![]() He later recalled, “We fired right into the topside of their ship trying to knock off some of their guns on their deck.” Further forward on Juneau, Joseph Hartney opened fire with his water-cooled. Heyn and his fellow gunners opened fire on the massive Japanese battleship from close in. The nearest target to Juneau was the massive Japanese battleship Hiei, burning like a bonfire from all of the small caliber shell hits her superstructure had taken from the other American ships. ![]() Juneau’s rapid-fire 5-inch gun turrets trained to port and opened fire on the nearest target. Juneau’s captain, Lyman Swenson wasted no time and ordered his gun crews to open fire. A Japanese star shell exploded directly above Juneau and shone on the anti-aircraft cruiser from stem to stern. ![]() In an instant, the black night became as bright as noon on a desert. Through all the muzzle flashes Heyn could see that the Japanese ships were getting closer, yet his ship, the USS Juneau (CL-52) remained undetected, cruising along in the night, headed straight for the pyrotechnic show dead ahead. In the lead of the second column of American vessels, Seaman Allen Heyn sat in his 1.1 anti-aircraft mount and watched as the ships ahead shot each other to pieces. Several thousand yards ahead of the cruiser, the sky was awash with searchlights, tracers and muzzle flashes exploding on the inky-black night sky like brilliant, violent lightning strikes. ![]()
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