In David Mattiske's "Fire Across The Pacific", HMAS Shropshire (the author was an Able Seaman on that ship), he describes the action in May 1944 (Operation Horlicks?) when Shropshire, Australia and other ships prepared to bombard Biak, an island near the northern coast of Papua, the Indonesian province, where the Japanese had airfields. Mattiske describes the scene: The water approaching Biak from the south is relatively shallow, so the cruisers and destroyers moving in for the surprise kill at dawn moved slowly and carefully.. Through my Evershead binoculars mounted on the bearing indicator I could see, still several miles away, the clear outline of mountains, and to the left flatter country.. Then I blinked and looked again. Were my eyes playing tricks? I stared again. Along the beach front there were spots of light which looked like fires burning and I presumed they were cooking fires preparing Japanese breakfasts as cooks got to work with the approaching dawn.. A hurried discussion took place and a message was sent by T.B.S. to the Flag Ship, which in this case was the Phoenix. After some more T.B.S. chatter the sightings were picked up by others, and we heard the order to advance bombardment time. We would catch the Japs with their pants down, at it was obvious they were completely unaware of the impending rain of fire which was about to descend on them. What happened next will never be official and certainly un-recorded, but is a tale for Ripley's "Believe It Or Not." The ship's company was now required at "actions stations" earlier than expected so the order was given to the duty bugler to sound "actions stations". The bugler stepped to the box containing the loud speaker system, opened it, switched on the system, and sounded "action stations", blowing for all he was worth. My position at the Port E.B.I. in the forward corner of the Compass Platform overlooked "B" deck, the foc'sle, and the water below. I heard the bugle notes echoing across the water, the sound appearing to echo on and on. Did the Japs hear our bugle? No one will ever know the real reason, but minutes after sounding off the Jap lights started to go out and they fired a Verey Light, a signal normally used as a warning. Over the T.B.S. came a strident voice, "who blew that bugle?" We heard later that a Fleet Order was issued forbidding the use of bugles at sea. My Dad, Able Seaman Walter Elliget, was the sailor who blew that bugle. He laughed as he later related the story and showed me the paragraphs of the book he'd high-lighted. He recalled that an officer, perhaps a sub-lieutenant, had gotten into hot water after ordering the sounding of action stations that morning. My question is, what was the extent of the order forbidding bugles at sea? Was it only in that particular theatre, i.e. operations involving islands, or was it a general edict? I can see that the sound of a bugle, amplified, in that type of scenario could be a problem but surely issuing general commands by bugles on the open seas wouldn't have presented a problem. The book of another Able Seaman of the Shropshire, Stan Nicholls, can be found here: HMAS Shropshire - Stan Nicholls Martin
Martin, At least in smaller ships they didn't carry buglers so no problem, just the action stations hooter. I am wondering however, would a bugle played over the AI be any louder than the action station siren. The system can only carry so much. David
A good point, David. I don't know. By it's very nature, you would think that the call to action stations needed to be fairly loud and urgent sounding so as to reach the ears of men wherever they might have been (can't imagine whispered orders over the loud speaker getting much response). Perhaps the bosun's/bosun's mate's pipe was used more as, being a higher pitch, wasn't thought to carry as far. Martin
Martin, Possibly so, but the navy have a standard set of bugle/bosuns pipe calls and sailors react to those calls automatically. Cruisers upward generally use the bugle and smaller ships bosuns pipe, action alarm is a hooter - actuvated by pressing the appropriate button. David
If they were several miles away, as written, I feel it must have been sharp eyed look outs posted by the japanese, who spotted the ships approaching. It is a long way for sound to travel and as already pointed out the klaxton would have been even louder sounding action stations. Extremely good reading though. Regards Tom
Thanks, guys. Dad was bugler on the Canberra but he also used the bosun's pipe, though perhaps that was more for piping aboard, the wakey wakey call, etc. We occasionally got the navy "treatment", with the shrill whistle of his pipe or his blaring trumpet at some ungodly hour of the morning (usually after a late night) ! I haven't finished reading it yet but David Mattiske's book is very interesting and well written. regards, Martin
A belated thanks for the photos, Cally. I think the one entering the Grand Harbour in Malta was one I bought on eBay and uploaded here (same writing on the front) But I hadn't seen the others. cheers, Martin
Sorry for that Martin. I have around 40 pictures of Shropshire so I just quickly selected the 4 that I considered to be the best. I obviously must have seen yours before and added it to the ones I had already!
No worries at all, Cally. You post so many, I'm not surprised you'd forgotten where it came from. I don't own the copyright or anything. It is one of my favourites of the Shropshire but always good to see new shots.
