Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942

215 “These young pilots acted”: Potter, Bull Halsey, p. 47.

  215 “I could hear voices”: Dickinson, The Flying Guns, p. 100.

  216 “Bingo! Bingo!”: Pilot chatter recorded by Layton, listening from Pearl Harbor, in Layton, “And I Was There,” p. 362.

  216 Those attacks were being carried out: CO of USS Enterprise to CINCPAC, “Report of action on February 1, 1942 against Marshall Island Group,” Feb. 7, 1942.

  216 “Then we reversed course”: Raymond Spruance to Saavy Cooke, Feb. 9, 1963, Raymond Spruance Papers, MS Collection 12, Box 2, Folder 6, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, RI.

  217 Three Japanese fighters: CO of USS Enterprise to CINCPAC, “Report of action on February 1, 1942 against Marshall Island Group,” Feb. 7, 1942.

  218 “One specklike plane”: Rawie’s account in Lundstrom, The First Team, p. 68.

  219 “looked like the moths”: Potter, Bull Halsey, p. 46.

  219 The jury-rigged armor: CO of USS Enterprise to CINCPAC, “Report of action on February 1, 1942 against Marshall Island Group,” Feb. 7, 1942.

  219 “This attack encountered”: Ibid.

  221 “A tricky and a dangerous”: Kernan, Crossing the Line, p. 41.

  221 “Get away from that cruiser”: Potter, Bull Halsey, p. 44.

  221 “Admiral, don’t you think”: Ibid., p. 47.

  222 The five intruders: CO of USS Enterprise to CINCPAC, “Report of action on February 1, 1942 against Marshall Island Group,” Feb. 7, 1942.

  223 “It is a continuous ringing”: Dickinson, The Flying Guns, p. 101.

  223 “Stand by to repel”: Kernan, Crossing the Line, pp. 41–42.

  223 “Our AA guns”: Stafford, The Big E, p. 57.

  223 “a matter of grave concern”: CO of USS Enterprise to CINCPAC, “Report of action on February 1, 1942 against Marshall Island Group,” Feb. 7, 1942.

  223 “when the small-caliber guns”: Kernan, Crossing the Line, p. 42.

  223 “The effect on the ship”: CO of USS Enterprise to CINCPAC, “Report of action on February 1, 1942 against Marshall Island Group,” Feb. 7, 1942.

  224 “But the water comes down”: Casey, Torpedo Junction, p. 154.

  224 “Fire!”: Dickinson, The Flying Guns, p. 101.

  224 “frothy egg-white stuff”: Ibid., p. 103.

  225 “my knees are crackin’ together”: Potter, Bull Halsey, p. 48.

  225 “can only be described as”: CO of USS Enterprise to CINCPAC, “Report of action on February 1, 1942 against Marshall Island Group,” Feb. 7, 1942.

  225 “I had trouble”: Casey, Torpedo Junction, pp. 154–56.

  225 “Your bursts are low”: Stafford, The Big E, p. 59.

  225 The task force continued: CO of USS Enterprise to CINCPAC, “Report of action on February 1, 1942 against Marshall Island Group,” Feb. 7, 1942.

  226 “nice air raid shelter” . . . “Under the circumstances”: Dickinson, The Flying Guns, p. 103; Casey, Torpedo Junction, p. 158.

  227 “Burn, you son of a bitch”: Lundstrum, Black Shoe Carrier Admiral, p. 69.

  227 “Bill, it was wonderful”: Layton, “And I Was There,” p. 364.

  228 “Commander Task Force 8”: Casey, Torpedo Junction, p. 161.

  228 “Wild Bill will try anything”: Dickinson, The Flying Guns, p. 113.

  229 Seventy-seven pilots: CO of USS Enterprise to CINCPAC, “Report of action on February 1, 1942 against Marshall Island Group,” Feb. 7, 1942.

  229 “It was amazing how long”: Kernan, The Unknown Battle of Midway, p. 3.

  229 “that a great deed”: Casey, Torpedo Junction, p. 164.

  230 “The Japs didn’t mind”: Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. 268.

  230 “we travel something like”: Casey, Torpedo Junction, p. 275.

  230 wildly overoptimistic claims: See Lundstrom, The First Team, p. 77.

  230 “They have come”: Entry dated Feb. 1, 1942, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 81.

  230 “a reproach that went”: Entry dated Feb. 2, 1942, ibid., pp. 83–84.

  230 “After experiencing”: Entry dated Feb. 1, 1942, ibid., p. 81.

  231 “could only grit their teeth”: Layton, “And I Was There,” p. 363.

  231 “The enemy’s attempt”: Entry dated Feb. 1, 1942, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 82.

  231 “futile” and “impulsive”: Fuchida and Okumiya, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, p. 62.

  231 “They will adopt”: Entry dated Feb. 2, 1942, Ugaki, Fading Victory, pp. 83–84.

  231 “Whatever happens”: Layton, “And I Was There,” p. 363.

  Chapter Seven

  233 “the insidious yet irresistible clutching”: Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. 292.

  233 When Japanese amphibious forces: Okumiya, Horikoshi, and Caidin, Zero!, p. 60.

  235 the “scorched earth” principle: McDonald and Swakk-Goldman, eds., Substantive and Procedural Aspects of International Criminal Law, p. 782.

  236 As late as January 31: Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. 296.

  237 He dispatched four old “four-piper”: Ibid., p. 285.

  238 sailed “in two long lines”: Reiji Masuda account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 86.

  238 “The swells were high”: Ibid., p. 87.

  239 He cabled a series of anxious missives: Radiogram, MacArthur to the Adj. General, Dec. 23, 1941; PSF, Safe Files, FDR Library, Hyde Park, NY.

  239 He declared the capital: Toland, The Rising Sun, p. 287.

  239 “You go on south”: Burton, Fortnight of Infamy, p. 278.

  240 “Help is on the way”: MacArthur’s “Order of the Day,” Jan. 15, 1942, quoted in Costello, The Pacific War, p. 193.

  242 “How typical of America”: Kratoska, ed., South East Asia: Colonial History, Vol. 5, p. 413.

  242 “might offer the best possible solution”: Quoted in Stimson, On Active Services in Peace and War, p. 398.

  243 “I immediately discarded”: Black, Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom, p. 717.

  243 “So long as the flag”: Quoted in Stimson, On Active Services in Peace and War, p. 403.

  243 it is a fact that MacArthur: Carol M. Petillo, “Douglas MacArthur and Manuel Quezon: A Note on an Imperial Bond,” Pacific Historical Review 48, no. 1 (February 1979), pp. 107–17.

  244 “We’re the battling bastards”: Douglas A. MacArthur, “MacArthur’s Reminiscences: Part 5,” Life magazine, July 10, 1964, p. 72.

  244 “Well, I suppose”: Layton, “And I Was There,” p. 311.

  245 “instances where aerodromes”: Burton, Fortnight of Infamy, p. 289.

  246 “What actually happened”: Brown, Suez to Singapore, p. 411.

  246 “shrewd oriental tricks”: Ibid., p. 365.

  246 “various sub-human specimens”: Quoted in Allen, Singapore 1941–1942, p. 54.

  247 “The Japanese have a capacity”: Brooke-Popham at a public meeting in Singapore, Dec. 22, 1942, quoted in Brown, Suez to Singapore, p. 360.

  247 “The Japanese trooper”: Radike, Across the Dark Islands, p. 132.

  248 “You can almost see”: Brown, Suez to Singapore, pp. 349–50, 378.

  248 could not “work up any venom”: Ibid., pp. 392, 529.

  249 “Have you not got a single”: Alanbrooke, War Diaries, 1939–1945, p. 226.

  249 “must be reckoned as one”: “Prime Minister to First Sea Lord,” Jan. 22, 1942, quoted in Churchill, The Second World War, Vol. 4: The Hinge of Fate, pp. 39–40.

  249 “I must confess”: “Prime Minister to C.O.S. Committee,” Jan. 19, 1942, in ibid., p. 44.

  250 “We must defeat them”: Wigmore, The Japanese Thrust, p. 341.

  250 “Battle for Singapore”: “Wavell to Prime Minister,” Feb. 11, 1942, in Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, p. 88.

  250 an “inferiority complex”: Ibid.

  250 “Chum”: Hack and Blackburn, Did Singapore Have to Fall?, p. 263.

  251 “There was a lot of chaos”: Marshall Ralph Doak, My
Years in the Navy, online at www.historycentral.com/Navy/Doak.

  251 “In the spirit of chivalry”: Toland, The Rising Sun, p. 274.

  251 “You must continue”: “Wavell to Percival,” Feb. 14, 1942, in Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, p. 91.

  252 “The Japanese have wrenched”: Daily Mirror (London) quoted in Brown, Suez to Singapore, p. 499.

  252 “Landings on Java”: “General Wavell to Prime Minister,” Feb. 16, 1942, in Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, p. 141.

  252 “I am afraid that”: “General Wavell to Prime Minister,” Feb. 21, 1942, in ibid., p. 144.

  255 “considerable psychological tension”: “Action Report—USS Pope (DD-225), 1 March 1942,” by Welford C. Blinn, Former Commanding Officer; online at www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/logs/DD/dd225-Java.html.

  255 Radio Tokyo: Radio Tokyo quoted in Thomas, Sea of Thunder, p. 58.

  256 “It seemed to pass along”: Masuda account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, pp. 88–89.

  256 “This day the personnel”: Hornfischer, Ship of Ghosts, p. 70.

  256 “Am proceeding to intercept”: “Battle of Bawean Islands—Report of action; events prior and subsequent thereto,” Commanding Officer, USS John D. Edwards (DD-216) to Commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific, March 4, 1942; online at www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/logs/DD/dd216-Bawean.html.

  257 “farcical”: Ibid.

  258 “From then on”: Ibid.

  258 “The crystal ball”: Ibid.

  259 “thunder of big guns”: Masuda account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 89.

  259 Thirteen minutes later: Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain, p. 76.

  260 They hoped against the odds: “Action Report—USS Pope (DD-225), 1 March 1942,” by Welford C. Blinn, Former Commanding Officer.

  261 “All communication systems”: Cdr. A. L. Maher, Report on loss of Houston, Nov. 13, 1945, quoted in Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. 368.

  262 “The Dutch fought”: “Battle of Bawean Islands—Report of action; events prior and subsequent thereto.”

  262 “a magnificent display”: Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. 380.

  263 “vain” and a “bugbear”: Thorne, Allies of a Kind, p. 3.

  263 “scores of thousands of words”: Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, p. 132.

  264 Australian prime minister John Curtain: Ibid., pp. 15–19, 57–59, and 155–58.

  266 “I do not like these days”: “WC to FDR,” Doc. 97, Feb. 19, 1942, in Loewenheim, Langley, and Jonas, eds., Roosevelt and Churchill: Their Secret Wartime Correspondence, p. 181.

  266 “The weight of the war”: “WC to FDR,” Doc. 103, March 7, 1942, in ibid., pp. 186–87.

  266 “the well-known back-seat drivers”: “FDR to WC,” Doc. 96, Feb. 18, 1942, in ibid., p. 179.

  266 “keep up your optimism”: “FDR to WC,” Doc. 110, March 18, 1942, in ibid., p. 196.

  266 “Once a month”: Ibid.

  266 “constantly look forward”: “FDR to WC,” Doc. 96, Feb. 18, 1942, in ibid., p. 179.

  266 “Here is a thought”: “FDR to WC,” Doc. 110, March 18, 1942, in ibid., p. 195.

  267 “good in places”: Entry dated March 10, 1942, Alanbrooke, War Diaries, 1939–1945, p. 238.

  267 “The energy of the Japanese attack”: “FDR to WC,” Doc. 104, March 7, 1942, in Loewenheim, Langley, and Jonas, eds., Roosevelt and Churchill: Their Secret Wartime Correspondence, pp. 188–89.

  Chapter Eight

  269 a “railroad timetable”: Koichi Shimada, “The Opening Air Offensive Against the Philippines,” in Evans, ed., The Japanese Navy in World War II, p. 89.

  269 the emperor appeared: Kokusai Shashin Joho (International Graphic Magazine) 21, no. 12, Feb. 1, 1942.

  270 The war songs: Song titles cited in Yamashita, ed., Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies, pp. 231–32.

  270 “I don’t know”: Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain, p. 86.

  271 “When my eldest brother went”: Wakana Nishihara account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 328.

  271 “No one could reveal”: Shigenobu Debun account in ibid., p. 124.

  271 the “disgrace” of Pearl Harbor: New Order in Greater East Asia (April 1942), in Tolischus, Through Japanese Eyes, p. 149.

  271 “Many United States troops”: Japan Times & Advertiser, April 17, 1942, in ibid., p. 112.

  272 a “parasite prolonging”: Japan Times & Advertiser, Jan. 2, 1942, in Caren, ed., Pearl Harbor Extra, p. 77.

  272 bombing attacks on Tokyo: Kokusai Shashin Joho (International Graphic Magazine) 21, no. 12, Feb. 1, 1942.

  272 “now that they have seen”: General Hatta over the radio, Jan. 9, 1942, quoted in Tolischus, Through Japanese Eyes, p. 147.

  272 “to second-rate or third-rate powers”: New Order in Greater East Asia (April 1942), in ibid., p. 112.

  272 “but the only ones”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 287.

  273 “intolerably embarrassed”: Ibid., pp. 284, 297, and 287.

  273 “All they need do really”: Ibid., p. 288.

  273 “For a while we’ll have everything”: Ibid., p. 292.

  274 “all the public hullabaloo”: Ibid., p. 286.

  275 “It’s annoying to be passive”: Diary entry dated March 11, 1942, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 103.

  276 “The army took its usual attitude”: Diary entry dated March 14, 1942, ibid., p. 104.

  276 “We want to invade Ceylon”: Miwa quoted in Willmott, The Barrier and the Javelin, p. 79.

  278 an “ever-present and highly disturbing”: Fuchida and Okumiya, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, p. 91.

  279 “If real enemy planes”: Diary entry dated March 12, 1942, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 104.

  280 “One wonders whether”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 296.

  281 “firmly made up”: Ibid., p. 297.

  282 The next day, April 2: Capt. Marc Mitscher to Adm. Nimitz, “Report of Action, April 18, 1942, with notable events prior and subsequent thereto,” April 28, 1942.

  282 “undisciplined”: Stephen Jurika, Jr., account in Wooldridge, ed., Carrier Warfare in the Pacific, p. 26.

  283 When quizzed: Lawson, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, p. 35.

  283 Admiral King had assigned: King related the details in an off-the-record press interview dated June 8, 1943, in Perry, “Dear Bart,” p. 171.

  284 an “outside loop”: “Doolittle Performs ‘Outside Loop’ Feat,” New York Times, May 26, 1927.

  284 “No,” he replied: “The Reminiscences of Rear Admiral Henry L. Miller, U.S. Navy (Retired),” U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD, 1973, p. 32.

  284 Miller taught the army pilots: Details of training the B-25 aircrews in ibid., p. 33; see also Lawson, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, p. 26.

  285 “Henry,” Doolittle replied: “The Reminiscences of Rear Admiral Henry L. Miller, U.S. Navy (Retired),” p. 38.

  285 Eleven days out: Capt. Murray, USS Enterprise, to CINCPAC, “Report of action in connection with the bombing of Tokyo on April 18, 1942,” April 23, 1942, item 1.

  285 “As I flew over”: Cheek’s recollections in Russell, ed., No Right to Win, p. 15.

  286 “This force is bound”: Stafford, The Big E, p. 77.

  286 The now-enlarged Task Force 16: Capt. Murray, USS Enterprise, to CINCPAC, “Report of action in connection with the bombing of Tokyo on April 18, 1942,” April 23, 1942, item 2.

  286 In the “misty grey” light: Casey, Torpedo Junction, p. 300.

  286 “God damnest weather”: Lundstrom, The First Team, p. 148.

  287 “If we all get to Chungking”: Lawson, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, p. 37.

  287 They practiced the phrase: Jurika account in Wooldridge, ed., Carrier Warfare in the Pacific, p. 27.

  287 A gale-force wind: Capt. Murray, USS Enterprise, to CINCPAC, “Report of action in connection with the bombing of Tokyo on April 18, 1942,” April 23, 1942, item 3.

  287 One of the B-25 pil
ots noted: Lawson, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, p. 42.

  287 At 3:10 a.m., the Enterprise radar: Capt. Murray, USS Enterprise, to CINCPAC, “Report of action in connection with the bombing of Tokyo on April 18, 1942,” April 23, 1942, item 5.

  287 “Enemy surface ship”: Ibid., item 6. See also Toland, The Rising Sun, p. 350.

  288 “two beautiful Japanese carriers”: Thomas, Sea of Thunder, p. 63.

  288 “Launch planes”: Stafford, The Big E, p. 78.

  288 “Shells are tossed”: Casey, Torpedo Junction, p. 426.

  288 “like a yoyo”: Cheek’s recollections in Russell, ed., No Right to Win, p. 16.

  289 “ridiculous” and “excessive”: Commanding Officer, USS Nashville, to Admiral Nimitz, “Report of sinking of two enemy patrol boats on April 18, 1942,” April 21, 1942.

  289 “disappointing”: Admiral Halsey to Admiral Nimitz, “Report of action in connection with the bombing of Tokyo on April 18, 1942,” April 23, 1942, item 2(d).

  289 “In about half an hour”: Lawson, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, p. 52.

  290 “Come on, fellas”: Stafford, The Big E, p. 78.

  290 large white boards: Lawson, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, p. 53.

  290 “Prepare to launch aircraft”: Jurika account in Wooldridge, ed., Carrier Warfare in the Pacific, p. 30.

  290 “high green foam-flecked waves”: Kernan, Crossing the Line, p. 39.

  290 “As the old salts would say”: Fisher’s recollections in Russell, ed., No Right to Win, p. 14.

  291 the “wet, rolling deck”: Lawson, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, pp. 52–53.

  291 “you would actually launch”: Jurika account in Wooldridge, ed., Carrier Warfare in the Pacific, p. 31.

  291 “there was soon heavy money”: Kernan, Crossing the Line, p. 38.

  292 “I would say he was 50 feet”: Jurika account in Wooldridge, ed., Carrier Warfare in the Pacific, p. 31.

  292 “hung his ship”: Lawson, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, p. 55.

  292 “The pilot held the nose up”: Fisher’s recollections in Russell, ed., No Right to Win, p. 14.

  292 “It sure was windy!”: Bernstein’s recollections in ibid., p. 18.

  292 One crewman: Rose, The Ship That Held the Line, p. 70.

  293 “I think without a doubt”: “The Reminiscences of Rear Admiral Henry L. Miller, U.S. Navy (Retired),” p. 44.

  293 “we all cheered loudly”: Kernan, Crossing the Line, p. 40.