USS Juneau

[Panzermacher]

USS Juneau CL-52 Designated as an AA Cruiser, with the mission of defending Carriers from Aircraft attack.



The 5 Sullivan brothers who were lost when the Juneau went down after being Torpedoed

U.S.S. Juneau
Specifications
Class: Atlanta
Type: Anti-aircraft light cruiser
Length: 541 feet
Beam: 53 feet
Draft: 16 feet
Complement: 688-820
Speed: 32-33 knots
Commission: February 14, 1942

The Atlanta class light cruiser USS Juneau (CL-52) was sunk by a Japanese torpedo (launched from submarine I-26, Captained by Comdr. Minoru Yokota, who was actually firing torpedoes at the Heavy Cruiser USS San Francisco) on November 13th, 1942, during American efforts to resupply Marines holding the island of Guadalcanal. Juneau was actually hit twice, once in the early hours of the morning on November 13th, and the second time later that day before noon. The torpedo that sunk Juneau had been part of a group of three that had been fired at the cruiser USS San Francisco.

On board Juneau were the five Sullivan brothers; Albert, Francis, George, Joseph and Madison, all of whom were killed. The brothers had insisted on serving together in spite of pre-existing Navy policies designed to prevent the sudden loss of multiple family members at one time.

Because of the presence of Japanese ships in the area, and the assumption that survivors were unlikely, little effort was spent on an immediate search, and only a few Juneau sailors were recovered. (14 men survived. 11 were pulled from the sea, and 3 had rowed to an island and were saved by natives who recognized one of the men's St. Christopher's medal, and Identified him as a fellow Catholic!)

Not mentioned in the passage up above taken off the web, was the story of the Rogers brothers, Joseph, James, Louis and Patrick. Louis and Patrick were lost on Juneau. James and Joseph had wisely transferred to another ship before Juneau had set sail on her ill-fated voyage.

USS Juneau survivors:
Lester Zook SM1c
Allen Heyn Sea2c (Youngest Sailor on Juneau, only 17 at the sinking)
Arthur Friend Sea1c
Wyatt Butterfield Sea2c
Frank Holmgren Sea2c
Charles Wang Lt (jg)
Joseph Hartney SM2c
Jimmy Fitzgerald Sea2c V-6
Orrel Cecil PhM2c
Henry Gardner MM2c
George Mantere GM1c
Theodore Merchant PhM3c
Roger O'Neil Lt
William Sims PhM2c
Sadly, only Frank Holmgren is still Alive today....

A good read on the subject, is "Left To Die, The tragedy of the USS Juneau" by Dan Kurzman. A good flick to watch about the subject is "The Fighting Sullivans" (More Hollywood than fact, but a good movie, none the less)
and a GREAT memorial site..55th Anniversary Memorial to USS Atlanta-USS Juneau page 7



The first ship to be commisioned in the name of the Sullivan Brothers.



The Modern and second ship to be named after the brothers.

[lufttiger]

I thought two of the Bros actually made it out of the ship, and one died
later, with the other one making it? Hmmm, and then he perished later??

[Panzermacher]

According to Kurzman's book, 3 of the brothers were seen in the life rafts by survivors. Red, Albert, and George. These same witnesses went on to say...Red Died of wounds, as did Albert.....and George swam off in search of his brothers, and was taken by sharks.

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by luftiger

I thought two of the Bros actually made it out of the ship, and one died
later, with the other one making it? Hmmm, and then he perished later??

All five were officially classified as MIA on 11/14/1942 according to the Naval Historical Center. See The Sullivan brothers and the loss of USS Juneau.

[lufttiger]

Thanks PM, i thought it was something like that.

[Panzermacher]

A Long line of mistakes were made in the Locating of the Juneau crew who went into the water after the ship went down....Over 250 of the crew went into the water, only 14 were saved. Due to strict radio silence orders, the task force the Juneau was with, did not radio the sinking position. The Task Force Leader hoped that Aircraft would spot the men and rescue them.....and a B-17 did just that. It's pilot put in TWO reports that he and his crew had seen men in the water and it was possible they may be survivors of a US ship......but due to red tape and improper filing of the reports, they weren't acted on for many days. This left the men in the water to die of Dehydration, wounds, exposure and most gruesome....shark attacks. A lot of High ranking officials ended up getting sacked.

[temujin77]

How fitting for us to discuss the USS Juneau this month -- she was commissioned on 14 February 1942.

After USS Juneau was sunk later that same year by Japanese submarine torpedoes, another cruiser also of the Atlanta-class was again named Juneau. The second Atlanta-class Juneau, CL-119, was launched on 15 July 1945, but WW2 ended before the new Juneau was commissioned into action.