Santa Fe (CL 60) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 47 text:

S ..,,,... ., ,,,,. W Y all lr - inds hurriedly pour men and material ashore at Kwzzjalein. AMPHIBIOUS OPERATION PERFECT upon completion of the air strike, the order Return to Pearl Harbor was welcome news. The SANTA EE arrived at Pearl on ll December. The next couple of weeks enabled the Navy Yard to work the ship over, and, most important, install more recently developed Radar equipment than was then aboard. VVhile Christmas mail was still coming on board, the unexpected came true, the SANTA EE was ordered to go to the VVest Coast, pick up the Kwajalein Invasion Convoy and escort them out. New Year's Day of 1944 passed on the high sea and a day later the bow nosed between the nets at Terminal Island, U.S.A .... But the ship Burned out hangurs and outline of what used to he landing strips on Roi Island ure only rernuzns M onee powejul air installations. Beach hurriers, slit trenches, pill boxes testhfy to preparations jfups had madefor defense. On the jfeld are two gutted Bettys . Absence of pulnzfronds on trees which cover Numur Island is mute evidence ofthe extensive use made of high explosive projeetlles.

Page 46 text:

Smoke ard ire rzsesfrom Wage Island eastern most ap bastzon, as salvo after salvofrom S.4NTA FE s guns pzn poznt the large! Targets zn the area asszgned are well cover ed and znelude eoaslal aatterzes two air strzps buzldzngs and azr znstallatzons Afmmunztzon dump lzzt but at same tzme heavy returnjirefrom 7ap batterzes zs met, straddlzng llzzs slzzp lzzttzng destroyer ahead Vulnerabzlzty of beaelzlzead zs elearbf outlined as landzng em to ITH Tarawa, Makm and Apamama already con agamst the lap Outer L1ne ofDefense was abOL1f to come ol? The lslands of Wotje, Mill aluit and Vlaloelap ln the Marshalls were the obv1oHs faFgets, but 21 surprlse was 1n store for the Nlps However, the story is gettmg ahead of 1tsell Wlhen Tarawa was firmly ln U S hands the SANTA FE left the Gllbert area wlth the F1fthlFleet and steamed north to launch a carrier plane strlke at the Marshalls O11 4 December and agam on the Sth The SANTA ISE had been unde1WaV almost constantlv slnce 13 Octoberg SO, . I 1 . yy .' I I7 . ' e ' - . - I , . I. . ' , l , . l .. . , , , , .S ,s,.o of V , , , X W' as ff T - tl 'sly verted 1nto formldable a1r bases, the next IHOVC 1 -' ' cc il - - as - ' A ' s l ,L 'xx K I .-W . rn..- A l Ak .. . . TT ' T V 1 . 1 . . 2 . f ' , ' ' . V x ' . . X , ,

Page 48 text:

LCM's, LCVP's, LCT's and LST's provide all-important transportation W' troops and necessary equipment from sea directbf to beach. Troop transports, freighter transports and supply ships q' every description hover a few miles ofshore while waiting to unload. ., -Y - '- fri - is g il in J I .ont 1 J, ,L turned and headed out to sea again for two days OI battle practice maneuvers off San Clemente while 1300 men groaned in disappointment. However, back at Long Beach on the 3rd, all hands made the most of5 glorious liberties before the sailing date, dawn 13 January. Underway again, the force cruised steadily toward the Marshalls, ,by-passing Pearl with only a one night stopover in Lahaina Roads, Hawaii. On Dog-minus-one, the day preceding the Mar- shalls invasion, the ship swung south and came into bombard Wotje on 30 January. This bombardment was part of the plan to catch the laps off guard. It was evident the well-equipped outer shell of the Marshalls would be expensive to capture, but by simply feinting, then side stepping and passing on to the more vulnerable center atoll of Kwajalein the effect, control ofthe air and sea lanes of the mid- Pacific, would be the same at a minimum cost in life. Completing what would appear to the Japs as the usual pre-invasion bombardment, the SANTA FE and the other bombarding ships slipped away from Wotje during the night and steamed north at high speed to arrive in the firing line to seaward of Roi- Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll at dawn the next morning. The bombardment started immediately and the ships covered their sectors with high ex- plosive shells over and over again. By mid-morning, after the minesweepers had cleared a channel, the 1 l Faced with such overwhelming odds and not wishing to throw awa ' ' ' l y their lives necdlessb soldiers ' T1 ' ' . . the f7aps. They die on battle feld with the ideh itls f1'ee0iiidzci1'llo6iS?hiZZdh'i'tizZc?tii would befwred to Jwrmderi but not so 44 4