Essex (CVS 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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Daring and dependable in combat, the ESSEX and her gallant oyjicers and men rendered loyal service in achieving the an l ultimate defeat of the fapanese Empire. For the President J AMES FORRESTAL Secretary of the Navy After her return from the States, ESSEX continued her valiant hard-working role, and by 23 May she was back in action, bringing destruction to Marcus, then Wake, then the Marianas and Palau Islands. During the Marianas occupation, ESSEX flew 3,078 sorties, and participated in one of the most significant actions of World War ll. By fall, ESSEX was launching strikes against Nansei Shoto, Formosa, and the Philippine Islands, as the war moved north, culminating in the strikes which virtually annihilated shipping in Manila Bay . . . a resounding climax to the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea. ln a little over a month, a total of 138 planes in the air were destroyed, and ll7 on the ground, while dozens of warships were sunk. In preparation for the landings in Lingayen Gulf, strikes were launched against Formosa, Sakishima Gunto and as far north as Okinawa Gunto, as well as installations on Lu- zon. From Formosa, ESSEX, as part of a task force, entered the South China Sea, launching effective strikes against Japanese shipping in the Saigon Bay area. By the beginning of l945, the scene had been set for strikes against Tokyo itself, to neutralize the enemy's air force preparatory to the Marines' landing on lwo Jima, and to cripple the Japanese aircraft industry. ln a standby position off lwo Jima during the actual land- ings, ESSEX launched strikes against Chichi Jima and other neighboring islands. Then at Ulithi, plans were laid for the Okinawa campaign, climax of the war in the Pacific, during which ESSEX's Air Group flew 6460 sorties. To bring the war to a rapid and now inevitable victory, Task Force 58 struck in great force against Tokyo on T0 July, and pounded at Hokkaido and Northern Honshu, as well as the Kure Naval Base. With further destructive harrassment from the fleet, and the final, punishing blow dealt by the two atomic bomb blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese Empire crumbled and fell in humiliating defeat. The war was over. 4 - wr 39' ,gy , . ff swf? x tix I X is x 17'