Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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kc , liant streaks of darting tracers converging around the plane. When SOO yards away the Betty burst into flames and crashed directly ahead of the ship. With a sharp turn we avoided the floating bits of wreckage. Minutes later a Tony dived at the ESSEX. He dropped a bomb, cried the masthead lookout. But the bomb was a far miss. Pulling out at IOOO feet, the Tony turned our way. Antifaircraft guns chattered. With smoke streaming from his engine, the plane plunged into the water 400 yards off our starboard bow. He was the last to attack. The next day there appeared on the dull gray wing of the bridge three freshlyfpainted red and white Jap flags-- for the guns . Qver Saipan that February 22nd morning the strikes ran into discouraging weather. A three hundred foot ceiling with but few breaks concealed the airfields and installations. Indiscriminate bombing by 'sguessworku wouldn't work eitherg besides being wasteful it would enf danger a mass of civilians--the first sizable civilian settlef ments we had as yet encountered. But the planes did slip through the cloud cover to find fields flush with planes. Why more weren't airborne is a mystery. The blasting that followed destroyed over ZOO enemy aircraft. The Force lost 45. Shortly before ten o'clock the BELLEAU WQQD patrol shot down two Lilys thirty miles from the ship. Cn February 26 the L'Battling Beulah returned to Ivlajuro, concluding the two most exciting and successful weeks in her young life. 4 V3 .yggfggq ef A f ws, pf .V ., 4.' ,iff ff ..... 1 '-5?-45 - 2:1177 ,X , fm I f?Wf'f fn- Z , in X My X ,f'cW 9'1f?w1' few fag? iP ,fy,T fm . ..'15f ,f,Z??..fm,fW.f, , ,,, i 3'

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42514 A-if w .' F. f 0000 ,. Ja W was , Y 94 ind, K O7 :Zh ply X 1 01 'QM-fi X if F- ' WAX f 131, T- fp G.. 1' L U k A ,Q ,Q .:.....'i'1 TQ Lf was .e f mf X f -at - ' f ' , tv U gig Zig Q v 1 0 , -:W 0 ' :IC 0. 'I 1 5 1 L ' I , Pd write a verse on Navy chow but stuff like this llff if - V011 f rhimf 'om' h W Our greatest disappointment was failing to Hnd the enemy fleet which had slipped away before our arrival. Only a few warships remained, and these did not stay afloat very long. The final tally of ships for Task Force 58 included 23 sunk Q2 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, 18 cargo ships and oilersj and 17 other ships damaged. Flushed with victory the fleet boldly strutted up from Truk. Japan's central Paeihc empire was crumbling fast. Truk was no longer a menace. But far to the west stretched the Marianas, a six hundred mile long chain of islands only 15 00 miles from Tokyo, containing the major supply bases of Japanis outer empire. We proposed to crack this solar plexus. We aimed deep. In addition to inflicting the maximum damage to Tinian, Rota, and Guam, we had to test the enemy's strength on Saipan where landings were scheduled in June. Now Saipan was no flat, narrow island' or atoll like all our previous targets-Baker, Tarawa, Wake, Makin, Taroa, Kwajalein, and parts of Truk. After hopping across the Pacific from one coral reef to another we had at last come to a significant land mass of mountains and cultivated slopes. From the air Saipan looks a lot like Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. This probing raid on the Marianas was scheduled for February 22, 1944. After refueling at sea following the highly successful Truk operation we headed straight for the target. This was the deepest we had ever been in enemy waters. It was late in the afternoon of February 21 that a lookout noticed a strange twinfengine bomber far out on the horizon. Our luck had run out at last. After months of catching the enemy off guard we Hnally had been spotted. All night long we fought. our way in. The laps kept up sporadic attacks which cost them fourteen planes and did us no harm. Dawn of VJashington's birthday found our first strike warming up on the flight deck for the inif tial swat at the target when a group of ten Jap planes began a masthead bombing attack. The screening def stroyers and cruisers knocked down some, but a few got through. One headed our way on a waterfskimming run for the starboard quarter. A cruiser opened up with all she had. Soon every ship that could bear joined the ex' plosive chorus and poured a hail of destruction at the enemy fidentified as a Bettyl, but she came on in directly for our bridge. Captain Pride swung the helm over hard to dodge the attack. By the grace of God that flaming plane missed the bridge and skimmed the top of OUT radar screen between the stacks. He had cleared us by 30 feet. The sieveflike appearance of his fuselage and the inferno inside could be plainly seeiieeemaiid felt! The plan? crashed just off our port beam with a tremendous explO' sion in the morning twilight. So close was the burning mass that the faces of those topside were hot from radiatf ing heat. This was our second narrow escape. One half hour later another Betty repeated the AIP' proaeh, this time on the port bow. lt also penetrated tl1C screen and, flying about fifty feet off the water, pressed home the attack. Our port battery opened fire with brilf

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