Intrepid (CVS 11) - Naval Cruise Book

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in V? ks? 1. Passage Through The locks of Panama Canal was a cfose job 9 Dec 1943. Cn 3 December, wiTh Air Group 8 again embarked, she was ready Tor her Trip To The l3aciTic and The war. IT was noT To be wiThouT mishap. The Trouble occurred on 9 December while INTREPID C98 TeeT wide and 878 TeeT longT was proceeding under her own sTeam, aT seven knoTs, Through a very narrow secTion oT The Panama Canal C300 TeeT wideT known as Gaillard CuT. VViTh The canal piloT aT The conn, The ship was aTTempTing To negoTiaTe a Turn To The leTT. The piloT noTiced ThaT The bow oT The ship was noT responding To The helm quickly enough and was sheering oTT To The righT. l-le anxiously ordered 20 degrees leTT rudder, The porT engine sTopped and The sTarboard engine ahead Qfd. lT was noT enough. Collision was unavoidable and her porT anchor was ordered dropped. The BoaTswain,s lXlaTe in charge oT The anchor deTail was relucTanT To drop The porT anchor as ordered, however, because oT The danger iT posed To a group oT men gaThered around The anchor chain, looking TascinaTedly aT The near verTical wall iusT ahead. He dropped The sTarboard one insTead. lNTlQElDlD grounded Temporarily, and backed oTT under her own power, buT The damage Trom The grounding was considerable. porT oT The garboard sTrake had been ripped oTT, permiTTing a peak- Tank To be Tlooded, and There was a long diagonal wrinkle in The ship's sTrucTure iusT aTT oT The sTem. lfxperTs explained The diTTiculTy oT handling a ship oT such large displacemenT in such a small amounT aT woTer, and how, under These condiTions bank sucTion becomes a reckonable danger. They also poinTed ouT ThaT 2 hours prior To The mishap, a lock aT anoTher poinT in The canal had been opened and ThaT The resulTanT surge could have aTTecTed a ship navigaTing Through Gaillard CuT.CapTain Sprague was conTidenT ThaT The piloT and They oTTicers and men oT llXlTlQEl3lD had done everyThing possible To prevenT The grounding, and ThaT no one on The ship could be held aT Taulr. The board oT inquiry agreed, no one was Tound Technically aT TaulT. The Navv agreed, no TurTher inquiry was held. Temporary repairs, which consisTed of closing The hole wiTh wooden wedges, Tilling comparTmenT A-l-W above The level oT The hole wiTh concreTe and welding a lighT plaTe on The ouTside over The hole, were compleTed in Tour days while in Balboa, buT-iT was esTimaTed ThaT aT leasT ThirTy days in drydock would be required Ta make The ship combaT ready again. QThis was The TirsT oT several Trips which Tinally resulTed in The nickname The Drvdack l T. To keep The TighTing edge in a Tinely honed condiTion, however, The inronsive Training schedule was rr Tivfaihe. 'ffhile INTQTTPID was enrouTe Trom The Qanal Zone To San Francisco, where The dry dock availed her. ones To Toclayls ouTsTanrling saTeTy record aboard The INTRTT PID, iT is rlllifirirlr To imagine hoxx from aporanr T ' f.lenTs usefl To plague her fond The oThor carriers as welll lQarolx.r ri week al -ma v.vnT lm ii. iThauT al le T 9 . x in The loq recording a losl or rlaniager.l aircrall ariul iniurihs or ilrjmillu To The pilwl or T rollwwioir. lly: in.: r xxas- ' T A 'r T ' T T A X aT This Tranf.iT llXliT'fl Tjlll Q, lair raviwilw i-iii: airi rrlTl lwsl,

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ENS RD. Phipps geTTing auf of HGIICCIIL affer making I,000Th landing. Each oT The squadrons had iTs speciaITy. VB-6 under The command aT LCDIQ Ingerslew was composed oT 36 SBC-5A DaunTIesses or Speedy D's as They were called, dive bombers ThaT released Their bombs Tram verTical dives on Their TargeTs aT abouT 2,000 TeeT, rarely higher Than ThaT, buT auiTe oTTen much lower. VI:-6 wiTh iTs 37 Pol: I-IelIcaTs under The command oT LCDR I-I.W. Harrison was To provide The TighTer air cover Tor The ship, Task Torce, and assauIT Troops. VT-6 composed aT 7 TBI:-Is, 7 TBI:-ICs and 5 TBM-ICs was headed by LCDR WG. l3riveTTe. IT was Their mission To deliver Torpedoes To enemy ships. This delivery had To be aT- TecTed while doing I80kTs aT abouT 25 To 50 TeeT above The waTer however, and Then since The piloT didn'T wanT To release The Torpedo before he TeIT sure iT was going To hiT The TargeT he waiTed unTil he was wiThin I,300 yards and usually less lThe smaller The TargeT The closer in you camel before he leT go. UnTorTunaTeIy, This had a Tend- ency To make These planes raTher good TOrgeTs which earned Them The name aT HTurkies in addiTion To ThaT oT The oTTicial nickname, Avengers. The planes oT The new air group had To geT The Teel oT Their new home and so on The I2Th aT January, IINITREIDID sTood ouT of Pearl wiTh iTs ever presenT ASW escorT oT DD's which was now composed aT The OVVEN, SULLI- VAINIS and GATLING, and conducTed The pracTice They needed, unTiI, Treshly Tueled, armed and replenished, INTIQEPID was ready aT lasT. The war had been going on Tor Three ,years aT This Time and Tor The mosT parT iT had been going The way The .lap- anese wanTed iT To, buT Things had begun To change. Qur Pacific TIeeT had regained iTs original sTrengTh and was quickly surpassing iT. The soIuTion aT The baTTIeship carrier aues,Tion so unexpecTedIy provided by The Jap- anese aT The beginning oT The war, remained in Tull opera- Tion ThroughouT iT. The I:ighTing Ladies were The un dispuTed capiTal ships oT The TIeeT, and when a new baT- Tleship of The IOWA Class enTered The war she did so as parT oT The screen Tor The new TasT carrier. The carriers had proven Their worTh, now all ThaT remained was To win The Lffrir During The IasT monThs aT I943 when Allied lzorces aT The SouTh and SouThwesT I3aciTic were hammering aT is- lands and airfields in The Bismarcks and Bougainville, ADM NimiTz had organized Two massive amphibious oper- aTions wiTh his pacific FIeeT.The TirsT pIanTed American power in The GiIberT Islands, The second in The Mar- shalls. 24 Till? fulliiwrl fliifl llI'iV'N 1 - lirifit ririfl lAfiri'1ri'1'. 'VVIVI' I' , rgallarl l!lifj.rorif:'.if1, Tl H I 'if gififwff, Tlifrj ri-riisi 'r,f:'I I'ifi', , ffzhff The pliillppiriei, ff-irifl 'lrvl 1619, f-, - ' ' . if , ,I iii, ffeb. l4!!fIlCJI 3IVi in The liar THU if ' . J,- C ' ' l.V- il 'f ir 'f r f and oaipan iriTTieifarifi,1f,,, MJT: T, i I Tonsiife sysTem eazilf 'i'f?fiffi9'? ' 3 , DOn, ifiThin which air and riafal Torcet A bled and deployed, planes and i Zerfifst and surTace raids organized. Q search 1 reach Them Trorri existing Allied Lasei, ' H 'G which, Marshall Island Bay, Hai ILL 00 ff dalcanal, l,I30 Trom Carnon, and I,1j9 Trp The Japanese submarines ThaT had I'Iarbor sTarTed Tram Kwaialein. The assaf had wresTed Wake Tram The Marines belonaei Tr 'I ,.,-. f shaII's Garrison, The big bombers That no s J- U Nlaior Devereuxis Marines Tleff Tram Po? ann amphibious Torce ThaT had Taken Guam sTarTed . We had Taken a beaTing buT now iT was our Tu anese were going To be hiT hard,and when iref reeling Tram The TirsT blow They were going , . ii Li A gain and again ----- NlomenTum was in: mf , .J 427 UZ , lNIimiTz's sTraTegy. I-Ie TeIT ThaT The closer one sTepped on The heels aT The oTher, The greaTer . i I fi P f,,,: -,Q OUT' QGIVTS OVTCI The 9ViGITly S OSSGS CHQ Camas, , TasT carrier Task Torce was The means wiTh hard and rapid punches could be delivered riff.-f' -f-QQ: 2 IINITIQEPID was To be parT aT ThaT Torce. The aT The plan, 0peraTion I:IinTIock, called Tor Tended aToII oT Maiuro To be Taken TirsT Tor iTs anchorage, ThaT boTh ends aT Kwaialein, Kwaialein Island, Roi and Namur, The hub oil deTensive sysTem, be assauITed simuITaneou ond day, and ThaT EniweTok be Taken as so ble ThereaTTer. I 4 N19 SC-C5 +L Ii' I s.y OFT r. -T - .X ,-,-A f-,-.fv iq, vvi M - .V . i irnniniy liiiii il.-. ruin ,Tn iiion, i i I E?-'J-Ln if wil! ..iG' iii, HS' .40 in-in' ..5' ri' f i T 5 Q 5 1 T E 5. 5. 3 T 2