Louisville (CA 28) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 202 text:

174 Fifth Fleet for duty. That could only mean one thing: Okinawa. We were to join the most vicious struggle in naval history. For forty days the Fifth Fleet had been combatting ai continuous stream of deadly Jap suicide planes. The toll of men and ships was already a record in naval annals. And in some quarters it was wondered if we would not be driven back. Or was the fleet that came to Okinawa there to stay? After storing ton after ton of supplies into seemingly cavernous holds and tuck- ing enough TNT inside our tight steel skin to blow us over the moon, we took on fuel for the passage to battle. Then Entering Hagushi anchorage. 1 l - t rt P on May 9, after taking Admiral Halsey's staff of fifty officers and one hundred men aboard, we were joined by the destroyer Stormes and steamed west for Guam. One morning an alert was flashed from Guam and we rushed to air offense. Forty S millimeter quads ground nervously, omi- nously on the turntables. Snooper planes had been discovered over the area. They usually presaged attack. We seemed a long way from engagements, yet Truk and other enemy-held possessions were relatively near by air. Sensitive radars searched the circum- ference of horizons throughout the day to trace down the threatened foe, but with- out success. The raid did not develop. Upon arrival in Guam, we moored alongside the fleetjs mighty Missouri to give Admiral Halsey his staff. He, as commander of the Third Fleet, was to relieve Admiral Spruance. Upon receiving his staff, the Third Fleet Commander sent usa typical Halsey HThank you. Soon after, we received orders to report to Vice Admiral Turner, Commander of Task Force 51 at Okinawa. As the bugler sounded the solemn notes of approaching Sunday morning church services, we set outifor Okinawa. The Stormes was again our escort. The short trip to the front was swift and por- tentous. Our nights were troubled by a maturing moon, whose brilliance made, our silhouettes all too obvious. Upon approaching Okinawa, the Stormes flashed us a warning of a sub contact. We immediately whirled into twists and turns to make ourselves a difficult target, while the Stormes darted about like a pointer nosing out a covey. However, the game could not again be detected, and we were soon relatively safe in Hagushi Anchorage. When we came in sight of the harbor, a great deal of our old confidence re-

Page 201 text:

I f I I I I , I I I III I I II I I FI C ' I I ,I II I I1 I II II ,f II I I I . 5, V I I I 1 I If 1 I I I , I I I I

Page 203 text:

turned. There were so many ships of all kinds and types that we might have been looking at East River, New York, rather than at an assault task force in the battle areas. Many old friends of former en- gagements, battleships and cruisers, were present. In the fading daylight we had a brief chance to observe our general surround- ings. The Ryukyus spread in an arc be- tween Kyushu, the southernmost of the lap home islands, and Formosa to the southwest. At the midpoint of the chain was Okinawa, bearing Naha, the capitol city of the Nansei Shoto Prefecture. The island is long and narrow-approx imately sixty miles in length and not over twenty-seven miles in width. Overlooking Naha was the ancient feudal castle of Shuri, where Commodore Perry was re- ceived by the King of the Okinawans in 1850. The Royal Line had long main- tained the vestiges of independence by playing the Chinese against the Japanese. However, after about 1879, there was no longer any question of power, for the laps then came into absolute control. Thus, for the past several generations Okinawans had been an integral part of the Japanese Empire. The native Okinawans made up the majority of the population, but became the lower branch of society. The top men of the island government were Japanese. Economy was controlled by the mother nation, as well as all positions of standing. When our forces landed upon the islands we found the cities inhabited largely by women, children and the old. The younger men were in labor battalions and the army, many of them then oper- ating in other theaters. At the time of our arrival, on May 23, the land struggle was well advanced. The conquest of the northern half had been At anchor in Hagushi, Okinawa, relatively easy, but the southern half, where the strategic Jap withdrew to his best prepared fortifications, proved another matter. The air attacks on the fleet were continuous, yet we were getting regular shipments of supplies into the island. Damaged ships were being repaired or re- placed as fast or faster than the ,laps could knock them out. But bitter fighting lay ahead. The ,lap had no idea of surrender. On the morning after our arrival, we were assigned to a fire support group as aid to the advancing Marines. lt was the unpleasant custom of the laps to start infiltration tactics under cover of dark- ness. We were to move in and lob star shells over the now famed Shuri-Naha line to discourage their purpose. At about 1630 that afternoon we got underway with the Wichita, St. Louis and I75