War Patrol Report (Page 4)
| CONFIDENTIAL | |
| Subject: | U.S.S. BERGALL - Report of SECOND War Patrol |
| ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| The clear night with glassy sea and bright stars detracted my attention from ship identification to the more important problem of getting off the torpedoes without being seen. | |
| 2035 | While getting ready to fire saw escort dropping back on starboard beam of target exchanging signals by blinker light. |
| 2037 | Commenced firing six bow tubes with average torpedo run about 3,300 yards. At this instant the target and escort were both in the field of the T.B.T binnoculars. About one third of the bow (stem to bridge) of the escort extended ahead of the tarrget's bow. |
| 2038 | Completed firing and turned away. Saw escort beyond the targets stern. The escort's size gave me the impression she was a light cruiser but I could make out no details. |
| 2040 | Saw a terrific explosion which enveloped the target completely in flames which spread along her entire length and reached at least 750 feet in height. Two explosions were heard in the control room. How many torpedoes hit the target cannot be stated because flmes enveloping the target were so large and persistant. Saw target broken in two at the after end of the bridge. The explosion forced the two ends of the ship apart so that there were two huge fires which after 10 minutes, were about 1,000 yards apart. Radar now has three pips instead of two. The stern section of the target had a definite down angle towards its newly acquired bow. The bridge structure was completely demolished and was not seen after the explosion, although the other parts of the hull were seen. The bow section had a decided up angle. |
| The escort made no effort to chase us but stopped abeam of the target while we opened the range to 10,000 yards to reload forward. | |
| Enclosure (D) shows the relative positions of the target and escort during the torpedo run. It also shows that the escort could well have been hit by torpedoes which may have passed ahead of the target or through the space vacated by the target when it was blown apart. |
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