Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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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. '

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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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2 and Crashing about 73 yards AlSlt'l'l1 of the ship. Ship's p11sition liglo 1118 li 11 jg-2.3 N. 1721 eye to ogool and p.g,e., ltlliu p.s.1'. 1111 l'Illt'I'.. geney turn. 1725 St't'Ulltl raid lK'ilI'lllQ 2j511O'l', I-735 U.S.S. 0111111111117 H111' tC1X'l'l 7115, l1t'ill'lllg' 160011, range 111 llllll'S, which was hit, aI1a11- doned ship: destroyers picking 11p Slll'X'lX'Ul'S.H VVe were cruising along, llllllillllg' 11ur 11w11 business, just west of llilllily Island and just south of Mindoro lsland when we went t11 Cien- eral Qluarters. l'll'tJIll the l.og, one 1-1111 easily see that we had hardly lllillllltfl 11ur guns when that Kamikaze came at us. He peeled oll' at about 6000 feet and made his dive from dead ahead. We could hardly see llllfl as he peeled off, but as he came nearer a11d nearer at sueh terrific speed, his plane grew rapidly in size u11- til it looked like a multi-motored transport. Fortunately, however, our forward QLIHS hit him fatally and at 1716 he was a dead duck, having crashed with a tremendous explosion just astern of us. There was no damage to the ship, however, one otlicer and one enlisted man were f'nicked by flying shrapnel from the ex- ploding plane. Chalk up one Jap flag on our bridge! Our first, but by no means our last. There were Jap planes all around, and we, naturally, remained at General Qluarters, al- though no more got through to us, thanks to our Combat Air Patrol and the lesson we had already taught the one that did get through. At 1735, one of our Sister ships, the U.S.S. Ommaney Bay QCVE 795, was hit by a Kami- kaze, necessitating abandoning ship, but with comparatively few casualties. She was later sunk by torpedoes from our own destroyers. Finally, tired from so long at our Battle Stations, we secured from General Quarters at 1902. We had had our first real test, not just a test of the gun batteries and those on the bridge, but a test ofthe nerve, ability and fight- ing spirit of every single man in the Lzmga Point, and we had come through with flying colors. Yes, we had had our first taste of ac- tual combat with the enemy and we had met the test deliberately and with the determination that was to sustain us and bring us successfully through every engagement confronting us in the future. Our long period of intensive train- ing had produced the desired results, and it was a proud and happy Skipper that addressed the men of the Lunga ljfllifll over the general a11- nouncing system that night. Wfhile the Clap- tain told us of his gratitude to all hands, he also gi J ...-s 'l'11f1.' First Jap plane we splashed exploded just astern of us in Sulu Sea: before: OIIIIIIIIIZIZQ' B111 burning following Kamikaze hit. .lI11k1'11 Ixlmzfz' right center. warned us that we had to continue at the peak from there on out, because that was just the beginning of our contacts with the enemy, and that we must be prepared for anything, any- time. SQU.-xDR0N,s FIRST JAP FLAG HFriday, 5january 1945: 08-12 Steaming as before. 0817 Dog fight re- ported bearing 0230511 Q7 miles. 0818 lN1anned all gun stations. 0820 General Quarters sounded. 0824 One enemy plane shot down by our CAPM Although our Squadron had done an ex- eellent job of flying Combat Air Patrol and Anti-submarine Patrol over our Task Force, they had not, up to now, been able to get in close contact with the enemy. 011 this partie- ular day, however, o11r CAP Tally H0'd en- emy aireraft about 27 miles away, and Lt. ' '-mare fef- A-