At 9:40 a.m. on October 24, 1944, a lone Japanese plane dived out of a low-lying cloud, released a bomb and swept on across the USS “Princeton.” Although the plane subsequently was downed by a fighter, it had accomplished its mission. The single bomb broke the charm which had safeguarded the “Lucky and Peerless P” throughout its brief but hazardous career in the Pacific.
The bomb set off explosions and fires which, in the end, necessitated the abandonment of the “Princeton” and its sinking by the torpedoes of sister ships. Ninety-three per cent of the ship’s company survived the tragedy, an amazingly light casualty list, Navy men say, considering the explosions on the carrier and the dangers involved in abandoning it. When the bomb hit, the “Princeton was waiting to take aboard a few more of its returning fighters, most of which had departed at dawn to attack two large flights of enemy planes. This Japanese threat was turned back successfully (the “Princeton” fighters shot down a round three dozen).
While the fighters were on their mission, the “Princeton” was preparing for the next phase of the operation which involved the launching of torpedo planes and bombers. In making ready for this strike, the heavier planes were loaded with every drop of gasoline they could carry and torpedoes and bombs were put in place. This preparatory work went on the hangar deck, just below the flight deck. Accordingly, when the Japanese bomb penetrated the flight deck it fell among these fully-loaded planes.
This happenstance was one of a chain of three that led to the destruction of the carrier. The second occurrence was the disruption of the sprinkler system by the first explosion so that the “Princeton” did not have the aid of curtains of water which would have segregated and eventually quenched the fire.
Smoke filled the carrier and an “abandon ship” order was given to all men not in fire-fighting or security details. Destroyers in the task force pulled in close and many men escaped by jumping from one deck to another. Others took to the water and were picked up by rescue vessels.
Meanwhile a cruiser and a destroyer had tied up to the “Princeton” and had passed hose lines and had sent volunteer fire-fighting crews on board it. By mid-afternoon the fire was under control.
“We were doing all right,” Lt. Cmdr. James M. Large (1928), the air operations officer, who had remained on the ship, told reporters when he returned to his Philadelphia home. “We just about had the blaze where we could easily control it.”
Then the third occurrence happened. Enemy planes and a submarine were reported in the vicinity and the cruiser and destroyer which were pouring water into the “Princeton” were ordered to cast loose for their own protection. By the time the alert ended and the two ships returned the fire had again surged out of control.
The final blow was the explosion of an auxiliary magazine which strewed wreckage over the “Princeton” and the assisting ships. While it still might have been possible to tow the blazing ship into safer waters (it was only 125 miles east of Manila) to salvage it, the decision was reached to sink it. The ships which had remained in the vicinity all day to help the “Princeton” had been of no offensive use to the task force, and it was apparent that with three Japanese fleets bearing down, not a single vessel could be spared to tow the “Princeton.”
“The captain and his crew exhausted every possible chance of saving the ship before orders finally were given to sink her,” Lt. Frank E. Bell ’35, assistant navigator on the carrier, told reporters when he returned to this country.
The November 17 issue of the Weekly carried the official Navy “biography” of the “Princeton” which recalled that its first assignment was to provide cover for a landing operation on Baker Island on September 1, 1943. Thereafter it ranged the Pacific, alternating strikes with covering landings. When occupied in the latter task it was ordinarily in the vanguard of the Navy force, its planes first softening up enemy positions and then providing air cover for landing forces.
The Navy’s account of the “Princeton’s” career ended with the Marshalls attack on January 29, 1944. Some of the actions in which it participated thereafter were strikes or covering operations at Eniwetok, Palau, Yap, Hollandia, Truk, Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Mindanao, Manila, Visayas and Formosa. In all it made 1,397 strike sorties and shot down 163 planes.
“The ‘Princeton’ participated in practically every major battle and air strike conducted in the Pacific during her short life,” said Capt. Buracker, who relieved Capt. (now Rear-Admiral) George Henderson, first commander of the carrier, on February 8, 1944. “We had been in many tight sports and many times could have expected serious damage. We had a fine ship, with a great crew, and now we all feel lost without her.”
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It is Navy practice, when possible, to have a succeeding commanding officer on board ship for one operation before assuming charge. Capt. John Hoskins, USN, who had been ordered to relieve Capt. Buracker at the conclusion of the Philippines operation was, accordingly, on the “Princeton” for his initiating cruise. When the auxiliary magazine blew up a piece of flying wreckage struck his right leg.
“I was thrown flat on the deck,” he recounted subsequently, “and felt a burning sensation. Then I looked down and saw a bare foot on the deck. It was my own right foot, completely severed but for a tendon.”
Capt. Hoskins applied a tourniquet about his thigh and a Navy surgeon, armed with an abandon-ship knife, severed the tendon. “The tendon was tough and the knife was dull,” Capt. Hoskins has reported. “I was lucky, though. It could have been my head instead of my foot.”
Capt. Hoskins subsequently was moved to the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. Learning this, President Dodds communicated with him. In reply, Capt. Hoskins sent the following telegram:
“Deeply appreciate your kind message. Please express to Princeton University my firm belief that no ship or institution with the splendid and historical name of Princeton can be kept down for long. My fondest ambition, after I am refooted, is to command a new ‘Princeton’ and demonstrate to [the Japanese] the full significance of a Princeton tiger.”
This was originally published in the January 26, 1945 issue of PAW.
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