Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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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'

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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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after day until the field was cleared. While this was not a particularly interesting opera- tion, it was not lacking in excitement, because mines were constantly being sighted close to us, and our escorts would explode them, however, the knowledge of their presence was not too comforting at night. CAPTAIN 'CCAT3' LEAVES Us On 5 July, shortly after arriving in our operating area, all hands were called to awk' 'ggzri , We 1 1, f x.,,,, 'Q fi ' u ' 'wwf , , 4 'wi Top: Captain c'Gat', bids farewell to Exec., cenler: Captain GaN is piped aboard his plane with Department Heads as 'fsidc boysng below: Captain Hollingsworth inspecting VC-98, me quarters on the fiight deck for the ceremony of relieving the command, and at 0824 Captain Hollingsworth relieved Captain Washburn, and at 0839 Captain- HGATH Hew away from the decks of the Lunga Point, which he had com- manded since commissioning, and was landed on YonTan air strip, Okinawa, by one of our Avengers, from which point he was to Hy to Guam and thence to the States. We continued to cover the minesweepers un- til 1 5 July, during which time we went to gen- eral quarters many times due to Bogies in the area, most of which seemed to be snoopers, one of which a HDinah, was splashed at 28,000 feet on 6 july by the LCAP from one of our other carriers. None came within range of our ships, guns during this period, however, night fighters splashed quite a number in our area. The increasing number of surfaced mines did make it necessary for us to post extra lookouts. Nevertheless, enemy resistance definitely ap- peared to be weakening. On 1 5 July we left the minesweepers to re- fuel at sea south of Okinawa, and on the 17th we anchored in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, for re- plenishment, at 0749, but suddenly got under- way at 1430 the same day to ride out a typhoon which was heading our way. Our sudden de- parture made it necessary for us to leave several officers and men behind, but they were re- turned to us by a destroyer the next morning. While we encountered heavy seas and high winds we did not hit the center of the typhoon, and we safely rode it out, returning to Buck- ner Bay on QI July to continue with our loading of stores and ammunition. At 0128 on 22 July the U.S.S. Marathon CAPA 2009, on Oul' port beam, had a mysterious underwater ex- plosion, following which we went to general quarters, but, although Bogies came within 8 miles of us, it never was definitely determined whether it was a mine, an aerial torpedo Or 21 torpedo from a midget submarine that hit the fllaralhon. Later the same day we left for the mine- sweeping area, and on the 231'd, the LCAP from one of the other carriers splashed H DinahM and a fjudyw before they could gfft in close enough to do any damage to our unli- After providing air cover for the millff' sweepers for several days we found ourselves 111 the East China Sea, 70 miles off the mouth of the Yangtse River, from which point QUT Squadron was providing air cover for a CFUISCI'