Pennsylvania (BB 38) - Naval Cruise Book

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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.

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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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On the morning of the sixth the PENNSYL- VANIA commenced bombarding target areas on Santiago Island at the mouth of Lingayen Gulf. In mid-afternoon the ship proceeded into Lingayen Gulf to execute counter-battery fire in support of the mine sweeping forces. The ship retired from the Gulf at night. The air attacks reached an all time peak that day. Severe damage was done to our forces. However at daybreak the next morning the entire bombardment force entered Lingayen Gulf to deliver supporting and destructive fire. At 1230 the PENNSYLVANIA took posi- tion to render counter-battery fire in support of the underwater demolition teams. A single enemy gun directed its shells at those teams, and it was immediately knocked out by the PENNSYLVANIA. The support group retired from the Gulf that night and returned the next morning to continue the pre-assault bombardment. There was, however, a distinct scarcity of targets, for although the Japs had landed at Lingayen themselves, they were unprepared for our attack there. During the night of the eighth the bom- bardment group remained in Lingayen Gulf. At 0705 on the 9th the PENNSYLVANIA took station for delivery of supporting fire in pro- tection of the landing waves. The landing beaches were effectively covered, and targets of opportunity, as reported by spotting planes, were either destroyed or neutralized. There was no enemy opposition to the landing. Early on the morning of the tenth Japa- nese speed boats made an attack on our ships in Lingayen Gulf from a stream empty- ing into the western side of the gulf. They at- tacked some LSTs drawn up on the beach near the mouth of the stream, but were them- selves destroyed without effecting any dam- age. General Quarters was sounded aboard the PENNSYLVANIA, but the ship itself was not taken under attack. Two hours later during the dawn period enemy planes made attacks on the force in Lingayen Gulf. A partial smoke screen cov- ered the ships but evidently the tops of the large ships proiected through the screen and served as targets for the Jap planes. During a period of 31 minutes four bombs landed in the water close to the PENNSYLVANIA. On the afternoon of the tenth the PENN- SYLVANIA executed her last fire call mission. A concentration of enemy tanks was located inland, and a shore fire control party spotted the main battery to them. Twelve rounds did the iob. From the tenth of January until the seven- teenth the task group patrolled in the South China Sea off Lingayen Gulf. On the I7th the PENNSYLVANIA returned to the gulf and remained there at anchor for a month. Enemy air attacks dropped sharply in intensity and frequency. During the nights sentries aboard ships at anchor in the gulf kept up a staccato of fire at obiects floating in the water, all of which proved to be nothing more than trash. Afterleaving Lingayen Gulf, the PENNSYL- VANIA travelled back through the Central Philippines to Leyte Gulf and from there southeastward to Manus. Again hopesgwere high that the ship would be roilted fromhthere to the West Coast. These hopes .vanished when CinCPac directed the Commander Naval Base Manus to report whether or not the base was able to make temporary repairs to the PENNSYLVANIA for participation in the t b f the historic crossing of the T. RIGHT: A Kami- LEFT: .laps coming in under heavy fire ius e ore kaze plunges to perdition, having failed to hit his tin can objective. The air is heavy with smoke. - 3