The Phantom Destroyer

The Phantom Destroyer

WWII DD USS Stewart

by Mal Wright



From 1943 onward there were repeated reports of a mysterious American destroyer sighted deep in the heart of Japanese-held territory. Reconnaissance aircraft reported her in the Java Sea. She was seen west of New Guinea. She was seen close up and she was seen fleetingly in the distance, but she was sighted several times.
US aircrew swore that the apparition was an old WWI flush-deck four-pipe destroyer of the Semmes class. Early reports were disregarded. US Army aircrew did not enjoy a good reputation for ship recognition, yet more and more reports built up. The silhouette was of an American destroyer, but looking a little strange.
Rumors about this 'Flying Dutchman' abounded. Could she be some sort of behind the lines Commando vessel? Highly unlikely, but then most scuttlebutt is. It didn't help that some reports said she had only three funnels like most of the flushdeckers modified for war service, yet no modified ships had been lost behind Japanese lines and besides most of the flush deckers were engaged in escort duty, for which they were much better suited than facing the dangers of modern air attack, let alone openting behind the enemy lines in a lone wolf role. No, most authonties decided it was an illusion.
Solved
The war had ended and Japan was occupied before the mystery of the 'Ghost ship' was able to be solved. She was Patrol Boat 102 and was found undamaged at Kure.
Ordered as part of the US WW I naval buildup, she bad been ordered from Cramp, Philadelphia and launched in March of 1920 as USS Stewart DD-224. Having missed WW I completely, she was lucky to continue in service for so long, as many others of her kind had gone to scrap yards or been mothballed. Fifty were handed over to the British in a deal for airbases.
By 1941, she was part of the US Far Eastern Fleet (photo at right: in hangchow, China in the 1920s) and skippered by Lt. Commander Harold P. Smith. The old ship was leader of DESDIV 58, led by Commander T. H. Binford. Her division was part of DESRON 29, the US destroyers assigned to ABDA in the defense of Java, and on the night of 18th/l9th February 1942 Binford took the division on a high speed dash along the south coast of Java to join the Dutch Capt De Mecster's light cruiser Tromp off Bali.
About midnight Stewart and her division headed toward a suspected enemy group, with Tromp following up at the rear. They entered Bandoeng Strait at 25 knots but mist made it hard to find any targets, although several enemy ships were actually present and nearby.
The Allied force, running around at high speed in the center of the Strait, was sure to be seen eventually. A salvo of torpedoes was launched at them without result and shortly after the Allied ships saw two Japanese destroyer closing on the group. These were Asashio (Morning High Tide) and Ooshio (High Tide). These vessals were almost as well-armed as Tromp and far superior to the old four-stackers of DESDIV 58.
Open Fire
Stewart illuminated the enemy with a searchlight at 0143 and opened fire with guns and torpedoes. The Japanese replied at once and the Stewart was quickly hit, first by a ricochet that caused some casualties and then by a 5 inch shell that hit her steering aft, causing several casualties and flooding the steeringengine.
Tromp responded by hitting Ooshio on the bridge as two ships of DESDIV 58 (Parrot and Pillsbury) narrowly avoided colliding when Binford swung starboard to head NE up the Strait.
Tromp covered the withdrawal but the Japanese DDs were not finished and gave chase. The Dutch cruiser received a severe mauling before Ooshio, out of control, was forced to break off the pursuit. Tromp had taken hits in quick succesion and headed for the exit from Lombok Strait in a badly damaged condition.
Together Again
At 0217 the ABDA force was all back together and steaming north toward the Lombok Strait exit when they encountered the destroyers Arashio (Rough Sea Flood Tide) and Michishio (Flood Tide) head on. Admiral Kudo flying his flag in the Light Cruiser Nagara nearby, was charged with protecting the invasion transports and had sent them in the hope of slowing the ABDA force enough for him to catch up..
At 0219 the two Japanese cans opened up on Stewart and Edwards at close range bringing on a short sharp and furious engagement. Shells were flying when, still not in the right position because of the earlier near collision, Pillsbury surprised the enemy by appearing out of rhe darkness on their port side. She hit Michishio with a broadside that had the bigger ship reeling at the same time as Edwards whacked her hard from the other side. Tromp in turn passed, delivering a broadside that left the Michishio stopped dead in the water with almost a hundred casualties. Arashio rushed in to help her wounded sister.
The group raced on for Soerabaja at 28 knots. All arrived safely despite Parrot almost colliding with some rocks when her helm jammed. Admiral Kudo had failed to cut then off and the Arashio had little choice but to let then pass on.
Harbor
Arriving in harbor, an inspection of Stewart showed that although she had some superstructure damage, she could still fight. The problem was she would have to be docked to repair the steering. This was not the easiest thing to do in a place stricken with panic and the japanese advancing rapidly, but a privately owned drydock was found and the ship placed in it.
Air raids were constant and the yard hands did a poor job of blocking her up. The shoring was no better. As the floating dock lifted, the keel blocks dipped and Stewart fell partly on to her port side at an angle of about 45 degrees.
Worse still, an air raid scored a direct hit to her. By tbe 24th of February was no place for an Allied ship to be. The docks were being blasted and other ships sunk by the air raids.
Out of torpedos and with his division in urgent need of a dockyard, Binford withdrew to Tjilatjap but could not leave Stewart the way she was. It was decided to blow her up on site, and demolition crews did so on March 2nd 1942. She and the dock sank.
It all looked convincing. Binford reportedd the scuttling and the US Navy wrote her off the list, later giving the name to a new war-built vessal. For all intents and purposes the old Stewart was finished.
Wreck
The wreck ramained in a sunken condition for almost a year, but with things now quiet on the front, IJN clearance crews got to work and raised her. The ship was badly damagod but the US demolition crew had not reckoned on the determination of the Japanese naval garrison. Escorts were badly needed and with the Java area now a bit of a backwater, the IJN main fleet was busy elsewhere.
Allied submarines were busy everywhere. A partial solution was seen in repairing as many Allied vessals as possible. The restoration of the old ship became a sort of private project with locally-based IJN staff working on her.
Recommissioned
She was recommissioned in the Imperial Japanese Navy at Soerabaja on the 20 August 1943 as PB-102. "PB" stood for Patrol Boat. All her US armament had been removed and she was fitted with two ex-Dutch Army 3" guns plus two 7.7mm machine guns. So as to not confuse her with US Navy ships, her two forefunnels were trunked together in true Japanese style.
She also carried depth charges and became an important escort in the Java Ses area. This was purely due to the patience and skill of her crew because her machinery was in a very bad way, and only two of four boilers were working. She claimed to attack and sink several Allied submarines and established a good combat reputation in the Java Command.
Although postwar records do not substantiate the kills claimed, she was in the same area as the USS Growler, which was sunk in the South China Sea on November 8th, 1944 while PB-102 was enroute to Japan.
Although her dedicated crew kept the old vessal working, it was decided to send her to Japan for further work at teh Kure Naval Yard, where better facilities were available. She arrived there in mid November 1944 and the ex-Dutch armament was immediately stripped off her. Japanese naval construction viewed her skeptically. She was too narrow in the beam, rolled heavily and was top heavy. British naval constructors would no doubt have heartily agreed.
Refit
The trunked forefunnel was retained, but all stacks were lowered to reduce her center of gravity. She was also given a more Japanese-looking foremast with little more than a stump aft. The bridge was altered to a more "IJN" look and both keels were enlarged and widened. After this, her roll time was greatly improved. With extra ballast also added, displacement rose to 1,539 tons. At the same time work carried out on boiler so that three of the four could be used. In modified form, she could make 26 knots with a shaft horsepower of 28,500.
The armament also underwent modification. Japanese 3.1" AA, refered to by the IJN as the 8cm, were added fore and aft. Fifteen 25mm guns were also added and could carry a respectable 72 depth charges. For unknown reasons but probably just a shortage of guns, she had a grouping of twin 25mm mounts amidships but one of the port mounts was only a single. Hanging lanter-type Japanese Air radar was added on the foremast. A double trumpet Mk2 Mod 2 surface radar was fitted on top of the bridge. Japanese sonar was also added.
After this refit, she was considered a fully operationnal escort vessal and was under orders to return to Java. Because of the loss of the Phillipines, this became impossible. the ship was retained in Japanese home wates and used on escort duty. Despite the massive carrier strikes and other air raids on Japan, the old ship avoided damage. Just not being sunk by submarines skulking about like sharks in a pond must have been an achievement indeed. She even survived the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
Found
On October 15, 1945, US Navy men found her among the hodgepodge of shipping in Kure/Hiroshima Harbor. The Phantom destroyer had at last been found.
Vice Admiral J. B. Oldendorf ordered the ship put back in commision as a US warship and she was taken over by a prize crew on the 28th of October whilie lying in Hiroshima.
As her name was now borne by DE-238, the Admiral commissioned her USS DD-224 so she could at least get her old number back.
On November 3rd USS DD-224 sailed for the USA, bearing the nickname 'RAMP,' those insitails standing for Recovered Allied Military Personnel, the term used for all Allied prisoners of war found in Japanese hands. In other words she was a liberated prisoner of war!
Arrival in US
On arrival in San Francisco (see photo) she was considered quite a curiosity, but such things are short-lived and many bigger ships than her were being scrapped. Obviously the ship had no future in the USN. But mariners can be a sentimental lot The ship had given good service in 1920. She had fought heroically against all odds, been shelled, damaged, bombed, blown up, sume, raised, repaired, and finally recaptured. Scrapping her did not seem the right thing to do, but she could not be kept either. On the 24th of May, 1946 the USS D-224 was moved out to sea and given a "Viking Funeral," being expended for target practice. She went down well (for the second time) and somewhere on the ocean floor of the US West Coast, the "Mystery Ship" still lies.


The Phantom Destroyer (WWII USS Stewart in Japanese Service)

 

Imay have to see if I can convert a 1/3000th scale wargaming mini to represent the PB 102/USS Stewart DD-224. Might make for an interesting gaming scenario.

 

ex-Stewart afire and sinking after being hit by aircraft bombs & rockets and 3 inch gunfire from a patrol boat. One bomb scored a direct hit on her bridge, which has collapsed and is burning.




ex-Stewart under tow shortly before being sunk as a target, 24 May 1946. Note the Japanese-style tripod mast, gun platform and bow numbers. She has been disarmed, and a Japanese ensign is painted on the hull for repatriation duty. (National Archive photo)


A little bit more detailed info about her .

" Admiral Doorman’s forces were scattered when the Japanese landed on Bali on 19 February, and he threw his ships against the enemy in three groups on the night of 19 and 20 February. Stewart was lead ship in the second group; and, in several brief but furious night engagements, came under extremely accurate fire from Japanese destroyers. Her boats were shot away, her torpedo racks and galley were hit, and a crippling shot hit the destroyer aft below her water line, opening her seams and flooding the steering engine room. However, the steering engine continued to operate under two feet of water; and the destroyer was able to maintain her station in column and return to Surabaya the next morning.
Stewart, as the most severely damaged ship, was the first to enter the floating drydock at Surabaya on 22 February. However, she was inadequately supported in the dock; and, as the dock rose, the ship fell off the keel blocks onto her side in 12 feet of water, bending her propeller shafts and causing further hull damage. With the port under enemy air attack and in danger of falling to the enemy, the ship could not be repaired. Responsibility for the destruction of the ship was given to naval authorities ashore, and Stewart’s last crew members left the embattled port on the afternoon of 22 February. Subsequently, demolition charges were set off within the ship, a Japanese bomb hit amidships further damaged her; and, before the port was evacuated on 2 March, the drydock containing her was scuttled. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 25 March 1942 and was soon assigned to a new destroyer escort.
Later in the war, American pilots began reporting an American warship operating far within enemy waters. The ship had a Japanese trunked funnel but the lines for her four-piper hull were unmistakable. After almost a year under water, Stewart had been raised by the Japanese in February 1943 and commissioned by them on 20 September 1943 as Patrol Boat No. 102. She was armed with two 3" guns and operated with the Japanese Southwest Area Fleet on escort duty until arriving at Kure for repairs in November 1944. There her antiaircraft battery was augmented, and she was given a light tripod foremast. She then sailed for the Southwest Pacific, but the American reconquest of the Philippines blocked her way. On 28 April 1945, still under control of the Southwest Area Fleet, she was bombed and damaged by United States Army aircraft at Mokpo, Korea. She was transferred on 30 April to the control of the Kure Navy District; and, in August 1945, was found by American occupation forces laid up in Hiro Bay near Kure.
In an emotional ceremony on 29 October 1945, the old ship was recommissioned in the United States Navy at Kure. Although officially called simply DD-224, she was nicknamed by her crew “RAMP-224,” standing for “Recovered Allied Military Personnel.” On the trip home, her engines gave out near Guam, and she arrived at San Francisco in early March 1946 at the end of a towline. DD-224 was struck from the Navy list on 17 April 1946, decommissioned on 23 May 1946, and sunk a day later off San Francisco as a target for aircraft.
Stewart (DD-224) received two battle stars for her World War II service."

Stewart