That ship—although bearing the name Willmoto and purportedly operating out of Philadelphia—proved to be the German blockade runner Odenwald, bound for Germany with 3,857 metric tons of raw rubber in her holds. Scuttled by her crew, the German ship began to sink; but Capt. Chandler sent a party onto the German vessel that controlled the flooding and salvaged the ship. This was the last occasion on which American sailors received prize money. For most of the next 18 months, Omaha cruised the waters of the South Atlantic in search of German blockade runners and submarines. That tour of duty ended in April 1943, when Chandler was selected to command United States naval forces in the Aruba-Curaçao area. On May 3, 1944, he was promoted to rear admiral. In July 1944, Rear Admiral Chandler took command of Cruiser Division 2 (CruDiv 2), Atlantic Fleet. In that capacity, he participated in Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France in mid-August, and commanded the "Sitka-Romeo" force which captured the Iles d'Hyeres just off the coast of Provence. Pacific campaigns Shortly thereafter, Rear Admiral Chandler was given command of Battleship Division 2 (BatDiv 2) of the Pacific Fleet. He reported for duty on October 2 in time to command his ships—part of Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's bombardment group—during the Leyte invasion and helped to repulse the Japanese southern attack group—Vice Admirals Shoji Nishimura's Force "C" and Kiyohide Shima's 2d Striking Force—in the Surigao Strait phase of the Battle for Leyte Gulf. On December 8, 1944, Rear Admiral Chandler was shifted to command of CruDiv 4 and flew his flag above . During the voyage from Leyte to Lingayen for the invasion of Luzon, Chandler's cruisers came under heavy Japanese air attacks—mostly by kamikazes. Late in the afternoon of January 5, 1945, a group of sixteen kamikazes swooped in on the force then about 100 miles (200 km) from Manila Bay. One of the four successful kamikazes crashed into Rear Admiral Chandler's flagship at her number No. 2 main battery 8-inch 55 caliber gun, putting it out of commission, but continued her bombarding mission and downed several planes. On January 6, 1945, the cruiser suffered more severely during a second attack. At 17:30, another kamikaze plunged into the cruiser's starboard side at the signal bridge, where explosives wrought havoc. Rear Admiral Chandler jumped from the bridge to the signal bridge though horribly burned by