Today in US military history: Beirut barracks bombing, and the Gettysburg of the West

1864: In Westport, Mo. (present-day Kansas City), Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis' 22,000-man Army of the Border defeats a heavily outnumbered Confederate force commanded by Maj. Gen. Sterling Price in the largest battle fought west of the Mississippi River. The Union brings an end to Price's Missouri Expedition with his defeat in the "Gettysburg of the West," and Price retreats into Kansas. After the Battle of Westport, the border state of Missouri will remain under Union control for the rest of the Civil War.

1942: On Guadalcanal, Imperial Japanese soldiers and tanks attempt to cross the Matanikau River, and are quickly defeated - signaling the beginning of the Battle for Henderson Field. For the next three days, the 1st Marine Division and the 164th Infantry Regiment, supported by the "Cactus Air Force", will shatter wave after wave of Japanese assaults on the ground and in the air. The battle marks the final major Japanese ground operation before they abandon the island.

1944: Three days after over 100,000 U.S. troops land in the Philippines, the Battle of Leyte Gulf - the largest naval engagement during World War II - begins. On the first day, the submarines USS Darter and USS Dace attack Vice Adm. Takeo Kurita's Center Fleet, sinking two heavy cruisers (including Kurita's flagship) and damaging another. During the three-day battle, nearly 400 ships will square off, with Japan suffering crippling losses: four aircraft carriers, four battleships, and

USS Tang’s attack in the Taiwan Straight

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseUSS Tang was commissioned into service in late 1943 as the Pacific War was already well underway. On her first war patrol, she encountered Japanese ships for the first time before sunrise on 17 Feb 1944; she survived a depth charging by the convoy escorts and then torpedoed and sank the transport Gyoten Maru. Five days later, she attacked another escorted convoy, sinking Fukuyama Maru; she shadowed the convoy for another one to two hours before striking again, sinking Yamashimo Maru with four torpedoes, which went down after suffering terrific explosions. These first successful attacks would prove to be a prelude of her successful career that saw the sinking of 31 Japanese vessels totalling 227,800 tons. During her second war patrol, she was placed on lifeguard duty near Truk in the Caroline Islands, and she rescued 22 airmen in one mission; this set a record, and earned the crew a Presidential Unit Citation.

ww2dbaseIn Sep 1944, Tang departed from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States for her fifth war patrol. As requested by the commanding officer Richard “Dick” O’Kane, the submarine was dispatched to the heavily patrolled Taiwan Strait between the island of Taiwan and mainland China. On 23 Oct, she detected a large convoy consisting of three tankers, one transport, one freighter, and several armed escorts. Tang was able to reach the center of the convoy and hit the nearest ship with two torpedoes, one torpedo with the second nearest, and three torpedoes with the furthest. As she prepared to attack one of the tankers, the crew realized that her target as well as the Japanese transport were attempting to ram. Tang was able to avoid the ramming attempts and caused the two Japanese ships to collide with each other; meanwhile, she fired four stern torpedoes at them, sinking them both. After the attack, Tang made her exit without being detected; her lookouts reported that some Japanese anti-aircraft gunners were shooting into the sky at phantom planes, indicating that the Japanese did not realize it was a submarine that caused the havoc. This would prove be her last successful attack.

ww2dbaseOn the following day, she spotted another large convoy off the island of Niushandao, Fujian, China in the northern area of Taiwan Strait, with some of the transports carrying crates of aircraft. Tang fired two torpedoes at each of two transports and a tanker at the distance of 900 to 1,400 yards; a brief moment later, she fired stern torpedoes at another pair of transport and tanker. Five of those ships would be sunk after 10 of the 11 torpedoes struck their targets; an escorting destroyer was also sunk, either hit by a stray torpedo or was destroyed by an exploding tanker nearby. Before USS Tang escaped the area, she noticed a damaged transport within attacking distance, and O’Kane decided to finish off the transport. The torpedo was fired at 0230 hours on 25 Oct, and the torpedo was reported to be running “hot, straight, and normal”. Unexpectedly, however, the torpedo turned to the left and began a circular run. Tang began emergency maneuvers to avoid the torpedo that was coming back, but against all odds, she was struck in the stern near the aft torpedo room. She sank to the depth of 180 feet, or 55 meters. Japanese escorts remained in the area to depth charge her, as the Japanese were not certain of the degree of damage. An electrical fire was started by the depth charging. In a stunning feat, with the aid of Momsen Lungs, some of them escaped the submarine, making them the first humans to reach the surface of the sea from such depth. Of the 83 aboard, only 9 survived, and they were rescued by Japanese ships. The survivors were considered special prisoners by the Japanaese and not considered prisoners of war, as they were submariners and American submarines had attacked Japanese civilian ships without restriction.

ww2dbaseTang’s performance in late Oct 1944 would win her commanding officer O’Kane a Medal of Honor.

https://ww2db.com/ship_spec.php?ship_id=667

On 27 October 1943, a short, barrel-chested, full-blooded Cherokee Indian [actually ½ Cherokee & ¼ Creek] in a Navy lieutenant commander's uniform stepped to a podium in a Seattle shipyard. Ernest E. Evans was about to assume command of a brand new Fletcher-class destroyer—USS Johnston (DD-557)—and before him were her crew and the assembled guests for her commissioning ceremony. He told the crowd he had been serving in an old, World War I-vintage destroyer when World War II broke out. His ship had been forced to beat an ignominious retreat out of the Java Sea to escape annihilation. "This is going to be a fighting ship,” he said, motioning toward the bunting-draped destroyer, “I intend to go 'in harm"s way,’ and anyone who doesn’t want to go along had better get off right now.” He then added in a firm, convincing voice, “I will never again retreat from an enemy force.”

Almost a year to the day from that moment, Evans got his chance to prove that he meant what he said...

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.