Bennington (CVA 20) - Naval Cruise Book

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v eu a-slew. V uw,,,N.,X , K N . A . N S . .........w.........,s.c..,....,. 1-.......,,s.-. ..,, ..........,......D,,.-.,... - . .. , .. , . . 9 f -- V- - . . H W- 4' - ----- - ' Within eight days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the 76th Congress authorized construc- tion of the USS BENNINGTON lCV-201. One year later, on December 15, 1942, workers at the New York Naval Shipyard laid the keel. Fourteen months later the ship was ready for launching. By late sum- mer 1944, the new carrier was ready for service, and on August 6 she was commissioned. On January 29, 1945, BENN got underway from Pearl Harbor with four other carriers and a battle cruiser. The force arrived at Ulithi Atoll on February 8, where they became part of Task Group 58.1 part of the already famous Fast Carrier Task Force 58 of the Western Pacific. BENN'S first taste of action came with a raid on Tokyo. Both GQ and flight quarters went early on the morning of February 16, finding BENN the westernmost carrier in the group and only 80 miles off the Japanese coast. The group's aircraft destroyed enemy planes, support factories, shipping and Tokyo- area airfields. February 19 saw BENN'S fliers in beachhead support strikes to help sustain the invasion oflwo Jima. Benn came under a crash-dive attempt in mid- March by an iniured two-engine Japanese Betty . The day's first strike of 16 Corsairs was warming up when the Betty flew in low over the screen. Several ships opened up with their guns, but the Betty was only struck by a cruiser's gunfire, which caused one engine to catch fire. The plane then turned in toward BENN'S starboard quarter in an attempt to slam into the flight deck. All the starboard machine guns which w could train opened up and sent the plane into the water only 200 yards from the ship.

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. . . Later on that month, and early April, BENN earned her two lucky golden horseshoes. The first was accounted for when a lone Japanese plane broke a low cloud cover and dived at her. The plane made a perfect run of the ship at a 300-foot altitude. No bombing! No strafing'! Nothing! lt seemed that either his bomb release failed, or a would-be Kamikaze lost his nerve. The second horseshoe was painted on after an escape from another enemy plane which attacked during recovery operations. The enemy plane ioined the landing circle aft, and was stopped iust short of the fantail by 20mm and 40mm gunfire. One of BENN'S high points during the war years was her part in efforts to sink Japan's last big battle- ship, the Yamato. When the battleship was spotted moving through the Inland Sea in April, BENN launched 27 heavily-armed aircraft, the first wave of about 300 aircraft. After the attack was over, the Yamato was observed dead in the water. She later exploded and sank. BENN'S flight deck was buckled by a typhoon in early June. Despite storm damage, however, she was still able to continue air operations. Eventually, she arrived at San Pedro Bay at Leyte, P.l., for storm damage repair. Japan's defenses were becoming steadily weaker and weaker as Allied pounding pushed them back. Soon, news arrived of the presence of atomic bombs in the U.S. arsenel. The surrender occurred on board the USS MISSOURI on September 2. As the Japanese departed with their orders, 400 B-29s and 1,500 carrier planes, led by BENNINGTON fighters and bombers, was the ' ' d f'nale to World War ll. composition for a fitting gran i