The Last Destroyer: The Story of the USS Callaghan
by Barry J. Foster
Infinity Publishing, 2002, 316 pages
USS Callaghan (DD-792) became the last destroyer sunk in WWII when hit
by a kamikaze plane carrying a bomb just after 12:30 a.m. on July 29, 1945. The
attack, which killed 47 crewmen, took place less than two hours before the destroyer was to be
relieved by another ship in order to return to the States for an overhaul. This book chronicles the entire battle history of Callaghan
and provides accounts, mostly based on official sources, of many Japanese
kamikaze attacks.
Barry Foster, whose father served aboard Callaghan, includes a few
personal stories, but the book focuses on the ship rather than
crewmembers. The ship's two captains receive the most attention, with the severity and obsession of the first captain, Francis Johnson,
contrasted with the leniency and concern of the second captain, C.M. Bertholf,
who took over command at the end of October 1944. The personal diary of one of Callaghan's Electrician's Mates, who transferred off the ship in
early March 1945, provides a valuable source for this history. The
author skillfully inserts technical background about the destroyer's operations
when introducing various events and officers.
This even-paced history thoroughly covers all periods of Callaghan's
history from the commissioning in November 1943 to the sinking in July 1945. The
book does not provide sources or contain a bibliography, but Foster clearly made
extensive use of official ship logs and action reports to write this detailed
history. Much of the narrative describes typical activities such as gunnery
practice, mail delivery, refueling, personnel transfers between ships, and flight operations
support in which the destroyer was ready to pick up pilots from aircraft
carriers who went into the water. Although these usual tasks include very few
firsthand accounts, the author successfully converts the dry language of
official Navy records into a more readable chronicle. The Last Destroyer
includes four pages of crew photos and three pages of ship photos, but the book
lacks maps and an index.
The first four months of Callaghan's service in the
Pacific War turned out to be routine with no battle action, as described in
Chapter 3, "Much Ado About Nothing." On June 17, 1944, to the east of
Saipan, Callaghan gunners shot down the first three planes of a total of
12 aircraft they would shoot down during the war. Two more Japanese planes were
destroyed by Callaghan guns on October 14 as Task Force 38 ships fought
enemy aircraft off Formosa. From October 1944 to March 1945, Callaghan
participated in battles and other operations in support of air strikes on the
Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Indochina, and Formosa.
The crewmen of Callaghan witnessed several successful kamikaze
attacks and shot down or hit several kamikaze planes. On January 21, 1945, they
witnessed two kamikaze planes dive into the aircraft carrier Ticonderoga
(CV-14)
off the coast of Formosa. On April 6, they saw another successful kamikaze
attack when a plane hit the destroyer escort Witter (DE-636), which damaged
her so
extensively that she was later scrapped. The next day another kamikaze plane hit
the battleship Maryland (BB-46) near Callaghan. During May 1945,
the destroyer's crew viewed three more kamikaze hits on close-by warships.
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USS Callaghan overtakes
aircraft carrier USS Wasp
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Callaghan had several close calls while off Okinawa. In the early
morning of March 27, 1945, three Val dive-bombers attacked Callaghan, but
gunners shot down all of them. The second plane splashed just 100 yards off the
port side, and the last plane snapped the main wire antenna as it went over the
ship and hit the water just next to the ship. Later that morning a crewman
spotted the periscope of a midget submarine. Captain Bertholf ordered depth
charges dropped to destroy the submarine, and the subsequent oil slick and
debris from the submarine provided proof of the sinking. On March 31, a Judy dive-bomber
headed toward Callaghan, but the ship's anti-aircraft fire persuaded the
plane to withdraw. On the next day, Callaghan gunners helped shoot down
two more attacking planes.
On May 25, 1945, two twin-engined planes suddenly appeared out of the clouds and headed
toward Callaghan. The gunners hit the lead plane, which crashed into the sea
after passing less than 100 feet over the ship, but the smoking second plane
flew away. Two men climbed out of the crashed plane, and a rescue party from Callaghan
picked them up. The pilot died aboard the destroyer, but the plane's navigator
regained consciousness and was transferred to the battleship New Mexico
(BB-40).
The navigator, Kaoru Hasegawa, contacted Callaghan survivors and met with
them at the ship's 1995 and 1999 reunions in order to express his gratitude to the
ship's crew for saving his life.
The Callaghan crew rejoiced when they found out on the morning of July
28, 1945, that they would return to the U.S. after one final night of radar
picket duty. However, according to the book, a "biplane with floats" [1] hit the destroyer on the
starboard side of the superstructure after 12:30 a.m. on July 29. The ship sunk
two hours later. Other destroyers and small LCS (Landing Craft Support) ships at the same picket
station picked up survivors from the sinking destroyer and from the water
covered with fuel oil. Callaghan lost 47 men in the attack and became the
last ship and the 14th destroyer sunk by kamikaze planes during WWII. In
contrast to most other histories about ships sunk or seriously damaged by
kamikaze aircraft, this book lacks detailed stories told by the crew about the
attack, its aftermath, and the time in the water prior to rescue.
Even though The Last Destroyer contains few eyewitness accounts and
personal stories, the author effectively uses official Navy records to tell Callaghan's remarkable history.
Note
1. It is very doubtful that Callaghan was
hit by a floatplane. The Japanese Navy used many floatplanes in special
(suicide) attacks starting in late April 1945, but the last recorded special
attack by a floatplane took place on July 3, 1945 (Osuo 2005, 237-40). The plane
that crashed into Callaghan was most likely a Type 93 Advanced Trainer
nicknamed Akatonbo (Red Dragonfly) that took off from Miyakojima, a small island
about halfway between Taiwan and the main island of Okinawa. The inscription on
the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps 3rd Ryuko Squadron Monument on Miyakojima
indicates that seven Type 93 Advanced Trainers took off and did not return in
the middle of the night of July 29, 1945, which would be consistent with the
timing of when Callaghan was hit. Two Japanese reference sources (Hara
2004, 240; Tokkōtai Senbotsusha 1990, 216) indicate that five men in Type 93 Advanced
Trainers took off from Miyakojima toward around Okinawa on July 29, 1945, and
two others did the same on July 30, 1945.
Sources Cited
Hara, Katsuhiro. 2004. Shinsō kamikaze tokkō: Hisshi
hitchū no 300 nichi (Kamikaze special attack facts: 300 days of certain-death, sure-hit
attacks). Tōkyō: KK Bestsellers.
Osuo, Kazuhiko. 2005. Tokubetsu kōgekitai no kiroku (kaigun
hen) (Record of special attack corps (Navy)). Tōkyō: Kōjinsha.
Tokkōtai Senbotsusha Irei
Heiwa Kinen Kyōkai (Tokkōtai Commemoration Peace Memorial Association). 1990.
Tokubetsu Kōgekitai (Special Attack Corps). Tōkyō: Tokkōtai Senbotsusha
Irei Heiwa Kinen Kyōkai.
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