Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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HYLIIHU and UHIN WA lfllll ISE I3 March 14-April 30, 1945 HERE were several reasons why Okinawa should be the next objective of our amphibious forces. By this time we had knocked the props from under the japs in the Marianas, Palau, and Iwo and had delivered a reeling blow to the Philippines. Two sides of and the air above the entire Philippine Sea belonged to us. We needed a third side to box in japan. By snatching Qkif nawa we could control this side. Prom bases in Qkinawa the Bf29's would have only half as far to go as from Saipan and Guam. Patrols could cover the Yellow Sea and much of China. Ckinawa was a must . In midfMarch Task Force 58 set out to pry off the lid and clear the way for the invasion which was coming in early April. Little did we realize as we steamed out from sunny Ulithi on March 14 that we were on the threshold of the most strenuous period of this ship's entire life. The seven weeks which followed added up to the longest cruise the ship had spent at sea and were highlighted by seven significant events: 1. The hectic action off Kyushu 2. The BettyfBaka skirmish 3. Discovery and annihilation of a convoy 4. Invasion of Qkinawa 5. Kamikaze attack 6. Turkey shoot 7. Attack on the Yamato task force

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. 5532.1 CLEAR Tl-IE RMI- . I 'i 'I gi' x sa- -, I ,L n j! VE'- fw 'L 2 , N , gm ,s ,, fn, ,J flirt .I M, lf' it ,f Il I' ' ff A I. ,, A dk 'K if , X ' . af f ' ' Q Z ,fad Al x If li I5 bi nhl' 1- - R I Q 'i ' 'K my each hand, signalled the first plane to unlock his wings. A dozen plane handlers leaped to push those wings for' ward into flying position. To the signals of glowing, wavf ing wands, plane after plane spread its wings and taxied up that carpet of night to the catapult. The ships turned into the wind. Airdales on the flight deck instinctively leaned far forward into the breeze to maintain balance, their loudly flapping clothes wrapped violently around them by the draft and propeller slip streams. Dodging around a crowded flight deck in the twilight amid roaring propellers and trying to keep out of the way of prop blasts requires a nimble JackfbefQuick. At 0643, long before sunrise, Hellcats and Avengers roared off our deck, orbited, joined up with other carrier planes, and turned toward Japan. We caught the Nips by complete surprise and kept pounding the airflelds of the Tokyo Plain for the next two days. It is a matter of record however that unpleasant weather conditions-especially the rain and fog-which hid the ships from discovery also hampered the offensive of our own air groups. As the Yanks stormed ashore at Iwo Jima on February 20, the Task Force took position near the Bonin Islands, commencing a series of neutralizing raids against Chichi Jima and Haha Jima, knocking them out as staging areas for Jap raids at Iwo. It was in this area that the SARATOGA was severely damaged by a swarm of Kamikazes. The unpredictable Japs, after letting us cruise unmolested so close to their homeland shores a week earlier, came way down to Iwo to sock the SARA. After a second weatherffrustrated swing at Tokyo and Nagoya, we swatted the Nansei Shoto on March 1. Six VT's attacked shipping in Sakishima Gunto, between Okinawa and Formosa. Ens. Relyea and his two crewf men, Gruett and Cherry, crashed immediately after a bombing run. Lt. Reisert was critically wounded and his plane badly damaged by AA fire after making a direct hit on a destroyer, he flew for an hour and a half to the position of a rescue submarine where he ordered his two crewmen to parachute. Both were rescued, but Lt. Reisert after his heroic performance could not be revived when picked up by the submarine. Three days later our big hook dropped into the waters of Ulithi where for 10 days Mog Mog Island was liberty grounds for the Fifth Fleet. We had delivered the first Navy blow at Japan. We had ubroken ice on the homeland. 80 W .- .,. .. . .... .. ,... -ar ........ .

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We headed straight for Kyushu, the nearest to Okinawa of the major Jap islands, the home of innumerable air' fields, and the solar plexus of Japan's air force. This was the hornet's nest. For us was the job of blasting these Helds and destroying planes, paralyzing Nippon's air power. We were after planes, airborne or on the ground. Of secondary importance were field installations, repair facilities, transportation and industrial targets. The planes came first! Q15 Action off Kyushu, March 18 - 21 Shortly after midnight on March 18 enemy fliers dis' covered us. No surprise this time. The first bogey fthe first of ten single plane raidsj was picked up at 0144. Section one in CIC with Hghter director officers Jack Colter and Frank Sloan on watch vectored out night fighters from the ENTERPRISE to intercept. Splash one bogey several miles from the ship. When at 0400 a number of bogies closed the formation, the ship went to General Quarters. Up to this time enemy air attacks had been heard about but not seen by half the crew, their introduction was coming up. Platoon Sgt. Russel F. Greenleaf dashed out to his gun station on the forecastle quad 40MM mount to find the sky ablaze with clusters of flares which seemed to hang in midfair. Every ship, particularly the carriers BENNINCTCN, HCRNET, and WASP, was a perfect silhouette. At high speed the formation swung into emergency maneuvers turning sharply, churning the water furiously to confuse the enemy's attack. From CIC a continuous stream of reports flowed to the bridge, keeping the skipper posted on number, range, and bearing of the incoming raiders: Bogey at six o'clock, seven miles. Alert to the north The squawk boxes broke the eerie silence with com mands from the flag Flan speed execute now Turn Right i Turn Left. Raid Six is getting close-Nanyone with a good solu tion, let him have it. --- Suddenly off our port bow the destroyers and cruisers opened fire. Five inch bursts and forty millimeter tracers crissfcrossed in the flareflight, lighting off a brilliant, flam, ing, orange comet which streaked down into the ocean, Then all was quiet. The lazy flares gradually inched their way down, down, down, to be snuffed out in the inky sea, The darkness deepened. An hour passed. Then a roar split the night over our bow and a huge dark object fthe Marines said it was a Bettyj zoomed overhead. At the same time ships off our starboard quarf ter were opening up on still another Jap which went down in billowing flames astern All was quiet again. Another hour passed. Maybe we would be free for breakfast. But radar scopes began to blink, there were bogies in the air. It wasn't long until the ships astern opened fire. A plane was overhead. With one engine ablaze, this Jap looked like a fast moving flare which made him visible to everybody in the formation. He headed for us and was met by our forties. Veering off, he crashed in aball of flame amid a cone of ire from every vessel that could bear. At 0545 as the shrouds of night fell away, our own planes took off to join hundreds of other carrier planes rendezvousing outside the formation. For hours we had been on the defensive, beating off desperate blows in the night. Now for the offensive. The dawn patrol shot down two Zekes and an EIDHY- The 8 o'clock strike ripped Inujo airfield. The 11 o'cl0Ck Strike sank a 10 000 ton freighter in Kagashima Bay H W up five planes at Ibusuki Now the nerve center' Japan S H11 Organ1SID in both Kyushu and the whole Philippine sea arei was an expansive advanced deve P nt Ht K9-HOY21 T116 high commind ranking staff me 5 the Planlwrs the he irt of thc military commun1C , nd L6 , , C - ble ' of U Z xx I l . Y E C L L Y. c I 9 , fi Q f me , . ' . ' m' c 4 - r 1 I 9 s. . be 1- , , K 2 Y . . ' an 82 ..L'! v iz. . .. rs. 1-W. AIKQ, X mx x t 1 M t I 'Jug M A-',4 gb:-,NA A I l,l--, . gm V Q ILAF V Q .ng-AWTQTAI V V W, .. A V , .. I V L, r. g s I