Pennsylvania (BB 38) - Naval Cruise Book

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One of the most remarkable pictures of the war An aerial view of the PENNSYLVANIA as she blasts away with her twelve I4 Inch guns at the Jap airfield on Orote Peninsula Guam N June the tenth the PENNSYLVANIA as one of a force of battleshlps cruls ers escort carriers and destroyers put to sea bound for Saipan the first of our obgectlves in the Marianas That night a destroyer in the screen of the disposition reported a sound contact An emergency ships left 90 deg was ordered As a result of the maneuver the PENNSYLVANIA collided with the TALBOT, an APD. The PENNSYLVANIA sustained only very minor damage, but the TALBOT was forced to put into Eniwetok for emergency repairs. It was not until some time after the accident that those aboard the PENNSYL- VANIA Iearned that the TALBOT was carry- ing a large amount of TNT for underwater demolition work The PENNSYLVANIA bombarded Saipan for only one day I4 June the day prior to the assault landing The targets were Japa nese installations in the Nafutan Point Magicienne Bay area Some damage was effected although it was limited by the long ranges at which the bombardment had to be conducted. Enemy guns on Nafutan Point are known to have been knocked out. On Dog Day the PENNSYLVANIA cruised up and down off the northeastern shore of Tinian, which lies iust south of Saipan, ready to take under fire any enemy batteries which

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fire on this island. Parry, which is iust over a mile long and less than 500 yards wide, was subjected to a naval bombardment that fo-2' volume of fire per square yard has never been equalled elsewhere. At the beginning of the bombardment the island was covered with a dense growth of palm trees extending Clown to the water's edge, and at its conclusion not a single tree remained standing. The ground was littered with broken tree trunks and palm fronds. The air spotter of the PENNSYLVANIA reported that all visible installations were de- stroyed, trenches demolished and unservice- able, and areas he designated as containing Jap troops covered with blood upon comple- tion of the firing periods. He further reported that the Japs appeared to become hysterical during -the bombardment and ran ,frantically up and down a trail on the far side of the island, into the bushes, and out into the water. On the morning of the 22nd the PENNSYL- VANlA'S secondary and 40mm. batteries de- livered supportinggfire prior to the landing of Parry. During the assault LCI 440, which had an observation party aboard and was lying off the landing beach, received a direct hit by a medium caliber projectile and suffered numerous casualties. With most of his crew in desperate need of medical attention,'the skipper of the LCI steered his craft for the nearest large ship, the PENNSYLVANIA. When the LCI came along the starboard quar- ter of the battleship, her decks were literally running with blood. Casualties were promptly taken aboard the PENNSYLVANIA, and the iniuredt given medical treatment until they could be transferred to a hospital ship later in the day. Three officers from the COLO- RADO, who had been in the observation plarty aboard the LCI, were returned to their s I . p A SYDNEY BOUND g While the LCI was still alongside, the PENNSYLVANIA was taken under fire by an enemy shore battery and was later straddled in range and deflection. From the size of the splashes and the II fragments discovered aboard later, it was estimated that a 75mm, gun or mortar was firing. There were no casualties. After the conclusion of the Eniwetok Op- eration there was a lull of almost four months before the next amphibious operation in the Central Pacific. The PENNSYLVANIA steamed to Maiuro and then southward to Havannah Harbor, Efate, in the New Hebrides. There she lay through most of March and April. At one time, when the Japs had been surging toward Australia, Efate had been one of our most advanced bases, but now, with the front lines far to the northward, Efate was in the backwash of the war. There was little activity of any kind. Life aboard the PENNSYLVANIA settled into an inflexible routine. Recreation Parties were sent to Pennsylvania Beach, where two cans of beer were doled out to each of the men and where they could go swimming and hunt for cat-eyes, or barter with the natives for coconuts and grass skirts. Capt. Corn was relieved by Capt. C. F. Martin on April the 23rd. Shortly before this time scuttlebutt had begun to circulate that the ship would make a visit to Sydney, Aus- tralia, and for once the scuttlebutt was right. The PENNSYLVANIA, NEW MEXICO and IDAHO arrived in Sydney on the 29th and stayed exactly one week. To their crews, Syd- ney turned out to be iust about what Paris was to our troops in France during World War I. The sailors had a little difficulty in dealing in pounds and shillings and in under- standing certain Aussie expressions, but they had no difficulty at all with the girls. The PENNSYLVANIA gave two dances, one for each watch, at the Sydney Town Hall. Half the female population of the city must have been present. TARGET PRACTICE After this brief vacation, which was the only thing of the sort that the crew of the PENNSYLVANIA received during a period of seventeen months, the ship returned to Efate for a short while and then continued north- ward into the Solomons. She steamed west- ward along the north shore of Guadalcanal, past the beaches where the first landings had been made two years before, past Henderson Field, and then across Iron Bottom Bay, named for a good part of the U. S. and Japanese fleets, to Port Purvis, Florida Island. Using Port Purvis as a base, the PENNSYLVANIA sortied three times to bombard simulated tar- gets on Cape Esperance, Guadalcanal, and to take part in a practice amphibious assault. She then returned to Efate to replenish am- munition, after which she' proceeded north- ward again to Roi.

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THE MARIANAS CAMPAIGNfContinued might open up on our' landing beaches on Saipan. Four times during the day enemy fire or other activity was observed on Tinian, and each time the PENNSYLVANIA promptly opened fire. That night the PENNSYLVANIA steamed southward for Guam, about l40 miles away, and the next morning she opened fire on Orote Peninsula. Her ,second main battery salvo put the Jap airfield on Orote Peninsula completely out of use, for the time being at least. The bombardment ,continued for an hour and a half, and then it and the entire Guam,Operation were interrupted by the ap- pearance of the Japanese Fleet in the Philip- pine Sea. The PENNSYLVANIA was recalled to Saipan to serve with other OBB's as a last line of defense for our troops and shipping at Saipan should the Jap Fleet break through. While the force was patrolling in an area north of Saipan there were numerous air con- tacts, and twice the PENNSYLVANIA took enemy planes under fire. ' 'On the afternoon of 22 June the force anchored in Garapan Anchorage, off the western coast of Saipan, to refuel destroyers. At dusk a Betty slipped around a large hill on Saipan and was over our force before it had been sighted or picked up by radar. It dropped its torpedo almost on top of the PENNSYLVANIA and was gone before any ship fired a shot. The torpedo landed in the water iust a few yards off the starboard bow of the PENNSYLVANIA, and a few seconds later the sound of an explosion came from the direction of the MARYLAND, anchored about 600 yards astern. The task group, with the exception of the IMARYLAND, promptly got underway. By 25 June the Japanese Fleet had been mauled and turned back by aircraft of our 5th Fleet, and the PENNSYLVANIA departed from the Saipan area. She remained at Eni- wetok from June 28th 'until July 9th, when she left to resume the Guam Operation. On the I2th, l3th, and l4th of July the PENN- SYLVANIA bombarded in preparation for the eventual assault and landing on Guam. Fire was delivered in coordination with the NEW MEXICO and was directed at predetermined targets and targets of opportunity, the obiect being destruction rather than neutralization. Upon the completion of firing on the evening of the l4th the PENNSYLVANIA returned to Saipan to take on more ammunition. The Pre-assault bombardment was again resumed on the morning of the l7th of July. In support of underwater demolition opera- tions, the PENNSYLVANIA executed close-in protective fire support, covering all points from which fire might be brought to bear on Officers of the PENNSYLVANIA at Efate, April, 1943. Captain Corn commanding.