| USS Mississinewa AO-144 - has
a predecessor The AO-59 Memorial It had only been in service for six months when it was sunk on Nov. 20, 1944See MODEL The Fleet Tug, USS Munsee ATF-107 was the first to aid the Missy |
|
 |
 It
has been located
to seal off oil leaks
|
 Ulithi , atoll
comprising
40 islets, 1.75 sq mi (4.53 sq km), W Pacific, in the W Caroline
Islands.
Ulithi is part of the Federated States of Micronesia; Mokomok is the
chief
village. The atoll became (1920) part of the Japanese mandate in the
Pacific
and was strongly fortified. The main atoll has an excellent lagoon for
anchoring large ships, and after the American capture (1944) of Ulithi
in World War II, it was used as a rendezvous station for naval units.
Germany purchased the islands from Spain in 1898. They were occupied (1914) by Japan, which received them (1920) as a League of Nations mandate. During World War II, U.S. forces captured the islands, and in 1947 they became part of the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In 1979, as negotiations for termination of the trusteeship continued, they became self-governing as the Federated States of Micronesia. In 1986, they assumed free-association status with the United States. Leo A. Falcam became president in 1999. |
In the
Ulithi Atoll,
an anchorage lagoon large enough for the whole Pacific fleet, a
japanese
kaiten hit the ship in the forward aviation fuel tank, which contained
440,000 gallons of fuel. When it blew the heavy oil used to refuel
ships
started to burn. As a result, the ship sank in only two hours.
For many months Ulithi was
the keyspot in
the
Pacific. An atoll some 350 miles southwest of Guam in the Western
Caroline
Islands. Ulithi probably isn't even on your map of the Pacific---it's
that
small. It's made up of groups of islands with names like MogMog, Asor,
Sorlen, Fassarai and even now it shows no scars of battle. When we took
the Marianas and Peleliu, the Japs abandoned Ulithi as worthless and
withdrew
to Yap. The Japs were convinced that none of the islands could support
an airfield. In fact, they were sold on the idea that Ulithi was
worthless
so we moved in without a struggle. This was the secret Pacific base you
occasionally heard discussed...........correspondent
on Guam
 |
 <>The
U.S.S.
Munsee, ATF-107
sounded General Quarters at 5:50 a.m.
The
ATF-107
was anchored about 2 miles off the AO-59’s starboard bow. By 6:20 a.m.
they reached the Mississinewa as
it was
engulfed
in a column of smoke and flames. A light drizzle of oil globules came
down,
covering everything the sailors touched as we approached the AO-59.
Before
the last flames were extinguished Sid would take 37 photo-graphs of the
heroic effort to save the Mississinewa. The Munsee was the first tug to
reach the Mississinewa. Because the dense smoke completely obstructing
the port side of the AO-59, the Munsee was forced
to come around
the
stern where the wind helped to reveal the burning ship. Drums of
gasoline,
machine oil, 20 mm ammunition along with shells from the 5” 38
gun
were exploding. Suddenly, blazing oil came gushing around the bow of
the
tanker toward the ATF-107. The wind continued to blow the burning oil <>
<>
<>toward
and
then
around the stern of the ATF-107. The other tugs backed away while the
ATF-107
stayed against the AO-59 hull. After a moment the ATF-107 was trapped,
surrounded by the flames, unable to see anything through the dense
smoke.
The other tugs which had backed away were now fighting the fire on the
water behind them so that the ATF-107 could continue to concentrate on
fighting the fire on the AO-59.
<>
From Newsletters, Volume 2 - Spring of 2000 - AO-59 |
Maiden
Voyage
In 1944 my father, Earl T. Givens was just 17 years old. He asked his mother to sign for him to join the Navy and she agreed. In June of that year, he was assigned to the brand new oil tanker USS Mississinewa (AO-59). On Nov. 20, 1944, at Ulithi Atoll, the Mississinewa was sunk by a secret Japanese suicide weapon called a "kaiten" (Note: In a desperate attempt to turn the tide of the war in the Pacific, the Japanese military first formulated and implemented suicide aircraft attacks––the kamikazes––in late 1944. Japan soon expanded this tactic using other weapons systems. Notable among these was the kaiten "Turning of the Heavens" suicide submarine. Basically, the kaiten was a standard Japanese Type-93 torpedo. The mid-section was elongated to make room for a pilot who sat in a canvas chair practically on the deck of the weapon. Located in front of him was a crude periscope; the necessary controls were also close at-hand. The nose assembly was packed with 3,000 lbs. of high explosives, and the tail section contained the propulsion unit) Once on the deck, he saw the oil on fire in the water around the ship, but he knew his only chance for escape was to jump 30 feet into the fiery sea below. He swam beneath the flames and when he came up for air, he saw another ship harbored several hundred yards away. He swam to the ship and caught hold of the anchor chain. Covered with oil and suffering from burns to his back and legs, he held on until someone from the deck above looked down and saw him. A group of sailors pulled him aboard and began cleaning and dressing his wounds. In all, there were 60 sailors, three officers, and 57 enlisted men who died that day aboard the Mississinewa. Most of the survivors feel their escape was nothing short of a miracle. L.W. Antoine I joined the Navy at age 16 during World War Two and quickly was sent to sea. By the time the war with Japan ended, I had gone from being a naïve mid-western kid to a world-wise battle veteran at age 19. So did a whole lot of us who were born in the first quarter of this century, Americans, British, Japanese, and many others of numerous nationalities. We grew up in a hurry! |
