USS Edsall: Wreck of heroic US Navy dancing mouse warship found off Australia

Hong Kong CNN —

The wreck of a US warship sunk in a World War II battle, considered one of the bravest ever seen by a US Navy ship, has been found in the depths of the Pacific, have American and Australian officials announced Monday.

Known as the Dancing Mouse because of its slippery movements during that final, fatal battle with the Imperial Japanese Navy, the destroyer USS Edsall sank off the coast of Australia in 1942, under the command of Lieutenant Joshua Nix.

Joshua Nix and his crew fought valiantly, dodging 1,400 shells from Japanese battleships and cruisers before being attacked by 26 dive bombers, suffering only one fatal hit, U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy said Monday announcing the discovery of the wreck of the Edsalls.

Speaking alongside Kennedy, Australian naval chief Vice-Admiral Mark Hammond said the wreck was found using advanced hydrographic survey capabilities aboard the naval support ship MV Stoker.

Hammond also praised the Edsall's crew for fighting a series of battles to help protect Australia at the start of World War II, before the ship sank on March 1, 1942.

That day, a plane aboard a Japanese aircraft carrier spotted the American destroyer about 200 miles south-southeast of Christmas Island, according to an account of Edsalls' final battle posted on the website of the United States Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC).

Japanese Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo was reportedly furious that the American warship was spotted within 16 miles of his forces and ordered them to intercept it immediately, according to the account by NHHC Director Samuel Cox.

The old American destroyer Edsall was commissioned in 1920 and its 4-inch guns would be no match for the new Japanese fleet, which had larger guns and dozens of planes carrying 500-pound bombs.

Nix's position was desperate from the moment Edsall was sighted, Cox wrote.

But the captain of the American destroyer did not give up.

As a final gesture of defiance, like the famous cartoon of the tooth fairy flipping the bird at a huge screaming eagle, Lt. Nix chose to make it a fight, Cox wrote.

He had the destroyer lay down a smoke screen, make course changes, and change speed to evade Japanese shells while launching torpedoes that narrowly missed a Japanese warship.

After watching Edsall escape more than a thousand 14-inch and 8-inch shells, Japanese commanders ordered dozens of dive bombers from their three carriers to strike, according to Cox's account, which , he claimed, was derived from Japanese sources.

At least one hit Edsall and the ship began to lose its ability to maneuver.

As the fires raged and the ship settled and lost course, Lieutenant Nix pointed the bow of the Edsall toward the Japanese surface ships in his final act of defiance and ordered the ship abandoned, Cox wrote.

The Japanese warships then turned their big guns on the disabled destroyer, ultimately sinking it.

But Nix's maneuvers earned respect from Japanese witnesses, Cox writes.

According to a Japanese observer, Edsall behaved like a Japanese dancing mouse (a popular domestic animal in Japan, also known as a waltzing or spinning mouse for its maniacal and bizarre movements), the American naval historian wrote.

Following news of the wreck's discovery, officials praised Nix effusively.

The Edsall's commander respected the U.S. Navy's principle of not abandoning ship, even in the face of insurmountable odds, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said in a statement Monday. .

The wreck of this ship is a sacred site, serving as a landmark for the 185 US Navy personnel and 31 US Army Air Force pilots aboard at the time, almost all of whom were lost when the Edsall succumbed to his battle damage.

While most of the Edsall's passengers died at sea that day, some were rescued from the water by the Japanese and taken prisoner.

After the war ended, six decapitated bodies found in graves on the island of Celebes (now Sulawesi, Indonesia) were identified as those of Edsall's crew. Five other bodies found in the graves have not been identified but are believed to be those of American pilots who were aboard the ship, according to Cox's account.

He called the story of the Edsall one of the most valiant and valorous actions in U.S. naval history.

Historian and author Trent Hone cited Edsall's final battle as the most courageous independent action by a US Navy surface ship in combat, in a 2020 investigation by US Naval Institutes Proceedings magazine .

Franchetti said Monday that the story of the Edsall, both in its defense of Australia in 1942 and in the cooperation shown by the two allies in recovering the wreck this year, shows the strength of this trans-Pacific alliance.

This discovery highlighted the current AUKUS partnership between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, she said.

A key element of AUKUS is the development of the most advanced underwater technologies of the type that enabled the discovery of Edsall in the vastness of the Indian Ocean, something that was not possible just a few years ago. just years, Franchetti said.

This capability helps ensure our collective ability to preserve peace, respond to crises and win decisively in war, she added.

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