A soldier poses beside a shell hole after the Japanese sub I-17’s attack on the Ellwood oil THE facility west of Santa Barbara. BATTLE THAT NEVER WAS In February 1942, days after a Japanese submarine

shelled the coast, XX anti-aircraft gunners in engaged a far more insidious and elusive foe By Liesl Bradner ELIOT ELISOFON/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES LIFE COLLECTION/GETTY ELISOFON/THE PICTURE ELIOT

34 MILITARY HISTORY NOVEMBER 2016 35 NOVEMBER 2016 NOVEMBER HISTORY MILITARY 36 Feb. 23, 1942, after 7 p.m. on A few minutes American mainland since the War the since of 1812. mainland American the nation on sovereign bya directattack first the launch to U.S.were preparing the Hawaii Pacific in Fleet by enemies.” our challenged being are constantly on we which battlefields become endless have our protection as attack from past the in heralded been have which “The broad oceans drawn. been had States United the which into conflict of the lines” battle “world-encircling world could tothe of references the follow they so before his them geography.” its in but also weapons and amap tospread methods not its in only The listeners asked president past, of the of “a war…different engaged wars in other new kind was all from America that velt emphasized And the sleepy coast of California would be the target. would the be of sleepy California coast the And on assault surprise for devastating the responsible navy same of the spoke, president sailors the Even as prescient: wouldeerily find soon Californians something said subject, then Roosevelt tohis Warming assault on the West Coast, nothing had materialized. Early in his speech Roose- speech his in Early materialized. had West nothing on the Coast, assault 11on nearly earlier. Japan weeks war of thesince U.S.declaration first the chat” broadcast, “fireside latest his begun had Roosevelt Franklin President radios. their around —were gathered country the across fellow citizens their Most Californians—like Barbara. Santa sleepy, over of the of Goleta, 10 north town settling miles was seaside twilight Though the had sparked fears of a full-scale Japanese Japanese of afull-scale fears sparked had Though on Pearl Harbor attack the

JOHN GEOGHEGAN COLLECTION FROM TOP: LOS ANGELES TIMES; IRA W. GULDNER/ASSOCIATED PRESS; JOHN GEOGHEGAN COLLECTION On Feb. 1, 1942, Feb.1, On to target American shore installations. American target to was mission Nishino’s coast. California for the head and I-17 Nishino’s Kozo Commander boats, patrolling one of the directed 7Shimizu February On Harbor. Pearl to returned they as raiders American the ambush to hoping of Hawaii, south area the patrol then and chase give to subs several he ordered U.S. assault the after Soon Marshalls. the at Kwajalein in Atoll based Katori cruiser light the flagship, force his from marine Japan’s sub who commanded Shimizu, Mitsumi Adm. Vice Pacific. the out across lash still could U.S. Navy the Harbor at Pearl losses its despite that minder re arude was and Japanese the to acomplete surprise as it came damage, moderate only caused attack the While of Hawaii. southwest miles 2,500 some islands, Marshall and Gilbert the in shore installations and ships on Japanese bombardments gunfire naval and attacks out aerial carried I-17 was attacks American the during wounded those Among and its captain were ideally suited to the mission. mission. the to suited ideally were captain its and two American aircraft carrier task forces forces task carrier aircraft American two , to detach from the group group the from detach , to - - , flames,” as depicted on the postcard opposite. The widely published published widely The opposite. postcard the on depicted as flames,” test fires its weapon before onlookers in the wake of the “attack.” “attack.” the of wake the in onlookers before weapon its fires test rumors of a Japanese air raid. An anti-aircraft gun crew, below right, Los Angeles Times Angeles Los I-17 By dawn on February 23 February on dawn By Oil Co. he had frequented the local Wheeler Inn café. café. Inn Wheeler local the frequented Co. he had Oil Grande Barnsdall–Rio of the aguest As on oil. take and fuel re- to installation Ellwood at the stopped repeatedly had officer Japanese the captain a tanker as days his during Ruhge, Justin author and historian fornia Cali to According of Goleta. west few miles a Field, Oil Ellwood the well: he knew area on an settled Nishino possibilities, several considering After West Coast. the along panic stir to order choice in of his target I-17 on Kwajalein directing Shimizu from message aradio he received Diego, San off seas trafficked heavily the in of remaining wisdom the pondered shino sub. the following was vessel unidentified the it when submerge appeared to forced finally but was speed increased and course changed Nishino boat. patrol enemy an be to appeared what spotted lookouts its batteries, its recharge to surface on the cruised submarine the as night, The following 20. on February Point off Loma arrived and California for southern acourse set shino Ni- of targets, number greatest the offered latter the Diego. Believing San to Francisco San from ports visited he had and Japan, to California from oil hauled regularly that atanker commanded he had war the Before school. submarine Navy’s Japanese perial Im the of graduate a was officer, Nishino naval A career predator. effective highly and awell-built was Type the B1 subs, American contemporary than capable more arguably and E14Y1 pult-launched Larger floatplane. I-17 guns, anti-aircraft mm 25 twin and gun deck a 5.5-inch 17 to addition In torpedoes, refueling. without 16,000 miles (see P. submarine 20)Type of B1 traveling capable cruiser he submerged and waited out the daylight. At dusk I-17 At dusk daylight. out the waited and he submerged Then refinery. the be to he believed what and tanks storage oil several sighted Nishino periscope his Through lands. Is Channel four northernmost the from coast California the separating of water body 80-mile-long 28-mile-wide, roughly the Channel, Barbara Santa of the end west the Commander Kozo Nishino boasted he had “left Santa Barbara in This visit, however, sociable. would as not be visit, This Ni- as 22, of February morning the On At long-range a large, 1939, was in Launched vessel the was fitted with a waterproof hangar that housed a cata a housed that hangar waterproof a with fitted was I-17 ’s helm was a skilled and experienced captain. captain. experienced and askilled ’s was helm photo at left, of searchlights and flak bursts, fueled the submerged I-17 submerged the to shell ashore shell to -

was entering entering was In the wake the In of Ellwood! Avenge never engaged the enemy. fighter never the and built however, was bomber as the Their aspirations fell short, Avenger.” “Ellwood the and Barbaran” Santa “Flying the afighter nicknamed and construction of a bomber mission: to Its fund logo. drive using above the bonds an “Avenge war Ellwood” launched Barbarans Santa - - -

I-17 ’s attack attack ’s

37 Soldiers examine the pier at Goleta, above, damaged by shellfire in on March 12 Nishino had attacked—and reported to have the submarine attack west of Santa Barbara. Soldiers on high alert sunk—two American ships. after the L.A. air raid, above right, drill beneath camouflage netting Tallying those presumed victories alongside what Ni- strung along the California coast to cloak their defensive position. shino reported as severe damage to the Ellwood oil facilities, I-17’s California cruise seemed to have been a great success. surfaced and moved inshore, coming to a stop some 4,000 Indeed, on the sub’s March 30 arrival at Japan’s sprawling yards off the beach as Nishino prepared his crew for action. Yokosuka naval base the captain and his men were hailed At 7.15 p.m., despite diminished visibility in the dark- as the heroes of what was portrayed as a daring and almost ness and haze, Nishino ordered I-17’s deck gun crew to send suicidal mission. Japanese newspapers nationwide lauded seven armor-piercing rounds whistling toward the storage the first attack on the U.S. mainland, and to boost morale, tanks. After landing what they believed to be several solid printers issued millions of commemorative postcards de- hits—despite no visible fire or damage—the gunners picting the shelling of the California coastline. shifted their aim and lobbed an additional 10 rounds at While the propaganda value of I-17’s patrol dissolved in the presumed refinery. While the exploding shells pro- the wake of the April 18 raid on Tokyo and environs by a duced no secondary explosions or gouts of oily flame, flight of 16 carrier-launched U.S. Army Air Forces B-25B Nishino and his bridge crew were convinced they’d in- bombers led by Lt. Col. James Doolittle, Nishino and his flicted serious damage on the oil facility. At 7:35, after crew continued to believe they had struck a mighty blow seeing car lights ashore and hearing the dim warble of a against America and caused widespread panic up and down the West Coast. As it turned out, they were only half right. Although the shelling of Ellwood Although I-17’s shelling of the Ellwood oil installation was was a bold act, tactically it was an undeniably bold act, from a tactical point of view it was a complete waste of ammunition. The attack caused no a complete waste of ammunition casualties, and most shells fired by the sub’s deck gunners fell short of their intended targets, dropping into the sea, onto the beach or impacting atop nearby cliffs or in empty siren, the Japanese captain ordered his gunners to cease fire fields. Those few rounds that actually hit something did and got his vessel under way. About an hour later several an estimated $500 worth of damage, primarily to a small witnesses spotted the surfaced I-17 exiting the east end of derrick, a solitary pump house and a catwalk at the Barns- the channel. Three aircraft and two destroyers gave chase dall–Rio Grande facility. Aside from the handful of war- but failed to locate the submarine. planes and pair of destroyers dispatched to hunt for the On reaching the open sea, I-17 circled back north, its retiring I-17, the attack had failed to draw off further mili- captain intending to hunt for targets off . By tary resources or compel the U.S. Navy to recall what re-

the time the submarine set out on the return trip to Japan mained of the Pacific Fleet to protect the West Coast. IMAGES LIFE COLLECTION/GETTY PICTURE PETER PRESS; STACKPOLE/THE ASSOCIATED

38 MILITARY HISTORY NOVEMBER 2016 BRITISH COLUMBIA F

But Nishino and his crew had fulfilled the second part of their mission WASHINGTON in spectacular fashion, for their attack had sparked widespread un- certainty and fear along the Pacific coast. Residents from San Diego to I the Canadian border suddenly woke to the fact the Japanese were not only entirely capable of bringing the war to America’s shores but also likely J H OREGON to do so without warning. Within 24 hours of the bombardment of Ellwood that growing para- K G noia led to what has gone down in history as “The Great L.A. Air Raid.” B Although word of the Ellwood shelling was front-page news on Tuesday, February 24, the day was a relatively calm one for residents of greater Los NEVADA Angeles—until early evening, that is. At about 7 p.m. the headquarters PACIFIC of the 37th Coast Artillery Brigade, at Camp Haan in Riverside, began OCEAN CALIFORNIA receiving reports of flares and blinking lights in the vicinity of defense A plants and oil fields along the coast. At 7:18 p.m. air raid sirens started to wail as helmeted wardens rushed to their posts countywide. When no threat materialized, authorities lifted the alert at 10:23 p.m. A few C hours after midnight, however, all hell broke loose. E According to a report from Western Defense Command, at 1:44 a.m. West D on February 25 a coastal radar site picked up an unidentified aerial target some 120 miles west of Los Angeles. Anti-aircraft batteries throughout Coast the region were put on high alert, their guns manned and fully loaded. At 2:15 a.m. two additional radar sites reported that the unidentified object was rapidly approaching the city, and minutes later the regional Attacks air-raid warning center ordered a total blackout. Within an hour the 37th A Dec. 7, 1941 I-26 shells and sinks the Honolulu-bound Coast Artillery—charged with the air defense of greater Los Angeles— U.S. Army–chartered lumber freighter Cynthia Olson 300 ordered its batteries of .50-caliber machine-guns and 3-inch anti-aircraft nautical miles off San Francisco, making it the first American guns scattered across the city’s hills to open fire as targets presented merchant ship sunk by a Japanese submarine in World War II. themselves. Within moments the dark skies above the city were alive B Dec. 20, 1941 I-17 shells the tanker Emidio, which is with stabbing searchlight beams, arcing necklaces of tracer fire and the abandoned and runs aground off Crescent City, Calif. bright bursts of exploding shells. C Dec. 23, 1941 I-21 torpedoes and sinks the oil tanker Pilots of the 4th Interceptor Command were put on alert, but their Montebello off Cambria, Calif., but all 38 crewmen survive. aircraft remained grounded. Accounts flooded in of enemy planes within a 25-mile radius of greater Los Angeles, even though the mysterious D Dec. 25, 1941 Off Point Fermin in San Pedro, Calif., I-19 torpedoes the lumber freighter Absaroka, which is object initially tracked by radar appeared to have vanished. At 3:06 a.m. towed and beached near Fort MacArthur. spotters reported a balloon carrying a red flare over Santa Monica, and anti-aircraft gunners redirected their fire inland. E Feb. 23, 1942 I-17 shells the refinery at Ellwood Oil Field, west of Santa Barbara, Calif., causing minor damage. Anne Ruhge was 9 years old and living in the beach town of Venice that chaotic night. “My mother woke me and my sister up and shouted, F June 20, 1942 I-26 shells the lighthouse and radio- ‘They’re shooting!’” she recalled. “We looked out our kitchen window, direction-finding installation at Estevan Point, British Columbia, prompting authorities to extinguish all lights along the coast. and there were searchlights everywhere, and guns were firing. I remem- ber my mom being so nervous her teeth were chattering. It was really G Sept. 9, 1942 I-25’s Yokosuka E14Y1 floatplane drops scary. We thought it was another invasion.” Ruhge’s father was in the an incendiary bomb on forestland 50 miles southeast of Cape California National Guard and had been called out. “When he came back Blanco, Ore., but U.S. Forest Service lookouts contain the fire. home, he didn’t want to talk about it. Said it was top secret.” H Sept. 29, 1942 I-25’s E14Y1 again targets forestland “I heard about the bombing in Santa Barbara, but that was a submarine 50 miles west of Cape Blanco, but damp conditions suppress attack,” recalled Robert Hecker, then a 20-year-old working for Douglas any fire, and Forest Service crews never find the bombs. Aircraft Co. in Long Beach. “When this air raid broke out, it was a total I Oct. 4, 1942 I-25 torpedoes the tanker Camden off the surprise. The guns and sirens woke me up. I ran outside, but I couldn’t Oregon coast, which survives the attack, only to be destroyed see any concentrated fire.” Hecker may not have seen anything, but he by a fire of unknown origin while later under tow. did hear it when a piece of flak bounced off the roof of his house. J Oct. 5, 1942 I-25 sinks the tanker Larry Doheny off Port At 7:21 a.m. the regional warning center finally sounded the all clear Orford, Ore., killing six and destroying 66,000 barrels of oil. and lifted the blackout order. Anti-aircraft batteries had fired more than K Oct. 11, 1942 I-25 attacks what it assumes to be two 1,400 shells that night, but no bombs had been dropped, no aircraft shot U.S. submarines off the Oregon coast but instead sinks the

BRIAN WALKER BRIAN down. There were, however, five civilian casualties—three from black- Soviet L-16 with all hands. (L-15 makes it to San Francisco.)

39 ‘Imagination created all kinds Forces and Navy officers and enlisted personal. In the May- June 1949 issue of the U.S. Coast Artillery Association’s of targets in the sky, and Antiaircraft Journal, Murphy wrote of the interviews: everyone joined in’ About half the witnesses were sure they saw planes in the sky. One flier vividly described 10 planes in V formation. The other half saw nothing. out-related car accidents, two from heart attacks. Hearsay and conjecture ran rampant amid the chaos. Local media While he couldn’t account for such discrepancies, Murphy did little to assuage fears the next day with sensational, did proffer an explanation for the aberrant shelling: unsubstantiated headlines. William Randolph Hearst’s Los Angeles Herald-Examiner The firing had been ordered by the young Air Force con- led the charge: troller on duty at the Fighter Command operations room. Someone reported a balloon in the sky. He of course visu- AIR BATTLE RAGES OVER LOS ANGELES alized a German or Japanese zeppelin. Someone tried to One Plane Reported explain it was not that kind of balloon, but he was ada- Downed on Vermont mant and ordered firing to start (which he had no au- Avenue by Gunfire thority to do). Once the firing started, imagination created all kinds of targets in the sky, and everyone joined in. Bowing to pressure, the Los Angeles Times joined the hyper- bolic bandwagon: The primary cause of “The Great L.A. Air Raid” did in- deed turn out to be a balloon—but one launched by the city’s L.A. AREA RAIDED! defenders, not the Japanese. Jap Planes Peril Santa Monica, Seal Beach, El Segundo, Redondo, At about 1 a.m. on February 25, hours after the initial scare Long Beach, Hermosa, Signal Hill in Los Angeles, one of the 37th Coastal Artillery regiments sent up a meteorological balloon to measure wind speed The Times was the only paper to send out a photographer and direction—vital information were its batteries to suc- that night and published several photos of the “raid,” includ- cessfully engage enemy aircraft. It was that very balloon, ing a dramatic image of the night sky lit up like the Fourth of fitted with a red flare so those on the ground could track it, July by searchlight beams and air bursts. that prompted anti-aircraft batteries to open fire. When the Rumor had it the sighting of an air- shooting settled down, gunners in a different regiment, craft launch from a Japanese submarine dissatisfied with their performance, decided to glean addi- had triggered the night’s events. tional data and sent up a second flare-toting balloon—and “My father was a manager at Vultee all hell again broke loose. Aircraft,” recalled Clegg Crawford, who After the war the Los Angeles Daily News published a said shrapnel fell like rain that night in plausible alternative explanation from a man who had his Long Beach neighborhood. “He was served in one of the coastal batteries: called away to a crash site that night along Paranoia Meets with men from Douglas and Lockheed. Early in the war things were pretty scary, and the Army Pandemonium He told me a seaplane from a submarine was setting up coastal defenses. At one of the new radar So read film posters for Steven had crashed, and they were going to sepa- stations near Santa Monica the crew tried in vain to ar- Spielberg’s wartime parody rate it into pieces for examination.” Post- range for some planes to fly by so they could test the system. 1941, starring John Belushi war interviews and examination of Im- As no one could spare the planes at the time, they hit upon (above) as glory-seeking perial Japanese Navy records have since a novel way to test the radar. One of the guys bought a California-based Curtiss P-40 confirmed no Japanese planes were air- bag of nickel balloons and then filled them with hydrogen, pilot Wild Bill Kelso. “The Great borne over Los Angeles at the time of the attached metal wires and let them go. Catching the off- L.A. Air Raid” inspired it and raid. It was later determined anti-aircraft shore breeze, the balloons had the desired effect of showing other films, documentaries gunners had mistaken drifting smoke up on the screens, proving the equipment was working. But and books, and even provided fodderfor conspiracy theorists. swept by the beams of powerful search- after traveling a good distance offshore and to the south, lights for enemy aircraft. the nightly onshore breeze started to push the balloons back In the aftermath of the barrage Lt. Col. John G. Murphy toward the coastal cities. The radar picked up the metal —the Army’s senior anti-aircraft artillery officer for the wires, and the searchlights swung automatically on the Western United States—and a board of fellow officers inter- targets, looking on the screens as aircraft heading for the

rogated 60 witnesses, civilians as well as Army, Army Air city. The ack-ack starting firing, and the rest was history. PICTURES UNIVERSAL

40 MILITARY HISTORY NOVEMBER 2016 A soldier on coastal watch duty, above, scans for enemy planes with war bonds campaign, plastering its plane-shaped logo on pedestal-mounted binoculars that transmit a target’s bearing and every available surface. Funds were directed to build two range. Bette Davis joins studio pals for a drill in a Hollywood air raid warplanes—a bomber and a fighter dubbed respectively the shelter, top right. Public notices, above right, list the nearest air raid “Flying Santa Barbaran” and “Ellwood Avenger.” Appar- shelters and notify Japanese Americans of their impending internment. ently, the bomber was never built, while the fighter never saw action. Today the Ellwood refinery and tanks are long Although the Japanese had had nothing to do with the gone, replaced by the Sandpiper Golf Club and exclusive “,” it and I-17’s shelling of the Ellwood Bacara Resort & Spa. oil facilities served to hasten the implementation of—and “The Great L.A. Air Raid” went on to become fodder for broaden the effects of—Executive Order 9066, which Roo- alien conspiracy theorists and the subject of books, docu- sevelt had signed into law on February 19. In the interest mentaries and films, including Steven Spielberg’s comedy of national security the order prescribed certain areas as spoof 1941 and, more recently, the sci-fi war filmBattle: Los military zones, clearing the way for internment of any and Angeles. And each February the Fort MacArthur Museum all resident aliens, but the paranoia that erupted on the in San Pedro stages an annual fund-raiser that centers on West Coast in late February ensured those of Japanese a live recreation of the air raid, enabling onlookers to step ancestry were disproportionately sent to internment camps back in time and experience a little of what it was like that farther inland for the duration of the war. mysterious, terrifying night in 1942. MH Back in Santa Barbara, area residents embraced the I-17 bombardment as a badge of honor, granting them boasting Liesl Bradner is a Los Angeles–based journalist and writer rights as the first American city to survive an enemy attack whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, World on the mainland in more than 200 years. The 4th Santa War II magazine and other publications. For further reading Barbara War Savings Committee and American Women’s she recommends The Great Pacific War, by Hector C. Bywater,

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: PETER STACKPOLE/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES (2); IMAGES LIFE COLLECTION/GETTY PICTURE PETER STACKPOLE/THE FROM LEFT: CLOCKWISE PHOTO STOCK HISTORICAL/ALAMY COLLECTION EVERETT Voluntary Services soon initiated an “Avenge Ellwood!” and The Military History of California, by Justin M. Ruhge.

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