Laid down by
Seattle Tacoma Shipbuilding. May 6 1942. Launched
March 25 1943 and commissioned October 27 1943. Sunk
by Japanese Warships off Samar October 25 1944, with
Comdr. Ernest E. Evans in command.
JOHNSTON was
operating with "Taffy 3" (Escort Carrier
Task Unit 77.4.3) comprising Rear Admiral Clifton A.
F. Sprague's flagship FANSHAW BAY (CVE-70), five
other escort carriers, three destroyers including
herself, and four destroyer-escorts. "Taffy
3"was one of the three units of Rear Admiral
Thomas L. Sprague's Escort Carrier Task Group 77.4
known by their voice calls as "Taffy 1,"
"Taffy 2," and "Taffy 3."
The morning of
23 October 144 American submarines detected and
attacked units of the Japanese fleet coming in from
the South China Sea toward the precarious Leyte
Beachhead. The battleship-cruiser-destroyer Southern
Force was decimated as it attempted to enter Leyte
Gulf via Surigao Strait the night of 24-25 October
1944. The more powerful battleship-cruiser-destroyer
Center Force had been pounded by Admiral Halsey's
attack carrier planes and presumably turned back from
San Bernardino Straits. Admiral Halsey then raced
north with his attack carriers and heavy battleships
to engage a Japanese carrier-battleship task force
off Cape Engano. This left Johnston and her small
escort carrier task unit lonely sentinels in north
Leyte Gulf, east of Samar and off San Bernadino
Strait. As enemy ships fled the Battle of Surigao
Strait at daybreak of 26 October 144, the powerful
Japanese Center Force slipped through San Bernadino
Strait and into Leyte Gulf. It steamed along the
coast of Samar directly for JOHNSTON's little task
unit and the American invasion beachhead at Leyte,
hoping to destroy amphibious shipping and American
troops on shore. One of the pilots flying patrol
after dawn alert of 26 October 194 reported the
approach of Japanese Center Force. Steaming straight
for "Taffy 3" were 4 battleships, 7
cruisers, and at least 12 destroyers. JOHNSTON's
gunnery officer later reported "We felt like
little David without a slingshot." In less than
a minute JOHNSTON was zigzagging between the six
little escort carriers and the Japanese fleet and
putting out a smoke screen over a 2,500-yard front to
conceal the carriers from the enemy gunners:
"Even as we began laying smoke, the Japanese
started lobbing shells at us and the JOHNSTON had to
zigzag between the splashes.... We were the first
destroyer to make smoke, the first to start firing,
the first to launch a torpedo attack ...." For
the first 20 minutes, JOHNSTON was helpless as the
enemy cruisers and battleships had her in range. But
the destroyer's 5-inch guns could not yet reach them.
She charged onward to close the enemy-first a line of
seven destroyers; next, one light and three heavy
cruisers, then the four battleships. To the east
appeared three other cruisers and several destroyer.
As soon as range closed, JOHNSTON opened her 5-inch
battery on the nearest cruiser, scoring damaging
hits. About this time an 8-inch shell landed right
off her bow, its red dye splashing the face of
JOHNSTON's gunnery officer, Lt. Robert C. Hagen. He
mopped the dye from his eyes while remarking:
"Looks like somebody's mad at us!" In 5
furious minutes JOHNSTON pumped 200 rounds at the
enemy, then Comdr. \par Evans ordered, "Fire
torpedoes !" The destroyer got off 10 torpedoes
then whipped around to retire behind a heavy smoke
screen. When she came out of the smoke a minute
later, Japanese cruiser KUMANO could be seen burning
furiously from torpedo hits. KUMANO later sank. But
JOHNSTON took three 14-inch shell \par hits from a
battleship followed closely by three 6-inch shells
from a light cruiser: "It was like a puppy being
smacked by a truck. The hits resulted in the loss of
all power to the steering engine, all power to the
three 5-inch guns in the after part of the ship, and
rendered our gyro compass useless." Through
"sheer providence" a rainstorm came up; and
JOHNSTON "ducked into it" for a few minutes
of rapid repairs and \par salvage work. At 7:50 a.m.,
Admiral Sprague ordered destroyers to make a torpedo
attack. But JOHNSTON had already expended torpedoes.
With one engine, she couldn't keep up with the
others: "But that wasn't Comdr. Evans' way of
fighting: 'We'll go in with the destroyers and
provide fire support,' he boomed." JOHNSTON went
in, dodging salvos and blasting back. As she charged
out of blinding smoke, pointed straight at the bridge
of gallant HEERMANN (DD-532), "All engines back
full!" bellowed Comdr. Evans. That meant one
engine for JOHNSTON who could hardly do more than
slow down. But HEERMANN's two engines backed her
barely out of the collision course-Johnston missed
her by less than 10 feet. Now there was so much smoke
that Evans ordered no firing unless the gunnery
officer could see the ship. "At 8 :20, there
suddenly appeared out of the smoke a 30,000- ton
KONGO-class battleship, only 7,000 yards off our port
beam. I took one look at the unmistakable pagoda
mast, muttered, 'I sure as hell can see that!"
and opened fire. In 40 seconds we got off 30 rounds,
at least 15 of which hit the pagoda
superstructure.... The BB belched a few 14- inchers
at us, but, thank God, registered only clean
misses." JOHNSTON soon observed GAMBIER BAY
(CVE-73) under fire from a cruiser: "Comdr.
Evans then gave me the most courageous order I've
ever heard: 'Commence firing that cruiser, draw her
fire on us and away from GAMBIER BAY'." JOHNSTON
scored four hits in a deliberate slug match with a
heavy cruiser, then broke off the futile battle as
the Japanese destroyer squadron was seen closing
rapidly on the American escort carriers. JOHNSTON
outfought the entire Japanese destroyer squadron,
concentrating on the lead ship until the enemy quit
cold, then concentrated on the second destroyer until
the remaining enemy units broke off to get out of
effective gun range before launching torpedoes, all
of which went wild. JOHNSTON took a hit which knocked
out one forward gun, damaged another, and her bridge
was rendered untenable by fires and explosions
resulting from a hit in her 40-mm ready ammunition
locker. Evans shifted his command to JOHNSTON's
fantail, yelling orders through an open hatch to men
turning her rudder by hand. At one of her batteries a
Texan kept calling "More shells! More
shells!" Still the destroyer battled desperately
to keep the Japanese destroyers and cruisers from
reaching the five surviving American carriers:
"We were now in a position where all the
gallantry and guts in the world couldn't save us, but
we figured that help for the carrier must be on the
way, and every minute's delay might count.... By 9:30
we were going dead in the water; even the Japanese
couldn't miss us. They made a sort of running
semi-circle around our ship, shooting at us like a
bunch of Indians attacking a prairie schooner. Our
lone engine and fire room was knocked out; we lost
all power, and even the indomitable skipper knew we
were finished. At 9:45 he gave the saddest order a
captain can give: 'Abandon Ship.' ... At 10:10
Johnston rolled over and began to sink. A Japanese
destroyer came up to 1,000 yards and pumped a final
shot into her to make sure she went down. A survivor
saw the Japanese captain salute her as she went down.
That was the
end of JOHNSTON. From JOHNSTON's complement of 327,
only 141 were saved. Of 186 lost, about 50 were
killed by enemy action, 45 died on rafts from battle
injuries. 92, including Comdr. Evans, were alive in
the water after JOHNSTON sank, but were never heard
from again.
