Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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3 ci , lVlAPilANAS Sf BONIN -1TiT--in CHU ISE 8 June 6-July 2, 1944 DURING the entire month of May the huge fleet lay in the fleet anchorages at Kwajalein and Majuro. After the thrilling adventures of the past few months, the inactivity was a welcome chance to go ashore for a picnic, swimming, and beer for those who wanted it, But while the ships swung slow' ly at anchor, the strategists were hard at work. We had given the enemy a decisive trimming, expelling him from the Gilberts and Marshalls, supplanting him in New Guinea, lashing him severely in the Carolines and Marianas. The time was ripe to move in closer y 37

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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.

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The Marianas were the sentinels of the Philippine Sea, guarding the Philippines, Ryukyu's, and Japan itself. The Fifth Fleet with which popular, admirable Admiral Spruance intended to snatch. the Marianas was an amazing armada built around 15 carriers of Mitscher's Task Force 58: 58.1 HORNET, YORKTOWN, BELLEAU WOOD, and BATAAN. 5 8.2 BUNKER HILL, WASP, MONTEREY, and OABOT. 58.3 ENTERPRISE, LEXINGTON, PRINCETON, and SAN JAOINTO. 58.4 ESSEX, OOWPENS, and LANGLEY. One of the boldesc strokes of the Pacific war, the scheme meant advancing 1200 miles over a water route, carrying with us our own supplies, materials, and man' power. On june 6, 1944 the great armada weighed anchor in the Marshalls and headed west. Strike 'em when they donlt expect it . That's what we always tried to achieve on our strikes-tactical surprise. We had done well at it in the past. But this time the Taps were waiting. We learned that they sensed something stirring on June 10, two days before the opening crack at Guam. From our own task group commander: U. S. Naval Communication Service THE ENEMY KNOWS WE LEFT MAIURO BUT HAS NOT FOUND US YET X HE IS STILL SEARCHING DILIGENTLY FOR US X KEEP A BRIGHT LOOKOUT FOR SNOOPERS followed by- U.S. Naval Communication Service GUAM HAS BEEN ALERTED X ALL HANDS KEEP SHARP LOOKOUT AND PREPARE HOT LEAD RECEP- TION FOR ENEMY PLANES and- U.S. Naval Communication Service MESSAGE TO ALL HANDS X WE NEED NO SPECIAL INCENTIVE BUT GUAM BELONGS TO US X DELIVER EVERY BOMB AND BULLET WHERE IT WILL DO THE MOST GOOD X DESTROY THE YELLOW BASTARDS X GOD BE WITH YOU AND GOOD LUCK XADMIRAL CLARK On the afternoon of June 11 the BELLEAU WOOD launched its first strike to help clear the Marianas skies Of all Jap planes and knock the airiields staging those QIHIWS- In a dogffight above Guam four enemy planes were shot down. Next day two planes were flamed over Rota LIS we continued the assault to soften up ,lap defenses for the imminent invasion. But it did little good to clear the ,laps over the MariHl135 if they were still free to sweep down from Iwo .lima and the Bonins. Therefore, on the evening of ,IUHC 15 our group moved north to attack these islands. On the 15th, as we struck Haha ,lima and Chit-hi lima, news of fhc landing on Saipan was flashed to the world. SS was-nu.