Wednesday, August 14, 2019

PEARL HARBOR - "THIS IS NO DRILL"


Photo: Imperial Japanese Navy

"The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor from the air and all naval and military activities on the island of Oahu, principal American base in the Hawaiian islands." - White House statement, Dec. 7, 1941


Photo: U.S. Navy
Small boat rescues survivor of battleship USS West Virginia


Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
Cutter Taney at Pearl Harbor


Photo: National Archives
"This is no drill"

Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
Cutter Tiger

Photo: U.S. Coast Guard

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admrial Paul F. Zukunft (left) and Pearl Harbor survivor Thomas Talbot salute aboard the cutter Taney in Baltimore on Dec. 7, 2014 - the 73rd anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. The Taney was at Pearl Harbor.



From Pearl Harbor Visitors Bureau

In the early morning hours of December 7, 1941, a quiet Sunday in Hawaii, the United States Coast Guard Cutter Tiger was patrolling the waters just outside the naval base at Pearl Harbor. Expecting nothing but peace and calm throughout the day, the Tiger’s crew went about their business as the sun began to break over the horizon.
The USCGC Tiger—originally designed to assist in stopping alcohol smugglers during Prohibition—was outfitted with a 3-inch deck gun, machine guns, and a pair of depth charge racks. Since her commissioning in 1927, she hadn’t seen a lot of action, but she was prepared should trouble come her way. On that peaceful Sunday, action came for her in the most unexpected and nearly fatal way.
In the hours leading up to 6:45 AM on Sunday, December 7, 1941, the crew of Tiger had no warning that their day would take a turn for the worst. Over the radio, a dispatch from the USS Ward (DD-139), an American destroyer, claimed she had engaged an unidentified submarine and sank it. The transmission was a confusing one, especially considering that for the next 30 minutes there was no explanation as to why a foreign craft was in American waters.
Just over half an hour after Ward’s transmission, Tiger’s crew, at that time just off Barbers Point, saw a ping on the ship’s sonar, a submerged object that was believed to be another foreign submarine. The cutter moved into position and tried to track down the source of the ping, even killing both engines to reduce interference, but the object had been lost.
She then maneuvered back eastward, toward the entrance to Pearl Harbor, hoping to again catch a sign of the foreign craft. Instead, just before 0800, Tiger and her crew came under fire from an unknown source. Machine gun fire splashed the waters surrounding Tiger, sending her crew scrambling to determine where it was coming from. Commanding Officer William J. Mazzoni ordered the crew to general quarters as he watched Japanese aircraft flying southwest, moving away from Pearl Harbor.

Though the crew scrambled to man anti-aircraft guns and prepare themselves for battle, Mazzoni took into account the distance of the planes and ordered the guns not to be fired, as the Japanese planes were too far away. Instead, 
Tiger was directed to her wartime station just off the entrance to Honolulu Harbor. For the duration of the two-hour attack, Tiger remained there, her crew forced to watch the attack unfold just out of their reach to provide any defense.

For the remainder of the day and into the following morning,
 Tiger remained at her patrol, which in the dark of night alarmed jittery Army soldiers. They fired on the cutter before realizing the ship was one of their own. Despite being fired on by Japanese aircraft and American soldiers, Tiger emerged from December 7, 1941 unharmed.

...


From Coast Guard All Hands blog
 

Coast Guard Cutter Taney, Honolulu
Coast Guard Cutter Taney was tied up at Pier 6 in Honolulu Harbor, six miles away from the naval anchorage. After the first Japanese craft appeared over the island, Taney ‘s crew made preparations to get underway. Just after 9 a.m., when the second wave of planes began their attack on the naval anchorage, Taney crew fired on high altitude enemy aircraft but with the extreme range of the planes, the effect of the fire was limited and the guns were secured after 20 minutes.
Coast Guard Cutter Walnut, Midway Atoll
At the time of the attack, the Coast Guard Cutter Walnut crew was patrolling Midway Atoll to conduct aids to navigation work 1,200 miles northwest of Oahu. Upon receiving word of the attack, the Walnut crew ensured that all lights were immediately extinguished to prevent the enemy from using the aids as a navigational reference. That night, Japanese destroyers shelled Midway Island. Around 9:30 p.m., shells began landing within 100 feet of the ship, but Walnut remained anchored during the 30-minute attack. During the attack, a U.S. PBY Flying Boat crashed in Midway Lagoon within the Walnut’s vicinity. Walnut’s crewmembers recovered the injured aircrew, ultimately saving their lives. Walnut continued to complete aids to navigation work, conduct search and rescue, and run convoy missions.
Coast Guard Cutter Tiger, 14th Naval District
The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Tiger was under Navy jurisdiction and assigned to the local defense forces of the 14th Naval District. Equipped with depth charges, listening gear and firearms, Tiger was designed to interdict smugglers who attempted to unload booze during the height of Prohibition. Early on Dec. 7, 1941, they intercepted dispatch from a Navy destroyer that claimed the destruction of an enemy submarine. They continued the patrol eastward toward the Pearl Harbor entrance and around 8 a.m. started taking fire from an unknown source. They guarded the entrance all day and throughout the night, even taking what is now thought to be friendly fire in the darkness from Army units along the shore that assumed the ship was a foreign threat.
78-foot patrol boat CG-8, Honolulu
A 78-foot patrol boat designated as CG-8 lay moored to Pier 4 in Honolulu Harbor when the Japanese attacked. The crew of six moved CG-8 to Sand Island to pick up the depot keeper while bombs exploded nearby. The crew then proceeded back across the channel to Kewalo Basin and was strafed by Japanese aircraft while en route. At the basin CG-8 prohibited the small private vessels and sampans from leaving until Naval Intelligence could clear the owners. After the two waves of Japanese planes withdrew, the Coast Guard secured the port areas, blacked out all navigational aids and stationed guards along the waterfront.
Coast Guard Cutter Kukui, Honolulu 
Coast Guard Cutter Kukui was positioned at Pier 4 in Honolulu on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Army requested the buoy tender transport a combat squad to Ni’ihau in response to the reports of Japanese aviators having landed there. They arrived with the squad to find the aviators deceased.

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