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A ready-duty destroyer,
Monaghan had been
underway since 0827. At 0839 she received word from Curtiss that
there was a midget submarine in the harbor. Sighting what looked
like an "over and under shotgun barrel" at 1200 yards, Monaghan
ordered flank speed and intended to ram. Cornered, the submarine
loosed a torpedo at Curtiss; this reduced the submarine's weight and caused
her to pop to
the surface, where she came under fire from 5" and .50 caliber fire
from Curtiss. Damaged, the submarine fired a torpedo at Monaghan that
porpoised twice, passed close to starboard, and narrowly missed Dale in
the distance. Quickly bearing down on the submarine, Monaghan rammed the
midget a glancing blow amidships that forced her underwater and spun her against Monaghan's
hull. As the submarine passed under her stern, Monaghan dropped two depth charges.
Set to explode at a depth of 30 feet, these charges blew Monaghan's stern clear
out of the water, and they "tore hell" out of the midget submarine,
twisting the bow and crushing its hull. Due to Monaghan's speed she slammed
into a dredge derrick moored at Beckoning Point, deeply burying her bow into
a mud bank. Reversing her screws, Monaghan broke free and eventually dashed
down the channel, entering the open seas.
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SHIPS DATA |
NAME:
Monaghan |
HULL NUMBER:
DD-354 |
DIMENSIONS:
Displacement: 1,375 tons Length Overall: 341' 6" Waterline Length: 331'
Maximum Beam: 34'
Maximum Draft: 8' 9" |
ARMAMENT:
4 × 5" 38cal (single mountings)
8 × 21" torpedo tubes (quadruple mountings)
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