USS Tangier (AV-8) - Pearl Harbor and Wake Island

Pearl Harbor and Wake Island

At 07:55 on the morning of 7 December 1941, the first of two waves of Japanese carrier-based planes swooped in on the Pacific Fleet, moored at Pearl Harbor. Tangier—still abaft Utah and commanded by future Vice Admiral Clifton Sprague—was in the fight from the beginning. Her klaxon sounded general quarters three minutes later, and by 08:00 her anti-aircraft batteries opened up on the swarm of "meatball"-emblazoned planes. During the ensuing melee, Tangier′s gunners claimed three enemy planes and hits on a midget submarine which had penetrated the harbor's defenses. She and another seaplane tender—Curtiss—shelled the submarine, but the destroyer Monaghan finished it off with a two-pronged attack, subjecting it to a ramming and following up with a cascade of depth charges. By 09:20, the skies were clear of planes, and only the smoke from the burning ships and shore installations remained. Tangier began rescuing survivors from the capsized Utah.

In the air, from the USS Tangier, were, among other aircraft, the crew of the PBY-5 airplane, Patrol Plane Commander Lieut. (jg) Otto F. Meyer, Jr., U.S. Navy, Squadron 14: Ens. Sylvan Greene, USNR, second pilot; Ens. J.M. Eggland, USNR, third pilot; Novak, J. AMM2c, USN, plane captain; Wagner, J.E. AMM2c, USN, second mechanic; Alwin, O.F. RM1c, USN, first radioman; Shaw, W.H. RM2c, USN, second radioman. While conducting an assigned search mission on December 7, 1941 this aircraft was attacked by a formation of approximately nine enemy aircraft and succeeded with courage--while under fire--to defeat the surprise attack and land safely, only to discover the devastation on land after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Noteworthy: Sylvan Greene (later a Lt. Com. in the U.S. Navy) was honored with an appearance on the fourth radio show of "This is Your Life," with Ralph Edwards, to describe the events and his contribution in downing the first Japanese aircraft during the surprise attack.

During the next few days, it became apparent that the Japanese would soon attempt a landing on Wake Island, a desolate speck in the ocean but a strategic American outpost located almost astride the 20th parallel, some two-thirds of the way from Oahu to Guam and almost due north of the Marshall Islands. By mid-December, Tangier was loaded with supplies, ammunition, and equipment for the desperate but thus far victorious defenders of Wake Island. Then, she rode idly at anchor for two days while the aircraft carrier Saratoga—around which the Wake relief force was to be built—steamed to Pearl from San Diego. Saratoga entered Pearl Harbor on 15 December, and Tangier departed the same afternoon in company with the fleet oiler Neches and a destroyer division while the carrier refueled. Saratoga caught up to the slow-moving little convoy on the 17th, and the task force advanced on Wake.

At this point, Admiral Kimmel was replaced by Admiral Nimitz as Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. It was an unfortunate time to make such a change for; in the space of time it took Nimitz to make it from Washington to Pearl Harbor, confusion and indecision reigned in the Pacific. The immediate result was a failure to press home the relief expedition, and this unfortunate combination of circumstances caused the loss of Wake Island and its gallant garrison. On 23 December, after a three-day struggle against overwhelming odds, the defenders succumbed. The relief expedition was ordered back to Oahu. Tangier sailed via Midway Island, where she disembarked the men and equipment of Marine Fighting Squadron 221 (VMF-221) to bolster that island's defenses and embarked civilian evacuees. She returned to Pearl Harbor on the last day of 1941.