NARRATOR: Previously, on "Battle 3 60." A new and improved
USS Enterpr stormed the Gilbert Islands
in a deadly encounter with the Japanese. Now, she's poised to deliver
the same brand of punishment to Truk Atoll, one of
Japan's largest and most important ports in the Pacific. USS Enterprise, a
fighting city of steel. She is the most revered
and decorated ship of WW2. On this 360 degree battlefield,
where threats loom on the seas, in the skies, and
in the ocean depths, the Enterprise's enemies could
be anywhere and everywhere. There's no where to run when
the war is all around you. Battle 360, USS Enterprise-- Hammer of Hell. February 15, 1944,
Central Pacific. USS Enterprise is steaming
toward the Caroline Islands. On either side of her,
stretching nearly as far as the eye can see, are eight
other aircraft carriers, six battleships, 10 cruisers,
and dozens of destroyers. America's industrial
might has finally come up to speed, and
reinforce the Pacific fleet with adequate numbers of
vessels to face down the enemy. Gone are the days of Enterprise
venturing out alone as the only operational US carrier. But while the force she
accompanies today is large, it's a force that's facing a
potentially cataclysmic battle. [music playing] 500 miles ahead of these ships
at the heart of the Caroline Islands group is Truk Atoll,
one of the largest atolls in the Central Pacific. An atoll is an island formation
in which a coral reef encircles a lagoon. The reef that rings Truk Atoll
is 140 miles long and 33 miles in diameter, creating a
massive lagoon that is home to five major islands and
dozens of smaller ones. This island formation provides
a very large and very secure harbor area, and the Japanese
Navy typically anchors over 100 ships here. It was, for the Japanese,
one of the most important fleet-operating bases that they
maintained during the Second World War. NARRATOR: Many compare
it to Pearl Harbor. It had to ship anchorage
areas, three or four airfields, machine shops. You name it. NARRATOR: Three of
Truk's Islands-- Moen, Param, and Eten-- contain airfields
with runways, hangars, and fuel storage facilities. The main island, Dublon,
is home to headquarters and communications buildings. To protect these
extensive assets, the atoll is bristling with
anti-aircraft batteries, based around weapons like
dual-mounted Type 89, 127 millimeter gun. A fearsome aircraft menace,
it delivers a 5 inch, 50 pound projectile. And can pick off aircraft at
altitudes up to 25,000 feet. Carrier aircraft rarely
operate above 20,000 feet. Truk's anti-aircraft
batteries are on most of the main islands. And a few are even hidden
in tunnels, burrowed into hillsides. USS Enterprise
fighters and bombers will soon face those guns. Enterprise and her massive
task force are on a mission. Target-- Truk Atoll. Objective-- USS
Enterprise aircraft will destroy enemy ships at
anchor, crater airfields, and explode part enemy bombers. Strategy-- Enterprise
fighter planes will gain air superiority, while
dive bombers sink enemy ships, and torpedo bombers decimate
airfields with contact bombs. The US Navy must neutralize
Truk as a bomber base. The Americans have begun
an island-hopping campaign to reach Japan. And bombers from Truk
can disrupt the strategy. The faster than we can chew
up the Japanese air forces in these regions, the quicker
that we can move on, hop to the next island chain, and
get closer to the home islands. NARRATOR: But the
Japanese, no doubt, will defend Truk ferociously. [music playing] Assaulting the island fortress
is an intimidating prospect for many men on Enterprise. It's difficult to
convey the, sort of, sinister air that
Truk had about it during the first
half of the war. Partly, that was due to the
fact that so little was known about it. The Japanese that occupied
Truk for years and years. They had never let any
Allied Naval observers into this region of the world. And so, so far as we knew, it
was this Central Pacific rock of Gibraltar, if you will. NARRATOR: The fortified
promontory at Gibraltar, of course, is an icon
for invincibility. Iowan James Ramage, then a
28-year-old dive bomber pilot, recalls when he first got word
of the proposed attack on Truk. He and fellow pilots were
conducting their daily workout. I can remember, we were
pushing a medicine ball around the flight deck one day. And our group commander
came around and said, we're going to Truk. And all I could say is, wow. Because that was their
stronghold and that was, kind of, a bogey man. NARRATOR: February
16th, 1944, 6:45 AM. 12 Hellcat fighters launch
from aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. The fighters join up with
60 additional Hellcats from other nearby carriers. And the combined
force of 72 planes speeds toward Truk Atoll. Gain air superiority. Take out any Japanese zeros that
come up from Truk to meet them. 90 miles Southwest, 7:15 AM. More than 50 enemy
fighters take off from airstrips at Truk Atoll. Their mission--
intercept and kill the encroaching
American fighter planes. The Zero is more maneuverable
and has a longer range than the Hellcat. But the American fighter is
faster, has better armor, and better armament. And most important of
all, American pilots are far better trained than
their Japanese counterparts by this point in the war. Soon, when enemy meets enemy
over Truk's outer coral reef, it's a frantic,
murderous aerial clash. There was all kinds of
crazy air combat going on. It must've looked like
fly soup up there. And about every
30 seconds or so, you could see a Japanese Zero
on fire, steaming straight for the water. NARRATOR: But in the maelstrom
of zinging lead from both Zeros in the air and anti-aircraft
batteries on the ground, four American Hellcats
also tumble from the sky. This is no cakewalk
for the Americans. In the frenetic maneuvering,
each pilot constantly struggles to maintain
orientation and separate friend from foe. You're not only concerned
about your own aircraft, but trying to keep track
of all your wingman. And then you're trying to
track where the bogeys are. you're trying to take
in consideration, all the visual factors
that are out there. You have the sun. You have all these
bad guy planes. You have all these
good guy planes. And you need to make sure that
you most effectively prosecute them. NARRATOR: And, of course,
these aerial shoot-outs are all by eyesight only. The pilots have no modern
advantages of radar, heads up displays, or electronic
blocking on target. They have no high
tech help at all. Pilot Don "Flash" Gordon gets
a shot at downing enemy Zeros, just as he crosses
over Truk's outer reef. His plane is part of a
section of four Hellcats from Enterprise. Gordon already has three kills
at this point in the war. His first two came
in October 1942, when he downed two Japanese
[inaudible] torpedo bombers in the Battle of Santa Cruz. His third came
just two weeks ago, in an early morning attack on
Tarawa in the Marshall Islands. I saw through the
clouds at an airfield. And then on top of the
clouds, 5,000 feet below us were eight Zeros
spread out, no formation. So we made one pass and
three of us got a Zero. NARRATOR: Two more
kills and Flash can lay claim to the
coveted designation of Ace. He is hoping today is his day. And the opportunity
is, at present, directly in front of him. Two miles ahead and 45
degrees above Don Gordon and his section, four Zeros
are making an attack run on the Americans. It's four on four. Gordon spots the enemy Zero's
first, and goes for his guns. The Zero is 12 o'clock
and pulled up my nose, and I got the leader. And the section leader got
one and my wingman got one. But number four, he wasn't
lined up for the fourth guy. NARRATOR: He's only
got one more to go. Elsewhere, the mid-air jousting
over Truk Atoll continues. Across the lagoon, the pilot
of a riddled Japanese plane bails out. But the pilot's
clothes are on fire. He burns to death, swinging
beneath his parachute on the way down to the water. start of the explosive actionue over Truk, the combat
in the sky diminishes to occasional flashes. Straggling Zeros
making futile last jabs at the American squadrons. Our 72 planes took
command of the air. And as far as we were
concerned, the only fighters that were left were strays. NARRATOR: Not a moment too soon. 10 miles Northeast, a
squadron of 12 torpedo bombers from Enterprise meets
another from USS Yorktown, the new carrier named for
Enterprise's sister ship lost at Midway. They are just finishing
their 90-mile flight from the American
task force, and are starting to reach the edge
of Truk's barrier reef. The American torpedo
bomber aircraft are Grumman TBF Avengers,
the state of the art. With a 1,700 horsepower
engine, the Avenger is armed with three 50-caliber
machine guns and one 30-caliber machine gun. It can carry either a
single marked 13 torpedo, two 1,000 pound bombs, four 500
pound bombs, or 12 100 pound bombs. Avenger air crew select the type
of bombs they'll deliver based on mission. Torpedoes for striking
ships beneath the surface of the water. 1,000 pound contact bombs-- bombs that explode on
contact with the target-- for attacking the decks
of the biggest ships. 500 pound contact bombs for
attacking ships or exploding buildings on the ground. 100 pound contact bombs
for smaller vessels, smaller buildings, or
for cratering airstrips so the enemy cannot
launch or land planes. Delayed fuse bombs for very
low level bombing raids, which allow the bombers
to clear the target area before detonation. This way, the bomber itself does
not get caught in the blast. We had quite a variety. NARRATOR: 24-year-old
Californian Tom Watts is a radio man and
Bombardier in a TBF Avenger. So you could select [inaudible]
to drop two 100 pound bombs at a time, we'd selected
it on [inaudible].. The pilot would tell you
how you want them dropped. The bomb panel has
12 toggle switches. The Bombardier
configures the switches to determine the number and
pattern of bombs released. But the pilot himself
actually triggers the release with a switch on
his control stick. The mission today is to attack
airfields, multiple hangars, and runways. So each plane is loaded
down with multiple explosive weapons-- six 100 pound fragmentation
bombs and six 100 pound incendiary bombs. Fragmentation bombs
contain shrapnel. Incendiary bombs contain
multiple bomblets filled with flammable material. The case opens at altitude,
releasing the bomblets which ignite on impact. But before the Avengers
can drop their payloads, they have to make it to
their various targets. Airfields on the major islands
of Eten, Moen, and Parra, 6 miles inside
Truk's barrier reef. It's a challenge. Because the moment the Avengers
begin crossing the barrier reef, anti-aircraft
guns open up on them. They can see it when
they start firing at you. It'll start exploding up
there in your altitude. These guys are trying
to get to their target with all the flak exploding
around them and maybe taking a little piece out of
their wing here and there. There's nothing you can
do to defend yourself. You're in major
formations so you're not going to be doing
massive unplanned jaking maneuvers because you're going
to run into your fellow pilots. So you just fly on through
it and hope for the best. NARRATOR: The torpedo squadrons
doggedly press forward to their various objectives. Flack is bursting
all around them. Tom Watts' aircraft is part of
a three-plane formation headed for the airfield on Eten Island. Amid intense anti-aircraft
fire from both land batteries and ships in the harbor,
Watts' formation, led by Lieutenant Russell
Kippen scatters its bombs. In the confusion of the moment,
Lieutenant Kippen mistakenly chooses a dangerous
route to exit the harbor. Instead of taking
a clear route out, what their lead pilot
did is he actually them took him between a
row of two transport ships. And what happened then
is both those ships started firing on
them on either side. NARRATOR: Looking upward from
the bombardier well as Avenger, Watts can see tracer rounds
passing in both directions over the top of his airplane. Tracer rounds are
magnesium-coated bullets that glow red hot as
they streak downrange. The red streaks show gunners
the paths of their bullets so they can adjust their aim. And all he could
do was lay there, and hope he wasn't
going to get hit. Luckily we were going at a
pretty high speed and so only a few seconds,
you're out of there. NARRATOR: As the three
planes head out to sea, 10 dive bombers are incoming
from USS Enterprise. They buzz in to attack
the ships in the harbor. They're hoping to get a crack
at the carriers and battleships. But for these pilots, there's
some initial disappointment. It's immediately obvious that
the Japanese have anticipated this attack. Most of their combat vessels,
the large battleships, aircraft carriers, and
cruisers, are absent. The Japanese
had gotten a sense that bad things might
be in store for Truk in the relatively near future. And so in the
middle of February, they pulled out the majority
of their major fleet units and moved them back to
places like Yap and Palau. NARRATOR: Although their
biggest vessels have safely steamed 1,200 miles
away, several dozen ships still remain. Mostly support ships,
like transports, tankers, and freighters. But a few warships
are also present, three cruisers, fleet
auxiliaries, and at least eight destroyers. Losing such a vast
collection of shipping could devastate enemy operations
in the Central Pacific for some time. The Enterprise dive bomber
pilots, James Ramage among them, quickly
select their targets based on size and proximity. I picked the biggest one. NARRATOR: With antiaircraft
fire coming at them from all directions and
stray Zero fighter streaking through the harbor
area spraying lead. The pilots nose their planes
over into a 72 degree dive angle. Our attack was
pretty [inaudible].. It was a vertical dive,
from about 10,000 to 12,000, with a release at 2,000,
and out by 300 to 500 feet. As the dive bombers nosed
over and then streaked down toward their target, they dove
in alongside Dublon Island, which had heights
up to 1,000 feet. And so as they
approached the ships that they were about the bomb,
right at the altitude where they would begin the
process of pulling out, the Japanese had weapons mounted
on top of Dublon Island that would fire on them
from the same altitude. NARRATOR: The Dauntlesses
successfully passed through the gauntlet
of anti-aircraft fire. Hurtling Earthward, they
released their 1,000 pound contact bombs. Bombs large enough to
damage a battleship. And designed to explode on
contact with the targets. No need for delayed fuses here. The bombers will pull out
high enough and soon enough that the exploding bombs
will not endanger them. Moments later, multiple vessels
in Truk's primary anchorage between Dublon and Eten Islands
explode with stunning violence. I can remember looking
over to the port side and I saw a ship go up. It looked like the
A bomb later on. [inaudible] tremendous. NARRATOR: Once Ramage
has released his bomb and pulled out of his dive, his
attention immediately shifts to seeking other targets. He may have dropped his only
bomb, but he still has bullets. So he's not going anywhere. So we came out. There were two Japanese patrol
craft, probably about 90 feet. So we have the
[inaudible] forward. And we shot up the
two patrol craft. NARRATOR: The 1/2-inch diameter
.50 caliber bullets perforate the hulls of the patrol craft. And explode stored
ammunition on one of them. Rear seat gunners continue
strafing the burning, listing enemy vessels as the US
bombers climb out of the harbor area and head back
toward Enterprise and awaiting task force. The hammering of Truk Atoll
continues throughout the day. As Enterprise and Yorktown
bombers make their way back to the task force,
squadrons from other carriers swoop out of the sky toward
the Japanese stronghold, to continue the assault on
enemy ships and airfields. Bombers from USS Enterprise
make additional runs throughout the day. And when evening
darkness finally brings a pause in
the action, the big E has broken its record for
tonnage of bombs dropped in a single day-- more than 900 tons. For exhausted air
crews, the evening break brings a welcome rest. Truk, so far, hasn't lived up
to the intimidating pre-battle speculation. But the danger is far from over. And late in the evening, as
some men aboard Enterprise eat, some sleep, and others
prepare for watch, the Japanese unleash
a nasty surprise. Unidentified incoming aircraft
start appearing on the ship's radar scope. As the bogies near
the carrier force, their identity is
quickly discerned. They're Japanese twin
engine Betty bombers. And they're closing in for
a retaliatory night strike on the American ships. It's not an easy mission
for the Japanese Betty's. The US carriers and their
escort ships are blacked out. All exterior lights
are extinguished. Precisely so enemy bombers will
have a hard time finding them. Still, the Betty's
press forward doggedly. When they near
the US task force, battleships and cruisers
on the outskirts of the American formation
open up with their guns. The carriers themselves, like
Enterprise, a prized target for the enemy, remain
quiet and dark. USS Enterprise at night
would stay blacked out because they didn't want to
give away their position. And what the 5 inch guns
on the deck would do, they would wheel it around
and orient it to where the bogey was coming from. But they couldn't
open up on the bogies because they didn't want to
give away their position. NARRATOR: The guns of the
warships on the outskirts of the task force chase
away the bombers initially. But the Betty's are persistent. Just after midnight, men
on the deck of Enterprise see an indication
of enemy success. Off in the distance, a white
flash came over the horizon. And come to find out, it was
the USS Intrepid that actually did take a torpedo. NARRATOR: One of
the Betty bombers wiggles through the
task force defenses and strikes the fellow carrier. It's a costly blow. 11 men that night died. 17 more were wounded. NARRATOR: The American
task force remains on alert until early morning, when
the Japanese Betty's finally break off from their
evening of stalking. [music playing] Enterprise herself
is still safe. And she has not had
need to fire her guns and give away her position. But now, it's the Americans turn
to deliver a little nighttime chaos. In late 1943, the TBF Avenger
torpedo bombers aboard USS Enterprise got some
new technology-- airborne radar. American admirals wanted some
of their aircraft carriers to be able to fight at night. Enterprise Avengers
are outfitted with wing-mounted radar
antennas and an internal scope for the radio man Bombardier
in the well of the plane. This distinction falls to the
Avengers for purely practical reasons. Torpedo bombers are bigger than
the fighters or dive bombers. And the new radar gear is
bulky and takes up space. It wasn't too great. It had Yagi antennas
under each wing. And you had to move the
antenna back and forth. It didn't do it automatically
like present radar. So in order to position
the scan on your tube, you had to move these antennas. ALAN PIETRUSZEWSKI: Today's
aircraft by contrast-- we have computer assist dials
and multifunction interface screens to control
your radar search area. NARRATOR: Despite
the rudimentary state of the art of this new
nighttime search system, for the first time, a
Naval bomber theoretically can both navigate and locate
enemy targets in darkness. Hitting those targets using
radar is another matter. And many experienced
pilots have their doubts. But the commander of the
Avenger squad aboard Enterprise adamantly believes
it's possible. Lieutenant Commander Bill
Martin, a six-year Naval aviation veteran, has faith that
radar will allow his air crews to deliver some nocturnal
hell to the enemy. Weeks prior to the
action at Truk, during stopovers at both Pearl
Harbor and Espiritu Santo, Martin ordered night training
navigation and bombing practice with the new radar systems. Confident his squadron could
operate proficiently at night, when planning for the
Truk offensive began, Martin urged that a
night raid be part of it. Now at 2:00 AM on February 17,
1944, day two of the assault on Truk, Bill Martin's
torpedo bombers are launching from the
Enterprise flight deck. They are setting out on the
first nighttime American carrier bomber attack
on the Pacific war. Ironically, the
officer primarily responsible for the remarkable
event is not with them. In a freak accident two weeks
ago, Lieutenant Commander Bill Martin slipped while exercising
on one of the ship's steel decks and broke his elbow. No amount of pleading has
convinced his superiors to let him lead
the mission anyway. So Martin must watch his 12
bombers launch one at a time without him and wish them well. The Avengers quickly form
into a tight squadron and begin the 90-mile
journey to Truk Atoll. After roughly an hour's
flight, the last several miles at an altitude of 500 feet to
skirt below Japanese radar, the bombers come within
range of Truk's barrier reef. They're vulnerable at
only 500 feet of altitude. But they believe the danger is
mitigated because they should be invisible to antiaircraft
gunners in the blackness. They get a surprise. WILLIAM BODETTE: As they were
flying in, one of the planes starts taking all this fire. And he can't figure out why--
why am I taking all his fire. Know it's at night.
They're not supposed to see me. They can't see me. What's going on? And then he looked on,
and he realized that he had his running lights on. So he just flipped them
off and continued on with their mission. NARRATOR: It's a close call. And this incident has added
to the danger for the bombers because it's marked
their intended path for the antiaircraft gunners. Minutes after crossing the
reef, the 12 Enterprise torpedo bombers separate
into groups of four and approach Truk Harbor
from multiple directions. Individual planes then
peel away from their groups to swoop in and inflict
radar-guided havoc. The Avengers zero in
on the enemy ships that show up as the biggest
blobs on their radar scopes. Among the targets
in the water below are two tankers
and 11 freighters. As each plane starts its bombing
run, it climbs to 1,000 feet to gain momentum. Then it swoops down to as low
as 250 feet above the water to release its bomb. WILLIAM BODETTE: When
they dropped their bombs, they would have to
be on a delayed fuse. Because they were flying so
low, if they didn't have it on a delayed fuse, they would
also blow themselves up. TOM WATTS: Just give you about
3 to 5 seconds to get away. Then it'd blow up. NARRATOR: For
nearly half an hour in the face of intense but
inaccurate antiaircraft fire, the Enterprise Avengers continue
making runs on the harbor. Desperate to aid their
antiaircraft gunners, the Japanese strike a
spotlight and frantically search the darkened sky. Finally, with their
bombs expended, the torpedo bombers climb
away from Truk Lagoon and head for home. TOM WATTS: When we left there,
there was several ships burning in the harbor there. NARRATOR: Two tankers
and 11 freighters are damaged or sinking. The bombers make it
back to Enterprise and begin touching
down on the flight deck just as the sun is
peeking over the horizon. 12 Avengers went out,
but only 11 returned. What happened to the missing
plane is still unknown. Even so, the mission
has been a success. MARTIN MORGAN:
It's the first time that aircraft carrier-based
aircraft took off and then used radar to guide themselves
into the target area, deliver their ordinance,
and then return to the carrier at night. NARRATOR: Night carrier
landings are especially difficult because
of poor visibility. The only illumination
on the flight deck is a dim strip of
lights down the center. A pilot must depend on the
LSO, Landing Signal Officer, to position him
properly for landing. The LSO uses lighted
wands to signal a pilot to raise or lower his
plane as he approaches. The altitude must
be exactly right. Because to force his plane
to drop down to the deck, a pilot actually
kills his engine. To stop, the plane's
tail hook must catch one of several arresting wires. If the plane is too high
when the engine stops, it will overshoot
the rescue wire. If the plane is too low, it will
hit the end of the flight deck and fall in the water. Proper nighttime landing
takes much practice. And many Enterprise pilots
have experienced rough landings getting the hang of it. [music playing] The morning of
February 17, 1944, brings three more bombing
raids on Truk Atoll. Antiaircraft fire persists. But with only a few
enemy ships still limping across the
Japanese anchorage, the damage brought by
the raids is negligible. At that point,
it was even agreed that they were getting to a
point of diminishing returns. And with the diminishing returns
situation being what it was, further attacks that were on
the schedule for the afternoon of February 17 were canceled. And the Enterprise collected
its air group and left the area. NARRATOR: For the
Americans, it's been a gratifying
day and a half. And Truk, for now at
least, is no longer a threat to the US Navy's
island-hopping campaign. Enterprise and the rest of
the US carrier task force retires to Majuro Atoll in
the conquered Marshall Islands to refit, resupply, and
press their campaign forward. Resupply especially is critical. Men can't fight well for
long if they're hungry. And feeding the 2,500
men aboard Enterprise means pumping out
7,500 meals a day. That takes a lot of food
and a big operation. Enterprise has three
dining halls or messes located on her third deck
just above the engine rooms-- one for lower-ranking enlisted
men, one for Chief Petty Officers, and an officer's
mess or wardrobe. There are seven men on average
preparing and serving food in the kitchens or galleys. The bakery has 10. There are two butchers. And one man is assigned
to the spud locker. Breakfast offerings are eggs,
hash browns, hot cakes, bacon, sausage, and toast. Lunches are usually soups,
sandwiches, and desserts, dinners meats, potatoes,
canned vegetables, spaghetti, and garlic toast. Men stand in line for up to an
hour to reach the serving line and get an average
of a half an hour to eat on folding
tables and benches. Waste food is ground
up and mixed with water and dumped overboard. Grinding and diluting
the leftovers prevents leaving a crumb
trail for the enemy to follow. For the moment, the
enemy at Truk Atoll is in no shape to follow. But the Japanese do not plan
to give up on the outpost just yet. Second battle at Truk Atoll-- in mid-February 1944, aircraft
from the USS Enterprise and her sister carriers devastated the
most heavily-fortified Japanese Naval outpost in the Pacific-- Truk Atoll. Thousands of tons of shipping
sunk, dozens of bombers destroyed on the ground. But just 10 weeks
after this hammering of the Japanese outpost, new
aerial reconnaissance photos have revealed a
worrisome development. The Japanese have repaired much
of the damage from the attack and have refortified the
atoll as a bomber base. The Japanese must not
be allowed an airbase from which they can disrupt
the American island-hopping efforts. And in the predawn
hours of April 29, 1944, USS Enterprise and her fellow
carriers are back in the waters off Truk Atoll to pummel the
vexing outpost once again. The aerial reconnaissance
photos make clear the Truk Atoll
has again become a formidable defensive bastion. The Japanese have added many new
antiaircraft gun emplacements, some radar controlled--
a technology that makes the weapons much more accurate. It will again be a perilous
job for Enterprise bombers to approach the atoll and
take out the new airfields. Once again, this
morning's attack leads off with a sweep of the
skies by Hellcat fighters. The fighters launch
in the predawn darkness to clear the way
for the bombers to follow. And again, pilot Don Flash
Gordon is among them. Gordon is eager. He knows that today might be
the day he makes his fifth kill and wins the distinction
and status of Ace. With the fighters on their
way toward the target, dive bombers and torpedo bombers
begin launching from Enterprise and other task force carriers. James Ramage 's SBD Dauntless
dive bomber is among them. And in the seat behind him
is enlisted air crewman Dave Cawley. Cawley was one of the
greatest men I've ever known. We were very close. MARTIN MORGAN: He's
there to operate the radio on the
aircraft but then also to operate the aircraft's
twin ANM2 30-caliber machine guns called Stingers. The SBD was equipped with
two forward-firing 50-caliber machine guns that were
in the cowling firing through the prop arch
and then, of course, the pair of 30-caliber machine
guns on the flexible mount. NARRATOR: Fired by
pressing thumb levers, the dual-mounted Browning
ANM2 30-caliber machine guns can spit out 1,300
rounds per minute each. And with a muzzle velocity
of 2,800 feet per second and a range of 1,100
yards, the Stinger as this weapon has been
affectionately dubbed is a fierce defender against
attacks by Zeros from the rear. SBD bombers routinely test
fire their machine guns once they get in the air. MARTIN MORGAN: Well, Dave Cawley
that morning, as they were in the air on the way
to the target area, swung his two
30-caliber machine guns off to the side of the
aircraft to put his rounds in an area that was safe
where no other aircraft were. And he fired one burst. After the first couple of
rounds, one of the weapons made a really, really loud boom. And then he felt
something that he compared to being hit across
the leg with a baseball bat. And what had happened was his
ANM2 30-caliber machine gun had a round that
exploded in the breach. When the round
exploded in the breach, it stripped the ejector off
of the bolt of the weapon. And of course, the weapons
ejected their spent brass straight downward. So the ejector was
mounted on the bottom side of the [inaudible]. It stripped the ejector off
with an explosive force that propelled that ejector
downward and into his thigh. NARRATOR: The metal is lodged
next to Cawley's thigh bone. MARTIN MORGAN: He
looked down, and he could see that it was cut. He could see that
it was bleeding. He knew he was in bad shape. But he didn't even say
a single word to Ramage. He didn't want to have
the mission canceled. And he didn't want to lose
the chance to fly the mission. So with the ejector from his
30-caliber machine gun wedged into his thigh, he
flew the mission. NARRATOR: Many miles out
ahead of the bombers, the Hellcat fighters
crossed Truk's Barrier Reef and prepare to meet a storm
of angry Japanese Zeros. Enemy fighters are in the air. But the aerial combat is
less intense than last time. Many Zeros seem timid
and uneager to engage. Still, one Enterprise Hellcat
pilot, Lieutenant Junior Grade Bob Kanzi does
suddenly find himself in a blistering
aerial shoot-out. Kanzi and a Zero go head to
head, charging each other and firing all the way. Two fighter planes pass
each other, smoking on fire. Both pilots bail out. Kanzi drifts toward the water
in the South end of the lagoon. Luckily, his survival gear
includes an inflatable raft. But alone in hostile
waters is the last place a pilot wants to be. ALAN PIETRUSZEWSKI:
Your first priority, especially in colder waters,
is to get out of the water. If you're going
to hit the water, you're going to want to release
your coat fittings to get rid of that parachute. Parachute saved your life
getting to the water. But once you're
in the water, it's your worst enemy because
it fills up with water. And it becomes a sea anchor. So you need to pull out
your shroud line cutter and get away from
that parachute, and then you need to physically
get yourself into the life raft and out of that
water environment. NARRATOR: Kanzi does just that. But once he's in the raft,
his survival challenge has just begun. He's in the lagoon itself
between the islands and the outer reef. He must pick a direction
in which to paddle. And only one makes sense. He knew that he had to go out
to sea, not back towards land, which most people would
want to go towards land. But that was occupied
Japanese territory. He knew his only way that
he was going to survive was he had to get as far away
from that land as he could and hopefully be picked
up by an American ship. NARRATOR: The downed
pilot paddles to the reef, climbs over it, and starts
paddling out to sea. Unfortunately, Kanzi must
spend the night on the water. While Bob Kanzi is extricating
himself from Truk Lagoon, Enterprise task force
bombers spend the rest of the day streaking
into the lagoon to pummel parked planes,
hangars, and bomber strips on the island of Moen. Bombers also pay
special attention to antiaircraft
batteries on Moen, exploding gun emplacements and
occasionally sending long metal barrels hurtling skyward. Darkness brings an
end to the assault. But to the good
fortune of Bob Kanzi, the action resumes for
a few final bombing runs the next day, April 30. On the morning of
the 30th, strangely, the antiaircraft
fire truck seems to have intensified and
possibly become more accurate. The flak takes down three
TBF Avengers from Enterprise. Fortunately, all the
crew members survive. Luckily for Bob Kanzi, one of
the returning Avenger pilots happens to look down
at the right time and spots Kanzi drifting
in his rubber raft. The bomber calls in the
downed pilot's position to a task force escort vessel-- the battleship North Carolina. And a float plane launched
from the North Carolina heads for Kanzi's location. The float plane is crewed by
two men, but it's very small-- too small to lift off
with a third passenger. So the plan is for the
plane to pick up Kanzi and simply taxi him to an
awaiting submarine, the USS Tang, for transfer. When the float plane
taxis up to Kanzi, the downed pilot
claims out of his raft and lets it go to
swim to the plane. And as he reached up, the
plane was so small, reached up. And when he grabbed a wing,
the plane actually flipped over and capsized. And now you got three
people in the water. NARRATOR: The plane sinks. And now all three men are
stranded, supported only by their life vests. A second plane from North
Carolina is dispatched. WILLIAM BODETTE: Now
this time, they're very careful about-- you know,
they knew what happened before. What they did is two
of them crawled up on each wing at the same time
trying to balance it out. And one leg straddled the tail. And what they did is they just
basically motored to the USS Tang, which was a submarine. And then they offloaded onto
that, and then they were safe. NARRATOR: Later in the
day, a similar operation rescues eight other Enterprise
task force pilots downed by antiaircraft fire. [music playing] A formidable Japanese hideout
has proven to be a paper tiger. The assault on
Truk has decimated a vast and irreplaceable
quantity of Japanese shipping and bomber aircraft in
the Central Pacific. Three light cruisers, four
destroyers, three patrol craft, and some 36 merchant
ships and auxiliaries. They left a lot
of ships there. And I'm glad to report
we got them all. NARRATOR: The Japanese had also
suffered the loss of some 270 aircraft fighters and bombers. Hundreds of Japanese soldiers,
sailors, and air crewmen are dead. And the loss of
support facilities and airfield infrastructure
is momentous. Enterprise is responsible
for one third of the enemy's total loss. American forces,
on the other hand, have suffered one aircraft
carrier damaged, 25 aircraft down, and 40 air crewmen
and sailors killed. Fortunately, rear seat gunner
Dave Cawley, the air crewman wounded by his own machine gun,
is not among the fatalities. MARTIN MORGAN: When
they landed back on Enterprise, he, of course,
got some medical attention. When the medical department
examined him and X-rayed him, they found that the
ejector from the weapon was so deeply lodged in his
leg that they were either going to have to just close him
up and just let him keep the ejector wedged
inside, or they were going to have to
perform major surgery. To perform major surgery,
it was going to take him off of the flying schedule
for several weeks. So he told them, sew me up. And he kept it for the rest
of the war, the ejector from his weapon still lodged
in his-- in his thigh. Pilot Don Gordon never got his
chance at a fifth enemy fighter during the second
attack on Truk. But he has been lucky enough
to live to fight another day. And the elusive status of
Ace might still one day be his to claim. For the stunned Japanese,
Truk will be of no further use for the rest of the war. When the reports first
filtered back to Imperial Naval headquarters that they had
lost 220,000 tons of shipping, one Imperial Naval diarist
said that the shock was beyond comprehension. It was a truly
devastating event. [music playing] NARRATOR: The enemy is never
able to keep Truk sufficiently resupplied. And many of the surviving
Japanese personnel on the island go hungry. For US Naval commanders
in the Pacific, Truk is now a threat removed. And this accomplishment
will help clear the way for much bigger fights to come. The American island-hopping
campaign is now targeted at the Marianas. And a great battle
above the Philippine Sea is in the offing. [music playing]
