Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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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.

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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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who came aboard for the presentation of awards. JAPS SAY CcUNCLE,, Gn Friday, IO August, while riding at an- chor in Buckner Bay, we were overjoyed to re- ceive word at about 2030 that the japs had all but sa-id, 'cUncle,', by sending word to the Allied Powers through neutral sources that they would accept the terms of the Potsdam Ulti- matum provided they were permitted to retain their Emperor. This, by no means, meant the end of the war, but it did very definitely mean that the japs had just about reached the end of their rope and actual surrender could be ex- pected momentarily. That same night, while all hands were avidly picking up all the news they could through the radio shack, that gong sounded at 2122 sending us to general quarters. On reaching our battle stations topside a great pyrotechnic dis- play greeted our eyes 5 shore batteries were firing in all directions all around the bay. Yet Gun Gontrol told us there was not a Bogey on the screen. We couldnit understand it. SOPA must have had some reason to send us to general quarters. Suddenly it dawned upon us that maybe the Army was prematurely cele- brating our Victory. Sure enough, that later turned out to be just what was happening, and the firing continued on the beach until Ad- miral Oldendorff in the Caljomia assumed com- mand and ordered the firing to cease. lt was quite a dangerous celebration, and itjs a won- der there were no casualties on our ship. We learned the next day that several were killed and many wounded during this wild celebra- tion on Okinawa. We continued to maintain the same Gon- dition of Readiness as in the past because we were all too familiar with japanese treachery, and there was no telling what they were up to. On Sunday, I2 August, at 2045, we heard a dull thud, which turned out to be a torpedo or mine hitting the U.S.S. Pennrylvania which was anchored about 1000 yards from us. It has not yet been determined what hit the Pennryl- vania, whether it was an aerial torpedo, a tor- pedo fired from a midget submarine or a float- ing mine. In any event, when we passed the Penngflvania on our way out of the harbor the next morning en route to Saipan she was down by the stern, evidently having been damaged well aft. Negotiations between the japanese Govern- ment and the Allied Powers continued as we Q 218 steamed toward Saipan. From what We had gathered from the radio there was little doubt in our minds but that the Japs would meet our terms of unconditional surrender. Finally, on I5 August, shortly after 0800, Captain Holl- ingsworth announced to us over the general announcing system that President Truman had announced the acceptance of unconditional surrender of the Japanese Government at 2300 GMT I4 August C0800 I5 August our timej, and that the Emperor was to order immediate cessation of hostilities. Several hundred mem- bers of the ship's company were gathered on the flight deck to hear the announcement, they having known pretty well what the announce- ment was to be. It was quite significant to us that, in contrast with the hilarious celebrations in the States, the men of the Lunga Point ac- cepted the news without even a single shout. When the Gaptain finished, they just walked quietly away and went about their business. They were happy enough, but it was a happi- ness based on a job well done and the knowl- edge that their chances of not getting home were now very remote as compared to what they had been a few weeks previously. Meanwhile, both our own and the japanese Government ordered cessation, of offensive hostilities pending actual signing of surrender terms. General MacArthur was designated Supreme Gommander for Allied Powers, and he promptly announced that the surrender would take place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay at a time to be announced later. We were, therefore, operating in a state of armed truce so to speak, and, except for the danger of floating mines that continued tO plague us, we could actually feel that the Wal' was over. SAIPAN We arrived at Saipan for a few days avail- ability on 18 August at which time our engiHCS were overhauled, our ship painted and minor general repairs were made. All hands WCTC very tired from our many months of combat duty and it was a great pleasure to us to flllfil that Saipan had such nice recreational facill- ties. There were clubs there for ofliCC1'S, chief petty ofhcers and enlisted personnel, and we made ample use of them. We had never had an opportunity for ofhcers of VG 98 and the shipas company YO sf together for a party since the Squadron reported aboard in Guam in May, so WC