Hong Kong
CNN
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The wreck of a US warship sunk in a World Conflict II battle dubbed one of many bravest ever stands by a US Navy vessel has been discovered within the depths of the Pacific, US and Australian officers introduced Monday.
Referred to as the “dancing mouse” resulting from its slippery actions in that closing, deadly battle with the Imperial Japanese Navy, the destroyer USS Edsall went down off the coast of Australia in 1942, beneath the command of Lt. Joshua Nix.
“Joshua Nix and his crew fought valiantly, evading 1,400 shells from Japanese battleships and cruisers earlier than being attacked by 26 service dive bombers, taking just one deadly hit,” US Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy stated Monday in saying the discover of the Edsall’s wreck.
Talking alongside Kennedy, Australia’s chief of navy, Vice Adm. Mark Hammond, stated the wreck was discovered with the assistance of superior hydrographic survey capabilities aboard naval help ship MV Stoker.
Hammond additionally praised the Edsall crew for preventing a string of battles to assist defend Australia in the course of the early days of World Conflict II earlier than the vessel sunk on March 1, 1942.
On that day, a Japanese carrier-based airplane noticed the US destroyer round 200 miles south-southeast of Christmas Island, in accordance with an account of the Edsall’s closing battle on the web site of the US Naval Historical past and Heritage Command (NHHC).
Japanese Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo was reportedly “incensed” that the US warship was noticed inside 16 miles of his forces and ordered them instantly to intercept, in accordance with the NHHC account by director Samuel Cox.
The outdated US destroyer – Edsall was commissioned in 1920 – and its 4-inch weapons would show to be no match for the newer Japanese fleet with larger weapons and dozens of plane carrying 500-pound bombs.
“Nix’s place was hopeless from the second Edsall was sighted,” Cox wrote.
However the captain of the US destroyer didn’t hand over.
“As a final gesture of defiance, just like the well-known cartoon of the little mouse flipping the fowl at an enormous screaming eagle, Lieutenant Nix selected to make a battle of it,” Cox wrote.
He had the destroyer lay a smokescreen, execute course adjustments and alter speeds to evade the Japanese shells whereas launching torpedoes that narrowly missed one Japanese warship.
After seeing Edsall evade greater than a thousand 14-inch and 8-inch shells, Japanese commanders ordered dozens of dive bombers from their three plane carriers to strike, in accordance with Cox’s account, which he wrote was derived from Japanese sources.
At the very least one hit Edsall, and the ship started to lose its means to maneuver.
“With fires raging and the ship settling and shedding method, Lieutenant Nix pointed the bow of Edsall on the Japanese floor ships in his final act of defiance” and ordered ship deserted, Cox wrote.
The Japanese warships then turned their massive weapons on the disabled destroyer, lastly sinking it.
However Nix’s maneuvers drew the respect of Japanese witnesses, Cox wrote.
“Based on a Japanese observer, Edsall carried out like a ‘Japanese dancing mouse’ (a well-liked domesticated pet in Japan, also called ‘waltzing mice’ or ‘whirler’ for its manic and weird actions),” the US naval historian wrote.
Following the announcement of the wreck’s discovery, officers had been effusive of their reward of Nix.
“The commanding officer of Edsall lived as much as the U.S. Navy tenet, ‘Don’t hand over the ship,’ even when confronted with overwhelming odds,” the US chief of naval operations, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, stated in an announcement Monday.
“The wreck of this ship is a hallowed website, serving as a marker for the 185 U.S. Navy personnel and 31 U.S. Military Air Power pilots aboard on the time, virtually all of whom had been misplaced when Edsall succumbed to her battle harm.”
Whereas most of these aboard the Edsall died at sea that day, some had been rescued from the water by the Japanese and brought prisoner.
After the conflict’s finish, six decapitated our bodies present in graves on Celebes Island (now Sulawesi, Indonesia) had been recognized as these of Edsall crew members. 5 extra our bodies discovered within the graves weren’t recognized however had been believed to be these of US pilots who had been aboard the ship, in accordance with Cox’s account.
He referred to as the story of the Edsall “probably the most gallant and valorous actions within the historical past of the U.S. Navy.”
Historian and writer Trent Hone cited Edsall’s final battle as “essentially the most brave impartial motion by a US Navy floor ship in fight,” in a 2020 survey by the US Naval Institute’s Proceedings journal.
Franchetti stated Monday that the story of the Edsall, each in its protection of Australia in 1942 and within the cooperation proven by the 2 allies to find the wreck this yr, reveals the energy of that trans-Pacific alliance.
The invention highlighted the present AUKUS partnership, between the US, Australia and the UK, she stated.
“A key part of AUKUS is the event of essentially the most cutting-edge underwater applied sciences of the sort that enabled the invention of Edsall within the vastness of the Indian Ocean, one thing not attainable only a few years in the past,” Franchetti stated.
That means helps “guarantee our collective functionality to protect the peace, reply in disaster, and win decisively in conflict, if referred to as,” she added.
