Battle of Surigao Strait

16. “We proceed till totally annihilated.”

16 “We proceed till totally annihilated.” Just as Yamashiro completed its right-angle turn, Battle Line also made a major alteration of course for the same reason—to improve fire arcs. At 0401 Oldendorf had opted to radio Weyler and suggest he reverse course, turn the battleships about, and head back due west. Battle Line’s fire was starting to overlap the left flank cruisers to their south, and with the heavies on course 120 still, they were also converging on Oldendorf’s eastward track. Weyler concurred, ordering his battlewagons to “Turn One Five” to starboard . In other words, to make a further turn right of 150 degrees, which, from course 120, would bring them to due west as ordered. The choice of wording on how to come round to due west was potentially confusing and singularly unfortunate . In hindsight, it might have been better to have given an unambiguous order like “come to 270” and require acknowledgment from all six ships. Weyler further miscalculated by failing to request confirmation from each of his six battleships. Disaster was in the making.1 At 0402 West Virginia, still firing, wheeled 150 degrees right, and headed back west across Surigao Strait. Maryland and Weyler’s flagship followed suit, each swinging due west to fall into “WeeVee’s” wake as they reached the turning point. Next it was California’s turn. As the battleships turned, they were now nearly parallel and steaming in the same direction as the blazing Yamashiro, yards to the south. Japanese and American battleships now steamed broadside to broadside. Intent on this historic moment and opportunity, ComBatDiv 2 Rear Admiral Theodore E. Chandler and Captain Heffernan of Tennessee at first did not notice but then realized that California ahead of them had failed to turn and was cutting across their bow. The battleships were plowing toward colli208 “We proceed till totally annihilated.” · 209 sion! Moving quickly to the voice-radio Chandler called up California’s skipper : “Did you receive turn signal?” “Affirmative,” came the answer. But California was not turning.2 Madness, Captain Heffernan thought. The two giant ships were still headed right at one another. So even as California’s Captain Henry P. Burnett’s “affirmative” came back over the voice circuit, Heffernan sprang into action. The War College later lavished praise by saying that Heffernan “by some clever ship handling succeeded in avoiding the collision.” To those familiar with the laconic detached style of war analysis, the adjective “clever” speaks volumes. On Mississippi a dismayed Weyler saw what was happening and, grabbing the radio-phone, warned: “Watch out for California!”3 Ironically Captain Burnett was the last to get the picture. Only when he heard Weyler’s barked warning did he realize what had happened and shout a flurry of orders. California commenced turning hard to starboard to the westerly heading. By now it was out of formation south of Battle Line and actually in the line of fire. Hastily, West Virginia, Maryland, California, and Tennessee all had to cease fire. Since Mississippi and Pennsylvania had not yet opened fire, the missed turn silenced Battle Line outright. Turning into Pennsylvania’s wake, Captain Heffernan increased speed to 17 knots to close up the distance to the latter, which had pulled 1,600 yards ahead. Hapless California was still out of line, steaming 2,100 yards astern and 1,200 yards south of Tennessee.4 As the confusion died down and Tennessee steadied back on a proper heading, Captain Heffernan saw that the line of sight was clear again, and the burning Japanese ships still visible, and he gave the order to resume fire, while Chandler directed California to fall in astern of Tennessee. At 0408 six of Tennessee’s guns—now trained to port—hurled its thirteenth salvo at the enemy 19,000 yards away. It did not know it would be its last. As if the confusion from California’s error and careering out of line was not bad enough, at 0413 Weyler heard a warning from Richard P. Leary that “she was passing through torpedo water.” Given Leary’s general position, this meant Japanese torpedoes were on the way north. He knew full well they had the range endurance to reach him. It was essential that Battle Line start taking evasive action. Action easier said than done. The problem was California had disrupted the formation and was still trying to fall back into line behind Tennessee as ordered . Weyler decided he could not wait and...