Bunker Hill (CV 17) - Naval Cruise Book

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hese VVere th efl ctions fa ,ff s you find from the typewriters of the men covering the Pacific War for the people back home, and our feeling for them, well mirrored our battle course as well as the pride we felt in being their hosts. Perhaps that is why that particular section is the lead of this division. The summary of the overall picture of the Navy's conquest of the Pacific and the march back to the Philippines has a place in this record to properly evaluate the role of one carrier in the tremendous field of Pacific operations in 1944 that saw American might roll 1234 ' 12 5.-in' ' HQ I mr Q1 back the Jap whenever and wherever he could be cornered. There's probably no experience quite equal to what the Bunker Hill refers to as the Quincy Days, when the steel hulk wreathed .X in pneumatic hoses known as Hull 1509 became a Navy ship and its crew moved aboard and began to draw sea pay. Rod DeCamp ranks with the pros to draw this book's only local-boy by-line. Some names once familiar but easily forgot- ten will be found in this review of the extra- curricular activities, so important in the character of a ship. ,...afe.-.. T, 2, J.. ,.:.,- ,1N-..-f,,,-N- ag. 1. 4 5- ,.L.-' U -lf '1i.'ig.ri.,5f vw Law-1 irj :.gxAf,A-,g K g f lf Z 2' ' ,,,........-.g,...,..,.,.,..,..fg Q4 --NQj.5-AQ! 1 fx, W. ,f -.,,..........,..u,-f . , iuW 'V m ' N' 1,4 QM 1. f MH'----1-f---'1' li43Q'l73t i. X23 , 5 Elf' lil?--af 'v-W-c H rf-1. X ff..-4. M, 1 'tf'e vt It ,ftgg .,'t 3 U -iAfi': Q? PJ rilgffg x-vwxf fl .jf Z1 f 1 ,af -QQ,.a,fis,.4,a,...fiQff,.f,.t..zwfs.4,euffcsa't Ap, J,-9 dau!! 1- Jfji .011 :M,,vf,p' ...rf ,A ,.

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A Field Da Among Bunker Hill War Correspondents 55s..MM325.,fib-:x..55ff3.sx?Qx.A.sf.Cwis...:Ts--53493ibf'E1..f.f1is-fB..fiZfsa:15ff'b...fikftffbfTI: BY SPENCER DAVIS Aboard a Carrier Flagship off Truk, Feb. 17-CAPD-A powerful surface force de- tached to bottle up North Pass and sink cripples aided in exploding the myth of Truk. The Naval striking force, greatest ever assembled, hit in ten precision strikes over a two-day period. United States carrier planes flew more than 1000 sorties, dropping approximately 1000 tons of bombs, torpedoes and incendiaries. Only Toyko can say pos- itively how many of its subjects lost their lives. At the height of the first day's raids, a powerful force of battleships escorted by cruisers and destroyers separated from the main force to bottle up Truk's North Pass. This strategy led to the sinking of a cruiser and a destroyer within ten minutes in the maiden action for this nation's powerful dreadnaughts. Both enemy warships were sitting pigeons for the battleships after being roughly handled by Avenger torpedo bombers and dive bombers and left dead in the water. , 3 . BY ELMONT WAITE Aboard the Carrier Flagship-Central Pacific--CAPE--1t's the nameless who are winning the Pacific war. This is a ship nobody's ever heard of- yet in less than six months it and its planes have: shot down 109 Japanese planes, aided in sinking two cruisers, three destroyers and 13 cargo ships, damaged two additional cruisers, seven destroyers and another 13 cargo ships. This carrier is only one of many new war- 232 ...gfnKf:..iiff:,.... 5...tQ?fu.1if41fffX...:iJi.s.iffl.f.C'?' ships that have steamed into action out here in the last year. A Her Hight deck has been splashed with salt water more than once by geysering enemy bombs. But if this ship's name could be mentioned, not one American in a thousand would recall the brief story of her launching last year. One impressive reason for her fine score: She was deep in enemy waters and the loud speakers suddenly boomed, Large group of enemy planes approaching . . . The hundreds of gunners, plane handlers and seamen on her flight deck broke into a spontaneous cheer at the prospect of action. There was another cheer from everyone on deck the night that Lieutenant Commander Evan P. Aurand took off in the darkness, chased a Japanese snooper plane so far and so fast he almost burned out his engine and returned to make a perfect carrier landing in the darkness . . . 1 xx .-,, BY RAYMOND CLAPPER I Aboard an Aircraft Carrier, Somewhere in the Pacific: Few aside from professional Navy people can really know what is involved in being the skipper of a capital ship, espec- ally of a new carrier such as this one. A month after this ship was launched, the Captain set up offices ashore at the shipyard. From then until the middle of last year he and his staff worked at outfitting the ship. eWhen outfitting was finished they marched the crew aboard . . . This ship had its first action on Armistice Day at Rabaul. It was in action on ChristmaS Day and on New Year's Day. As one of the