Ault (DD 698) - Naval Cruise Book

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-vw SIAKIDOUI p ' . t After the flret med rut: of wartime outfitting and trial runs :Ln Long .Ieland Sound, AUI1' headed for Bermuda and her flret real training ae e fight- ing ehip, with days and nights of ehooting, drille, achoole, battle problems, and inepectione. Pronounced fit, ehe returned to New York Navy Yard for pon--ummm eveilmnny, for nn. completion of ounrnning, 4 :mn check on engineering and ordnance equipment, and probably the last etateeide liberty her crew would enjoy for a long time. When the AULT went to eea again, her pereonnel began to think more about 'the active pert they would certainly have in Pacific operations. In the month! peat, our forcee had pushed up from the Solomons, past R-abaul, past Truk, peat the outpoete of the Japanese Empire, and were firmly eetebliehedu on Guam and Saipan in the Marianas, Task Force 58 had gone dauntleeely on .eortiee into territory the Jape had believed would never again be threatened -by Mnrican forces. NESTWARD 'ID THE FLEET AND ACTION Q AUL1' .semen me wmcss-Bums to Trinidad, mm, steaming aingly, me a quick passage through the Canal, and was unexpectedly ordered to Sen Diego for a quick check before heading weetwarde. In Pearl Harbor and in the adja- cent waters, there was more intensive drilling, shooting, bombarding, school- ana genernyavanabmny. 'men on December 18th, with ummm, mx and , ehetheaded for the forward area to join the Fleet. On Christmas Day 'f I-ahipef stopped at Eniwetok long enough to fuel, and-cont:Lnued on to

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fa- wx 1 Max. 1, -I K , 6 og -A pl 7 . me ef . , .,, .4 ,Q 4 ., .. fy, , - ' 'W strategic situation brought the Phiiippines into focus. Leyte had Q A nredg thenext landingwastohenadeazthe Ld.nga,yenGu1f, onl-uson.. famary operations were to support that landing. To that effect, ied on Decenber 30, l9lJ., with Task Force 38 under Vice Admiral lc- . part of Task Group 38.2 under Rear Amiral Hogan. A tes days later, 1 3rd, the first strike against Formosa was made, and the AULT took he carrier operations that were to becane so familiar as to be almost CHINA su f strike was made against Luton, and then cane the exciting passage Iaehi Channel. AULT, with WALDRON, SDERRY and WEEKS, swept the chan- L of the task force. There was no enemy contact, but we were the pe to enter the South China Sea einoe the early days of the war. It d aotiong anything might have happenedg we were ready for it. e follared exciting days - exciting becmse of our proximity to ritory on all sides, and because of the foul weather which hampered f tions' and made refueling difficult and sometimes impossible. Heavy ght some damage to ships and made life uncomfortable , but in the as the ninth to the twentieth of January the force swept the French a coast and made .strikes against the Camranh Bay area, Hong Kong, 2 natal, and the Formosa Straits area. On one day alone, January 12th, s' sank 1.1 shi' wean 127 ooo tons. Tren on me zour Auur . Psa 18 OVW' a 9 1 Q t arcs, out through Balintang Channel. The next day Formosa was the W f m - , atfthe task force also became the target for Jap a:Lr attacks: 'hvo 'Q 4 .?,, Q ' ' -e G--. 'Lf 1 1 , ,3 , destroyer were damaged. Undaunted, the. force struck Okinawa? 5 iv -, Q ,tif . A I Vx , 4 1 tool if at - e n e o Y .AIw, .g X 4 ,. A he ' f ' e , .. h ' . , 1. .aa Ae sn A . V I A? wt, Y ,. 'u ,lf W - . , , ' - , l ,P 1,, ','ff--4' 1, YW, i. 'ff' . . ' . , - 1 L' A' ' mir' ', . 1 . if, err.: e I' megan ' ' 1 -is' eg. .Q f 'i5gq'7,wG'5 l 1, - V 'a ' fl- iLl Af' : 515.3 , .21 s-33 ,- +4 Q' -+ ,Q 5, .Q ' 'A ,d nf . , .f V 'ff' 'Y-i' ',.'- ' V1 I - J? ,e-ifsfl' f 313, Typ. ,V J y Q ' X twin?-. K2 -'-G3 as , jg, 4 ' Q ,, X 45 if A . U F if QP w ,, K 1 wsu -' ow. 1 , f f rf 'L X E 5 x,'w,L? .e if , Mx -H j 1l,j.,igg::2 -z gy kv 1 N ' pm! if J-qu qv YF 3 A g Y t 7. ' - f ,ag ' ,gr fa f U ' of fLi..i,. ?Lh.w:L'f 1, A -.ff-'fwQ3 '4'. fy