San Jacinto (CVL 30) - Naval Cruise Book

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CHAPTER vm OKINAWA CAMPAIGN N 14 March 1945, the SAN JACINTO sortied from ULITHI with other units of Task Force FIFTY-EIGHT to begin what was up to that time the longest and most arduous of its combat missions, the bloody and costly subjugation of OKINAWA JIMA, where American forces were no longer only breaking through the outer and inner defense rings, but were seizing a part of the Empire itself. OKINAWA was the strategic key to the whole Pacific tactical situation. Japanese resistance was determined and fanatic and for a while the Navy's price in casualties exceeded that of the Army and Marine Corps combined. With its fall V-J Day was advanced by an incalculable number of months. . Task Force FIFTY-EIGI-IT was to inaugurate the campaign with a two-day smash at airfields on KYUSHU and combatant naval units in the INLAND SEA. Course was set for the Empire after refueling in an area north and west of SAIPAN on I6 March. On the 17th, our forces were temporarily bolstered by the voluntary attachment of a large whale, who took up a position about six hundred yards on the port beam of the SAN JACINTO and maintained station for about ten minutes, making good the course and seventeen-knot speed of the forma- tion. We were deserted soon after, however. Perhaps it was the mating season and we failed to pass inspection? On the morning of I8 March, Task Force FIFTY-EIGHT was deployed off the Southeast coast of KYUSHU. Attacks in force were launched at dawn and continued throughout the day. SAN JACINTO planes destroyed fourteen grounded enemy aircraft at MIYAKANOJO and damaged many more. Numerous buildings were bombed and rocketed and a large section of an aircraft assembly plant at KAGOSHIMA was destroyed. Successful photographic missions were flown and several small luggers destroyed. Our Air Group Commander, Commander Gordon E. SCHECTER, USN, was declared miss- ing in action when his fighter was shot down on the first sweep. One Avenger made a water landing but the pilot and crew were rescued. Throughout the day, enemy aircraft snooped and attacked the Task Force. Although enemy planes could be seen making numerous attacks on the other Task Groups fthe INTREPID being grazed by a suicider within easy sight distance from usj and the Combat Air Patrols shot down many planes in our hvicinity, our own Task Group was not actually attacked. On the 19th, Task Force FIFTY-EIGHT launched strikes against naval shipping at KURE HARBOR from waters South of SHIKOKU. SAN JACINTO aircraft damaged a large carrier, and an escort carrier with 500-pound bomb hits, also scoring bomb and rocket hits on four cargo vessels. From early morning until nightfall, enemy planes snooped the vicinity of the forces. Shortly after daybreak, an enemy bomber dropped out of the clouds directly overhead, dived over the SAN JACINTO, and loosed its bomb on the FRANK- LIN with disastrous results. The stricken ship was a mass of smoke and flame within secondsg it was repeatedly racked by terrific explosions and soon was listing heavily. Several of our support units moved to cover her and render aid while the re- mainder of our Task Group maneuvered in close vicinity, less than fifty miles from the SHIKOKU coast. In midmorning, the ENTERPRISE joined our Task Group as reinforcement to replace the FRANKLIN. Additional enemy planes attempting attack- were intercepted and destroyed by the Combat Air Patrols, SAN JACINTO planes shooting down five. The order of the day for Task Force FIFTY-EIGHT was the successful salvage of the battered FRANKLIN and all else took second place. Our own Task Group remained close by with the other groups of the Task Force in the general area, as the Japs mounted determined attacks against us throughout the daylight hours of the 20th, following all night snooping raids. Over one hundred enemy planes attacked the Force at intervals during thegday. Most of them were shot down by our lighter patrols but many got through to the Force. In midafter- noon, one enemy plane made a suicide run on the HANCOCK. The SAN JACINTO and many other ships threw up so much flak that the aircraft burst into flame and swerved in its course, missing the HANCOCK 'but unfortunately hitting the stern of the destroyer HALSEY POWELL, close aboard the big carrier. Shortly afterward, two dive-bombers made runs on the ENTERPRISE. The first one 'missed his target narrowly with his bomb, but demonstrated some beautiful evasive tactics to elude the intense anti-aircraft fire directed at him and escaped, one of the very few Japanese who have attacked Task Force FIFTY-EIGHT and lived even a short time to think about it. This plane was later intercepted and shot down by the Combat Air Patrol. The second Jap scored a direct hit on the ENTER- PRISE but was shot down by anti-aircraft fire as great fires broke out on the Big Four other Jap planes attacked before dusk, one apiece diving on each of the four carriers of our group. The still burn- ing ENTERPRISE blasted' her attacker apart as his bomb missed. The SAN JACINTO shot her Jap down early in its dive before its bomb had been released. Both of the other planes also missed their marks and were shot down going away, one of them having its tail shot off by our guns as it crossed our bow at close range. A Hellcat fighter which had followed this last plane in its dive was recognized too late and also shot down in flames by the intense anti-aircraft fire of the group. The pilot escaped with minor injuries. Our guns fired l2,924 rounds that day to score two kills and two assists. V The Japs continued their harassment as our forces reached extreme range of the 21st, keeping us at battle stations for most of this fourth consecutive day of intense action. Many planes were shot down by our fighter patrols, but others got through and a carrier fthe WASPJ in another Task Group, was hit and seriously damaged. A twin-eugined bomber dove on the SAN JACINTO shortly after noon. It was shot' down in flames by our guns but released a heavy bomb which fell short by several hundred yards, erupting a huge geyser of water but doing no damage. Five-inch shells- burst all around the SAN JACINTO during this attack and five men received shrapmfl W0UHdSS none proved serious, however. OU the 22I1d, the Task Force had cleared the danger area. Our Task Group was dissolved and our damaged units retired while the SAN JACINTO reported to another Fast Carrier THSIC Group of Task Force FIFTY-EIGHT as replacement fOr 'the damaged WASP, -fv-'-,-.--,v..5J.-.-f.-.f.i. -.-.'.a-f.w-v-.-...-.4-Q-Q-.-H.-.1-.-V--., - . . K -'-Hwifmvmevfffqmwfr. :-.N sf ....- .. 1-3-vt--1m1.,..,,.-. , .. WL .. ,-..... . .., ..-.. -. .. .... 1. . - V - , --.m...v -vm Q...-. . .i

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