Only rediscovered in February of 2000, fifty-five years after her sinking, the wreck of the USS Emmons beckons divers from all over the world. A Gleaves class destroyer belonging to the United States Navy, and still owned by the Navy, the ship is a memorial to sixty US sailors who were lost when she was attacked. At 348 feet long and with a beam of 36 feet, she had a fifteen foot draft and displaced 2,050 tons. Laid down at Bath Iron Works on November 14, 1940, and launched on August 31, 1941, she was commissioned on December 5th of that same year. On April 6th of 1945, the Emmons was attacked by Japanese Kamikaze; sending her to a depth of 147 feet. She is one of Okinawa’s only American wrecks which are accessible to divers.
The USS Emmons (DD-457 / DMS-22)
Beginning her service in the Atlantic, traveling to Chile, Peru, Africa, and other distant places, the USS Emmons was tasked with patrolling New England’s waters before traveling to as far away as the former Soviet Union and Iceland. In 1942, she participated in the invasion of North Africa before returning back to the United States to stand watch against invading Nazi forces off the East Coast.
During 1943 and 1944, she was primarily tasked with various missions in the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas, taking part in the invasion of France and supporting Allied troops in their victory at the Battle of Cherbourg, and provided fire support off Omaha Beach on D-Day. In November of 1944, the Emmons was refitted for duty as a high speed minesweeper, finally traveling to Hawaii for training, then moving on to Okinawa for duty.
Loss and Vandalism
On the day she was lost, the USS Emmons was hit by a wave of Kamikazes after she ran low on ammunition while coming to the aid of the USS Rodman, which had been hit. A team of five Kamikaze planes managed to break through her defenses, hitting her within two minutes. Four of those planes struck her close aboard, killing a quarter of her crew and injuring another quarter. She was on fire and adrift, headed toward the enemy held section of Okinawa after having lost the capacity to steer, when on the morning of April 7th, the US Navy flagship Ellyson finally ordered her to be sunk, to prevent her from entering enemy hands.
To add insult to injury, irresponsible divers removed the ship’s plaque – as the ship is designated a war grave, this was unthinkable. Fortunately, NCIS investigators managed to recover the plaque in April of 2011.
Diving the Emmons
When the USS Emmons was rediscovered by the Japanese Coast Guard after fishermen complained of a persistent oil slick in the area, they did not plan to publish the coordinates, and they did not mark the wreck. American divers then began a quest to locate the wreck, if only to honor those lost with the ship, after a photo of one of the ship’s single remaining five inch guns appeared in a local English language publication. They succeeded in February of 2001, when they found the wreck lying on her starboard side with her bow pointing toward the west.
As you make your descent toward the ship, you can usually see the wreck when you reach a depth of about fifty feet. Two massive five inch guns can still be seen sitting forward of the remains of the superstructure, still pointed at forty-five degree angles as though prepared to defend the ship from a ghostly attack. A shell hole in the ship’s port side is the only damage visible to the bow or forecastle, and the port anchor is still in its secure position alongside the bow.
As you make your way along the upper port gunwale, you’ll come to the remains of the superstructure, where you’ll find a large hatch locked in the open position. Empty lifeboat davits speak of the sailors’ hasty retreat from the doomed ship, and nearby, a 20mm gun still has its protective skirt, but has lost its shield. A Bofors twin 40mm antiaircraft machine gun awaits to the aft of this hatch, encrusted in coral and missing their skirting panels.
Along the stern, a row of Paravanes, which look like the aerial bombs used during the First World War, are lashed to a bulkhead; these are part of the minesweeping system. All along the bottom, a debris field which holds bits and pieces of superstructure, panels, and the ship’s wheelhouse can be seen, and about 100 feet from the fantail, you’ll see the ship’s ruined rudder assembly; evidence of the tragic chain of events that led to her loss.
Along the fantail, you can see massive burned areas, and if you shine a light into the wreck, you’ll see a tangle of metal bunkbed frames, which are the remains of the aft berthing compartment. Here, you’ll find the aft 5-inch gun, plus a second 20mm gun. In contrast to the 20mm gun, which has its barrel pointed straight up, the 5-inch gun has a huge hole ripped in its side where it bore the brunt of a Kamikaze strike.
While you will find an incredible array of marine life all around the ship, the wreck itself is a poignant reminder of the true cost of war – human life. The evidence you’ll see onboard the ship proves that her crew fought valiantly until the very end; and if you listen to the stories the ship’s survivors have to tell, you will learn that those who made it off the ship alive were in some cases critically wounded, yet they managed to make it to safety. Many of the surviving members of the USS Emmons crew still have a shipmate’s reunion each year, and the reunion association still maintains an online ship’s log where friends, family, and survivors can sign in.
To dive the USS Emmons is a rare privilege, one reserved for well-equipped and properly trained wreck divers. Okinawa’s dive operators are happy to help you make the most of the trip, providing everything from gear rentals to mixed air and bento box lunches. Be sure to plan well in advance; this is a wreck many want to see, and space is limited.