Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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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'

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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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7 l l l l l l 1 it group that was making night attacks on enemy shipping while the Squadron itself made the attacks during the day. Neither the cruisers nor our Squadron were able to locate any enemy shipping of consequence. however. While our Squadron sank or damaged a num- ber of very small japanese craft in the Yangtse River, there seemed to be absolutely no ship- ping getting through to the Empire. 'lhe blockade seemed to us to be just about loo per cent effective. During this period we were either covering the minesweepers or the cruiser group or mak- ing direct attacks against enemy shipping. and on 31 july we again anchored in Buckner Bay for replenishment and lel't on i August for our operating area ofl' Shanghai. China. to con- tinue our attacks against enemy shipping. The day we left Okinawa we encountered another typhoon, with rolls up to 230. but, dc- spitc the pitch and roll ol' the ship, llight opera- tions continued uninterrupted. VCI 98 SPIASIIIQS A -I.-xii Bogies continued to send us to general quarters, and on 4 August, the ll LXP lroin the U.S.S. Caffe f,'l111lcr.ih'1' tCfX'l'i tool splashed a Tabby, and on the 3th, tic l,CfiXl' lroin the U.S.S. .Hzlltilz Islam! lCZYlC nigh and the l,',S,S. Caffe' Ulu1u'c,s'ln' lClYl'i tool each splashed a Franeis.l' 'lliat afternoon l,t. Beckwith, as- sign-d ljy Ill, fjgj Cox antl l.l. lkigl l'eeliles ol' our Squadron splashed a Francis ljg miles from us, and another .lap llag was painted on our bridge. On 7 August we again anchored in Buckner Bay and that night we went to general quarters twice. but the Bogies failed to close in on us. It had been some time then since we had ac- tually been attacked by the enemy. Their otlense seemed to have been reduced to the point ol' waging a war of nerves. because they seemed to be content with simply sending us to general quarters at night. thereby causing us the loss of much-needed sleep. lYhile the pur- pose ol' our visit was to take on stores and ammunition. we were honored on the 8th by a visit from Rear .-Xdinirals Durgin and Kendall ,- 7 ' A Chinese junk seen by VC-98 planes in Yangtse River. , 'fav ,fi lk 'k 'l'up.- Aerial view of minesweepers sweeping China Sea.' Mine being exploded in right backgroundg below: Another aerial view of mine sweepers in China Sea.