UTMC

CWO4 Curtis R. Nixon, U.S.N. (Ret.)
Statement of 7 December 1941 while serving aboard the U.S.S. Pyro AE-1

Second Class Boatswain Mate when the war started. I was in the second division in charge of the boat deck and cargo in holds #4 and #5.

(b) My battle station was #2 AA gun 3”-50 caliber on the port side of the after boat deck.

Supervised the firing of the above gun. None of the guns had telescopic sights installed. The firing solenoids as well as the sights were stored in the armory. I fired the gun by hand being very careful of the recoil. I had a crew of ten men to help with the loading and training of the gun. The planes were coming very fast and it was very hard to track them with no sights or power training. Our method of firing was the trainer would pat his foot and I would fire. I had the fuzes set on “0” which caused the shells to burst at 2,700 feet. My first round was over the West Loch water tower where there were several Marine lookouts. The Marines abandoned the tower shortly thereafter as the were several holes punched in it. The second plane we fired at we missed but hit the next one in line. this plane was observed to crash in West Loch. One plane did try to bomb us but missed. His bomb hit the dock and caused extensive damage. Our gun jammed on the 18th fired round and was rendered out of commission. (Amusing Note) The duty cook and I had a case of Acme beer which we had purchased at the Marine Exchange for $2.10 on Saturday. We had buried the beer with 100 pounds of ice about 50 yards from the docks. The beer was for a Sunday party. Of course, we never had that party and as far as I know the beer is still there.

I am not too clear on what I observed that morning after our gun jammed. I remember a Gunners Mate with a .30-’06 rifle shooting at fishermen in the Loch. We had a machine gunner named “Ma” Jennings who hit a plane about 20 times from the cowling to the tail. The plane was not observed to go down. We observed no parachutes during the attack. No enemy prisoners were taken by the Pyro that I know of. Some prisoners were brought after the attack to help offload the Pyro prior to sailing for San Francisco.

The commanding officer of the Pyro was Captain Nicholas Vytlacil.

We were moored starboard side to the dock. My gun was on the Loch side. We saw many planes passing very low about eye level to us (20’ to 25’). Most of them were strafing but we were not strafed that I know of.

The Pyro was armed with 4 5”-50 caliber surface guns and 2 3”-50 caliber AA guns. There were also 4 .50 caliber machine guns on the ship. The forward 5” gun fired a few rounds that were not effective.

After my gun jammed I was assigned to a 40’ motor launch to pick up wounded and dead inside the harbor. We proceeded to the fleet landing and reported to the officer in charge. The O in C was a Captain Blackwell and I later learned he was the captain of the U.S.S. California. We were sent to Ford Island to pick up 3 wounded and 1 dead. We delivered the wounded to Landing “C” which was the Hickam Field Hospital and the dead was taken back to fleet landing. When we arrived back at the fleet landing one of the Pyro’s men was waiting for us. His name was Edwards, Cox(BM3). He was dressed in clean whites as he had spent the previous day visiting his sister in Honolulu. He boarded our boat and sat in the bow against the sampson post with a foot on each gunwale. We proceeded up the main channel towards the Navy Yard. As we approached the main yard railway there was a huge explosion (Note: U.S.S. Shaw) and Edwards had disappeared. There was much confusion aboard the boat and it took us a few minutes to get back underway. At that time the bow hook snagged what looked like a lump in the oil. I thought maybe it was a body and ordered it brought aboard. When the body was brought aboard we found that it was Edwards who was very much alive. He was covered head to toe in oil and had not a stitch of clothes on. We delivered Edwards back to Landing “C” so he could have the oil cleaned off of him. The procedure for this was to wash off the victim with light lubricating oil or salad oil. Unfortunately, the had run out and washed Edwards down with gasoline which almost killed him. He spent a month in the Pyro sick bay recovering from the procedure.

(Note: After the attack the Pyro left Pearl Harbor on Thursday 11 December 1941. She was credited with damaging a Japanese plane either “Ma” Jennings or Curtis Nixon’s 3” gun. She proceeded to San Francisco and spent the next few months carrying ammunition to Pearl Harbor.)

Upon leaving Pearl Harbor we were escorted for about 6 hours until 2230 the night of the 11th. At 2330 or 0000 we were attacked by a Japanese submarine. The sub fired two torpedoes at us. The torpedoes missed down both sides of the ship as we were zigzagging. After firing the submarine fired it surfaced and was taken under fire by our guns. My crew fired one shell from our 3” AA gun and were blinded by the muzzle flash. We were unable to gauge the results of our fire. The sub submerged quickly and we proceeded to San Francisco. (Amusing Note) The #4 5” gun fired 2 rounds at the submarine with no result. Upon arrival at San Francisco it was discovered #4 had all of it’s shells but missing powder bags. In the excitement they forgot to put shells in the guns. The #4 gun captain was nick named S.O.S. Sanders. Save Our Shells Sanders.

The U.S.S. Pyro was scheduled to reload the main magazine of the U.S.S. Arizona on Monday 8 December 1941. The crew of the Arizona had spent the 5 and 6 December 1941 offloading her 14” main battery ammunition. The shells were loaded aboard 4 500 ton covered barges and towed to West Loch. Arizona’s new ammunition was aboard Pyro. Had the 2000 tons of ammunition gone up along with the 750 tons of powder the loss of life would have been catastrophic. Also damage to ships and personnel near battleship row would have been much worse.

#4 had all of it’s shells but missing powder bags. In the excitement they forgot to put shells in the guns. The #4 gun captain was nick named S.O.S. Sanders. Save Our Shells Sanders.