USS Saunter is behind the burning Ward in this image.

Edward Tuffield was a Radarman third class aboard the USS Saunter on December 7th, 1944. USS Saunter AM-295 was a minesweeper attached to Mine Division 34, and was one of the ships that responded when the Ward was hit and set afire by a Kamikaze hit. Ed's battlestation was at the bridge starboard .30 cal anti-aircraft gun, and as such he saw the death of the Ward enfold. In his words:

Our squadron, which was five mine sweepers went in before daybreak to draw fire as we were not sweeping on this landing . We went in very close to the shore but was never fired on. The only scare was when a ship got a Sonar contact on a possible sub and dropped a few depth charges. You can imagine the reaction when in the total darkness all very calm and you are expecting the worst these explosions going off what a shock it was.

The landing went off with any attack from the shore or naval vessels. It was when the Kamikaze came in that the ships became endangered. The one that hit the Ward came over us and went for the bigger ship. After the Ward was hit they abandoned ship we went up to the side and poured water on the area that was hit which was had smoke pouring out but no visible fire. It would be impossible to say how long we did this but it was late in the afternoon when the design was make to sink her.

We were then told to back off and clear the area so the O'Brien could fire a broad side into her. When this happened the Ward exploded and when the smoke cleared she was gone.All this happened in minutes. I did get a good view of this as I was stationed on the bridge just to the left of the wheel house.

Thanks to Edward Tuffield for answering my e-mail questions about the sinking of the Ward.