Long Lance II. [Conclusion.]

This is coolbert:

In his book, "War and Remembrance", the noted author Herman Wouk devotes several pages to the description of a Long Lance torpedo attack upon a superior American naval task force. An attack occurring during the Battle of Tassafaronga.

[Tassafaronga, Guadalcanal, Kolombangara. Places, the names of which were not even pronounceable to most Americans, much less findable on a map, became crucial to the war effort in the Pacific! Today the names are Fallujah, Ramadi, al-Anbar!]

From the book:

"in helmet and life jacket, Victor Henry stood on the port wing watching red tracer shells of his main battery salvo streak off into the sultry night. The shadowy line of enemy ships off Guadalcanal showed up under a drifting cluster of green-white star shells, partly obscured by smoke and splashes of straddles from the Northhampton's guns."

"'Torpedoes! . . . Torpedoes one point on the port bow! . . . Torpedoes to port, Captain, target angle ten!'"

"The clamor broke from the lookouts, from the telephone talkers, from officers and sailors all over the bridge. Though Pug's [Henry] ears were half-deadened by salvoes and his eyes half-blinded by muzzle flame, he heard the cries and saw the approaching wakes. On the instant he barked, 'HARD LEFT RUDDER!' (Turn, toward the wakes, and hope to comb them, the only chance now.)"

. . . .

. . . .

"The two phosphorescent lines cut through the glassy black water almost dead ahead, at a slight angle to the ships' course. It would be a close thing! Three other heavy cruisers, already torpedoed, were burning astern in blotches of yellow under dense high smoke columns: the Minneapolis, the Pensacola, and the New Orleans. Torpedoes were shoaling like herrings around he task force. Where in God's name were they all coming from? A pack of submarines? In its first fifteen minutes this action was already a catastrophe, and now if his own ship went - -? As the vessel rolled, the two green wakes disappeared, then came in sight sliding past far below . . . this was going to be close! He gripped the bulwark. His breath stopped - - LIGHT!!"

"The night exploded into sun glare."

"The night action on November 30, 1942, in which the Northampton went down has faded from memory. The Japanese navy is extinct, and the United States Navy has no reason celebrate the Battle of Tassafaronga, a foolish and futile disaster."

. . . .

"The rear admiral commanding the flotilla had taken over only two days before. His force was formed of broken units, remnants of many Guadalcanal sea fights. He was new to the area, and his ships had not trained together. Still, with the advantages of radar, surprise, and superior firepower, his Task Force Sixty-seven should have wiped out the enemy. With four heavy cruisers, a light cruiser, and six destroyers, he faced only eight Japanese destroyers."

"But his operation plan assumed that the Japanese destroyer torpedo, like the American weapon, had a range of twelve thousand yards. Actually, the Japanese torpedo [Long Lance/Type 93] could go about twenty thousand yards, and twice as far on slow setting, and its warhead was much more destructive. At the admiral's conference before the run north, Victor Henry [Pug] had mentioned this, he had written an intelligence memorandum in 1939 on the Japanese torpedo, which had altered his whole career. But the new admiral had coolly repeated, 'We will close to twelve thousand yards, and open fire.'"

"So the Japanese destroyer admiral, trapped against the coast without sea room . . . desperately launched all torpedoes toward the distant muzzle flashes. This shotgun blast of warheads caught all four American heavy cruisers. The Japanese fled victorious and all but unscathed."

My comments on the account of Tassafaronga as described by Wouk:

* The U.S. commander was Rear Admiral Carelton H. Wright.

* "he had written an intelligence memorandum in 1939 on the Japanese torpedo"

[it was not until 1943 that the U.S. captured an intact Long Lance for examination. It was only at that time the formidable capabilities of the torpedo became fully apparent!!]

* "The U.S. warship's gun flashes provided a clear target for the Japanese squadron, which quickly replied with twenty torpedoes of their own and turned to escape in the darkness."

[this was the shotgun salvo of torpedoes from the Japanese destroyers. Each and everyone of those Japanese ships presumably were armed with deck mounted torpedo launchers equipped with the Long Lance.]

* "This battle underscored continued Japanese superiority in night actions . . . Of particular note was the lack of familiarity by Adm. Wright in using search radar (particularly against a land background in constricted waters) to offset the Japanese advantage in night optics"

[Now, it should be noted that the American forces had radar, but it was not effective in constricted waters. The Japanese had superior spotters with superior vision and superior optics that offset the advantage of radar. The Japanese had superior night-fighting tactics, practiced, and relied on the manpower advantage rather than the DEVICE [the silver or magic bullet] advantage!!]

* "The two phosphorescent lines"

[The Long Lance had an enormous advantage in that it did not leave a wake as did conventional torpedoes of the time. Compressed oxygen rather than just compressed air did not leave a wake behind the torpedo. Making it hard to spot, if darn not impossible. In this case, the wake that was left behind the torpedo was natural occurring phosphorescence in the ocean water pushed aside as the torpedo bore down on the target.]

Long Lance. As I have said, at the time, a weapon with potential war-winning capability. If the U.S. Navy had NOT been successful at Midway and HAD lost, it is hard to see how an invasion of the Hawaiian Islands could have been stopped. Further attacks on the American west coast, Panama Canal, etc., would have crippled the U.S. in the Pacific to the extent that peace negotiations might have been contemplated??!!

coolbert.