Essex (CVS 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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ported the operation. Her mission was to obtain control of the air, and to pave the way for Marine landings by destroying installations and gun emplacements at Tarawa Atoll. For several days, prior to and during the amphibious as- sault, ESSEX planes pounded the island under continuous attack. Occupation of the Gilberts proved a rugged experience for ESSEX, as it was her first amphibious operation. Her air group made more than seven hundred individual sorties, and dropped over three hundred thousand pounds of bombs. While these attacks served to literally pulverize the above ground installations in the island, it did not eliminate the Japanese in their underground dugouts. Consequently, the island of Tarawa was bitterly defended, and made the battle there one of the bloodiest in the history of the United States forces in any war. The Kwaialein raid on 4 December was made as further protection for the occupied Gilberts and served as a strike against the heart of the Marshalls. Then, after a stay at Pearl Harbor, ESSEX participated in the occupation of the Marshall Islands, marking her second amphibious operation. This was also the first battle in which Japanese soil was lost. Following the devastation in the Marshalls, ESSEX ioined with other ships to form the most formidable carrier striking force in the history of U. S. naval warfare. At Truk, the striking force began two days of air attacks in indirect support of land- ing operations at Eniwetok, striking at a maior supply point of the enemy forces in the South Pacific. The Truk raid was a severe blow to enemy support in the area and helped secure advances in the Central Pacific as well. The carrier and the carrier task force had grown to rapid maturity under the intense combat conditions of the early Pacific war. A plan had been realized . . . and the hard work and extensive mobilization began to gain precious miles throughout the Pacific . . . as island after island, atoll after atoll, fell under the guns and bombs of the mighty carrier fleet. The carrier. . .new and vital weapon in the Central Pacific.

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, O ' gf , A, ,fp.aff:7 5915-:fi flfji S pearheaoling the concentrated carrier warfare in the forward areas, ESSEX and her air groups struck crashing blows towards annihilating japanese righting power - The Marcus raid was the proving ground for the new car- rier and her air group. Marcus was surprised by the most formidable naval force that had yet been assembled in the Pacific. In the early morning darkness of 31 August 1943, the ESSEX air group was launched and roared in over the target, just before the first light of dawn broke over the horizon. For ten hours, the island came under incessant attack, as Japanese planes were caught and burnedhon the runways, followed by complete destruction of air facilities and other major installa- tions. At Wake Island, ESSEX was the flagship of the larger carrier task force which again surprised the Japanese forces at dawn on 5 October. The approach was made without detection, and a large number of planes were destroyed or damaged on the ground. The strikes persisted throughout the day, and were resumed at sunrise on the following day. When the last plane returned to the decks of the ESSEX, Wake Island was left in destruction. Fully seasoned at Marcus and Wake, the fighting air groups aboard ESSEX scored even greater glory in the raid ESSEX departed Maiuro Atoll 12 Febru- ary 1944 for strikes on Truk in company with TF 58.1 and TG 58.3. on Rabaul. Word had been received that a large number of Japanese ships were concentrating in Rabaul Harbor, a poten- tial threat to our recently-established beach head on Bougain- ville. At dawn on 11 November, nearly every plane of the ESSEX air group was on its way with enemy combatant ships the primary target. Their attack was successful, but when they returned to the ship to re-arm, an enemy attack on the ship be- gan, in which enemy fighters, dive bombers and torpedo planes participated. When the smoke of battle had cleared, it was found that the Japanese attacking force had been virtually destroyed, with ESSEX planes alone destroying forty-two enemy planes in the air during this raid, in addition to the twenty shot down over the target area. Except for minor damage to the hull, and a few men wounded, ESSEX came through virtually unscathed. The occupation of the Gilberts was a continuation of initial amphibious operations in the Central Pacific, and this was of particular importance as the Gilberts were occupied by the Japanese, and were known to be strongly fortified. As fiagship, ESSEX was one of several carrier task force leaders which sup- 1 Q-,Zi ' l '!ll',g'!M If ,u ww f, M M, ...Q -rw 7 my It ,, fra-1-ef: W C ya. -. V I M I 35 -.113 ' A, W alma 'r 1, ,kg , , F xxavqw A Y 1' iw 'War ?q,,'-h.' f,2,,.,,n 'V ,Q K ,,ff or

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. . . they provided air cover for oar amphibious forcesg they fiercely encountered the enemy's aerial attacks and destroyed his planes, and they inflicted terrible losses on the japanese in fleet and merchant marine iinits sank or damaged. ' With the Japanese rocked back on their heels by a suc- cession of staggering blows and the chance to knock out an- other link in the supply line to the Central and South Pacific, ESSEX started for the Marianas as soon as the task force could be refueled, following the attack on Truk. The carriers were spotted through a cloud formation by an enemy search plane, and for the first time, the element of surprise was removed from the plans . . . ESSEX would have to fight her way toward Saipan. Throughout the night, and during launching in the early morning, Japanese planes attempted to get through the mur- derous fire put up by the destroyers of the screen. By morning, thirteen enemy planes had been sent crashing into the sea by the anti-aircraft batteries and ESSEX was able to launch its planes for the attack. ESSEX planes concentrated on the air- field at Saipan, while planes from other carriers of the great task force struck at Tinian and Guam. Two strikes were launched during which Japanese air facilities were so com- pletely smashed that not a single plane disturbed the quiet withdrawal from the area. ESSEX set her course for Maiuro on 23 February and after a brief stay, departed for the West Coast to take advantage of Navy Yard availability. By TO March, the ship was anchored in San Francisco Bay and shortly thereafter, went into drydock at Hunters Point. A little more than one month later, she was on her way back to the Pacific, for training exercises in the Ha- waiian area. This was the only time that ESSEX was out of active duty, and the only time that she was in drydock from her com- missioning until the end of the war, a record which is truly rep- resentative of her great service to the war effort. ESSEX, along with a vast armada of ships, participated .in the Okinawa operation, a great climax to the Pacific campaign. Operating at sea for 79 con- secutive days, she set what may be an unprecedented record for participation in sustained and intense combat. wffya