All info on this page is courtesy of Bill Jones.
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In the Surigao Strait, the Beale greeted a Fuso class Jap Battleship, with five torpedoes, at a range of 6800 yards. They laid smoke, and retired into it. They were,(according to the Beale history), straddled twice by 5in, and 6in shells. I have personally talked to a bunch of these guys, and the thing that bothered them the most, was that they still had five torpedoes loaded, and they thought they were going to have another crack at the Battleship. The Destroyer Killen, was given credit for the torpedo hits, being the senior officer in the division, per Samuel eliot Morrison, who wrote "The two ocean war" The captain, Commander Coffee, was given the Navy Cross, Lt. George Whitney, the bronze star, Rudy Tichy,(cic plotting officer), the bronze star,and Matt Brennen,jr the bronze star. I`ve met Coffee, I think, at one of Gillinghams reunions, and Matt Brennen, at a couple of the earlier reunions. We all know Rudy, A few days later, the Beale was in on putting the fires out on the NEWCOMB,who had taken three suicide planes . The Beale shot down two more planes, while alongside. Captain Coffee was recommended for the silver star from this one, and Lt. Estep, and chiefs Clark, and Stormont, for Bronze stars. We had a man from the Newcomb at our reunion in 1998. Rudy Tichy was the man who planned the escape route, thus, his Bronze star
