Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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N W GUINEA TE C HOU E CP1UlS E 7 April 13-May 4, 1944 lT was on April 12, as the BELLEAU WCOD closed out a week's rest in Majuro, that Capt. Pride turned over command of the ship to Capt. John Perry, who came with a Wealth of flying experience in everyf thing from fighters to big boats. Capt. Pride was promoted to Rear Admiral, one of the few 'sinustangsmk to reach flag rank. if A mustang is rm ojjicetr who once was an enlisted man. I C

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On March 15, 1944 the armada sortied from Espiritu planes and damaged five others in addition to strafmg and struck out to the northwest bound for Palau, western barracks, AA batteries, wharves, and storage buildings pivot Of ,lap21I1,S CHIOHHC mechanism- Emoute We paused This attack concluded our successful smash at the at Emirau in the Bismarcks while Yanks-without opposif Western Carolinas. tion-deeupied the place on March 20. Then came Palau. T It was the Admiral sending: 3 A N tl 'N i U. S. Naval Communication Service Q ,QM , WE ARE ENROUTE T0 GIVE PALAU A TREATMENT X my A ' JAPS PROBABLY THINK SOMETHING IS COMING Q T dyaff BUT DONT KNOW WHEN OR WHERE X IT BEHOOVES I 1352, US T0 BE ON OUR TOES X ANY JAP THAT GETS ,U6 'I Q 'li it 1 IN REACH OF YOUR GUNSMAND BOMBS AND I riff - p L- HOPE THERE ARE PLENTY WILL GET THE PRE- T? somsso TREATMENT ' ' .. p .. - iQ.. - They did. On March 30 Mitseher's fury lashed Palau, sinking 31 ships, damaging 18 others, and destroying over ZOO planes. The contribution of BELLEAU WOOD planes to this score was three enemy planes destroyed, two damaged, a medium freighter and a mine layer sunk, one hangar destroyed. We left the base flaming and smoking, conclusive testimony to the power of Task Force 58. BELLEAU WOOD planes celebrated the ship's first birthday on March 31 by destroying a weather station on Ngulu, sinking an AK at Ulithi, and shooting down two Bettys twentyftwo miles from the ship. On April 1 the carriers hit Woleai. Our planes were first to the target where they destroyed seven grounded They say that Air Plot is not very hor. And those who agree include OIC. And then there are some who do not. The some who do not are all in Air Plot. The boys of Air Plot are a wonderful lol. In cases of urgency and extremous emergency They don't say Eh, what? It's just, Wait Out, Fly Control -from Air Plot. Air Plot is a modest lot. They know their stuff a little bit more than somewhat In spite of successes under all sorts of duresses Credit is due where it's got. Who says not? Vsfell, if we had more cooperation around here .... --A. L. Lundin.

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The hop, skip, and a jump technique of seizing inf dividual island bases as springboards for vaulting over intervening Jap holdings to grasp bases further along the Road to Tokyo had worked so far. Worked, that is, as long as those intervening bases were kept suppressed. On April 22 MacArthur's men were slated for a leapf frog hop to Hollandia on New Guinea. To pave the way Task Force 58 departed Majuro on April 13 and ran inf interference, stinging the objective on April 21. With three complete groups of four carriers each, the fast car' rier forcewas the biggest ever assembled: 58.1 HORNET, BELLEAU WOOD, BATAAN, and COWPENS. 58.2 BUNKER HILL, YORKTOWN, MONTEREY, and CABOT. 58.3 ENTERPRISE, LEXINGTON, PRINCETON, and LANGLEY. In the play of carriers, Air Group 24's role the hrst day was flying antifsubmarine and combat air patrols over the task group. But no Jap planes appeared to cause any disturbance. As the Army swept into Hollandia on April 22 we were assigned Sawar airfield and Wakde Island. Since Jap air power in the area had been obliterated the preceding day, the choicest remaining targets were runf ways, hangars, barracks, and gun emplacements-all of which were strafed and bombed. A similar dose was administered Sawar and Sarmi on April 23, the final day of our appearance. By this time the army had a, strong grip on northern New Guinea. Our job there was done. The second raid on Truk was a crushing affair. On their way back from the successful Hollandia operation steamed twice as many carriers as had been in on the previous raid in February. At the crack of dawn on April 29 Mitscher's planes swarmed the tottering Jap bastion. Sixty enemy planes were shot out of the air, 60 more burned on the ground. So completely had Jap air power been erased that on the second day only 1 Jap took to the air-and was swatted down immediately. Not an attack had been made on our ships during this operation, thanks to the boys in that protective umbrella, the Combat Air Patrol, who hovered over us policing the skies for miles around. On this duty BELLEAU WOOD planes shot down two Judys. No warships were seen in Truk's lagoon this visit-only barges and fishing vessels. By evening of April 30 Truk was the kind of naval base where Jap ships feared to go. Its threat had been erased. A backhand swipe at Ponape May 1 on our way back to Kwajalein gave us on the ship a first chance to observe our planes in action over enemy territory. Rear Admiral 'LJocko Clark moved 58.1 in close enough for the battle' ships to do some work. From the flight deck we could see planes riddling the seaplane base and warehouse area. Much of the factual information on operations of the entire task force as a whole during these early cruises has been drawn from Carrier Warn by Lieutenant Oliver Jensen, U.S'.N.R.