Sinking of the USS Guam (Alternity)

The sinking of the USS Guam by the Philippine Imperial Navy destroyer IPNS Corregidor (ex-Madake) served to spark the short-lived Philippine Sea War between the United States and the Philippine Empire that lasted from 1962 to 1963. The incident occurred in the Philippine Sea, one-hundred seventy-eight miles west of the Marinanas Islands on April 18, 1962. The US Navy's Alaska-class 'large cruiser' Guam (CB-2) was on a joint exercise with Japanese (JMSDF) destroyers at the time, and was when one of Guam's escorts, the destroyer Mahan (DDG-42) sighted Corregidor and immediately identified it as a modified IJN Matsu-class destroyer. Corregidor was captained by a radical anti-American, who believed the Marianas - specifically, Guam - to be the rightful possession the Empire. Using a prototype missile guidance system developed with help from the USSR, Corregidor's crew reluctantly launched a pair of P-15 'Termit' anti-ship missiles (imported from the USSR as well) in the direction of Guam and her taskforce. Incredibly, and unluckily, both Termit missiles struck home, the first directly atop of the No.1 secondary 5", and the second beneath the main funnel. The near-simultaneous impacts of shaped warheads easily pierced the ship's deck armor and detonations blew out large sections of Guam's keel. She ground to a halt and quickly settled low in the water, engines crippled. For nearly twelve minutes, as Mahan, and the rest of the taskforce took off as much of the crew as possible, secondary explosions from aviation fuel and 5" ammunition wracked the ship. At 5:47 PM WPST (West Pacific Standard Time), Guam rolled onto her port side and sank in 22,000 feet of water at 14°22' N 141°25' E.