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The Canopus

items 5 of 26 items
  • wcu_ww2-916.jp2
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  • as to whether the value of her services in the time left to her would be worth the expected sacrifice was all that remained to be decided. However, the Japanese had their own schedule, and the Canopus apparently was well down on the list of objectives. The main air fields had been first, then came Cavite, with again that weird, unreal feeling, because the splashes, fire, and smoke were only too evident a few miles away, while the detonations could not be heard. It hardly seemed possible that those swarms of silver winged insects so high in the sky could be responsible for that holocaust across the bay. Now at last our gunners had a chance to express their defiance by firing at the groups which passed overhead. Unfortunately, it was little more than a gesture of defiance—for their guns were too small and ancient to have a chance' of reaching the bombers at the extreme altitudes they habitually used. There is a certain empty feeling which attacks the pit of the stomach with the realization that the order "Commence Firing" will not be the usual directive to see how much canvas and wood can be demolished in the shortest space of time, but instead, an order to blast as many human beings as possible into eternity. When the guns start barking, however, the feeling passes, and a fierce exhilaration takes it's place, entirely apart from whatever results - may be achieved. A man who has been wondering during the approach of the enemy whether after all he may be a coward, and secretly speculating on a hiding place, forgets all about his fears with the first kick of his gun, and becomes for the moment a killer. Bomb damaged ships straggled out of Cavite Navy Yard following the attack, and the Canopus repair force slaved night and. day getting them ready for sea, as well as equipping their regular brood of submarines for offensive patrols. Daily alarms sent the "pig-boats" to safety on the bottom of Manila Bay, but as soon as the marauding planes had left, the. "Business as Usual" sign would be hung out again. This sort of life did not lack for excitement, but was far, from being the peace and rest which submarine crews must have to prepare them physically and mentally for the strain of their war patrols. There was every indication that conditions would get no better, and with the Army falling, back on Manila, word came that the city would soon, be abandoned to avoid complete destruction. Although the Canopus was still intact, the harbor could no longer be used for a submarine base. The circle of bombing attacks was drawing tighter each day, and on Christmas Eve our headquarters was hit, and spent bomb fragments landed on our decks. During the night we got underway for what proved to be our last journey, and steamed out of the Bay toward Corregidor, with great fires and towering columns of smoke astern of us as evidence that the Army was scorching the earth as they prepared to withdraw into Bataan. We were to set up shop again in Mariveles Bay, on the southern tip of Bataan peninsula. Some of the submarines were still with us, but now we had no source from which our supplies could be replenished, and it was obvious that the best we could hope to do would be to equip this last group for war patrol, and then "turn in our suits" as far as submarines were concerned.
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).