The Captain of the Nevada: Dec. 7, 1941

 

Author’s Note: This is my annual reposting. I have made modifications due to excellent input by Ricochet members.

I read “Day of Infamy” by Walter Lord when I was 11 years old. It is still the best first-hand account of the attack on Pearl Harbor. A great read, you won’t be able to put it down.

At 8 am on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, the 183 Japanese planes of the first attack wave descended on Pearl Harbor. Admiral Nagumo’s attack fleet was less than 100 miles from Pearl. Luckily the Enterprise, the huge American aircraft carrier, was at sea. Not so lucky was the fact that the American battleship fleet was anchored and inert, tied up in a neat row called Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor. The battleships were huge sitting targets. Even if someone had sounded an alarm when the planes were spotted on radar, it wouldn’t have made that much difference as it takes two hours for a battleship’s boilers to come up to full pressure so she can move properly.

All of the battleships at Pearl that day had dead cold boilers. Completely tied up at anchor, after coming up to full boiler pressure, it would have taken another 45 minutes with the help of multiple tugboats to get a battleship away from Battleship Row and moving.

It was Sunday morning and almost everyone was attending Sunday morning services. However, to this fact and everything I stated in the preceding paragraph, there was one exception. The Battleship USS Nevada had about one-third of her crew and one officer and one quartermaster aboard. The boilers of Nevada were at about half pressure. She was making repairs, even on Sunday morning.

The Japanese planes of the first attack wave descended without any warning whatsoever. Seeing the sitting ducks on Battleship Row, the pilots converged instantly for the attack on the American ships.

Nevada was the last ship on Battleship Row in position 8. Ahead of her at anchor was the Battleship USS Arizona. In the first 15 minutes of the attack, a bomb struck Arizona perfectly penetrating her forward deck armor and exploding her forward ammunition magazine. The entire ship detonated in a huge explosion. The explosion killed 1,117 of her crew of 1,400. Half the ship was gone and the other half was a burning inferno.

All of Pearl Harbor was mad confusion. People running everywhere trying to get to their posts, pinned down by strafing Japanese planes. On Nevada, the highest ranking officer was Ensign Joseph Taussig, Jr. He was the youngest officer, just out of the Naval Academy, he had only been on Nevada a few days. Also aboard was Quartermaster Chief Robert Sedberry, a man with many years of experience. Ens. Taussig manned the forward anti-aircraft battery himself. A shell smashed his leg, it would later be amputated. Still conscious, he continued to command the anti-aircraft defense. Meanwhile, Sedberry and others made the decision to take the ship into action. They must swing the ship free from her berth without the aid of tugboats, without two hours to bring the ship to full steam, without a civilian harbor pilot, without the navigator, and without the captain. Sedberry manned the helm.

She got past the burning remains of Arizona just barely. As Nevada slowly pulled free of her anchorage and steamed down past Battleship Row wild screaming cheers were heard all over Pearl. There she was, the Nevada moving! She was heading for the harbor mouth. She was heading out to sea for the counter-attack! As she got about dead center of Pearl Harbor, out of the sky came 171 Japanese planes, the second wave attack.

The Japanese pilots of the second wave were greeted by a riveting sight. Most of the American ships were in flames but a single American battleship was moving out to sea. They knew very well that this ship had 14-inch guns on board. These guns could fire accurately over 20 miles. This ship could do over 20 knots (about 23 miles per hour). In three hours at full speed, she would be in range of their attack fleet. A single 14-inch shell could pierce the unarmored deck of any one of their aircraft carriers. One shot might easily sink a Japanese carrier.

The entire second wave descended on Nevada. It is interesting to note that it is not as easy to hit a moving target as it is to punch holes in a sitting duck. However, Nevada wasn’t moving that fast and there were 171 planes to get her.

Soon Nevada was on fire from one end of the ship to the other. She had been torpedoed and was taking on water. Ens. Taussig, although severely wounded, continued anti-aircraft fire at the Japanese planes. Chief Quartermaster Sedberry had been radioed a final order. If Nevada sunk in the harbor channel she would plug Pearl Harbor for a prolonged period of time. Most of the crew had already abandoned ship. The Quartermaster and a few men guided the huge ship towards Hospital Point just inside the harbor mouth to the east. There they beached Nevada in the sand like a giant canoe. Still conscious, Taussig was carried off the ship.

What is significant about this? Why am I relating this story? Simply because human events, their outcomes, and their significance, are so hard to predict. At first, you might think Nevada‘s short but glorious cruise a total waste and insignificant. However, because she was moving when the second wave appeared, most of the Japanese planes wasted their bombs attacking her. If the Japanese pilots had instead found all of the American ships out of action, they would have immediately turned their attention to the rest of Pearl Harbor’s extensive military facilities. The dry docks and fuel tank farm most of all. Back in Tokyo, Admiral Yamamoto received the full report. He was furious about the second wave and its failure to bomb the dry docks or fuel tank farm. He said:

“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”

Because of Nevada, most of Pearl remained intact and was fully operational in short order. With Pearl Harbor’s facilities, the American fleet quickly recovered. At the Battle of Coral Sea, the Japanese found themselves to be less than invincible and suffered major damage. With the help of a brilliant American code breaker, the American fleet ambushed the Japanese fleet at Midway. This battle crushed the Japanese and broke the back of their fleet. Midway was the measure for measure for Pearl Harbor. Nevada‘s short but heroic effort did more than just lift the spirits of the men fighting and dying at Pearl that day. She made it possible for the counter-attack to take place.

One should always remember that G-d is in control of events. Sometimes we can foresee events and sometimes not. It is therefore important to serve in the moment both dutifully and creatively. Leave the rest to G-d. This is why freedom is so important. Even a young ensign or an old quartermaster might make contributions that affect the outcome of the entire war. When men are free, they hold themselves to a higher standard than any tyrant can obtain from his lackeys. No matter how much power the tyrant holds, the free man will prove superior.

Nevada beached and burning at Hospital Point.

Authors Note: I first posted this in 2012. I made some small changes for a repost in 2013. No changes but a minor title change for 2014. No changes but a little grammatical polishing for 2015 and 2016. The photos of “Battleship Row” and “Nevada free and heading for the harbor mouth” were added in 2016. Small changes have been made for 2018 because of the perceptive comments of Ricochet members on the 2016 and 2017 edition.

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  1. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    James Gawron: No matter how much power the tyrant holds, the free man will prove superior.

    Amen. 

    Thank you for this post. 

    • #1
  2. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    Naval Institute Press has a new book out about the Nevada: Silver State Dreadnought.  It is good.

    I will be reviewing it in three weeks.

    • #2
  3. Richard Easton Coolidge
    Richard Easton
    @RichardEaston

    Thanks for this excellent post. However, I disagree with:

    The Japanese pilots of the second wave were greeted by a riveting sight. Most of the American ships were in flames but a single American battleship was moving out to sea. They knew very well that this ship had 14-inch guns on board. These guns could fire accurately over 20 miles. This ship could do over 20 knots (about 23 miles per hour). In three hours at full speed, she would be in range of their attack fleet. A single 14-inch shell could pierce the unarmored deck of any one of their aircraft carriers. One shot might easily sink a Japanese carrier.

    First, the Americans did not know where the Japanese carriers were.  The Japanese pilots couldn’t know this, but the Nevada never posed any danger to them.  I think that the closest the Japanese carriers came to Pearl Harbor was about 150 miles.  If the Nevada had known where the Japanese were, which the lack of American preparedness showed was not the case, it would have had to sail around Oahu which is much more than 150 miles.  In the meantime, the fast Japanese carriers could sail faster than the Nevada (and they had two fast battleships).  The point is that they attacked the Nevada not because it posed a threat; rather, the Japanese were still thinking about an eventual big gun fight in which the Japanese and US battleships would slug it out.

    • #3
  4. ST Member
    ST
    @

    I have heard a few knowledgeable people suggest that another major Japanese mistake that day was not to focus on the infrastructure.  They believe that the Japanese focus on our battleships was huge and costly error.

    • #4
  5. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    Richard Easton (View Comment):

    Thanks for this excellent post. However, I disagree with:

    The Japanese pilots of the second wave were greeted by a riveting sight. Most of the American ships were in flames but a single American battleship was moving out to sea. They knew very well that this ship had 14-inch guns on board. These guns could fire accurately over 20 miles. This ship could do over 20 knots (about 23 miles per hour). In three hours at full speed, she would be in range of their attack fleet. A single 14-inch shell could pierce the unarmored deck of any one of their aircraft carriers. One shot might easily sink a Japanese carrier.

    First, the Americans did not know where the Japanese carriers were. The Japanese pilots couldn’t know this, but the Nevada never posed any danger to them. I think that the closest the Japanese carriers came to Pearl Harbor was about 150 miles. If the Nevada had known where the Japanese were, which the lack of American preparedness showed was not the case, it would have had to sail around Oahu which is much more than 150 miles. In the meantime, the fast Japanese carriers could sail faster than the Nevada (and they had two fast battleships). The point is that they attacked the Nevada not because it posed a threat; rather, the Japanese were still thinking about an eventual big gun fight in which the Japanese and US battleships would slug it out.

    Richard,

    You wouldn’t be accusing me of ‘dramatic license’, would you? Not that I have never been guilty of such but I don’t think so here. It would be hard to know exactly what was in the mind of the Japanese pilots. Whether they fantasized falsely about the possibility of Nevada attacking their own ships or they were just after the battleships as the first prize (as it turns out also an illusion) doesn’t make that much difference. Undoubtedly, the sight of the Nevada free and moving out to sea caused a frenzy of activity in the second wave that might have been employed far more productively if they hadn’t had the visual stimulus. Either way, it was the decision to take Nevada into action that saved a lot of additional damage to Pearl Harbor.

    Thanks for the superb input. Perhaps I’ll make more modifications in 2019.

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #5
  6. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    Naval Institute Press has a new book out about the Nevada: Silver State Dreadnought. It is good.

    I will be reviewing it in three weeks.

    Sea,

    Cool. I’ll be looking forward to it.

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #6
  7. 9thDistrictNeighbor Member
    9thDistrictNeighbor
    @9thDistrictNeighbor

    Here is a neat essay written by Taussig in 1972. He thought that the issue was that the ships in the harbor had no smaller caliber guns at that time. He died in 1999.  Here is an obituary.

    An Annapolis resident and third-generation Naval Academy graduate, Captain Taussig helped developed the Navy helicopter unit’s emergency air supply system in 1987. Called an “emergency egress device,” Navy officials credit it with saving 140 pilots.

    I couldn’t find much about Robert Sedberry save that he was the great-grandson of a Confederate artillery man who had been a POW.  He died in a military hospital in Washington state in 1944, I presume of his wounds suffered at Pearl Harbor.

    • #7
  8. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    One additional point about the attack.  It’s usually described as a “dawn raid”.  We were vacationing in Hawaii 4 years ago (on Maui, not Oahu) on December 7th.  The sun came up well over an hour before the time of the attack – I was sitting on the balcony of our hotel watching the ocean from 6 AM or so.

    Although I suppose it’s possible they’ve adjusted the time zone an hour or two since 1941.

     

    • #8
  9. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    One additional point about the attack. It’s usually described as a “dawn raid”. We were vacationing in Hawaii 4 years ago (on Maui, not Oahu) on December 7th. The sun came up well over an hour before the time of the attack – I was sitting on the balcony of our hotel watching the ocean from 6 AM or so.

    Although I suppose it’s possible they’ve adjusted the time zone an hour or two since 1941.

     

    Miffed,

    You are quite correct. There was no warning except for the sound of the planes & bombs falling. The radar was ignored as they thought it was a false image. Most were at morning services. Then all hell broke loose.

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #9
  10. Jim George Member
    Jim George
    @JimGeorge

    James, thank you very much for this fascinating post; I have not read enough –in enough depth–about that grotesque attack, and I had never known about the role of the Nevada and her incredibly brave and courageous officers and crew. I think you will also find interesting an article at spectator.org entitled, from the cable sent out as the attack was underway, “This is no drill”, which also makes many interesting points about that attack, including one similar to yours, that the second wave got so distracted they didn’t even touch fuel storage and repair facilities. As he notes, this omission eventually enabled the fleet to be rehabilitated, which led to the Battle of Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway. In illustrating the absolute surprise factor in the Japanese attack, he also makes some disquieting observations about how many times in our history we have suffered from the surprise factor, including Korea, first when the North Koreans attacked and then when the Chinese came in, and in the Cold War when the wall went up, and in Vietnam by the Tet Offensive, and when Iraq invaded Kuwait and, of course, September 11. Thanks again for your excellent post, which I am sharing with friends along with the spectator.org piece.

    By the way, as I usually try to send out pieces about significant milestones in American History to friends, as I started looking for what I thought would be a flood of articles about Pearl Harbor this morning, I was rather amazed to find very few of them, with @cliffordbrown‘s piece and yours  being two of the three, the other, of course, being the one cited above. I only hope I missed some and also hope this is not one more sign of what seems to be the growing lack of emphasis on our history in schools and, sadly, in the general citizenry as well. Hope I’m wrong. 

    God Bless America!

    Sincerely, Jim. 

    • #10
  11. ST Member
    ST
    @

    Jim George (View Comment):
    he also makes some disquieting observations about how many times in our history we have suffered from the surprise factor,

    Reason enough to fire the CIA.  How many trillions of tax dollars wasted? 

    I don’t really blame them for Pearl Harbor since they had not been borne yet but still – what waste of money!

    • #11
  12. Richard Easton Coolidge
    Richard Easton
    @RichardEaston

    The Japanese underestimated the importance of logistics.  Their submarines focused on warships rather than merchant ships.  Twice, their ships had precious U.S. support ships in their grasp and turned away (Guadalcanal and the Philippines).

    • #12
  13. Ray Kujawa Coolidge
    Ray Kujawa
    @RayKujawa

    There is an expression in Japan that reflects their culture, “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” The Nevada was the nail that stuck up. That philosophy backfired on them. Vital targets in the second invasion wave were spared. I got to hear this lesson this past summer when we visited Pearl Harbor with the Hillsdale cruise.

    • #13
  14. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    Pearl Harbor today (well, in July anyway).

    • #14
  15. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    Richard Easton (View Comment):

    The Japanese underestimated the importance of logistics. Their submarines focused on warships rather than merchant ships. Twice, their ships had precious U.S. support ships in their grasp and turned away (Guadalcanal and the Philippines).

    Japan, like Germany started the war without a strategy to win.

    Also, to follow up on your analysis, during the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese didnt attack the fleet’s fuel supply. Had they done so, the fleet’s response to Japan’s attack would have been set back months.

     

    • #15
  16. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    Hello Everyone. I was offline for Shabbos. I thought about it over Shabbos. Pearl Harbor is only Act I, Scene I of WWII in the Pacific. I think I should put up a video here in the comments that shows Act II. “Midway is East”

    Regards,

    Jim

     

    • #16
  17. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    The Japanese underestimated the importance of logistics. Their submarines focused on warships rather than merchant ships. Twice, their ships had precious U.S. support ships in their grasp and turned away (Guadalcanal and the Philippines).

    Japan, like Germany started the war without a strategy to win.

    They had a strategy, just not a well-thought-out one.  It depended on predicting how the US would behave.

    Their idea was to knock out the US fleet, grab the major portion of the South Pacific, reinforce it, then present the US with a fait accompli and sue for peace.

    They accomplished the first two quite handily, and were stopped in the third part at Midway.

    They  forgot that “suing for peace” requires the other side to agree to that peace.

     

     

    • #17
  18. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    The Japanese underestimated the importance of logistics. Their submarines focused on warships rather than merchant ships. Twice, their ships had precious U.S. support ships in their grasp and turned away (Guadalcanal and the Philippines).

    Japan, like Germany started the war without a strategy to win.

    They had a strategy, just not a well-thought-out one. It depended on predicting how the US would behave.

    Their idea was to knock out the US fleet, grab the major portion of the South Pacific, reinforce it, then present the US with a fait accompli and sue for peace.

    They accomplished the first two quite handily, and were stopped in the third part at Midway.

    They forgot that “suing for peace” requires the other side to agree to that peace.

    I dont think they forgot. I think they underestimated the American resolve.

    Ironically had they completed the attack on Pearl Harbor, with 3rd and 4th attack waves they could have forestalled American re-reinforcements in the south pacific, and given this strategy the time it needed to succeed. 

    • #18
  19. Steve C. Member
    Steve C.
    @user_531302

    The remains of sailors from the USS Oklahoma have been identified and returned to their relatives as recently as this year.

    What does it say about a nation and its institutions that it takes such care about the memories of such men?

    • #19
  20. Steve C. Member
    Steve C.
    @user_531302

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    The Japanese underestimated the importance of logistics. Their submarines focused on warships rather than merchant ships. Twice, their ships had precious U.S. support ships in their grasp and turned away (Guadalcanal and the Philippines).

    Japan, like Germany started the war without a strategy to win.

    They had a strategy, just not a well-thought-out one. It depended on predicting how the US would behave.

    Their idea was to knock out the US fleet, grab the major portion of the South Pacific, reinforce it, then present the US with a fait accompli and sue for peace.

    They accomplished the first two quite handily, and were stopped in the third part at Midway.

    They forgot that “suing for peace” requires the other side to agree to that peace.

    I dont think they forgot. I think they underestimated the American resolve.

    Ironically had they completed the attack on Pearl Harbor, with 3rd and 4th attack waves they could have forestalled American re-reinforcements in the south pacific, and given this strategy the time it needed to succeed.

    There’s quite a constituency for questioning Nagumo’s decision to break off the attack. But Nagumo was characteristically not a Halsey type. He was aware the carriers weren’t at Pearl. In his mind, as the custodian of Japan’s major strike force, he could not risk his carriers.

    Nagumo’s conservative temperament arguably contributed to his defeat at Midway.

    • #20
  21. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    The Japanese underestimated the importance of logistics. Their submarines focused on warships rather than merchant ships. Twice, their ships had precious U.S. support ships in their grasp and turned away (Guadalcanal and the Philippines).

    Japan, like Germany started the war without a strategy to win.

    They had a strategy, just not a well-thought-out one. It depended on predicting how the US would behave.

    Their idea was to knock out the US fleet, grab the major portion of the South Pacific, reinforce it, then present the US with a fait accompli and sue for peace.

    They accomplished the first two quite handily, and were stopped in the third part at Midway.

    They forgot that “suing for peace” requires the other side to agree to that peace.

    I dont think they forgot. I think they underestimated the American resolve.

    Ironically had they completed the attack on Pearl Harbor, with 3rd and 4th attack waves they could have forestalled American re-reinforcements in the south pacific, and given this strategy the time it needed to succeed.

    In the lead up to war, most of the navy and air leaders at one point or another expressed their belief that Japan could not win a war against the U.S.   Unfortunately, they did this privately.  The army leaders waited for the navy to back down, not wanting to take the blame, while the navy did the opposite.  The biggest sticking point was the American demand that Japan withdraw from China.  Even though the leaders in Tokyo knew the China invasion had not worked out and become a quagmire they all feared they would lose face if they proposed agreeing to the demand.  The commander of the Japanese army in China actually recommended agreeing to the American demand but was ignored in Tokyo.

    The Yamamot0 strategy was a desperate gamble that few had confidence in.

    • #21
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