The moral effect on USA with two simultaneous successful attacks would be significant but perhaps not in the manner Japan would desire
December 7, 1941. The Day Japan Attacked the Panama Canal
- Thread starter YYJ
- Start date
Hard to imagine the US public being more het up than it was historically on December 7, but yes, Japan gets to find out the answer the hard and painful way.
A Very Strange Day
1235 hours, Dec 7, 1941. Gatun Hydroelectric plant powerhouse, Canal Zone.
Daniel Abrego was excited and proud on his first day of work as a janitor at the Gatun Power House. His parents did not like the Yanquis, but were not too proud to work for them. His father was doing construction on the railway, and his mother was a housekeeper at Coco Solo hospital. Everyone knew the Americans paid the best money. His friends were jealous that he had a fancy new job just a week after his fifteenth birthday. On his first day he had shown up early. His mother told him the Americans liked that. His supervisor had handed him a mop and broom and showed him the work to be done.
The hum of the spinning turbines on the floor below filled the space. Outside the long row of arched floor-to ceiling windows, the waterfall pouring over the spillway made a breathtaking scene, and Daniel had to pull himself away from the spectacle several times to get back to his mopping and sweeping. Luckily for him, his supervisor was off in another part of the building, and did not notice his dallying.
Daniel spent the morning sweeping and mopping both floors of the turbine hall. After lunch, his supervisor was going to show him how to operate the floor polishing machine. He had just finished eating the carimañola roll lunch his mother had packed for him, when the air was filled with the sound of sirens. A big flying boat appeared over the spillway, so close it looked like it was trying to land. How interesting! The plane looked just like a Pan Am clipper. Maybe the pilot was doing a stunt for an important passenger. Or taking pictures of the dam. As the plane passed by and followed the course of the Chagres river, he saw glowing streamers reaching up at the plane, so maybe they were filming a motion picture. No one had told him about this, but he understood that he was just a lowly employee.
Boom! Boom! Two huge splashes of water rose over the dam, looking to Daniel to be 100 feet tall. What was going on? He could hear some shouting on the floor below in the main turbine hall. Then another identical plane flew low over the dam, so low it looked like it would strike the spillway gate towers. This one had a big tail of flame coming from the right wing. The plane flew through the cloud of spray thrown by the spillway, and the flaming trail flickered and went out. This plane also disappeared down the Chagres River, surrounded by black puffs of smoke.
Daniel had no idea what was going on, but it was providing a better show than any motion picture he had ever seen. His supervisor poked his head over the top of the stairs from the floor below, and yelled something at Daniel, waving his arms wildly. Daniel did not speak much English, and the sirens, turbines, and a growing series of loud bangs from outside made it impossible to hear what his supervisor said.
Boom! Another huge column of water rose into the air, this one right at the top of the spillway, behind a closed gate. Two things now happened simultaneously. A closed spillway gate burst open in the center and a hole big enough to admit a steam locomotive appeared, allowing a great stream of water to jet through. As if that was not enough, a torpedo leaped like a dolphin out of one of the water streams pouring through an open spillway gate. The torpedo, just like one he had seen in Life magazine, flew through the air, and struck the concrete side wall of the spillway channel, at water level.
“Sweet baby Jesus!” whispered Daniel.
There was a tremendous explosion. Daniel instinctively closed his eyes, as a wall of water and pieces of concrete came flying straight at him. Next thing he knew, he was flat on his back, and soaking wet. The roaring of the spillway discharge was much louder now. He sat up, and saw that most of the windows of the powerhouse were broken. The floor was covered with water and broken glass. He heard some yelling from the floor below. The overhead lights went out, and the note of the generator hum changed, becoming deeper and slowing as the huge rotors wound down. Daniel got up, and went to fetch his mop and bucket. Then he began to clean up the huge mess on the floor. He wondered, should he first sweep up the glass with his broom, or should he mop up the water first? Everything was mixed together. There were even a few hunks of concrete with protruding bits of steel reinforcing bar.
As he pondered this question, he watched the giant spillway gate that had been punctured by the torpedo’s explosion slowly begin to lose its shape, until it folded in the middle and leaped out of its track, admitting another 45 foot wide by 16 foot deep deluge of water into the spillway channel. Now there were five open gates. The roaring of the discharge became even louder. He felt a hand on his shoulder.
His supervisor was standing there, now getting wet himself from the spray of the spillway coming directly into the turbine hall. Daniel was worried that his supervisor would be angry, but instead the American seemed concerned for Daniel’s wellbeing, and happy that he was unharmed. “Evacuate!” said his supervisor forcefully, over all the noise. Then the American searched his memory for the Spanish word “Evacuar! Evacuar! Go home.” Daniel must have looked like this hurt his feelings, because the man said, “Come back tomorrow. Vuelve mañana.” Daniel picked up his mop and bucket, to put them back in the janitor’s closet as he had been taught, but the supervisor pantomimed for him to leave them on the ground, in the middle of the mess. This was turning into a very strange day.
The supervisor led Daniel to the closest exit, which took him up a set of stairs to the top of the dam. Sirens were still blaring from every direction. A short distance away, between him and the Gatun locks, an Army antiaircraft gun battery was emplaced. The guns were trained downstream, in the direction the planes had flown. On the other side of the spillway was another identical battery. The soldiers looked as excited as if their soccer team had just won the finals. Then an officer yelled something, the soldiers became deadly serious, and turned their guns back to face the lake, in a great hurry.
Antiaircraft guns across the lake, and on the sides of the hills began to fire. Daniel had no idea there were that many guns. There must have been dozens of them. There was even a warship on the lake firing into the air. The gunfire converged over Guarapo Island, right in front of where he was standing. Black puffs of explosions appeared in the air over the island. Then another flying boat soared out from behind the island, very close to the water. It was followed by two American fighter planes. The flying boat and one of the fighters were already trailing smoke. The guns on top of the dam opened fire and more bursting shells surrounded the flying boat. The American fighters peeled away to avoid the antiaircraft fire. One climbed high and headed south. The other seemed unable, and ditched in the lake. The exploding shells became so dense they completely obscured the plane. A pristine white United Fruit Company banana boat was anchored next to Guarapo Island and seemed to be getting the worst of the gunfire.
Just when Daniel was sure the flying boat had been atomized by the exploding shells so that no trace remained, it burst out of a wall of drifting black smoke, utterly engulfed in flames. One of the wings broke off and the plane fell to one side, struck the water with a wingtip, and cartwheeled across the lake surface, throwing bits and pieces high in the air. The wreckage sank. All that was left was a burning slick of gasoline on the water. The antiaircraft guns still fired a few shots, as if just to make sure, but soon ceased fire. The United Fruit Company ship had a small fire on its top deck, and some black patches on the formerly immaculate paint.
Daniel lowered his head, and said a little prayer for the crew of the flying boat. He recovered his bicycle, and headed for home. The sirens maintained their shrill wailing. When one faded behind him, another up ahead became louder and took over. As the moments passed, more airplanes zoomed back and forth across the sky. Occasionally he could see and hear antiaircraft guns firing, but they soon stopped again and did not put up as fierce a barrage as he had witnessed. Daniel made it home and hugged his mother. Throughout the night, in blacked-out Colon city, he could hear antiaircraft guns, and planes buzzing overhead. Searchlights swept the sky, and the air raid sirens turned on and off.
www.alamy.com
Daniel Abrego was excited and proud on his first day of work as a janitor at the Gatun Power House. His parents did not like the Yanquis, but were not too proud to work for them. His father was doing construction on the railway, and his mother was a housekeeper at Coco Solo hospital. Everyone knew the Americans paid the best money. His friends were jealous that he had a fancy new job just a week after his fifteenth birthday. On his first day he had shown up early. His mother told him the Americans liked that. His supervisor had handed him a mop and broom and showed him the work to be done.
The hum of the spinning turbines on the floor below filled the space. Outside the long row of arched floor-to ceiling windows, the waterfall pouring over the spillway made a breathtaking scene, and Daniel had to pull himself away from the spectacle several times to get back to his mopping and sweeping. Luckily for him, his supervisor was off in another part of the building, and did not notice his dallying.
Daniel spent the morning sweeping and mopping both floors of the turbine hall. After lunch, his supervisor was going to show him how to operate the floor polishing machine. He had just finished eating the carimañola roll lunch his mother had packed for him, when the air was filled with the sound of sirens. A big flying boat appeared over the spillway, so close it looked like it was trying to land. How interesting! The plane looked just like a Pan Am clipper. Maybe the pilot was doing a stunt for an important passenger. Or taking pictures of the dam. As the plane passed by and followed the course of the Chagres river, he saw glowing streamers reaching up at the plane, so maybe they were filming a motion picture. No one had told him about this, but he understood that he was just a lowly employee.
Boom! Boom! Two huge splashes of water rose over the dam, looking to Daniel to be 100 feet tall. What was going on? He could hear some shouting on the floor below in the main turbine hall. Then another identical plane flew low over the dam, so low it looked like it would strike the spillway gate towers. This one had a big tail of flame coming from the right wing. The plane flew through the cloud of spray thrown by the spillway, and the flaming trail flickered and went out. This plane also disappeared down the Chagres River, surrounded by black puffs of smoke.
Daniel had no idea what was going on, but it was providing a better show than any motion picture he had ever seen. His supervisor poked his head over the top of the stairs from the floor below, and yelled something at Daniel, waving his arms wildly. Daniel did not speak much English, and the sirens, turbines, and a growing series of loud bangs from outside made it impossible to hear what his supervisor said.
Boom! Another huge column of water rose into the air, this one right at the top of the spillway, behind a closed gate. Two things now happened simultaneously. A closed spillway gate burst open in the center and a hole big enough to admit a steam locomotive appeared, allowing a great stream of water to jet through. As if that was not enough, a torpedo leaped like a dolphin out of one of the water streams pouring through an open spillway gate. The torpedo, just like one he had seen in Life magazine, flew through the air, and struck the concrete side wall of the spillway channel, at water level.
“Sweet baby Jesus!” whispered Daniel.
There was a tremendous explosion. Daniel instinctively closed his eyes, as a wall of water and pieces of concrete came flying straight at him. Next thing he knew, he was flat on his back, and soaking wet. The roaring of the spillway discharge was much louder now. He sat up, and saw that most of the windows of the powerhouse were broken. The floor was covered with water and broken glass. He heard some yelling from the floor below. The overhead lights went out, and the note of the generator hum changed, becoming deeper and slowing as the huge rotors wound down. Daniel got up, and went to fetch his mop and bucket. Then he began to clean up the huge mess on the floor. He wondered, should he first sweep up the glass with his broom, or should he mop up the water first? Everything was mixed together. There were even a few hunks of concrete with protruding bits of steel reinforcing bar.
As he pondered this question, he watched the giant spillway gate that had been punctured by the torpedo’s explosion slowly begin to lose its shape, until it folded in the middle and leaped out of its track, admitting another 45 foot wide by 16 foot deep deluge of water into the spillway channel. Now there were five open gates. The roaring of the discharge became even louder. He felt a hand on his shoulder.
His supervisor was standing there, now getting wet himself from the spray of the spillway coming directly into the turbine hall. Daniel was worried that his supervisor would be angry, but instead the American seemed concerned for Daniel’s wellbeing, and happy that he was unharmed. “Evacuate!” said his supervisor forcefully, over all the noise. Then the American searched his memory for the Spanish word “Evacuar! Evacuar! Go home.” Daniel must have looked like this hurt his feelings, because the man said, “Come back tomorrow. Vuelve mañana.” Daniel picked up his mop and bucket, to put them back in the janitor’s closet as he had been taught, but the supervisor pantomimed for him to leave them on the ground, in the middle of the mess. This was turning into a very strange day.
The supervisor led Daniel to the closest exit, which took him up a set of stairs to the top of the dam. Sirens were still blaring from every direction. A short distance away, between him and the Gatun locks, an Army antiaircraft gun battery was emplaced. The guns were trained downstream, in the direction the planes had flown. On the other side of the spillway was another identical battery. The soldiers looked as excited as if their soccer team had just won the finals. Then an officer yelled something, the soldiers became deadly serious, and turned their guns back to face the lake, in a great hurry.
Antiaircraft guns across the lake, and on the sides of the hills began to fire. Daniel had no idea there were that many guns. There must have been dozens of them. There was even a warship on the lake firing into the air. The gunfire converged over Guarapo Island, right in front of where he was standing. Black puffs of explosions appeared in the air over the island. Then another flying boat soared out from behind the island, very close to the water. It was followed by two American fighter planes. The flying boat and one of the fighters were already trailing smoke. The guns on top of the dam opened fire and more bursting shells surrounded the flying boat. The American fighters peeled away to avoid the antiaircraft fire. One climbed high and headed south. The other seemed unable, and ditched in the lake. The exploding shells became so dense they completely obscured the plane. A pristine white United Fruit Company banana boat was anchored next to Guarapo Island and seemed to be getting the worst of the gunfire.
Just when Daniel was sure the flying boat had been atomized by the exploding shells so that no trace remained, it burst out of a wall of drifting black smoke, utterly engulfed in flames. One of the wings broke off and the plane fell to one side, struck the water with a wingtip, and cartwheeled across the lake surface, throwing bits and pieces high in the air. The wreckage sank. All that was left was a burning slick of gasoline on the water. The antiaircraft guns still fired a few shots, as if just to make sure, but soon ceased fire. The United Fruit Company ship had a small fire on its top deck, and some black patches on the formerly immaculate paint.
Daniel lowered his head, and said a little prayer for the crew of the flying boat. He recovered his bicycle, and headed for home. The sirens maintained their shrill wailing. When one faded behind him, another up ahead became louder and took over. As the moments passed, more airplanes zoomed back and forth across the sky. Occasionally he could see and hear antiaircraft guns firing, but they soon stopped again and did not put up as fierce a barrage as he had witnessed. Daniel made it home and hugged his mother. Throughout the night, in blacked-out Colon city, he could hear antiaircraft guns, and planes buzzing overhead. Searchlights swept the sky, and the air raid sirens turned on and off.
Journal of electricity, power, and gas . Triple Pole, Single Throw, 2500 Volt, 300 Amp.Oil Switch With Solenoid Operated Mech-anism and Disconnecting Device Open.. Cross Section of Power House, GatunHydroelectric Installation. to stand the strain of
Download this stock image: Journal of electricity, power, and gas . Triple Pole, Single Throw, 2500 Volt, 300 Amp.Oil Switch With Solenoid Operated Mech-anism and Disconnecting Device Open.. Cross Section of Power House, GatunHydroelectric Installation. to stand the strain of a short circuit...
www.alamy.com
Last edited:
Trivia. At some point in time, the Gatun powerhouse was expanded, from this:
To this:
This happened sometime before 1950, but I am not sure when. It does not matter for the purposes of the story.
Edit: From aerial photos of the SIP-9 defensive berm and trestle, it looks like the expansion was done before 1942, so the powerhouse in the previous chapter most likely looks like the lower postcard photo.
To this:
This happened sometime before 1950, but I am not sure when. It does not matter for the purposes of the story.
Edit: From aerial photos of the SIP-9 defensive berm and trestle, it looks like the expansion was done before 1942, so the powerhouse in the previous chapter most likely looks like the lower postcard photo.
Last edited:
Trivia. At some point in time, the Gatun powerhouse was expanded, from this:
To this:
This happened sometime before 1950, but I am not sure when. It does not matter for the purposes of the story.
Edit: From aerial photos of the SIP-9 defensive berm and trestle, it looks like the expansion was done before 1942, so the powerhouse in the previous chapter most likely looks like the lower postcard photo.
Some officers will be reassigned to the Aleutians just in time for future adventures
"I want him manning a radar tower in Alaska by the end of the day. Just mail him his clothes."
Not quite remote enough, but it does have the chance of a Japanese air raid!
(The line is stolen from Mission Impossible I, for those of you who missed the reference.)
Last edited:
Looking that way, but obviously YYJ is teasing us a bit on the details by having it described from the inexpert and shaky perspective of a newb Panamanian janitor.
In mid-2003, at one particular site in Iraq, the entire battalion there went on a PT run - after turning in their weapons to the S4. What kind of reaction force is that?
This is a remote site in the Aleutians. A long drive from Dutch Harbor
Last edited:
Damn that was intense. Sounds like the AA batteries were still firing after the third H6K crashed- quite believable that the gunners would be seeing ghosts. Man the tension is at an all-time high, I expect more " Great Los Angeles Air Raid" mishaps will happen in the future. Still, that's a maximum of two spillways crippled when four were open already- so the lake is not gone it seems.
Poor Daniel. Were the local workers really so mistreated that he is right to be surprised when the Americans don't expect him to just keep working after he nearly became collateral damage to the raid?
Poor Daniel. Were the local workers really so mistreated that he is right to be surprised when the Americans don't expect him to just keep working after he nearly became collateral damage to the raid?
I know. I was thinking of something a little more northerly, like Point Barrow!