Denver (CL 58) - Naval Cruise Book

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Trained to Port 40 ' s in Action 16

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December the 21st found the Dtm r home- ward bound via Samoa and Pearl. The Golden Gate Bridge was sighted in the late afternoon of January 2 and that night the ship tied up in Mare Island for a four-months overhaul and repairs. Work was commenced on January 2, 1944 and completed May 8, 1944. During this time her crew was given well-earned leave and rest, but training for further combat was not overlooked. Post repair training was conducted m the San Diego-San Clemente area. Diiult men still talk of their Mare Island duty; their description of it, in a word, is: Good! Always a fighting ship, however, in com- pany with the LI. S.S. Frankliii she joined Task Force 58 at Eniwetok and got into the thick of the Marianas campaign by partici- pating in the Third Bonins Raid on July 3-4, 1944. The raids on Iwo Jima, Haha Jima, and Chichi Jima Islands, now famous but then hardly known, were primarily carrier strikes, but the cruisers got in a little Fourth of July celebration at short range on Iwo Jima airstrips and other installations. As soon as the Dciu ' tr ' s portion of the bom- bardment was completed, she pulled off and everyone came topside to watch the heavies bombard for a while. Following the July 3-4 raids, the Dliu ' lt continued to operate in the famous Task Force 58 in the Marianas Campaign until early in August. This period saw the substantial completion of the Saipan Campaign and the start of the Guam and Tinian operations. Task Force 58 flew almost daily strikes against Guam, Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. Late in the month a two- day raid was made on Yap, Woleai, and Ulithi, but thanks to the excellence of car- rier fighter operations, both day and night, all enemy aircraft were splashed outside surface ship A A range. Early in August, 1944 she rejoined her old cruiser division, and became the flagship of Rear Admiral R. W. Hayler, and in Sep- tember earned the name of lighthouse buster when she shot down the Angaur Lighthouse during the Palau bombardment. Aircraft bombs did practically no damage to the structure, and the five-inch which began the Dciu ' cr ' .s- attack on it did nothing but leave little black spots on the side. The light was suspected of being used as an enemy command and observation post and had been the target of a number of ships to no avail. The Razor then closed to 3,000 yards and Turret 3 put thirteen out of fifteen six-inch projectiles into the masonry tower which dropped with a satisfactory crash and a cloud of dust. A bit later the Diinvr was back at Ulithi — this time to cover a landing. In view of light opposition expected, the bantamweight bom- bardment group included only this ship and two destroyers. She bombarded the islands outside the lagoon while mine sweeping was conducted inside the lagoon and main- tained a scheduled fire at the northern end of the atoll. During the bombardment a small native dog was seen trotting uncon- cernedly along the beach. A six-inch salvo left the guns of the Denver ' s main battery with a roar. When the dust cloud on the beach cleared oft, there was nothing but clear sand to be seen. At the end of the bombardment of the island, a reconnaissance detachment was put ashore and returned with two natives who informed the Army interpreter that all Japs had left three weeks 05

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before, hence the lack of any return fire. The ahernoon of D Day at Ulithi wound up with a picnic and swimming party on the Vieach But Pacific Fleet cruisers just don ' t have things that nice for long. The DcMiir ' . ' i divi- sion joined the Seventh Fleet and by the middle of October was in the thickest part ot the Philippine liberation campaign. Dur- ing a typhoon she fired a bombardment on Suluan Island in support of a Ranger Unit which secured the island, and thus claims to have fired the first big gun salvo in that campaign at 0801 on October 17, 1944. The main landings on the beaches of Leyte were complicated by the still threatening typhoon, but on the 19th the Dtinvr ' .s guns were again blazing away at targets in the vicinity of Dulag town, and on the 20th the landing occurred without opposition. After the landings, the bombardment group lay off the beachhead during daylight hours anc4 accommodated the Army spotters by placing call fire as the troops moved inland During the pre-assault bombardment and the call-fire which followed, Dciiicr was credited with damage and destruction of Japanese supply dumps, trucks, pillboxes, and other installations. At night the bom- bardment group patrolled the southern part of Leyte Gulf, ready to meet any surface threat from Surigao Straits, either east or south. The Diinvr was present when this threat materialized late on October 24, 1944. Submarine and plane sightings throughout the 23rd and 24th showed the enemy to be concentrating in the Mindoro area for what could only mean an attempt to de stroy our fleet units protecting Leyte Gulf and thus cut off and annihilate our land forces on Leyte and nearby islands Soon after 0100 on the 25th contacts from PT boats stationed at the southern entrance re- porteci sightings of several ships entering the straits from the southwest between Camiguan and Bohol Islands. The story writ- ten the night of the 24th and the day of the 25th IS now well known, and has won its place as one of the actions that broke the back of Japanese naval strength. It is the Story of the Battle of Surigao Strait where the Japs met the ghost battleships of Pearl Harbor. Due to the great popular appeal of these old Pearl Harbor BB ' s and in rendering the honors certainly due them, it IS felt that the story of the splendid job done and tremendous fire put out by the cruisers has never been fully told. The Jap forces were believed to have been composed ol two battleships, four cruisers, and ten destroyers. Tactically, the situation could hardly have been more unfavorable for the enemy. He ran a gauntlet of our PT boats and destroyers only to arrive at the northern end to find on his first contact that his T had been crossed by the superior force under Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf. The Diiu ' tr formed part of the left flank forces and it can be seen from her action that the cruisers were along for more than the ride. Almost from the moment of com- mencing fire at 0350 observers on the Diiircr saw enemy ships in flames. Her gunners opened on target and immediately went to rapid salvo fire, and the first target was reported on fire in one minute. By 0400 her main hatterv target lay dead in the water and burning fiercely; it had without doubt been hit by many other of our ships, too. The five-inch battery then opened on another 17j.