Block Island (CVE 106) - Naval Cruise Book

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THE -IGHTI G -L0 K ,S AN GET RE DY CVE 21 IN THE ATLANTIC CVE-21 was built on a R13 hull in Seattle-Tacoma Shipyards at Tacoma, Washixigtcan and commissioned at Bremerton on 8 March 1943. At an impressive ceremony the ship was accepted by the Navy and Captain Logan C. Ramsey, USN, was placed in command. The ship was named for Blmgk island, a small island off the Rhode Island shore. After a shakedown cruise in the lyacilie the ship made two trips from New York to the United Kingdom travelling through submarine infested waters to deliver essential aircraft to the European front. Q . Ya if fi A? 6 ! 5 i. , ,fm ri l t E I

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FIRST ANTI-Xllltllf Xl 'l' lfllili IGNCHI N'I'l'lIil'1Il Two planes with eoiupletv equipment wen- si-ul alnoard the USS MlSSlSSll'l'l vvhii-In was ordered to Vera Cruz and another was allau-lied lo the USS IillilNllNGll,iXlNl en route to Talnpico. all llircc planes to be used in cou- nection with the occupation of Vera Cruz in April l9l-14. Although not equipped for landing operations, these planes made scouting lliglus over the trenches in and around the city of Vera Cruz on 43 consecutive days. The plane piloted by Lieutenant l'. N. L. Bellinger during these flights was struck by bullets, the first fired at U. S. Navy aircraft. WORLD WAR I On the date war was declared, tl1e Navy had only one air station, Pensacola, Florida, a total of 38 naval avia- tors, and 163 enlisted men. At the Armistice, 11 Novem- ber 1918, 21 schools and stations were in operation in the United States, and 2,835 officers with 30,683 enlisted men were attached to the aviation program. This num- ber does not include nearly four thousand student offi- cers undergoing aviation training. Of this number 1,237 officers and 16,287 enlisted men were sent overseas during the war. Although air operations were exclu- sively land based and for the most part limited to con- voy protection, submarine patrol, and in the case of the North Bombing Group, to bombing raids on submarine bases, the Navy learned much and contributed a great deal to the advancement of aviation. The war demon- strated clearly that the airplane was an essential com- ponent of military armament. During the uneasy period between the two world wars, the most important accomplishment was the develop- ment of a mobile airdrome. The carrier, a floating. moveable, well-armed flying field was the result. The first step in this development was made in 1922 and the naval collier JUPITER was converted into a float- ing airfield and renamed the USS LANGLEY. Six years later, after the USS LANGLEY had undergone many alterations, two practically completed battle cruisers, apparently destined for the scrap heap by the Washington Treaty for the Limitation of Armament, were completed as aircraft carriers and joined the fleet as the USS LEXINGTON and the USS SARATOGA. The USS RANGER, built in 1934, only six years before the dastardly attack on Pearl Harbor, was the first car- rier designed and built from the bottom up as such. It was during these same years that the Bureau of Aeronautics experimented with, and finally adopted the air-cooled engine, now found in every type of naval ser- vice plane. There were many other advances, the substi- tution of metal alloys for wood in plane construction, the installation of self-starters, of de-icers, retractable landing gears, and complete radio equipment. There were steady improvements in material, in performance of planes and armament, in experimentation with new l weapons, new methods of attack, new fields of researc 1, new and efficient methods of training personnel. i r E fly having flu doch of the fumnylllnia on his return fllglll In Ill clan. gi a. 'Ll' i Ulla Q Q W it 4 -lui A. L ,I ia , , y Ea. it V g ! a i ljll. Q J 1 6 . Q- 1 I, I jg! . --mv ... N4 --f'- '-5 5.5, . ss H ,.- .a --- 1 - .-.ff .K 4-..,,1. . - . 1. ' HM.- .. ,gu- v,,, ,rr -'A-gl, x... -. ' gn re 1 .1 Q:---' . a-H' :.- - -- -' ..-,....-......,.,,.uggg-uf A , , N, . -4 . - ..-u-.-15... . .i...-, -4, ,..., ...,,.. ,J in

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f CVE 21 AT BELFAST When Hitler's hordes began to terrorize Europe, Con- gress encouraged Naval Aviation. 14 .lune 1940, it raised the number of naval planes from 3,000 to 4,500. The next day it jumped the ante to 10,000 and four days later to 15,0001 At last, 19 June, a measure was passed containing the statement that this number could be exceeded wif, in the judgment of the President, it provef' insufficient to meet the needs of national defenses When Pearl Harbor was attacked the President did raif-Q the naval air complement to 27,500 planes. The Navy enlarged its training program, preparing to train 30,000 pilots a year as well as a proportionate num- ber of technicians and other aviation personnel. Seven- teen flight preparatory, 90 war training service, live pre-flight, 13 primary and two intermediate schools were established. The Navy had but seven carriers: SARATOGA, LEX- INGTON, YORKTOWN, ENTERPRISE, RANGER, WASP and HORNET. It was fortunate that the Japa- nese attack on Pearl Harbor was against battleships, not so essential in the early days of the war as carriers. After that malicious attack 7 December 1941, plans were made at once to build more carriers. The Japanese already outnumbered us in this class of ship. The Navy had experimented with a smaller type of carrier for escort purposes and had already built some which it loaned to the United Kingdom. I These small escort ci refs. ilu:-1 first wi 10,000 tons, could be built quick? , operate small air group, anzl be lost with-'J R lt viendous expense in man or air Q CVE is one cf the great stories we 1 .'..scLs- xl vsrs me quickly- realized. Before -1 12,c1f:.5y or Q 1 .Jfcit were ,flying our flag an . 3-13. -f'f- '- iff 1 l'iTll,l'iii1 Comm incl. Tizsjg pw' aut Elazif,-E-3.4. 231.1 sunk in heroic fi-me fist- 1,535 'Sfil..if3iill1i .'iiiQ,,'f1ND was the first 4111.13 -malty . . fifavg carrier lest in the Atlantic. Subse- iiiiex-.tiy G' l..lf5QIfQlWflB BAY, ST. LQ, 5-AMli.lER BAYQ 93'f'v'i7fYi.ln1 if' RAY, and iH.?9Mf2 SFA., met the enemj 'si 1'-:cf-ivcd a mcrtal wound in the Pacific. finite me .7f'i:,nyi's -4-se:-art carriers proved their ability to -iperate as ills: 'igxzcisical air support of ground forces, .Le big c:.1'rEfwn's '-Vere left free to ,comb the seas on inde- pendent strategic missions. Acting as spotters, support carrier pilots directed the bombardment of surface ships and of shore-ba:-ed artillery. They made uncount- able low-level attacks --an lapanese pill-boxes, machine- gun nests, and other targets beyond the range of other fcvring, of artillery. They ilew in low, hitting over hills and around corners. Escort carrier pilots also flew countless reconnaissance and observation hops, local combat air patrols, anti-submarine patrols and air-sea rescue missions. They laid smoke screens, dropped food. water, ammunition and first-aid equipment to isolated patrols, and even reduced malaria and typhus casualties by actually spraying the beaches with the DDT on or before every D-Day.