Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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W'e continued to pick up Bogies near our formation, but not nearly so often as during our earlier days in the combat area, and those that we did pick up did not seem to be quite as anx- ious 'cto die for dear old Nipponn as others with whom we had come in contact. They seemed to be mostly Ksnoopersi' just looking us over. They did, however, continue to be the cause of our going to general quarters at all hours of the Cay and night and, consequently, the cause of our losing lots of sleep and time from other ship's work. On QI june we made another visit to Kerama Retto to re-arm and replenish our stores, and, just to make us feel at home there, a Bogey closed to within three miles of us while on this visit. We speedily loaded our ammunition and stores aboard, though, and got underway early in the afternoon, just in time it turned out, since a few hours after our departure two ships were badly damaged there by Kamikazes. On the 24th we set our course for Leyte, where we anchored in San Pedro Harbor on the 27th. -f . Top: Residential section of Tolosog bclow: Bugingsq gcc-tion LEYTE Although we had participated in the Leyte operation in November 1944, this was our first visit to Leyte proper, since our part in the operation had consisted of giving air cover to convoys in Leyte Gulf. Consequently, We found much to interest us on our one or two liberties while there. We found the natives most happy to see us and outwardly grateful to the Americans for their liberation. We also Lt. Palmer relieves Lt. Cdr. Hagstrom as A.C.I. officer as the latter steps into breeches buoy for transfer at sea off Okinawa. found that the ravages of war had inflicted al- most irreparable damage on them which would take at least a generation to erase. It was quite evident that they would need the moral and economic backing of the United States for some time to come, however, they seemed to have a spirit that would enable them to acquire and maintain independence as a Nation with gr2lCC and dignity among the Nations of the World- Leyte afforded us the hrst opportunity to buy souvenirs since we left Pearl Harbor and I'1'1OSt every member of the shipls company returned from liberty with something in the W21Y.0fa souvenir of our short visit to the Philippines. Un 1 july we got underway from San Pedro Harbor for the East China Sea, the locale s our next operation. lt so happened that tain Washburn had received orders to be ' manding Officer of the Naval Air S Clinton, Oklahoma, during the latter PHT MHVY, ?lHCl, by this time, he had becO1'I1C what concerned over the arrival of his Cap be He had felt quite certain that he WOL11Cl lieved in Leyte. But such was not the and he took the eonn out of Leyte reconciled to another long operatiorl of

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i l twenty-five degree rolls were more than fre- quent throughout the night, and. one time. about dawn, we had a forty degree roll, which is just about the limit to which we could go without capsizing. lVIany times during the night the ship would list to port or starboard and seem to poise at its peak, undecided wheth- er to continue or to come back. The Qld lX-Ian was, ofcourse, on the bridge all night, and it is understood that quite a few times we rolled ...Aj T A slight roll during -Iune typhoon. over so far that the ship poised at its peak long enough for everyone from the Skipper to the Quartermasters to say a fairly long prayer be- fore we rolled back. W'aves were continually breaking over the bow, some even coming up over the flight deck, and it is a real tribute to all departments that they had the ship so well secured that nothing more than superficial damage could be found when the storm was all over. june 7th found us operating off Sakashima Gunto, with our planes making strikes against enemy air strips and other installations. It was on this day that we had our first close con- tact with the enemy since leaving Guam. XfVe hadjust secured from morning general quarters when, at o636 to be exact, a Kamikaze dove into the forward end of the flight deck of the U.S.S. Ncztoma Bay CCVE 622, coming to rest on her forecastle. This was another case of a Bogey slipping in on us without detection, not a ship in our formation having anything on their screen. The Natoma Bay was just about 1,ooo yards on our port beam at the time, and many of our personnel saw the plane go into HS dive. Fortunately, however, the damage tO the Natoma Bay was not great, and they w61'C able to continue operational with temporary repairs. just after this, however, a BOg6y was picked up on our screen and at o637 wg went to general quarters. Shortlv after all hands hid SOW11 to their battle stations another Ixamikaze made a dive at the US S HOSKQUH Bfll' QCVE 7jl. but missed. diving into the sea and exploding close aboard without doing .any damage. The Hoggaff Bar was in the middle of our formation and the Kami- kazes were getting too close to tts for comfort. Later on other Bogies were picked up np- proaching our formation. but thev just looked us over and left. Following this. we continued our operations against Sakashima Gunto for several days with our Squadron making quite a number of successful strikes. Wvhile we were still operating in the Saka- shima area Admiral Durgin came aboard on 15111110 on an oflicial visit. at which time all hands were called to quarters on the flight deck for the presentation of awards. - 1 R2 . 1 in Toloso, Leytc, P. I., brluztx' Offictzfs Ywflf Stole and dwelling Club at TOIOSO. 213

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Captain Hollingsworth arrives aboard in Avenger. EAM mmm nu would be relieved. Meanwhile, his relief would be chasing us all over the Pacific. W'e had hardly gotten underway from Leyte, however, when a Grumman UGoose CMIRFD began circling our ship, and we soon learned that the Old lN4an,s relief was in it. We told them to return to the Samar Air Field and we would send for him. Consequently, we dispatched two Avengers to Samar, and shortly thereafter they landed aboard with Captain VVilliam Right Hollingsworth, USN, who was to relieve Captain Washburn. We continued on our way to our operating area in the East China Sea where a very large group of minesweepers were sweeping an area due West of Okinawa, mid-way between Okinawa and the China Coast, probably pre- paratory to a landing on the China Coast, be- cause the area swept was approximately 50 by 40 miles-a very large mine field. Qur mis- sion was to provide air cover for the mine- sweepers as they swept back and forth, day Captain Washburn, I relieve you, sirf'