WILLETT-KENNETH

ONE  OF  THE  MOST  REMARKABLE  SURFACE  BATTLES  OF  WWII

 

The SS STEPHEN HOPKINS, a 7181-ton U.S. Merchant Marine Liberty ship, was launched in May 1942 at the Kaiser shipyards in Richmond, California.  Her namesake was Stephen Hopkins, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  Her maiden voyage took her from San Francisco to Bora Bora, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and then into the Atlantic Ocean bound for British Guiana, where on the morning of September 27, 1942, she met her fate.  While proceeding through haze she spotted two ships coming out of the fog not far away.  The ships were the German surface raider STIER and its supply ship TANNENFELS.  The STIER was a former merchant ship disguised as a neutral-flag cargo ship but her profile had been changed with the addition of fake masts and stacks, and she now carried six 5.9-inch guns hidden behind false deck panels.  A scant three minutes after the two ships were sighted and they neared to about 1,000-yards, shots suddenly pierced the STEPHEN HOPKINS superstructure.  General alarm was sounded and as Navy Armed Guard gunners and mariners assigned as loaders raced to their guns they saw a ship off the starboard bow about their same size firing at them.  Thus began one of the most remarkable surface battles of World War II.  Explosions rocked the ship and machine gun fire was raking the decks.  One of the first shells killed two mariners as they stepped on deck.  The order was given to steer STEPHEN HOPKINS so the stern with its single 4-inch gun would point at the enemy and at the same time present the smallest target.  The 4-inch gun got a shot off about every 45-seconds.  They made every shot count as one of the first shots hit the STIER’s rudder and then damaged its forward guns.

 

The STEPHEN HOPKINS also took damaging shots as one pierced the hull hitting directly into the engine room.  Those above heard an explosion, then the roar of steam as the black gang died at their posts as the ship went almost dead in the water.  The STIER continued putting shell after shell into the upper works of the STEPHEN HOPKINS.  A large caliber shell hit near the 4-inch stern gun killing all the men nearby.  A Merchant Marine cadet saw the 4-inch gun was deserted, so although untrained, he manned the gun alone and fired all five shells left in the ready box, scoring hits with all five.  Very shortly thereafter the cadet was killed by a shell which exploded nearby.  The firefight lasted about half an hour and a total of about 35 shells hit STIER, leaving her in shambles as was the STEPHEN HOPKINS.  Both ships were on fire and sinking.  After an hour or so she sank as did the STIER after her captain ordered his crew to abandon ship and set detonating charges to scuttle the ship.  Upon returning to Nazi territory the captain reported he fought a “heavily armed cruiser.”

 

Crewmen of the STEPHEN HOPKINS gathered on one lifeboat and searched for their shipmates but were successful in gathering from the foggy ocean only 19 survivors from the 60 men who had been aboard.  With little food and water the survivors miraculously sailed 2,200-miles in a 31-day journey to Brazil.  Fifteen men survived.  When news of the battle was released the STEPHEN HOPKINS was hailed as a “Hero Ship” and the ship and its crew was awarded the U.S. Maritime Commission’s Gallant Ship Unit Citation.  During World War II it was the only U.S. merchant ship to sink a German surface warship.

 

LTJG Kenneth Martin Willett was the Commander of the Navy Armed Guard.  He enlisted in the Naval Reserve as an Apprentice Seaman on July 9, 1940.  On completion of Midshipmen's School he was commissioned an Ensign and assigned to the USS CALIFORNIA (BB-44) where he served until November 1941.  He then reported to the 12^th Naval District for duty at the Armed Guard Center, San Francisco, and was assigned to the SS STEPHEN HOPKINS where he was promoted to LTJG on June 15, 1942.  When general quarters sounded LTJG Willett raced to the 4-inch gun on the ship’s stern.  While enroute he was seriously injured in the stomach by shrapnel from one of the first enemy shells but this did not stop him from proceeding to his duty station where he expertly directed fire, hitting the STIER with numerous shells and inflicting mortal damage on her.  One of the first shots jammed the STIER’s rudder leaving the German raider unable to bring her torpedo tubes to bear and causing her to move only in a circle.  LTJG Willett and his gun crew operated the 4-inch stern gun until a magazine blew up, killing those nearby.  For his personal valor and gallant spirit of self-sacrifice LTJG Willett was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.  The USS KENNETH M. WILLETT (DE-354) was commissioned in his honor on March 7, 1944, and was in service until decommissioned on February 26, 1959.

 

NAVY  CROSS  CITATION

 

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Junior Grade Kenneth M. Willett, United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous courage as Commanding Officer of the United States Navy Armed Guard aboard the SS STEPHEN HOPKINS during action with unidentified enemy forces while enroute from Capetown to Paramaribo on 27 September 1942.  In an attack launched by the enemy, and with no friendly ship in sight, LTJG Willett promptly manned his station at the 4-inch gun as the first shell struck and opened fire on the most heavily armed of the two enemy raiders.  Although seriously wounded in the stomach almost immediately, he kept up a sustained and rapid fire at close range, hitting his target along the water line with most of the 35 shells fired.  Because of his great personal valor and gallant spirit of self-sacrifice, he was able to maintain a determined and heroic defense of his ship until forced by a magazine explosion to cease his fire.  Still refusing to give up, LTJG Willett, obviously weakened and suffering, went down on deck and was last seen helping to cast loose the life rafts in a desperate effort to save the lives of others.  The STEPHEN HOPKINS was shelled repeatedly from stem to stern, but before she plunged stern first, wrecked and blazing into the sea, her guns had inflicted serious damage on both enemy raiders and caused the probable destruction of one of them.  His conduct throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the Navy of the United States.  He gallantly gave his life for his country.

 

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)