Torpedo Damage
On September 15, 1942, Japanese submarine I-19 quickly fired six long-range torpedoes at the U.S. carrier WASP. Three torpedoes struck their target causing such damage that the task force commander ordered WASP to be sunk that night. The remaining three torpedoes raced on across several miles into a second carrier force. One torpedo slammed into the U.S. destroyer O’BRIEN that would break up several weeks later due to severe hull damage.
Another torpedo blasted NORTH CAROLINA on her port (left) side just forward of the thick armor belt designed to protect her from torpedoes. The enormous blast shook the Ship and crew and sent tons of oil and water skyward. Tons more water quickly flooded into the resulting 32 by 18 foot hole causing the Ship to lean, a situation the crew quickly corrected by purposefully flooding compartments on the opposite side. Five men were killed and 23 were wounded.
Killed in Action:
Albert Geary, Seaman 1/c
Ingwald Nelson, Ship Fitter 2/c
Leonard Pone, Gunner’s Mate 3/c
William Skelton, Seaman 2/c
Oscar Stone, Ship Fitter 3/c
L-R Leonard Edward Pone, Ingwald Nels Nelson
“The Showboat took a torpedo (September 15, 1942) on the port side forward of amidships. I was knocked ass over teakettle over and through a gun blister, but was able to make it to my battle station. The torpedo punctured some fuel tanks and started a fire, which got into the lower handling room of Turret II. The fuel was actually burning on the floor of the projectile room. The sprinklers were activated and the turret crew came streaming out the hatch with the smoke in swift pursuit. The word was passed ‘Stand by to abandon ship’ because if Turret II went, the whole ship would explode like a Chinese firecracker, right down the middle where all the 5-inch magazines were. It so happened that we were one lifejacket short, for some reason, so I didn’t have one. My phone talker, assessing the situation, said, ‘Here Mr. Gallagher, take my lifejacket, I’m a good swimmer.’ Fortunately, the situation improved so abandoning the ship wasn’t necessary, but I’ll always remember that young sailor and his thoughtfulness.”
-Lieutenant Edward Gallagher
“I was down taking a shower, didn’t have a stitch of clothes on, had just gotten out of the shower, and had the towel going on my back drying my back. There was a big explosion. I couldn’t hear anything, and the next thing I knew I was in the water and oil and there were two other guys pretty close to me, but I somehow got out. But I’ll never forget it, the sight that I saw. I saw the prettiest roses you ever laid you eyes on. I saw my name. At the time I was from Lynchburg, Virginia. And I saw my name in the Lynchburg paper, ‘Walter T. Babcock,’ and I’m going to tell you like is was, ‘Walter T. Babcock, killed in action.’ And I don’t remember getting from down the third deck up to topside. The only thing I know, and I’m telling the truth, I saw my mother and father. One caught one hand and one caught the other and I actually talked to them.”
-Walter Babcock, Ship’s Cook 3/c
USS WASP under attack
“I knew that the WASP was torpedoed so I went to my battle station right away and I was sitting up on top of Sky 2 before we got hit (by a torpedo). One of the fire control men was the hairiest guy we ever saw. He was in the shower at the time. He was all soaped up and when we got hit, he took from the shower and was running up on the port side of the ship and I am looking at him go by on the main deck and all I can see is hair and soap suds. No clothes on. He went into turret one. That was his battle station. There was a fire in the magazines so they flooded the magazine and they abandoned turret one. Here he comes, still with no clothes on, but soapsuds, running back down again. I was telling him about it afterwards. He said ‘Well, it wasn’t funny.’ I said, ‘You weren’t sitting where I was.’”
-Harold Smith, Firecontrolman 1/c
I was almost knocked out of a bunk I was lying in reading. They’re passing word now for all hands to man battle stations. As I ran through a passageway…I saw smoke coming in through the ventilators. I was just at the head where the torpedo hit. I passed three shipfitters on my way out and some men showering, etc. They are all done for. Another 15 or 20 minutes and I’d have been a goner. Most of the magazines are flooded with water and fuel oil! Turret I is out of commission. Our radar is out of commission. Our #1 Director is also out of commission. Last but not least, also our catapults. We’ve lost 25,000 gallons of fuel oil so far. We’re leaving an oil wake behind us. Admiral gave us word to head into port as our oil slick is jeopardizing the remaining Task Force.
-Mike Marko, Machinist’s Mate 2/c, diary entry.
Diaries were illegal, but some men found good hiding places
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“The ship had barely commenced to swing when the torpedo struck with a deafening roar and caused us to lurch to starboard. It felt as though a giant had put his hand against the port side and shoved us with all his might sideways through the water.”
September 15, 1942
“At eight minutes of three this date we were hit between frames 38-52 (port side of #1 turret) by a torpedo. The WASP was hit about two minutes before us. The last time I saw her she was a floating hull. Reports said three torpedoes went into her port side starting huge fires. It is a miracle she is still afloat. The Salt Lake City also took one, but is under control. The destroyer O’Brien caught one in the bow practically blowing it off. It was still afloat and proceeded to Guadalcanal and was beached.
We had all hands at 3 A.M. and had breakfast before dawn G.Q. expecting to catch up with those [Japanese] battleships. I came from G.Q. at 7 AM and proceeded with regular ship’s work. At about 12:30 P.M. G.Q. sounded but the planes that were picked up turned out to be friendly. After G.Q. I turned in my rack and that’s where I was when it hit.
My battle station (clipping room 101-1/2) being right in between number one and two turrets was filled with smoke and fumes. It was so bad that an officer ordered us out and to remove the ammunition which I refused to do not knowing it may [ ]. At this time we must have been listing ten degrees to port. All hands were ordered to starboard side. We leveled off almost immediately. The fire was put out and we proceeded at 29 knots. We lost about 100,000 gallons of fuel oil. The extent of damage or casualties is not complete as yet. A sad day for the U.S. Navy.”
-Log book of Bernard James Wagenhauser, Seaman 2/c
“Last night at this time the NC was the proud king of the seas, fearing nothing, challenging all. Tonight she is a crippled vessel limping to a friendly port for repairs.
This morning found our combine task forces (the WASPs and the HORNETs) on the general heading of NW. We had at that time a definite duty to perform…to protect the landing of more marines at Tulagi and Guadalcanal. This noon while we were proceeding on our course through the waters that we jokingly named “torpedo junction,” enemy aircraft contact was made which sent us all to G.Q. We remained at our battle stations only for a short while but afterwards learned that the contact had been a Japanese four-engine patrol bomber and was shot down by our planes.
I was on watch (12-16) in steering aft receiving instruction as to how the port rudder could be centralized in case of a casualty on the port after steering station, when word was received over the phones that a fire had broken out on the forward hangar deck of the WASP. Simultaneously a torpedo was sighted headed for this ship only 400 yards away. Immediately full rudder was applied and the engine room was notified to make 25 knots. However it was all too late. The ship had barely commenced to swing when the torpedo struck with a deafening roar and caused us to lurch to starboard. It felt as though a giant had put his hand against the port side and shoved us with all his might sideways through the water.
The instant the torpedo hit us G.Q. was sounded. It will never forget the sensation I experienced in running through slippery passageways choked with smoke. The ship was listing quite badly to port and on reaching the third deck, the smoke was so dense that I had to grope my way down into Central. Confusion was reduced to minimum and condition ZED was set in the record time of six minutes.
Fortunately, personnel casualties were few. Latest reports are that five men were sealed in those flooded port wing compartments. Another who was standing his watch on the 20mm group just aft of where the torpedo hit is missing. He may have been blown over the side by the concussion. Otherwise there were a few cuts and bruises plus one compound fractured leg.”
-Log book of George Guild Strott, Seaman 2/c
“Immediately following the torpedoing I headed for the Sick Bay and noticed smoke coming from a blower as I entered. There was quite a bit of confusion. The senior medical officer Captain Wendell Blake was there and the first casualty was brought in and appeared to have a broken leg. Captain Blake kneeled beside him, looked up and said “someone get a doctor.” He meant one of the junior officers. Perhaps he forgot he was a doctor in all the excitement. It was decided to x-ray the sailor’s leg but our x-ray equipment located below in the medical storeroom had been knocked out so an attempt was made successfully using the dental x-ray equipment.”
-Letter from William T. Potts
Chief Warrant Officer, MSC, USN (Ret.)
Summary
On September 15, 1942, Japanese submarine I-19 quickly fired six long-range torpedoes at the U.S. carrier WASP. Three torpedoes struck their target causing such damage that the task force commander ordered WASP to be sunk that night. The remaining three torpedoes raced on across several miles into a second carrier force. One torpedo slammed into the U.S. destroyer O’BRIEN that would break up several weeks later due to severe hull damage.
Another torpedo blasted NORTH CAROLINA on her port (left) side just forward of the thick armor belt designed to protect her from torpedoes. The enormous blast shook the Ship and crew and sent tons of oil and water skyward. Tons more water quickly flooded into the resulting 32 by 18 foot hole causing the Ship to lean, a situation the crew quickly corrected by purposefully flooding compartments on the opposite side. Five men were killed and 23 were wounded.
Roosevelt Flenard, Mess Attendant First Class
“We’re hit! We’re hit!”
“September 14, 1942: They passed the word last night that we would have early G.Q. than ordinary. So this morning all hands up ravin for action, but so far nothing has happened.
September 15, 1942: If I ever put in another day quite like today I shall put in a chit for the Recruiting Station in Des Moines, Iowa. In the first place I had the mid-watch last night. I couldn’t get any sleep to make up for [it]. I was woke up three times this afternoon then I went below to my bunk determined to get a little sleep somehow.
I had just dropped off when Wagner shook me and said the WASP had been bombed or torpedoed. Naturally I got topside in nothing flat just in time to see the WASP at about 290 or 300 degrees relative. I’ll never be able to completely express what I saw.
The WASP was making a port turn as we swung to starboard. A huge billowing black cloud hung above her superstructure punctuated amidships with a flame – a flame that something told me came from a burning airplane. The flame flickered and died as if in prelude to the great tongue of fire that leaped more than 100 feet into the air with the advent of a second cloud of black oily smoke.
By this time I had reached my gun but was totally captivated by the sight of what was evidently the third torpedo striking on her port beam. The water, black with oil, geysered [stet] up high above her flight deck. The flame that gutted her midship third was sickening. My stomach knotted up and I actually felt ill.
Bull Williams stood alongside of me as all of this happened and shouted, ‘Aerial Attack.’ I looked at him and past him as the USS O’BRIEN took a torpedo. I saw the black water spout up. I looked forward and saw another geyser on our port bow. I thought sure he was right after that for they looked like thousand pound bomb explosions.
Then I felt rather than heard a dull, whispered thud as I fell to the deck. I began picking myself up and as I rolled over the blue of the sky was blotted out by brown billowing gas. It was the familiar smell of fuel oil but it terrified me so much that I placed my arm over my eyes and stumbled to the ready box.”
-Diary of Arthur G. Hahn, Storekeeper 1/c
“On a quiet day, I was on a gun deck looking out at the [carrier] WASP which was quite a ways from us when I saw an explosion. Instinct told me to head to my battle station even before the alarm sounded. In a matter of seconds, there was a major explosion on the port side. The explosion was so big, I didn’t realize it was the destroyer O’BRIEN which had been hit by a torpedo. I just knew I had to get to my battle station.
The procedure when General Quarters sounded was to go forward and up on the starboard side, down and aft on the port side. I was on the port side and cheated a little. No one was around and I’d save time. All of a sudden we took our torpedo hit. I didn’t know if we had been bombed or what. There was smoke and cordite all around. I was tempted to go aft because the hit was ahead of me. I shrugged off the thought, but felt my way gingerly forward because the smoke still obscured my path. I subsequently went up the many ladders to my battle station. I could see our oil slick from there. Worse, I could see the WASP ablaze with towering clouds of black smoke. Through my binoculars I could see their crew pushing planes overboard so they wouldn’t explode and make matters worse. She was subsequently sunk during the night.
In a matter of a few weeks, we lost four cruisers off Guadalcanal. Lost one carrier with us, had two carriers damaged, and limped back to Pearl for repairs after burying our dead on an island. I was 19 at the time, and sort of matured.”
– Larry Resen, Fire Controlman 1/c & Asst. to the Air Defense Officer
“We were now operating with the WASP. We were getting very leery of Mondays. When Monday, September 14th came and went, we all had a sigh of relief. On September 15th, I was on my way to my battle station in Sky 2 when I heard an explosion. Off our port side the WASP was hit with one torpedo. When I got to the top of [5-inch] director two more torpedoes had hit the WASP which was fueling planes for their next strike. The gas lines were ruptured and flaming gasoline we flowing over the sides like a waterfall. It was then we got hit….”
-Harold Smith, Fire Controlman 1/c