#USS Edsall (DD219)

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Large newspaper clipping from The Evening World dated September 16 1922. Note McCormack should read McCormick and McLeish should read MacLeish in the photo caption. Twenty-one allied warships were in Smyrna harbour when Turkish troops entered it, eventually setting fire to the city. The ships included Litchfield (DD-336), Simpson (DD-221), and Lawrence (DD-250).  Among the ships to reinforce them were Edsall (DD-219) and MacLeish (DD-220). Edsall served as the flagship for the American squadron, which after quite a bit of political fumbling, eventually evacuated some of the refugees from the burning city. A scant few compared to the many in distress.

The fire has a very complicated history of conclusions surrounding it, though the general conclusion is that Turkish soldiers started it as Greek soldiers had evacuated five days before the fire started. Tens of thousands to possibly hundreds of thousands of Greeks and Armenians crammed the Smyrna waterfront. The estimates range from ten to a hundred thousand died in the flames and massacres occurring throughout the city. Yet more were deported into the interior of Anatolia and died there as part of the Armenian genocide.

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Located in the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas, on the East Wall, in the courtyard, row 1, past section 19, lies a small memorial for USS Edsall (DD-219).

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USS Langley (AV-3) being abandoned after receiving crippling damage from Japanese bombs, south of Java, 27 February 1942. USS Edsall (DD-219) is standing by off Langley's port side. Photographed from USS Whipple (DD-217).

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The crew aboard the USS Edsall (DD-219) in Shanghai, China, on Sept 28, 1940.

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On March 1, 1942, USS Edsall (DD-219) was sailing towards Tjilatjap, having split off from USS Pecos (AO-6) and sister ship Whipple (DD-217) the day before. She was carrying the 32 P-40 Warhawk pilots that had been aboard Langley, sunk two days earlier. She had acknowledged her orders, taken the pilots, and sailed over the horizon... Never to be seen again by Allied forces.

Around noon on 1 March, Pecos came under attack by the same ships who sank Langley -- the aerocraft of Kaga, Hiryu, Soryu, and Akagi. You may recognize those names as four of the six carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor. She broadcasted many distress signals, the last (and most defiant) being:

“LONG 10630 PICK UP SURVIVORS CQ CQ DE NIFQ SENDING BLIND SENDING BLIND CASNAY RAD US NAVY SENDING CQ CQ DE NIFQ COM LAT 1430 LONG 10630 PICK SURVIVORS OF LANGLEY AND PECOS CQ CQ DE NIFQ SINKING RAPIDLY AND THE JAPS ARE COMING BACK TO GIVE US ANOTHER DOSE OF WHAT THE U.S. IS GOING TO GIVE BACK IN LARGE QUANTITIES.”

It is unknown if Edsall heard them. It is known that Whipple heard them and returned, picking up 232 survivors before a submarine forced her to leave. 

From Japanese logs and reports, author Donald M. Kehn, Jr, in the book A Blue Sea of Blood, was able to figure out Edsall’s fate. She was found just 24 nautical miles away from Pecos’ survivors, by the Kido Butai -- the Japanese fleet. Against eight destroyers, a light cruiser, two heavy cruisers, two battleships, and four aircraft carriers, the little Edsall found herself between a rock and a hard place.

Unable to run due to previous damage forcing her to lose speed, her captain, Cdr. Joshua J. Nix, chose to fight. 

It would take two hours before she finally sank, having dodged over 1,335 shells between 8″ and 14″ in calibre. It took dive bombers from three of four aircraft carriers to finally disable her.

And in the process, she saved the lives of those who were rescued by Whipple -- at the cost of the 157 officers and men aboard Edsall, and their 32 aviator cargo.

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USS Black Hawk (AD-9) in Chefoo, China circa 1934-1939. The USS Heron (AM-10) is alongside the pier. The four destroyers are (from left to right): USS Edsall (DD-219); USS Bulmer (DD-222); USS Parrott (DD-218); and USS Stewart (DD-224).

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USS Edsall (DD-219) escorting the USAT Holbrook, as both are underway on February 15, 1942.

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USS Edsall (DD-219) underway in the early 1920s.

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USS Edsall (DD-219) in San Diego Harbor, California during the early 1920s.

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Taken June 1933 from the breakwater in Chifoo of the USS Black Hawk (AD-9) with the USS Bulmer (DD-222), USS Pillsbury (DD-227), USS Pope (DD-225), USS Ford (DD-228), USS Edsall (DD-219) and USS Peary (DD-226) alongside.

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After USS Edsall (DD-219) sank, between eight and forty-five survivors were picked up. Though treated fairly by the crew of the Chikuma, this, too, has a sad ending.

As if to make sure the story of the IJN’s humiliation by a lone destroyer could never get out, the moment the survivors were landed on the island of Kendari, they were decapitated. This is the only grave for the bodies that were found, and could be identified. They lie in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Missouri.

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Crew photo of USS Edsall (DD-219), circa 1935.

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USS Edsall (DD-219) off Smyrna, Turkey in 1922. She rescued a good number of refugees during the Burning of Smyrna -- between 562 and 662 people.

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Undated image of USS Edsall (DD-219) in service with the Asiatic Fleet.

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Undated, USS Bulmer (DD-222), USS Stewart (DD-224), USS Parrott (DD-218) and USS Edsall (DD-219) alongside the USS Melville (AD-2).

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Postcard of USS Edsall (DD-219), circa the 1920s.