Hancock (CV 19) - Naval Cruise Book

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Uncle Sugar Reports Retiring at dusk the night fighters again kept peace through the hours before morning twilight. Leaving the coast of Formosa, the Hancock and her cohorts drove southeast again to rendezvous with the Enterprise on Janu- ary 5th for strikes on the 6th against Luzon in preparation for the coming invasion on Lingayen Gulf. Striking hard at Cabanatuan, Mabalacat, Banban and other Luzon airfields, carrier planes hit targets on the 6th and 7th, main- taining patrols over each field from dawn until dark. Each evening the Enterprise and lndependence launched night fighters to heckle enemy ground troops and keep down enemy night raids. These heckler raids proved the most effective means yet devised to beat down enemy morale and resistance as round-the-clock bombing became the order of the day. On D-l day the Third FIeet's Fast Carrier Force swung north again to hit airfields on Formosa, clearing landing strips of new arrivals from the Empire. Strikes on the 9th were directed against Heito, Kato, Kos-hun, Giran and the Tokilo Seaplane Station. During the night Task Force 38 retired southward through Bashi Channel into the China Sea.

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r I I I I I I months from its Pennsylvania builder's yard. This same Pope was sunk by superior Jap forces on March I, I942, while escorting the battle-damaged British cruiser Exeter lJava Seal and the Encounter through Soenda Strait between Java and Sumatra after a two-month running engagement against Ovefwhelming OCICIS. From the Pope Captain Hickey went to submarine duty on the S-6 lstricken from Navy register in I937l where he remained until ordered to Pensacola as a student aviator. From Pensacola he tried his wings aboard the Navy's first carrier, the Langley, CV-I lex-collier Jupiter lost off Java, February 28th, I94'2l , followed by a tour of shore duty before going to sea on the California, West Virginia, Idaho and New Mexico. OPERATION FOUR The Hannah again sortied Ulithi on December lOth, intent on kn-ockng out enemy airfields in the Philippines in strategic support of landings on Mindoro. The first strikes were launched on December I4th against Clark and Angeles airfields as well as ground targets on Salvador Island from San Fernando. Japanese air strength had been heavily reinforced from For- mosa, China and the Empire and only by maintaining a continual patrol over the target airfields could the new Jap fraternity be prevented from using its suicide attacks against our ships. Ground troops on Luzon had also been reenforced and the Hannah's Air Group continued strikes against enemy ground installations at Masinloc, San Fernando and Cabanatuan on the I5th while fighter patrols kept Jap airmen down. Shipping strikes were n-ot forgotten during this period and many tons of supplies for the beleaguered Japs became fish food in Manila and other harbors. December I6th was the last strike day in the Hannah's Fourth Operation. Strikes on the l9th and 2Oth were cancelled due to a severe typhoon which prevented refufeling on the l7th and damaged the anti-aircraft cruiser San Juan as well as damaging three destroyers IHull, Spence and Monaghanl so badly they foundered with severe loss of life. The typhoon was not unexpected but the importance of operation was so great that it could not be curtailed until flight operations were impossible. At the height of the storm waves broke over the Hannah's flight deck, fifty- five feet above the waterline. OPERATION FIVE The Third Fleet's Fast Carrier Task Force 38.2 sortied on December 30th on one of the most successful missions of naval history. Utilizing the escort carriers of the Seventh Fleet for close-in ground support in the Philippines, the fast carriers Hancock, Lexington, Ticonderoga and the smaller Indepen- dence, accompanied by the new battleships Iowa and New Jersey, plus the cruisers Vincennes, Miami, Pasadena and San Juan, embarked on a destruc- tion against airfields on Formosa, Luzon and a sally into the South China Sea. Steaming north and west from Ulithi, the Hannah launched strikes against Formosa on January 3rd, hitting airfields at Koshun and Heito. A new tech- nique was used on this second raid on the inner-defense ring-each evening at sunset the Independence would swing out of formation to launch planes for a nighttime CAP. Throughout the night planes patrolled overhead to eliminate enemy blows under cover of darkness. On the 4th, after a good night's rest unmarred by GQ lbattle stationsl, the Hannah's planes took to the air over Southwest Formosa to hit shipping and the airfield at Heite.

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Y'Ami lsland, northernmost of the 7,000 islands comprising the Philippine Archipelago land -only ninety-three miles from Taiwanl , was abeam to port about midnight and morning found the l-lannah well into the South China Sea in search of scattered remnants of the Japanse Fleet and Air Arm. Morning also found enemy planes striking at the task force but fighters were vectored in for interception and only one succeeded in getting close. The lone Jap managed to elude the fighter screen and first appeared t-o watchers on the Hannah to be a particularly bright star glowing eeriely in the dis- torting predawn light. The Combat Information Center informed gun crews to be on the lookout for an enemy plane hit by the fighter screen twenty miles out but still coming. Even as t-he warning came in, the star was made out as a two-engine bomber with left motor ablaze. The l-lannah's batteries opened up as the bogey came within range but the fighter's earlier hits took effect even as the 20's and 40's commenced their staccato bark. The bomber's left wing dropped crazily and the bogey spun in, only a ship's length from the Hannah. Steaming southward, the scuttlebutt lrumors aboard shipl ran from land- ings on the China coast to the actual intention and hope of Admiral McCain Carrier Row