Note: This book-signing was originally scheduled for March 1, 2014 but was canceled due to Barnes & Noble being closed that day because of blizzard conditions. My apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.
UPDATE: This event has been rescheduled for March 15, 2 to 4 pm. Hope to see you there.
Named after Montana’s Capital City, the light cruiser Helena was barely two years old when it was struck by a torpedo at Pearl Harbor.
At 7:57 on December 1941 Seaman C.A. Flood spotted five planes over Ford Island, and recognized them as Japanese. The officer of the deck sounded general quarters and called for live ammunition. Crewmen ran for their duty stations as a Japanese plane strafed the ship. Seconds later a second plane dove straight for the Helena, releasing its torpedo in mid-channel. The torpedo passed under the ancient USS Oglala, ripped a forty-foot hole in the Helena’s hull, and tore into the engine room. The blast roared through the open
passageways of the ship, incinerating sailors.
USS Helena – CL-50 • Commissioned – Sept. 18, 1939 • Propulsion – 8 steam turbines, 4 screws • Speed – 32 knots • Displacement – 13,000 tons (loaded) • Length – 608 feet • Complement – 888 men in peacetime, 1,200 wartime • Aircraft – 4 Curtiss SOC-2 Seagulls • Sensors – radar • Armament – 15 – 6-inch/47 guns (5 – triple mounts) – 8 – 5-inch/38 guns (4 – twin-mounts) – 8 – .50 caliber antiaircraft gunsThe USS Helena (left) and the capsized USS Oglala alongside dock 1010 at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7. Several other warships burn in the background. NA 80-G-474789 Of the Helena’s crew, 34 were killed in the attack, and 69 more were wounded. “There was guys on the docks stacked up like cordwood,” recalled Bill Sunderland of Darby, one of the Montana men aboard.
The USS Helena was patched back together and managed to limp under the power of a single engine to a shipyard at Mare Island, California, where the ship underwent months of repairs. The Helena was then sent to the Solomon Islands to help in the Guadalcanal campaign. On September 19, 1942 the Helena helped rescue 400 seamen from the torpedoed USS Wasp.
On the night of October 11, 1942 the Helena’s new radar picked up several oncoming Japanese ships, and the gunners opened fire. With modern guns that used brass cases instead of powder bags, the Helena could fire 150 rounds per minute, and within minutes had sunk a Japanese cruiser and a destroyer. Tokyo Rose would dub the Helena the “machine gun ship.”
Only a few weeks later the Helena repeated its performance at the Battle of Guadalcanal, which an American admiral would describe as the “the fiercest naval battle ever fought.” The crack gunners promptly set a Japanese cruiser ablaze and then opened fire on three other enemy ships, including a much larger battleship. The battleship was so close that it couldn’t depress its guns enough to hit the Helena. “The range was so close its fourteen inch shells were now passing over our heads: emitting a chugging sound from the compression waves,” remembered radarman Ray Casten.
On July 6, 1943 an American fleet steamed into Kula Gulf in the Solomon Islands, where ten Japanese ships were soon encountered. Once again the Helena sank a destroyer and crippled another. The speed of the gunners made the Helena an awesome sight in battle, but the constant muzzle flashes also made the cruiser a well-lit target. Nine minutes after opening fire, a Japanese “Long Lance” torpedo slammed into the bow of the Helena near the No. 6 turret, killing everyone in the forward engine room. Radio officer C.G. Morris picked himself off the deck, “in total bewilderment, unable to believe we had been hit.” Two more torpedoes struck the Helena, and the order was given to abandon the ship.
USS Helena survivors after being rescued in the aftermath of the Battle of Kula Gulf.
A second USS Helena (CA-75) was launched in April 1945, and participated in the Korean War.
• February 1 – The First Special Service Force arrived at Anzio.
• February 7 – A Great Northern train derailed on a broken track 15 miles east of Great Falls. A porter and 22 soldiers were treated at hospital at the Great Falls Army Air Base.
• February 14 – A dance in East Helena turned into a brawl between juveniles, which continued at the police station. A 50-year-old barn at the State Hospital at Warm Springs burned to the ground, killing four horses.
• February 15 – A blizzard brought sub-zero temperatures to the state.
• February 17 – U.S. Navy planes and ships began a two day raid on the Japanese base at Truk Atoll.
• February 19 – U.S. forces landed on Eniwetok.
• February 22 – The ACM clubhouse and bowling alley on Smelter Hill in Great Falls were destroyed by fire, causing $50,000 damage.
• February 28 – The U.S. Third Division repelled a German attack at Anzio.
