Pawns of War - Dwight R. Messimer

Pawns of War details the loss of the USS Langley and the USS Pecos in the early months of the Pacific War in 1942. The Langley was the United States’ first aircraft carrier, but by the start of World War 2, it was a seaplane tender stuck in the same doomed ABDA group as the USS Houston. The Dutch were demanding P-40s to try and defend their holdings in what is now Indonesia, and the Langley was stuck with the task of transporting 32 of these fighter craft and their crews. They could have been diverted to India along with a different convoy, but Admiral Glassford, the ranking American naval officer in the area felt it was worthwhile, if only to maintain positive relations with the Dutch. Never mind it was a complete waste of time, because 30 planes in the hands of pilots so green you don’t trust them to fly their own damn planes to the place they’re going to use them, are not going to make a bit of difference against everything Japan would throw at them.

As it turns out, it’s a moot point, because the Langley never made it, sunk by dive bombers, because the ship received so many conflicting (and stupid) orders it wasn’t able to come into port at night, when darkness might have provided cover, since there wasn’t any fighter cover. This is what I mean. They were on their way to meet their escort, two American destroyers, when they’re told said escort is already almost on them. Turns out to be a minesweeper, which is so slow, the Langley decided they were better on their own, so they steamed on alone. Then they were told to turn back. Then they were told to turn around again, and go meet the two destroyers. It’s a clusterfuck, though Messimer says Admiral Ernest King was so unhappy about it, he took steps to ensure no U.S. ship wound up under another nation’s command.

That’s when the Pecos enters the picture, an oiler trying to get the hell out of Tjilatjap before it gets invaded, ordered to take on the survivors of the Langley from the destroyers. The ship did its level best to get out of range of the Japanese Army air fleet, but there was still the matter of the 4 carriers in the area, and the Pecos was just not built to survive that kind of barrage. Which doesn’t mean they didn’t make a good effort. It took all four carriers sending out a squadron of bombers to do enough damage where the order to abandon ship was given, which is a testament to the skill of the crew on the ship, fighting fires, patching leaks, keeping the engines going (also perhaps a statement on the somewhat lackadaisical approach the pilots took, as they apparently treated it like a training exercise).

My dad said he sent this one along not just because of the stuff about the Asiatic Fleet, but because there would be a lot of things that would rile me up. He wasn’t wrong about that. After the ordeal is over, and the survivors have made it to Australia, Glassford tried to question whether Commander McConnell, the captain of the Langley, made a reasonable effort to save his ship before abandoning, which made me want to scream. The ship was dead in the water, in broad daylight, and hadn’t a prayer of defending itself if another wave of bombers appeared. The fighter planes were either wrecked, on fire, or had been dumped into the ocean in an attempt to reduce the list the ship was suffering from , meaning the point of the mission was gone.

‘After the patrol plane had disappeared, the three ships plowed across the deep blue water under fair tropical skies, every available eye searching the horizon for the bombers each man knew was coming. Standing on the navigation bridge, Commander McConnell had feelings of anger and defeat. From the start he and his officers had known that the mission had little practical hope of success. After the Japanese reconnaissance plane found the Langley, what faint hope existed had been erased. McConnell, an exceptionally practical man, knew that only a miracle could save his ship and their mission. But in February 1942, Allied miracles were on back order.’