1941, Sunday 30 November;
The rattling of the chains told of the anchor’s release, and dive to the bottom of Balikpapan Bay, as the US Navy destroyer tender Black Hawk slowed to a halt, her journey from Manila complete. Normally once she had finished dragging her anchor, and settled, bow facing the current, she would drop the stern anchor and secured herself. But this wasn’t normal, the destroyers accompanying her wouldn’t be tying up alongside either, they would anchor separately, some distance away from each other.
Their visit here in the Dutch East Indies, was to refuel, but Capt H V Wiley, commander of Destroyer Squadron 29, onboard the tender, had orders from Adm Hart to "have difficulty in refuelling", with a view toward lingering in those ports "for a protracted period if necessary." In short, stay as long as you could, keeping out of harm’s way from the half expected Japanese assault on the Philippines. The visit had been discussed with the Dutch, who were more than happy to oblige. And so here, along with Black Hawk was Destroyer Division 57, four Clemson class destroyers, USS Alden, USS JD Edwards, USS Whipple and USS Edsall.
The Clemson class were a modified Wickes class, given greater endurance by adding wing tanks, and a second 3-in AA gun. The class had been completed just after WWI, and were the last flush deck destroyers built. Just over a year ago, a number of them had been included in the 50 destroyers given to Britain as part of the ‘Destroyers for Bases’ Agreement. The Royal Navy, recognising they were no longer suitable for fleet destroyer action, had converted them into ocean escorts, stripping a lot of their armament to make the ships more seaworthy, and make room for depth charge racks. Indeed, the US Navy recognised that, and others had been converted to high-speed transports (APH), high-speed minesweepers (DMS), destroyer minelayers (DM) and seaplane tenders (AVD). However, here in the Asiatic Fleet, they were still employed as fleet destroyers, and were comparable to the dozen or so British and Australian destroyers operating in these waters. Nevertheless, in a one-on-one matchup with the Japanese destroyers of the Fubuki class or later, they were a distant second.
A day earlier, 300 odd miles to the North, at Tarakan Island, still 800 miles south-west of Manila, the Omaha class light cruiser USS Marblehead, along with another four Clemson class destroyers, USS Paul Jones, USS Barker, USS Parrott and USS Stewart had dropped anchor, under the command of Marblehead’s CO Capt Robinson, with exactly the same orders. The Omaha class were of the same vintage as the destroyers, but were far more capable than the smaller C and D class light cruisers of the Royal Navy to be found employed in these waters. Most other significant USN surface ships of the Asiatic Fleet were also being sent to southern Philippine port locations as part of Adm Hart’s contingency plans.
The whole thing had come about from a ‘war warning’ Admiral stark had issued to both the CinC’s of the Pacific and Atlantic fleets, as well as Hart on the 27th November. Negotiations with the Japanese had failed, and an aggressive move by the Japanese was expected in the next few days. The number and equipment of Japanese troops, together with the deployment of Naval task forces suggested an amphibious expedition against either the Philippines, the Kra Peninsula in southern Thailand or Borneo. He was to execute appropriate defensive deployments preparatory to carrying out the tasks assigned in Rainbow 5. The war department was issuing a similar warning, and Douglas would no doubt have that, while their allies, the British, had also been warned.
Douglas didn’t seem to be taking it seriously, but Hart was under no illusion as to what would happen to his surface fleet if the Japanese attacked, and to preserve what he had, he was moving them, as best he could, out of harm’s way, in case the storm broke over the Philippines.
