Whatever the movements of
Don Isidro between Manila being evacuated and being declared an open city on 23 and 26 December 1941 respectively the ship had come under the
War Shipping Administration, allocated to U.S. Army charter on 11 January 1942 at
Fremantle, and was in
Brisbane, Australia being loaded with rations and ammunition on 22 January 1942 when defenders were ordered to withdraw from the
Abucay-Mauban line to final defense lines in
Bataan. She left Brisbane on a "special mission" at 1.45 p.m., 27 January 1942 "bound for Corregidor" seeking to supply forces still on Bataan. The ship's location in Brisbane was no coincidence. Supplies and ships were being sent to the
Netherlands East Indies from Brisbane as the
Malay Barrier concept was still alive and the port had been the first stop for a number of ships diverted to Australia with the invasion of the Philippines. Significant supplies, particularly munitions, were already there or on the way from there to Java which was closest to the besieged forces in the Philippines and small, fast blockade running vessels were presumed to be readily available there. Even the prototype seaplane, the Navy's
XPBS-1, had been sent to Australia and onward to Java with critical aircraft parts and a rush order of torpedo exploders from
San Diego—and on departure from Pearl 30 January
General Patrick Hurley with a bag of cash to add to that dispatched already for procurement locally of vital supplies. Ships of the
Pensacola convoy and
SS President Polk had been diverted first to Brisbane and then with supplies and munitions intended for the forces in the Philippines to Java.
Polk had arrived there 12 January 1942 with 55 P-40E and 4 C-53 aircraft including 55 pilots, 20 million .30 caliber, 447,000 .50 caliber, 30,000 three inch AA and 5,000 75 mm rounds of ammunition along with five carloads of torpedoes, over 615,000 pounds of rations and 178 officers and men in addition to the pilots and herself was heading to Java when
Don Isidro was loading and departing for the same destination. At Brisbane
Don Isidro was provided defense in the form of a detachment from the 453d Ordnance (Aviation) Bombardment Company of fifteen men under Second Lieutenant Joseph F. Kane, winner of the command by a coin toss. That unit had been embarked aboard the naval transport
USS Republic (AP-33) in the
Pensacola convoy. The soldiers armed the ship with five .50-caliber heavy machine guns on improvised mounts. Captain Cisneros, even as
Coast Farmer was readying to leave Brisbane on the same mission, took the ship south around Australia to
Fremantle on the west coast for engine repairs, fuel and water before setting out for
Batavia for instructions on the run to Corregidor. Science fiction author
L. Ron Hubbard, then Lieutenant in the US Navy, was disciplined for his role in routing the
Don Isidro around the south of Australia, "three thousand miles out of her way". Arriving there on 9 February 1942 the entire plan was unraveling as Japanese forces took
Tengah airfield and made an additional landing on the island of
Singapore as well as beginning movements toward
Sumatra. Meeting U.S. Navy representatives 10 February, as the situation in Singapore worsened and Japanese were conquering
Borneo and the
Celebes, the plan was changed, with
Don Isidro joining a British escorted convoy later that day in passage through
Sunda Strait to the
Indian Ocean. There the ship separated from the convoy on the 13th and attempted a run south of Java, through the
Timor Sea then through the
Torres Straits and finally through the
Dampier Strait east of
New Guinea for the run through the
Bismarck Sea and Pacific to the Philippines. As the ship was making that attempt the Japanese began landing on Sumatra 14 February, Singapore surrendered on the 15th, evacuation of forces from Sumatra to Java was completed,
Bali was taken and Java was isolated on the 17th. Of note for ''Don Isidro's'' fate, the Allied convoy headed to
Timor escorted by the is recalled to
Darwin on the 18th. The run for the Torres Strait was going without incident until an unknown destroyer and freighter were spotted on the 17th headed in the opposite direction and then on 18 February
Don Isidro was attacked twice by a Japanese bomber, though without damage. That attack was decisive in the captain's decision to turn toward the friendly port of Darwin. On the morning of the 19th seven Japanese fighters strafed the ship while she was about 25 miles north of
Bathurst Island. This attack holed the ship, destroyed all lifeboats and rafts and wounded a number of crew and the army defense detachment. In the early afternoon, at about 1:30 (1330) the ship was again attacked by a single bomber and again escaped bomb damage.
Loss Japanese planes returning to their carriers from the
Darwin strike, where ships of the Timor convoy were then located, spotted
Don Isidro, with nine dive bombers, refueled and rearmed from
Sōryū and
Hiryū, returning with for the final attack on the ship. The result was that shortly after the ineffective single bomber's attack the ship, with no lifeboats or rafts as a result of the earlier fighter attack, was hit, heavily damaged and set in flames. The captain attempted to beach her but was unsuccessful in reaching Bathurst Island as the engines failed with the ship about three miles offshore. The attacks continued and survivors jumped overboard in an attempt to swim to the island, a process that took about ten hours. Those that reached the island arrived in scattered groups, assembled and began searching for others. They found four dead and established that many were missing. In the mid-morning of 20 February H.M.A.S.
Warrnambool, having rescued some of the missing crew, picked up the main body of survivors.
Warrnambool, with survivors aboard, approached the still burning
Don Isidro searching for the missing Chief Engineer and Chief Electrician who were reported to be still aboard and badly burnt and wounded. The ship's deck was already under water and no survivors were found. The survivors aboard
Warrnambool reached Darwin about midnight where they were treated overnight at a hospital. Then they were billeted at the camp of the 147th Field Artillery awaiting orders. Eleven of the sixty-seven crew had been killed and many wounded. The killed or missing crew members were: • Marino (Maximo?) Mangan – chief Engineer • Loreto Jaime (Jayne?) – 2nd Engineer • Mechor Jaruvilla (Melchor Jarobilla?) – 3rd Engineer • Antonio Reynes – Extra engineer • Federico Montralegra – Chief Electrician • Raul Delagado – Machinist • Antonio Cordova – Oiler • Quirino Sabando – Oiler • Alberto Jimena (Jamenen?)- Oiler • Agapito Masangkay (Acapito Masankay?) – Pantryman • Amado Logno (Longo?) Eight of the men of the defense detachment were wounded, some severely, and the detachment's commander, Second Lieutenant Kane, died of gangrene in hospital at Darwin. He, posthumously, and the fifteen enlisted men of the detachment received Purple Hearts. A footnote in the Ordinance history pertaining to the detachment reads: (1) History of Ord Sec, USASOS, 23 Dec 41- 2 Sep 42. (2) Rad, Melbourne to AGWAR, No. 311, 22 Feb 42, AG 381 (11-27-41) Sec 2C.. (3) Rpt of Ord Activities, USAFIA, Feb–May 42, OHF. (4) Official History of Headquarters USASOS, December 1941 – June 1945 (hereafter cited as History USASOS), pp. 92–93, and chs. Viii-xi. (5) Lieutenant Kane received the Purple Heart posthumously. All of the enlisted men of the 453d Ordnance (Aviation) Bombardment Company aboard the
Don Isidro also received the Purple Heart for manning their guns until they were put out of action, for extinguishing fires caused by the bomb explosions, and for helping the wounded (some despite their own wounds). GO 28, USASOS SWPA, 11 Oct 42, 98-GHQ 1-1.13. These men were among the last to receive the Purple Heart “for a singularly meritorious act of essential service,” according to AR 600-45 of 8 August 1932. Change 4 to AR 600-45, 4 September 1942, restricted the award to those wounded in action against the enemy or as a direct result of enemy action.
Context in attempts to relieve the Philippines Don Isidro was one of eight Army ships known to make the attempt to run the Japanese blockade of the Philippines from Australia or the Netherlands East Indies during the largely failed attempt to supply forces on Bataan and Corrigedor. There were small blockade runners internal to the islands, a few that made the run into those besieged locations with success. Only three of the attempts from outside the islands were successful, one being ''Don Isidro's
De La Rama sister Dona Nati
. The others were Coast Farmer
, making Anakan in northern Mindanao 17 February, and the Chinese ship Anhui'' that made
Cebu City in march. The Navy managed to make some deliveries and evacuations by submarine. == Wreck ==