This effort seemed futile, we were taking water on faster that we could pump it out. She remained in this area until her return to Manila 12 October for the Neutrality Patrol off the Philippines. On 12 December 1966, the 199th Light Infantry Brigade and 9th Infantry Division disembarked the General John Pope in Vung Tau, South Vietnam. USS Pope (DD-225) was a Clemson -class destroyer in the United States Navy that served during World War II. The allied first attack wave arrived south of Bali around 2130/19. Wasp, a United States Navy aircraft carrier, slipped beneath the waves 350 miles southeast of Guadalcanal. A short time later, we were listing heavily to port and the afterdeck was awash, in fact under water. Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! It is not completely clear but it is possible that one of these US destroyers then engaged Piet Hein with gunfire thinking she was Japanese. The first part of the night of 28 February / 1 MArch was uneventful. U.S. Military. He further angered Asiatic Fleet Commander ADM Thomas C. Hart when he judged Marblehead worthy to make her own way the day following the attack, and steamed ahead independently to Java. Although the Japanese cruisers were evaded by a course change within the squall, Pope was rediscovered by aircraft from Japanese aircraft carrierRyj after she emerged from the squall. She then departed and arrived at Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam on Thanksgiving Day, 23 November 1967 disembarking all units. The wreck of USS Pope, DD 225, was located and identified in December 2008 by the dive vessel MV Empress, approximately 60 nautical miles (110km) from the wreck of HMS Exeter, which Empress discovered in 2007. On January 24, 1942 in the early morning during the Battle of Balikpapan four destroyers USS Pope (DD-225), USS Paul Jones (DD-230), USS Parrott (DD-218) and USS John D. Ford (DD-228) . For questions or comments about this site, please e-mail ww2_troopships@comcast.net. We then got the feeling that things would start getting a little tougher for us, and that we would probably be engaging the enemy in more and more sea battles in the future. On 9 January 1942 Pope was one of five destroyers in an escort composed of the cruisers Boise and Marblehead, with the other destroyers Stewart, Bulmer, Parrott, and Barker departing from Darwin to Surabaya escorting the transport Bloemfontein. It was 50% thicker than the armored belts found on German and Japanese competitors. Pope was laid down 9 September 1919 and launched 23 March 1920 from William Cramp & Sons; sponsored by Mrs. William S. Benson; and commissioned 27 October 1920 at Philadelphia. US Corporations' September 30th fiscal payment deadline Sep 30, 2023 USA Each year around that time, as the payment deadline approaches, we see all sorts of maneuvers. Both sides launched torpedoes but all missed their intended targets and then a gunfight was started. Sidloso Published on Apr 17, 2023 Cuck John Paul II went to the Western Wall to ask for forgiveness for "antisemitism" If you have a small window it would look really nice hung in it! We proceeded with the smoke screen even though we were under heavy enemy fire. During the summer of 1944, the far-ranging transport made two round-trip voyages from San Francisco: on the first she got underway 27 May for New Guinean ports, Guadalcanal, and the Russell Islands, debarking 3,800 men of the famous 1st Marine Division at San Diego, California before returning to San Francisco; and on the second she departed 26 July for Honolulu and returned 8 August. Targets were engaged by HMS Exeter whenever these were sighted through the smoke but it was seldom to fire more then four or five salvoes at a time. However the ememy soon resumed their original course and were out of sight shortly afterwards. RSS. Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp), In a very few minutes, an aircraft was spotted; it was identified as an enemy. Nearly 4,000 fighting men, mainly troops of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces, were embarked and delivered safely to Melbourne and Wellington before the ship moored again at San Pedro 16 January 1945. My ship, the USS Pope, developed a bad leak in the hotwell (an evaporator to make fresh water, without which a ship cannot operate), and was unable to accompany the task force. They had arrived south of Bali around 0100/20. Pius's relations with the Axis and the Allies may have been . They would attempt a repeat night ambush of the Japanese at Balikpapan, Borneo, as the US destroyers had successfully done in January. The other group was made up of the heavy cruisers Ashigara and Myoko and the destroyers Akebono and Inazuma. Japanese Aircraft Carriers Ww2 - Instead of the devastating eighteen-inch guns of her two sisters, Shinan's main armament would be forty-seven aircraft, quite stingy compared to the 75-100 aircraft for the large US and Japanese carriers. Around 0600 hours course was altered to 290 degrees and one hour later to 280 degrees. During the Second Battle of the Java Sea, Pope and HMSEncounter were directed to escort the severely damaged British cruiser HMSExeter away from the action. On 1 September 1967, she departed Oakland Army Base with elements of the 1st Battalion (Mechanized), 50th Infantry, reaching Okinawa on 18 September 1967. Pope manages to escape only to be bombed by Japanese aircraft which leaves her unmanouverable after a near-miss. Pope was stationed off Swatow and Pehtaiho during 14 June 19 August, observing the Japanese Navy en route to Swatow and the subsequent bombing and occupation of the city. AP-110 - USS General John Pope - Booklet of General Plans, 1943, General John Pope Class Troop Transport, ap110.pdf (8.1 MB PDF) AP-130 - USS General G.O. Hart did not relieve Doorman however, because the only substantial South Pacific territory left in Allied hands was the Dutch East Indies, and Doorman's removal risked alienating the remaining Dutch warfighters. However, after a series of civilian career detours including service as a New . For 48 tense hours Marblehead fish-tailed across the Flores Sea, kept afloat with pumps and bucket brigades and steered by continuous revolution changes communicated over a jury-rigged phone line. Both destroyers then retired to the south-east to return to Tjilatjap. March 14, 2019. During the action the enemy had spotter aircraft overhead the Allied ships. After a refit, Pope departed 12 May for duty in the Pacific. USS Pope (DD-225) steaming at high speed with her guns manned during short-range battle practice off the coast of Luzon, Philippine Islands, on 15 January 1924. After the war she was transferred to the Army and redesignated USAT General John Pope. At 0200 hours, course was altered to 345 degrees. From 1931 until 1937, the Pope continued to "show the flag" off the China coast, during the summers and spent the winters in the Philippines engaging in division maneuvers. Vintage Narrow Shutters. These forces were split into two groups. During battle action, all the hatches of both engine rooms were closed and battened down. On December 23rd, Rear Admiral Abe Koki's two fleet destroyers ( Hiryu and Soryu) supported by heavy cruisers and destroyers (on the way back from Pearl Harbor) attacked. Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas Fleet Adm. C. W. Nimitz (3) Deputy Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas Vice Admiral J. H. Towers (15) Chief of Joint Staff Vice Admiral C. H. McMorris (107) BB 38 PENNSYLVANIA (Flagship) Captain C. F. Martin (427) The ships are ordered to try to escape through the Sunda Strait to Tjilatjap. Up to 900 men initially survived the sinking, but many succumbed to shark attacks, dehydration, and salt poisoning as they awaited . Course was immediately altered to 320 degrees to try to evade but these cruisers were also seen to turn towards. We were, possibly to the man, thinking she went down as all good ships should: fighting. Over 16.5 million men and women served in the armed forces during World War II, of whom 291,557 died in battle, 113,842 died from other causes, and 670,846 were wounded. At about 1100 hours, HMS Exeter fire her port tubes at he enemy cruisers on her port quarter. Now Tromp went in. Seawolf herself was then counter attacked with depth charges by the destroyers but managed to escape. The three Allied ships fought four Japanese heavy cruisers and four destroyers throughout a fierce three-hour action, and they damaged a number of enemy ships. National Defense Service Medal (w/2 service stars), Korean Service Medal (w/6 service stars), Vietnam Service Medal, When north of Bali she went to full speed and returned to Surabaya for repairs. She was, by all battle tactics, out of commission. This section includes over 21.000 Allied Warships and over 11.000 Allied Commanders of WWII, from the US Navy, Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Australian Navy, The Polish Navy and others. H.P. To fight on was futile as she was a sitting duck with no means to maneuver. General John Pope then embarked another full complement of troops, including the 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment, and sailed 6 April for Nouma and Oro Bay, New Guinea. She arrived at Vung Tau on 29 July 1967 to disembark the 244th Aviation Company and the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment. About the time the enemy cruisers found the range, USS Pope made smoke without having received the order to do so. USS Pope (Lt.Cdr. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}0400S 11130E / 4.000S 111.500E / -4.000; 111.500, Last edited on 20 December 2022, at 06:10, Learn how and when to remove this template message, http://www.combinedfleet.com/inazum_t.htm, "The Untold story of Captain Kudo Shunsaku and the Destroyer Ikazuchi | Japan Probe", Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/225.htm, http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/2334.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Pope_(DD-225)&oldid=1128453682, This page was last edited on 20 December 2022, at 06:10. and a 2007 TV programme.[5][6][7]. These had already been expended. Around 2230 hours HrMs De Ruyter and HrMs Java opened fire on the Japanese which were taken by surprise. Welford Charles Blinn, USN) departs Surabaya, Netherlands East Indies on 28 February 1942 together with the British heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and the British destroyer HMS Encounter. Lacking air cover, Dutch RADM Karel W.F. Our aerial gunners would return the fire but with no apparent success. As soon as the rain dispersed, we were spotted by their aircraft, they were on us like a bunch of vultures again. He heard the staccato reports of anti-aircraft guns, the pounding of the 3" batteries and felt the heel of the cruiser as CAPT Arthur G. Robinson veered to avoid the aerial bombs. Returning via Nouma to embark casualties, the ship reached San Francisco 18 May 1944. Departing Okinawa the following day, she disembarked the 64th TC at Qui Nhon, South Vietnam on 10 August 1966. USS Pope (DD-225) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy that served during World War II. 's) and started dive-bombing / strafing runs against us. Edited by Clay Ramsey. We were about half way through what proved to be our last meal on the Pope, when we were interrupted by gunfire. We also dropped our depth charges in an effort to lighten the ship, with the hopes of increasing our speed. They thought to have sunk a Japanese cruiser and have damaged two more cruisers and two destroyers. Once more, their planes formed up and made their strafing and bombing runs. Asheville does not strike her colors, raise a white flag, jump into the lifeboats or scuttle . 196. Unfortunately they are spotted by Japanese warships and the Exeter and Encounter are sunk during the following engagement. This was my grandfather's terse review of the Steven Spielberg movie back in 1998. Speed was increaded to 27 knots and they proceeded up Badoeng Strait. On exploding, it opened or split some of the plated near the stern, and water began pouring into the after section. Treffers, RNN), HrMs TM-9 (Lt. J.A. No enemy aircraft nor ships were seen at daybreak and visibility was extreme. The mission actually hopeless, HMS Exeter, in her damaged condition could make no more then 16 knots when she sailed from Surabaya. Shortly before midnight the Allied ships changed course to due north to pass to the east of Bawean Island as ordered. Eventually, they dropped a bomb that narrowly missed the ship and exploded in the water on our after port quarter. It was not until about 0935 hours that the topmasts of two enemy heavy cruisers were sighted bearing about 170 degrees, steering to the westward. While doing so her smoke generator was started. She received two battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation for her World War II service. I was unlucky enough to have been hit by a machine gun bullet that cut the flesh off my right knee. I should mention at the time the word was passed to abandon ship, one of the men was overly anxious to get over the side and jumped into the water. Pope made visits to French Indochina in 1935 and in 1938, two visits to Japan in 1934 and 1935 and one to the Dutch East Indies in 1936. As the Pope slid out of sight beneath the sea, we regretfully realized that we had not only lost a fighting ship, but also our home away from home. The Japanese attack on Bali was carried out by two transport ships Sasako Maru (7180 GRT, built 1941) and Sagami Maru (7189 GRT, built 1940). On 4 June 1944, a hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captured the German submarine U-505. This was not the case, one Japanese destroyer was heavily damaged and one seriously. Three hours after nightfall on Sept. 15, 1942, the U.S.S. Rear-Admiral Doorman therefore wanted to attack them in three waves. Full-service research & records analysis. The Dutch destroyer HrMs Witte de With (Lt.Cdr. Suddenly the area exploded into a cloud of debris. The Dutch cruisers were the Java, De Ruyter, and Piet Hien. . As fate would have it, the rain lasted only about half an hour, but at least for that length of time, we had a short respite from the heat of battle. Please use this if you spot mistakes or want to improve this ships page. With each pass over the ship, they would strafe the ship with machine guns. Unfortunately commercial salvage divers had discovered Pope previously and save for a skeleton, little now remains of her wreck. Either their gunnery was poor or we were damn lucky. American casualties numbered 52 military personnel (Navy and Marine) and approximately 70 civilians killed (including 10 Chamorros . Besides the ships themselves their crews were also suffering from fatigue due the immense strain they had been under the past weeks. Having distinguished herself in the MAKASSAR STRAITS, in the battle off BALIKPAPAN, (see 1 on map below) and again in the Bali straits, in the battle of Bali, plus a big battle in the LUMBOK STRAITS, (2 on the map) the USS POPE had earned quite a reputation as a fighting ship. This humanitarian decision by Lieutenant Commander Shunsaku Kud placed Ikazuchi at risk of attack, and it interfered with her fighting ability, due to the sheer load of rescued sailors. That, remember, was in the battle of Balikpapan, Borneo, in the straits of Makassar. General John Pope debarked them at Nouma 23 December and returned via Pago Pago to San Francisco 10 January 1944 with 2,500 veterans. General John Pope was launched under a Maritime Commission contract 21 March 1943 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company of Kearny, New Jersey; acquired by the Navy 2 July 1943; placed in ferry commission the same day for transfer to Baltimore for conversion to a transport by Maryland Drydock Company, and commissioned in full 5 August 1943. An enemy report was therefore made. Eventually she was found and disabled and brought to a halt by damage received from aircraft from the Japanese aircraft carrier Ryujo.She was finally sunk by gunfire around 1440 hours from the Ashigara and the Myoko. This page is not available in other languages. Marblehead's rudder jammed full aport, sending the cruiser into a tight 22-knot circle. They contented themselves with lobbing six and eight inch shells at us. In the early fall, another voyage out of San Francisco 14 August brought General John Pope on a troop rotation run to New Guinean ports; and subsequently, after embarking 5,000 Army troops at San Pedro, California, she sailed via Melbourne for Bombay. The Dutch cruisers claimed heavy damage on the enemy but according to Japanese reports on the battle damage was only minor and after being initially taken by surprise the Japanese soon counter attacked. Almost torpedoing the battleship carrying President Franklin Roosevelt to the Tehran Conference was not the first misadventure of the ill-fated 'Willie Dee'. In the evening of 28 February 1942, Exeter and the two destroyers left Soerabaja and proceeded north. After a few minutes the mistake was noticed and both Japanese destroyer retired up the Strait to the north. Coordinates: 0400S 11130E / 4S 111.5E / -4; 111.5. This destroyer was then engaged with gunfire at ranges between 20000 and 14000 yards. She served for many years with the Asiatic Fleet . We saw no more of either of the British ships, as by now we were attempting a run to freedom. J.W. (1). During 1921 she alternated between her winter base at Charleston, South Carolina and her summer one at Newport, Rhode Island and escorted President Warren G. Harding to Plymouth, Massachusetts 30 July 1 August. We in the engine room were surprised when told that we were surrounded by enemy ships, thirteen to be exact, five cruisers and eight destroyers. Piet Hein was a little ahead of the US destroyers and opened fire with her 4.7 guns and also fired two torpedoes. Some records, however, date as far back as 1917 and some up to 1967. USS Pope (DD-225) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. At each firing of the 4" guns, the reverberations woul be transferred throughout the ship. USS Pope had been unable to take part in the Battle of the Java Sea as she had been repairing at Surabaya. Flooding worsened as Pope maneuvered to evade six more bombers,[4] and only one crewman was lost as the crew boarded life rafts when flooding could no longer be controlled. Later USAT General John Pope and USNS General John Pope (T-AP-110) USS General John Pope, name ship of a class of 19,650-ton (full load displacement) transports, was built at Kearny, New Jersey, to the Maritime Commission's P2-S2-R2 design. The two destroyers had taken up screening positions and shortly before midnight steam was available to two more boilers in HMS Exeter and speed was increased in steps to 23 knots, which was the maximum speed that could be obtained with the four boilers now operational. These also turned towards at once. : The U.S. Navy Destroyer's Service in World War II. USS Pope (DD-225) underway off Surabaya in company with the British heavy cruiser HMS Exeter, shortly before her loss, circa February 1942. 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