Ship of Ghosts - James D. Hornfischer [236]
CHAPTER 12 (pp. 88 to 93)
Dutch report of the location of Japanese transports: ONI, Java Sea Campaign, 73. Fetid conditions in Houston’s turrets and magazines: Otto C. Schwarz, interview with the author. “As fast as we popped one group of lights…”: Winslow, The Ghost That Died at Sunda Strait, 123. “Like a long string of Christmas lights”: James Gee, UNT interview, 27. Sinking of HMS Jupiter: British Admiralty, Battle of the Java Sea, 46, and ONI, Combat Narrative, 74. “We stopped shooting star shells…”: Hamlin, “USS Houston in Battle of the Java Sea,” 3–4. Sinking of Java: Charley L. Pryor, UNT interview, 95; Parkin, Out of the Smoke, 239; Charles D. Smith, narrative, 7; and Weissinger, interview with Samuel Milner, 6. De Ruyter “blew up with an appalling explosion…”: HMAS Perth, action report. “It happened with the suddenness and completeness…”: Hamlin, “The Houston’s Last Battles,” 25. “I thought it would fry us”: Parkin, 240. “Captain Rooks frantically maneuvered…”: Winslow, 124–125. “Counted nine separate and distinct explosions…”: Charles D. Smith, 7. “The Houston and Perth raced on…”: Winslow, 125.
CHAPTER 13 (pp. 94 to 100)
“Walking to the telephone building…” and “Java died that night…”: White, Queens Die Proudly, 223. “They are done for,” and “the last Japanese mistake of the battle”: Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain, 85. “Houston and Perth retiring to Batavia…”: Houston to COMSOWESPAC, Feb. 27, 1942. “In the era before radar…”: Richardson, On the Treadmill to Pearl Harbor, 222–223. The Japanese as “the world’s most capable users of the torpedo”: Rooks, “Estimate of the Situation, Far East Area,” unpaginated. “I don’t think there was ever a minute…”: James Gee, UNT interview, 28. “He was so very cheery…”: Glassford to Edith Rooks, May 21, 1942, 2. Report that Sunda Strait was clear: Hamlin, “USS Houston in Battle of Java Sea,” 4. Houston at Surabaya: Dull, Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 71; Robert B. Fulton II, interview by Joe Kollmyer, 10; Lloyd V. Willey, UNT interview, 30. “Oil position is serious…”: Helfrich, ABDAfloat message dated Feb. 21, 1942. Houston’s fuel situation: According to Walter Winslow, “The Houston, it was determined, probably had enough remaining fuel to reach Australia,” The Ghost That Died at Sunda Strait, 130. The Houston’s Battle of Sunda Strait action report puts her bunkers at 350,000 gallons. However, the ship’s assistant engineering officer, Robert B. Fulton, disputes that enough fuel was on hand for the ship to reach Australia. “Concussion from the main batteries had played havoc…”: Winslow, 128–129. Other damage to Houston, action report, 7. “He had been off-color for days”: McKie, Proud Echo (or The Survivors), 14. Captain Waller’s service in the Mediterranean: Ibid., 18–19. Regarding Admiral Doorman’s employment of his light cruisers: Admiral Helfrich later discussed why Doorman didn’t separate his heavy and light cruisers, speculating that the poor status of communications made anything other than a simple single-column “follow me” approach unworkable; see British Admiralty, Battle of the Java Sea, Appendix P, 78. “Everyone was lighthearted, and thinking that we had done our share…”: Lloyd V. Willey, interview with the author. “Tom was hoisted on board…”: Winslow, 131.
CHAPTER 14 (pp. 101 to 103)
“One was bad enough…”: McKie, Proud Echo, 5. The cat “took off down that pier into Java…”: Reese, UNT interview, 20; cf. Lieutenant Hamlin’s article (p. 26), which states the Houston had no cat. “Like a cat, the Houston had expended eight of its nine lives…”: Winslow, Proceedings, quoted in McKie, Proud Echo, 138. Red Lead in “irons”: Hamlin, 26. The animal seemed to know something: Bee, All Men Back, 19. Houston departing Batavia: USS Houston, Zentsuji Report, 2. “Many times before I had found solace in its beauty…”: Winslow, “The ‘Galloping Ghost,’” 155. “He felt that this