USS Emmons (Okinawa, Japan — 130->150 fsw)

Intro

The USS Emmons (DD-457/DMS-22) is one of the premier US warships — sank during wartime — that is in dive-able range in the world. The history of the Emmons is rich having served both in the Atlantic during D-Day at Normandy and in the Pacific during Operation Iceberg. Sixty lives were lost when she was brutally attacked on April 6th, 1945 by 5 kamikaze airplanes in a span of 2 minutes while she was defending the USS Rodman — who had also been hit by kamikazes earlier that day.

The decision was made to scuttle her the night of the 6th. At 3am on the morning of April 7th, the USS Ellyson sank her with 96 rounds from her 5″ guns.

This post will provide a detailed history of the USS Emmons along with photos from my dives on the wreck. A follow-on post will provide a full 3D photogrammetry model of the wreck.

USS Emmons (DD-457)

The Emmons was a Gleaves-class destroyer named for Rear Admiral George F. Emmons. She was launched on 23 August 1941 and built by Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. She was commissioned a short time later at the Boston Naval Shipyard on December 5, 1941 (a short 2 days before the attack on Pearl Harbor).

The Gleaves-class destoyers were designed to improve upon the Sims-class destroyers and had two stacks and alternating boiler and engine rooms. This design change was made to ensure that loss of a compartment would not disable the ship’s entire propulsion system.

The Gleaves-class ships were about 350 feet long with a beam of 36 feet. As originally designed, the Emmons had 4 x 5″ dual-purpose guns (gun #4 was removed when converted to a minesweeper), 4 x 40mm Bofors guns (2×2), 7 x 20mm Oerlikon guns, 5 x 21″ torpedo tubes (also removed during conversion), 6 x depth charge projectors, and 2 x depth charge racks. In her original destroyer configuration, she had a complement of 276 sailors (260 enlisted and 16 officers).

I could not easily locate on-line a copy of the Booklet of General Plans for the Emmons; however, it is available for the Gleaves itself which will be close enough. Below are the inboard and outboard profiles for the ship.

Outboard Profile

Inboard Profile

After her service in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, The Emmons was converted to a high-speed destroyer minesweeper at the Boston Navy Yard and was reclassified as DMS-22. The planners in DC determined that they needed to sweep the shallow seas between the Japanese islands and the East China Sea to keep them clear of mines. The conversion from a Destroyer to a Destroyer Minesweeper allowed these already flexible ships to provide both minesweeping and destroyer missions.

DMS Conversion

The conversion was done over a hectic 6 week period while in the Boston Navy Yard. The new equipment would allow the Emmons to sweep for all types of mines. The conversion removed the #4 gun at the stern along with the side-throwing K-guns and their depth charges. The new configuration had a jumble of reels, winches and other gear for launching and retrieving minesweeping equipment. In order to limit weight, the torpedo tubes and torpedos normally amidships were removed. They also removed a number of people and the complement of sailors changed from 276 to 234.

Below are some comparisons of the deck plans before (DD-423) and after (DD-618/DMS-37) the conversion to a DMS for two ships in the same class. You can clearly see that 5″ Gun #4 has been removed and a TON of other winches & pulleys, etc. have been installed and the depth charge racks at the stern have been removed.

The conversion was completed on Dec 18, 1944 and she went to Norfolk to spend Christmas Eve where she joined the Ellyson and the Rodman. (both were soon to be entwined in the dramatic fate of the Emmons). She left the day after Christmas and went to Norfolk for exercises where she spent New Year’s Eve before heading south for the Panama Canal on New Years Day.

War History

As mentioned, the Emmons has an epic history of wartime duty. The book “The Emmons Saga” by Edward Baxter Billingsley is an invaluable reference.

In November 1942, she participated in Operation Torch which was the allied invasion of North Africa. During her time there, she screened carriers that covered landings at Safi on 8-12 November.

She spent part of 1943 patrolling Northern waters and guarding convoys transiting the Atlantic and also guarded British carriers that were involved in an air attack on Norway in July 1943. She served as an advance scout to guard the battleship Iowa which carried President Roosevelt to the Teheran Conference.

During late 1943 and early 1944, she guarded carriers during operations at Newport and Casco Bay. In mid-May of 1944, she sailed for England to prepare for Operation Neptune — the D-Day invasion of France on June 6th. She engaged in combat with onshore batteries for three days and later screened transports and supply ships.

After her conversion to a destroyer minesweeper at the end of 1944, she transited from the Atlantic to the Pacific where she participated in exercises in Hawaii before staging for Operation Iceberg which was the invasion of the Japan homelands. Many people might not know it, but Operation Iceberg was bigger than D-Day in terms of the number of ships.

We knew that the Japanese were determined to defend their homeland regardless of the cost….

Sinking

During Operation Iceberg, the Emmons was assigned the dangerous and vital task of clearing the waters around Okinawa so that assault ships could land on the beaches on the planned day of 1 April 1945. She would also pick up picket duty in service of her dual role as a destroyer and a minesweeper. On April 6th, her sister ship the Rodman was attacked by kamikaze airplanes during one of the first of ten and one of the largest mass kamikaze attacks as part of “Kikusi” or Floating Chrysanthemum. The attacks on the Rodman occurred around 3:30pm on that day when she was hit by three kamikaze planes.

According to “The Emmons Saga” by Billingsley,

The main director spotted six coming in low off the starboard bow. The Mark 51 director for the starboard 40mm reported at least ten coming in from all angles…The Rodman counted ten. It wasn’t long before every gun on the Emmons was firing

The Emmons Saga

The Emmons started to circle the Rodman in an effort to protect her from further hits during which time she shot down six airplanes. There were another 50-75 planes headed their way to inflict more damage.

Again, from Billingsley:

One survivor of the Emmons described watching the planes coming at the ship as like being stranded in the middle of a superhighway with trucks and automobiles bearing down on him from either side — and wondering how long it would be before one got him.

The Emmons Saga

At 5:32pm, a kamikaze got through the US Combat Air Patrol and through the gunfire from the Emmons and hit the Emmons at the starboard fantail area near ammo storage and a large explosion occurred. This first hit rendered the Emmons largely inoperable.

Two minutes later, an additional two planes were flying just above the water and heading towards the Emmons. The second plane hit the bridge from the starboard side and it was quickly followed by the third plane which hit the CIC from the port side. At this point, there was a large fire burning near the bridge area.

Very quickly thereafter, the 4th plane hit the rear area of gun #3 at the stern. At this point, Billingsley notes:

It was delivered by a Val that came in from the starboard quarter and slammed into the huge magnetic mine sweep reel just after and below gun 3. The destruction of the fantail was now complete. The magnetic reel was blown sky high and all the rest of the mine sweeping gear cleared off the deck.

The Emmons Saga

The fifth and final kamikaze hit was on the starboard side near the bow.

After five hits within a period of two minutes, the Emmons was in worse condition than the Rodman. Although her fire rooms and engine rooms were still intact, she was unable to maneuver. The steering engine room was destroyed and the rudder gone. Fires were raging in her nerve centers. All 5″ guns were disabled and on fire. Many of the crews were casualties.

The Emmons Saga

The attacks killed 60 and wounded 77 sailors. On that same day of April 6th, more than 3,000 Japanese kamikaze pilots died. There are many epic stories of sailors incurring major injuries and living to tell the world of the horror of that day.

The surviving officers and men responded magnificently.

The hardest part of the efforts was to ignore a wounded shipmate, sometimes a close buddy, to carry on the business at hand.

The Emmons Saga

One of the best reference materials I found was the superbly written “Reconstructing a Second World War Sea Battle: The Underwater Site of the USS Emmons and a Japanese Special Attack Airplane” by Chiaki Katagiri, Yumiko Nakanishi, Shin Yoshizaki, Hayate Kimur, and Hironobu Kan from the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (see link in references section) from Jun 2022.

They included a graphic that depicts the barrage of attacks from five direct hits in a period of 2 minutes that day on April 6th, 1945.

I cannot even imagine the chaos that ensued after those kamikaze planes hit. At 4pm, the order was given to abandon ship. At 3am the next morning, the Ellyson (DMS-19) scuttled the Emmons with 96 rounds from her large 5″ guns.

The Emmons achieved a record of gallantry in combat and received a Navy Unit Commendation and five battle stars for her World War Service.

The Wreck

The Emmons was located sometime in February 2001 when fisherman noticed oil on the surface of the ocean off of Kouri Jima. Since then, there have been a lot of divers to visit the Emmons and, for a while, the builders plaque went missing but was returned anonymously and now resides with the US Navy. She is about a 20 minute boat ride from the port we left from.

The wreck itself sits in about 150 feet of water to the sand and the top rail is in about 130 feet of water. It is common for recreational dive charters to visit the wreck and divers get 10-15+ minutes on the wreck before ascending.

Again from the archaeological report, you can see that the wreck sits at the edge of a coral reef area:

She is on the edge of a coral reef and sits on her starboard side with the port side facing upwards. There is a large debris field out “in front” of the wreck wit the most prominent features of the debris field being the stern section and rudder, the bridge, and the large winch that was used to sweep for mines. There is also a number of other artifacts in the debris field including the compass binnacle and the telegraph.

The wreck is definitely starting to deteriorate. The casing around the #3 gun abaft of amidships has basically fallen apart and the 40mm guns just forward of that have collapsed and now the barrels point into the sand. Also, the large hole in the bow area has started to collapse and is now a gaping section. These rapid changes helped fuel my desire to build a photogrammetry model before more of the wreck collapses into the sand and debris field.

There are three permanent mooring lines on the wreck. One at the stern, one near where the bridge would be and at the memorial plaque, and one at the bow. I used a number of very good reference materials for my dives in order to optimize my bottom time and develop dive plans before entering the water. Below are a few of the guides I used,

The first is a drawing/painting from “ww2diver” and is very well done. I wish I had the skills to make a drawing like this for some of the other wrecks I have been on.

The other are two diagrams from the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology article that I had mentioned earlier. These are from a photogrammetry model that they built but I think it was from Lidar or possibly cameras on board a ROV.

In the above diagram, note the size of the crack in the hull near the bow. You will see that it has collapsed significantly in the short period of time since this model was built.

Most of the “cool” stuff to see is by the stern which is why most recreational boats tie into that location. We tied into the amidships location for all of our dives since it allowed me to transit to either the bow or the stern depending upon what I was trying to cover for the model.

Photos

Most of my photos were for the photogrammetry model. However, I did spend a portion of my last dive taking photos for this blog post which were generally wide angle, natural light photos. I have also picked a few photos from the photogrammetry set to display here.

I will generally order these from the stern to the bow.

Stern & Rudder

The stern section sits about 50 feet away from the stern of the ship and is upside down. The rudder sticks straight up towards the sky and is stuck at about 30 degrees off center.

Props

The port side prop is very prominent and has a lot of growth on it when you take a close look. The starboard prop is still attached but mostly burried in the sand. In my opinion, it is a very cool view to see the props without the stern section attached as you can clearly see the prop shaft struts and prop shaft itself.

Depth Charges

One of the most striking features of the wreck are the depth charges. During the conversion to a DMS, the depth charge racks from the stern area were removed to make room for the minesweeping equipment. However, the ships were still required to act in their capacity as a destroyer and needed to hunt and destroy submarines. Therefore, they still had depth charge racks in the 5″ Gun #3 area. On the Emmons, there are still some depth charges in the racks but they are also tumbling all over the deck and in very precarious positions.

I had asked Kurt to light up a few of the depth charges in an attempt to build a diver into the photogrammetry model. It didn’t quite work out as I wanted (more on that in another post) but it does give a good sene of scale so I’ve included one of those photos here.

Winch

This piece of equipment is larger than it seems and was responsible for the hard work of sweeping for mines. It sat on the stern and is now out in the debris field but pretty close to the wreck.

Japanese Airplane Engine

This is further out in the debris field but is a remnant of the kamikaze attacks on the Emmons. It is clearly an airplane radial engine.

Paravanes

There are multiple paravanes out in the debris field and some still mounted on the port side deck by the depth charges. I had heard about and seen paravanes before but never really spent any time researching them. They were quite the effective counter-mine device as detailed in this video by the UK Imperial War Museum.

Plane Tail Landing Gear

There is a section of the tail and a landing gear a little towards the aft from the 40mm Anti-Aircraft guns.

Telegraph

Just forward of the landing gear is the iconic telegraph. At first, I didn’t even see it in the photos but Kurt pointed it out to me and then I found them. It is also somewhat obvious when you look at the solid model.

40mm Anti-Aircraft Gun

This platform and gun collapsed in early 2021. In both the drawing and the model shown earlier, you can see the 40mm gun still on the deck of the ship and pointing to the port side (upward). It has since collapsed and the barrels point into the sand.

Compass Binnacle

The binnacle for the ship’s compass is out in the debris field a little bit forward of the paravanes shown above and is pretty close to the ship.

Acoustic Mine Hammer

I have to admit, I had no idea what this thing was when I took photos of it but I knew it was interesting. I later consulted with Kurt and he mentioned that it was an Acoustic Mine Hammer. They were used to detonate underwater mines.

Memorial Plaque & Lifeboat Davits

At the base of the amidships downline are two davits and two plaques. One is a memorial plaque for the 60 sailors that died on that fateful day in April 1945 and the other is a replica of the builder’s plaque that Kurt had custom made to sit above the memorial plaque. The local divers maintain the plaques. On our last dive of the trip, I also got a nice silhouette of Kurt going up the downline before I started my ascent.

Bridge Area

The Bridge was hit hard by multiple kamikaze airplanes and now largely sits out in the sand. You can see the portholes from the front of the bridge area in a section out in the sand along with the gun director. There is also a 20mm anti-aircraft gun by the top of the bridge area. The base of the bridge is still attached to the deck of the ship. The bundle of cables presumably leading to the Combat Information Center is also visible from the base of the area where the bridge broke off.

Mark 37 Gun Director

The Mark 37 gun director was the fire control system for the 5-inch/38 caliber guns and sat on top of the bridge. A lot of those cables running down through the bottom of the bridge are likely for signaling for the gun director which combined optics, radar, and mechanical components to track targets. The big “tube” is 15-foot stereoscopic rangefinder. You can also see the remains of the radar antenna out in the sand.

5″ Gun #2

The upper hatch cover is still open on Gun #2 and it is pointed almost level with the ship which is indicative of the low-level flying of the inbound kamikaze airplanes. They would come in very low off the water and both the front guns can be seen to be at that level and not firing up into the sky. You can see the nearby Gun #1 (more photos below).

5″ Gun #1

The #1 5″ gun has the barrel pointed towards the port side (upwards into the water column). These pictures were taken on a Sunday dive and you can see some of the recreational divers that visit the wreck primarily on weekends.

Bow Crack

Many people believe that this crack is due to the kamikaze that hit the bow area; however, it hit on the starboard side which faces down into the sand. I will provide more details in the photogrammetry post, but it is very obvious that this area in the bow is rapidly collapsing even compared to 3-4 years ago when the photogrammetry model was made for the research paper.

Bow

The bow is striking and you can see the anchors still in place along with the winch system. The downline at the bow is also very obvious.

Natural Light Photos

On my last dive, I spent a few minutes shooting some wide angle, natural light photos that I think give a good sense of the wreck. I also had a couple from earlier dives. A few of these are below:

Thanks To…

Kurt Reese who lended his expertise to helping identify parts of the wreck (and, of course, for helping get the whole trip organized and executed flawlessly). Kurt was also very helpful reviewing draft copies of this post.

Next Up

The next post will be all about the photogrammetry model I completed. I have the model complete and now I’m working on the post and uploading the model to on-line sites, etc. I am biased, but I think it came out very well. Here is a sneak preview:

References

Destroyer History

Wikipedia

International Journal of Nautical Archaeology

Youtube Video by the team that wrote the above article

The Emmons Saga by Edward Baxter Billingsley