A 2,000-ton Fletcher-class commissioned in December 1943, Morrison is seen underway in the Pacific late in 1944. She demonstrated her grit by shooting down three enemy planes during her first engagement in the Marianas, then by rescuing 400 survivors from the flaming carrier Princeton (CVL-23). She also sank a Japanese and several enemy before meeting her untimely end.

ifty-two were lost in the Pacific during World War Two. Of the In every battle there comes a time F52, 21 were sunk by Japanese aerial when even prodigious amounts of attacks. Few suffered a more devastating guts and bravery cannot save the attack, in such a short period, as did the USS ship. Such was the saga of the Morrison (DD-560). destroyer whose star shone bright Promptly opening fire on a group of 40 to 60 Japanese planes that attacked her during her brief-but-spectacular station off Okinawa, the USS wartime career. Morrison fought off her attackers and shot down seven to nine aircraft before they could complete suicide dives. Morrison maintained a steady barrage against the overwhelming force and gallantly continued in action despite severe damage from four suicide planes and two bombs that struck her in rapid succession. She sunk by the stern just after the last hit. USS Morrison earned eight battle stars and two Navy Unit commendations in her short 1.5 - yr of service. Destroyer men everywhere may recognize parts of her history as typical of their own experiences. She was but one of many of the “small boys” that were the destroyers of the in WW II.. Ladies and gentlemen....this is “her” story. The USS Morrison, a Fletcher-class destroyer, was built by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Company, Seattle, Washington. She slid down the ways on 4 July 1943. At the launching ceremony, Margaret Morrison, daughter of Coxswain John Morrison, for whom the ship was named, acted as sponsor (Coxswain Morrison was commended for meritorious and heroic conduct while his ship, the Corondelet, engaged the Confederate ram Arkansas in the Yazoo River on 15 July 1862), The Morrison crew gathered at the Bremerton Navy Yard receiving station throughout the summer and fall of 1943 and helped with commissioning on 18 December. There was good affordable off-base housing for married members of the crew in Port Orchard and other nearby communities and good liberty in Seattle, Tacoma, and elsewhere around Puget Sound. Upon commissioning, Cmdr. W. H. Price, USN, became the ship’s first CO. Shortly after her commissioning, Morrison left on her shakedown cruise to . Rainstorms and squally in the Straights of Juan De Fuca provided her crew with a rapid initiation to the ways of a destroyer in heavy seas. Later, in sunny southern California, gunnery exercises and maneuvers around. San Clemente and San Nicolas Islands climaxed the shakedown cruise. The destroyer then returned to Seattle for final preparations for overseas duty. Morrison got underway from Seattle and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 1 March 1944, then quickly continued on to the . After a brief stay at Majuro Atoll, she joined the fleet to participate in a raid on . DES Div 110, composed of Morrison, Laws, Longshaw, and Pritchett, was assigned to tanker escort, an un-glamorous and routine, but nevertheless important task. In a few days the fleet, having made a successful raid, returned for fuel and proceeded back to Majuro. One bomber, a Betty, was shot down over the formation with an assist by Morrison’s main 5-in batteries. Next came the raid on Hollandia, New Guinea, with DD-560 continuing to escort the tankers. The landing was successful and Morrison was sent back to Manus Island in the Admiralties for further escort duty in the Bismarck Sea. Later, during the big raids on Truk, Satawan, and Ponape, Morrison served as tanker escort and then returned to Manus when these operations were complete. There were leisurely and lazy days just a short distance from the equator but a typical day usually included a snooping bogey or t6wo somewhere around the huge anchorage. They were usually just recon aircraft and were of no immediate threat. Nevertheless, a bogey in the area meant going to general quarters regularly, a fatiguing nuisance. At least in one instance, however, there was a real threat. As related by Don Mize, former Coxswain on the ABSD-4 (Advanced Base Sectional Dock), two -bombers made successful torpedo runs on both the ABSD-4 and ABSD-7 which were inside the anchorage at Manus. Both docks were damaged, but not too severely. The leisure of Manus soon ended and Morrison returned to Pearl Harbor to practice for the invasion of the Marianas. The ship went through the usual routine of a Pearl Harbor training period and then set forth towards , Tinian, and with two escort carriers under her protection. Extending 385-mi from Pajaros in the north to Guam in the south, the Marianas are the southernmost volcanic peaks of a gigantic mountain range rising about 6-mi from the ocean bed of one of the deeper parts of the Pacific. The island peaks of this range form a series of stepping stones from Guam to Japan. They are all high and volcanic, unlike the flat island atolls of the Marshalls and Gilberts. The carriers of Task Force 58 began their softening up process of Saipan on 6 June. Carriers Enterprise, Lexington, Yorktown and Princeton launched fighter sweeps across Saipan, Tinian Rota, and Guam. Japanese snoopers harried the task groups, carrying this to the extreme of dropping flares throughout the night and early morning hours. Guam was struck on 14 June and then the fleet moved back to Saipan to support the landing on 15 June. Saipan brought Morrison her first real taste of action. Enemy aircraft attacked the fleet and the CAP’s (combat air patrols) were successful in shooting them down, usually several miles out from the task forces. On occasion, Morrison got in a few shots. During the landings, Morrison was tasked to provide fire support. She was assigned an area in the vicinity of the sugar mill at Garapan. A report came from troops ashore of troublesome snipers in the sugar refinery - they were thought to be up in the smokestack. Several rounds from Morrison’s 5-in/38s, one of which scored a direct hit on, and took off several feet of, the topmost part of the stack. Finito snipers.

Sugar Mill at Garapan before destruction.

On another occasion, Morrison participated with other ships, guided by spotter aircraft, laying shells in the midst of a Japanese tank attack on Marine positions. At night, Morrison provided starshell illumination when needed or continued in escort duties at sea. On one cloudy night around 10:30, a bogey was detected at long range by the The Sugar Mill after the Morrison helped out the more-powerful radars of the larger ships. ground troops...I do believe the stack was Morrison was steaming as tail-end Charlie of shortened just a tad. a small column of ships, including two escort carriers that were newly arrived from the states. Reports were exchanged via TBS radio an soon most of the ship were tracking the target. The bogy approached from ahead and to starboard, its track opposite of the column of ships. As it flew down the column, each ship, more or less in turn, opened up with their AA fire as the bogey came into their range and abreast. The sky was lit from the crisscrossing tracers of 5-in, 40mm and 20mm shells arcing up and out. Morrison, being the last in line, had ample time to track and obtain a good fire control solution. The operators in PLOT so notified the gunnery officer, Lt. Madden, in the main battery director, who then passed the word: “Stand-by to shoot.” By this time the bogey range was down to within a few thousand yards, well within effective range of the 5-in main battery. On the off chance he could see the target, the rangefinder operator (T. L. Alexander, FCR 3C) glanced through the eyepiece of his 12/24 power optical rangefinder and, at the same instant, both heard the gunnery officer’s command to “stand by” and visually observed the moon to break out from behind cover. There it was! Right on the crosshairs! Silhouetted against the moon, a twin-boom fighter type aircraft with a long-nose fuselage in the center! Alexander instantly recognized it as “friendly,” a new type aircraft similar in silhouette to the Lockheed P-38 Lightning but, momentarily, he could not think of its designation. Knowing that the gunnery officer was within seconds of saying “Shoot,” and concerned that a friendly plane was about to be shot down, Alexander shouted “Cease fire! Cease fire! P-38! P-38!” Needless to say, the gunnery officer wanted an explanation! Later it was agreed this action probably saved a U. S. Army Air Force P-61 Black Widow night fighter from being blown out of the air. He apparently had forgotten to turn on his IFF (Identification Friend or Foe equipment). This was confirmed the next morning when word was passed to the fleet that new P-61 Black Widow night fighters had arrived two-days before and were flying out of newly captured airfields on Saipan. The Navy passed the word to the USAAF to encourage their pilots to toggle their IFF equipment switches to the “on” position when flying near the fleet! Black Widow Generally things were fairly quiet; the planes from the carriers when in every day and bombed and strafed and fought the war. Then on 17 June it was rumored that the Saipan invasion had provoked the Japanese to the first major fleet action since Guadalcanal - their carriers were out and headed for the Marianas! Search aircraft, however, failed to find any Japanese forces within 300-mi. But on 19 June, a Japanese air strike was detected 150-mi out. Admiral Mitscher ordered all carriers to launch fighters. The attack came about mid-morning. The CAP began interceptions 40-mi out. Group after group, in raid after raid, the Japanese pressed their attack, but the American planes and ships shot them down. In one group of 40 enemy planes, only 15 got through the interceptors but none made a successful attack on the ships and none returned. Morrison’s guns accounted for three to them that day. The fighting continued into the afternoon and by evening, the number of enemy planes destroyed reached 350, with three enemy carriers sunk! This battle action has since been referred to as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot!” That night, Adm. Spruance decided to go after the remaining Japanese carrier task forces. The Japanese were running hard for home, disposed in three groups. The next morning, a few Japanese planes were shot down but it was late afternoon before Adm. Mitscher ordered an air strike against the enemy fleet. This group succeeded in finding and hitting the returning Japanese Fleet and the Japanese did not have the planes left with which to fight. Night had fallen when the American planes returned from their strikes. They were low on fuel and the pilots exhausted. The aviators, mostly untrained in night landings, did their best to bring their planes in safely, landing on any carrier they saw, but many were unsuccessful. Although the carriers turned on their deck-lights and searchlights were trained into the sky to act as beacons, there were many crashes on the flight decks and ditched landings in the water. The destroyers rescued some, but many airman were lost. The battle of Saipan officially ended on 9 July, but in some respects the worst was yet to come. As the battle ground to a halt, the enemy had been driven towards the northernmost part of the island, near Marpi Point. Along with the few remaining troops were hundreds of Japanese civilians who had been propagandized to believe that great atrocities would be committed on them by the advancing Americans. They gathered on cliffs rising up to a 1000-ft above the sea. Here, Morrison was on duty and her sailors were among those that watched in fascination and horror as soldiers and civilians jumped off the cliffs onto the jagged rocks below. Mothers were seen dashing their babies’ heads on stones and then tossing them over the cliffs, or in some cases, clutching them and shouting “Banzai!” as they jumped off the cliffs. In one case, a distraught mother raced back and forth for several minutes along the cliff edge, her baby in he3r arms, apparently trying to decide whether to jump or not. Finally she did. Bodies were so numerous in the sea that the ships were impeded in steering maneuvers and for days afterwards, bloated bodies were seen floating miles out to sea. Morrison continued on screening duty around Saipan and Tinian until 2 August 1944 when she was detached and ordered to rendezvous with Task Force 58 for the invasion of Guam. Here she screened the task force while the planes struck at Guam, softening her up with more than 300-tons of bombs a day. On 13 August, Morrison headed back to Eniwetok for upkeep and supply, where she remained until getting underway with Task Group 38.3 for another series of raids. Operations in preparation for th Palau invasion began 10-days before D-Day with attacks on the Philippine Islands and Formosa. The first raid was against on 9 September and resistance was surprisingly low. The morning of the attack, U.S. planes sighted a convoy of about 50 Japanese sampans and freighters heading north. Four destroyers and two cruisers were sent to intercept and destroy the ships. Morrison led the attack force but by the time they reached the convoy, the planes had strafed and bombed it so severely that the remaining picking were very meager. Only about 15 sampans and three or four freighters remained , and some of these were burning and sinking. Nevertheless, Morrison opened fire with her main battery and immediately began scoring hits. The sampans were made of wood and the shells went in one side and out the other. However, the 40mm and 20mm guns were particularly effective against the wooden hulls. Most of the sampan crewmen hastily scrambled to abandon ship, but there were a few who paid with their lives for attempting to return fire with few mounted machine guns. One or two sampans escaped into the maze of off-shore caves and small islands. Two of the freighters beached themselves but were shelled and left burning. Morrison’s main battery set fire to some oil storage tanks a few thousand yards inland. During this action, Morrison established the honor of being the first U. S. ship to enter a Philippine harbor since the Japanese occupation. The American task forces ranged unimpeded far and wide in full control of the seas and carried the war to the enemy. Morrison was now a full fledged member of Task Force 38, also alternately designated Task Force 58, commanded by Adm “Bull” Halsey or Adm. Spruance, respectively. Rear Admiral Sherman commanded Task Group 38.3 to which Morrison belonged. The group, at this time, consisted of the fleet carriers Essex and Lexington, light carriers Princeton and Langley, battleships Massachusetts and South Dakota, cruisers Mobile, Santa Fe, Birmingham and Reno and 13 destroyers - Bronson, Dartch, Porterfield, Gatling, Cotten, Callaghan, Healy, Cassin Young, Irwin, Laws, Longshaw, Preston, and Morrison. It was a busy time. Palau was hit on 7 and 8 September, and on 21 and 22 September. The were invaded and secured thereby providing for the development of a huge forward Naval base at Atoll. The Seabees did a magnificent job in record time, including construction of a fleet recreation center on Mog Mog Island (“Beer party away!”). A major typhoon occurred about this time causing all ships to weigh anchor and ride out the storm outside the lagoon. There were hundreds of ships and it took the better part of the day to clear the anchorage. During the storm, Morrison took a couple of 57-degree rolls. At least one destroyer capsized and was lost with all hands during this storm. By 5 October, the typhoon had passed on and the Third Fleet sailed northward for the Nansei Shoto Islands (which contain, Okinawa) to wipe out land-based enemy aircraft. Task Force 38 carrier aircraft flew 1400 sorties in this raid. Next came air strikes on Formosa on 12 October. Over 1300 sorties were flown the first day. Japanese losses were in the hundreds but the Americans lost 48 planes, some to AA fire. The next day brought heavy air attacks against the task forces. Carrier Franklin was hit by a Betty torpedo bomber that crashed

The USS Franklin just after being hit by a “Betty (Top Pic)” on her flight deck. into her flight deck. Heavy cruiser Canberra took a torpedo and was taken under tow by cruiser Wichita. Formosa was hit again on 14 October. The Japanese were up to engage the American raiders and other enemy aircraft came out to swarm around the task forces, all day and evening. AA cruiser Reno took a plane crash into her fantail. Thirteen of 16 Japanese planes were splashed in one raid, but the Japanese kept up determined attacks by torpedo-bombers well after dusk. A dozen torpedo-bombers attacked Adm. McCain’s task force and a torpedo caught cruiser Houston which immediately took a severe starboard list. She was taken under tow by the cruiser Boston. On 15 and 16 October, the Japanese threw every plane they could against the Third Fleet. It was estimated that over 500 planes attacked. The Task Forces fought them off with little ship damage and few planes or pilots lost. However, on the 16th, Houston took another torpedo hit. On 20 October, landings were made in Leyte Gulf. Task Force 38.3 continued attacks on airfields. Japanese planes continued to snoop around and others made frequent attacks on the carrier forces. The men of the task forces were very tired by this time as they had been fighting without let-up since 10 October. On the 24th, the task groups were in for trouble. In the early morning hours, radar screens were full of blips as enemy raids approached. The battle began and large numbers of friendly and enemy aircraft mixed together. Fighting was hot and furious. Commander David McCampbell, leader of the Essex Air Group, shot down nine planes that day and his wingman, Lt. (jg) Rushing, shot down six withing a half-hour or so. From 0750 on, Task Force 38.3 was very, very busy. First one group of Japanese and then another attacked, over 1000 planes in total. At 0845, another attack commenced and again at 0910 more bogeys were reported. At approximately 0940, a Judy dive-bomber slipped by defending forces and planted a single 500-lb bomb on the flight deck of the carrier Princeton. The resulting events form an integral part of Morrison’s history. At first Adm. Sherman detached the cruiser Reno and destroyers Gatling, Irwin, and Cassin Young from the task group to assist Princeton in fighting fires and providing anti-aircraft and anti-submarine protection. Soon, however, cruiser Birmingham and destroyer Morrison were also ordered back to assist. Hundreds of men were picked up out of the water USS Princeton by the coordinated actions of the destroyers. Then, cruisers Reno and Birmingham and destroyers Irwin and Cassin Young made attempts to close with the Princeton to fight fires. It was hard going. The fires kept flaring up, ammunition was exploding like firecrackers and smoke reduced visibility to a few feet. There was concern that Princeton’s stored napalm and torpedoes would catch fire. Every few minutes, there were large explosions within the flaming carrier’s hull. As if this was not enough, several bogeys were detected heading towards the little force. Princeton was a sitting duck. The sleek AA cruiser Reno did some spectacular shooting. Two planes started their dive-bombing runs overhead and within her range. Reno fired salvos and splashed both planes. Heavy swells caused Irwin to take a beating against the towering hull and overhang of the Princeton. She cast off and backed away with major damage to her torpedo and 40mm directors and the starboard side of her bridge.

USS Birmingham coming up along side the burning USS Princeton.

Birmingham then came up on Princeton’s port quarter and nudged her bow against the carrier. More hoses were passed and volunteer fire-fighting parties boarded Princeton. Next, it was Morrison’s turn. She was ordered to stand alongside of Princeton’s starboard side to assist in beating down the fires there. The fires and smoke had reduced visibility to a few feet. Quartermaster 1C Charles Woolf at the helm of Morrison eased her in amidships and alongside. She passed over hoses and, with Birmingham on one side and Morrison on the other, significant progress began to be made. The fires were forced aft and after several minutes began to appear that they would be brought completely under control. But, there were still a lot of problems. First, when Morrison came alongside, Princeton kept drifting down on her and wedged the destroyer’s mast and forward stack between the uptakes of the carrier. The fire direction radar antenna was smashed and Morrison found herself in irons, wedged against the listing carrier and unable to move. Her stacks and mast were in danger. The purpose was to get engineering personnel back aboard the Princeton, and this was done. Hoses were sent out to Princeton from the forecastle of the destroyer, amidships and aft. The constant smashing grew worse - the TBS antenna was demolished and communication with other ships was lost except by voice, signal light, and semaphore. Then, a tractor and a jeep fell from the flight deck of the Princeton onto the bridge of Morrison, endangering everyone on duty there. The wreck slipped down to the main deck, carrying away the port wing of the destroyer’s bridge. There was a good deal of quiet heroism on the decks of the Morrison. Machinist 1C V.D. Jernigan catwalked a line over to Princeton’s fantail, and then took two hoses that were passed to him, giving one to the 1st Lt. Of the Princeton and manning the other himself. He fought the fire until he was recalled to the ship. Four sailors, C.E. Savell, M. Gross, C.P. Smith, and G.J. Mitchell swam out with lines several times to rescue Princeton men in the water, and nearly lost their own lives as a result. Lieutenant J. W. Franklin, Jr. And Lt. J.P. Simpson went to the fantail and worked to rescue men there and fight the fire, then ran to the bow and directed fire-fighting parties. Lieutenant R .D.A. Ridge had the con and kept his self control when the bridge was nearly destroyed beneath him. Lieutenant C. F. Conlon valiantly struggled with the communications system, using emergency rigs when TBS gear was lost. The damage to Morrison continued. The foremast was smashed, crashed, and went overboard. The port side of the bridge was nearly demolished along with the wind shield, the pelorus stand, torpedo director foundation, flag bag and lookout seat. The port bridge bulkhead and watertight door were buckled and smashed. The flying bridge port railing was crumpled, and the main deck and port and starboard boat, davits were bent. The forward smokestack was bent at the base, and loosened, and 8-ft of the after stack was sheered off on the port side of the ship. The superstructure was split and the main deck sprung. Lifelines ans stanchions along the port side were torn off, and the shell plating of the ship was bent and buckled about 6-in inboard. In the engine rooms, machinery was forced out of place or sprung, and above decks much of the machinery and equipment was lost as the fierce gnashing continued. Cargo lights, search lights, radio signals and other communications were smashed bit by bit as the Princeton surged up and down against the smaller ship. Even the machine shop lathe down below was forced out of alignment by the shocking blows the ship took. As far as her armament was concerned, Morrison’s guns also took a beating. The main battery director to port was crushed, and the rangefinder demolished. The torpedo director to port was wrecked. Most of the ship’s normal communications were knocked out except for the jury rigging that could be done. Lieutenant Conlon rushed from this place to that putting me to work rigging lines and antenna so that something might be retained, but in the end he lost nearly everything. At one point, word was passed to the bridge that the depth charges on the fantail were on fire. Captain calmly said, “Tell them to put water on them.” By 1300, Capt. Price of Morrison was very definitely concerned about his ship, and a call was put in to Irwin to take a line and pull her away from the carrier if she would come. Irwin brought her bow to the stern, and put alongside Princeton, then passed a tow line to Morrison’s quarter. Swells were very difficult to maneuver and kept pushing Irwin into the other ships, so that she ultimately had to back away. The maneuvering was even more difficult because Irwin had been reduced to one engine by the fouling of her other. Now, she scraped her port side against the starboard side of Birmingham and destroyed the port motor whaleboat and knocked off her port anchor. If it kept up, the Navy might find itself with two badly damaged destroyers which had not even been in action against the enemy this day, except under air attack. Princeton was capable of wrecking their entire superstructure with her rolling. The lines parted, and Morrison seemed scarcely better off than before. Morrison finally managed to pull clear. A few minutes later, the after third of the dying carrier was blown off by a tremendous explosion. Birmingham, with her starboard bow Above: The Princeton’s fantail exploding, with the Birmingham along side.

pointed into Princeton’s port side just forward of midships, took the full force of the blast. She suffered heavy casualties, 241 dead or missing and 412 wounded. Had she been a few minutes later in backing away from the carrier, Morrison would probably have had sunk. The next hours was spent with taking the remaining men off Princeton and moving doctors and supplies to the damaged Birmingham, Eventually, it was decided that Princeton could not be saved and she was ordered torpedoed.

Both Birmingham and Morrison pull away from Princeton after all remaining men were removed, and it was decided to not save her.

Reno fired two torpedoes that hit the mark and Princeton’s magazines, 80,000-gal of high-octane aviation gasoline, bombs, torpedoes and thousands of rounds of ammunition blew up in a tremendous explosion. When the smoke clear away, she had disappeared ! Morrison returned her survivors to Ulithi in company with Irwin and Birmingham. En route, Japanese Bettys stalked the weary little formation and the ships were at general quarters most of the way. At Ulithi, Morrison anchored a short distance from the Houston which had been towed in by a fleet tug. A day or two later, Birmingham, Morrison and Irwin departed for Pearl Harbor and the States. On 17 November, Morrison moored at Hunter’s Point Naval Drydock’s, just out side San Francisco. The men had 25-days leave, the officers 16, and there was plenty of liberty.

End of Part I