Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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2 1 Through the months the same story had been repeated time after time-the story of the Task Force striking into enemy territory ahead of the amphibious forces to clear the way for one invasion after another. With the conquest of each new base the carriers received an anchorage that much nearer Japan. They could then strike that much deeper into enemy waters. The seizure of Iwo Jima and Ukinawa brought us to Japan's front door. Continuous carrier strikes and B429 raids could now be maintained over the homeland. The handwriting of the amphibs was on the wall. Japan was next. For us was the job of clearing the way, keeping sus' tained pressure on the harried Japs, and delivering cripf pling blows where they counted most. . It was on july 9, as we bored in towards Tokyo, that the following transmission came over the TBS: 'sBull Durham, this is Lefty. I have a mine close aboard to port The flag promptly dispatched a destroyer to sank the mine with gunfire It wasnt long until sharp lookouts on another ship spotted a second mine Each time a ship reported a mine the quartermaster on our bridge scratched a chalk mark above the formation data board At sunset there were 13 marks Cpening day this time was July 10 with drives at air' fields on the Tokyo Plain. Strike Baker destroyed seven and damaged ten 'planes parked on Kumagaya field. Strike Charlie ran into a torrent of AA fire along the coast and had to detour south on their way to Irumagawa where they destroyed four and damaged seven aircraft. Strike Easy got five more on Kumagaya in addition to obtaining complete photographic coverage of three fields and the Kasumigaura aircraft plant. Strike Fox skirted the foot' hills of Mt. Fujiyama to reach Kodama Field. The day'S score was 14 and 20, destroyed and damaged, all on the ground. Not a single airborne Nip had been encountered. Withdrawing northeast of Tokyo the following day the formation again sifted through 13 mines. Each was sunk or exploded by cans from the screen. For the three days of July 1345 we plowed through fog off Hokkaido, waiting for the weather to break. The soup was so thick that other ships were frequently ob' scured from view Flight operations were curtailed With prime airfield targets closed in our strikes destroyed two freight trains a roundhouse and warehouses in Shiranuka Village About 'SO sixty foot barges were blown up at Kushiro On the 14th our blttleships moved in off Kam aishi to stretch and exercise their sixteen inchers this waS the first helvy shelling of japin I X 4 - . . . , x . . c , . . V C 3 ' 1 - . . . . . , c 3, Z c - . , . . . H . . , ' C . . e Q D . . Q . f , . , , . c . f 7 C D ' ' r d J - ' X v A . 4 . . 7 p . 8 . ' - x I ' 3 . . E ' 2 , - .g r M , l , , ...,. .... - -........ .W -- . ...... ...ie . .. . A A A . .- - - ' Y

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The E P11115 CRUISE 15 july 1-September 10, 1945 refs Fl-ask Group 38.1 left San Pedro Bay, Leyte Gulf the morning of July lst. Commanded by Rear Admiral T. L. Sprague, it was the largest task group in which we had ever served. At the heart were live carriers: BENNINGf TON, LEXINGTON, HANCOCK, SAN JACINTO, and BELLEAU WOOD, supported by a wall of battle' ships and cruisers: SOUTH DAKOTA, INDIANA, MASSACHUSETTS, ATLANTA, AMSTERDAM, OKLAHOMA CITY, SAN JUAN, TOPEKA, and DAYTON. Around all was a seven mile wide circle of 20 destroyers. With 34 shipsfthis task group alone was larger than an entire task force at the start of the war. The powerful outfit steamed northward from the Philip' pines. Our sights were on Japan.

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trl e Blk r the lkllltlwlll IIIOYIIIIIQ wipe out lveo Tonys eovereel w1th brlnehes neu As llllglkvl ind then blew up ten swrtehlng lOeOIllOf1VL.S Str1ke Chxrhe the same Il1OI'I11I1g ne1rly obl1ter1ted Nemuro tovxn vuth w1ther1nU hre lt warehouses and small f1etor1es By m1d july only a handful of Sh1pS rernamed of the once proud Imper1al Fleet Qnly three or four eould offer a threat to allled supremacy of the seas Une was the blt tlesh1p NAGATC t1ed up at the Yokosuka Naval Base Kure Naval Base many m1les to the westward ln the Inland Sea sheltered the cru1ser AOBA and the hybrrd battlesh1p carr1ers ISE and HYUGA each ve1th an abbre v1ated fhght deck on It s fantall On the 18th of july the BELLEAU WOOD launched a str1ke of elght fighters and n1ne torpedo bombers to part1c1pate w1th other Task Force a1reraft 111 a coordmat ed attack on the NAGATO Photographrc mtelhgenee showed th1s target to be well camouflaged at a Yokosuka dock Smce th1s ent1re area was a hotbed of AA pos1 t1ons the torpedo planes were loaded w1th 2603 frav mentatlon bombs for neutrallzxnff the ant1a1rcraft pOS1 t1ons wh1le the fighters were to bomb the sh1p w1th 1000195 bombs The Beulahs planes went 1n on the th1rd wave By th1s t1me planes were eom1ng 1n from all d1rect1ons and smoke from the explodlnff bombs had completely ob scured the NAGATO Ant1a1rcraft fire as expected was 1ntense and necess1tated v1olent evas1ve tact1cs What w1th dodgmg fr1endly planes duckmg enemy AA and try1ng to bomb through smoke as th1ck as pea soup, the p1lots couldn't be assured of much accuracy nor could they afford to stay around to eheck the results The m1ghty battlewagon d1d not recerve a fatal blow, nor 1n fact as severe damage as was or1g1nally reported Snps rt Kure veexe lnt I week llter Our hrst stu e took off It 0749 on Iuly 74 and jorned the fllght at flLl'i1IIg the ISE As mn the NAQATO 1tt1eks the VT s vxent after the AA emplaeemcnts whlle the fighters bombed the sh1p They reler ed fllell' bnmbs It 2000 feet lfter 1 11 700 foot d1ve 1nd seored three d1rect h1ts one n th boxx one ll111dSll1pb and one on the starboard beam s Vx aterlme When our p1lots lcft the area the ISE w Is surrounded by 1 spreadxnff o1l sl1ek md had 1 sharp l1 t to port For nearly a month we had plowed up and down off Henshu sW'1tt111U the home 1slands from I-lokkaldo to Shrkoku Pr1mar1ly the txrvet were urplanes w1th the except1on of the two punches it anchored fleet un1ts When no planes eould be found the fl ers went after sup port1ng our fae1l1t1es locomot1ves trams 1ndustry sh1p pmfr or any target of opportunlty To our astomshment we had dxseovered an abrupt ehanve of a1r pol1cy on the part of the japs Surpr1s1ngly few plane took the a1r avalnst us The a1rf1elds were spotted w1th planes but many were dumnues surrounded by nests of AA guns Operauonal planes had to be sought out w1th metleulous 1nspect1on Some d1stance from the a1rf1elds 1nd1v1dual planes were hldden 1n tree clumps under bushes between v1llaGe bu1ld1ngs under trees along streams or beneath haystacks 1n the fields Even when heav1ly strafed these grounded planes refused to burn 1nd1cat1nG that they had been dramed of all gasollne W1th plenty of planes why d1dn't they come after the fleet as we coasted unmolested off shore? No gas? No p1lots? Or sav1ng everyth1ng to throw at the land1ng forces wh1ch soon m1ght storm japan 1tself7 ' , f ' , ' - -1 - . - - Ska .Q - I lu f el -1 a 1, if K ee . . N 3 x -- - ,. ,,. . ., ' . , , 3 , ' 1 1 ' ' 3 ' , , 1 1 L an 1 A , ' H Q ' 1 ' Y . A ' ' . Q , Q ' ' N v- w - e e . - V , , , W , , e .. - - 1 1 , L 1 , I 2 3 7 rl 7' 1 H S ' -5 h ' ' sf x- 1 A - ' . , ' ,,, , ' , , D K g L 1 w s . 1, s its u i K ' N 1 T' T I wp 1 Q 3' 1, . I 1 c , L , N D 1 . I 1 1 g ' Q ' If L. I, , T e , n bc ,Q gk s l fs x ' ,, ' - a ,.. . , , . . 1 A ' '. ,I , , , K C L K C D Q , s y k ,s 1 s f N . -. ' e , '-. . l ,' ' at ' , e 1 bas , ,Z , ' - ,-1 . - l 4 K v . A , 1 . , l K Le - .,- . . , .. , , , , D9 - , -. ,' F, N, x - - , - L . D . . , I 5 - . . c C, ' , - , , fe, ' - a - 1 , . a T .T I l T . f 7 ' 1 ' , . a D s f 5 ' , . . . . - N D 1 a f ' a e ' , , 7 D ' I I D 1 , . . a f D , 1 ' a 1 a a Y