MISC_02_03

   

 
USS DEWEY (YFD-1)


A
fter the fall of the Philippines the Japanese raised the dry-dock, but she was soon sunk again off Mariveles by American forces and remains there today.

Beginning about April 4, 1942 the Japanese gave up their night bombing raids and concentrated on all-out daylight raids. One evening at about 6:00 P.M., several dive bombers attacked the "Dewey", Navy floating dry-dock in Mariveles harbor. All machine guns and AA guns in that area opened fire, including our #3 light, which had a .50 caliber air-cooled machine gun. One dive bomber came out over Mariveles harbor and banked sharply around Cochinas Point to return to the attack. The pilot was entirely exposed at close range to effective .50 caliber fire from #3�s gun, and the plane went into a stall and crashed into Manila Bay off Cochinas Point, the pilot bailing out before the plane crashed. Men at #3 light followed the pilot in the binoculars and saw him land and swim to a lone rock which protruded above the surface. The other Jap planes circled the area and machine-gunned the pilot several times, after which our observers saw him lose his hold on the rock and slide into the sea and was not seen again.    ( Extract of the Battery "E" 60th Coast Artillery Corps history).
 

 

 

 � 2009 Corregidor Historic Society - all rights reserved. Ruhlen Collection access courtesy Col. Shawn Welch, US Army.