Chandeleur (AV 10) - Naval Cruise Book

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SQUADRON VPB-21 CREW PICTURES TAKEN IN SEPTEMBER 1945

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Our Seaplanes Cover Many Invasions This section of the book is devoted to Squadron VPB-21 who served aboard the CHANDELEUR during the most daring and important opera- tion ever undertaken by a seaplane tender. We also salute the men of the other squadrons who operated from this shipt but the written and pictorial record is too inadequate for inclusion. During the OKINAWA operation our Mariners sank nine enemy ves- sels, probably sank three others, and damaged twenty-nine. This in addi- tion to destroying or damaging numerous land targets such as trucks, docks, radar stations and weather stations. In addition, it was our planes that drew first blood in the OKINAWA operation by being in on the kill of a large Jap submarine on 29 March, two days prior to the invasion. Our search planes also spotted the Jap super-battleship YAMATO on the morning of 7 April and homed in the carrier planes that subsequently destroyed her. To summarize, our planes: (1) Rescued 20 downed airmen in four different open sea landings, and assisted submarines to make rescues on two other occasions. (2) Evacuated 7 downed Army airmen shot down over SHANGHAI. (3) Shot down one Tony, left another smoking, and damaged and pos- sibly downed a third. Two Mariners in this action against seven Tonys and Jacks successfully eluded them after a running fight. (4) Flew more than 500 combat missions for a total of over 7000 hours. Our squadron was under the command of Lieut. Comdr. Joseph E. DAUGHERTY of Philadelphia until 17 May when he was relieved by Lieut. Comdr. James D. WRIGHT of Alturas, Florida.

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