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Letters
Aboard DE RUYTER in the Java Sea Battle were at least three U. S. Navy personnel were aboard temporary duty for liaison and communications purposes
Hello, Australia...
Aboard DE RUYTER in the Java Sea Battle were at least three U. S. Navy personnel were aboard temporary duty for liaison and communications purposes. The officer involved did not survive the sinking, and I do not have his name. Two signalmen petty officer from the destroyer tender BLACK HAWK (AD 9), SM1c Marvin Scholar, and SM3c Penhollow, USN, were aboard, and survived.
Cheers, Lou
L. B. Dorny, Commander, USN (ret.)
Seattle
Lou,
Thank you for that information, I do have a list of 2066 names listing the Dutch Navy people plus other navy personnel, killed and those who survived the Battles around the DEI.
Penhollow and Sholar are listed, but I could not find an Officer from the USN killed in de Ruyter.
JACK WILBUR PENHALLOW SM3C SURV RNN DE RUYTER 27 02 42 RESCUED BY USS S-37
MARVIN EDWARD SHOLAR SM1C SURV RNN DE RUYTER 27 02 42 RESCUED BY USS S-37 ( he is listed as Sholar not Scholar, do not know what is correct )
When I was sunk in HMAS Canberra at Savo on the 9th. of August 1942, we carried US Naval Officers to look after the Cipher machine and its operation, one of them Lieutenant ( JG ) J. W. Vance was killed in the action, and later had a US Destroyer named after him.
Best wishes from OZ.
Mac. Gregory.
Lou,
Some details of S-37, the old S boat going back to 1923 who picked up both Penhollow and Sholar after de Ruyter was sunk in Februay 1942.
USS S-37 (SS-142), 1923-1945
Best regards,
Mac. Gregory.
Lou,
The para describing S-37 picking up US survivors from the Dutch Cruiser de Ruyter.
US Submarine S-37.
That night, the Battle of the Java Sea raged over the horizon, and, early on the morning of 28 February, the S-boat closed a Japanese formation of two cruisers and three destroyers retiring victoriously from the scene. A fight for depth control, however, precluded an attack. At mid-day, she sighted a 50-foot open boat from Dutch light cruiser De Ruyter carrying Allied survivors; and, although unable to accommodate all of those in the boat, she approached to take on casualties. Finding no casualties, she took on American sailors, transferred provisions; dispatched enciphered messages on the boat's location to ABDA (American, British, Dutch, Australian) headquarters; and resumed her patrol. That afternoon, she again attempted to attack an enemy formation, but was sighted and underwent a combined depth charging and aerial bombing.
Best wishes,
Mac.
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