How the Wasp Went Down

Manawatu Times, Volume 67, Issue 256, 29 October 1942, Page 5

How the Wasp Went Down

VIVID ACCOUNTS BY MEMBERS OF CREW NEW YORK. Oct. 27. How sailors hit the water singing and laughing when ordered to abandon the Wasp was related by a survivor, James Turn or, who is visiting his family at Atlanta, Georgia. Turner, a ship-fitter (second class) was sitting in the bow when the first torpedo struck, hurling him to the deck and bruising his hands and knees. The ship listed heavily, but righted again before the second and third torpedoes struck. When the sailors abandoned the Wasp, planes from a carrier circled' overhead dropping inflated life-rafts, and destroyers paused in deptn-bombing operations to shoot a shanc approaching the swimmers. W. C. Chapman, a fireman, declared at Miami that it felt like an earthquake when the torpedoes shook the ship from stem to stern. The men in the forward part of the ship were thrown around like ninepirts. He added that everyone aboard was calm and it seemed just like boat drill.

The Wasp was changing her course when the torpedoes struck and but for a matter of minutes would have escaped disaster, the ship’s captain, Forest Sherman, told reporters.

He added that the Wasp was the flagship of a task force bringing badly needed reinforcements of troops and planes to Guadalcanal’.

At 2.44 p.m. on October 15, three torpedoes struck in the vicinity of the magazines and petrol tanks, just while the petrol system was actively fuelling the p aries and other planes were being armed with bombß. A tremendous shock rocked the ship and the flash extended over 100 ft. into the air. It immediately set fire to the deck hangars, caused heavy internal explosions, including the tanks, bombs, and ammunition, enveloping the bridge in gas and smoke and also setting fire to the oil and petrol on the surface of the sea surrounding the Wasp. The breakage of the waterlines hampered the fire fighting and at 6 p.m., the entire ship was aflame. Little could be done except for getting the planes overboard.

“Eighty minutes aftei* it was hit, I ordered ‘abandon ship’, but because enemy submarines were still in the vicinity, it was impossible to abandon ship too deliberately. Most of the men went down lines and swam to a destroyer which, while picking up the men, carefully manoeuvred to evade submarines. I observed enemy torpedoes passing the ared while the rescue was progressing. After taking a last look round, I climbed down a line and was picked up by a destroyer after 90 minutes in the water. After dark our destroyers torpedoed and sank, the Wasp, which was brightly burnisg from stem to stern.”

Captain Sherman related inspiring deeds of self-sacrifice and heroism. As an example, Air-Offlcer-Commander M. Kernodle gave his lifebelt to a man who could not swim. Lieutenant-Command-er Shea directed the fire-fighting on the flight deck, disregarding the exploding ammunition. The air was filled with debris and fragments and he was last seen dying In a violent explosion. The entire crew displayed valiant heroism. “The chief difficulty I encountered in abandoning Ship was getting the men to leave because all were insisting that someone else go first,” he said.

Captain Sherman also confirmed that Mr. Jack Singer, correspondent of the International News Service, was killed in the wardroom of the blAztng ship while running for his typewriter.

Planes which left the burning ship, landed on other carriers or island airfields, but some Of the fliers remained In tho Solomons And have avenged the Wasp since by destroying Japanese ships. One squadron-commander alone has accounted for several ships. Wounded survivorii whom Captain Sherman visited In hospital unanimously asked: “G-et another carrier Captain, we want to go back again.” A cable from Washington states that

Colonel Knox, at a Press conference, was asked whether in view of the losses, this was the United States’ blackest Navy Day celebration yet. He replied that in some respects it was the most notable Navy Day celebration in all history because the navy had never put up a gamer flghL All the indications were that the Japanese, goaded by continual bombing and the realisation that their march of conquest had stalled, were throwing in everything in a frenzied drive to crack the Allied front in the Pacific. The situation .was about the same as before.