The Night a Japanese Sub Shelled the California Coast

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 the 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.

Background

Following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, seven Japanese submarines patrolled the American West Coast. They sank two merchant ships and damaged six more, skirmishing twice with U.S. Navy air or sea forces. By the end of December, the submarines had all returned to friendly waters to resupply. However, several had gone to Kwajalein and would pay a return visit to American waters. One of these was the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-17. The I-17 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 and 17 torpedoes, plus a 14-cm deck gun. She carried 101 officers and men, captained by Commander Kozo Nishino.

The Japanese government, concerned about President Roosevelt's radio speech scheduled for February 23, 1942, ordered a Japanese submarine to shell the California coast on that day. A popular story about the attack is that Nishino had been a naval reserve officer before the war and had commanded a pre-war merchant ship that sailed through the Santa Barbara Channel and had once stopped at the Ellwood Oil Field to take on a cargo of oil. However, after graduating from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1920, Nishino spent his entire career as a submarine crew member and officer and did not command a merchant ship, so the story of his prewar relationship to Santa Barbara is unlikely.

Bombardment

At around 7:00 pm on February 23, 1942, the I-17 came to a stop opposite the Ellwood field on the Gaviota Coast. Nishino ordered the deck gun readied for action. Its crew took aim at a Richfield aviation fuel tank just beyond the beach and opened fire about 15 minutes later with the first rounds landing near a storage facility. The oil field's workmen had mostly left for the day, but a skeleton crew on duty heard the rounds hit. They took it to be an internal explosion until one man spotted the I-17 off the coast. An oiler named G. Brown later told reporters that the enemy submarine looked so big to him he thought it must be a cruiser or a destroyer until he realized that only one gun was firing.

Nishino soon ordered his men to aim at the second storage tank. Brown and the others called the police, as the Japanese shells continued to fall around them.

Firing in the dark from a submarine buffeted by waves, it was inevitable that rounds would miss their target. One round passed over Wheeler's Inn, whose owner Laurence Wheeler promptly called the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. A deputy sheriff assured him that warplanes were already on their way, but none arrived. The Japanese shells destroyed a derrick and a pump house, while the Ellwood Pier and a catwalk suffered minor damage. After 20 minutes, the gunners ceased fire and the submarine sailed away. Estimates of the number of explosive shells fired ranged from 12 to 25. Although he caused only light damage, Nishino had achieved his purpose, which was to spread fear along the American west coast. A day later, reports of enemy aircraft led to the so-called “Battle of Los Angeles,” in which American artillery was discharged over Los Angeles for several hours due to the mistaken belief that the Japanese were invading.

Reverend Arthur Basham of Montecito called the police to claim he had seen the enemy submarine from his home. He said the I-17 turned south towards Los Angeles, apparently flashing signal lights to someone onshore. In reality, the I-17 had sailed west, safely returning to Japan.

Aftermath

The attack was the first naval bombardment of the United States by a foreign power since the War of 1812 (Battle of Baltimore of 1814 by British Royal Navy), excluding the incidental shelling of coastland Orleans, Massachusetts in 1918. Additionally, at about 5,100 miles east of Japan, the bombardment of Ellwood was the furthest direct attack on a land target that the Japanese Empire made during World War Two, several hundred miles further than the attacks on Sydney Harbor, Australia and Fort Stevens, Oregon in June 1942.

The reports of Nishino's attack caused hundreds to flee inland; many feared that the event was a prelude to a full-scale attack on the West Coast of the United States. Since several people in Santa Barbara claimed to have seen "signal lights", a blackout was ordered for the rest of the night. The baseless claims of "signals" were used to justify Franklin D. Roosevelt's internment of Japanese Americans, which began just one week later.

One night after the Elwood attack, the Battle of Los Angeles took place. In response to claimed sightings of "enemy aircraft", anti-aircraft batteries opened fire all across the city, causing panic among its residents.

Japanese submarines continued to conduct occasional attacks against allied shipping off the U.S. coast during the rest of the war. Sent to American waters in hopes of targeting warships, the submarines managed to sink only a handful of merchant ships, besides conducting a few minor attacks on shore targets. These consisted of a bombardment of Fort Stevens on the Columbia River, an attack on a Canadian lighthouse on Vancouver Island, and two air raids launched from a submarine in an attempt to start forest fires in southwest Oregon.

Further Reading

Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II: Chapter V: 1943

Graham, Otis L.; Bauman, Robert; Dodd, Douglas W.; Geraci, Victor W.; Murray, Fermina Brel. Stearns Wharf: Surviving Change on the California Coast. Graduate Program in Public Historical Studies, University of California, 1994

Parshall, Jon; Hackett, Bob and Kingsepp, Sander. Imperial Japanese Navy Page: HIJMS Submarine I-17: Tabular Record of Movement. Retrieved 7/4/2010

Webber, Bert. Silent Siege: Japanese Attacks Against North America in World War II, Ye Galleon Press, Fairfield, Washington, 1984

Tompkins, Walker A. (1975). Santa Barbara, Past and Present. Santa Barbara: Tecolote Books.

Tompkins, Walker A. (1976). It Happened in Old Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara: Sandollar Press.

The San Diego Union, February 24, 1942.

 

San Francisco Chronicle, February 24, 1942.

Santa Barbara News-Press, February 24, 1942.

Los Angeles Times, February 24, 1942.

“Scores of searchlights built a wigwam of light beaming over Los Angles,” noted one reporter about the 1942 panic from a Japanese submarine shelling a refinery. U.S. Army anti-aircraft firing caused more damage than the enemy attack.

I-17.

Japanese propaganda post card depicting the submarine I-17 shelling Ellwood. Japanese caption: "Our Submarine bombarding the coast of California. Artwork by Chuichi Mikuriya, Navy Battlefield Artist."

14 cm/40 (5.5″) gun on Japanese submarine postwar.

The site of the shelling.

Security was tight, but a handful of reporters were allowed to inspect the damage firsthand and report on the incident. In the following days the hysteria continued, and hundreds of people fled the area.

A lone soldier keeps watch over Winchester Canyon while sitting beside a shell crater. One American soldier was injured while trying to deactivate an unexploded shell. He received a Purple Heart for his efforts.

Goleta native Pete Langlo surveys a door damaged during the 1942 attack on the Ellwood oil field by a Japanese submarine.

The money raised went directly to the purchase of a bomber plane and fighter plane that would boast the names “Flying Santa Barbaran” and “Ellwood Avenger.” Unfortunately, the “Flying Santa Barbaran” bomber was never built, and the “Ellwood Avenger” attack plane never attacked anything, ending it’s short career when it banged into another plane on a Florida runway.

Monument to the bombardment of Ellwood in Goleta, California.

Close-up of the plaque on the monument to the bombardment of Ellwood in Goleta, California.

The second marker commemorating the bombardment of Ellwood in Goleta, California.

Herald Express, February 24, 1942.

The Call Bulletin, February 24, 1942.

I-17 was a Japanese B1 type submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy which saw service during World War II. This long-range submarine cruiser spent the early months of the war in the eastern Pacific and was the first Axis ship to shell the continental United States. She later supported the Imperial Japanese Army in fighting around the Solomon Islands and remained active in the southwest Pacific until she was sunk in August 1943.

Commander Kozo Nishino, captain of I-17.

Americans were indignant to see our country under attack. As the news spread across the country, the word went out to, “Avenge Ellwood! The “Avenge Ellwood” logo was created in early 1943 for a war bond drive led by the American Women’s Voluntary Services. The image was used in newspapers, on posters and by local companies that had donated to the cause.