Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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mmm of timcj. tlic xxnii' svuiiiml mighty I.ii' away. R Bgfore turning iwci' tlie IIUUI mi May '27 tu Adiiiiial I it , Q, WilliZ,,11 F, Halsey QC.viiiiii4imIi'i' Tliird ldlcetj, mir Im I mirall Rziyiiiminl A. SIWI'Il.II1Ci', ECUUITIITTJIITLIUI' Fi A Qt, originated tlic llTll'TV.'IITQI LIISIMILCIIZ lI.S. Nanail lfmiiiiiiiiiivalliu Sc' THE OPERATION WHICH WE HAVE BEEN CON DUCTING FOR THE CAPTURE OF OKINAWA HAS BEEN THE LARGEST AND LONGEST ONE SO FAR UNDERTAKEN BY THE FIFTH FLEET X THE FIGHTING BY SHIPS OF THE FLEET HAS BEEN MARKED BY GREAT COURAGE AND DETERNIINATION AND HAS CAUSED US THE HIGHEST NAVAL CASUALTIES OF ANY OPERATION UP TO THIS TINIE X IN PAR- TICULAR THE DESTROYERS AND SIVIALLER TYPE VESSELS WHICH HAVE SO SUCCESSFULLY SCREENED THE TRANSPORTS AND UNLOADING AREAS AROUND OKINAWA FROIVI ENEIVIY AIR AND SUBMARINE ATTACK HAVE SET US EXAIVIPLES OF GREAT HEROISNI IN ACTIONS TOO NUMEROUS TO BE CITED INDIVIDUALLY X OUR AIR FORCE HAS ONCE IVIORE EXHIBITED ITS IVIARKED SUPERIORITY OVER WHAT THE ENEIVIY HAS HAD TO OFFER IT ...L.... Wwgiz :L A , Xe :life Mr XS AS TARGETS X I AIVI PROUD TO HAVE BEEN ASSO- CIATED ONCE NIORE WITH SO FINE A BODY OF FIGHTING NIEN AND I REGRET HAVING TO LEAVE YOU BEFORE OUR JOB IS COIVIPLETED X WELL DONE TO ALL HANDS X SPRUANCE The Fast Carrier Task Force became a unit of the Third Fleet and was designated Task Force 38, eomf manded by Vice Admiral john S. McCain who relieved Vice Admiral Mitseher. Rear Admiral J. Clark ref maimed iri elizirge of our group, new 38.1. 97 ,wif 4 , 0 jri g, . l - .... ..,,, .,.. ,,.. ...,. - ., .,,,. ..- ,,,. .,... - ....,.,.. .,.. V i vW i:Yjg iW I ix?MYT E

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matter of seconds and then you wait, wait, wait again for some more. Well, the sun has set. Night has enveloped us once more. At last, at long last, the -bugler sounds Secure from G. We can go hit the sack now-five or six hours, sleep before getting up again for another day exf actly like today. The succession of launchings and landings through the daylight hours keeps the airdales on the go. For each launch the planes must be parked on the rear of the flight deck to clear the forward space for takefoffs whether they be catapulted or deck run. Before each landing, the planes remaining on the flight deck are moved forward to clear the landing area. This continual shifting of planes is known as urespotting the deck and is a tiring job for plane pushers. Between flight operations there is little time for anything else. A common sight on strike day is that of weary airdales stretched out on the flight deck, grabbing catnaps at every opportunity. Down in snipe country, the enginefrooms where the light of day never penetrates, strike day is like any other day at sea--you have to keep the screws turning whether you're striking, fueling, or just plain cruising. But to most of us outside the fliers, strike days are question marks on the calendar. The planes take off and disappear into the sky. Later they come home to land. Where they go and what they do in the intervening hours-the real offensive work of the carrier-is known only to the fliers themselves and those who receive their reports. ltls a sensation peculiar to carrier life to be so near historyfmaking performances-W-and yet see nothf ing, hear little, and feel so far away from it all. For ex' ample, during the crucial Qkinawa campaign an engineer deep in the engine rooms of the ship remarked approf priately, 'iMight just as well be in the Gulf of Mexico for all I see of the war. That was true for almost every man. Except during those rare moments when the ship was actually under attack fand this was only a small 96 i I 4 I i l l i 4 l 1 l l 1 l i l i l l l 1 I 1 l

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As we fueled on June 4 the weather closed. Several messages had come in warning of a prowling typhoon O11 the loose. In ominous tones the words came over the speaker, All departments secure for heavy weather. Securing for heavy seas meant lashing down every moveable object-from airplanes to ash trays. Men worked into the night-and hoped the lines would hold. In the wee hours of the morning the storm struck. Keeping just enough speed to maintain a course into the wind, the ship pitched violently-the bow soaring high into the air and then plunging viciously downward, crashing the waves with a blasting crack which shot tons of water outward and skyward to be blown as clouds of spray down the flight deck. The violence with which that bow' slapped the water made you wonder how it kept from snapping off. Near daybreak we heard the PITTSf BURGH call the flag, Romeo, this is Barbarian. My bow just carried away and is floating down my port side. Am dropping and will back into the storm. We quit wondering and began praying-that ours wouldn't go too. For stability, the elevators were dropped to lower the center of gravity. Masses of water crashing against the ship fsome of the waves were over fifty feet highj washed two men from the flight deck down the elevator opening into the hangar. Water poured into the air inf takes, flowed through ventilators, and tumbled into com' partments below. This immediately blocked the ventilaf tion system. Nobody could sleep, it was almost imposf sible even to stay in a bunk. Extinction of fresh air supply made the air hot and foul. In some compartments water from four to six inches deep sloshed back and forth with a myriad of floating debris-books, socks, shoes, paper, and pencils. In aerology office Tony DeLuca glanced down at a book floating by entitled Hurricanesf' It had opened itself to the chapter, Typhoons of the Western Pacific. All gun watches and unnecessary watches topside were ordered below to escape the waves. A howling wind of nearly 100 knots spun the propellers of the planes to the flight deck and beheaded the waves, filling the with spray. Visibility dropped to almost zero. Ships be yond the hills of water were obscured from view. The ship was momentarily caught in the trough gf the sea and rolled heavily. A tractor broke loose on the hangar deck and went on a rampage. It cut a swath of destruction through the parked planes, tearing them loose to skid around and crush each other. 1 The few who dared eat breakfast found that the only possible position was sitting on the deck fsetting up benches and tables was actually dangerousj. But even then there was no assurance that you and your breakfast wouldn't go scooting across the deck. By noon the storm had subsided sufficiently for the ships of the task group to refform. To our surprise we discovered a fleet tug, a 'small escort vessel, and a mer' chantman had strayed into our outfit. We recovered from the furious round with the ty' phoon, received replacement aircraft from a CVE in a refueling group, and took one last crack at Kanoya on June 8. So near to the Philippines last Uctober, we still had never caught sight of the land. Stories of the guerillas, our spies, daring visits of U. S. submarines, the bitter fighting on Leyte just a few months earlier, all was fresh in our minds as we steamed past Homonhon Island on june 13 toward the new fleet anchorage in San Pedro Bay. To our nautical eyes which had seen scarcely any land since leaving Pearl Harbor in January, the towering mountains of Leyte loomed twice as high as they really were. On June 16 Air Group 30 departed for home after establishing an impressive record. Succeeding them came Commander B. S. XVeber with Air Group 31 possessing one of the best reputations in the fleet. Pictures at the extreme left and right are of the U.S.S. LANGLEY ' , . i