The Buckley-class destroyer escorts were smaller and cheaper alternatives to standard US Navy
destroyers. However, they were outstanding vessels when it came to anti-submarine warfare and escort
duties. And USS England was one of them. Armed with the powerful British-designed
24-barrel Hedgehog mortar, England was equipped with all the essential features that made her an
excellent submarine hunter, despite her size and armament compared to larger battleships.
In a remarkable and historic run, the tiny warship would excel at sinking enemy submarines in waters
infested by Japanese vessels during a short but fruitful hunting season.
And her record remains unbroken almost 80 years later…
USS England
USS England was launched in September of 1943 at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation
shipyard in San Francisco, sponsored by Mrs. H. B. England, the mother of Ensign John C. England,
who lost his life aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma during the attack on Pearl Harbor. She
was commissioned on December 10, 1943, and sent to the Pacific after going over basic sea trials.
Buckley-class destroyer escorts were designed for anti-submarine warfare and convoy escort,
and were powered by two Foster-Wheeler Express D water-tube boilers, two GE steam turbines of
13,500 horsepower, and two generators with 12,000 horsepower. Their maximum speed was 24 knots,
and their estimated range was 5,500 miles at 15 knots.
Plus, the class had a capacity for over 350 tons of oil.
Fully loaded, a Buckley-class destroyer escort could displace a weight of 1,740 tons,
and had a length of 306 feet, a beam of 36 feet, and a draft of 11 feet.
USS England was armed with three 3-inch guns, one triple bank of 21-inch torpedoes,
eight side-throwing K-gun depth charge projectors,
one Mark 10 Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar, and two stern depth-charge racks.
The British-designed 24-barrel Hedgehog mortar fired an elliptical spread of 24
ASW projectiles up to 300 yards ahead of the ship.
Samuel J. Cox, director of the Naval History and Heritage Command, said that: (QUOTE)
“The projectiles would fire in a sequence so that they would all impact the water at the same time.
Unlike standard depth charges, which had hydrostatic fuzes,
each Hedgehog projectile had a contact fuze that detonated on impact with the submarine.”
Cox notes that this system had several advantages. First, it was immediately evident if the attack
had been successful. If the projectiles made contact, there had to be an explosion.
In addition, enemy submarines could not detect the Hedgehog until it was too late to maneuver.
And she could be reloaded in three minutes.
The Saga Begins
England arrived at Espiritu Santo, in Sanma Province, Vanuatu, on March 12, 1944, from a
long voyage in which she traversed Pearl Harbor, Funafuti, and the captured island of Guadalcanal.
During the month of April, she conducted escort missions between the three locations
and the Marshall Islands. The crew was eager for action, as the escort duties had been uneventful;
no Japanese vessel or submarine was sighted during the operations.
Finally, on May 13, 1944, Fleet Radio Unit Pacific intercepted and decoded
a message from the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I16.
I16 had sent a final radio transmission before departing Truk without realizing her
doom was near. The message contained details about
a rice delivery for Imperial Army troops stationed at Buin on Bougainville Island,
and the expected arrival at the Solomon Islands was May 22 after 10:00pm.
Commander Hamilton Hains, the head of Escort Division 39 based at Tulagi,
immediately ordered a three-ship hunter-killer
task force to get rid of the submarine before it arrived at its destination.
The epic hunting saga of USS England began on May 18, when Escort Division 39,
comprising USS Raby and USS George,
was dispatched alongside USS England from Escort Division 40 to intercept the hostile submarine.
England was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Walton B. Pendleton,
and the three destroyer escorts departed Purvis Bay on May 18,
1944, with Commander Hains aboard USS George as an officer in tactical command.
Later that day, the task force learned that the Japanese had established a line of seven
submarines between New Guinea and the central Pacific Caroline Islands to draw American forces
in and destroy them in one decisive battle. The strategy was part of Operation A-Go.
First Blood
Most of the orders and specific positions radioed by the Japanese Sixth Fleet were intercepted by
the US Navy and shared with the Joint Intelligence Center Pacific Ocean Area Estimates Section.
Meanwhile, USS England and the two escort destroyers were hunting their prey.
On May 19, Allied aircraft sighted I16 surfacing north of Bougainville,
and at 1:35pm, the escorts detected the submarine with a sonar sweep.
England then went into action and launched two Hedgehog attacks.
I16 evaded them, but a third one hit. Even so, the seasoned Japanese crew
kept conducting evasive maneuvers, and a fourth Hedgehog failed to hit the target.
Finally, the submarine’s luck ran out during the fifth run. Five solid hits
led to a massive underwater explosion at around 2:35pm.
In a 1980 article from Proceedings Magazine, Captain John Williamson,
England’s Executive Officer, recalled: (QUOTE) “England‘s fantail was lifted a full 6 inches,
then plopped heavily back into the water. We had, with cataclysmic certainty,
heard the last of one Japanese submarine. Sobered, and more than taken aback by that final blast,
we no longer felt like cheering. But we did stand a little straighter.”
Half an hour later, debris began surfacing from the ocean. I16
was lost with all her crew, but there was no time to celebrate.
The seven submarines from Operation A-Go had departed Saipan, and there was work to do.
The Thrill of the Hunt
During the night of May 22,
the three escort destroyers detected submarine RO-106 when it surfaced.
USS George spotted the enemy vessel on the surface and illuminated her with her searchlight.
RO-106 had problems with her radar and was caught off guard.
The submarine immediately went into a dive and tried to escape,
but England and Raby immediately launched Hedgehogs, missing every time.
The three US Navy ships hunted down the enemy submarine for over 20 minutes before she was
picked up by the radar once again. This time, the Japanese tried to counterattack
and turned directly in England’s direction to launch her torpedoes.
Nevertheless, USS England was faster, and scored three hits before the enemy was within range.
RO-106 then went to the depths with all 49 hands.
On May 23, RO-104 became England's third prey. The submarine was at her assigned station when
she was sighted about 250 nautical miles north-northwest of Kavieng in New Ireland.
USS Raby gained radar contact at around 6:00am, and so did RO-104,
which quickly banished into the sea. A cat-and-mouse chase followed,
with the three Buckleys conducting Hedgehog attacks to sink the Japanese submarine.
Even so, RO-104 maneuvered effectively, avoiding more than five attacks and
jamming the sonars of the ships with tuned sound impulses. Two hours later,
the hunt ended when England hit the target with 12 projectiles from her second Hedgehog attack.
A colossal underwater explosion followed,
signaling that RO-104 and her crew of 58 were gone.
USS England was on a streak, and there was still much more to come.
Clean Record
Soon after sinking another submarine, RO-116, on May 24, the trio of Buckley-escort destroyers
sailed at full speed toward Seeadler Harbor in Manus Island, where Raby gained radar contact on
RO-108, commanded by Lieutenant Kanichi Obari. The submarine was on her fifth patrol,
ad had a crew with plenty of naval experience. Like her sisters,
RO-108 submerged and began evasive maneuvers to escape from the ships after spotting them.
USS Raby almost scored a direct hit, but England quickly followed with
an accurate Hedgehog launch and scored six projectiles on the enemy submarine.
The underwater explosion and the debris that surfaced minutes
later signaled that USS England had sunk her fourth Japanese submarine,
this time with 53 crewmen on board. After such an unstoppable spree,
England and her sisters rested almost four days and resupplied at a friendly port.
However, the task force quickly returned to the hunting grounds of the Pacific on May 30, 1944.
The three Buckleys joined a larger task force of former destroyers and,
during the night of May 31, gained radar contact on RO-105.
The hunting continued well into the early morning. RO-105 used
every imaginable trick to run away, but she was cornered by a superior
force. Several destroyers attempted to strike her down but kept failing.
Then, when it was finally England’s turn, her crew was ready to keep the streak going.
At one point during the hunt, Commander Hain said: (QUOTE) “Oh hell, go ahead, England.” And she did.
Minutes later, RO-105 was lost with all her crew.
USS England would earn ten Battle Stars for her service in the Pacific before being attacked by
Japanese aircraft at Okinawa in May of 1945. Over 37 crewmen were lost,
and the ship was severely damaged. She was then scrapped in 1946 after the war ended.
Even so, USS England still keeps the record for most submarines sunk by a single ship
to this very day, and her six-submarine streak over 12 days remains unparalleled.
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