Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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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-

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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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l , i is 's i 'z 'e I 4 5: xl 1 If -i 'f r, ,K ll li I I H t I I Lt. Cjgj Ramey has his steak and cake for splashing Jap plane. Ramey shot down a Zeke,w the Hrst enemy plane shot down by our squadron. There was much celebration, because our squadron had proven thereby that they could dish it out. Consequently, that night in the Wardroom, Lt. Cjgj Ramey had the tradional steak and cake for dinner, while the rest of us had our usual Wardroom meal. And another Jap flag was painted on our bridge. This was destined to be a big day in the life of the Lunga Point and her Squadron, because A FIRST JAP SHIP H12-I6 Steaming as before. 1445 Received orders from OTC to arm four VT's with tor- pedoes. 1527 Four VT's ready to fly with torpedoes, and four FM2's with rockets, to intercept reported Japanese destroyersf' Twoenemy destroyers had been sighted just off Luzon about 20 miles away, and our planes, in company with planes from two or three other Squadrons, went in for the attack. The net result was that, with our rockets and tor- pedoes hitting their target, two Nipponese des- troyers reported to their Honorable An- cestors, and a Jap ship is now among the decorations on our bridge. All of our planes returned safely to the ship. That same afternoon, our Task Force was subjected to a rather heavy enemy air attack, and, while a number of our ships were hit, there was no great damage done any of them and their casualties were small. While we aircraft came within range of our guns, al- though we could see the other ships ln our l ask F orcc repelling the attack Although we were attacked a number of times and had many a Snooper coming in to get a look at us, we arrived off Lingayen Gulf on the appointed day, and our planes immedi ately began their bombing and strafing runs on enemy shore installations, while our Battle Wagons,,' cruisers and destroyers stood off- shore right in Lingayen Gulf, giving the enemy beaches a withering gunfire day and night were at General Quarters this time no enemy CC 33 ' S S 5 . W, wah- 'T i N, ,J Y 5 ' K, X Ith- 1 f 1::'::T? v 'V K- , -1- -- g 3 v'.','il 'ii If 5 ww:-.----,-M, , -U . 5 J!! e'7'l'T'AT?fffii .-'f Eff: ,J-filmms T , li? N 5,f'iLg --L roi , S , K .4 . , , - , 2 'J i ' ',: I I l l '25 ' '-pq r T ...-f ,. -.6 F 2 'S , v ,,- A A y. N - ' , 9' wi, . ,' , .ffi ' -'55, , ,Q as-fi ff- '4 ' A .-ASQ- 'L ' -' ' -:1 'W' -5' without let-up, literally pulverizing enemy installations, paving the way for our troops to establish their beach head. CCS!! On CCS Day, 9 January 1945, it was a Lunga Point plane, flying high above the Linga- 1 Direct hit on fuel dump at Aropong, near Baguio, Luzon, S --L