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Page 9 text:
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n the late spring of 1942 the Imperial forces of the Japanese Empire had expanded across the Pacific until all that stood between them and an invasion of the Hawaiian Islands was the small coral atoll of Midway. The Japanese Navy headed toward Midway Is- land in May 1942 with expectations of a rapid oc- cupation. Meanwhile, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet, massed his ships in an effort to stop the Japanese advance. The Battle of Midway began on 3 June when the enemy was first sighted by a Navy PBY Catalina some 500 miles southwest of Midway. In the ensuing action, aircraft from the carriers HORNET, ENTERPRISE and YORKTOWN carried out successful attacks on the approaching enemy fleet. Planes from the YORKTOWN and ENTERPRISE scored hits on the Japanese carriers SORYU, AKA- GI and KAGA. When attacked, the AKAGI had 40 planes on board and the KAGA 30, the latter sunk in the afternoon and the SORYU was torpedoed and sunk by the American submarine NAUTILUS. The YORKTOWN was severely damaged by planes from the Japanese carrier HIRYU and was forced to withdraw from the battle. During the afternoon of the 4th, aircraft from the ENTERPRISE and the HORNET located the HIRYU and attacked. Damage incurred in this battle by both the AKAGI and HIRYU was so great that both carriers were scuttled by their crews. As a result of the loss of all four carriers of the Jap- anese striking force and a serious collision between heavy cruisers MOGAMI and MIKUMA, the Japa- nese forces abandoned the operation and withdrew all remaining ships. The Japanese advance was stopped and Midway Island was saved as an important United States' outpost. To the Japanese this bottle was dis- astrous. The loss of four of their finest aircraft carriers, together with 250 aircraft and some 100 of their first-line pilots deprived them of the pow- erful striking force with which they had achieved their previous conquests. With the Battle of Mid- way the balance of power in the Pacific shifted to the United States' side. In view of the strategic situation at the time and the condition of American defenses, the carrier action at Midway was one of the decisive battles in the Pacific Theatre. The CVA-41 proudly carries the name of the Battle of Midway in which Naval Aviation proved itself an indispensable weapon in modern warfare. The keel ofthe 45,000-ton attack carrier MIDWAY was laid with much fanfare on Navy Day, 27 Oc- tober 1943 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newport News, Va. I Mrs. Brad- ford W. Ripley ll, widow of one of the Naval pilots lost in the Battle of Midway, sponsored the vessel when it was launched on 20 March 1945. Ten days after General Douglas MacArthur accepted the Japanese surrender at Tokyo, the MIDWAY was commissioned in Norfolk, Va. Although com- pleted too late to see any combat in World War Il, the MIDWAY is a battle carrier in every sense of the word. In March 1946, the MIDWAY led a task group on Operation Frostbite , a series of tests in the Greenland-Labrador area designed to accumulate first-hand data on the actual functioning of various types of aircraft in extreme cold weather. During the summer of the following year the MIDWAY successfully launched the first V-2 Rocket ever fired from the deck of a ship, opening a new era in the use of guided missiles by naval ships. The Mighty 41 again penetrated the far North Atlantic in the fall of 1949 while on cold weather maneuvers with the Second Task Fleet. This time she crossed the Arctic Circle, qualifying her crew for membership in the exclusive RoyaI Order of Blue Nose. Three years later, in the fall of 1952, the MIDWAY crossed the Arctic Circle off the coast of Norway while participating in Operation Main Brace, a large scale NATO maneuver. In less than nine years, the MIDWAY has had seven tours of duty with the .U. S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea and is a familiar sight in most large Mediterranean ports. In this area she serves with the Sixth Fleet as a mobile strategic arm of America's foreign policy. The seven-month 1954 Mediterranean Cruise is the longest recorded in the MlDWAY'S impressive log. . uf 'W L!-'Fi -I il Ill! by .V ., 1- I 5 , .y -ig 1 11 iQ -flf e :l...,..,.....,,?r- i 2 I 'I
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Page 10 text:
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CAPTAIN PAUL P. BLACKBURN, JR. , CHIEF or s'rAFF Captain Paul P. Blackburn, Jr., is Chief of Staff for Rear Admiral A. K. Morehouse, Commander Carrier Division Four. Born in Seattle, Washington, he is a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy's 1930 class. Designated a Naval Aviator in 1932, Captain Blackburn served two years aboard the old battleship NEW YORK with an observation squadron before being ordered to carrier duty aboard the USS RANGER in 1935. For the next five years he flew with patrol squadrons operating out of Pearl Harbor, Alaska and the West Coast. In 1941 he commanded Observation Squadron Five and in June of 1942, he commissioned Patrol Squadron 201 as Com- manding Officer, one of the first Navy patrol squadrons to receive PBM aircraft. Following a tour of duty at the Bureau of Aeronautics, Washington, D. C., he reported aboard the carrierUSS RANDOLPH as navigator in 1944. In turn, Captain Blackburn became air officer and then executive officer of the huge Essex-class flattop. As an element of Task Force 58, the RANDOLPH participated in the battles of Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the Japanese homeland campaign at the end of the war. Following the war he was a member of the Armed Services Petroleum Board, attended the Air War College and was Ass't Chief of Staff for Operations, Training and Plans for Com- mander Air Force, Atlantic Fleet. Captain Blackburn was Commanding Officer of the USS DUXBURY BAY in 1951-1952 prior to reporting to the National War College. The DUXBURY BAY operated in the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean and Red Sea. His last assignment prior to reporting to his present duty station was at the National War College. Captain Blackburn is married and has two sons who reside in Washington, D. C. A REAR ADMIRAL A. K. MOREHOUSE COMMANDER CARRIER mvlsloN Fouk After serving as an enlisted man in the United States Army during World War I, Rear Admiral Albert Kellogg Morehouse was appointed to the U. S. Naval Academy. He graduated in 1922 and was designated a Naval Aviator in 1925. Rear Ad- miral Morehouse has been closely associated with the develop- ment of the Navy's air power since that time. In 1941 he served with the British Mediterranean Forces as a Naval observer. During the hectic and- violent days of the Pacific campaigns, Rear Admiral Morehouse commanded the USS NOTOMA BAY ICVE-621. This jeep carrier was an active participant in the battles of Iwo Jima, Mindoro and Lingayen Gulf. He was Chief of Staff of a Fast Carrier Task Group con- ducting aerial strikes in the South Pacific in the latter part of the war. Following World War II, Rear Admiral Morehouse assumed command of the Naval Air Station at Miami, Florida. In suc- ceeding years he was Commanding Officer of the USS MIDWAY and Chief of Staff to Commander Air Force, U. S. Atlantic Fleet. He was selected for Rear Admiral in 1949 and assigned as Chief of Staff to Commander Naval Forces, Far East, taking part in the interdiction program in Korea. Rear Admiral Morehouse made the USS MIDWAY his flag- ship in 1953 when he became Commander Carrier Division Four. He was Chief of Naval Air Advanced Training at Corpus Christi, Texas, prior to assuming his present command. Admiral Morehouse holds the Navy Cross, the Legion of Merit with Combat Distinguishing V , the Bronze Star with Combat Distinguishing V , the Presidential Unit Citation with one star, and the Silver Life Saving Medal awarded by the Treasury Department. I ml YEGRHIFIE',L5':'2laEI-Y3123 fzllwifl'-2's5F..F?i!IiE' I P H 1. L L 'Q F if -s . a w-ski ll ' I res i'L'c537'
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