Pearl Harbor Survivors Association
Rio Grande Valley of Texas Chapter 11

E. J. Collins Story
Destroyer Blue (DD 387)

E. J Collins served on the Destroyer Blue (pictured above) at Pearl Harbor below is his personal testimony of the events of December 7,1941: Dec. 7th 1941.

I was serving aboard the destroyer USS Blue DD-387 as an 18 year old seaman striking for torpedo man. To set the stage for the events that follow, we returned to Pearl on Dec. 5th after escorting a cargo ship with supplies to the Marines on Wake Isle. We tied up to a buoy at the north end of Ford Isle NAS. We anticipated a ten day stay so awnings was rigged to protect from the tropical sun, this was normal procedure. The main deck was covered from just aft gun # 4 to midship, then from the break in the deck forward to the forward part of the superstructure on the forecastle. These awnings were stretched on steel cables and wooden frames from gun muzzles and blast shields to the outboard safety lines. The main batteries could not operate with these in place or while they were being removed.

The morning of Dec. 7th. I was on duty and was part of a boat crew that went to Aeia landing to pick up stores, ice cream, bread, milk, Sunday paper and any other sundry supplies needed for the day. The route to and from Aeia landing was directly past Battleship row. Departure time from the Blue was about 6:30 the harbor was smooth, the sky clear except for a few morning clouds, a most beautiful time to be on the water. We made the landing and returned, at about 7:15 we were passing directly by the battle ships and I noticed with a bit of amusement that the sailors were over the side scrubbing the sides before breakfast and in whites for the occasion! Destroyer sailors never wore whites except for inspection or liberty. The sun was up and a faint bit of rainbow showed in the mist over the mountains, gave no hint to the hell that was to be in just a matter of minutes. Returning to the Blue and unloading the stores, I had breakfast, gathered up a paper went below to our living compartment to read the funny paper and news. I had just settled in for a leisurely Sunday, I didn't think there would be much going on when the general alarm sounded along with the PA system announcing.

"MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK, THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

I hit the main deck from below and ran up the starboard side of the ship to my battle station which was gun #2 a 5"/38 anti aircraft gun.

My position was gun trainer, that is I moved the gun in a horizontal plain while another sailor controlled the vertical action and is a gun pointer. As I moved along the deck I could hear explosions coming from the area of battleship row and smoke rising from the shipyard dry dock area, also there was a Japanese torpedo plane approaching from the stern flying about fifteen feet off the water and not over fifty feet off our starboard side. He had his canopy open and I can still see his toothy grin as he looked directly at the ship and the men as we made our way to our battle stations. I have no idea why he wasn't strafing unless that wasn't his job. I probably used a minute going from funny papers to battle station. We were well trained and under normal conditions could have all guns manned from magazine to gun captain, fire control personal in place and ready to battle in less than five minutes.

These were not normal conditions, our magazines were locked, the power turned off the gun batteries, and our guns were tied with awning cables all of which had to be remedied. The damage control section was doing a beautiful job of using fire axes to cut cables and wood structure and get all the junk over the side to clear the ship for action. They had never had a drill for this sort of operation! In the time it took to clear the decks and get enough people to man the guns I had a front row seat watching the havoc taking place on and around Ford Isle NAS. Planes were caught on the ground, bombed, strafed and burning hangers in shambles. The clean and placid waters of the harbor became a debris strewn oil soaked body of sludge. In what seemed forever but could not been over ten to fifteen minutes the sky was filled with smoke and airplanes and some puffs of smoke from bursting anti-aircraft fire. The only thing that wasn't ours was the air planes. Even after the deck was cleared and the guns became active there was only about half the crew on board to man the guns and operate the fire rooms and engine room. We had four officers on board all ensigns, the senior being a 23 year old Annapolis graduate. Mr. Asher, took command from the bridge and dispersed the other three officers as they were needed, gunnery, engineer, damage control all doing a job and doing it well.

Our fire control unit wasn't manned to make our guns fire automatic so all the 5" guns were given orders to fire at will at anything flying all our planes had been caught on the ground and destroyed and the carrier planes were at sea. Gun #2 had enough men in the magazine to handle the ammunition, but we only had one man in the upper handling room and handle he did, both powder and projectile he handled alone, the loaders on the gun didn't want for ammunition. This fellow was a big man about two-ten six feet plus, for kicks fought in the pacific boxing arena in the heavy weight class, later was ask how he managed the handling room by himself he allowed he was so scared he didn't know.

At the start of the attack we did not have enough steam to get under way and the fire rooms had the same problem as the gun crews. But with a short crew they lit off all boilers and within forty five minutes the cable securing us to the buoy was cut and we were underway. I was busy firing at the enemy in the sky but I could still see the ships moving in the harbor, large and small. The yard oilier and garbage boat scurrying about using their pumps to but water on fires that they could get to.

The sky was full of smoke and bursting shells, boat crews from whale boats to motor launches were picking up men from the oil covered water where the were blown in or jumped from the burning and sinking ships. As we picked our way out and headed for the harbor mouth we passed through large timbers that had fallen in the water from the Utah an old battle ship that was used for target practice. She had been torpedoed and capsized loading the harbor at that point with all that heavy debris that could cause much damage to the screws of ships trying to clear the harbor. At that point the Japanese intensified there effort to sink something in the harbor mouth to stop any passage in or out.

We cleared Pearl about 10:00 to began screening the cruiser Saint Louis who had been one of the first ships out of the harbor. As we were going into our screening position we picked up a sonar contact and made a run and dropped a 600 # depth charge circled made another run with another charge at that time a large oil slick appeared giving us credit for a submarine. And for our other action we received credit for four airplanes, all Japanese. I say this because in the thick of the attack a flight of B-17s flew into the fray from the mainland. Since we had been told that anything in the air was enemy and they were nice big targets we fired on them. I am thankful for what ever reason we were not effective and none of the airmen were injured. Although some of the planes did suffer some damage. I realize that everyone saw the same action from a different view point, even people from the same ship.

After fifty six years some scenes fade but for most part they are imprinted in my mind forever. As we survivors pass on our experiences, and sons and daughters carry on our tradition I would ask that you look at history from 1930 to 1941 and compare with the affairs of the world now and not let our freedom be destroyed. 

REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR and KEEP AMERICA STRONG !

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