Bairoko (CVE 115) - Naval Cruise Book

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NIA tory 0 the USS Kafiroleo f C' Uf -IIS , The USS BAIROKO was named for the World War ll fightinglwlgch ftO4ak place around Bairoko Harbor, on the north coast of New Georgia 590113, O II 3 Solomon Islands group. The seizure of Bairoko Harbor on August 5, ,GFTTCIT f? the end of the vicious fifty-seven-day campaign for the recapture of New eorgia. The Bairoko is the ex-Portage Bay of the CVE 105-120 class. The Eesjsej was built by the Todd Pacific Shipyards, Tacoma, Washington. It was launc e anu- Qry 25, 1945, and sponsored by Mrs. J, J. Ballentrne, wife of the then Rear Admiral J. J. Ballentine, USN. The ship was commissioned July 16, 1945, and Captain Harry Brigham Tempel, USN, assumed command. Preliminary shakedown operations were held in the .Puget Sound area and cul- minated in a special air operations exercise, with the Air Group CVEG-28 aboard, on September 1 and a battle problem conducted September 3. Upon completion of the final battle problem, the ship underwent an avail- ability period at the Naval Drydocks, San Pedro, and on October 18 departed for Pearl Harbor. The Bairoko remained in Pearl Harbor two weeks, playing host to thousands of visitors on Navy Day. On November 7, she steamed out of Pearl Harbor and visited Saipan and Hong Kong, China, before celebrating Christmas in the harbor at Manila. On December 30, 1945, the carrier started out for Guam and the United States, and on the morning of January 25, 1946, the first line was dropped over the bollard on the dock at San Diego, climaxing the first cruise of the Bairoko. She departed San Diego for the Puget Sound area for availability, thence to San Pedro, where the Bairoko remained until her return to San Diego on January 25, 1947. On February 18, 1947, the Bairoko departed for Pearl Harbor and exercises were conducted off the Hawaiian Islands. She set her course westward on April 17 for a long cruise which took her to many islands where American forces had waged war with the Japanese. She visited Guam, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Saipan and Kwa- jalein before returning to Pearl Harbor on May 30, 1947, for a few days before she headed Stateside The Bairoko transported aircraft across the Pacific several times, partici- pated in the atomic bomb test at Eniwetok Atoll and engaged in fleet exercises and maneuvers before she reported to the Pacific Reserve Fleet for inactivation on December 15, 1949. The carrier was reactivated and recommissioned on September 12, 1950, at Alameda, California, underwent sea trials and then steamed to San Diego where she operated from with VS-21 embarked. On November 14, 1950, the Bairoko 'headed for the Far East, and until her arrival back in San Diego August 15, 1951, she operated out of Yokosuka, Japan, on Anti-Submarine Warfare training duty with VS-23 on board. The ship under- went availability back in the States and the crew enjoyed leaves, then with VS-25 aboard, she headed for the Orient once more on December 1 1951. The ship participated in ASW duty until early February, then she off-loaded VS-25, picked up the famed Marine ' Checkerboard Corsair fighter-bomber squadron KVMA-3121 at Kobe and proceeded to Korean waters. On February 17, the first actual combat strike in the seven-year history of the Bairoko was launched at enemy targets behind Communist lines on the west coast of Korea. ' For two months the Bairoko. and the Checkerboard squadron figured in nationwide news as the-veteran pilots blasted more than 1449 enemy buildings 12 rail and 64 road bridges 68 rail cars 5 locomoti 108 I . f 1 ves, gun positions 100 small craft, and killed at least 516 Commun' t t T ' ' ' Over one thousand some H . is roops. o achieve this record I S were own with more than 100 tons of bombs 62 tons Of , l0D0lm fire bOmbS, 6,251 rockets, and 744,180 rounds of 50 calibelr ammu- nition lemxpgndecli Pall this was not without opposition' many planes returned Shot- up to t e airo o, ut with the except'o f 'I 1' I-1 ' - in flames, all downed personnel were Ireqscieglje pl O W O dled Os his plone crashed The ship finished its tour of duty on the firing line in the middl ' e of A l, Sfefilmed to 140139 Where VMA-312 was off-loaded and VS-25 taken aboard pfb- Sumed ASW dUfY until the end of May and then headed Stateside I