Show Rainy Weather Curtained Ships As Doolittle Force Neared Goal Editors Editor's Note This Is the fourth of a series of articles on the Doo Dao little litti raid on Tokyo by Richard ace war correspondent correspondent dent who was with the task force accompanying the aircraft car car- ncr rier Hornet By Richard AT SEA WITH LA SHANGRI-LA TASK FORCES INS Another Another cheering note is the weather The sky is gray and stormy and it is raining The rolling and pitching of the ship is bothersome but many a hand aboard Is glad Glad because the murky weather is a curtain to screen our large task force from enemy observation We hope that this natural protection will continue until we have launched our bombing planes There was news of a submarine alarm and some of our small craft went out to hunt for the enemy But according to the story he was not discovered and presumably bly the alarm was false In these days as we are nearing our objective however our patrols patrols pa pa- troIs must keep a double check ahead and on all sides to guard against our being seen by an ene ene- my One Japanese submarine popping popping pop pop- popI I ping up somewhere along our course could quickly flash word to the Japanese mainland and bring out a naval force that might thwart all our plans Everyone seems to be growing more tense by the hour now ow and time accordingly has slowed con con- Talk About Raid Tonight at dinner the conversation conversation conversation conversa conversa- tion still turned about the raid and particularly the subject of where our task force is going to go and what to do after our planes have been launched on their way towards towards towards to to- wards Tokyo Wistfully every officer who speaks of f the matter lays dreamy plans for engaging th the Japanese home fleet or blasting shore in installations installations installations in- in with our he hevy vy guns There was was some conjecture as asto asto asto to the time of day at which we will launch our planes Some say late afternoon as that would give us the cover of night in which to haul our ships away from the battIe battle battle bat bat- tle tIe area at Qt full speed and also afford afford afford af af- af- af ford the bombers combers the advantage of darkness for their attack Others objected that if we launched our bomber squadrons in late afternoon we would have to penetrate deep into Japanese coastal coast coast- al waters in broad daylight while we we were v e r e watching our launching point point and and that they suggested would probably result In our being caught with our planes down and the failure of our misS mis mis- sion S One More 1 Day Today was the day before the great event At midmorning we were still many hundred miles from Tokyo and our task force slowed in the choppy gray sea to have a parley Under the overcast overcast overcast over over- cast lights blinked back and forth Up on our signal bridge I could see a blinker sending out its mule mute intelligence Answers came from another cruiser and the Hornet Smaller craft cut in crazy patterns among their big brothers Every ship was waiting waiting and and talking Then talking done we began to shove on speed Our ship plunged ahead of the pack tossing clouds of 01 spume over her bow Sh She rode so fast that she jerked and shivered shivered shivered shiv shiv- ered each time she rode a high one and one onex of her propellers topped the waves Shangri Up at 4 o'clock this morning in inthe inthe inthe the hope of all the excitement excitement excitement excite excite- ment of the day There was a possibility possibility pos pos- we had decided that the bombers mi might t ta take e off f at dawn r they did ald not When the sun came up we were still within miles from Tokyo The bombers it was said were to take off in inthe Inthe i the afternoon if everything went smoothly smoothly smoothly-or or earlier if we should be intercepted by any Japanese I war craft There was a fresh story in the wardroom At 3 o'clock in the morning we had detected a a ship about 12 miles from us When we i turned off course he turned in the f same direction and followed until I o our r superior speed dropped him astern but astern but whether he had seen seeni r. r i us was problematical At about 7 o'clock as we were j sitting down to breakfast one of our scouting ting planes spotted an Unidentified unidentified un un- identified ship but quickly avoided I it i Later in the morning came the I electrifying news that the cruiser 5 running just behind us had sighted a Japanese patrol ship near by Contact was unavoidable this time i and putting on a maximum of speed the cruiser dropped out of cf formation and darted off to our l port side We could see see her streaking toward toward to toward to- to ward the horizon where the Japanese Japanese Japanese Japa Japa- nese ship was only a faint smudge of gray on the horizon At last we had met the enemy Opens Fire pw We cruiser was about four miles n dour ur UL s when she opened fire fire- BU But w we plainly see the brilliant flashes of her lier guns She came cameal al alight with puffs of orange flame like a gas stove touched off by a 8 match each time the guns fired Clouds of dirty smoke with a yellowish hue were rising over th the cruiser And near near the horizon we could see tall n narrow geysers geysers like lik a line bf of white columns springing into existence I Then the small popping sound of the gunfire came to us from the I distance Sound is slow slow to to travel in such vast spaces Almost immediately the bright flashes of a second salvo burst along the cruisers cruiser's deck And then the bright little sunbursts of color came in rotation rolling up and down the length of the ship On the horizon a smother of spray columns had risen where the Jap ship had been seen The Tho cruisers cruiser's cruisers cruiser's cruisers cruiser's cruis cruis- ers er's gunners had to hold their fire until the of splashes had settled and vision was clear again BO so that they could see their target Action Moves Io Away The action was moving out of our range of vision as we plowed on toward Tokyo But I could see one small dot of a patrol plane hovering over the shell splashes and presumably bombing the Jap We were trying to exterminate the enemy eneny before he radioed our position position position tion to his base But it took a afew afew afew few minutes too long to sink him and we feared that he had reported our position Now mechanics were warming up the motors of the big B on the Hornets Hornet's leek only leck only a few min mm- utes after the might of the cruiser had blasted th the Jap to bits We must get our bombers off posthaste posthaste posthaste post post- haste before enemy air or surface craft arrived on the spot Our ship was guarding the Hornet Hornet Hornet Hor Hor- net with the result that we were afforded a marvelous view of the activity on her flight deck If the demonstration lad had beet beel arranged for our benefit we could not have had better seats scats Sailors and marines on our decks snatched seconds from their duties despite the constant peril of air raid to watch the sight And they entered into the action as wholeheartedly as a great football audience Tomorrow Tomorrow The The planes take off S |