Pennsylvania (BB 38) - Naval Cruise Book

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5. on the smaller combatant vessels or on ships total of 68 rounds. No other ship fired at the I,-f--A , wwe -rw' I i 2 ll' I s I 5 ? E, I P 5 I I I I I 1. 53 . I l S I I I E I I I I I f 5 s I I e I Q I gr., I I . I S in the transport area. All attacks were made under cloud cover and in the maiority of cases were undetected until the plane was either in its dive or glide or had dropped its bomb and pulled out. The early attacks were not pressed home, and few hits were observed. On the 25th of October, following the night action in Surigao Strait, a large number of planes appeared and made attacks 'iail bnxlthe smaller vessels of the screen. From then until the first of November the attacks increased both in intensity and determination. Numer- ous suicide attacks were made by Vals, Bet- ty's, and Zeros. All torpedo attacks were very determined, and the only defense against them became absolute destruction of the at- tacking planes. From November the first to the 25th, when the PENNSYLVANIA finally left Leyte Gulf, the attacks subsided. While in Leyte Gulf the PENNSYLVANIA shot down, either by herself or with assists from other ships, ten enemy planes and pos- sibly damaged others heavily. On the morn- ing of the 25th ten Vals made a simultane- ous run on a destroyer close aboard the PENNSYLVANIA. A.A. batteries of the battle- ship shot down four of the planes and drove the others off. On the night of the 28th of October a Betty headed in to make a torpedo run on the disposition. The control watch tracked the plane in, opened fire, and shot it down with the 5 battery. The elapsed time from starting to track to cease firing was one minute and thirty seconds. Eight guns fired a plane. There was no doubt about the kill. The next morning the Betty was found partly afloat with two good Japs and three live ones. Thelatter, after a little persuasion, were made prisoners. I' I Leyte,Gulf was almost completely land- locked. The proximity of land made it diffi- cult and at times wholly impossible to pick up enemy planes by radar. This threw the burden of sighting and identifying enemy planes on the sky lookouts. They did an out- standing iob. On occasions planes were sighted and identified at 50,000 yards. On November the 23rd a Judy appeared from behind a dark rain cloud at a range of about 3,500 yards. Within ten seconds the plclne had been sighted, identified, and itaken under effective A.A. fire. V 7 ' A FALSE ALARM Crews of the A.A. batteries of the PENN- SYLVANIA stood watch-and watch for a period of twenty-four days and nights fol- lowed by fourteen nights. In addition Air De- fense or General Quarters for air defense pur- poses was sounded l'l3 times. This figure moreover does not include routine morning and evening General Quarters. On the night of the first of November the PENNSYLVANIA again steamed in battle dis- position, ready to repel a Jap force reported standing for Surigao Strait. The report later proved to be false. On November the 25th the PENNSYL- VANIA was relieved by the WEST VIRGINIA LOWER LEFT: The Battle of Surigao Strait, October 25, 1944. Sky control sees some close action. LOWER RIGHT: Seventeen men, iniured when the USS ROSS IDD 5631 was damaged by mine explosions, are transferred from the USS MANLEY IAPD 11 to the quarterdeck of the PENNSYL- VANIA, October 19, 1944.

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THE PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN-Continued steamed southward for Surigao Strait. Throughout the night the six battleships, WEST VIRGINIA, MARYLAND, MISSISSIPPI, TENNESSEE, CALIFORNIA and PENN- SYLVANIA steamed slowly back and forth across the northern end of the strait, waiting. THE ENEMY SIGHTED At OI30 on the morning of the 25th PT boats stationed well down in Surigao Strait encountered the oncoming enemy force and attacked with torpedos. Next our destroyers, on either flank of our enemy's line of ap- proach attacked with torpedos and guns. The Jap force steamed on. Then, at 0325, the WEST VIRGINIA opened fire,followed shortly by other battleships and cruisers. The Japs had run head on into a perfect trap. Admiral Oldendorf had executed the dream of every naval tactician, crossing the enemy's T, He had known that the Jap units would have to advance. northward through the confined waters of Surigao Strait in column. By deploy- ing his own battle line across the north ofthe strait, he had placed the enemy units in fa position where they would be subiect to the concentrated fire of our force while able to reply least effectively. Now, the fire was mur- derous. Almost before the Japs could train their guns, they lost two battleships and three Doctors Forsley and Sheeran operate at sea. destroyers. The other two ships in the force, a heavy cruiser and destroyer turned and ran, but the cruiser was sunk the next day by carrier attack. A fact which will be forever galling to the men who were aboard the PENNSYLVANIA that night is that the ship never opened fire. General Quarters was sounded at OI3O, when the first contact report came through, and battle stations were manned in record time. Gun crews stood by for two hours, fev- erishly waiting for the word to commence firing. It never came. There was a good rea- son, but it could do Iifilie to relieve the dis- appointment of not having had a hand in the sinking of two Jap battlewagons when the chance finally came. Shortly after daybreak, the Central Force of the Jap Fleet engaged a group of CVE's operating east of Samar to cover the upper end of Leyte Gulf. The Jap Force had been attacked heavily by carrier planes the day before and had suffered severe losses and much damage, but it had, nevertheless, con- tinued on through San Bernadino Strait. Our CVE's and their destroyer escort screen now put up the most valiant fight of the war against most overwhelming odds while retir- ing towards' Leyte Gulf. I Vice Admiral Kinkaid, the Commander of the Seventh Fleet, at once ordered Admiral Oldendorf to dispatch one division of battle- ships, one division of cruisers and half the destroyers in his group to the assistance of the Escort Carriers. The PENNSYLVANIA was designated as one of the three battleships to go. Before the battle force had sortied from Leyte Gulf, however, the gallant CVE's with their persistent air attacks had turned back the Japs who then commenced retiring to- wards San Bernadino Strait. Leyte was the first operation in which the PENNSYLVANIA encountered heavy enemy air attacks. They began as the first group was entering Leyte Gulf on the morning of the I8th and continued during the days and nights following. At first the attacks were of the sneak variety, single dive bombers com- IIIQ in and making individual dives or glides

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THE LUZO EXPRESS-From the PENNSY'S quarterdeck the might of the battleline strings out as far as the eye can see-racing into Lingayen Gulf. C fil,ljliTE,l:h, ' . LJULJLQQ N- ' 'H . 'APU 1 X' fTi'lf'7ki3 fT wll Lf, i,,Q,li'1 1,.l,,.,lI,-.ull-'M . L LI Q L gfmlgg,-L L-ea-, .ja 1, cu'L.g----1 I-or QPNU 'ifrwv WFT?-TTTVF 'E 'I-'Z I Ill :rf ,U l f 'pl i- llL'w4 fx ,gl ..1'.:!liQ-'U'-3l'1 J1J ' ' I7 J , I ll r I THE PHILIPPINE CAMPAIGN-continued and at long last departed from Leyte Gulf. She had been the first of the battleships to enter the gulf, and she was the last to leave. Everyone aboard was confident that the ship would be sent home for a long overdue yard period, with of course a little leave at- tached. For months past the ship had always been going back to the States after the next operation, but now there could be no ques- tion of it. Unfortunately there was. When the ship arrived at Manus, she was directed to prepare for another amphibious operation. She could not even be assigned another period in the floating drydock at Manus. OFF FOR LINGAYEN From Manus the PENNSYLVANIA pro- ceeded to Kossol Passage to take on ammuni- tion. She remained there two weeks, through Christmas, and on the first day of 1945 got underway with Vice Admiral Oldendorf's Lin- gayen Bombardment and Fire Support Group. On the third day of l945 the force reached Leyte Gulf and, without stopping, proceeded southward into Surigao Strait. The route led southward through Surigao Strait, then west- ward through the Mindanao Sea, then north- westward through the Sulu Sea, out into the South China Sea, and on northward, past Manila Bay, to Lingayen Gulf, at the north- western corner of Luzon. Heavy and determined air attacks began on the evening of the fourth of January. They continued on the 5th, when the OM- MANEY BAY, a CVE, was hit by a suicide plane and destroyed by the resulting fire. Many other ships were damaged.