Forgotten Sailors of the Doolittle Raid
by ADRC Bert "Budd" Whited, USN (Ret)

 

Army Airforce B-25 bomber takes off for its raid on Tokyo Japan.			"Murderers' Row," as they were called, at anchor in Ulithi Atoll (WWII), (L to R): USS Wasp CV-18, USS Hornet CV-12, USS Hancock CV-14 and USS Yorktown CV-10. Courtesy of the News Photo Div., Dept. of the Navy.

 

On 7 December 1941, Japanese carrier-based Naval Aircraft, on a sneak attack, devastated the US Navy Fleet at Pearl Harbor. After this attack, American land and sea forces began taking major set-backs throughout the Pacific Theater of Operations. As these losses transpired, the American public's morale was at a very low tide.

Secretly, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized an extremely dangerous and sacrificial mission to retaliate against the Japanese Empire. This Expeditionary Mission was to bomb major industrial targets in Tokyo and other large cities on the Japanese homeland. At the time, an action of this kind was most desirable, due to the psychological effect on the American public, our Allies and the enemy.

To accomplish this heroic feat, the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) on 2 February 1942, experimented in successfully launching two Army Air Force B-2 bombers from its flight deck, in the Atlantic Ocean, off of Norfolk, Virginia. In late February 1942, she sailed for the Panama Canal to join the Pacific Fleet. After a short stop at San Diego, California, she proceeded to the Alameda Naval Air Station in San Francisco Bay. On 1 April 1942, 16 Army B-2 bombers were towed to the dock alongside Hornet and hoisted aboard. The crew assumed that they were ferrying the bombers to Hawaii or some other South Pacific island.

Doolittle
On 2 April 1942 Hornet sailed under sealed orders, with its screen of cruisers and destroyers. We were fully aware of the ship's vulnerability, as the B-25s occupied more than half the flight deck, preventing the use of the ship's own aircraft for protection.

That afternoon Captain Marc A. Mitscher, over the loudspeaker system, revealed our destination. We were going to span the Pacific Ocean, over 5000 miles, to bring Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle's bombers to within striking distance of Tokyo. Hornet's job was to position the bombers 400 miles from Japan, then streak from there as fast as her four, peak-driven propellers allowed.

After the bull-horn sounded off, and a moment of stunned silence, wild rebel yells began to resound throughout the ship. Thrilled signalmen sent the word from ship to ship in the escort, where echoing cheers rang out. The Task Force crews were told that if our homefront, morale-building expedition was successful, we would receive the Navy Expeditionary Medal.

On the morning of 13 April 1942, USS Enterprise (CV-6) and her screen of ships, a welcome sight, arrived to escort Hornet on the last leg of her mad dash to Japan. The renewed presence of patrol planes overhead served to abate some of our tension. Task Force 1 was comprised of the Task groups in the chart below.

Two submarines, USS Thrasher and USS Trout, were operating off the coast of Japan, watching for enemy fleet movements and reporting all weather conditions.

On Friday 17 April, the plunging fleet crossed the 180th Meridian, in a latitude considerably higher than Tokyo and following the same route that the Japanese took to bomb Pearl Harbor. At 1400 that day we heard "Tokyo Rose" from the Japanese Radio Station JOAK, telling listeners that Tokyo would never possibly feel the sting of bombs.

The dawn of the eighteenth showed a stormy sea, so violent that the tankers and ever-speedy destroyers, unable to keep up the pace with the carriers and cruisers, stayed behind to be picked up on the return run. A 45-mile gale was blowing, breaking water over Hornet's towering flight deck. We felt an ever-present fear throughout the dash west that we would be sighted by an enemy ship or patrol plane that would radio an alert to the Japanese forces of our coming. At 0210 of that morning, we picked up two blips on the Radar Screen showing enemy ships dead ahead. The force altered course to avoid them, and reconnaissance planes were launched at dawn from Enterprise.

At 0500, Enterprise pilots reported a picket boat 42 miles ahead, and an hour later a third vessel was sighted visually from Hornet. Cruisers and dive bombers were blasting them from the water within ten minutes, but there could be no assurance that they had not successfully sounded a warning. We were still 550 nautical miles from our intended launching spot, 150 miles further away than desired. It was originally planned to dispatch the planes on the afternoon of the 19th, which would permit the pilots to drop their bombs at night. They would then seek out forewarned but unfamiliar landing sites in Free China during daylight the next morning. Many months of planning had been invested in this mission, so it could not be abandoned this close to success.

Launch
Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle conferred with Admiral Bull Halsey and it was decided to launch the aircraft as soon as possible. As every ounce of fuel was needed to help the fliers reach their final destination, gasoline tanks were topped off and extra fuel was stowed in five gallon cans aboard each airplane. At 0700 the call, "Army Pilots, man your planes," sounded and the twin-engine, fully loaded bombers cranked up their engines with an ear-splitting roar. The spread of the bombers wings allowed only four feet of clearance between the right wing tip of the bombers and the island structure of the carriers. The slightest veering from the white line painted down the flight deck would trigger disaster.

That morning, the strength of the wind and seas sent sea water breaking over Hornet's flight deck. Lt. Col. Doolittle, in the first plane to be launched, charged off the deck at 0824, destined toward Tokyo. The flight deck launching officer had to time each takeoff to coincide with the rise and fall of the bow in order to give the planes as much of a boost as possible from the flight deck. All planes were airborne by 0920 and the operation was marred by only two unfortunate mishaps. A sailor in the flight deck handling crew lost his arm from a propeller and one of the B-25's smashed a plexiglass nose-cone when it rammed the tail of the bomber ahead of it.

Tokyo had been warned of a large mock air raid conducted with Japanese planes. The raid by the American planes followed so closely that the Japanese public never knew of our attack until it was over. No air raid sirens sounded for at least 15 to 20 minutes after Doolittle's Raiders were over the cities. The actual damage inflicted by our bombers on the enemy cities was not great, according to later bombing standards, but the Japanese officials had a difficult time explaining how such an attack could happen. They suffered considerable loss of face. The news of the attack on Tokyo gave a great boost to the American and Allied morale.

While one of our attacking bombers landed in Russia and fifteen others in China, none were lost over Japan. Seventy-one of the 80 pilots, including Lt. Col. Doolittle, survived the raid. One crewman was killed when he bailed out, two were killed in crash landings, five were interned in Russia, eight were captured by the Japanese, and the rest managed to reach safety in Free China. Of the eight soliders who were captured, three were executed, one died in captivity, and four were freed at the end of the war.

Mission complete
Now that our part in this spectacular raid had been discharged, the carriers Hornet and Enterprise, with their task force ships, reversed course and made tracks for safer waters. Under Admiral Halsey, our retreat was completed without incident, even though the Japanese launched both planes and ships in pursuit. Within three hours, the combat air patrols from both carriers attacked 16 enemy surface ships, sinking several of them; one surrendered to the Light Cruiser USS Nashville and its crew was taken prisoner.

During this extremely dangerous undertaking, the crews of the joint task force ships knew that to successfully complete this mission, they would, if necessary, have had to be sacrificed. Despite this knowledge, these men performed their duty with courage. The crews of the ships in Task Force 16 were told they would be awarded the Navy Expeditionary Medal for this heroic endeavor, but this medal has yet to be authorized.

This bombing of Tokyo, and other industrial cities in the Japanese homeland, was the greatest uplift of morale for the American public since the sneak attack at Pearl Harbor.

Hornet was only one year and six days old when she was lost, but she took her toll of enemy ships during her short life span, earning four battles stars for her efforts. After returning from the Tokyo bombing mission, she sailed to join the Battle of Coral Sea (with the loss of USS Lexington, CV-2), but did not arrive in time for action. She participated in the Battle of Midway (with the loss of the USS Yorktown CV-5 and Hornet's entire Torpedo Squadron Eight, VT-8). She was with the USS Wasp CV-7 in the Soloman Islands in the South Pacific when Wasp sank. By October 1942, Enterprise (damaged by bombs in early August) and the USS Saratoga CV-3 (damaged by torpedos on 31 August) returned for repairs. Hornet was, for a short time, the only serviceable aircraft carrier in the Pacific Fleet which carried out bombing raids on Japanese installations in the South Pacific Islands.

On 4 October 1942, Admiral Halsey, on board Hornet with an escort of four cruisers and six destroyers, undertook a mission up the dreaded "Slot," through the Soloman chain, to hit airfields and shipping targets in the vicinity of the Shortland and Bougainville Islands. On 5 October, Hornet's aircraft sank several cargo ships and dispersed the Japanese shipping units for the next few weeks. On 16 October, Hornet's aircraft hit the Japanese float-plane base at Rekata Bay where they set two transports on fire, sank 12 float-planes and shot up the base. By 15 October 1942, during ten months of flight deck operations, Hornet had registered 6619 aircraft landings.

On 18 October 1942, Task Force 17 (USS Hornet CV-8) was once again joined by Task Force 16 (USS Enterprise CV-6), to make up Task Force 61.

During October of 1942, this combined group moved east of the Santa Cruz Islands to intercept the Japanese Combined Fleet. This Fleet consisted of four carriers, four battleships, ten cruisers, thirty destroyers and twelve submarines, all of which were steaming south to reinforce their land forces on Guadalcanal. Task Force 16, under Rear Admiral Kincaid, consisted of the aircraft carrier Enterprise, one battleship, two cruisers and eight destroyers. Task Force 17, under Rear Admiral Murray, consisted of the aircraft carrier Hornet, four cruisers and six destroyers. Squadrons of this combined Task Force 61 engaged the enemy fleet in one of the most critical battles of World War II.

Because of Hornet's involvement with Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle's Raiders and the B-25 bombers in their attack on Tokyo, she became the focal point of furious attacks from Japanese aircraft. At 0910, enemy VAL divebombers and KATE torpedo planes attacked Hornet through a curtain of F4F's and anti-aircraft fire. Hornet received the first bomb hit on the starboard side of the flight deck aft and suffered two near misses off the starboard bow. At 0913, the Japanese squadron commander, his VAL damaged by a shell burst, crashed his plane into Hornet, sliced off the signal bridge, glanced off the stack, and continued through the flight deck. The VAL carried one 500- pound bomb and two 100-pound bombs. The first 100-pound bomb detonated on impact with the signal bridge, killing most of the signalmen, and the other 100-pound bomb went off as it passed through a ready-room below the flight deck. Fortunately, the 500-pound bomb did not detonate and was secured to the bulkhead to prevent any further explosion.

Two torpedos then exploded in the engineering spaces, knocking out our boilers and rupturing our rudder at an angle, which made towing difficult. Three more 500-pound bombs impacted; one detonated on impact with the flight deck, killing most of the Marine detachment manning a 1.1 gun mount aft of the island superstructure and most of the sailors manning the 20mm anti-aircraft guns spaced on the catwalk around the flight deck. The other two bombs penetrated the fourth deck before exploding, knocked out our generating rooms, and disrupted all electrical power. This disabled our fire water pumps so we could not effectively fight fires. A KATE made a suicide run at 0917 into our port forward gun gallery, coming to rest in the forward elevator pit.

Sinking
After disabling Hornet, the Japanese turned to attack the rest of the Task Force ships. During the many attacks by the enemy carrier and land-based planes, Hornet received hits from several bombs, torpedos, and crashing Japanese Kamikaze aircraft, and lay dead in the water. Herculean rescue efforts were made aboard Hornet. After hours of exhausting fire-fighting, with the help of bucket brigades and firehouses passed from destroyers alongside, the fires and flooding were brought under control. All efforts were made to get three boilers on line and to free the rudder. The Heavy Cruiser Northampton made three attempts to tow Hornet, but additional Japanese raids frustrated these efforts. Over 800 excess squadron personnel and 75 wounded were transferred to destroyers. At 1520, six other Japanese KATES appeared and, at 1523, Hornet received another torpedo hit on her starboard side.

At 1625, Rear Admiral Charles P. Mason gave the order to "Abandon Ship." As the commanding officer, he was the last man to leave the stricken ship. The Destroyer USS Mustin DD-413 became the Guardian Angel of Hornet, by having some of her crew courageously send a motor whale boat into open seas to retrieve 337 Hornet survivors. Admiral Mason and Commander Lockhart were picked up by this motor whale boat and delivered to Mustin.

The Destroyer USS Anderson DD-411 and other ships in the task force rescued the remainder of Hornet's men. The final count revealed 111 Hornet men killed and 108 wounded. Mustin and Anderson had the grim duty of destroying the crippled, heavy damaged and abandoned Hornet. Nine more torpedo hits and nearly 300 rounds of 5-inch shells failed to sink her. By 2040, Hornet was ablaze throughout her entire length and the two destroyers headed south. At 2120, two Japanese destroyers Makigumo and Akigumo, closed in on Hornet and fired four 24-inch torpedos. At 0130, on 27 October, Hornet finally sank into 2700 fathoms of water off the Santa Cruz Islands. She was the last large carrier of the United States to be lost in World War II.

Although we, the survivors of Task Force 16, carried the bombers to Tokyo, the Navy Department has stated repeatedly that we do not deserve the Navy Expeditionary Medal. We also know that the Asiatic/Pacific Campaign Medal was issued after the trip to Tokyo, and made retroactive to before our Expeditionary Mission. However, this did not halt the issuance of the Expeditionary Medal to the participants of the Wake Island Campaign, which also took place prior to the issuance of the Asiatic/Pacific Campaign Medal. We harbor no desire to deprive the heroes of Wake Island of their well-deserved medal; we wish only to receive the same recognition for our own efforts.

Any serviceman who served anywhere in the Pacific Theater of Operations (even for a short time or while at a safe haven) receive the Asiatic/Pacific Campaign Medal. Considering that we rightfully earned and were promised this award approximately fifty years ago, we find in wholly inconceivable that the Expeditionary Mission to bomb Tokyo could not merit this medal. We find it equally unacceptable that the worthiness of courageous, determined Veterans, who fought for their country half a century ago, should be subjected to the standards of a Military Department which did not even exist during World War II.

There are not very many of us left (most of us are over seventy years of age), and we feel it would not be too burdensome for the government to correct this oversight and issue our medal. We have been told by many Congressmen and Veterans' Organizations who are willing to support our efforts that we truly deserve this award.

 

TASK FORCE 16
	Task Group 16.1		Task Group 16.2
CARRIERS:	USS ENTERPRISE CV-6		USS HORNET CV-8
CRUISERS:	USS VINCENNES CA-44 USS NASHVILLE CL-43		USS NORTHAMPTON CA-26 USS SALT LAKE CITY CA-25
DESTROYERS:	USS GWIN DD-443		USS BALCH DD-363
OILERS:	USS GRAYSON DD-435 USS MONSSON DD-436 USS MEREDITH DD-434 USS CIMARRON AO-22		USS BENHAM DD-397 USS ELLET DD-398 USS FANNING DD-385 USS SABINE AO-25