Johnny Horton is gone, but if any sea fight deserves a song it is the Battle off Samar. This one is still under construction and I haven't got the music yet - something between "Sink the Bismarck" and "Good Ship Ruben James" with a repeating chorus ... feel free to chime in Vern. You're a better poet than I am.
"The Battle off Samar"
The month it was October in nineteen forty four
four divisions of the Army had landed on Leyte shore
five hundred ships at anchor, the beachhead packed with men
sitting ducks for the giant guns of the navy of Japan
It was a desperate gamble, an all or nothing run
between the allied navies and the ships of the rising sun
The Japanese split their fleet up, center, south and north
Center Force the strongest, Kurita in command
Musashi and Yamato, Haruna and the Kongo
Plus Nagato were the strong cards in his hand.
Kurita had ten heavy cruisers and two more light
and fifteen fast destroyers steaming through the night
waiting for them off Palawan were the Darter and the Dace
the two subs closed thirty thousand yards in a daring nighttime race
It was a desperate gamble, an all or nothing run
between the allied navies and the ships of the rising sun
Darter and Dace fired their fish and two big cruisers went down
Kurita was on Atago, had to swim or he would drown
Takao limped back to Brunei and the Center Force steamed on
Kurita got on the Yamato while the Darter ran aground
Next day was the 24th and they were in the Sibuyan Sea
McCain’s carriers could have had them but they were off to Ulithi
It was Halsey sent those carriers off it was Halsey who called them back
Old sailors tell not a chance in hell they could join in the attack
It was a desperate gamble, an all or nothing run
between the allied navies and the ships of the rising sun
Well the planes got the mighty Musashi and sent her mighty guns
off to the bottom of the ocean in the Sea of Sibuyan
But Center Force broke off the fight as the day was getting late
Passed the wrecked Musashi and disappeared up San Bernardino Strait
Halsey had a mighty fleet, fast battleships and CVAs
He said he would block the Center Force and protect the Leyte base
but the scout planes found the Northern Force and Halsey took the bait
took his fleet and left Taffy 3 to block San Bernardino Strait
It was a desperate gamble, an all or nothing run
between the allied navies and the ships of the rising sun
Taffy 3 wasn’t much of a fleet but it was all that we had there
Its scout planes patrolled the Philippine Sea off the island of Samar
Gambier Bay, Fanshaw Bay, and the older ship White Plains
three DDs and four DEs and less than 90 planes
Kincaid sent a message to Nimitz begging for help in the fight
Nimitz sent out a message and Halsey took it as a slight
“turkey trots to water GG from CINCPAC action Com
Where is task force thirty four, the world wonders” … some
It was a desperate gamble, an all or nothing run
between the allied navies and the ships of the rising sun
Admiral Sprague was a fighter and a sailor through and through
He saw the mighty Center Force and knew what he had to do
It was all or nothing, do or die off the Island of Samar
Taffy 3 wasn’t much of a fleet, but it was what was there
Sprague launched his planes against the foe and sent the tin cans in
the Johnston laid a cloud of smoke then put the throttles to flank
on a zigzag course and faster than hell, she fired her shells
and then she launched ten fish.
It was a desperate gamble, an all or nothing run
between the allied navies and the ships of the rising sun
Those fish were shot at 9,000 yards and some of them did go wide
Three of them hit Kumano and Kongo had to turn aside
Kumano’s bow went down like a rock and Suzuya dropped out of the line
Battleships and cruisers scattered and ruined by that one little tin can
Too many hits from the big ships guns, too many sailors who died
Dead in the water and a sitting duck, under the Johnston did slide
Two hundred men and a fighting ship who gave it their all in the fight
The Japanese sailors gave a salute as the Johnston sank out of sight
It was a desperate gamble, an all or nothing run
between the allied navies and the ships of the rising sun
Samuel B Roberts was a little DE, runt of the Navy’s litter
But with Copeland in charge and 200 men she wasn’t a coward or quitter
flank speed ahead for the living and dead she charged at the mighty Chokai
she was too close to miss when she launched her three fish
and blew the stern off the fearsome Chokai
The Roberts fired all her shells into Chikuma and Chokai
The Japs fired back till nothing was left but single five-inch gun
and a mortally wounded gunners mate cried out these dying words
“someone load me so I can get off one more round”
It was a desperate gamble, an all or nothing run
between the allied navies and the ships of the rising sun
Hoel was a brand new Fletcher Class can with barely a year at sea
She laid down some smoke and got in harm’s way so Gambier Bay could get free
She took forty hits from the big ships guns but kept firing all she had
Her guns and her fish was her dying wish and Yamato turned tail to flee
Heerman was a lucky ship that lived to tell the tale
of the smoke she laid and the shells she shot and the fish that did not fail
to force Yamato out of the fight and put Kongo under fire that day
Chikuma, Haruna and Tone she ran right at them and put them in disarray
It was a desperate gamble, an all or nothing run
between the allied navies and the ships of the rising sun
They called her a Kaiser Coffin, they called her a f***ing slowpoke
the Gambier Bay launched all her planes and ran off into the smoke
but an eight inch shell from Chikuma’s guns wiped out one engine room
and Yamato sailed up to point blank range and sealed that good ship’s doom
Four hundred planes filled the morning skies, like angry hornets or buzzing flies
Until their bombs were all dropped, their torpedoes were fired and gone
they made strafing runs with their wing-mounted guns
and long as they had fuel they just kept coming on
It was a desperate gamble, an all or nothing run
it was do or die on the sea in the sky for the ships of the rising sun
three cruisers sunk and the rest crippled or shot up in the fight
Kurita gathered his scattered force and steamed off into the night
copyright 2017, jon norstog
