Randolph (CV 15) - Naval Cruise Book

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'il sal craft Whai was going 'lo happen? We could only guess. We lefl Ulifhi 'rhree days laier, on February IO, as a unil in famed Task Force 58. Our Task Group was 58.4. Al+hough we didn'l' lhink of ii al fhe lime, we laier found a record had been sei. Randolph was going info baffle only four mon+hs and one day affer commis- sioning! No olher big carrier had ever moved so swiffly +hrough her fraining period. Caplain Baker's infenfion of making us baHle-ready in +he shoriesl possible lime had been fulfilled. Now 'Phe 'feeling really began fo ge? lense. We were moving ou+ lor combat No more bool' camp roufine, no more +raining s+a+ion prac+ice, no more Shakedown rehearsal-'rhis was +he real fhing. A ba'Hle was com- ing up. On 'lhe nigh? of February I5 Capfain Baker spoke To us on fhe hangar deck. He 'fold us our desfi- nafion-'rhe homeland of Japan! We would sirike in 'rhe 4' 4' Q

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..,:'5'!KXs --u.,,sz,, imc., Affer hurriedly loading sfores and ammunifion we go? underway on January 20. Remember how fhe Golden Gare loolred as we sailed under if on rhe way our? High up on fhe soaring span of sfeel were a couple of girls waving handlrerchiefs. Afrer fhe coasfline faded we lurned our heads fo fhe Far Easf. There for belief or worse, lay our fufure. On January 26 we moored af Ford lsland, Pearl Har- bor, Terrifory of Hawaii, where The Japs had once paid our Navy a baclrdoor visif. Par+s of a sunlzen baflleship were slill visible. We slopped fhere only long enough Yo faire on addifional supplies, including +wen+y mail saclls of war plans and infelligence malerial. Those who gol' ashore in Honolulu found rhe sidewallrs rolled up afler darlz. We lefl on January 29. Now where were we going? ln general we lrnew. We knew our deslinafion was somewhere in fhe combaf zone. The old Saraloga was in company wifh us. We sailed across lhe lnfernafional Dale Line on February I, and Wesi became Easr. Each day we drilled, and each day fhe drills became more infensivez baH'le and damage confrol problems l Fif+een minures problem lime. Bomb hit, gallery declr, frame 89, porl' side. l, fire drill, and abandon ship drill. We all wore our full baHle gear. The fension began +o grow. We were s+ill, for baHle pur- poses, a company of green men. On February 7 we pulled in+o lhe naval anchorage al' Uliihi, in fhe Wesrern Caroline Islands. Few of us had ever heard of fhe place before. I+ was nofhing bu? a ring of flai liH'le coral islands, covered wifh palms. Bur inside was ihe mos+ powerful flee? ever assembled. We counfed af leasf eighl' Essex-class carriers. There were new baffleships, cruisers, deslroyers, noi' fo menrion fanlrers, supply and repair ships, and scores of landing assi? , al'

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morning. Some of us sTayed awake a while Thai' nighT Thinking abouT whaT would happen on This, our Tirsl' assignmenT, as we Tried To smash The Jap on his home grounds. Who could say how we would sTand up in combaT7 The nexT morning we were aT our baT'Tle sTaTions before dawn, in gloves, eye-shields and helmeTs. Some of us had smeared The blue anTi-flash cream on The exposed parTs of our Taces. Roaring planes Took oTiT The deck in The cloudy, weT sky, heading Tor enemy airTields in The Tokyo area. Below decks we waiTed nervously. All day we sfayed aT General QuarTers, aT any momenT expecT- ing an aH'ack Trom enemy planes. We were less Than a hundred miles from Tokyo! The aTTack never came. We had caughf The Japs by surprise, and whaT planes They did manage To send up were knocked down by piloTs of The force, including our own. NexT day, February I7, our piloTs made a daring sTrike againsT The Tachikawa Engine PlanT wesT oT Tokyo. This aTTack was brillianTly led by Commander Charles L. Crommelin, USN, Air Group commander, who was laTer killed over Ckinawa. AT The ship we sTill waiTed nervously Tor The Japs To aTTack us. On February I8 a sTrike was launched againsT Chichi Jima and The nexT day we Took aboard gasoline and repIacemenT aircraTT. During The nexT Three days missions were flown in supporT oT The occupaTion oT Iwo Jima. Our planes rockeTed caves on MounT Suribachi, aiding The ground Troops To secure ThaT bloody lsland. ln These operaTions Two sweeps againsT Haha Jima were also Tlown. V X i glliili i sys!-WSH .Ai 1, f. A , V' ' i 349- I sa X...