolulu and St. Louis were damaged. Goddio, reported on 28 Honolulu, in fact, had about 80 feet of June that there were her bow bent straight down, a condition two explosions, but that requires a picture to appreciate. further details were One is provided. not available as Mis- The Tokyo Express proved a reliable sion: History went to way for the Japanese to move troops press. until early August when, in the Battle of The Battle of the Vella Gulf, the U.S. scored its first Nile will be reported on night-fighting victory of the war. in the August 1999 issue FIRE REAC HES THE M AG AZIN ES of the 120-gun L’Orient, setting off of Mission: History. two explosions, not one as thought for 201 years. PAGE 4 MISSION: HISTORY VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6 1944: Guam and Tinian Follow Saipan as Navy, M arines, Army Provide Bases for Air Force to Send Bombers Against Jap Homeland

G UAM BEAC H BEFORE – Lush stands of palm s m arch all the way to the sea G UAM BEAC H AFTER – M arines have been known to knock a few on G uam , and only an airstrip and its roads interrupt the greenery. things over when a lot of them are in a hurry to get to the sam e place. Picture-Perfect Assault Takes even though about 9,000 Jap troops hid at a cost of fewer that 100 Marines out in the interior and were a nuisance killed and wounded. Tinian After Tougher Guam until the end of the war. American From the morning of 25 July until casualties were 1,435 killed and 5,648 the island was secure on 2 August, the Saipan was the toughest of the three wounded. Around 10,000 Japs died. nuts to crack in the U.S. invasion of the Marines’ advanced relentlessly, never PERFECTION AT TINIAN giving the enemy a chance to mount a Marianas. Two Marine Corps divisions, Next came Tinian, in what Marine counterattack. Every rifleman knows, the 2nd and the 4th, had led the way on General Holland M. (How- 15 June 1944 with the Army’s 27th ling Mad) Smith characterized as “one and every Marine is a rifleman, that he Infantry Division following on the of the most perfectly planned and dar- is safest when moving ahead and sup- night of 17-18 June. After 27 days of ingly executed shore-to-shore opera- pressing enemy fire with his own fire. bitter fighting, Saipan was declared tions in world history.” When the fighting stopped, the Ma- secure on 12 July. Now it was time to rines had lost 328 dead and 1,571 deal with Guam and Tinian. wounded. The Japanese had lost more Tinian was prized for its three air fields and Guam — well, Guam was an than 9,000 dead, including the two American island, a prize of the Spanish- ranking officers on Tinian, Admiral American War. The Navy had adminis- Kakuji Kakuta and Colonel Kiyochi tered Guam since 1899 and knew the Ogata. No Jap island would lay of the land. No one knew much ever be taken alive. about Tinian at all, not even the precise location of the airfields. How to Get in Touch GUAM RETAKEN TW O AM ERIC AN SOLD IERS plant the flag as Mission: History has been asked to provide an address for reader communications. E-mail Guam would be first. On 21 July, soon as they hit the beach, and why not? They have “retaken” about six feet of G uam . may be sent to this address: Rear Admiral Richard L. Connolly’s At Iwo, the M arines waited until they had [email protected] Southern Task Force landed the 3rd taken the whole dam n island. Mail may be sent by conventional post to: Marine Division, the 1st Provisional Ric Teague On 24 July, Rear Admiral Harry W. 2239 Wellesley Street Marine Brigade and the Army’s 77th Hill’s Task Force 51 landed the 2nd and Palo Alto, CA 94306 Infantry Division. The 77th was made Submissions are not encouraged because of 4th Marine Divisions on the northwest up of draftees, mostly from New York, constraints on the time available for editing. If corner of Tinian, about seven miles such are sent, they should be sent as e-mail but had been well-trained and, accord- from where they had landed on Saipan attachments in Microsoft Word 6.0 or as type- ing to one observer, had spent enough written copy, double-spaced, accompanied by a in June. On the night of the landing, the time with the Marines to know how to 3½-inch diskette containing the submission in Japanese expended some 1,300 men -- MS Word 6.0 for Windows. do things right. one-seventh of their defense force, in Quite welcome are suggestions of events for Guam was secured by 10 August, coverage. Please offer suggestions two months counterattacks, which were beaten off ahead of the anniversary of an event.