Whirlwind - Barrett Tillman [105]
Nor was that all. Ise had been lightly damaged on March 19 and hit five times on July 24, but she was clobbered on the 28th. Pilots from at least three air groups claimed sixteen hits and likely scored fourteen. Hancock’s Corsairs alone contributed five half-ton bombs to the total.
The carrier Amagi was bombed again on the 28th, though to what extent is uncertain since the crew had abandoned four days earlier. The next morning she lurched to port and capsized to about 70 degrees. At that extreme angle most of the shattered flight deck and both aircraft elevators toppled overboard. Now fully grounded, the Imperial carrier lay a ruined relic, her starboard screws exposed to the sun.
Amagi’s sister, Katsuragi, lightly damaged on the 24th, was mauled on the afternoon of the 28th as a one-tonner struck near the carrier’s island. The bomb exploded with massive force in the hangar space, blowing out twenty feet of the port hull and thirty feet of the flight deck. A blizzard of splinters swept the bridge, killing the executive officer and twelve others.
The much abused escort carrier Kaiyo (damaged twice previously) was found at Hiji Harbor in Beppu Bay, northeastern Kyushu. Among others, Essex’s Corsairs unloaded a barrage of 5-inch rockets that killed twenty men. One rocket exploded in the switchboard room, knocking out circuits and generators. Without electricity, the carrier’s pumps stopped. Port-side flooding could not be contained and the ship settled to the bottom.
The next day, the 29th, a naval doctor inspected Kaiyo’s engine room, noting the miserable situation. Like most seaports, Hiji’s saltwater contained a malodorous mixture of fuel oil, sewage, and dead fish. The doctor declared the situation unhealthy and suggested abandoning. Captain Shuichi Osuga agreed, but before departing he flooded the boilers, allowing the ship to settle firmly.
Cruiser Aoba, already put on the bottom on the 24th, received more attention the 28th. That morning McCain’s pilots hit her four times, causing a fire in the hulk. Late that afternoon more 7th Air Force Liberators scored with four more 500-pounders. Aoba’s abused hull split open and the stern collapsed.
Helldivers and Hellcats also pounced on the light cruiser Oyodo, compounding her previous damage with four more bomb hits that killed 300 men. She rolled over and capsized to starboard, an inglorious end to her brief tenure as flagship of the Combined Fleet.
Because many ships settled on an even keel in the shallow harbor, they appeared undamaged from overhead. Consequently, AAF bombers attacked unnecessarily, though, as postwar analysis showed, the ships were “completely flooded and permanently out of commission.”
Kure bloomed as a violent garden where Navy Crosses grew. A credited bomb hit on an enemy capital ship was rewarded with “a Cross,” just as fighter pilots were decorated for an ace-in-a-day feat. As a result of July’s three strikes, an incredible 170 aviators received Navy Crosses, five posthumously. In comparison, the four-day Battle of Midway in 1942 yielded Navy Crosses to 154 Navy men and marines including air, sea, land, and submarine personnel.
Lieutenant Commander Elmer A. Kraft was a Hellcat squadron commander on the Randolph. One of his junior pilots was killed shortly after the Kure strikes but Kraft, who had scored a hit on a ship there, credited the feat to the youngster. When a squadron mate questioned Kraft’s generosity, the skipper said, “Don’t you suppose that ensign had a mother and a father who wanted to be proud of him? What difference does it make if I don’t get a medal? It means a hell of a lot to them.”
Overall, Halsey’s three days of strikes on Kure and environs proved costly: 126 aircraft