Baltimore (CA 68) - Naval Cruise Book

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A . , ,nc i f F ., -- A , .1--,nA,:.,,f Q , ' '- QF' -It '5 5 fi2?f l:- we F ,f l -2 nl.. .,.,, .,..,, . .,,.,,,, . .. ,, rier planes pounded Wotje, Maloelap, and Eniwetok, and the Baltimore added its fire power to covert the first landings on Kwajalein. I ' , OPERATING DAY AND NIGHT on a devil-take hindmost policy, the Baltimore with its heavy siege guns cocked for action, supported a carrier strike at TRUK on February 16, and 17, 1944. For this action Captain Calhoun was awarded the Commendation ribbon for gallantryand high professional ex- cellence during the operation. The ship's scout pi1ot,,Lt. Baxter, was awarded the distinguished flying cross, and his crew-man R. F. Hickman, ACRM, the Air Medal, for their heroic rescue ofa . 'V a downed fighter pilot CLt. G. M. Blair off the ESSEXD from under the Iap guns of nearby Dublentlsland in the Truk Atoll. RANGING further west and into the inner circle of the lap- anese defenses, The Big B steamed alongside as planes from carrier Task Groups 58.2 and 58.3 sent their first bombs spiral- ing down on Saipan, Tinian, Palau, and Yap. During the Palau engagement a surface battle appeared to be in the making, but heavy units of the Nip fleet fled to the West instead of risking a battle with the onrushing m-ight of the Task Force. As General MacArthur's leap-frog tactics branched out along, the New Guinea Coast, the Baltimore stood by as part of the strong sup- porting carrier Task Group 58.2, as United States and Australian troops hopped ashore at Hollandia. From there she steamed north and westward again covering the strikes on Saipan and Guam, until the long hoarded remnants of the desperate lap fleet finally struck back in its bitter, frustrating fight-The First Battle of the Philippines. There the Big B's anti-aircraft guns spoke death, and her totalof Iap planes mounted towards its final score of twelve, as Hellcats, and Corsairs swarmed from accompanying carriers to destroy nearly 600 .Nip planes 'in the air and on the ground. ' THE Baltimore was just feeling its' oats in its buccaneering career, when top secret orders from Washington were radioed to Captain Calhoun to leave Task Force 58, and turn the Balti- more full-speed toward San Diego for a special assignment with the late President Roosevelt. On Iuly 22, 1944, the presidential party was piped aboard, and with the late President stuffing a cigaret in his ivory holder and leaning back in his big deck chair, the Baltimore cast off its lines to get under way. As the Baltimore steamed toward Pearl Harbor, with her bow plowing a statesman-like furrow through the Pacific waters, the ship's crew toyfully, and thoughtfully edged each other with scuttle- butt 'and questions, speculating the reason for the trip. To the crew, the trip with generals and admirals aboard in profusion, seemed to have a dash of everything, intrigue, glamor, -mystery, fabulous plannings, and the irresistible atmosphere ,of important peopledoing important things. This was they Pre'sident's con- ference with Admiral Nimitz and General MacArthur to plan and pave the way for the invasion of the -Philippines. ' AFTER this historic, trip, Captain Calhoun turned the reins of the Baltimore over to Captain C. K. Fink, and Comdr. R. V. Hull came aboard as the next executive officer, as the hulking form ofthe Baltimore turned again to the Pacific war. Back in the midst of the battle again, the Baltimore ranged up and down the China Coast, as the might of Task Force 38, raked ports Camranh Bay Hong Kong For Big 'B' was off Iapan with Task ships to their home ports while' turning to Lingayen gulf. Thencame on Tokyo, and the death-stenched mvasions Okinawa. These were the sandbag blows in wa h was -just one of the many symbols of I masters over the 35,000,000 squareamiles of the end of the war, the mighty 15,800-ton cruiser many Pacific engagements, but still. enemy action, a great tribute to its Captains - NOT even the mounting fury of 'two could dent the hulking hull of the -mighty p A did claim the ship's only casualty when a sea an over-board. She was standing byfwhen three turtle and sank, and when the Pittsburgh sprung ward seams to lose its bow under the ,savage pounding Waves. ' y r , THE BALTIMORE'S present skipper is CaptainuCg USN, a broad-shouldered, medium-sized man, who new command on August 11. Captain O1sen's reveals and hints of his former duties as senior a Naval Mission to Moscow: but to his .officers and- best known for his good-nature, and his meeting them. To them, his handling of the assuring as Thanksgiving, as shrewd-as a smalltown ' NOW, tonight as the sun sinks off our -our Q and a few of its crew gaze pensively to sea, the Baltimore through the ,calm Pacific 'waters' toward Pearl Harbor. moment her job is shuttling troops on the Hawaii to San cisco Runf', emancipating the 'fslaves of war who have so earned their discharges. A I . I IN a parting way, the Baltimore is like a horse whose w and lap shipping with annihilating gunfireain , , mosa, f D I inc m was run and won. The Big--7'B is now, galloping in the pastures, awaiting word from the nation, that .she as to what her postwar role will be. For this role, may be, training has already begun. Of her war time cre 400 have the necessary points for discharge. Half are- tasting the sweetness of home life after 29 monthslof war at sea. The others will ,soon follow, while the less, D ones stay to carry on. That's' the Baltimore's story! Q A After two and a half months of shuttling between Hawaii and the West Coast, the Baltimore 'was .given three weeks, of leisure in Los Angeles Harbor. On Navy Day,-thousands of vis- itors swarmed aboard lfor a closer look at the rnighty 'Bf'. ,On November 10, she headed for Tokyo for a brief .tour of 'occupa- tion duty. During the following three months,' Tokyo, Kure, Wakayama Matsu ama, Sasebo and Na asaki we vrsi 0 a . y g , re' ' ted. During the two months- at Kure, opportunity. was given for all hands to visit Hiroshima, the place where the first atomic bomb. was dropped. In Kure Harbor, her men saw the sorry .emfmtt of the Iapanese fleet andwhat the powerful Task Force 38 could do. On February 18, 1946, the BALTIMORE left Jqpqnesetwatgrs and headed for San Francisco, arriving on the morning of March 3.19461 1 1 r P r pff

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taw IIQLIJVWUIFQ Sf ' I Now At Wars End The Story Of The Heavy Cruiser U.S.S. .Baltimore Can Be Told! LIKE other battle seasoned and scarred heavy cruisers. the USS Baltimore has lived a full war life, -sampled its first battle with a bombardment of Makin island, stormed through the Gil- bert, Marshall, and Marianas campaigns, leveled the synchron- ized fury of its nine protruding eight-inch rifles on Satawan is- land in the Caroline group: but unlike many less fortunate cruis- ers, the Baltimore had run the gamut unscathed. 1 SOME of her actions and deeds-like carrying the late Pres- ident Roosevelt to his historic triurnvirate at Pearl Harbor with five-star Admiral Nimitz and General MacArthur-were tagged as top secret , thus remained untold 'til war's end. But prob- ably the main reason for her silent satirically and smothered blackout was that in doing a thorough workmanlike job for over two years, the Baltimore's skippers CCaptains Calhoun and Finkj, officers, and crew had clearly defied, coldly thwarted, and precisely out maneuvered every Nip attempt to register a single hit on its six hundred and seventy feet of armored deck and superstructure. NOT ONCE DID SHE WEAR A HURT, MAR- TYRED LOOK. OR LIMP INTO THENEWS AS A BATTLE CAS- UALTY-NOT A MAN DID SHE LOSE THROUGH ENEMY ACTION. BUT THE BALTIMORE WAS ALWAYS THERE, AS HER CREW SO LOUDLY AND PROUDLY ECHOES: They don't wear service stars for nothin'l THE names of the now. storic sea battles and engagements -Luzon and Mindoro in the hilippines, Iwo lima, Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan, Truk, Okina a, Formosa, strikes at the China Coast and Iapan proper, are 'ke vast orchastrations of pages from the' Baltimore's war diary, or just the passing life of this great ship and its fighting crew. ' BUT what most of her 1,500 man-crew likes, and are proud of: The Baltimore is big enough to feel self-respecting about her part in the war. yet always has remained small enough to be intimate. Full dress inspections have never been conspicuous in her routine, for the Big B was born of this war, and grew of age under battle conditions. HER war record is a curiously, interesting document. The Baltimore came into being as a part of the nation's answer for a two ocean Navy. That fateful December day in '41, when the laps struck at Pearl Harbor, found her little more than a fast growing shell on the ways at the Bethlehem Steel yards at Quincy, Mass., and it was not until a very chilly spring day in April of '43 that she received her war time commission in the South Boston Navy yard and Captain Walter C. Calhoun was handed its command: Commander Frank Monroe was named its executive officer. Aboard her now, shining, stainless hull came a crew of officers and men, most of whom had never beento sea-some that had never seen the ocean. To them the shake down cruise in the West Indies was the business of learning to be sailors the hard way. In those sub infested waters, the officers and men of the Baltimore learned the hot.. exhausting, and monotonous meaning of morning and evening general quarters, day anti-aircraft practices, night spotting practices, launching and recovering aircraft, fueling at sea and everything that goes to make a crew seasoned, though, hardened, and inu.red to the discomforts of war, and the ship. a fighting unit of the fleet. AFTER the usual short shake-down and training period al- lowed a new ship in time of war, the Baltimore started its screws churning down the Eastern Atlantic seaboard, swooshed through the Panama Canal, swung crisply around to the West Coast and the Pacific war. It was there that she was finally readied to taste battle and her course charted for her first major engagement. Operating directly under Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, the Baltimore took part in the bombardment on November 20, 1943, that rocked little Makin island from bow to stern. paving the way for the famed 27th infantry division to dash ashore and seizethat important island. AFTER this first show of strength, the Baltimore was teamed up with carrier Task Group 50.1, and on December 4, 1943, helped shepherd our carriers into striking distance of the Mar- shall islands, where their planes rained death and destruction on Iap airfields and shore installations on Kwajalein. Two months later, she was back again with carrier Task Force 58.4, as ,car-

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