Salt Lake City (CA 25) - Naval Cruise Book

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not spent in bombarding the enemy in support of the marines' bloody advance through the stubborn maze of pill-boxes, gun emplacements and caves. Time out was called only for refuel- ing and rearming at sea. Nor was there much rest at night. Illumination had to be furnished over the front lines, and harrassing fire to keep the laps awake. But that kept the crew awake, too, until the men learned from sheer necessity to sleep through the roar and vibration of the firing. Two Salt Lake City officers were killed when their observa- tion plane was shot down by lap AA over the island. The ship herself was unscratched although many shells missed her by narrow margins. The Pensacola was badly pummelled by lap fire a few minutes after relieving the Salt Lake City and taking over her firing station. The Chester was damaged in a collision, leaving the Salt Lake the only operative warship in Crudiv F ive. Rear Admiral A. E. Smith, division commander, moved aboard her with his staff. The Swayback was in the first group of ships to arrive at lwo. She was one of the last major warships to leave. Her ammunition expenditure totaled 3,322 rounds of eight inch and THE LCI'S APPROACH THE BEACH AT OKINAWA 26

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and then bent on full power to pay an afternoon visit to Iwo. A few lap planes put in an appearance and were either shot down or driven off. That night, after the very successful bombard- ment of Iwo lima, a more determined air attack was successfully evaded. Altogether it had been an eventful day. There was a pause in mid-Ianuary when the group acted as a patrol force to cover the northern flank of the invaders going ashore at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon. Cn Ianuary 24 it again bombarded Iwo lima, this time with the added support of the sixteen inch guns of the battleship Indiana. Cn this occasion the Salt Lake assisted in the shooting down of an inhospitable Iill. When finally the now famous invasion of lwo was begun on February l6, it seemed to the crew of the Swayback almost as if they were going back home to stay, so familiar had the island become. For twenty-five days the ship laid off that unlovely volcanic island shooting at the laps from all angles and at all ranges, sometimes approaching within a stone's throw of the hostile beach. Scarcely a day went by that was Q TAKING ON AMMUNITION 25

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3,082 rounds of five inch, the largest expenditure of any ship engaged in the operation. But tougher days lay ahead, at Okinawa. After a ten day respite, four of which were spent in travelling and six in accom- plishing essential repairs at Ulithi, her guns were back in action once more. The task started March 24, with the bombardment of Ie Shima, a small island off the western coast of Okinawa on which war correspondent Ernie Pyle was to meet his death two weeks later. ln a couple of days, fire was shifted to the main island itself. The main landing took place on April lst and the Swayback was one of the many ships lined up off the beach throwing in shells over the heads of the marines and soldiers. Then fol- lowed the historic two month drive to wrest the island from the tenacious laps. lt was unspectacular but grinding work, days and nights of bombardment, long nights of flycatching Cpro- viding harrassing fire and illumination against suicide boat attacksi, interminable hours at general quarters and battle stations while lap planes flew overhead, challenging our ability to move in on their territory. The recently developed and most terrifying of lap weapons, the suicide plane, was used to its utmost by the desperate laps. The Kamikazes attacked in swarms, crashing ships on all sides. 'N ,fgi W i 4 I1 fxxi Q, , J , 'r 1, 7 sv ln ' is j K J 4 L. L kg V. .MR . dfnxris-so Z 2 if Q s vwf, 1' LL-W:1 f HI, X? .mxggtl f it EXCUSE, PLEASE. DID NOT KNOW SALT LAKE CITY PRESENT 27