It’s December 7th, the 81st anniversary of the surprise Japanese attack on the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. There is a saying that, just like politics, “all history is local.” That, in effect, says nothing happens in a vacuum. You never know how far reaching the effects of an event can go. But in this case, there’s some very literal truth to the saying, too. The only ship that was able to set sail from Pearl Harbor was the U.S.S. Nevada. The captain of the Nevada was Francis Worth Scanland of Benton, Louisiana.
During World War I, Scanland served as Commander of Submarine Division One of the Pacific Fleet and was in command of the U.S.S. F-3 and U.S.S. O-11. Wanting to “see action,” he attempted to resign from the Navy and join the Army, but his resignation was refused. By 1937, Scanland became a captain, and the following year he became the commander of the submarine base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In 1941, Scanland became the commanding officer of the U.S.S. Nevada, BB-36, a 27,500-ton battleship.
When in port but not docked, a battleship usually had just one boiler operating, generating electricity on the ship. A single boiler was not enough for it to get underway. Early on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, it occurred to the Nevada’s officer of the deck that the same boiler had been in use since the ship had returned to port on Dec. 5, and ordered the second boiler lit. By 8 a.m., the second boiler was at full steam.
The coordinated Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor started by 7:55AM. The battleship’s skipper Scanland had gone ashore Saturday night to see his visiting family, including his wife, Mildred Florence Boyd and his first grandchild. The Nevada’s senior officer present afloat (SOPA), Lieutenant Commander Francis J. Thomas, realized that with two boilers online, they had enough power to get underway. He ordered the hoisting of the signals, “I am preparing to get underway” and “request tug assistance.”
Minutes later the battleship Arizona, which was anchored directly ahead of Nevada, blew up in a massive explosion and was engulfed in flames. At 8:10 a.m., Nevada was struck forward by a torpedo and at 8:13 a.m. was struck amidships by a bomb. At 8:25 a.m., the first wave of Japanese attackers withdrew. Realizing the danger of burning oil on the water drifting toward the Nevada, the SOPA decided to get underway even though the tugboat had not yet arrived.
At 8:47 a.m. Nevada was underway. According to a Nevada Magazine article, “Historic vessel leaves crucial chapter of American history in its wake” by Wayne Scarpaci, July-August 2014, “The effect was electrifying on the men ashore and aboard the other ships. Tumultuous cheering broke out and men from the stricken Arizona and West Virginia leapt into the water and swam to join Nevada as she passed. Many of the men who saw Nevada underway recalled the words of the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ when they saw the ensign courageously raised and standing out stiffly in the breeze.”
The ship successfully navigated for the channel out of the harbor. At 8:55 a.m., the second wave of Japanese planes noticed Nevada underway and attacked with the aim of sinking the ship in the channel and blocking it. Within a few minutes, the Nevada was hit by five more bombs, burning forward and amidships and sinking by the bow. When the SOPA realized the Nevada was going to sink, he ordered it grounded on Hospital Point. There, after an agonizing mad-dash by car to Pearl Harbor, then boarding a shipyard tug, Nevada’s captain Scanland managed to rejoin his sinking, burning ship. Thirty minutes later, by about 9:40 a.m., the Nevada was moved across the channel to Waipio Point to prevent its bow from swinging out and partially blocking the channel.
The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 was described the next day by president Franklin Delano Roosevelt as a "date which shall live in infamy." Much of the U.S. naval fleet was damaged or destroyed and ultimately around 2,400 Americans were killed. Of USS Nevada's crew of nearly 1500, fifty men were killed in action during the Pearl Harbor attack. Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on Pearl Harbor was judged by the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime and prompted the United States’ immediate entry into World War II.
Scanland was relieved of command of the Nevada on December 8, and on December 15, 1941, he was given command of the cruiser Astoria, which he commanded at the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway. The man who wanted to leave the Navy for the Army in order “to see action,” and who missed the decisive moments of action on his ship, the Nevada, later had his own moments of extraordinary heroism.
As Commanding Officer of the Astoria, Scanland was presented the Navy Cross by the President of the United States for protecting a carrier that inflicted significant damage to the enemy from 10 December 1941 to about 10 June 1942, in the Pacific War Area, during the surface engagements of the Coral Sea from 4 to 8 May 1942, and the Battle of Midway from 3 to 6 June 1942.
Scanland again was presented the Navy Cross “for heroic and meritorious conduct in action against the enemy” while serving as Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. HAWKBILL during the SECOND War Patrol of that submarine in the South China Sea from 15 November 1944 to 5 January 1945. “Displaying great courage and a fine aggressive spirit, Commander Scanland, on 15 December 1944, skillfully led his vessel in a surface attack against two enemy destroyer type vessels. Six torpedoes fired and resulted in the sinking of the first and the severe damaging of the second. “
Francis Worth Scanland, promoted to Commodore in 1944, had over 40 years of naval service. He died at age 58 in October 1946 in San Diego, California, where had had been commander of the U.S. Naval Training and Distribution Center at Camp Elliott.
If your family has any Bossier Parish veteran stories to tell or photos to share, please visit us at the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center and let us know. Don’t forget we have a monthly World War II’s Day coffee and conversation group that meets the second Tuesday of the month at the History Center from 10:30-noon. Our next meeting on Dec. 13th will be a special holiday-themed program.
Article by: Pam Carlisle
Images: Capt. Francis W. Scanland in the Shreveport Journal, Dec. 8, 1941.
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