Lexington (CV 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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One of the Air Groupls major attacks on the fleet at Kure saw three hits scored on carrier Katsuragi, two on Ise Qlast blasted by Lexington planes eight and one-half months earlierj, seven on the cruiser Aoba, two on cruiser Oyodo and two more on the unfinished flattop Aso. Another successful day was enjoyed july 28, when Air Group 94 pilots claimed 41 enemy planes de- stroyed, 16 probably destroyed and 26 dam- aged, in addition to hits which left Ise in flames, Aoba awash at the stern, and both resting on the bottom. This date also marked the end of battleship Haruna, converted battleship Hyuga and several other cruisers damaged in previous raids. japan was thus left with a lone battleship QNagat0j, six carriers and five cruisers, all of them out of action and without a crew aboard any of them. Proud and triumphant, Admiral Halsey sent a 'cWell Donej' to his fleet, advising them to HMark well this day the twenty-eighth of july. At dusk on the 30th, following additional strikes on airfields and the planes concealed around them, the Task Force retired to replenish. A week later Lexington was steaming 300 miles off Honshu when the news of the first atomic blast fired in anger was announced. The bomb had been dropped over Hiroshima by a B-29 at 9:15 a.m. on August 6, and the results were ucatastrophic. '7 As described by naval historian Morison, ccThe bomb exploded right over the parade ground where the japanese Second Army was doing calisthenics. The soldiers were wiped out almost to a man. Everything in the city within an area of over four square miles was razed or fuzed. An estimated 71,379 people, in- cluding the military, were killed, 19,691 were seriously injured, and about 171,000 rendered homeless. Three-fifths of Hiroshima had been blown off the face of the earth. 69

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little resistance either from fighters or anti-air- craft fire. Later raids however met enough op- position to enable them to shoot down 25 de- fenders they also destroyed 18 on the ground although their Group Gommanderwas shot down Two days later the initial landings were made on Iwo ima and Lexington s planes operated in close support of the ground forces dropping 14 tons of bombs and 85 rockets. On the 20th the Force retired and that day Lex rearmed from Shasta the first time the carrier had performed such an operation at sea. The Task Group moved back to attack the japanese home islands February 23, but nearly all future operations were nullified by continuous- ly inclement weather. The trio. of strikes launched on the 25th-found the targets in and around Tokyo closed in, and it was nearly a week later when the Air Group 's next action came- against Nansei Shoto fan island chain in which Okinawa liesj. Only a few enemy aircraft were discovered, and most of the planes spent their ammunition against shipping in the area. The following day the Force again retired, arriving Ulithi March 5. This marked the end of combat operations for A fighter-pilot s ready roorn ahoardLex shortbf before manning az'rcra t or an- other strihe. Some read some play chess others carry on johing conversa- tions or catch a ew rninutes sleep he ore the brie ing or the upcoming strike. miral Sprague s TG-38.1 in Admiral McCain s TF-38D Lexington conducted intensive training on the way north and was therefore . ready willing and ablej' for the strikes beginning july 10 on the Tokyo area. . In certainrespects this day set the pattern forthe weeks to come- raids against airfields on Honshu and Hokkaido, runs on industrial targets around Tokyo, and strikes on remnants of the japanese Fleet at Yokosuka and Kure Naval Bases. Throughout these operations, it is noted in Tarawa to Tokyo, uthe japanese refused to take to the air to protect the Homeland. Although. . . half-hearted attacks against units of the Task Force were made by enemy planes individually and in small groups, no airborne opposition was at any time encountered by ourplanes, and the --1-.-5-n-an-r.-as-xauatw-.mmf-J---' L V. 4- Q-my-1-mxgem :-gf. -'wma-:mama5-.eafmaaasevsiwm-:nwmaenwtmfwers2'1raa2'.3r'v'vaffm'f1-If ' - m .... 1 , 7 f If J C D' Q f f ' I : a 9 7 C 7 7 a cc 7 a GV-16 for awhile, after transferring Air Group Nine to another carrier, Lex embarked Air Group Three and headed for the United States. Following six weeks in Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, Lexington picked up planes and passengers at Alameda, California, and proceeded to Pearl Harbor. There she embarked Air Group 94 and steamed westward for her third combat tour of the war. After a week of training exercises enroute with the carriers Hancock and Cowpens and other units of TG-12.4, she struck the long-belabored japanese garrison at Wake on june 20. As the ship 's War Diary described the strike it uwas in the nature of a practice strike for the benefit of the new Air Group. . .in addition to harassing Jap installations .... H Air Group 94, flying the first Corsairs to operate from Lex, dropped 63 tons of bombs and 470 rockets on the island, shortly thereafter, a Nipponese hospital ship evacuated approximately 1,000 sick and wounded and very defeatedi' japanese. Back in the Philippines as a part of Rear Ad- 68 ship 's guns never opened fire. ' UIt was evident that the japanese had taken ex- tensive precautions for the wide dispersal and careful concealment of their planes. During the following weeks effective attacks were made only when study of photographs enabled our pilots to concentrate on good planes and to leave alone the more obviously placed duds and dummies. The technique of destroying grounded planes involved low-level flying over areas well protect- ed with anti-'aircraft fire and was an important cause of the Air Groupas casualties during the operations: ten pilots and four aircrewmen listed as killed or missing in action. M In spite of the fact that Lexington herself was not subject to attacks from enemy aircraft, life aboard was not peacetime routine. As a War Diary entry on july 15 relates, f'We maintained our usually heavy strike day combat air partrol, and the ship again remained at general quarters throughout the day-this procedure will be fol- lowed throughout the remainder of all strike daysf, I i

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ff'-ff-Q--ss-.11-3.-111m , . , .. .-.. ,r .,..:.r:: .n as ,. ..x.:m. ......r ..,..tt'rv..:'- . ,. .-. .-.. . ..,.lv'i'TL - fff '. ' f ' ' X ' ' Three days later the japanese high command had not agreed on unconditional surrender, and even after the second atomic bomb exploded that morning at Nagasaki, there were several policy- making officers who insisted on holding out for certain conditions before agreeing to end the hostilities. Finally, following an Hlmperial Deci- sion by Emperor Hirohito, a message was dis- patched to the Allied Capitals, signifying japan's readiness to accept the Potsdam Declaration. Iapan's Premier, Prince Higashi-Kuni, in ad- dressing the Diet fParliamentj September 5 ad- mitted the atomic bomb was the immediate inducement to surrender, saying, 4'This terrific weapon was likely to result in the obliteration of the Japanese people .... - Following an exchange of official communiques concerning specific surrender terms, President Truman received the final message of agreement from the Emperor on the afternoon of August 14 and made the announcement to the American people at 7:00 p.m. . It was 8:01 on the morning of the 15th feast longitude datej when AZNav 194 reached Lexing- ton, proclaiming, that the war with japan had been brought to a conclusion. The first strike had been launched nearly four hours earlier and completed their missions, but several carriers called back strikes already in the air, before the targets could be reached. It would be vastly incorrect,,however, to say that ournmilitary forces immediately relaxed and prepared to celebrate. As the Lex War Diary stated that morning, We maintained a heavy Combat Air Patrol which was put to good use, since many enemy planes attempted to make suicide attacks on the Task Force, they were all shot down, as Admiral Halsey put it, 'in a friendly sort of way'f' - Attacking enemy aircraft were to be challenged, the Admiral's message was: HAll snoopers will be investigated and shot down, not vindictively, but in a friendly sort of way. Thirty-eight japanese planes were actually shot out of the air on August 15. A memo in Lexingionis record dated August, 1945, lists the following unofficial accomplish- ments of the carrier and her Air Groups Q16, 19, 70 20, 9 and 94j. Total number of flights .... 21,492 Action sorties ................................... .. 8,635 Enemy planes destroyed in air ........... 375 Enemy planes destroyed on ground ..... 665 Ship 's planes lost to AA fire ................ 107 Ship 's planes lost to enemy planes ...... 23 Total bomb tonnage dropped .......... .. 3,156 Total planes' rockets fired ......... .. 4,781 Combat ships sunk ............... . ............ 20 Merchant ships sunk ............................ A 57 The last Air Group to see action aboard, Ninety-Four, claimed 190 enemy planes destroy- ed on the ground, plus 64 Hprobablesw and 176 damaged, their total of only one enemy plane shot out of the air while based aboard CV-16 emphasizes the token opposition from Japanese fighters during the final months of the war. Air Group 94 engaged in gunnery exercises during the next couple of days, until the Task Force sailed south to rendezvous with aReplenish- ment Force. While reconnaissance planes from other carriers roamed over japan's skies during the next week, Lex remained 200 miles to the southeast of Honshu, conducting routine training operations, exercises were also held in which several Task Groups in the area-American and British Ships-joined together for maneuvers. August 25 CV-16 moved to within 100 miles of the japanese mainland and her Air Group conducted patrols over the land soon to be occu- pied by our advance occupation forces. When prisoner-of-war camps were located teach mark- ed by large letters 'LPWUQ the ship was imme- diately notified, and the next aircraft to leave her flight deck -within only two hours - were cram- med with food, clothing and medical supplies. Shipis company donated magazines, clothes, shoes and toilet articles while the print shop ran off a special edition of Lexington? newspaper, Sunrise Press, for an audience which had been isolated from the news of current events for such a long period. The squadrons' pilots flew many such mercy missions throughout the next week, earning for themselves, as well as the officers and men of the Blue Ghost, the heartfelt apprecia- tion of the captives anxiously awaiting release. The first Americans ashore arrived August 28,