The Short Life of a Valiant Ship:USS Meredith
Less than 100 miles north of Meredith’s position,thirty-eightplanes lined up on the deck of the heavy Japanese carrier Zuikaku ready for launch. The attack force consisted of 9 Kates , dive-bombers, led by Lieutenant Imajuku; 21 Vals , torpedo planes, under the command of Lieutenant Takahashi; and 8 Zero fighter planes led by Lieutenant Shirane. Their primary target: the aircraft carrier USS Hornet. One-by-one the planes swooped off Zuikaku’s deck. For an hour, the planes searched over a wide area, but their prey could not be found. Finally, Squadron Leader Takahashi made the decision to settle for their secondary objective, the small group of vessels their scout planes had been tracking. On his signal, the planes changed course now heading for Meredith and Vireo.
All the Vireo personnel were now safely aboard Meredith . On the bridge, Captain Hubbard glanced over the shoulder of Leon Chuprina at the radarscope. Thirty-eight blips¾the enemy plane formation¾showed up on the screen about nineteen miles away. Hubbard got down from his seat, wandered to the wing of the bridge and scanned the horizon through his binoculars. So far, nothing.
At their battle stations Robinson and the men waited. Waited and sweated. The waiting was the worst part. Sure, they’d been through hundreds of drills. They had drilled until every act was automatic. But this was different. This was combat. Knees trembled. With shaking fingers, crewmen lit fresh cigarettes from the butts of ones they had not even fully smoked down. Some of the men, feeling the rumble in their bellies mumbled, “Gotta go,” then rushed off to the head. An old hand trying to break the tension would say something he thought might relax the youngsters, but no one laughed. They waited, not knowing when it would come, but knew it would come.
On the bridge, Captain Hubbard returned to his perch in the pilothouse. There was an outside chance Meredith wasn’t the target. Maybe, just maybe, the planes were after larger game, carriers for example. Although Hubbard had no way of knowing, his guess was right. The Hornet with her escorts were not too far off, the Japanese had just been looking for her in the wrong places. What was the Hornet’s good fortune, spelled doom for the Meredith.
When the Meredith radar operator suddenly reported that the blips had disappeared from the radar screen, it seemed to confirm the belief that the planes were not a threat. On the other hand, there was still the enemy cruiser thirty miles away and heading for the Meredith. Captain Hubbard made his decision. He switched on the bridge mike. “This is the captain speaking. Battle stations prepare for surface action!” He turned to Willard Harlowe his bridge “talker.” “Call the engine room. Order flank speed ahead!”
Lieutenant Commander Chase in his amidships battle station, hearing the order, raised a fist in the air. He turned to Robinson. “Hot damn! It looks like we’re going after the cruiser if it attacks the convoy.”
In fact, the planes had disappeared from the radar screen because the dive-bombers had gained altitude to prepare for their attack, and were out of the radar’s range. The torpedo planes and fighters had dropped to sea level, were skimming the waves, also out of the eye of the radar. All were closing in on Meredith .
Hubbard went through his mental check list. Were all the depth charges set on “safe”? If the unthinkable happened and the ship was sunk, underwater explosions could cause severe injury to survivors in the water. He ordered Harlowe to check with Russell, the depth charge captain, to make sure.
From his bridge seat, Hubbard could see Vireo drifting aimlessly fifty yards away.At the end of its towline was the barge loaded with barrels of aviation fuel and bombs. More valuable to the troops on Guadalcanal than pure gold. He was sick at the realization that he’d been unable to deliver. Well, he’d be damn sure the Japs wouldn’t get it either. He called Vireo's Captain Legg, to the bridge. He said, “We’re going to sink the barge. I’m not going to let that cargo fall into enemy hands.”
Legg pointed. “There’s a tow line linking the two. If the barge sinks it probably will pull the Vireo down with it.”
Hubbard shrugged. “That’s a chance we’ll have to take.” He had Harlowe call Lieutenant (jg) Charles Bates the torpedo officer, to ready a single torpedo and at the captain’s signal, fire it.
The order to fire was never given. At that moment, in his Kate directly overhead, Lieutenant Imajaku rolled his plane over in a steep dive. The bomber flashed out of the sun directly over the gun director platform atop the pilot house. It dove through salvos from all the ship’s guns that could be trained on it, escaping unhit. At 500 feet, it leveled off and dropped the first two bombs. Ensign Kauffman in the gun director, looked up. The plane was so close he could see the Japanese pilot’s face. One bomb zoomed at him¾missed and tore through the deck two feet behind him. The second exploded close to the bow’s port side, causing the forward half of the ship to broach several feet in the air then settle down at an angle to the rest of the ship. Meredith was almost broken into two sections.
Lieutenant Bates, on the gun director platform with Kauffman looked up to see the first bomb coming at him. It narrowly missed hitting him but the force as it struck the deck knocked him down. While sitting, he reached over to a bulkhead rack, grabbed a .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun and started firing at the planes.
All the Vireo personnel were now safely aboard Meredith . On the bridge, Captain Hubbard glanced over the shoulder of Leon Chuprina at the radarscope. Thirty-eight blips¾the enemy plane formation¾showed up on the screen about nineteen miles away. Hubbard got down from his seat, wandered to the wing of the bridge and scanned the horizon through his binoculars. So far, nothing.
At their battle stations Robinson and the men waited. Waited and sweated. The waiting was the worst part. Sure, they’d been through hundreds of drills. They had drilled until every act was automatic. But this was different. This was combat. Knees trembled. With shaking fingers, crewmen lit fresh cigarettes from the butts of ones they had not even fully smoked down. Some of the men, feeling the rumble in their bellies mumbled, “Gotta go,” then rushed off to the head. An old hand trying to break the tension would say something he thought might relax the youngsters, but no one laughed. They waited, not knowing when it would come, but knew it would come.
On the bridge, Captain Hubbard returned to his perch in the pilothouse. There was an outside chance Meredith wasn’t the target. Maybe, just maybe, the planes were after larger game, carriers for example. Although Hubbard had no way of knowing, his guess was right. The Hornet with her escorts were not too far off, the Japanese had just been looking for her in the wrong places. What was the Hornet’s good fortune, spelled doom for the Meredith.
When the Meredith radar operator suddenly reported that the blips had disappeared from the radar screen, it seemed to confirm the belief that the planes were not a threat. On the other hand, there was still the enemy cruiser thirty miles away and heading for the Meredith. Captain Hubbard made his decision. He switched on the bridge mike. “This is the captain speaking. Battle stations prepare for surface action!” He turned to Willard Harlowe his bridge “talker.” “Call the engine room. Order flank speed ahead!”
Lieutenant Commander Chase in his amidships battle station, hearing the order, raised a fist in the air. He turned to Robinson. “Hot damn! It looks like we’re going after the cruiser if it attacks the convoy.”
In fact, the planes had disappeared from the radar screen because the dive-bombers had gained altitude to prepare for their attack, and were out of the radar’s range. The torpedo planes and fighters had dropped to sea level, were skimming the waves, also out of the eye of the radar. All were closing in on Meredith .
Hubbard went through his mental check list. Were all the depth charges set on “safe”? If the unthinkable happened and the ship was sunk, underwater explosions could cause severe injury to survivors in the water. He ordered Harlowe to check with Russell, the depth charge captain, to make sure.
From his bridge seat, Hubbard could see Vireo drifting aimlessly fifty yards away.At the end of its towline was the barge loaded with barrels of aviation fuel and bombs. More valuable to the troops on Guadalcanal than pure gold. He was sick at the realization that he’d been unable to deliver. Well, he’d be damn sure the Japs wouldn’t get it either. He called Vireo's Captain Legg, to the bridge. He said, “We’re going to sink the barge. I’m not going to let that cargo fall into enemy hands.”
Legg pointed. “There’s a tow line linking the two. If the barge sinks it probably will pull the Vireo down with it.”
Hubbard shrugged. “That’s a chance we’ll have to take.” He had Harlowe call Lieutenant (jg) Charles Bates the torpedo officer, to ready a single torpedo and at the captain’s signal, fire it.
The order to fire was never given. At that moment, in his Kate directly overhead, Lieutenant Imajaku rolled his plane over in a steep dive. The bomber flashed out of the sun directly over the gun director platform atop the pilot house. It dove through salvos from all the ship’s guns that could be trained on it, escaping unhit. At 500 feet, it leveled off and dropped the first two bombs. Ensign Kauffman in the gun director, looked up. The plane was so close he could see the Japanese pilot’s face. One bomb zoomed at him¾missed and tore through the deck two feet behind him. The second exploded close to the bow’s port side, causing the forward half of the ship to broach several feet in the air then settle down at an angle to the rest of the ship. Meredith was almost broken into two sections.
Lieutenant Bates, on the gun director platform with Kauffman looked up to see the first bomb coming at him. It narrowly missed hitting him but the force as it struck the deck knocked him down. While sitting, he reached over to a bulkhead rack, grabbed a .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun and started firing at the planes.
