| Bombardment of Ellwood | |||||||
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| Part of World War II Pacific War |
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The Ellwood Oil Field and the location of the Japanese attack. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| United States | Empire of Japan | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| N/A | Kozo Nishino | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| N/A | 1 submarine | ||||||
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The Bombardment of Ellwood during World War II was a naval attack by a Japanese submarine against United States coastal targets near Santa Barbara, California. Though damage was minimal, the event was key in triggering the West Coast invasion scare and influenced the decision to intern Japanese-Americans. The event also marked the first shelling of the North American mainland during the conflict.
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Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, seven Japanese submarines patrolled the American West Coast. They attacked several merchant vessels and skirmished twice with U.S. Navy air or sea forces. The Japanese engaged or destroyed several merchant vessels. By the end of December, the submarines had steamed back to friendly waters to resupply. Many went to Kwajalein and then returned to American waters. Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-17 was one of these vessels. She displaced 3,654 long tons (3,713 t) when submerged and was 365 ft 6 in (111.40 m) long. Her armament included six 20 in (510 mm) torpedo tubes with 17 spare torpedos in total. Up top was a 5.5 in (140 mm) deck gun. I-17 carried 101 officers and crew under Chu-sa (Commander) Kozo Nishino.
Nishino's experience included service with the Japanese fleet assigned to Operation Hawaii. Before the war, he skippered a merchant ship which had steamed in the Santa Barbara Channel extensively. Nishino personally visited the Ellwood Oil Field where his ship filled up with oil before heading back to Japan. The field would be his target during the bombardment. The majority of damage inflicted by the submarine was located around 300 m (980 ft) from where Nishino had visited.[1]
About 19:00 (7:00 pm) on 23 February 1942, I-17 came to a stop off of the Ellwood field. Chu-sa Nishino ascended the stairs to the conning tower and gave the order to prepare for action. A gunner crew quickly manned the deck gun and took aim at a huge Richfield aviation fuel tank just beyond the beach. Nishino ordered his men to fire about 19:15 (7:15 pm ), the first few rounds hitting close to one of the storage facilities. Being nighttime most of the oilers had gone home but a few remained on duty, and heard the first rounds when they slammed into their workplace. At first, they suspected an internal explosion but then one worker spotted I-17 in the dark. Later, an oiler by the name of G. Brown described I-17 as being so big that he thought it was a cruiser or destroyer until realizing that only one gun was being fired from the large Japanese submarine. Nishino then switched targets to the second storage tank. Brown and a few others informed the authorities nearby and the alarm was raised, but by this time Nishino's men had fired several more rounds which were apparently not well directed.
Shots hit a ranch outside of Ellwood. A shell flew over Wheeler's Inn, and owner Laurence Wheeler called the Santa Barbara Sheriff's department. The Sheriff working the phones told Wheeler that warplanes would arrive shortly but no planes were ever sortied. I-17 hit the Ellwood Pier, and damaged it slightly. The oilers suffered the loss of a derrick and a pump house, and a catwalk was also hit. After 20 minutes of firing, Chu-sa Nishino ordered his ship to steam. Reverend Arthur Basham observed the withdrawal of the Japanese vessel from Montecito. He later reported to the Sheriff's department that the submarine headed south towards Los Angeles, flashing signal lights to the shore. I-17 escaped and the engagement ended without the loss of life. Twelve to twenty-five 5.5 in (140 mm) rounds were fired by I-17.
Several people in Santa Barbara witnessed the signal lights of the Japanese submarine so a blackout was ordered until being lifted at 00:12 (12:12 am) the following morning. Nishino's bombardment was immediately reported by various news agencies which sent word of the event across the country. Hundreds of people fled following the attack and the price of land along the coast fell to historic lows. Even though no foreign or domestic element of collaboration-espionage is known to exist, this event and the ensuing hysteria was used by the US government to justify the internment of Japanese-Americans which began a week later on 2 March. On the night of 24 February, the Battle of Los Angeles occurred in which U.S. coastal defenses responded with hours of anti-aircraft bombardment to reports of an attack by enemy aircraft.
The Japanese submarines assigned to duty off North America continued to operate against allied shipping; in addition, they bombarded Fort Stevens along the Columbia River and attacked a Canadian lighthouse on Vancouver Island. Despite being ordered to attack capital ships whenever possible, the submarines ultimately engaged only in attacks against merchant vessels and minor bombardments of targets ashore. Also, two air raids were launched via submarine, in a failed attempt to start a forest fire in southwest Oregon.