The Dancing Mouse - Last Stand of the USS EDSALL (DD-219), 1 March 1942

On 1 March 1942, alone in the middle of nowhere in the Indian Ocean, the elderly "four-piper" WW1-era destroyer USS EDSALL (DD-219) ran right into the Japanese carrier strike force (Kido Butai) which only three months earlier inflicted the devastating defeat on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. However, on this day, the EDSALL, under the command of Lieutenant Joshua Nix and previously deemed "unfit" for combat, succeeded in embarrassing the cream of the Japanese surface navy and naval aviation. With skillful use of maneuver and smokescreens, for well over an hour, Nix caused over 1,300 14-inch and 8-inch shells from two Japanese battleships and two heavy cruisers to miss, along with apparently all but one of 26 550-LB bombs from "Val" dive bombers. In the face of overwhelming odds and no chance of escape, LT Nix was true to the flag that hangs in Memorial Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy, "Don't Give Up the Ship," going down fighting to the bitter end. As EDSALL began sink, Nix pointed the bow of the ship at the Japanese, in a recognized gesture of defiance. The few survivors of the sinking rescued by the Japanese were subsequently executed in captivity ashore. As there were no surviving American witnesses, there were no awards for valor for the commanding officer, the crew, or the ship for what was one of the most gallant actions in the history of the U.S. Navy. However, having convinced the Secretary of the Navy to name DDG-141 after Ernest Evans, Joshua Nix has now moved to the top of my list of recommended ship names to the Secretary.

For those who may have missed it (this story made the front page of the Washington Post, as well as numerous other media sources,) on 11 November (Remembrance Day in Australia and Veteran's Day in the U.S.) the U.S. Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, and Royal Australian Navy Chief of Naval Operations, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond publicly announced that the wreck of EDSALL had been found by an Australian vessel equipped for submarine search and rescue. This was followed immediately by a prepared statement by the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, thanking the Royal Australian Navy for finding and protecting the wreck site, and also saluting the crew of HMAS YARRA (U77) lost on 4 March 1942 under similar and equally valorous circumstances.

In May 2024, the Director of Sea Power Centre – Australia, Captain Alastair Cooper, RAN, notified me (Director of the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC)), that a wreck assessed to be that of the Clemson-class destroyer USS EDSALL (DD-219) had been located a couple hundred miles from Christmas Island at a depth of 18,700 feet, making it one of the deepest shipwrecks ever found.? The wreck was located by MV STOKER, a vessel operated by DMS Maritime for the Royal Australian Navy.? The wreck was documented over the course of four autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) dives in the late summer of 2023 using high resolution synthetic aperture sonar, multibeam echosounder, and video data.? Upon review of the data, the NHHC Underwater Archaeology Branch concurred with Australian analysis that the wreck is that of EDSALL, after deconfliction with the yet-to-be found wreck of destroyer USS PILLSBURY (DD-227) lost the following night in roughly the same vicinity, with no survivors.

Last Stand of USS EDSALL (DD-219)

? ? ? In previous writings I have quoted Naval Historian Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison’s statement that the Battle off Samar in October 1944 represented the most gallant action in U.S. naval history, particularly the solo charge by Commander Ernest Evans and USS JOHNSTON (DD-557) against an overwhelming Japanese force.? While I agree with Morison, I have also said that there are many contenders for the title “most gallant.” The story of USS EDSALL (DD-219) and her commanding officer, Lieutenant Joshua Nix, is one of them.? (I didn’t do near enough justice to this action in H-gram 003.) H-Gram 003 (navy.mil)

? ? ? In the last week of February 1942, the Allied defense of the Dutch East Indies collapsed in an utter rout after the disastrous defeat of combined Dutch, British, Australian and U.S. forces in the Battle of the Java Sea in the face of a relentless onslaught by the Imperial Japanese Navy.? Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King would later describe the ill-starred campaign as a magnificent display of incredibly bad strategy.? However futile, the defeat was also chock full of some of the most incredible displays of courage in the face of overwhelming odds in the annals of the U.S. Navy, with many such acts no doubt known but to God.? There were no Medals of Honor or Navy Crosses for the crew of USS EDSALL, nor was any ship ever named after her commanding officer (yet,) because their acts of valor were known but to the Japanese.

? ? ? In the pre-dawn hours of 1 March 1942, EDSALL and her sister USS WHIPPLE (DD-217,) both deemed unfit for combat service due to previous damage, completed transfer to oiler USS PECOS (AO-6) of 485 survivors from the seaplane tender (and former first U.S. aircraft carrier) USS LANGLEY (AV-3,) scuttled two days earlier after being crippled by Japanese Navy land-based bombers.? EDSALL received orders to take 31 U.S. Army Air Force pilots, rescued from LANGLEY, to Java even though their 32 P-40 fighters had gone down with LANGLEY, and Java was being evacuated.? Nevertheless, EDSALL obeyed her nonsensical orders, set a course north towards Java, and was never seen again – except by the Japanese.

? ? ? Later that day, PECOS was sighted and subjected to relentless attack by Japanese carrier aircraft, and finally sunk despite a spirited defense that embarrassed the best dive-bomber pilots in the Japanese Navy.? WHIPPLE responded to PECOS’ distress calls, ultimately rescuing 232 survivors after nightfall, but was forced to leave due to repeated submarine contacts, leaving almost 500 survivors to perish in one of the great tragedies of the war.

? ? ? EDSALL had reversed course and was probably responding to PECOS’ distress calls when she was sighted by a Japanese aircraft only 16 miles from the Japanese carrier force (Kido Butai) of AKAGI, KAGA, HIRYU and SORYU.? The plane misidentified the EDSALL as a MARLBLEHEAD-type light cruiser “pursuing” the Japanese carriers.? Reportedly blowing his temper that an enemy “cruiser” was that close to his force without having been previously detected, Vice Admiral Nagumo Chuichi ordered both his fast battleships, HIEI and KIRISHIMA, and both his heavy cruisers, TONE and CHIKUMA, to dispatch the enemy cruiser as his carriers continued recovery of aircraft from the PECOS strikes.

? ? ? The World War I-era vintage destroyer EDSALL didn’t have a prayer.? With her speed and maneuverability impaired by the premature explosion of a depth charge under her fantail in a previous attack on a submarine contact, EDSALL had no hope of escape from the battleships and cruisers. Her antiquated 4-inch guns couldn’t even penetrate Japanese destroyer armor, let alone battleships and cruisers.? EDSALL’s anti-aircraft armament was pitifully out-of-date.? She carried less than a full load of torpedoes (nine in twelve tubes, and by design only six tubes could fire in each direction.)? Although torpedoes were her most potent weapon, attempting a daylight torpedo attack against faster ships, with torpedoes that could not outrange even the secondary armament of those ships, could only end one way.

? ? ? No one knows went through the mind of Lieutenant Nix as he assessed the situation.? However, as a product of the U.S. Naval Academy in the interwar years (USNA '30) he was thoroughly indoctrinated in the spirit of John Paul Jones and steeped in the mantra of the dying Captain James Lawrence, “Don’t Give Up the Ship.”? Alone in the Indian Ocean against insurmountable odds, with no prospect of help, and unable to run, LT Nix’s options were to strike his colors, scuttle and abandon his ship, or to go down fighting.? The evidence shows that for his honor and the honor of the United States Navy, he chose to fight to the end.

? ? ? The Japanese heavy cruiser CHIKUMA opened fire with her 8-inch guns at maximum range (21,000 yards,) as the battleships circled around to cut off any avenue for escape, before they too opened fire at maximum range with their 14-inch guns.

? ? ? EDSALL responded with a smoke screen described by the Japanese as very skillfully laid (it took TONE almost 40 minutes to actually find EDSALL and open fire.)? For well over an hour, LT Nix put on a display of shiphandling for which even the Japanese expressed admiration.? Repeatedly and unpredictably altering course and speed, from flank to zero and in between, EDSALL thwarted Japanese aim time and time again, as dozens and then hundreds of Japanese shells missed.? The longer range at which the Japanese fought gave LT Nix enough time between gun flash and impact to take evasive action.? The Japanese shells very accurately hit where they were aimed, and where they expected EDSALL to be, except EDSALL wasn’t there.

? ? ? Interspersed with additional smoke screens, the EDSALL’s bobbing, weaving and jinking was described by a Japanese account as like “a Japanese Dancing Mouse,” meant as a compliment to her nimble, manic and unpredictable actions.?("Dancing Mice" were bred as pets for the amusement of children in Japan.)

Eventually the Japanese figured out that they were up against a destroyer and not a light cruiser.? This only added to the mounting frustration of the Japanese commanders (the commander of the battleships was RADM Mikawa Gunichi, future victor in the devastating U.S. defeat in the Battle of Savo Island in August 1942.)? Here, however, the powerful Japanese force that had run amok across the Pacific, steam-rollering all opposition, was being stymied and thoroughly embarrassed by one elderly destroyer.

? ? ? At a point, the Japanese battleship and cruiser commanders ordered their force to “charge” and close the range.? LT Nix responded by charging the Japanese.? Shortly after, EDSALL turned and opened fire with her 4-inch guns, but all rounds fell short.? However, the Japanese were then shocked as a spread of torpedoes narrowly missed CHIKUMA, causing them to be a bit more circumspect.

? ? Finally as dusk was approaching and over 1,200 rounds fired for at most two hits, neither of which seemed to affect EDSALL, Admiral Nagumo decided enough was enough and ordered his carriers to launch aircraft even into the fading light.? KAGA, HIRYU and SORYU launched a total of 26 “Val” dive-bombers that set upon EDSALL.? For about 20 minutes LT Nix managed to make most of the dive-bombers miss.? But at least one direct hit toward the stern and multiple near-misses were more than the old ship could take.

?? ? As fires began to rage and the ship began to settle, and before losing all steerageway, LT Nix defiantly pointed his bow at the Japanese ships.? (I perhaps inartfully described this as a maritime version of "flipping the bird," which the Washington Post quoted.) LT Nix then supervised an orderly abandon ship, before apparently returning to the bridge where he was not seen again (according to Japanese observers) apparently choosing to go down with his ship.

? ? ? With EDSALL immobile, abandoned and already sinking, KIRISHIMA and CHIKUMA closed in for the kill with a final fusillade of shellfire from two directions.? In the end, it took 1,335 14-inch, 8-inch, 6-inch and 5-inch shells, and 26 550-pound bombs, and over an hour and a half, to put EDSALL under.? A still from a film of EDSALL’s last moments was used in Japanese propaganda, misidentified as HMS POPE, and misidentified in many subsequent accounts as USS POPE (a sister ship lost the same day south of Borneo.)? In the film and still, EDSALL is literally being blown out of the water.

CHIKUMA picked up about eight survivors from EDSALL.? Many others were left behind.? EDSALL had sent a radio report stating she had been surprised by two Japanese battleships, but only one ship heard it, a Dutch cargo ship subsequently sunk and only reported after the ship’s master was rescued days later.? It wouldn’t have made any difference.? There was no one to come to EDSALL’s aid, as the Kido Butai, a separate battleship force, and other cruiser forces swept the seas around the Dutch East Indies clear of any allied warships or merchant shipping.? These included heavy cruisers USS HOUSTON (CA-30,) HMS EXETER, light cruiser HMAS PERTH, U.S. destroyers USS POPE (DD-225,) USS PILLSBURY (DD-227,) gunboat USS ASHEVILLE (PG-21,) sloop HMAS YARRA, and other Allied destroyers and ships.? (Every one of the ships above has their own unique story of incredible valor to rival this one.)

? ? ? LT Nix and his crew were subsequently declared missing in action, due to enemy action, as of 1 March 1942.? No word of the fate of any was heard during the war, and all were declared presumed dead in November 1945.? During war crimes trials in 1946, the remains of six EDSALL enlisted crewmen, and possibly five of the USAAF pilots that had been aboard EDSALL, were located in mass graves near Kendari II Airfield, Celebes, Indonesia (formerly Dutch East Indies.)? All had been executed by beheading, determined years later to have occurred on 24 March 1942.

Exactly how many men were lost aboard the EDSALL is uncertain. It appears that her own crew numbered 153, but there were at least two and possibly more stragglers from other U.S. ships sunk or damaged. There were 31 U.S. Army Air Force pilots aboard, and although less certain probably 10 USAAF ground crew chiefs (which may have gone down with PECOS) for approximately 196.

As an aside, LT Nix was the only midshipman to be married in the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel before being commissioned. He was on a medical hold that did not prevent him from graduating, but did delay his commissioning. The decision to let him marry in the Chapel anyway went all the way to the Secretary of the Navy.

The wreck of the EDSALL is a hallowed war grave site, protected by customary maritime law, the UN Law of the Sea Convention, and the U.S. Sunken Military Craft Act - and by the great depth.

If it works, this is the link to statement by Ambassador Kennedy and RAN CNO VADM Hammond. ? ? ?https://mediahub.fotoware.com.au/fotoweb/albums/Zy2PMUZcbcMn8_Eh/