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Torpedo-equipped Imperial
Japanese Army Ki-76 "Peggy" bombers attack the USS
Houston, CL-81 at sunset on 14 October, 1944 off the coast of
Formosa. One aerial torpedo found its mark, seriously damaging
the Houston, beginning an ordeal that included being hit by another
aerial torpedo two days later as the heavily damaged ship was
under tow by the Navy tug Pawnee, which was attempting to tow
the Houston to the US Navy fleet anchorage at Ulithi Atoll. Fifty-five
of the ship's complement were killed and many wounded during
their epic struggle to save their ship. After making the Ulithi
anchorage and undergoing temporary repairs, the Houston, winner
of three Battle Stars, continued on to the New York Navy Yard
for final repairs. CL-81 was the second US Navy cruiser to bear
the name "Houston", the first was lost in a fierce
naval battle off Guadalcanal in 1942.
Although considered to be
a "heavy bomber" by the Japanese, the Hiryu (Flying
Dragon) was very similar in size and performance to the USAAF
B-26 Marauder medium bomber. Another similarity was the use of
the Hiryu to deliver aerial torpedoes against naval targets,
much as the USAAF had done with their Marauders at the battle
Midway, when the Americans were then as desperate as the Japanese
had become by October, 1944, when Allied naval task forces were
steamrollering their way toward the Japanese Home Islands. Of
the sixteen 98th Sentai Hiryus which left North Field, Okinawa
to attack Admiral McCain's force off Formosa on the fourteenth,
only two survived, due to the terrible attrition to Hellcats
and anti-aircraft fire from the ships.
Signed and numbered by the artist. |