Amid the black smoke and intense heat of burning ships nearby and in spite of two direct bomb hits, the crew of the USS Maryland immediately took to their anti-aircraft guns as the reality of the attack sank in.
Maryland officers’ accounts laud the crew’s bravery in battle.
“I cannot speak too highly of the conduct of the men during the entire action,” wrote Commander W.F. Fitzgerald Jr. “There was no panic whatever. As I went from gun to gun and ammunition party to ammunition party I noted that even though there might have been surprise and fear present every man was willing and anxious to do his bit and after only a word or two of encouragement turned to his task with zest and efficiency.”
The Maryland was docked on battleship row along Ford Island, next to the USS Oklahoma, which shielded it from torpedoes.
The crew’s quick response to the surprise attack led to a reported seven enemy planes being shot down.
Seaman 1st Class Leslie Vernon Short was writing a letter near his machine gun aboard the Maryland when he saw the bombing of Ford Island.
He was credited with being the first aboard the Maryland to shoot down a Japanese torpedo plane.
Short, 22 years old at the time of the attack, wrote: “After breakfast on Sunday morning, I came to Group ‘A’ Machine Gun Station to write some letters home and address some Christmas cards. Suddenly I noticed planes diving on the Naval Air Base nearby. … I broke out ammunition nearby, loaded my machine gun and opened fire on two torpedo planes coming in from the east which had just dropped two torpedoes. Flames and smoke burst from the first plane I aimed at, and it veered off to the left falling toward the hospital.”
Ensign William J. Manning was also singled out for quickly breaking open a locked ammunition container and starting an ammunition supply train of men which helped get the anti-aircraft guns firing quickly.
Four men from the Maryland were killed and 13 injured, three of them seriously, according to Navy records.
Although damaged from two bomb hits, the Maryland put the lie to Japanese reports that it had been sunk. The battleship was repaired at the Puget Sound Navy Yard and was back in service by early 1942.
Sources include Naval History and Heritage Command, commander’s Dec. 19, 1941, action report.
