December 1944: USS Bergall vs IJN Myōkō  and Ushio

The Second World War was fought across the world's vast oceans, and while historians tend to focus on the major fleet engagements and large battles, sometimes it was those small battles, chance encounters, and distant parts of those oceans that had the most drama. Very often ships would encounter each other where both ships could easily sink the other, and the difference between victory and defeat was the slimmest of margins. And as one of those chance encounters on December 13th, 1944 off the southern tip of French Indochina reminds us, sometimes the most interesting part of the story is not the battle, but what comes after. The engagement between the USS Bregal and the Aegean Yoto and Ushio deserves to be remembered. The Blough class submarine USS Bregal left Fremantle, Australia on its Second War Patrol on December 5th, 1944. The 311 foot, 9 inch long, 1,526 ton surface displacement submarine was under the command of 34 year old commander John Milton Hyde, a 1934 graduate of the US Naval Academy. Hyde had previously been executive officer aboard USS Swordfish for four war patrols, service which had been awarded the Silver Star. He had commanded Bregal since the boat was commissioned in June of 44. In its first war patrol Bregal had been credited with the destruction of two cargo ships and a large enemy tanker, enough success to earn Hyde his second Silver Star. In its second patrol Bregal was assigned to patrol along the Malayan and Indochina coasts. The boat had ten torpedo tubes, six fore and four aft, but the rear tubes were filled with anchored mines, which the submarine was assigned to lay along a reef on the Indochina coast called Royalist Bank. After an uneventful passage Bregal arrived at Royalist Bank on December 13th. The heavy cruiser IGN Myoko was commissioned in July 1929, the lead ship in a class of four vessels. Named after a mountain in Japan, the Myoko had originally been built under the constraints imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty, although further modifications had increased its displacement well beyond the treaty limits. 661 foot 9 inches long with a beam of 68 feet, the ship had a main armament of ten 8 inch guns, two each mounted in five turrets. When she was built Myoko had the heaviest armament of any cruiser in the world, but by the time of the war the armament was typical of other Japanese heavy cruisers. Myoko had seen significant service starting the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938. The ship had participated in the evasion of the Philippines in December 1941, helped to sink the British cruiser Exeter in the Battle of the Java Sea in March of 1942. Myoko had been present at the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, bombarded Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, had helped to evacuate troops from the Alaskan island of Kiska and had been damaged in a collision with a destroyer Hatsikaze in the November 1943 Battle of Empress Augusta Bay. In October 1944 Myoko had been part of Admiral Takeo Kurita's Central Force at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. During the October 24th Battle of the Sibean Sea, Kurita's force came under air attack. While the attack centered on the battleship Musashi which was eventually sunk, Myoko took a torpedo starboard aft from a TBF Avenger torpedo bomber from the carrier USS Intrepid. The hit from the Mark 13 torpedo flooded the aft engine room and generator room and put Myoko's starboard screws out of commission. With her speed reduced, Myoko was forced to drop out of formation and turn away, heading initially for the Philippine island of Coron, then Japanese-occupied Brunei and eventually arriving at Singapore's Seletar naval base on November 3rd. On November 22nd, the Fubuki class destroyer Ushio arrived for repairs. Ushio had been an escort of the Japanese Southern Force at the Battle of Leyte and had then remained in Manila. A near miss during US air raid on November 13th disabled her starboard engine, killing 23 crew. With the lost engine, the destroyer's top speed was reduced to 18 knots and she was dispatched via the Spratly Islands to Singapore for repairs. But the repair facilities at Seletar were limited and lacked supplies. Base officials determined they could not repair Myoko and Ushio. At first the cruiser was moored as a floating anti-aircraft defense, but in December the IGN ordered Myoko to make for the home islands where complete repairs could be done, escorted by Ushio. With the damage, Myoko could barely make 16 knots and Ushio about 18. While the order said the ships were to depart on or about December 9th, they were not prepared to leave till the morning of December 12th. Had they left earlier, they would have missed the dramatic events that were about to unfold. Leaving at 7 in the morning on December 12th, the two vessels left on a course that would take them right past Royalist Bank. On December 13th, Bregal was waiting at Royalist Bank near dusk, planning to deploy her mines, a mission that would take place at night. Alerted after receiving a powerful radio signal that suggested a large ship, at 1755 hours, just before 6 p.m., Hyde reported seeing the mast of a single ship at a range of 35,000 yards and proceeding at 13 knots. Hyde noted in the mission report that deploying the mines, which we plan to undertake tonight, will have to wait. Hyde hoped to overtake the vessel and be able to plan a submerged attack, but at full speed the boat experienced substantial vibration. Limited to about 18 knots, Bregal closed range with the target slowly. At 1830 hours, Hyde noted, because our target is rapidly approaching very shallow water, we'll be unable to reach a position ahead for a submerged approach and be forced to make our attack on the surface, like a PT boat. It was a risky plan. Hyde already suspected that the ship that he was tracking, based on the radio contact in the mast, was a large warship. Attacking on the surface meant that if that ship were to see them, it could easily blow Bregal out of the water. Success depended upon not being observed. In his report, Hyde noted, weather conditions are such that the night will be dark and clear with the sea glassy. There will be no moon. Bregal made radar contact at 2,600 yards. As the distance closed, it became clear they were tracking a large warship with an escort. He could not know it at the time, but those ships were the Miyoko and the Ushio. Hyde's action report shows the tension as they slowly closed distance. At 9,400 yards, he noted, target looks so big we are sure she is a large man-of-war, but also that it still looks like a long way to a firing position. At 6,000 yards, he could make out the stack of a heavy cruiser, but he had reasons to be concerned. He noted, the clear night with glassy sea and bright stars detracted my attention from ship identification to the more important problem of getting off the torpedoes without being seen. The stakes were high, the torpedoes of Bregal could easily sink the Miyoko, but the guns of the Miyoko or the Ushio could easily sink the Bregal. The fate of both crews depended upon the brightness of the stars. Hyde made his attack at 2037 hours at a range of 3,000 yards, firing six torpedoes before turning away. Normally, he would still have been able to attack with the torpedoes in his rear tubes after turning, but those tubes were unavailable because the mines Bregal was carrying. He noted that when he fired, about a third of the bow of the escort on the far side of what he thought to be a heavy cruiser, extended ahead of the target's bow. He had hoped that his spread of six torpedoes might strike both the target and its escort. Quickly, Hyde could see the result of his attack. He saw what he described as a terrific explosion, which spread along her entire length and reached at least 750 feet in height. Two explosions were heard clearly, but Hyde could not be sure how many torpedoes had struck. He could see that the explosion had broken the target apart, saying the explosion forced the two ends of the ship apart so that they were two huge fires, which after 10 minutes were about a thousand yards distant. Hyde had good reason to think that he had crippled his target, but there was more good news. Instead of pursuing him, the escort had stopped. Had he disabled the escort as well? Suspecting the escort was a light cruiser, another high-value target, and thinking that he must have damaged the escort since it had not offered pursuit, Hyde decided to turn again and close range in the hopes of finishing off the escort as well, but Hyde was mistaken. The Isshu had not been damaged and had stopped to determine the situation. Hyde could not have known that the previous damage to Isshu limited the destroyer's speed, making the destroyer's captain, Commander Masaomi Araki, reticent to pursue. As Hyde moved the Bergale closer, hoping to finish off what he thought might be a light cruiser, Isshu started firing. Hyde saw the flashes of the gun, the first shell landed in the submarine's wake, the second struck home. The five-inch shell hit Bergale at the forward torpedo tube loading hatch, tore through the forward torpedo room, and then exited through the pressure hole. Hyde reported immediately after the hit, it was apparent that serious damage had resulted. From the bridge, you could see the lights in the pierce compartment, as well as electrical fires. He turned Bergale away, trying to make distance. More shells landed both the port and starboard. As he retreated, he saw the flames appear to die down on the bow section of his target. He reported, the radar pip disappeared on the section, a column of steam rose above it, and then a cloud of smoke gathered over it. The Bergale had taken serious damage, but Hyde was sure that his target, which he thought to be a Tone or a Tago class heavy cruiser, was certainly finished. The crew of Bergale surveyed the damage, almost miraculously, no one had been killed as the round had flown through the submarine compartment. The shell had not detonated, damaged overhead cables had caused system shorts and electrical fires. The main balance tank had been damaged and was venting, and the main air supply to the front of the boat was severed. The good news was that the boat was in no immediate danger of sinking. The bad news was that with the pressure hole pierced, Bergale, 2,000 miles from the nearest friendly base, could not submerge. If the submarine were sighted, stuck on the surface, it would be an easy target. Miyoko, while heavily damaged, was also not as badly hurt as Hyde imagined. The cruiser had been hit by at least one and possibly two Bergale's torpedoes. Torpedo had ignited the aft reserve oil tank, causing the massive explosion that Hyde had witnessed. As Hyde had seen, a piece of Miyoko's stern had been blown off, burning and sinking. Fires were still burning, with the loss of the stern, Miyoko had lost power and could not steer, but the flooding had been controlled and the ship was essentially undamaged ahead of its number five turret. While dead in the water, Miyoko's captain, Hajime Ishiwara, was still determined to save the ship, that Hyde assumed had been sunk. The bright spot for the stricken Miyoko was that, despite losing the stern and fantail, one shaft was still working. Miyoko could make a snail's pace of six knots on its own, but it could not steer. With its starboard engines still out of commission, Ushio did not have the power to tow Miyoko, but Ishiwara thought that Ushio might be able to nudge Miyoko enough to keep the plodding cruiser on the right heading, back to Singapore. The morning of December 14th found Bergale's crew doing immediate repairs to restore airflow to the forward compartments and patching outside holes with pillows and mattresses to prevent spray. As around the surface and enemy waters, all available guns were mounted and the crew put on alert to defend against air attack. Just past noon, a plane was spotted, a potentially deadly event, but Hyde turned Bergale away and she escaped without being noticed. That night, Hyde sent a message confirming a kill, busted Bergale's first. Knowing any communication might be intercepted, he made the radio contact along a false course heading, to make it appear that the boat would be traveling a different direction. Despite the desperate situation, Hyde had a plan to get his boat back to Fremantle. He planned a course so that the most dangerous parts of the passing would be done at night. Bergale received a message in the early morning of December 15th, telling the rendezvous with other submarines, but the rendezvous point was back through enemy waters and Hyde decided the current course was safer. At 930 in the morning, Bergale made a radar contact, it turned out to be the Gato class submarine, USS Angler. Angler's captain, Lieutenant Commander Howard Bissell Jr, reported that Angler had just made a safe trip with few contacts. Hyde noted Angler's uneventful passage, as well as favorable weather, overcast with squalls, pointing to good prospects for running the gauntlet on the surface. The Bergale had made extensive repairs, made more difficult as their only welding equipment was an oxy-acetylene outfit. Hyde complained in his report, we were very sorry we did not have a better supply of stock and plating, more wedges and above all, an efficient welding outfit. Hyde knew there was a possibility the Bergale would have to be scuttled. They destroyed or transferred their most sensitive equipment to the Angler and prepared charges to scuttle the boat. They transferred all but a skeleton crew to Angler, which followed behind. Should Bergale be sighted by a plane, the remaining crew could be quickly evacuated to Angler and Bergale scuttled. Fires were still burning on Myoko on the 15th, but were finally extinguished by the end of the day. Help finally arrived, two small submarine patrol boats and two minesweepers. A patrol boat moored a line to tow, but the progress was slow. The storms that helped the Bergale avoid detection slowed Myoko's pace, barely five knots. On December 16th, Angler received orders to evacuate Bergale's crew and scuttle the submarine with a torpedo. However, the prospects looked good at that point and to preserve radio silence, Angler did not respond. The pair made it to Exmouth in Western Australia on December 20th, where Bergale was able to make more effective repairs and Bergale made it back to Fremantle on the 23rd. Eventually more ships arrived to assist Myoko. Despite the loss for Stern, Myoko arrived back in Singapore on December 25th. In a period of 10 days, USS Bergale traversed 2,000 miles of open ocean, 1,200 miles of that in enemy territory, while stuck on the surface. For his daring attack and then his skill in getting his damaged boat home, John Milton Hyde was awarded the Navy Cross. The Bergale was repaired, served throughout the war and in 1958 was transferred to the Turkish Navy, serving then TGC Turgutrus, the ex-Bergale was not released from service until 1996, was sold for scrap in the year 2000. Myoko was too damaged to repair in Singapore and spent the rest of the war as a floating anti-aircraft battery defending the harbor in Singapore. The British were concerned that her 8-inch guns would make it difficult to retake the harbor and so in July of 1945, targeted Myoko with a midget submarine attack, but Myoko survived. Myoko surrendered to the Royal Navy after the Japanese surrender in September 1945, she was hauled from the harbor and scuttled. The encounter between the USS Bergale and the Aegean Myoko and Ushio and the improbable survival of both vessels is a testament to the tenacity and bravery of their crews and captains and of the importance of damage control teams in difficult circumstances. Sometimes in the drama of war, the story is not in the killing but in the survival. It is history that deserves to be remembered.