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 Pearl Harbor. After a sleepless period of shore bombardment exercises, she was on her way to Ulithi, 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 Japan. 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 kamikaze 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 torpedo 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 radar picket 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 submarine 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 submarines 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, battleship West Virginia 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.