Location
The Battle of the Pips was the name given to an incident when U.S. Navy (USN) warships opened fire on a false radar contact 90 miles southwest of Kiska. In fact, there were no Japanese forces at that location.
Wartime History
On July 26, 1943 after midnight, Task Group 16.7 (TG 16.7) under the command of Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen and Task Group 16.17 (TG 16.17) under the command of Rear Admiral Robert M. Griffin were operating roughly 90 miles southwest of Kiska. At 12:48am, USS Mississippi (BB-41) reported unidentified radar surface contact at 60° at a distance of 15 miles. USS Idaho (BB-42), USS Wichita (CA-45), and USS Portland (CA-33) also detected radar contacts. However, USS San Francisco (CA-38) nor any of the escorting destroyers picked up anything on radar.
Regardless, at 12:13am, the battleships and cruisers opened fire on the radar contacts. Aboard the U.S. Navy warships, some lookouts reported seeing star shells, torpedo wakes, lights and flares and concussions. In total, 518 x 14" shells were fired by the two battleships and 487 x 8" shells from three cruisers before the warships ceased fire by 1:40am.
By morning, the force realized nothing was in the area. Afterwards this incident becomes known as the Battle of the Pips. The term pips refers to a radar echo or return on a radar screen. Although the incident became an embarrassment for the Navy and the butt of many jokes, Rear Admiral Giffen noted that it was the most realistic battle exercise he had ever experienced. The cause of the false radar returns is unknown. Possibly, they were caused by weather conditions or migratory petrel birds in the Aleutians during July.
References
Note, because this battle happened near the international dateline, some sources list the battle as July 27, 1943.
Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) - H-016-2: The Aleutians Campaign, 1942–43
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Last Updated
July 25, 2022
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