Bayfield (APA 33) - Naval Cruise Book

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lllll111ll ' - f77N 4 . 1 n 1-6 e if rii i full . X 0 Q. 22 JAN, H962 - 24 JULY l962 i OLSQG 0 Underway Long Bach, Calif. . 22 Jan. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 30 Jan.-l Feb. Joined 7th Fleel' 5Feb. NahafBuckner Bay, Okinawa l5 Feb.-l7 Feb. lwakuni, Japan l9 Feb. 2l Feb.-6 Mar. 9Mar.-l4 Mar. Yokosuka, Japan Buckner Bay, Okinawa Subic Bay, AP. l. l8 Mar.-20 Mar. Tobones' P. l. 20 Mar.-21 Mar. Rehearsal Area, P. l. 22 Mar. 1 Red Beach, Mindoro, P. l. 26 Mar.-l April' Subic Bay, P. I. 2April Buckner Bay, Okinawa Hong Kong, B. C. C. Subic Bay, P. I. 5 April-20 April 23 April-28 April 30 April Buckner Bay, Okinawa 3 May-5 May Numazu, Japan 8May Yokosuka, Japan 9 May-13 May Numazu, Japan I3 May-l5 May Buckner Bay, Okinawa 18 May-24 May Sasebo, Japan 25 May-4 June Yokosuka,Japah 6 June-14 June Kobe, Japan l7 June-20 June Buckner Bay, Okinawa 23 June Numazu, Japan 27June Yokosuka, Japan 28 June Enroufe USA ..,., Ay? , fine BAYFI va '33 1,1 'O A ' 11,11 'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII :Ill

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As -the Utah Flag Ship, BAYFIELD was the nerve center of that historical assault and in addition provided the boats and specially trained coxswains needed to land the troops and cargo which she carried within her hull. Before the Normandy Assault which launched General Eisenhowers drive to crush the Nazis, BAYFIELD trained extensively on the beaches of Northern England. The planning and preparation for the landing, some of which dated back to 1942, made possible the American success, for the invasion took place in the heaviest storm to sweep the English Channel since 1924. Lowering the boats from the ship and maneuvering in the heavy surf taxed every crew member's training and set a precedent for the Amphibious Force. ' From the waters of the English Channel BAYFIELD, then enjoying the nickname of the Mighty B , steamed south into the Mediterranean to take, part in the Invasion of Southern France. With a valuable experienced crew BAYFIELD was then ordered from the Mediterranean to the Pacific where Amphibious warfare was then the primary concern. Here in the last year of the war she took part in the assaults at lwo Jima and 0kinawa,,a war record of which BAYFIELD shall always be proud. V-J Day set BAYFIELD to work carrying out operation Magic Carpet bringing war-weary American Soldiers and Marines back to United States, Her first peace- time mission and 'a most happy one. 4 ln the fall of 1949 during the turbulant Chinese Civil War BAYFIELD, carrying units of the United States 9th Marines, steamed the Chinese Coast ready to evacuate American Nationals or to intervene if directed. As the fighting ceased BAYFIELD anchored in Shanghai to negotiate with the Communist for an American Naval Base at Shanghai. As part of the terms for the talk BAYFlELD'S decks were taken over by Communist sentries and for three days the crew virtually lived as captives of the Communist Chinese. With the failure of the negotiations BAYFIELD steamed from Shanghai, the last American ship to see that harbor. 4 With the outbreak of the hostilities in Korea in the spring of 1950 BAYFIELD, then in the Atlantic, was transferred to Pacific waters and participated in the Amphibious Operations at lnchon, Chinnampo and Wonsan. She also took part in the re-deployment of troops from the beaches of Hungnam to Pusan. During the Communist push in Indo-China in September of 1954 the ship steamed over 7000 miles transporting approximately 6000 lndo-Chinese refugees from the North Coast at Haiphong to Saigon in the South. For BAYFlELD'S part in this operation Passage to Freedom 'T the ship received national attention in a 1955 Readers Digest article entitled They'll remember the Bayfield . Working at capacity BAYFIELD can carry 1400 troops and 13,000 tons of cargo, all capable of being off loaded in the heattof an Amphibious'Assq,u'lt in q matter of hours by the highly trained team which makes up the BAYFlELD -crew. 21 boats constitute the Boat Group which storm the beaches with troops and cargo. All told BAYFIELD has steamed the equivalent of 17 tripsaround the world in her 19 years of Naval service. A - ,