Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 45 text:

J It was sloppy, rainy weather, like the tail end of a typhoon as we hammered the Bonins. A heavy swell made flight operations extremely hazardous. The pitching, roll' ing sea lifted the flight deck violently up and down-the ship quivered in its effort to right itself. One of the most serious accidents ever experienced by this ship in flight operations occurred during the late evening of June 15. A landing fighter crashed through the barriers into the island structure and burst into flames. For 23 minutes the flames crackled and roared before being brought under control. For months the enemy had refused to uncover the Imperial Fleet for a showdown fight. Where's the Jap fleet? had been asked time after time as we powered our way across the Pacific on the Road to Tokyo. In February we thought we had it cornered at Truk. Now at last Task Force 58's brazen, taunting thrusts at the Marianas and Bonins, just 700 miles from Tokyo, had pried the lid off this evasive opponent. Large Japanese force moving up from East Indies came one report shortly before the Marines swarmed Saipan. On the 17th a second Jap force-carriers, battle' ships, cruisers, and destroyers was sighted east of the Philippines. They were coming out. Like two jaws of a giant vise the Jap carrier planes from the west and land based planes from Guam, Tinian, and Rota began closing in on our fleet. June 19, 19,44 brought forth the greatest aerial battle of the war as the Japanese threw a combined NavyfArmy haymaker at Task Force 5 8. The challenge was eagerly accepted. At 1000 the enemy raids began. Scramble all fighters came the order from the flagwk and planes started .roaring off flight decks. 'K The Flag is the admiral in charge of a group of ships. 39 .gf,..-1 fi - ., ,.. 'L I 2- . ' . ' WZ '-' -, , ' '- ily. tag -9 .Q .Ay ,Bfmm l 4 L'?44, fr l f 3 'f 5- nuff if g 46K f' ,?Q51i -. ll K Ark ? 0 Soi? ...gl L, 1 AV ia fa ff! q D ,uf , X N 2 . f I -if J gi J :EW . T sf f ff - f 7. ll 34 , I 5 '3 - ,qf i l if ,a..' ' A - ' is snows S Q iz. ii' fi 1. if U - 2 J 1 a -fag ' 1, 1 1 S 4,i ,avg .V eggglgpigvgg . XL! QQ Mml T52 1 1 jnrf: 1 LE X Nf fe . 6 f ax , I. 1'g1zi ,fQE3QSS? ribs? gf 95 f-LQ sy S I? XP? as is kv x Q W X ffm?- K ' iii: N A cv ' 1 I? ff. ,I W fTN X I I ' 1 ,Fa l , W as 1 ' BY' V p as .noe muwmoai ' A F551 V i V Av- 'TQ' ' ' 'vi' ' ' Y bt V -wr6lI Z.3rA-1:,r.l'H inflhxinc union' an 1. 4 'L

Page 44 text:

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.

Page 46 text:

All day long our planes were launched, winged out to battle, and fefumed to be rearmed andurefueled. Meanwhile the ship, at General QUMYCYS, 1155611691 to radar plot:'l' A large group of bogeys at , 15 21 Another large' group at 100 miles, being intercepted. 'Tallyho on Raid 4191. Seven planes splashed so far. V Raid Three has closed to 50 miles. Never before had the radar scopes been so white with bogies. With excitef ment and pride mirrored in their faces, the pilots returned from their patrols, two fingers held aloft, then three, all adding up to the destruction of the Jap Air Force. In a morning spree over Orote Field, Guam, twelve BELLEAU WOOD nghters led by Lt. Oveland and Lt. Thelen were hopped by 20 Zekes. They shot down ten and three more probables without losing a single plane. During the morning and afternoon there were fourteen Jap raids on the Task Group. Every one was intercepted and broken up. You've got to hand it to those uflyffly boys . They beat off every Jap punch, they spared the ships a vicious attack. By nightfall the enemy air force had ceased its activities, so badly damaged it no longer could form striking groups. Task Force 58 immediately whipped west, seeking to contact the surface force, the carriers which had launched those planes we had just clipped. A11 night long and throughout the entire morning of June 20th we raced at flank speed. At dawn, scout planes were launched to locate the fleeing Japs, a timefconsuming process because of easterly winds which necessitated our reversing course to steam into the wind for launching. Then at 1530 the enemy was reported at Latitude 15 0 35' N, Longitude 1340 35' E-300 miles away and running for cover. They were at a maximum range. Risk our planes so late in the day? It would mean night landings! A hard decision to make. Then over the squawk boxes in the ready rooms came the order from-Air Plot: Pilots, man your planes on the double . Mitscher said, 'LAttack. Our share in this venture included four torpedo planes with a fighter escort. They were launched at 1621 with only a few hours of daylight remaining. We sat back soberly, realizing the odds against them-maximum range, the easterly winds, sunset approaching. The moment was tense. Un board the ship we could just sit and wait, while our hearts and hopes flew in those planes winging west' ward to the foe. The historic First Battle of the Philippine Sea has already been immortalized in such books as Mission Beyond Darkness . It is common knowledge how Task Force 58 planes took off in the late afternoon to smash the fleeing Jap and return to the fleet on exhausted fuel supplies either to make dangerous night landings or crash land in the sea. Gur strike arrived over the target at 185 5. While the torpedo planes dropped down to release their ish , the six fighters remained at 15,000 feet as a prof 2500 d' t nce 85 miles, circling. :Radar Plot-the room where radar scopes indicate the location of enemy and friendly aiwraft