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able to continue making videos it would be amazing please take a look at patreon.com thee operations room that's patreon.com thee operations room no problem at all if you aren't able to support us financially we appreciate all your support since April 2019 at just past 4 p.m. on the 1st of March 1942 the Clemson class destroyer USS edol is underway towards the last known position of the oiler USS posos her commander Lieutenant Joshua Nix is tasked with rescuing any Survivor she may encounter from an engagement the USS posos is feared to have been part of as edol sails towards P's last position the Tranquil peace is Shattered by a salvo of Japanese fire that smashes into the water behind her unbeknownst to Lieutenant NEX he has sailed into the jaws of the Kido Bai the Imperial Japanese Navy's aircraft carry a based mobile striking Force his fate and that of his ship now lie in the balance one heavily weighted against him by March the Allied position in the Pacific Theater is teetering on a knife edge and further Japanese conquests are likely the Empire of Japan had already led a devastating campaign across the Pacific consuming Singapore British Malaya and huge sths of the Philippines so Swift and successful were their advances that Japanese Commanders open another front against the Netherlands East Indies and by the 1st of March even this Conquest is entering its closing stages after an extensive and lightening fast island hopping campaign The Joint Allied command abacom previously administering the defense of Southeast Asia has all but disintegrated Japanese forces will soon begin their Landings on the Netherlands East Indies final Bastion of java along Java's Southern Shore is the crucially important port of chatchat where supplies and re enforcements come ashore and where warships like edol operate from escorting fleets and merchantmen to and from Australia on the 26th of February edol and another Clemson class destroyer the USS Whipple sailed to rendevu with the sea plane tender the USS Langley destined for Java with a consignment of p40e kitty Hawks and 33 US Army Air Force personnel a day later just as the battle of the Java sea raged far to the North the USS Langley was discovered and attacked by aircraft of the taka koku Thai from the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service operating out of the recently occupied island of barley as a result of this encounter the Langley was so badly damaged that the decision was taken to Scuttle her whilst her crew was taken aboard the Destroyers etol and Whipple on the following day the two destroyers rued with another ship this time the USS Pacos and Oiler of flying fish Cove Christmas Island the posos under the command of Commander Elber Aban had departed Chila chap with several wounded already aboard from the USS Houston Marblehead and Stewart due to earlier engagements and were ordered to collect those survivors from Langley before delivering them to Australia as the three ships rued and preparations were made to transfer Langley's survivors to the posos the force was discovered by Japanese bombers heading for Christmas Island and though not the target nor under attack the three ships hastened to the safety of a rain Squall out in the open sea now that their position had undoubtedly been noted and reported it wouldn't be until the early hours of the 1st of March when the USS P Co took the survivors from the two destroyers with the exchange complete edol began its Journey North it's during this journey that she receives countermanding orders from rear Admiral William glassford the senior us naval officer in abacom all US Naval forces are to evacuate Java and make for a rendevu point to the South a point he doesn't realize is compromised to the Japanese the posos however is ordered to continue on to Australia in this direction however lies the Kido Bhai who last reared its head at the devastating raid on Darwin in Northern Australia and have now moved West towards Christmas Island with new orders edol turns South towards the rendevu point when at 10:00 a.m. the USS P Co is located by a single aircraft with a distinguishing feature non- retractable landing gear as Lookouts aboard the posos identify it to be a Val bomber they know this means only one thing the feared Kido Bai must be nearby within a matter of minutes the Kido Bai begin to launch strike aircraft and within 2 hours the attack Commander athi is fearing arrives arriving first six Val dive bombers from the carrier Cara dive one at a time onto the oiler posos with her five and 3in guns throw up a ferocious defense according to Japanese accounts the heos superbly avoided our bombs of the six bombs dropped only one hits the ship after an hour's rest fite six more vowels from the carrier saw you appear attacking in a similar pattern and despite the P CO's best efforts her impaired mobility allows the bombers to score four direct hits despite now being badly damaged the posos fights on extinguishing her fires correcting her list and bringing her radios back online but it won't last at 2:45 p.m. 18 dive bombers from akagi and heu arrive overhead as the nine vales from hear you dive onto the posos her anti-aircraft guns now manned almost entirely by untrained volunteers throw up a volume of anti-aircraft fire so great and disruptive that it unnerves arguably the best dive bomber pilots in the Imperial Japanese Navy each of their bombs misses just as they complete their passes the akagi's nine dive bomb begin their own attack like here's aircraft most of their bombs Miss however the eighth bomb drops does Land close to her Hull causing a breach and uncontrollable flooding Commander abany knows his ship is destined to sink and so issues the order to abandon ship with the attack still ongoing P's radio's distress signals and position reports with the last transmission going out at 3:38 p.m. PCO sinks 10 minutes later and her crew end up in the water as do the survivors from the USS Langley for a second time whether edol hears the distress calls is unknown but likely as posos and langle survivors are drifting in the water as Sunset approaches they begin to hear the sounds of a naval battle in the distance some survivors will be rescued overnight but 500 will drown USS edol is steaming to their rescue she herself has now been spotted a returning V dive bomber one of aagi likely from the bombing of posos itself radios to the Kido Bhai that they have spotted a light Cruiser some 16 m to the Kido bai's flank as more information is gathered on the as of yet unidentified USS edol she is Loosely identified as the Cruiser USS Marblehead a light Cruiser long coveted by the Japanese for proving immensely difficult to SN this supposed identification reaches vice admiral nagumo who is angered taken aback by how an American light Cruiser has been able to get within 16 Mi of his Force without being detected beforehand without hesitation he orders the battleships hi and kirishima of Battleship division 3 and the Cruisers chuma and ton of Cruiser division 8 to intercept within 10 minutes Lookouts aboard the chuma spot the USS edol and orders are hastily barked to her 8in batteries at a range of 12,000 y chuma opens fire d given by a desire to resolve the threat promptly rear Admiral ARB orders his Cruisers to advance at flank speed as ploes of water shoot into the sky around his Destroyer Lieutenant NX relays contact reports to all available commands these messages are never received NYX and the edel are all alone the shells of the two heavy Cruisers crash into the water and the edol begins to maneuver watching as the two heavy Cruisers Advance NY orders his Destroyer to deploy smoke while she begins an exhaustive pattern of Maneuvers from Port to starboard and from flank speed to full stops NY is pushing his Destroyer to the limits but in doing so is keeping his crew alive aboard chikuma and ton their Gunners struggle to train their guns onto the Destroyer thwarted by her Maneuvers and smoke screens as his heavy Cruisers continue to miss rear Admiral ARB requests the aid of rear Admiral janichi maawa battleships he is all too happy to apply at 28,000 y he's 14in batteries open heavy fire quickly followed by kirishima together however their entrance is just as anticlimactic as chumas as their shells fall short of the Nimble Destroyer frustrated by her poor Gunnery he launches three float planes in an effort to support her Gunnery Crews as the aircraft rise and begins to relay information back to the he the edol continues its unpredictable pattern of maneuvers what makes this even more impressive and entirely unknown to the Japanese is that edol is already reeling from earlier damages caused by a premature depth charge explosion that limited her speed and maneuverability the Japanese crws could be forgiven for thinking she was in perfect operational Health as she performs her Maneuvers unfazed and seemingly unhindered gliding through the incoming fire with ease angered more and more by their disappointing Gunnery rear Admiral arb's heavy Cruisers continued to chase the Ed whilst rear Admiral maa's battleships moved to encircle the pesky Destroyer aware of this yet undeterred Lieutenant nyx's Destroyer continues to Bob and weave as hundreds of shells fall into the waters around him in Recollections of the battle Japanese commanders will complement the Nimble and manic movements her Captain is guiding her through as he continues to thwart Salvo after Salvo his movements are made even more effective by the constant employment of smoke screens which have shielded his V from T for almost 40 minutes the chuma however does maintain sight and fire on the Edo as Tona finally spots her through the smoke she brings her guns to Bear Lookouts aboard the Heavy Cruiser finally question whether the edol is the Marble Head after all it doesn't take them long to correctly re-identify her as a destroyer still embarrassed by the poor performance of his Gunners rear Admiral maawa orders his ships to aggressively close the distance noticing their change in Tempo and Direction Lieutenant NYX embodies the Mantra don't give up the ship and responds in kind without much other option NYX issues simple and aggressive orders turn towards the Japanese vessels and charge as the ship's bow Glides to Port her 4in batteries ignite and her torpedo tubes spark into action described by Japanese observers as being like a dancing Mouse edol completes her turn and follows her torpedo towards chuma continuing to fire her guns and Bob and weave aboard the Japanese ship her crew is taken AP back by edsel's aggression the Torpedoes scream towards the Heavy Cruiser but narrowly miss as dusk approaches over 1,000 rounds have splashed into the waters around her with only one believed to have hit as news of the Edo's Defiance reaches vice admiral nagumo and with the embarrassment of his escorts he decides enough is enough looking to hold on to his Force's string of successes nagumo orders his carriers to launch their aircraft into the fading light from the Cara hear you and saw you 26 Val dive bombers take to the sky and turn for the slippery Destroyer each armed with a 550 lb bomb as nagumo's aircraft raced towards the edil she continues still to Bob and weave inter speeding her movement with one smoke screen after another it isn't long however before the sound of gunfire is replaced with that of aircraft engines for lieutenant Nicks this sound means only one thing Japanese aircraft have arrived to join the fry now facing two types of attack the latest being one which the Kido Bhai are highly proficient at Lieutenant NYX knows he must act fast with edel already on course to meet chuma NYX increases the unpredictability of his Maneuvers the first bombs begin to fall into the waters around him as the naval gunfire continues finally Lieutenant nix's luck and that of his ship Runs Out despite his expert maneuvering several of the dive bombers strike the destroyer's deck igniting fires which rapidly spread throughout the ship the force of near bomb misses damages her fragile steering and propulsion NY defiantly points ul's bow towards the Japanese heavy Cruisers before withdrawing from his post to supervise his crew's Escape now immobile and taking on water edel's end end has finally come kirishima and chuma position themselves to the Destroyer starboard and Port firing first kirishima's 14-in batteries erupt into the destroyer's side and her secondaries also open fire on the opposite side so two did the primary and secondary armaments of chikuma under this final barrage of fire ul's defiant Last Stand is at an end and she begins to descend beneath the waves in the space of over 80 4 minutes the small and Antiquated USS Edsel has evaded the best efforts of two battleships two heavy Cruisers and 26 dive bombers in the end it would take the combined firing of 1,335 14 8 6 and 5in shells and the dropping of 26 550b bombs to finally sink the Destroyer for the Japanese who recorded this battle it would be used as a training aid on how not to attack a destroyer the poor performance of their gun Crews is not the result of poor training or equipment but instead their tactics and the skill and tact with which Lieutenant NX evaded them the fate of eda's crew was unknown until after the war as none were held in Japanese prisoner of war camps during the post-war war crimes trial convened in Java by the Allies investigators were led by eyewitnesses to execution grounds on the cibus islands here 34 decapitated bodies were found of the bodies five were from the edol and another five were presumed to be of the US Army Air Force contingent aboard those of Edo's crew who survived the battle were executed by the Japanese on the 24th of March 1942 the sinking of the USS edol was just another unfortunate loss in a long chain in the Dutch East Indies campaign that would culminate on the 9th of March 1942 when the island of java was surrendered to the Empire of Japan thanks to our amazing patrons who support enables us to make these videos thank you to all our new patrons who joined recently and a special thanks to our patron of the week Hunter Thor each week we choose our favorite patreon comments to shout out this week Scott says Lieutenant Nicks and his men drove their ship to perfection in dodging the fire of the Cruisers and battleships the Air Attack was the deciding factor in the end if you'd like to support us please join our patreon at patreon.com thee operations room and get access to exclusive benefits such as Early Access to videos add and sponsor free we would love to have you as part of our community and really appreciate your support