World Warfare II was marked by quite a few technical advances and battles through which they performed a pivotal position. Comparatively missed however having an significance of its personal was the destroyer as used within the Solomons campaigns of 1942 to 1943.
The naval battle was typically fought at night time, pitting Japanese destroyers ferrying reinforcements to contested islands or evacuating forces from untenable posts, versus American counterparts attempting to intercept them.
Nicknamed the “Tokyo Categorical” by their opponents, the Japanese “tin cans” acquired the grudging respect of the Individuals for his or her daring and ingenuity, their lethal 24-inch Kind 93 “Lengthy Lance” torpedoes and what appeared to be an uncanny Japanese expertise for working by night time.
In 1943, nonetheless, American destroyers started receiving a brand new, more practical centimetric display grid radio detection and ranging, or SG radar, together with a brand new technology of captains adjusting their ways to benefit from the brand new developments.
Within the vanguard of these adopting the brand new weapons methods to problem the Tokyo Categorical anew was Cmdr. Frederick Moosbrugger.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 9, 1900, Moosbrugger entered the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, on June 25, 1919, graduating on June 8, 1923. His subsequent assignments included two three-year stints as an teacher on the academy and repair aboard the heavy cruiser Houston beginning June 1, 1934, with then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a passenger and attending the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco on Might 28, 1937. On April 28, 1941, he received command of his first ship, the destroyer McCall.
McCall was escorting the plane service Enterprise towards Wake Island on Dec. 7, 1941, when phrase got here in of the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The small service activity pressure didn’t return to Pearl till Dec. 10, however it was time sufficient for Enterprise’s plane to catch the Japanese submarine I-70 nonetheless snooping within the space and summarily sink it.
Between Might 1942 and September 1943, Moosbrugger led destroyers within the Solomon Islands. In early August 1943 he led Destroyer Division 12 (DesDiv 12) aboard Dunlap, whose captain was Lt. Cmdr. Clifton Iverson, together with destroyers Craven and Maury.
Munda had been the most recent goal, and the final earlier try to derail the Categorical utilizing patrol torpedo (PT) boats on the night time of August 1-2 had failed — the one outcome being PT-109 rammed and sunk by destroyer Amagiri, though its skipper, Lt. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, survived to later develop into president.
Munda fell into Allied arms on Aug. 5, however phrase got here in about one other Categorical departing Port Vila for Kolombangara Island, and this time the job of interception was handed to Moosbrugger. He was bolstered with three extra ships of Destroyer Division 15 (DesDiv 15), led by Cmdr. Rodger Whitten Simpson aboard the destroyer Lang (Cmdr. John Lester Wilfong as captain), with destroyers Sterett and Stack.
For the primary time within the warfare, U.S. Navy destroyers weren’t escorting cruisers, giving them independence to work out their very own ways. Moosbrugger’s had been to enter Vella Gulf with DesDiv 12 in column to the left of the formation and DesDiv 15 two miles to the suitable and just a little farther behind. In the event that they noticed enemy destroyers, DesDiv 12, which had lengthy been zealously coaching at night time preventing, would hearth torpedoes whereas DesDiv 15, whose ships had new 40 mm anti-aircraft gun batteries, would comply with up with gunfire.
At 1130 hours the pressure departed Tulagi and when it reached Kula Gulf, Moosbrugger ordered all ships into battle formation. Reaching and probing Blackett Strait, it headed due north following Kolombangara’s coast, on a wet night time that might have handicapped each side if not for the Individuals’ radar benefit.
Shortly earlier than midnight, Dunlap’s radar made first contact with the enemy 10 miles away, which quickly materialized into 4 “pips” on the display. As Moosbrugger’s torpedo crews readied their weapons, he deactivated his unreliable magnetic exploder gadgets, whereas counting on the flash hiders of his improved “fish.” Moosbrugger received on the talk-between-ships system and ordered his division to “Stand by to fireside torpedoes!”
Approaching from the north was Japanese Destroyer Division 4 (DesDiv 4) comprised of Hagikaze — flying the pennant of Capt. Kaju Sugiru — Kawakaze and Arashi, trailed by Shigure. The latter, underneath Cmdr. Tameichi Hara, was a comparatively previous ship and had been falling behind the formation. Its navigation officer, Lt. Yoshio Tsukihara, requested Hara, because the commander later recalled in his ebook “Japanese Destroyer Captain”: “Sir, we’re lagging 1,000 meters behind Kawakaze. We could use the overboost to achieve again our misplaced 500 meters?”
“No,” the veteran Hara replied. “That is adequate. To hell with the described 500-meter distance. Don’t overboost the engine!” Suspecting bother, Hara ordered Shigure prepared for motion with weapons and torpedoes skilled left, the place visibility was worst. Simply then a lookout cried out: “White waves! Black objects! … A number of ships heading towards us!”
At 4,000 yards distance, Moosbrugger ordered his DesDiv 12 ships to fireside and 24 torpedoes — eight per ship — had been loosed in 63 seconds. Two hit Hagikaze, knocking out its radio and throwing the column into confusion. Three torpedoes struck Arashi and two extra hit Kawakaze, after which Moosbrugger pulled again to let Simpson’s destroyers end the targets with gunfire.
Firing ceased as all three Japanese destroyers went down, together with 356 seamen and 685 troops. Behind them, Shigure dodged to the suitable, letting lose eight torpedoes, however hitting nothing.
In distinction, three or 4 American torpedoes bore on Shigure and put a two-by-two-foot gap in its rudder. It didn’t explode, however it and the troopers on board handicapped its additional usefulness, so Hara made smoke and withdrew, requesting additional directions from headquarters at Rabaul.
“Return to base,” got here the reply. “Ask Kolombangara to rescue survivors.”
Remarkably, 310 Japanese troops, together with Capt. Sugiura, drifted to shore on Vella Lavella, from which they had been transferred to Kolombangara. Henceforth, nonetheless, there could be no extra Tokyo Categorical troop runs to that island.
Of the 24 torpedoes Moosbrugger’s destroyers launched, one-third had struck their targets.
“The hits on Arashi and Kawakaze had been phenomenal,” Hara wrote after the warfare in what he referred to as “an ideal American victory.”
“By no means earlier than had I seen such marksmanship by the enemy,” he continued.
The U.S. Navy agreed. On Sept. 10, 1943, Adm. William Frederick Halsey awarded Moosbrugger the Navy Cross, which was additionally introduced to Dunlap’s Lt. Cmdr. Iverson and Sterett’s Lt. Cmdr. Frank Gardner Gould. Adm. Chester William Nimitz, commander in chief of U.S. Pacific Fleet, dubbed the Vella Gulf battle “just a little traditional of naval warfare.”
Moosbrugger additionally received congratulations from an Annapolis classmate, Lt. Cmdr. Arleigh Albert Burke: “Pricey Moose, your battle the opposite night time will go down in historical past as probably the most profitable actions ever fought. It was splendidly conceived and marvelously executed.” Burke was extra than simply impressed by the precedent it set. On the night time of Nov. 25, 1943, he led his personal squadron in an equally profitable ambush off Cape St. George that sank one other three out of 5 Japanese destroyers engaged.
Moosbrugger fought no comparable motion once more, however rose steadily in his profession, reaching the rank of captain on the U.S. Naval Faculty, Common Line, Naval Base at Newport, Rhode Island, on April 5, 1946. He made rear admiral on June 1, 1951, and in 1952 he served as commander of the Navy Sea Transportation Service, Pacific Space, based mostly at San Francisco, California. He retired as a vice admiral on Oct. 1, 1956. Apart from the Navy Cross, he obtained the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Advantage with “Valor” system.
Moosbrugger died on the San Diego Naval Hospital on Oct. 1, 1974. He was buried alongside his spouse, Dorothy (Britt), at Fort Rosecrans Nationwide Cemetery, San Diego, abandoning three sons, Frederick Britt, Edward Arthur and David Britt. His identify was given to destroyer DD-980.
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