Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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ammunition from LCM. 1735 Underway from Kerama Retto anchorage. Captain at the conn. Executive Officer and Navigator on the bridge. afe ahead 2f3. 1737 Ship 7.--gf T' 4, jg '99r'iffiiiQgfj , Q-EE: 9. M, 5 , QZQZLQQE Sr... gi g,'et . 455.3 3 i. I. i i I it 77 -.1-4 3 Yan ff ffl s t 5 'f-'f ' F E iii. X1 , ,,, ,if ' -if-.2 iff-' if Efif- 'Wil 1 ,J effi-reefs' ...lZfsr 03? went to General Quarters. 1740 Came to course 215OT and p.g.c., 2180 p.s.c. 1754 Passed through anti-submarine nets. Kerama Retto had been a hot place in more ways than one, and no one was exactly sorry to be leaving, however, our really hot time was yet to come, when ' 'CI8-20 Steaming as before. 1809 Secured from General Quarters. Set Condition of Readiness III, Material Condition Baker. 1823 cfc to 1o4OT and p.g.c., 0990 p.s.c. Five destroyers of MinDiv 60 sighted on port bow 2 miles. 1833 Ship went to General Quarters. 'B0gies' reported approaching from north- erly and southwesterly directions. Transport Group, 6 miles distant on starboard quarter, seen under attack. 1842 cfs to flank. 1843 Two enemy planes approaching our starboard quarter. All guns opened fire. U.S.S. M itcfzell and U.S.S. Patterson also opened fire. One plane hit and believed crashed. The other plane turned away at 1500 yards. 1844 Two enemy planes approaching on port beam. The U.S.S. Nawmem, MinDiv 60 and this ship all took these planes under Hre. Both planes shot down. 1845 cfc to I5OoT and p.g.c. Unidentified plane approaching on port bow in low glide. An enemy 'Nick' approaching in diving attack on starboard bow. All brought to bear and plane on port bow turned away at 1,000 yardsg believed to have been hit and crashed. Planes on starboard bow turned left at 1200 yards and dove on U.S.S. Mitchell, dropping two small bombs. The plane then crash-dived on an APD. 1858 cfc to 240 'I' and p.g.c. Fires observed on APD. 1916 Ob- served gunfire by convoy bearing 255oT, dis- tance IO miles. Two enemy planes seen to be shot down in flames. 1942 Secured from Gen- eral Quarters. Set Condition of Readiness III, Material Condition Baker. 1958 cfc to 27OOT and p.g.c. cfs to I4 knots. Bogies having been reported closing on us from both the north and southwest, we were, of course at General Quarters waiting to open fire just the minute they dared come within range of our guns. At 1843 two enemy planes were seen approaching our starboard quarter and the starboard guns opened fire just before they got within range, throwing up a terrific barrage. One of the planes dared to come in to within 1500 yards, but, apparently, he couldn't Utake it,,' and turned and dis- appeared. The second plane, taken under fire by this ship, the M itehell and the Patterson, finally turned to his starboard, low on the iE55I:I ffflf G its iEii53a We 'F-5 Nl 5 f i I f--+55 221 1 l M fresco E25 1- it . f -rio Nuxllilm P If E :Ee YIQII 'ff - fl' I.---' QC - .5 ' . 'Q NX iq' tease. sf 1 ClNsi:? 032255 water, and crashed some distance from us. just about that time, two more enemy fighters approached low on the water to port and were taken under fire by the Nawman and probably MinDiv 60. One of them exploded in the air

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Q. U.S.S. Dickerson ablaze following Kamikaze hit off Kerama Retro. and the other crashed in flames. At 184.5 an unidentified plane started a dive on our port beam and all our port guns opened up, and he, too, couldnjt C'take our barrage and he turned away at 1000 yards. We saw this plane no more, and, after the gunfire he went through, it is only logical to assume that he is now en- joying a bowl of rice with his ancestors. While this plane was diving on our port bow, another plane, believed to be a 'CNick,H was diving on our starboard bow, but he also turned at 1200 yards and attacked the Mitchell, dropping two small bombs which fell close astern of her, then heading again for us. Apparently hit by either us or the M itchell, he turned away smoking, and Admiral Durgin CComEsCarForPacj honors us with a vist off Okinawa Gunto. WT crash-dived into an APD, which we took to be the Dickerson, because the ship where the Dick- erson had last been seen was suddenly a blazing inferno. While those last two planes were diving at us simultaneously, from both port and starboard, every gun on the ship had them un- der lire. ln the semi-darkness, as all guns belched forth flames from their smoking muz- zles, our ship resembled a picture of the Gates of Hell being suddenly thrown open on a dark night. The attacks we had repulsed during that day proved to be by far the most extended period we had remained under attack, and, actually, there had been no time during our combat Banta, Sic, is returned aboard after jumping over the side to avoid falling plane. career that we had been more vulnerable. That morning, we had been attacked while at anchor in a coral atoll unable to maneuver. Even had the Old Man decided to get under- way, it would have been slow going for us, maneuvering our way out through the hazard- ous coral reefs that surrounded the anchorage. So we just had to sit there like a Clay Pigeon and fight the best we could from our ccsit- ting-positionf, That, however, proved good enough. Then, in the attack that evening, we didn't have our usual number of aircraft car- riers and as large a screen with us as we had previously had when under attack. There we were, the main target, with only our three de stroyers comprising the Task Force to fight off all those planes Even then maneuvering was none too easy because we hadn t gotten into the open sea when the attack started, and were bounded by coral reefs not too far distant ' ,' cc aa . j , 9 J I if .g