Battle of Surigao Strait

19. “The chances to succeed are nil.”

19 “The chances to succeed are nil.” As the refugees of the night action were beginning their first trial by air, far astern in Surigao Strait the last sporadic flares of combat were flaring up and cripples of both sides going down. At 0630 southwest of Kanihaan island, the wrack and ruin of the battle had continued to drift south at nearly three knots with the current. One of those wrecks was the bowless DD Asagumo, now idling, and struggling to keep its head turned on its southward course. Nearby was a huge, furiously burning oil fire, supposedly from a burning section of Fuso, but the evidence is more than a little ambiguous and very confusing. What is clear is that there was no vessel there by 0652, and it is an open question whether there was prior. (See appendix 1.) Though he had withdrawn north at 0540, Oldendorf was well aware that suitable targets still remained in range. At 0644 the TBS on Denver squawked with Oldendorf’s voice, as he ordered Rear Admiral Hayler to take his ship and Columbia with three DDs of his choice south to finish off Japanese cripples. He warned them to beware of torpedoes. ComDesDiv 112 immediately got on the horn, and since his Attack Section 2 (Robinson, Halford, Bryant) was busy in rescuing Japanese survivors, he selected Section 3’s Heywood L. Edwards, Leutze, and Bennion to go. Bennion had drawn away at 0645 to investigate reports of survivors off its port beam, so Hayler proceeded to detach and accelerate away from the cruiser column with his two cruisers and just H. L. Edwards and Leutze. At 0651 Bennion piped up that it had found only rubbish, and was hurrying to catch up. A minute later, Hayler advised ComDesDiv 112 that he had “only” three DDs; by “only” he meant to say this was sufficient. However, Conley misunderstood, and replied that he would head to assist with his Section 2, and requested Crudiv 12’s present position.1 248 “The chances to succeed are nil.” · 249 Since none of the Japanese was accepting rescue, Conley did not want to tarry any longer if Hayler needed screen, and at 0653 requested permission from Oldendorf to abandon the rescue effort. Oley promptly said waste no more time on it, and ComDesDiv 112 began to gather his ships. Claxton with its three POWs left the scene to rejoin Oldendorf, while his three DDs prepared to move south. Since Halford was off chasing the boat, at 0658 ComDesDiv 112 ordered Halford to just sink it and proceed to join Crudiv 12. Upon receipt, the Halford opened fire, and the survivors jumped overboard. They were left behind as they continued to refuse rescue and, Halford reversed course. Ironically, ComDesDiv 112 himself lingered in the survivor patch, clearly determined to snare at least one. This Conley did, bringing the total recovered to four, then at 0712 Robinson started south as well. Four! Out of a patch reported as “several hundred.” The terse stark details of the action reports, which don’t hesitate to mention deliberate destruction of survivors or boats when this occurred, make clear that it still was mostly the choice of the Yamashiro men that they perished. The fact is four U.S. DDs had gone out of their way to try to cajole and snare any willing, and had been authorized between them to rescue as many as three hundred men. It is possible if they had lingered yet longer, more Japanese would have become less obstinate with time and accepted rescue, but the pressures of war and the reality of the situation did not permit it.2 While the Americans were striving to rescue Japanese survivors with only slightly less reluctance than the prisoners responded, the last hour came for one of three surviving ships of Third Section. At 0700 the stalled Asagumo bore 230 degrees 5.5 miles from the southern tip of Kanihaan island and was being rapidly closed by a stalking torpedo boat. PT 323 was closing fast 1,000 yards to the northwest and about to fire torpedoes.3 Lieutenant H. Stadler’s PT had been sailing east at a leisurely four knots when at 0630 it sighted Asagumo to the southeast and began to make a stealthy approach. With daylight brightening, the chances of surprise were slim, but even though buzzed by two TBFs as 323 started its run, preoccupied with its abandonment preparations, Asagumo did not sight 323...