Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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1X1 ll LUZUN .Mart mme the grml lfulrlr of lugfmq It zeax nip ami flllhlt' zeillz lin' Sam of .Yzippmf :lx our flffllltii' zlmmlffilml slum' zimlnllalzinii In fI'bt'!'1Ifli0lI tif the l'l11'f1ipfu'm' .hiflflitlll In CFVIIII-Il I'1'l'flllV'l'.f!'1IlIl the zmnl, Ihr i'lN'lOnday. Ixlanuary 1945: 04-08 Anchored as before. turgo Station:-cl ' ships inxolxcd would be one of the largest in world history in a single operation. Phe large nuinhc r of ships of all types in our own Task lorec was already well known to U5 and We wc rt told that wc. would be joined by other groups from time to time as we proceeded on Day fthe. Iuzon invasion dayj was to be 9 'tnuary but that we were to arrive oH'L1nga- yt n C ulf smeral days ahead so that the planes of our group could go about the task of bomb- ing 'uid strafing enemy shore installations and , lk? 1 1 I ' ' I ' s 1 1 4' . , , V 7 . ' I 3 - i 1 , i , 1 1 --ind UU' 'VW' -' 3'1 -t,ff f.iff Off ff .f ' -M 'NU' WHY- lhe Old Man also told us that SH c ' , lc 7 l x A i . 2 . , i f , L A all . 4. . L 1 K the anchor detail. lNlade all preparations for getting underway. Set Material Condition Baker. obo! Underway. Steaming in coin- pany with various units of'l'ask Group 77.2 and Task Group 77.4. UTC in USS. Clflflif-Ill'!ll.!l CBB 447. Guide in U.S.S. .llakziu lslmzrl CCIVIQ 93533. We had hardly gotten underway when the Skipper told us over the general announcing system that we were a part of one of the great- est military operations in history. We were en route to Lingayen Gulf, where the Invasion of Luzon was to take place. and the number of othmrwisc softc ning up the inxasion beaches, paving the way for our landing forces. New Yearls Day 1945, will forever be indel- ilily impressed on our minds, because, instead of sitting at home by the fire, listening to the Rose Bowl game with a group of friends, there was an even bigger game that occupied us, and we were not spectators, either. Realizing the magnitude of the ugamew ahead of us, and determined to live up to what was expected of us, every ofiicer and man turned to with a seriousness of purpose that was bound to spell success for our part of the Luzon operation. Except for one emergency turn, resulting Sail and stmam in hfindanao Qea win' . - s- f ,f ' ' i . - 01 ,fift h ,L ,Q'5,b Him, . 'gilt I V Sex y ,g ig 7941.1

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from a submarine contact, our cruise from Kossol Roads to the Philippines was more or less uneventful. However, interest and ex- citement grew throughout the ship when we entered Surigao Straits, right in the heart of the Philippines, all of whose islands, except Leyte, were enemy held, and from that point on we were to run the gauntlet of these enemy held islands right up to Lingayen Gulf, but not with- out our share of excitement. The sun was just rising as we entered Surigao Straits, be- tween Leyte 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 we were never out of sight of land until after we entered the Sulu Sea. Quite frequently, we would encounter native outrigger canoes along the route, one of them being so large Cabout 75 feetj 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 frequently saw flashing lights ashore, and we just knew they were .laps signalling ahead to the next island, 4'Here comes 'Cali Durgin and his boys. Undoubtedly, the only reason we had nm been attacked up until this time was simply be thing the laps had to throw at us then. We felt, however, that, as we cruised north and the enemy was able to concentrate his forces for an attack, we might have the opportunity to prove the value of our many anti-aircraft drills. Now that we were in the Sulu Sea, our Task Force had grown tremendously, so much so that we could see our Naval vessels in all di- rections all the way over 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 facef' Conse- quently, on cause our Task Force was too powerful for any- FIRST -IAP FLAG Thursday, 4 January 1945: 16-18 Steaming as before. 1705 Manned anti- aircraft batteries. Ship put at General Quar- ters. 1715 Emergency turn to 147OT and p.g. c., 1630 p.s.c. 1716 Shot down one Jap plane, believed to be a 'Zero,' diving from the bow Part ofa convoy cn route to Luzon. '