The ALLEN
M.
SUMNER-class
(DD‑692)
destroyer,
COOPER
(DD‑695),
was
launched 9
February
1944 by
the
Federal
Shipbuilding
and Dry
Dock Co.,
of Kearny,
N.J. and
was
commissioned
27 March
1944. She
cleared
Boston on
23 July
1944, for
Pearl
Harbor and
arrived on
4
September.
The COOPER
spent the
next month
in
training
operations
and then,
sailed on
23 October
for Ulithi.
Immediately
upon her
arrival on
5
November,
she put to
sea to
screen
carriers
in air
attacks on
Luzon,
Ormoc Bay,
and Manila
Bay until
19
November.
After
repairs at
Ulithi,
she
entered
San Pedro
Bay in the
Philippine
Islands,
on 29
November
and joined
patrols in
the Leyte
Gulf.
Ashore, on
Leyte,
U.S.
forces
were
struggling
to hold
the island
against a
steady
flow of
reinforcements
brought in
through
Japanese-controlled
Ormoc Bay.
To stem
that tide
of
reinforcements,
the U.S.
Navy had
begun
sending
destroyers
through
the
Surigao
Strait to
clear the
bay of
shipping
and to
shell
enemy
installations
ashore.
Three
missions
had
already
attempted
and failed
to shut
down the
Ormoc
supply
depot. A
fourth was
planned
for early
December.
Three
destroyers
were
chosen for
the
mission to
find and
destroy
five
transports
reportedly
landing
troops at
Ormoc Bay.
The three
were the
COOPER,
ALLEN M.
SUMNER,
and MOALE
(DD‑693).
They left
Leyte Gulf
late on
the 2nd
and
arrived
off the
entrance
to Ormoc
Bay late
that
evening.
Their
arrival,
as it
turned
out, was
no
surprise.
Japanese
aircraft
began
attacking
the minute
the
American
ships
appeared
off Ormoc
Bay.
At 2330
the
COOPER’s
5-inch
guns
brought
down one
of the
attacking
planes,
which came
at her
using the
land as a
background
for cover.
Five
minutes
later, she
began
firing on
two other
planes,
but could
not tell
if she’d
splashed
them.
Entering
the bay
under a
rising
moon at
about 0003
on 3
December,
the
destroyers
encountered
the
destroyer
KUWA, and
the
COOPER,
and SUMNER
took her
under
fire. In
the
meantime,
the MOALE
had taken
on another
target.
The
COOPER’s
first
salvo fell
short, but
the second
hit
between
the Number
1 and
Number 2
gun
mounts,
and her
pounding
continued
for the
next eight
minutes,
leaving
the enemy
destroyer
in flames
and
sinking
with some
250 troops
she was
carrying.
At 0012,
the COOPER
turned her
guns on a
small
destroyer.
The first
salvo was
a hit,
which left
the target
burning,
but she
had to
interrupt
her firing
to dodge
the MOALE.
She
resumed
firing and
was
turning
back into
the
formation
at about
0013 when
a torpedo
struck her
amidships,
heeling
her 45
degrees to
starboard.
According
to the
official
action
report,
the COOPER
“was on
her side
and broken
in two in
less than
thirty
seconds.”
She was
gone in
less than
a minute.
In the
meantime,
the SUMNER
and MOALE
were
fighting
off air
attacks
and
responding
to fire
from enemy
ships and
shore
batteries.
Attempting
to rescue
COOPER
survivors
“would
have been
foolhardy,
and
undoubtedly
would have
resulted
in another
ship being
lost or
seriously
damaged,”
according
to the
action
report
submitted
by the
lost
destroyer’s
commander,
M.A.
Peterson.
Rescue of
survivors
wasn’t
possible
until
about
1400, when
PBY “Black
Cat”
patrol
bomber
seaplanes
were able,
by sheer
daring, to
save 168
of the
COOPER’s
crew. They
broke all
known
records
for the
loads they
carried
that day.
Fifty-six
survivors
made up
the
largest
load;
another
had 48. In
addition
to those
they
pulled
from the
water, on
4
December,
the PBYs
rescued
one
officer
and 22 men
who had
ended up
ashore.
One
hundred
ninety-one
of the
COOPER’s
crew were
lost with
the ship.
