Randolph (CV 15) - Naval Cruise Book

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f I' 'I ' 9 'v 'if' ug, 15- fhose on fhe flighf deck. The second plane confinued ifs run fo a poinl' closer fo fhe ship where one of our 40mm shells knocked ifs righl' wing off, causing il' fo spin in+o fhe waier. Anofher enemy aircrafl' aH'emp'red a dive on a nearby Iighi cruiser, +he Pasadena. If was faken under fire by our sfarboard bafferies and crashed, narrowly missing ihe cruiser's sfern. During fhis morn- ing's aH'ack, in which sfill ofher Japs dived on ships in 'rhe group, our gunners accounfed for fhree enemy air- craft We had learned fo play for keeps. The nighf of April 28 a bogey approached and was fired af by several ships of fhe group, including Randolph , her guns flashing while as ihe shells whisfled info fhe sky. Somehow, fhe plane escaped. Thai nighf ihe moon was like brighf gold. Any momenl' fhe plane mighl' dive on us. Then a sirange scene developed. As fhe ships zig-zagged radically, black smoke poured from iheir funnels. The frick was effecfive. The Jap plane did nof aifack. On The I Ifh of May, +he Japs gof ihrough. Abou+ ren in fhe morning, iwo planes dove from cloud-cover and smashed Bunker Hill , fhen 2000 yards on our siarboard bow. The iniured ship fell oul' of formafion, burning fiercely. Many men were observed in fhe wafer. We fhrew life iackefs and belly fanks fo fhem, and dropped floai lighis +o assisf fhe des+royers engaged in rescue work. Six Bunker Hill planes landed aboard us fha? day. Three days lafer, in ihe wafers of Kamikaze Junc- +ion , off Kyushu, The Japs goi' fhrough again 'io our formaiion. This iime an enemy plane, diving ai' a sleep angle hif fhe forward end of fhe En+erprise Fligh+ deck, causing an explosion, fires, and heavy smoke. There was a lull for aboui an hour, fhen 'rhe aH'acks resumed. Abouf eighi' o'clock fhai morning many enemy aircrafi' sfaried coming in from all direcfions. Soon +he sky was filled wifh black smoke puffs and bursiing shells and burning planes. Four of fhem were shof down by anfi-aircraff fire in which our gunners pariicipaied. If was a wild sigh? for fhose fopside. For +hose of us below decks we could only sweaf and wonder wha? was happening unfil an announcemenf was made over ihe loudspeaker sysfem. We wanfed +o hear all fhe news we could. The nex+ day, May I5, if was announced +ha+ fhe Task Force Commander, Admiral Marc A. Mifscher, would fransfer his flag fo Randolph. We wen? around 'lhe ship wifh fingers crossed. Hope he doesn l' bring fhe Kamikazes wifh him, we said. Admiral Mifscher had been on fhe Bunker HilI. Affer she go+ hii' he frans- ferred fo fhe En+erprise, sfaying +here uniil she was likewise hi+. When he came aboard our ship fha? affer- I ,

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V ' r it , YA,. 5 k. flares were dropped: againsi fhese lighfs fhe ships musi have sfood ou+ clearly. Then ihe firsf plane sfaried in, noi more ihan I50 feei oi? ihe wafer. Randolph furncd, rwisfed, zigzagged fo gef ou? of The way. Below declcs we swea+ed and prayed as ihe guns began pound- ing. and ihe empiy ammuniiion ra'Hled on ihe decks over our heads. Then came fhe welcome announcemenf fha? fhe plane had been shoi down. We sighed wifh relief. li seemed ihe Jap had crossed 500 yards ahead of our ship. As ii passed over a desfroyer on our siar- board quar+er if was hii, bursf info flames and crashed info fhe darlr sea. Then we heard fhe ofher plane was closing in. Bach on 'lhe decl: we flopped, while fhe gun- ners opened up again. This Jap was likewise seni io his ancesiors. Three days lafer we underwenf anofher a'H'acl: worfh menfioning. Abouf 0520 a Jap plane was sighfed off fhe sfarboard quarfer, closing fasi. Trying fo crash our sfern, he missed and flew along fhe porfside of 'lhe ship, close aboard and abouf 50 feei above 'the wafer, his guns blazing. Under fire from our ba'H'eries he crashed info fhe water IOO feei oi? fhe ship's porl' bow. Aboui nine o'cloclz fha? morning more bogeys were sighied. Two dived a+ us 'From abou? 6000 feet As fhe leading plane came ou'l' of a cloud he was hii' by one of our five-inch shells. The plane exploded and 'ihe piloi' bailed ou1', floafing down io ihe wafer in view of all I'

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noon, he crossed from a desfroyer in a boafswain's chair over fhe fanfail. Our phofographers look a picfure of his arrival fhaf lafer appeared in bofh Life and Time magazines. He was smiling. The only gear he had Ieff was a briefcase, which he carried. Maybe, despife our earlier feelings, fhe liffle Admiral broughf us good luck, because we didn'f gef hif-noi fhen, anyway. For fwo weeks we were flagship of Task Force 58. Then on May 29, affer fhe number of our Task Group had been changed from 58.2 io 58.3 fo 38.3, Admiral Mifscher was relieved as Task Force Commander, and we fook him and his sfaff fo Guam, leaving fha? day. We arrived af Guam, May 3l, mooring in Apra Harbor. Before he leff fha ship Admiral Mifscher gave us a Well done for our parf in fhe Okinawa campaign. Mosf of us goi ashore af Guam, af leasl for a few hours. Some of us gof a glimpse of Red Cross girls and inspecfed a Jap pill- box near fhe beach. lf was fhe firsf 'lime we had fouched, or even seen land for 55 days. ln fhaf fime we had fraveled mor.: fhan 27,000 miles. On June 2 we gof underway again, fhis fime for fhe Philippines. We dropped anchor June 4 in Leyfe Gulf, in San Pedro Bay anchorage. Excepf for a fraining cruise in lhe area easf of fhe Gulf, June 20-23, we sfayed af Leyfe fhroughouf June, replenishing supplies and making preparafions for fhe nexf campaign. The Gulf was hof and oily: fhere were many Sevenfh Fleer ships fhere, especially fhe older baffleships. We pulled liberfy af a recreafion beach on Samar, across fhe Gulf from Leyfe. Some of us boughf grass skirfs for fhe girls back home, and af leasf a half-dozen of us broughf back monkeys fo fhe ship, as companions for our mascol' dog, Randy. Bul' fhe Exec said monkeys mighf carry disease, and we had fo fake fhem back. The affernoon of June 7 fhe ship lay quiefly anchored in fhe Gulf. Some of us were on fhe flighf deck, lying in spaces befween fhe parked planes, sunbafhing. A P-38 was overhead, making playful runs on us. Abouf i540 if pulled a few fhousand feef and 'rhen headed down foward us. Nobody paid much affenfion fo if. We liffle suspecfed fhaf fhe pilof of fhaf plane was going fo misiudge his disfance and fhaf whaf sfarfed our as his Iiffle joke was abouf fo furn info a sickening fragedy. A+ IS44 fhe P-38 crashed fhe forward flighf deck and glanced off info fhe wafer where il' immediafely sank. If leff behind on fhe flighf deck a raging fire. Forfunafely, our planes, in keeping wifh fhe ship's policy, were nof fueled, buf fhey burned iusf fhe same. The sun-balhers in fhe area never had a chance. The fire was puf ouf by capable acfion on fhe parf of fhe men: our casualfies were I4 killed and Il iniured. We shuddered fo fhink what would have happened if fhe P-38 had landed in fhe craff which was alongside us af fhe lime, loaded wifh bombs! There would have been an abrupf end fo our sfory. This marked fhe second fime we had been hit while in a supposedly-safe anchorage. We began fo feel we were safer in baffle. Our Third War Cruise sfarfed on July I. We were again flagship for Task Group 38.3 in Admiral Halsey's Third Fleef. For a week we frained infensively. On fhe morning of July I0 we launched planes fo sfrike fhe air- fields in Ihe Tokyo area-fields wifh names like Yokosuka, Miyakawa, Mobaro, Narufo, and Yachimafa. From fhen on unfil Ihe war ended on Augusf I5 we ranged up and down fhe coasf of Japan, sfriking, moving quickly, and sfriking again. This cruise we had Air Group I6 aboard: if had replaced Air Group I2 while we were in fhe Philippines. For fhe firsf 'rime in fhe war, we affacked fhe Honshu- Hokkaido area, our planes sinking fwo of fhe vifal ferries operafing fhere. Affer several days of bad weafher we hii airfields on fhe Tokyo plains again, and