A Survivor Talks

The true story of the U.S.S. Kearny, which was torpedoed but not sunk three weeks ago, was told from a hospital cot after she arrived at Reykjavik, Iceland, by Ensign Henry Lyman, of Ponkapog, Mass.:

The Kearny was on escort duty, westbound. She received a signal to leave her convoy and go to the assistance of another convoy, which was being attacked by U-boats. They reached the convoy late in the afternoon. The attack had apparently ceased.

The scattered convoy reformed and sailed into what Ensign Lyman called "as black a night as I've ever seen." Out of the blackness came a second submarine assault.

"They started to fire torpedoes and we dropped depth charges to drive them off. The submarines were probably on the surface with their decks awash and their engines cut, so we couldn't hear them. One tanker was afire and sinking. A corvette was trying to pick up survivors. Somehow a U-boat had maneuvered between the Kearny and the convoy. She went after us.

"The U-boat fired three torpedoes at us. One went off the bow, one went off stern and the third hit us on the starboard side at the forward engine room."

The destroyer was swinging hard to port at the time of the hit. Ensign Lyman heard a terrible roar as the warhead bit through the Kearny's armor. The explosion killed seven men stationed in the forward boiler room on the steaming watch. Its force ripped up through the deck, wrecked the starboard wing of the bridge, knocked the forward stack back and broke the siren cord so that its shrill yowl could not be shut off. Four others disappeared, probably blown overboard.

"We couldn't hear a damned thing on the bridge because of the siren. We looked over the side to see whether the engines were still turning over or whether she was settling. It was a matter of minutes before she started to move forward." The explosion broke the bridge's control of the engine room and steering apparatus, "but pretty soon we were able to steer from the second conning station. . . . We had no compass working and the helmsman steered by the flag--that is, he watched the flag to see which way the wind was blowing." Ensign Lyman and enlisted men tried to fire rockets, but two missed fire and they finally resorted to a Very pistol. Star shells burst to the south and flames from three burning tankers lit the seascape.

The chief engineer and what was left of his crew at once began "repairing flooded fuel lines and working down there in the dark and danger." They put out an electrical fire, bolstered a buckling bulkhead.

Thanks to her construction and the tenacity of her men, the Kearny limped safely to port. "Everyone," said Ensign Lyman, "just did his job--and two or three more. If I am torpedoed again I hope I have this crew with me."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.