MORRISON’S VALIANT LAST STAND

PART II

The shipyard workers performed miracles in repairing, rebuilding and modernizing the ship. New main battery director radars, mainmast and other exterior and interior refurbishmenents were made. A really new item was the installation of a system of electronic countermeasures (radar jammers) and UHF radios for use by fighter director teams. These were installed in the after deck house under No. 4 5-in mount. A mast to carry the odd-looking radar jammer antennas was installed next to gun No. 45 40mm mount. Unknown at that time both systems were to play an important role in the days to come. On 10 February, Morrison cast off her lines and steamed to . After a sleepless period of shore bombardment exercises, she was on her way to , and for there to the next invasion - Okinawa Shima in the Ryukyr Islands, a place that was to become famous, but few Americans had heard of it at that time. On the way to Okinawa, the crew as assembled and given a briefing on some of the things they could expect, as well as some aspects of the missions Morrison was to be assigned: The island lay nearly exactly midway between Formosa and .

Heavy air attacks were to be expected from both Formosa and from the Japanese mainland, especially Kyushu. These air attacks were expected to be largely in the way of or Divine Wind attacks. The enemy aircraft would try to dive their aircraft right into the ships of the fleet! There would also be suicide boats as well as suicide swimmers. The Okinawa

invasion was virtually an invasion of the Japanese mainland therefore heavy opposition and a long, tough, drawn-out battle would be expected. Thus, the reason Morrison and the other combat ships were loaded to the gunwales with foodstuffs - little, if any, relief and supplies might be available for two or three months.

Morrison’s mission was initially to escort and protect minesweepers in the landing areas. Then to provide cover for the UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams). After that, to act as a ship, hence the special UHF radio gear and ECM equipment that was just recently installed back in the States. Okinawa is a big island compared to most of those invaded by the Americans in the Pacific. It is about 60-mi long and roughly 8-mi wide. In the north, it is ragged and mountainous. In the southern end, it is rolling plains and farmland. The island’s capital is Naha. There are many bays, isthmuses and a generally rugged coastline containing caves behind the coral reefs.. It was indicated that Okinawa had always been an important artillery training location for Japanese Army, hence it was presumed all important potential target areas had long ago been surveyed and sighted in by the Japanese. Morrison arrived off the southern shores of Okinawa on D minus seven and bombardment was commenced. For the next several days, she carried out her missions of protecting the minesweepers and later, the UDTs. Occasionally, she occupied off-shore patrol stations and conducted night harassing fire. One morning, she carried out a short duel with a battery that was harassing the minesweepers. A YMS had been hit on the bow and killed several of its crew. At various times loose mines were sunk with rifles, submachine gun and 20mm fire. On occasion, good sound contacts developed and charges were dropped but contacts were lost. On the night of 20 March, USS Stockton made a positive sound contact and expended all of her depth charges in the attack. Morrison, at that time in Kerama Rhetto, had just finished loading supplies and ammunition, got the call to load and assist. She pulled away after midnight and rushed to the area where Stockton was trying to maintain its contact. Morrison began a search pattern. Suddenly the was seen to surface, Cmdr. J. R. Hanson, Morrison’s skipper, said, “Full speed ahead, ram him!” But the submarine had submerged immediately upon surfacing and the Morrison passed over the spot presumably narrowly missing the sub with her keel. Morrison immediately obtained a positive sound contact and dropped a pattern of charges. This appeared to force the sub to the surface again where it was immediately taken under fire by the 5-in and 40mm guns. The first shots of 5-in from Morrison were with the on-watch guns in local control, as the ship had not yet gone to general quarters. They were near misses. Then, the main battery director was manned by its battle station crew and all guns were salvoed. The first salvo flared into the night on almost a flat trajectory, the sub was so close. Shells exploded over the target, but just barely. The rangefinder operator spotted down and the next rounds landed squarely in the conning tower and along the waterline of the sub’s hull. The 40mm guns illuminated the sea with fireworks and raked the sub from stem to stern, back and forth. A few of the sub’s crew sere seen to attempt to leave hatchways on the deck, but the fire from Morrison’s guns would not permit it. After several minutes of relentless pounding, the sub up-ended slowly into a vertical position and slid beneath the waters, stem first. Morrison cruised the area for the rest of the night and at daylight, discovered a large oil slick and a great amount of debris. There bodies and pieces of bodies accompanied by a few sharks. In the middle of it all, a lone survivor clung to a small spar. Rescued by Morrison’s small boat, he was found to be slightly wounded in the leg but otherwise in good condition. He was taken to sick bay where he indicated his desire to commit harakari. One of the ships cooks brought down a bowl of rice, which he refused! He was unwilling to give any information beyond that he was a petty officer pharmacist’s mate. Later that morning he was turned over to intelligence officers who came aboard to interrogate him at Kerama Rhetto. Apparently for some reason, he changed his mind and told them he was a cook. Just after the sub sank, the main battery director pointer (Frank Kimball), trainer (Joe Buonomano), and rangefinder operator (Tom Alexander), were asked to report to the wardroom to identify the sub, since they presumably had the best view through their optics. The sub was believed to be of the I-5 class, one of the largest operated by the Japanese. It had a beam of 29-ft and a length of 318-ft. It was capable of carrying and launching aircraft. NOTE: If when reading the last situation about the Japanese submarine and was wondering about a “Sub being able to carry and launch aircraft”....you may be interested in reading one of my ‘Archived articles’ titled, “Airfield Under the Sea.” It is about a 7 page article that show you, “Yes in deed” the Japanese had that large...and they did in deed carry and launch aircraft. If you’d care to give it a read....just asked for the title.....and I’ll send it to you.

Following the submarine episode, the invasion of Okinawa occurred on 1 April with more deadly shore bombardment, call fire, harassing fire and night illumination task. One night in the close confines of Nakagusuku Wan, Morrison was attacked by Kaiten suicide boats.

At first, there seemed to be some small slow moving targets intermittently appearing on the surface search radar. The operators were not sure. It was decided to illuminate by searchlight in coordination with USS Anthony who was nearby. As soon as the powerful lights came on and swept across the targets, they immediately came around at full speed heading for the Morrison. She got off a few shots from the 40s and 20s but the suicide boat’s sinking was credited to the Anthony. The landings had taken place on 1 April, April Fool’s Day. They were unopposed. The troops just walked ashore and got a mile or so inland without a shot being fired. But this was just a beginning. This was to become the bloodiest battle of the Pacific in WW II - over 200,000 people would die and the battle would last nearly three months. Morrison now drew radar picket duty - what might be called the “graveyard shift.” Even before the landings, the Kamikaze had been attacking ships of Task Force 58 in their raids on the Japanese home islands. For example, Naval bases and airfields on Kure and Kobe were hit on 20 March. The carriers Enterprise, Intrepid, and Yorktown had all been struck by suicide planes. On D-Day, West took a hit. By mid-April, the enemy was sinking or damaging well over a ship a day in the Okinawa area, and the majority of these were ships of the radar picket stations. Admiral Raymond Spruance, the U.S. Fifth Fleet commander, had established a 16- station radar picket line 360-degrees around Okinawa to provide for early warning of Japanese air attacks. The picket stations ranged in distance from about 40- to 60-mi away from point “BOLO,” the Okinawa, with most of them southwest, west and north, the directions from which the main enemy flights would most likely come. The picket stations had CAP (Combat Air Patrol) aircraft coverage much of the time. Morrison obtained the necessary radio equipment and a fighter-direction team who would do the vectoring of CAP aircraft onto the incoming enemy. She drew her first assignment, Radar Picket Station No. 10, southwest of Okinawa. Things were fairly quiet - an occasional raid but no vigorous attacks. However, over the TBS radio could be heard reports from other pickets often indicating damages sustained or “Mayday” calls when sinking. She was then shifted to No. 7 where she fired off a few rounds at occasional approaching snoopers but again no big attacks. She next drew station No. 2 up on the hot firing line northeast of Okinawa near Okinerabu Shima Island, 55-mi out. There were enemy around the first day or two but she was still not directly attacked. The next day was cloudy and so were the next two. Their luck held, the Kamikaze did not operate in bad weather. She held something of a record for time spent on this station without being hit. But then, her luck ran out. She was assigned to Picket Station No. 1, bearing 7-deg 7-min and 51-mi from point “BOLO,” the hottest spot on the picket line. Nearly every ship that had been on this station had been sunk or severely damaged and it was known that the Japanese were storing up planes for a heavy attack to be made on the first clear day. The night of 3 May, the weather was cloudy but clearing. There were bogies on the radar most of the night, heavy activity to the north around Kyushu. Dawn on 4 May was bright , clear and ominous. The crew knew that this was it! Breakfast was early and the crew went to general quarters before sunrise. The expected attack came at about 0715. At first three bogies were detected well out to starboard and high. Request was made for CAP intercept by Morrison’s fighter direction team. Two Corsairs quickly appeared and were vectored out to the targets. Watching through his rangefinder, FCR 3C Alexander observed the Corsairs jockey onto the tail of the three Japanese planes. A few short gun bursts and two of the Japs quickly plummeted into the sea. The third turned off into a cloud formation, and the CAP fighters returned to patrol over the ships of the picket station. The picket station consisted of Morrison and Ingraham, three landing craft, LCI (L), and LSM(R)-194 It was quiet for a few moments and then, “Bogey on the starboard beam coming in fast!” It was the Zeke that had bot away into the clouds, now low, just off the water, coming straight in and now only a few thousand yards out. The main battery trained out under director control and was about to open fire when the CAP aircraft began making passes on it. The Zeke bored in, the Corsairs taking turns strafing it, and hitting. Morrison withheld fire for fear of blasting the CAP. The Zeke was being raked, bits and pieces were falling, but it flew on....4000-, 3000-, 2000,-yds, the range closed. Finally Morrison’s starboard 40mm and 20mm guns opened up at near-point-blank range. It looked as if the Zeke would crash straight into the bridge or 5-in gun director. And then “Wham!,” a large explosion and concussion rocked the ship. But it had not hit! The kamikaze finally blew up only about 10-yds from the ship, which suffered no damage. Meanwhile, a swarm of bogies had appeared on Morrison’s SC radar screen - a force later variously estimated at from 40 to 80. There was virtually every type of plane in the Japanese inventory; Zekes, Zeroes, Tonys, Nicks, Bettys, Nellis, Vals, Nakajimas, as well as biplane trainers and float planes. Also identified was an Ohka (Baka) one-man rocket-propelled aircraft bomb, dropped from the fuselage of a G4M Betty bomber at which the forward 5-in guns were firing under main battery director control.

What happened to the Baka is not known. Some thought it hit the ship. As it had a speed capable of 600-mph, no CAP aircraft was likely to have shot it down. But the CAP, by now both Corsairs and Hellcats, were shooting the others out of the sky almost as fast as thy could thumb their firing buttons, like wolves turned loose in a chicken house, faster than reports could be taken. The sky was alive with AA burst and the sea was becoming littered with downed and burning . Hundreds of rounds of 40mm and countless rounds of 20mm cannon shells ripped out at the enemy planes, the crossfire of two 40mm batteries caught one and it was shredded. A bomb feel close to starboard, where it harmlessly exploded. Then, immediately after this came a plane, close in, weaving back and forth, from the starboard quarter, only a few feet above the water. It flew in past midships, its wing tip appearing to graze the 40mm director on No. 2 stack and crashed into the No. 1 stack and bridge aft. It wrecked havoc, causing heavy casualties in the area of the bridge, radio room, plotting room and the forward fire room. Radios, radar and the main battery director were immediately put out of commission. The ship staggered, steadied and continued on. Steam was rising directly up out of the forward fire room through a hole in the main deck - to 100-ft or so into the air. Then in rapid succession, three more hits. A plane hit No. 2 stack to port, another crashed virtually on top of gun No. 3 and another crashed onto gun No. 5 5in mount. But gun No. 5 had not been easy pickings. Prior to being hit, a suicider had flown in from dead astern, right up the Morrison’s wake. There was no question of its intent. Closer and closer it came until it seemed to hover for a split second about 100-ft in the air and some 50-yds aft of the muzzle of gun No. 5. In that instant, she fired, straight into the suicide plane’s prop spinner. There was a tremendous explosion and the plane disintegrated in a fireball and black smoke. Debris from the wreckage sprinkled the fantail and gun No. 5. But there were too many of them, closing too fast. A few seconds later, gun No. 5 itself was hit when another plane crashed into it and the 5-in ammo handling room just behind. This last few seconds of action was later described by A.C. O’Halloran, torpedo man 1C on the USS Ingraham (DD-694), a with Morrison on the picket station that day. Said O’Halloran, “I was serving on the USS Ingraham (DD-694), a 2250-ton class with three twin turrets. We were with USS Morrison, a 2100-ton class with, I believe, five single mounts. We were off Okinawa on radar picket station number one with two LSMs. At approximately 0700, we were attacked by 75 to 80 Jap kamikaze planes. “The Morrison first got hit behind the bridge and went out of control. We were running all around firing everything we could. We shot down seven planes in two minutes. The Morrison got hit three more times. I still remember the last hit. She got it in the gun mount on the fantail and it rolled over onto the torpedo tubes. The ship blew from stem to stern and rolled over. I turned to see one of the LSMs going down with a guy still firing 20mm from the forecastle. When I turned around, the Morrison was gone. We thought the torpedo warheads had exploded. We did not see any survivors in the water. Also as indicated by O’Halloran, after the fourth suicide plane crash on the fantail, the stern went under water and Morrison began to list badly to starboard. Word was passed to abandon ship, but few communications circuits were intact. Two more explosions occurred almost simultaneously, and the stern of the ship sank beneath the water as the ship rolled rapidly on its starboard side. A few moments later, the bow lifted vertically into the air and Morrison plunged beneath the waves in 325 fathoms of water. Those who saw it stared aghast at three or four crewmen desperately hanging onto the anchor chains, as if frozen, as the bow sank with them into the rumbling, hissing sea. Within a period of 10-min, Morrison had sustained several near misses from diving, burning planes and bombs and had been bit by four suicide planes, of which two were carrying bombs, causing the after engine room, after fire room and most of the after living compartments to flood immediately. The hits occurred so rapidly and the ship sank so quickly that most of the men below decks were lost and the men topside were saved mainly by being thrown off or washed off the ship as she went down. Out of a total complement of 331 men, 179 were recovered and 108 of those were wounded. There was more to come! Survivors, dazed and sick with shock, found themselves swimming in a sea of flotsam and black oil. Only one balsa life raft-float managed to survive. The survivors shouted words of encouragement to one another as they clung to this and life jackets, 5-in shell canisters and anything else floating by. The Japanese planes continued swarming around as if letting loose all their pent-up fury on these particular survivors. The CAP aircraft continued shooting the enemy out of the sky and on several occasions, the kamikaze pilots appeared to make desperate attempts to strafe and then crash their damaged aircraft into the Morrison survivors. And it was still not over. Morrison’s survivors were picked up by LSMs dispatched for this purpose. The LSMs themselves underwent intermittent attacks on the way back to Kerama Rhetto, but were successful in beating off the planes that came too close. There were some anxious moments, particularly for the wounded lying in bunks below decks; they wondered if they could survive two sinkings in one day. The LSMs arrived back at Kerama Rhetto late that evening and transferred to hospital ships and transport ships. Finally, it was over. They were stateside bound and the Morrison was left to her watery grave.

END