Samuel N Moore (DD 747) - Naval Cruise Book

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3u4Ul'3r N t 16 I H JAPQN d'in doinv no little amount of damage tg thQ,,g Egggr ofThs sodrggwcs phenogenally lop-sided, for svery ship fhsiEk had gsnetratcd the henrt of dnsensny's umpire otbdmbd OHL to fi again. r s , On the-1 21st, was snatfzzt N. Moons and Q sister snip, uns oss BLUE, received orders to proceed to lWO JIMA to pick up QVlQ?1QB personnel from the Tosh force who had been rescued sfter tneir planes had bcen shot down during tne dny's rains. The two dest- royers sighted The little islsnu wnsn twsnty miles sway, end the smoke of battle GOHfi oc scan iri ting into the afternoon sky. As they neared the 2131, 13, fl LL of gqnfirs und the streeks of ron sts shone brightly against tht brown of thc volcanic S011 of SWQB MOUNT SURAB,CHT who ?,itt1ig plane like 0 massive pillbox, nn e flag of the E sin, but :till iiex evsr it. The destroyers sccompl ished their mission in the gitlsring dusk, and st 1900 get underway to rejoin their Thor sre'p. ns they stecnsd nlone ,nd st high spot ,cross the choppy sci gggy ff'T tix island, they coEldJsss tns AA fiyc Jf tha Qld o,1tltsnios Jiien were bombnrding 1 e npsneso pos itions on the touch, ms they rtpciled s dusk air attack. The blooc bottle for IJO h-u, l1Q,eC, begun. The war was close .o Llese two tiny ships QS they sliced into the darkness off thu :making hell thot wus IWO JIMn. They were olono in ddnanrous m:t,z- wnen they he IU reports that on enemy surface force was thought to ot in the vicinity. Their rendezvous was vogue, ss Tn?j LLWJL 53 wept Tertn to invtstignto the report. All that night the tau ,in 53t.I'S' pr-cms ripped into the surface of the ses, as they strcvs to re ,in their group in the search for battlc. It was en, J ,bt E313 1'l' in5 nirning before TASK GROUP S8 l eppedrnd evnr the herison. YJ unc regorts nod been correct, the Jcps HMG learned of the prqs-nee if TUSL FORCE 58, and had fled, for no en mg rhig ,ic ot Q QE Cwwich wus sunkj was discovered in the ores. On th. lat of March, the force ldunched strikes against OKIN JJWLJEEL, e'm lore in the d,v, tno S.IUZL N. MOORE, in company Wit! seven rihor .,stfeyer: or S,U.CRQ' 6lT, and three light cruisers, the '-ILT -EV 1, QV1, .uric left the Task Group. They Weis assigned tu ',i1l'e -nilf Luft ll- ions on OYINO DMITO JIMA, on isldnt it at mid ff bo1', 1 Ilipfsi end the VOLCANO GROUP. -They cpe: 4 fire, tug no tr enemy conoletsly by surprise, just after midnight. Tic il t-.- ine i'l4nd was dotted with fires when the bombsrc mint group at good off, noting sustained no damage to thsmsslvcs. After this forey, nmfgreup retirod to ULITHI, arriving on More nth. L ring the :toy tr UTT'V7 t' .-.. csrrier RANDOLPH was hit by a Japnnsse sdicids ,lane while lying qt anchor in the lagoon. The plan: rss provnnly frmn tvs enemy bose Lt YAP, loss than a hundred miles away. Other piines that attempted to lenve YAP Were quiCklJ destroyed! TnSK GROUB 58.1 , with ths IOORE ir its screen, formed once moro shi stsancd out of CLTTHI on the lhth, settingzicourss to the northwest. In four days it was off tHE enemy heme islend of KYUS sending sweeps in against bitter opposition. The surfoee force ,D, ,, lXThc USS MADDOX had been hit durinf the passage of BsffnTnNG CHANNI and had not yet rejoined the squs ron.D J, g - , . -- V- - f N --- --- Y---0 N-' - o -t' -- '- .I - - rw-my--is --'- ' -'11---4 ---v-.- - 'i .- -....,. 'Q VVYY - X ' '

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Q , www ff sk Force, in an unprededented maneuver, commenced transit of, t, VAQNI CHQN EL, entering the South Chine See, hitherto the privegeuL domein of the Emptror. The force steamed southwerd undetedted across the China Sea, and effected complete surprise when th carriers struck herd against the eirfi ing in Onhhilh BAY, in IVDO-CHINAM and Coast on the l2th of Jenuery. Three d egein, this time from the west, and on HONG KONG, LMQY, and SWATOH areas with - Then on the l7th, operetions were dftyphoon, of lesser violence than the royers off LUZQN on the leth of Decemb the typhoon struck over twenty pilots Mgnnn on their way to carriers. They the enemy over his own airfielus and w e planes from the THIRD FLEWT ei-as on ones vnnniil and ship blasted ships along the CHIN ays ister they nit ronnosl ti the following dey rocked the their bombs. , discontinued temporarily as one which hed sunk the dest er, gripped the force. when were eboerd the SAMUEL N. ' were the men who had fought od. The destroyer was roll- ing nearly fifty degrees, and the fliers, who were used to the relatively steady deck of an aircraft carrier, called it the rough- est ride they hed ever had- or hoped to have., The destroyer men, hardened to the pitching and tossing of the Wtin oann, helped the flyers Q some of whom weie sensick 7 es much as they could. They felt they owed them something, even es every American owed then something for the job they were doing. The pilots, too, held the who mdnned th' buciing Htin censh n C . .Q Q2 4.1. J , the Hcensn who braved alone the enemy in some esteem, for it was waters to be there to pick them out of'me Pacific if they went down. Pilots and destroyer W sailors get along quite well. After the typhnen hed abated the force steamed through BALIN- TANG'dVANNEL out of the CHINA snr, while the Jape, who tried to stop the, dropped fleming into the see. As they entered the Pace ific on the 2lst of Jenuary still more strikes were made against FORMOSA, end on the following day OKI! ILWL JIMA WGS btt5CKSQ- , 'On the 26th theSAMUEL N, MOORE was again in ULITHI, and on the 27th was placed under the tecticel command of Admiral SPRUANCE, and famous TjQK FQRCE 58. von the lOth of February the SAMUEL F. MOORE steamed northward in the greatest task force in the historyl of the world, in the screen of TASK GRQUP 58.1. i M Five deys later, on February l5, were filled with plenes from gnerican RAY felt the blast of nmerictn explosives, SHG the Emperor's Pele shuddered from the tremor of American elirdled skyward from the Japanese capitnl. TASK FORCE 58 st through mine infested wnters, shooting uown the Jupanes plane Agget ettecked it, and dispatching swiftly, with well placed f v few small enemy vessels it encountered as it cruised bac Ofbh Ofi the coast of the enemy's homeland. The strikes cont with full vialence until the 19th and upward to the flaming skies, United 3 completed e lending on e strategic li , and the bloody beetle for en successful in divertin, t the so M58 had 1945, the skies over TOKYO cerriers. The ships in bombs, as smoke end flame s , es the eyes of RAPAN l tutes Marines successfully ttle iSlUHQ some eco mil IWO JIML had begun. T6 he attentiun of the mill

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A , C, , 5 1 1 ' X ' ' or r'4 :.' , , ,,,,,,,,,,-,,,.,.,-w, , ....r,,-wg f..e,, 7 gn., V- ,1 - : rv-, ... .-. 1e',-scvfpfvf--w.f. .. s- V. -f A A f 1 - . ' -' . . A A.,- lfought-valiently egainst determined Japanese airmen who were HOt 'afraid to die. It was here thot the carrier FRANKLIN was bombed and was only kept afloat through the courageous efforts of her men and those of the supporting cruisers and destroyers, The men of the SAMUEL N. MOORE, who were topside, saw the USS WASP hit by a Japanese bomb, end sew her fighters rise from her flight deck twenty seconds leter, as she kept her position in tne formation. '.'h The WASP, though hit, fought on with full efficiency. For-two days planes fell into the sea in flames, before the ottscks abated in volume. As late es the 21st, the Toss Crouo's Combat Air Patrol shot down seventeen bombers in one ottacning group. ' ' The force retired from KYUSHU, but allowed the enemy no time to gloat, for the carrier planes were over OKINAVA JIRA on the 23rd - on the Zfth the SAMUEL N. MCCRE and the TnUSSlG left the ' ' J . , ,, , ,.,. ,. 1 . u Q- - ,--- . group escorting'the lhDlnNnL0hlS, flagship of the rlFTh Fleet, and the ST.LOU1S, to e rendezvous with TnSK DOLCE 5h off CKINAWA. The destro ers returned to the screen of TMS! QHOUP 58.1. Y , c ' Q , . ,W J ,Q-.f Three days leter the SAMUEL N. MOORE ond TLUSSIG left the screen alone to meet the lNDlnViPOLTS off the west shore of OKINAWA. Passing around the southern tip of the island the two destroyers Passed Within 3,000 yards of MUYE SHIMA. NQYR SHIMA was e little reen-islsnd upon which the American sailors could ooo the errno- gd farms and the,homes of the inhabitants, looking ouitc peaceful and incongruous in the world of war. On tro opyosito side, off I the SAMUEL N. MOOREYS starboard beam, log CJIHMMA JIMA. lt, too, would have seemed peaceful had it not been for the bursting of the salvos from the U.S, battleships softening up the beech for the forthcoming invasion. Japanese oopositior Wes surorisingly absent. The TL? went'alon3side the lNDlnNnP0llS end received official mail from the-Commander of the FIFTH Fleet for the Conoenonr of TASK r FORCE 53.' Then, with the TAUSSIG, she sroemoe alot? L'o west coast of 0KINnWA, oround the southern tip of the island, troy nest MLYE SHIMA, und out into the open see to rejoin the Tosh Creep. 0 During the days that followqd, TASK F0203 56 sont e steady ,'f stream of bombing, rockoting, SHG strafing olenes over 0LINhJl JBL, as lend forces made good their assault of tie bench-heed, and set- tled down to the long tough job of conquest. once more SAKI SFIMA GUFTO and AMAMI GUNTO also were plastered with bombs from tne'cer- ' riers planes. On the Tth of spril, one week after the Buster Sun- dey invasion of CKINAWA, the Tess Force turned its efforts northward as s Javanese surface force was detected stenning southward in the East Cnina Sea. The eneiy force was overtaron by the sir arm of TMSK FURCE 58, ond was completely shattered, The powerful 45,000 ton battleship, YUMATC, pride of tie Jnpangse Elect, was Sent to the bottom, along with her company of cruisers Q10 0033 Of her dest' royers, while the guns of the American Task Force Llsiteg enemy planes attacking from shore besos out of the say.. TASL ECRCE 58, again victorious, emerged without the Less of e single snip, and r . u surprisingly small number of planes lost. y.' The bettering of 0KINnWn JIMA continued. These were the dark days when the famed KAMIKAZE Air Corps was tahini F-S C3603- - -5- aiu .,Vl,' HK' K, M