On the morning of December 7, 1941, California was moored starboard side to Berth F-3 on the southeastern side of Ford Island. California was the southernmost ship along Battleship Row. The ship was undergoing preparations for material inspection and therefore the normally closed watertight doors were open on that fateful morning. At the time of the attack, two of her 5-inch guns and two of her .50-cal. machine guns were designated as ready guns
California sounded general quarters at 0750, and all hands began to man their battle stations and to set Condition Zed. Lt. Cmdr. Marion N. Little, the ship’s first lieutenant, was the senior officer present on board, and immediately took command and ordered the gunners to man their guns, and for the ships company to make preparations to get underway.
As the gunners opened fire on the Japanese attack planes, a pair of Nakamima B5N torpedo bombers, approached the California and released their torpedoes toward the ship. Both hit the ship, one forward and the other aft. Because of the open doors and manholes the California began to fill with water and list to port 4 to 6 degrees. An order to counter-flood on the starboard side to help counteract the listing to port was given. However, the flooding on the port side continued to spread.
At 0845 a bomb, believed to have been one of the modified 16-inch (410 mm) armor-piercing shells, struck on the starboard side. The bomb penetrated the upper deck, ricocheted off the second deck and detonated in the interior of the ship, causing extensive damage and killing about 50 men. The flooding continued and the California settled into the mud of the harbor.
In the course of the attack, 98 men were killed and 61 were wounded. One of the sailors wounded was Seaman 1c Charles H. Byrd of Pearl River County Mississippi. Seaman Byrd enlisted in the Navy on 17 June 1941 and following basic training was received on board the California on 14 August 1941. Following the attack he was transferred to the U. S. Naval Hospital -- Pearl Harbor where he remained until transferred back to the California on 28 February 1942. While he was in the hospital, the hull was patched, water pumped out and the ship finally re-floated on 25 March 1942.
Charles continued in service with the California as the ship was repaired and moved out of dry dock under it own power and remained in port until 10 October 1942. Departing Pearl Harbor, the California met the destroyer Gansevoort at sea and the two vessels proceeded to Puget Sound, where the California would undergo major repairs and renovations, returning to service in the Marshall Islands on 8 June 1944.
On 30 March 1944 Charles Byrd transferred to the newly commissioned Patrol Craft Escort, USS PCE (R) 848 with the rank of BM2c. The navy converted the hospital space on the PCE ships to communications centers and the USS PCE (R) 848 sailed to Hollandia, New Guinea in late September 1944. The ship was damaged by a horizonal bomber (kamikaze) on 27 October 1944. The ship was present in Tokyo Bay during the surrender ceremony in September 1945. Returning home at the end of the war, Charles Byrd was a survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the kamikaze attacks on the American Navy at the close of the war. [1] [2]
[1] (https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/california-v.html). Dictionary of American Naval fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
[2]Fold3.com. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
