December 28th - The Day of Infamy, Part XVI

Bougainville

On December 16th the US decoded Japanese signals that indicated a major convoy would be running from Rabaul to Bougainville. The troops and supplies would then be ferried to New Georgia by barges. The Navy decided to intercept the convoy just short of Bougainville with MTBRons 1, 9, and 11, with 29 PT boats between them. The PTs would attack during the night of the 17th/18th, delaying the convoy so that aircraft from New Georgia could destroy them before they could unload at Bougainville.

The US plan fell apart almost from the beginning. The senior officer of the three squadrons, newly promoted CDR Taylor, had to return to base due to an engine failure on his boat. Taylor ordered a message to be relayed via blinker light to LtCDR Kelly of MTBRon 9, informing him that he was in command, but the message never reached him. Most of MTBRon 11 had been informed, however, and waited for orders from Kelly which never came. The two squadrons missed a planned course change, and it was an hour before Kelly discovered he was in command and attempted to rectify the situation.

MTBRon 1 had taken a different course from the other two squadrons, intending to catch the Japanese in a crossfire. Its 12 boats were under the command of LT John F. Kennedy and had only arrived a few weeks earlier. Taking advantage of lessons learned by the earlier PT actions the boats had been heavily refitted. The heavy torpedo tubes with the mediocre MkVIII torpedoes had been landed and replaced with MkXIII aircraft torpedoes in roll-off mounts. The weight savings had been used to heavily upgrade the gun armament – each boat carried a 37mm M4 cannon forward, single 20mm Oerlikon cannons forward and aft, and the usual pair of twin 0.50cal machineguns.

The Japanese convoy consisted of three old Minekaze class DDs, two small Wakatake class DDs, five Type A patrol boats, four Momi class fast tranports, three minesweepers, and 19 cargo ships of one to six thousand tons displacement. Kennedy’s squadron was outnumber three to one in hulls, and heavily outgunned.

MTBRon 1 made contact just after midnight. The twelve boats, unaware that they were unsupported, accelerated to flank speed and charged the Japanese force. Gunfire shattered the night, and 48 torpedoes rolled into the sea. The PTs briefly turned away, then turned back in to follow their torpedoes. The plan had been to actually pass through the Japanese formation, relying on the superior maneuverability of the PTs to avoid collision, while hopefully creating additional chaos in the Japanese formation and causing them to fire on their own ships.

Eleven torpedoes found targets, one of them hitting a 1C type freighter loaded with ammunition. The explosion lit up the entire battle, and rained burning debris onto several nearby ships. MTBRon 1 raced through the Japanese formation, already beginning to unravel, at over 40 knots. Two boats were lost, one to gunfire and one to ramming. The ten survivors realized at this point that they were alone. Kennedy quickly ordered his boats to penetrate the formation once again, and this time to fire flares while in the enemy’s midst. Kennedy hoped to provide a visual signal for the other two squadrons to home in on, and perhaps make the Japanese think that heavier forces were nearby waiting for a signal.

The second attack threw the Japanese into chaos. At least two collisions occurred, and several PTs reported Japanese ships firing on each other. Kennedy’s PT314 scored a direct hit with 37mm fire on Sawakaze’s bridge, and the destroyer veered off course and rammed a 1TS type tanker.

Three more PTs were lost, and two more suffered casualties. Kennedy himself was lightly wounded by shrapnel but remained at his post and led his seven remaining boats home.

The Japanese convoy scattered, and many were sunk during the day by aircraft from New Georgia. Only a tenth of the convoy’s supplies reached Bougainville.

For successfully disrupting the convoy and for “exceptional bravery and decisive action under fire” Lt Kennedy was awarded the Navy Cross.