USS O'Bannon (DD-450) - 1943

1943

Retiring from such a run early 5 April, O'Bannon sighted the Japanese submarine RO-34 on the surface and made to ram it. At the last moment, the officers decided that the sub may be a minelayer, and the rudder was turned hard to avoid the collision. This action brought the destroyer directly alongside the sub. As the Japanese sailors attempted to man their three-inch deck gun, the O'Bannon's deck hands, not having side arms, grabbed potatoes from nearby storage bins and pelted the Japanese with them. Thinking the potatoes were hand grenades, the submarine's sailors were too occupied with throwing them away from the sub to fire. This gave the O'Bannon the opportunity to distance itself to fire its guns at the sub and damage the conning tower. Although the sub still managed to submerge, O'Bannon used depth charges to finally sink it. During this period, the O'Bannon also splashed at least two enemy aircraft in various attacks.

This duty was tense and demanded the best of men and their ships. In-port time was minimal; a few hours to fuel and reprovision, and the ships were off again. O'Bannon fought in many surface actions. The Battle of Kula Gulf (6 July), in which O'Bannon fought with three cruisers and three other destroyers against ten Japanese destroyers, swept the enemy from the area, though an American cruiser was lost. A week later, the Battle of Kolombangara had to be fought in the same waters against a Japanese cruiser, five destroyers and four destroyer escorts. The same American force sank the Japanese cruiser Jintsu and turned the smaller ships away, losing none themselves.

For the next two months, O'Bannon spent most of her time in Vella Gulf, guarding landings, intercepting Japanese troop convoys and their covering escorts, and fighting off air attacks. With the aid of sister destroyers, she sank a number of barges, two submarine chasers, an armed boat, and a gunboat on various patrols. The climax of operations in the area was the Battle of Vella Lavella on 6 October, brought on by Japanese attempts to evacuate their troops from that island. With Selfridge (DD-357) and Chevalier (DD-451), O'Bannon made the first attack on the evacuation force, a group of nine or ten destroyers and smaller armed craft. The three American ships contacted six enemy destroyers, shrugged at the odds, and raced at 33 knots (61 km/h) to launch torpedoes and open gunfire. Japanese destroyer Yugumo was turned into a blazing hulk, but both Selfridge and Chevalier took torpedo hits. O'Bannon was close on Chevalier's stern when the latter was struck, and the most radical maneuvers could not keep her from swinging into her sister's side. The enemy retired with three newly arrived American destroyers in pursuit, while O'Bannon guarded her stricken sisters, rescuing the survivors of Chevalier.