Charles L. Burbage US Navy USS Detroit |
Captain Charles L. Burbage, after graduating from high school in Ocean City, Maryland, joined the Navy in 1935. In 1937, he entered the US Naval Academy. With the war in Europe underway since September 1, 1939, the 1941 class of midshipmen graduated five months early to accommodate the rapidly expanding US Navy. Captain Burbage's first assignment after graduation was to the light cruiser, USS Detroit at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He was on watch as the Officer of the Deck on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He served aboard the Detroit in the South Pacific and in the Aleutians until March, 1943, when he was ordered to flight training. Upon receiving his aviator wings, he reported to Fighting Squadron Five, attached to the aircraft carrier USS Franklin. Captain Burbage was aboard when she was kamikazed by the Japanese off Japan, resulting in nine hundred killed and fifteen hundred wounded. After the war, he commanded two fighter squadrons, an air wing, and later commanded the fleet oilier USS Canisteo and the aircraft carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt. After thirty-six years of active duty service, Captain and Mrs. Burbage retired in the Memphis area, following his final tour as Commanding Officer of the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Memphis, Tennessee. They have six grown children living across the United States, from Alaska to Maryland. Captain Burbage is an active member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors organization, the Retired Officers Association, AARP, the Golden Eagles, and the Association of Naval Aviators. He was recently honored at the reunion of his USS Detroit shipmates, and presented with his original handwritten log detailing the events of December seventh. After spending nearly four years researching and verifying the United States and Japanese Navies' positions leading up to and during the Pearl Harbor attack, he has been called upon many times to give his detailed and personal account of this historical event. Captain Burbage's recollections will bring you alongside and in port on that "day of infamy." I was the officer-of-the-deck of the light cruiser USS Detroit moored on the West Side of Ford Island. There were four or five enlisted men in my watch team and we were standing our watch on the quarterdeck of the ship. Our chores were primarily running a boat schedule, sending off church parties to attend Sunday services, and generally carry out the regular ship's routine for a Sunday morning. We had allowed fifty per cent of the crew to go ashore the previous day, but many usually returned to the ship rather than spend the night in Honolulu or Waikiki. As a guess, perhaps two thirds of our crew was aboard when the attack commenced. At 0755 from the quarterdeck, we noticed dive-bombers diving on the aircraft hangars on Ford Island. We were quite surprised, as no drills were scheduled that day. We were even more surprised to see the bombs they dropped exploding, with a lot of debris flying through the air and starting fires. The signalman up on the signal bridge of the ship yelled down to me that there was a signal flying at the Fleet Control Center indicating"Air Raid. This is no drill". I had the boatswain mate sound the general alarm, the signal for everyone to man their battle stations. I started running towards the Captain's cabin, up forward in the ship, to get the keys to our ammunition magazines. The keys, those days, were kept in a small steel box welded to one of the bulkheads in the cabin. The box had a glass front and, although locked, you could get the keys by breaking the glass. Just as I passed the superstructure of the ship where I could see on the port side, I saw a torpedo aircraft coming directly at us at deck level. He dropped his torpedo, and then commenced strafing us with bullets, hitting the superstructure. The aircraft was flown by a Japanese Lieutenant Commander, the leader of five aircraft attacking the ships on the West Side of Ford Island. For some reason, his torpedo missed us and was later recovered intact. The torpedo dropped from the second aircraft and hit the Raleigh directly behind us, exploding in her forward engine room. Sinking, she was in danger of capsizing. The Raleigh has the distinction of being the first ship hit by a Japanese torpedo in World War II. The Torpedo from the next tow aircraft hit the Utah moored two ships behind us, and she slowly capsized. Fifty-eight men are entombed in her. The fifth aircraft could not get lined up on a target on the West Side of Ford Island. Directly in front of him was a large ship. He dropped his torpedo, which went under the shallow draft minelayer, Oglala, hitting the cruiser, Helena. The concussion blew off the bottom plates of the Oglala. They were able to push the Oglala clear of the Helena, just before the Oglala capsized onto the dock. The Detroit's navigator, the senior officer on duty, who apparently was already dressed, came running out of his cabin. When I told him we were under attack, he relieved me as officer of the deck. I immediately went to my battle station up in the superstructure and was able to get control of our four three-inch anti-aircraft guns. In a few minutes, we commenced firing at the enemy aircraft. While the above was going on, torpedo planes were attacking the battleships. There was a wave of thirteen torpedo planes, followed close by a second wave of nine, a third wave of eight, then a few scattered ones. A total of forty torpedoes were dropped in the harbor during the first five minutes of the attack. The results of the torpedo attack on the battleships were as follows: Nevada received one hit up in her bow and was taking on a lot of water; Arizona received three hits and was singing; West Virginia received either six or seven hits and was sinking: Oklahoma received four hitsshe had all of her water tight hatches open, preparing for an inspection Monday morning and capsized before they could get them closed; and the California, which had her water tight hatches open also, received two hits and took on a severe list. The crew abandoned ship until the damage control people could get the list under control, then remanned the ship and continued fighting. Of a total of forty torpedoes dropped, twenty or twenty-one hit our ships. The dive-bombers which were first in on the attack did not do as well as the torpedo aircraft. Every ship was subjected to dive-bomber attacks, although the priority was the battleships. Those attacking us missed, with the bombs falling off our port quarter. The same was true of those attacking the Raleigh, Tangier, Curtis and the nests of destroyers anchored in the harbor. One bomb from one of the dive-bombers fell between two boats loaded with sailors just astern of a nest of destroyers anchored forward of our ship. The explosion sank both boats, drowning and wounding a number of those men. It is my understanding the dive bomber pilots of the first wave, upon returning to their ships, apologized to Admiral Nagumo for their poor results. They said the anti-aircraft fire was so intense they could not get on their targets. The dive-bombers, who were concentrating on the battleships, pulled out of their dives in a westerly direction and passing close by our ships moored on the West Side of Ford Island. The pilots had been trained to start pulling out of their dives at fifteen hundred feet; hence most were at the level of our decks as they passed us. They strafed us as we shot at them. About ten minutes after the battle started, I noticed a group of five aircraft at a high altitude approaching the battleships from the southeast. I shifted our guns onto them and was firing at them as they passed over the battleships and then towards us. They turned back to the east and we could not see them drop anything. Fuchida was in this group of aircraft. He stated that as they approached the battleships, a cumulus cloud obscured the battleships, causing them to go back and make another attempt. At this time, a large piece of shrapnel hit his aircraft but did no major damage to it. The aircraft went back to the east to start a second run on the battleships, falling in behind the second group of bombers. As they were approaching the battleships again, there was a violent explosion. I thought it was an ammunition dump exploding. The second flight of high altitude bombers had scored a hit on the forward ammunition magazine of the Arizona. Over eleven hundred men are still entombed in her. Fuchida said the fireball from the explosion went thirty-five hundred feet into the air, causing severe turbulence at his altitude of nine thousand feet. When Fuchida's group approached the battleships on their second run, shrapnel hit the third aircraft in the formation, knocking the bomb off the bomb rack. It fell short of the target. They continued the run, with the battleship Maryland as the target, scoring two hits and two misses. The ship's log of the Maryland indicated one hit and one near miss exploding alongside. The Neosho, a fleet oilier, had just arrived at Pearl Harbor with three million gallons of hi-octane gas and diesel oil aboard. It moored at Ford Island to pump gasoline into the storage tanks there. As the attack started, the skipper realized the vulnerability of his ship, as well as its close proximity to the other ships. He cast off his lines and backed his ship away from the dock, barely clearing the Oklahoma, which had capsized. He backed the ship over to the other side of the harbor. The Japanese, so intent on sinking the battleships, completely ignored the Neosho. Had they attacked her, causing her to explode, it is believed the Neosho would have caused more damage and casualties than the entire Japanese attack. Neosho was later sunk in the Coral Sea battle. The first wave assault continued until 0835. During the first attack, one torpedo plane was shot down off our port side, crashing into the water. A dive-bomber was shot down off our starboard side, crashing on Ford Island. At 0850, the seaplane tenders Tangier and Curtis, began shooting at a miniature Japanese submarine coming down the channel. The destroyer Monghan, moored in the north part of the harbor, had been ordered to get underway. It was to go outside the harbor and assist another destroyer, the Ward, which had submarine contacts at the harbor entrance. The skipper of the Monaghan was working his way out of the harbor when he sighted the Japanese submarine. He increased speed and appeared to be making about fifteen knots when they went by us. He tried to run over the submarine, but sideswiped it as he went by. Then, he dropped two depth charges on the submarine, breaking it into two parts. The submarine, with it's two dead crew members, was later salvaged and used as part of a land fill at the submarine base. To show the determination of the Japanese, while he was under attack, that submarine commander fired both of his torpedoes, one at the Curtis, and the other at the Monaghan. Fortunately, both torpedoes missed their targets. At 0855, the second wave of the attack began. Commander Fuchida, circling above, could not see any of the battleships because of heavy smoke and fire. He ordered the second wave to attack the ships in the north side of the harbor and the West Side of Ford Island. For about fifteen minutes, all of us were subjected to the full concentration of the second wave. Again, they apparently had trouble getting on the targets as no one was hit on our side of Ford Island. The bombs dropped by the dive bombers hit off our port side. During these attacks, someone hit one of the dive-bombers, which was trying to bomb the group of destroyers moored off our bow, and he caught fire. The Japanese bomber was piloted by Lieutenant Suzuki. When he flew by us he was completely on fire and I expected him to explode. Either he was World War II's first kamikaze pilot or else he was lucky, because the aircraft crashed on the Curtis, setting her on fire. It killed twenty-six men and injured the same. A short time later, another dive-bomber or fighter actually hit the Curtis with a bomb, causing more fires and casualties. Someone shot down another bomber diving on the Curtis, and I saw it explode in a nearby cane field. A third aircraft was shot down near us, crashing on Ford Island. About ten minutes into this attack, I saw a group of high altitude bombers approaching us, and we shifted our guns onto them. As the first of three aircraft dropped their bombs, we could follow the bombs with the naked eye. The bombs were coming straight at us with no deflection. I was convinced we were finally going to get hit. These were eighteen hundred-pound battleship gun shells the Japanese had converted into bombs by welding fins on them. They had long delayed action fuses, which would penetrate our ships before exploding. There was no question that we felt helpless. There was no place to duck into, so all we could do was watch them come. By a miracle, these three bombs barely missed us and hit the water on our starboard side. The next three bombers dropped their loads on the Raleigh, which had already sunk to the bottom. Two of the bombs hit the water on her starboard side and the third went through her fantail, just missing an aviation gasoline storage tank. When these bombs exploded, they still did not capsize the Raleigh, as the crew had put over a number of extra lines and these held fast. Shortly after the horizontal bomber attack, we noted a large concentration of aircraft over battleship row again. Burning oil from the Arizona was encroaching upon both sides of the Nevada, which had already been hit by one torpedo. The Nevada's officers were afraid this oil would get inside the big hole in her bow, possibly setting off one of her ammunition magazines. Lieutenant Commander Thomas, the senior officer on board, got the ship underway. When she cleared the smoke and fire, Commander Fuchida, circling above spotted her. He ordered a concentrated attack in the hopes of sinking her in the channel. The Japanese hit her with several bombs, causing numerous fires on the deck. Realizing the ship would probably sink in the channel; Thomas ran her aground on the West Side of the channel across from the naval hospital. A couple of tug boars came out from the shipyard and pushed Nevada's stern clear of the channel. While attacking the Nevada, one of the Japanese flight leaders spotted the battleship Pennsylvania in dry dock with two destroyers, the Cassin and Downes, in the same dry dock just ahead of her. A number of dive-bombers concentrated on the Pennsylvania, achieving one hit on her boat deck, doing very little damage. However, a bomb fell between the two destroyers, knocking one of the destroyers off it's chocks, causing it to fall over against the other one. When the attack began, a decision was made to flood the dry dock, which was about half flooded when the Pennsylvania was attacked. Several dive-bombers spotted the destroyer Shaw in a floating dry dock. She was hit, causing some fires inside the ship. Before the fires were brought under control, the forward magazine exploded in a spectacular display. The entire bow, from the bridge structure forward, disappeared in the explosion. By 0935, the second wave of the attacking Japanese retired, and it was all over. We anticipated more attacks, but none materialized. About 1000, the fleet commander asked all ships that could get underway to report. My ship, the Detroit, the St. Louis, and the Phoenix reported they could get underway. A few destroyers reported also. The fleet commander directed the St. Louis to clear the harbor. When she was in the outer channel, a Japanese submarine fired two torpedoes at her, but both apparently hit the bottom, exploding short of the St. Louis. Once the St. Louis cleared the outer channel, we were directed to get underway. We passed out of the inner channel at twelve o'clock. A destroyer reported two torpedoes were seen crossing our track, but I know of no one on our ship who saw them. When we were clear of the outer channel, the Phoenix was next to leave the harbor, clearing the channel with no problems. A half dozen destroyers followed the three cruisers out of the harbor. My ship was the flagship of Rear Admiral Milo F. Draemel, Commander, Destroyers Battleforce. He was ordered to take charge of the Detroit, the St. Louis, and a small group of destroyers, and proceed to the north to search for the enemy. We of course, did not make contact with the Japanese, as they had retired to the west. On our way back to Pearl Harbor, a Japanese submarine fired a spread of torpedoes through our formation, but none of the ships were hit. On Wednesday, December 10th, we again entered Pearl Harbor, this time to the most disheartening sight I have ever seen. Eighteen ships were sunk or capsized. Aircraft on the parking aprons were burned. The hangers were destroyed. Many other ships were in various stages of damage. The surface of the harbor was covered with black oil, floating debris, and bodies. In the days that followed the attack, all ships other than the Utah and Arizona were salvaged. Debris, oil and bodies were quickly removed. The Detroit left almost immediately with a convoy, carrying the wounded and dependents back to San Francisco. The Navy and Army hospitals, along with the hospital ship Solace, cared for the eleven hundred and seventy-eight wounded soldiers, sailors, marines and civilians. We lost two thousand four hundred and three Americans during the attack. The Japanese lost twenty-nine aircraft and crews, five midget submarines, and one large submarine. In addition, seventy-six Japanese aircraft, which returned to their carriers, were severely damaged by anti-aircraft fire. Thirty-two of those aircraft were pushed over the side as unrepairable. On our ship, only one man was wounded by a piece of shrapnel. It really was a miracle. The "Old Man up there" was truly on our side that day. ADDENDUM After the attack was over, Fuchida was still flying over Pearl Harbor at fourteen thousand feet, taking pictures and assessing the damage. He then flew to the rendezvous point off the West Coast of Oahu. There, he found two Japanese fighters circling in the hope of finding someone to lead them back to their aircraft carriers. He took them under his wing and led them home, arriving aboard the aircraft carrier Akagi at 1330. He immediately went up to the bridge of the ship to request additional attacks be made to destroy the fuel dumps, shipyards, and any ships not previously hit. Nagumo kept asking for a report of damages to the US Pacific Fleet. Finally, Fuchida felt he had to give Nagumo an estimate for damages, and told him there were at least five battleships sunk, damaged cruisers, etc. Nagumo said they accomplished what they had set out to do, and he would not order any more strikes against us. The Japanese retired to the north at high speed, then took a westerly course back to Japan. When Yamamoto received a report that Nagumo was pulling out without striking our fuel dumps and shipyard, he was livid. Some of his staff suggested he relieve Nagumo on the spot. Yamamoto said that if he relieved him, undoubtedly, Nagumo would commit suicide, and this would play into the hands of the United States. He further stated that, after all, Nagumo had led the attack and, in his mind, was doing the proper thing. However, from that time on, Nagumo lived under a cloud of mistrust. During the battle for Saipan, Nagumo did commit suicide. We were very fortunate at Pearl Harbor that Yamamoto requested the Navy Ministry allow him command of the Pearl Harbor attack group, but was denied. Had he been in charge, there is no question but that many more attacks would have occurred. We were also very fortunate that Admiral Kimmel brought us into port on December 5th. Had we been at sea and the Japanese located us, our ships would have been in deep water, resulting in many more casualties. As it was, all except three ships sunk at Pearl Harbor, later saw action in World War Two. |
Information provided by Charles L. Burbage. |
