Denver (CL 58) - Naval Cruise Book

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target, but the target was soon lost. For the next thirty minutes the action was fast, and several targets were taken under fire, only one of which appeared not to be in flames. At this time the remaining Japs who could run were doing just that. At 0630 the Dnuvr, Colioiiliuj and three destroyers were ordered to chase the cripples and finish them off, and shortly after 0700 they were shooting at a Katori class light cruiser that was dead in the water with her bow blown off. The target sank in ten min- utes and there was evidence of at least three other ships sinking or having sunk near the Jap cruiser at this time. Debris, fires, masts settling, small boats and wreckage littered the area. At 0730 in the morning the engage- ment was broken off and the Task Group headed north to be in a position to help a group of CVE ' s that was reported to be engaged with another Jap force. But the Denver did not get in on this and it is another story. However, the fact that she was not needed w as another stroke of luck for she had nearly exhausted her allowance of armor piercing projectiles and her high capacity projectiles had been pretty well used up on the shore bombardment. And in all Leyte Gulf she could find only 1100 six-inch AP ' s which she had to share with the Coliiml ' ui. Shooting at the Jap was an exercise the gunners en- joyed, but loading ammunition ' ith a sky full of bogies is no fun; the lads on the Dcii- I ' tT knew they had participated and done their share in a real surface action, and no one can ever talk them out of it or snow them under. A few days later the DLintr ' s AA boys got credit for an assist on a Jap Val and the ship Itself fell victim to one of the first Kamikaze attacks. It happened on October 28, and the plane was repeatedly hit by AA guns and plunged into the sea about fifty feet off the starboard quarter. No per- sonnel casualties were sustained, but the near miss of the plane and its bombs caused moderate underwater damage. Again Lady Luck was aboard — plus a number of fancy lead slingers. This Kamikaze was quickly followed by others in small numbers on that day and in force on the 29th, but thereafter the Divine Winds blew less strongly, and the Denver was sent off to get patched up — this time to Manus in the Admiralties. At Manus she was given excellent treat- ment by the repair ship Medusa, whose ex- perts performed the neat trick of listing her to port some fourteen degrees and very satis- factorily patching the hole in her starboard side. By this time Manus had recreation facilities that were welcomed by all, and liberty on the beach fortified by a few cold beers was greatly enjoyed. As a matter of fact, the repair crews were a little too efficient to suit all hands, for in a few weeks the Denver was again ready for action. She returned to the Leyte area in late November to help complete the securing of that area. Enemy action at that time con- sisted only of sporadic air attacks, and the only close call was a bomb dropped 200 yards off the starboard quarter. Four men were wounded, none seriously, by the re- sulting bomb fragments and the Jap bomber disintegrated in pulling out of its attack dive. No wonder the men of the Denver feel that not only can she get the job done — she ' ll get you back from it! In mid-December, the Denver participated 09

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in the Mindoro operation, working with the Carrier Escort group which provided convoy and beachhead cover. The group was sub- jected to numerous air attacks in which the Dcmvr sustained no damage, but accounted for two more Jap aircraft. This operation went well and the cruisers returned to Manu.s tor logistic replenishment, including Christmas dinner. Before they left the Mindoro area the men from the ship were able to get ashore and do a little sight-seeing on their own. For almost everyone this was their first experience with the water buffalo, which they ran into around San Jose. The e er-present souvenir hunters found an un- exploded Jap torpedo on the beach and pro- ceeded to try their hands at dismantling it without the benefit of professional advice on the subject. When the nLiuvr men left it, the torpedo was no longer alive. With their little screwdrivers and pliers they managed to take away all the vital parts as trophies of the Pacific War. Some people are just born lucky. That liberty turned into rather an all night affair for one of the men in the B division who got lost in the jungle and wandered around all night. The Japs evi- dently did not enjoy a stranger in their midst, so they took a few pot shots at him. He was finally rescued in the morning by a Marine scouting party who found the bedraggled fello • sitting perched up in a tree. At the first of the year 1945, the Denver departed Manus for the Lingayen Gulf oper- ation, operating as part of the covering group of cruisers, CVE ' s, and destroyers. Operat- ing well at sea, this group was not subject to suicide attacks on the scale experienced by the bombardment ships in the gulf, but did receive considerable attention from Jap planes in the course of which three more were splashed by her AA guns. With the Lin- gayen landing successfully completed, the task of cleaning up the Philippines was left to the Seventh Fleet cruisers, and the OiMrir became part of the mopping up and con- solidating force. Not all of these operations required the full cruiser force, but the Dciiicr still got in on landing operations in Zambales, Batangas Province, Grande Island in Subic Bay, Nasugbu, the Mariveles-Corregidor assault, Puerto Princessa, Palawan, stood by at Zamboangaand Iloilo, and again participated in operations at Malabang, Parang, Cotabato vicinity of South Central Mindanao, and the last amphibious operation of the Philippines in Davao Gulf, thus firing the last as well as the first big gun salvo in the Philippine campaign. These operations became routine to the Dcnrcr ' 5 gunners, but this was nicely broken by a couple of liberties in war-torn Manila, the first of which occurred on April 2 and copped another first for the Dciu ' cr. Steaming as flagship of Rear Admiral R. S. Riggs at the head of the cruiser division, in column, she was the first heavy U.S. man-of- war to enter Manila Bay since the beginning of the Pacific War. On June 7, 1945, the Dnuvr got underway from Subic Bay in company with her old friends, but not for another job in the Philip- pines — their task was completed there. This time the mission was that of furnishing dis- tant cover for the amphibious operations in the Brunei Bay area of northwestern Borneo — another cruiser division being the bambard- ment group. But the Jap cruisers reported to be at Singapore gave no trouble (one did come out at the time and was sunk bv a 21