Santa Fe (CL 60) - Naval Cruise Book

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

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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.

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Oi! refervoirs, bufldingf and many q'1'.ffflnd'5 permanent de enses were buf!! during lhe twenly odd yearr ezpun held Mzzrxlzaflf mandate transports were in the lagoon and the boatloads of Marines were circling them. As H-Hour approached the support ships opened fire on the inner beach the landlng craft llned up and headed 1n The nearer theV came to the beach, the more lntense became the barrage Then when the boats were nearly beached a spottlng plane that had been c1rcl1ng overhead dropped a cluster of Hares Im med1ately the shells were llfted to a point 1 few yards up from the water s edge, then the troops landed beh1nd the curta1n of Ere, and advanced up the 1sland So perfect was the coord1nat1on between land, a1r and sea forces, the lnvadlng troops found onlV one small pocket of aps, halfcrazed by the shell fire, on a corner of ROI and this was llquldated bw the 7nd of February At dusk on 6 Februal V the SANTA P14 negotrated the narrow channel 1nto lVIa1uro Atoll and dropped anchor br1ng1ng her part Ill the second step of the Centr1l Pacrlic Cillhpilgll to 1 close , 3 V c 7 T f ' 1 r -ww - A J c J - 2 LA L c . .