#dd-219

[redarmyscreaming]

Crew of the USS Edsall (DD-219) in Shanghai_1940

[uss-langley]

Tjilatjap was only about 100 miles away from Java, but it might as well have been a million miles away on Jupiter. Commander McConnell stood on the bridge, seething with rage at the incompetence that had just doomed his ship and his crew. A pawn of war was needlessly about to be sacrificed. The skipper told Commander Divoll that it might be a good time to say something to the crew about the imminent air attack. The popular executive officer picked up the microphone: “Boys, I’m just a little bit scared. We’re going to catch hell and I want everybody to concentrate and do his job. I wish you all the best of luck.”

Rising Sun, Falling Skies, by Jeffrey R. Cox

The USS Langley’s mission to deliver badly-needed P-40 Warhawks and other supplies to Java required that it arrive in Tjilatjap early in the morning, to avoid daytime attacks from unopposed Japanese air forces. However, Allied political maneuvering and meddling from Dutch Admiral Helfrich had forced her to zigzag between rendezvous points all night long, putting her well behind schedule. As a result, the Langley and her escorting destroyers Edsall and Whipple found themselves on open ocean, in broad daylight, in range of Japanese air bases. They were quickly spotted by a Japanese scout plane, and 6 hours later Langley would slip beneath the waves of the Indian Ocean.