Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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and crashing about 75 yards astern of the ship. Ship ' s position 131° 16.8 E 9° 32.3 N. 1721 c c to 090°T and p.g.c, 106° p.s.c. on emer- gency turn. 1725 Second raid bearing 230°T. ■735 U.S.S. Ommaney Bay (CVE 79), bearing i6o°T, range 10 miles, which was hit, aban- doned ship: destroyers picking up sur i ors. We were cruising along, minding our own business, just west of Panay Island and just south of Mindoro Island when we went to Gen- eral Quarters. From the Log, one can easily see that we had hardly manned our gims when that Kamikaze came at us. He peeled off at about 6000 feet and made his dive from dead ahead. We could hardly see him as he peeled off. but as he came nearer and nearer at such terrific speed, his plane grew rapidly in .size un- til it looked like a multi-motored transport. Fortunately, however, our forward guns hit him fatally and at 1716 he was a dead duck, having crashed with a tremendous explosion just astern of us. There was no damage to the ship; however, one officer and one enlisted man were nicked by flying shrapnel from the ex- ploding plane. Chalk up one Jap flag on our bridge! Our first, but by no means our last. There were Jap planes all around, and we, naturally, remained at General Quarters, al- though no more got through to us, thanks to our Combat Air Patrol and the lesson we had already taught the one that did get through. . t 1735, one of our Sister ships, the U.S.S. Ommaney Bay (CA ' E 79), was hit by a Kami- kaze, necessitating abandoning ship, but with comparatively few casualties. She was later sunk by torpedoes from our own destroyers. Finally, tired from .so long at our Battle Stations, we secured from General Quarters at 1902. We had had our first real test; not just a test of the gun batteries and those on the bridge, but a test of the nerve, ability and fight- ing spirit of exery single man in the Lunga Point, and we had come through with flying colors. Yes, we had had our first taste of ac- tual combat with the enemy and we had met the test deliberately and with the determination that was to sustain us and bring us successfully through every engagement confronting us in the future. Our long period of intensive train- ing had produced the desired results, and it was a proud and happy Skipper that addressed the men of the Lunga Point over the general an- nouncing system that night. While the Cap- tain told us of his gratitude to all hands, he also 1 i f : First Jap plane we splashed Sulu Sea; below: Ommaney Bay bui Makin Island right center. xplcded just astern of ng following Kamikaze w arned us that we had to continue at the peak from there on out, because that was just the beginning of our contacts with the enemy, and that we must be prepared for anything, any- time. Squ. dro. ' s First J. p Fl. g Friday, 5 January 1945; 08-12 Steaming as before. 0817 Dog fight re- ported bearing 023°T, 27 miles. 0818 Manned all gun stations. 0820 General Quarters sounded. 0824 One enemy plane shot down by our CAP. . lthough our Squadron had done an ex- cellent job of flying Clombat Air Patrol and Anti-sulDmarine Patrol over our Task Force, they had not, up to now, been able to get in close contact with the enemy. On this partic- ular day, however, our CAP Tally Ho ' d en- emy aircraft about 27 miles away, and Lt. (jg) 69

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from ;i siihmaiiiic roiiiad. our rriiisc from Kossol Roads lo the I ' hilippiins was more or k ' ss iiiuvtiitfiil. However, inlcrcst and cx- citcmciU yrcw throiic;hout the ship when we entered Snritjao Straits, rii ht in tlie lieart of the Philippines, all of whose islands, except Leyle, were enemy held, and from that point on we were to run the gauntlet of these enemy held islands right up to Lingayen Cnilf, but not with- out our share of excitement. The sun was just risinu; as we entered Surigao Straits, be- tween I.cNle and Mindanao, and sailed on into the Mindanao Sea, passing Bohol Island and rounding the southern tip of Negros Island where we entered the Sulu Sea. There is no doubt that we were seen by the enemy as we proceeded on this course, because wc were never out of sight of land until after we entered the .Sulu Sea. Quite frequently, wc would encounter native outrigger canoes along the route, one of them being .so large (about 75 feet) that one of our screening destroyers hailed her and sent a party aboard to investi- gate to make certain she was not an enemy. It was quite interesting while on watch topside, at night, to see the large number of fires burn- ing on the islands, some of which were, no doubt, in enemy encampments and some in Guerrilla encampments. Likewise, we quite freciuently saw Hashing lights ashore, and we just knew they were Ja[is signaliinn ahead to the next islarifi, Here comes ' Cal ' Durgin and his boys. Undoubtedly, the only rea.son we had not been attacked up until this time was simply be- cause our Task P ' orce was too pfnverfui for any- thing the Japs had to throw at us then. We felt, however, that, as we cruised north and the enemy was alile to concentrate his forces for an attack, we might have the opportunity to prove the value of our many anti-aircraft drills. ow that we were in the Sulu .Sea, our Ta.sk Force had grown tremendously: so much so that wc could see our Na al essels in all di- rections all the way cjver the horizon. The Japs undoubtedly felt, by this time, however, that they simply had to do something if for no other reason than to save face. Conse- quently, on First J.ap Fl. g Thursday. 4 January 1945: 16-18 .Steaming as before, i 705 Manned anti- aircraft batteries. Ship put at General Quar- ters. 1 71 5 Emergency turn to i47°T and p.g. c, i63°p.s.c. 1 7 16 .Shot down one Jap plane, believed to be a ' Zero, diving from the bow

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Lt. (jg) Raim-y has his su-ak and rake for ■■splashini; Jap plane. Ranicy shot down a Zcke, the first enemy plane shot down by our squadron. There was much celebration, because our squadron had proven thereby that they could dish it out. Consequently, that night in the Wardroom, Lt. (jg) Ramey had the tradional steak and cake for dinner, while the rest of us had our usual Wardroom meal. And another Jap flag was painted on our bridge. This was destined to be a big day in the life of the Liinga Point and her Squadron, because First J. p Ship 12-16 Steaming as before. 1445 Received orders from OTC to arm four V ' T ' s with tor- pedoes. 1527 Four ' T ' s ready to fly with torpedoes, and four FMs ' s with rockets, to intercept reported Japanese destroyers. Two enemy destroyers had been sighted just ofl Luzon about 20 miles away, and our planes, in company with planes from two or three other Squadrons, went in for the attack. The net result was that, with our rockets and tor- pedoes hitting their target, two Nipponese des- troyers reported to their Honorable An- cestors, and a Jap ship is now among the decorations on our bridge. All of our planes returned safely to the ship. That same afternoon, our Task Force was subjected to a rather heavy enemy air attack, and, while a number of our ships were hit, there was no great damage done any of them and their casualties were small. While we were at CJeneral Quarters this lime no enemy aircraft came within range of our guns, al- lliougli we could see the other shi|js in our I ask Force repelling the attack. .Mlhough we were attacked a number o( times and had many a snoopK-r coming in to get a locjk at us, we arri cd f)fr Lingayen (julf on the ap|3ointed clay, and our planes immedi- ately began their bombing and straling runs on iiiemy shore installations, while our Battle Wagons, cruisers and destroyers stood off- shore right in Lingayen Gulf, giving the enemy beaches a withering gunflre day and night without let-up. literally pulverizintj enemy installations, paving the way for our troops to establish their beach head. S D. Y On .S Day. g January 1945, it was a Liinga Point plane, flying high abo e the Linga- n, ' S ' '