Attack On The Japanese Cruiser "isuzu"

[Silver Shield]

This is a copy of the happenings of April 6th 1945 when Australian aircrews attempted an attack on the light cruiser Isuzu. (not sure how to move it but it is in the comments below)

Things didn't go so well on the day and my grandfather was there as an Air Sea Rescue was carried out. He was in a B-24 Liberator flying some short distance away just in case they were needed.
His log book entry shows a flying time of around 11 hours 20 minutes day time and 1 hour 30 minutes night time.
There have been a few mentions of this event in various books and this just adds to the complete story from first hand by the co-pilot Keith Robey.
The pilot Eldin Moore was awarded the distinguished flying cross for this day.
There has been a painting representing this rescue by Jim Mitchell. I have a copy of it although would love to get an original one day!

This post has been edited by Silver Shield on Apr 15 2024, 07:21 AM

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[Silver Shield]

Bugger I'm having trouble adding PDF's and images to this post?

[Shep]

Not sure if one can load a pdf or not - for images, the data size limit is quite small (less than 300KB) - perhaps pdf might be the same ??

I was in the process of drafting an article for the (now extinct) ADF-Serials Telegraph on the RAAF components of the attack on the ISUZU.

I hope you can load your attachment.

AND one image at a time.

Edit (the one at a time bit).

This post has been edited by Shep on Apr 14 2024, 01:07 PM

[Silver Shield]

The Silver Shield image by Jim Mitchell

This post has been edited by Silver Shield on Apr 14 2024, 01:44 PM

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[Silver Shield]

The log book entry for A72-72 by Donald Frances Smith.

This post has been edited by Silver Shield on Apr 14 2024, 01:33 PM

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[Silver Shield]

Eldin Moore and crew of B-24 A72-72

My grandfather Donald Smith is standing at the right of the photo



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[Silver Shield]

Keith Schilling was the survivor picked up by the Catalina that day

This post has been edited by Silver Shield on Apr 14 2024, 01:39 PM

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[Shep]

Excellent info, SS. Thanks very much for posting.

An awful lot of effort and expense for no RAAF result.

My little bit of research showed that, with regard to RAAF Operations launched against the IJN Cruiser ISUZU,

18 Missions from 05APR to 08APR, totaling 54 individual aircraft sorties, of which 2 RTB’d and 3 FTR (costing the lives of 20 RAAF members).

138 bombs dropped for 2 “claimed” hits.

Units involved were:

2SQN, 3 missions/14 sorties (1 RTB – one of two duties on HUG2).
Missions HUG49/6 Apr [Strike Convoy], HUG1/7 Apr [Recce Cover for ASR E], HUG2/8 Apr [Search for Survivors]. HUG49 dropped 39 bombs for no hits.

13SQN, 1 mission/2 sorties.
Mission GOV47/7 Apr [Recce Cover for ASR E].

18SQN, 1 mission/11 sorties (1 RTB).
Mission NEI27/6 Apr [Strike Convoy]. Dropped 39 bombs for 2 claimed hits.

20SQN, 1 mission/1 sortie.
Mission ZEA44/6 Apr [ASR – Search for Survivors of M].

21SQN, 2 missions/5 sorties.
Missions FEN24/6 Apr [Top Cover for ASR E], FEN30/6 Apr [Strike]. 21SQN component of FEN30 dropped 28 bombs for no hits.

24SQN, 3 missions/8 sorties of which 2 FTR (both part of FEN30).
Missions FEN30/6 Apr [Strike], FEN31/6 Apr [Top Cover ASR E], FEN37/7 Apr [Top Cover ASR E]. 24SQN component of FEN30 dropped 32 bombs for no hits.

43SQN, 3 missions/6 sorties.
Missions ZDG44/5 Apr [Locate and Shadow Convoy], ZDG45/5 Apr [Locate and Shadow Convoy], ZDG47/6 Apr [ASR – Search for Survivors of M].

87SQN, 4 missions/5 sorties.
Missions COO5/5 Apr [Locate Convoy], COO6/6 Apr [Shadow Convoy], COO7/7 Apr [Re-locate Convoy] and COO8/8 Apr [P/R KOMODO Island (looking for convoy)].

112ASR Flt, 1 mission/2 sorties of which 1 FTR (Failed to Return).
Mission ZDG46/6 Apr [ASR].

293.3 operational hours on strike and reconnaissance operations (not including re or pre-positioning), and
193.5 hours on search and rescue and supporting operations (again not including re-positioning or pre-positioning). This total might not be accurate as I hadn’t finished collating all of the information before work on this article stopped.

Three aircraft destroyed, 20 aircrew dead for (perhaps) 2 hits, neither of which affected the cruiser's ability to escape the scene of action. ISUZU was later sunk by a US submarine.

Submarines involved were:

USS BESUGO (SS-321). Made the original sighting report on 04APR from which the RAAF involvement stemmed. This unit was unable to launch an attack upon initial sighting, but made an attack on the ISUZU during the small hours of 05APR, launching 6 torpedoes – all missed and fired a 7th torpedo at one of the escorts which also missed. BESUGO made further attacks on 06APR, launching 9 more torpedoes at ISUZU (all missed) and 6 others at one of the escorts for 2 hits, the first damaged the vessel and the second sunk it.

USS GABILAN (SS-252). Fired 5 torpedoes at ISUZU for one hit – these attacks were after the RAAF attempts at hitting the Cruiser.

USS CHARR (SS-328). Fired 6 torpedoes at ISUZU for 3 hits. Shortly after the 3rd hit, ISUZU broke apart, rolled over and sank. This info only being heard by the crew of the CHARR as it had dived deep to avoid depth charges from one of ISUZU’s escorts.

HMS SPARK (P-236). Attacked ISUZU with 4 torpedoes on 04APR (all missed). Witnessed the destruction of ISUZU by the CHARR on 07APR.

[Silver Shield]

Thanks Shep.

Keith Robey Article


Not sure if this is the best way to do it but it's here!

This post has been edited by Silver Shield on Apr 14 2024, 02:28 PM

[Brenden S]

Great to see the message board being used for some great research.