059 - Insurmountable Odds

Fate of the USS Pope

The midshipmen aboard the Destroyer USS Pope had lived through a collection of incursions that sent hundreds of sailors to their untimely deaths. As fighting came to a climax on the evening of February 28^th, the Light Cruiser HMS Exeter had requested escort away from the action, with Destroyers HMS Encounter and USS Pope coming to the rescue.

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The small three ship group proceeded north, only to be harassed by Japanese Floatplanes. However, by nightfall, the floatplanes peeled away, leaving the three ships to escape at a mild 13 knots, due to damages to the Exeter on the previous day.

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On the morning of March 1st, Japanese Floatplanes spotted the Exeter and her escorts. They radioed their position and a large Japanese attack fleet consisting of four Japanese Heavy Cruisers and four Destroyers made contact within two hours. The Pope and Encounter launched their full combined salvo of 20 torpedoes as they went head-to-head with the much larger Japanese fleet. However, by midday on March 1^st, the two British warships had been sunk, leaving the USS Pope to fend off the 8 ship attack. The Pope managed to hold her own until a squadron of 12 Val Dive Bombers made their runs and pierced her hull with numerous heavy bombs. 

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The Pope’s crew was ordered to abandon ship as the Pope stalled in the water, listing to one side and her engines not working. Nearly 500 crew members managed to dive into the Java Sea, having to watch their ship sink below the surface under repeated dive bombing runs. With no fleet remaining to rescue them, the midshipmen were stuck between the Japanese Navy and the murky Java Sea.

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