Bataan (CVL 29) - Naval Cruise Book

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in tlir Ko- Var for 1952. An F4U crashed oxer tlic side as it tried to hmd. Speed and efficiency were displayed as the crew of heHcopter Southern Com- fort rescued the pilot in less than four minutes. On 9 May another plane crashed into the bar- riers, tearine, the engine off when the prop stuck in the flight deck. BAT. AN felt the pain, but she made no outcry or protest. She was too concerned with her job and the pilot, who suf- fered a slight brain concus- sion. Al dchiiclinij a pilot tells (he inltno a- tion sergeant just where his flight caught the Reds. BATAAN continued her operations until 1 1 May when she returned to Sasebo, the City by the Sea, after 1 1 days on the line. In that short time she outdid herself by launching 419 sorties against the enemy. BATAAN was a part of Task Element 95.11 and her job was an important one. She assisted in enforcing the United Nations Blockade and in the defense of friendly islands off the West Coast of Korea. She sent her planes out to spot for control of naval gunfire. The planes did a little firing of their own against vital enemy targets. VMA- 312 Corsairs zoomed in close, exposed to Red gunfire, protecting our ground forces. Enemy shipping was crippled. Mines were destroyed. Combat Air Patrols were con- ducted with friendly naval forces operating off the Korean coast. During this period. Captain Barbanes was shot down near Sukch ' on, Korea, while on armed reconnaissance. His wingmates protected him from Red ground troops by strafing. They directed an . ir Force helicopter to the scene. Captain Barbanes was rescued undrr heavy fire, hut was returned to the ship unharmed. Also during this period, a rocket ex- ploded on BATAAN ' S flight deck. A wound three feet wide gaped menacingly in the flight deck. Three of her men were injured, l)ut no fatalities. On the 28th of May, BATAAN made her w ay back to Yoko- suka for repair of dam- age done by the rocket explosion. She arrived gratefully to nurse her wounds until the 5th of Captain Horney congratulates Captain Kapowich on his one hundredth mission.

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Back in Yokosuka, BATAAN said good- bye to her friends, VS-25, on 12 April. Her anti-submarine training was ended. Now she was about to begin, for the second time within a year, another campaign in Korean waters. The morning of 14 April 1952 BATAAN was saddened by the departure of a man she had come to know and respect — Captain William Miller. A change of command ceremony took place on the flight deck, where Captain Miller gave his farewell speech. Captain Miller then introduced the new skipper. Captain H. R. Homey. April 19 B. TAAN stretched her sea legs again and churned on toward Kobe, the first leg of her journey to the West Coast of Korea. She arrived there on the 20th, and embarked the famous Marine Checkerboard Squadron VMA-312. On the 23rd BATAAN again played host to Commander Carrier Dixision 15, as Admiral Cornwell held an administratixe inspection. BATAAN felt proud as she was gixen an overall mark of excellent. On the 24th day of April, 1952, BATAAN made history. As she sailed from Kobe to- ward Sasebo, she took a new route and became the first man-o ' -war since before World War H to sail from Kobe to Sasebo by way of the Straits of the Inland Sea. These treacher- ous straits arc situated between the Japanese Islands of Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. BATAAN sweated for thirty hours, as her new skipper. Captain H. R. Horney, and her navigator, Lcdr. T. R. Wheaton, and a fireman named Matsumi Nakao, a Japanese-American boy acting as interpreter between the Captain and the Japanese pilot, stood on the bridge continually to guide her through. Several things make this channel especially dangerous. For one thing BATAAN is 600 feet long, 71 feet wide, displacing 25 feet of water. To this must be added the numerous shallows and islands dotting the straits. Many mines, left over from W orld W ' ar II, are also another hazard that had to be avoided. Nothing unusual was encountered throughout the trip, however, and BATAAN eased into Sasebo at 1600 on the next day, with three very tired people still standing on the bridge. After preliminary warm-up flights to cjualify ten new pilots, BATAAN turned her bow into the chilly waters of the Yellow Sea. On the cold dawn of 30 April 1952, she sent her first flight of Corsairs toward the enemy. The next day BATAAN had her first casualty

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r The LSO signals ease starboard a bit. June, when she got undenvay once more for the operating area. On the 9th of June, Captain Kraus, USMC, was shot down over enemy territory and suffered bums about the face. He was picked up by helicopter. BATAAN was getting tired for she had worked hard. Her crew had worked endless hours. The Yellow Sea had be- come a familiar part of her travels and she knew the route by heart. Sasebo to Korea. Korea to Sasebo. But she never complained. On the 16th of June she had a chance to rest some more in Sasebo. BATAAN completed her third 1952 tour against Communism on the 3rd of July. Sasebo awaited. She ar- rived there on the 4th of July and moored to Buoy 18, Sasebo Harbor. She took on necessary provisions and on the 12th she again headed for the Yellow Sea for the fourth tour on the line. On the 13th she launched her first flight on this, the final trip. The next day BATAAN lost a plane at sea. Captain Dick, pilot of a wounded Corsair, was making his final aproach when the plane flipped over on its back and crashed into the sea. He was immediately picked up by helicopter. Other than a broken collar bone, he was uninjured. The 15th of July proved to be a bad day for BATAAN, and her squadron. She lost her first pilot of the 1952 cruise in Korean waters. Captain Guy A. McLaury crashed and was killed after take-off from a desolate airfield in Korea known as K-6. He had been forced down by enemy fire. But the war had almost ended for BATAAN, temporarily at least. On the 21st she sent her last flight against the enemy, completing a mission that earned her and her squadron VMA-312 the respect and admiration of all. She felt a kind of sadness as she launched her planes from the flight deck to send them to Inchon where they would be land based for a time. The next day she followed them in, anchoring at Inchon Harbor. There she debarked the rest of the squad- ron — the boys with the funny brown caps and the green jump- ers; with grease smeared on their faces; the boys who w atched the skies with hope when the planes were out; the boys who grew ner- vous and smoked many cigarettes when One (il ilii (),,aMcin:il ' ( .odlish aircraft gets the laiirK li signal. These planes hrmighl IIATAAN vital parts and iiinip- nient, allowing htr to maintain her tight fligh schedule.