San Jacinto (CVL 30) - Naval Cruise Book

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' I On 27 April our Task Group commenced retirement toward ULITHI and dropped anchor there on 30 April, after forty- eight consecutive days at sea. . On l May, Rear Admiral J. J. CLARK, our Task Group Commander, paid the ship 'an official visit and presented awards to our departing Air Group FORTY-FIVE. During their tour of duty aboard the SAN JACI-NTO led by their skipper, Commander G. E. SCHECTER, and Acting Group Commander, Lieut. L. E. FORKNER, ,and paced by colorful Killer CAIN fthe ace of the Hghter squadron with eight and one-half enemy planes downed in combatj, they had compiled an impressive record. They had shot down eighty-three enemy planes in the air, sunk three naval units, two cargo vessels, and numerous small craft, and inflicted vast damage against enemy aircraft and installations. They won 3 Navy Crosses, 3.Silver Stars, 79 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 219 Air Medals, 1 Navy and Marine Corps Medal and 3 Purple Hearts. . Air Group FORTY-NINE, Commanded by Lt. Comdr. G. M. ROUZEE, USN, reported aboard for duty on 2 May 1945. On 6 May our former Commanding Officer, Rear Admiral H. fM. MARTIN, was a welcome guest aboard. The SAN JACINTO lay at anchor through 7 May, makingnpreparations for return to sea and taking maximum advantageof the op- portunity for recreation ashore for the weary crew. , We sortied on 8 May for a day's intensive training exercises with the new Air Group, setting a ship record of one hundred and forty-five landings in one day, marred only by three mis- haps involving no injury to personnel and the operational loss of only one plane. - . The other units of our Fast Carrier Task Group sortied on the 9th and we set course to return to the vicinity of OKI- NAWA. On arrival in the area on 12 May, SAN JACINTO plzhres. participated in sweeps over TOKUNO. No airborne opposition was encountered but our new airmen got their first taste of anti-aircraft llre as they strafed and rocketed ground installations. S. Task Force FIFTY-EIGHT steamed northward to launch strikes against enemy airflelds on KYUSHU on 13 and 14 May. SAN JACINTO planes flew seventy-four sorties on each of the two days, meeting no airborne opposition over the targets as they destroyed or damaged twenty grounded enemy aircraft, manysmall craft- and' numerous ground installations. Only a few enemy aircraft approached the Force on the 13th and they were easily handled by the fighter patrols. Early on the 14th, about fifty enemyplanes made a determined attack. Most were intercepted and destroyed by the Combat Air,Patrols, but two got through to attack our Task Group. A suicider diving on a destroyer was hit by the concentrated fire on many ships and exploded in mid-air above the destroyer. The second plane dove on the SAN JACINTO but hits from our guns and those of our support ships deflected it early in its dive and it crashed in flames wide of its mark. if We recovered ten of the stricken ENTERPRISES planes, reserviced them and launched them to later land aboard an- other large carrier. The Task Force retired southward on the 15th for a relatively quiet week-long period, during which only a single routine strike was launched Qon the l9thj against TOKUNO. On the '2lst and 22nd, strikes in force were launched against TOKUNO ,..,....,..-,.-V V-,..-,. - .-,-,a,.....,..,-.,.,,..,., ...,. . ' ,-.N-.,,...,,.,.,,., V. . - . ,-.,-,,..,..,.,,,,,,,w-, A-.,-,v.,- ..V . x and KIKAI, inflicting' heavy damage on ground installations, Two of our Hellcats collided in mid-air on 21 May. The pilot of one, Ensign C. P. THORNE, was not recovered and was declared missing in action. Thepilot of the other was picked up unhurt. On 23 May our fighters attacked AMAMI ,O SHIMA, sink- ing a small cargo ship and destroying harbor installations. On the 24th, the force launched sweeps against S0uth6rIl KYUSHU. but SAN JACINTO planes did not participate, flying Combat Air Patrol instead, with negative results. The enemy made heavy attacks on the OKINAWA area on 25 May, through extremely bad weather. Only three enemy planes reached the vicinity of Task Force QFIFTY-EIGHT though the Amphibious Forces were attacked in force. All three were shot down by patrols, two .of .them by SAN JA- CINTO planes-representing the new Air Group's Hrst kills.f' The Task Force retired southward on 27 May and at mid- night Commander Third Fleet assumed tactical command, re- lieving Command FIFTH Fleet. Task Force FIFTY-EIGHT thereupon became Task Force THIRTY-EIGHT. On 28 May, Commander Second Carrier Task Force relieved Commander First Carrier Task Force as Commander Task Force THIRTY- EIGHT and we returned to OKINAWA to furnish support missions for the TENTH Army on OKINAWA on that date and the next two days, all routine and uneventful. ' Support missions were flown through bad weather on. l and 3 june. Those scheduled for 2 June were diverted by the un- favorable target weather to MINAMI DAITO SHIMA, wheref -Al the airfield and ground installations were bombed and rock- eted. Anti-aircraft fire was most intense and two planes were damaged, one Avenger crewman being seriously wounded. The weather steadily deteriorated on 4 june as Task Force THIRTY-EIGHT retired to the southeast in an attempt. to clear the cyclonic area. On 5 June a typhoon struckthe Force in mounting fury. The storrn was the most severe ever experi- enced by this ship, surpassing in intensity, though not in dura- tion, that of 18 December 1944. The wind reached a velocity of ninety-seven knots and the seas were confused and moun- tainous. Nearly every ship in the Force sustained some dam- age, the bow of the PITTSBURGH being torn off, the DULUTH .suffering serious structural damage forward, the HORNET and BENNINGTON having their forward flight decks rolled up like paper. We had made thorough preparaig tions the night before and, applying the lessons we learned in the.December typhoon, rode out the storm comfortably by lying to with the seas on our starboard bow and the wind' on the starboard beam,'using the engines only for steering, going ahead on the starboard engines, backing on the port, there'by saving the ship from the disastrous rolling which light carriers ,with their topheavy tendencies and great sail surface are sub- ject to in the trough. The minor damages we sustained were quickly repaired by the ship's company. - ' Q The scattered Force collected itself on 6 June and on 7 June returned to the support of OKINAWA with an uneventful Combat Air Patrol schedule. V . 8 june saw all carriers in the Force combine in an all-out fighter-bomber sweep against KANOYA airheld on KYUSHU: Fragmentation bombs were dropped and damage inflicted was heavy, though haze and smoke prevented accurate tabulation. Task Force THIRTY-EIGHT retired toward LEYTE 'on 9 Junfxipausing to make experimental Napalm drops and test the efliciency of a new type bomb fuse, by special strikes against OKINI DAITO SHIMA onthe 9th and 10th. On 10 june, for the llrst and only time in the history of the ship, we heard the call, Man Overboard. Robert E. DIAMOND, MM2c, lost hlf footing during fueling operations and plunged into the briny deep. A destroyer quickly fished him out, pasted 21 2 . --. fn- ,-.- .-.-,- .-.f.....,..,.,.,.., , -v-. - .. .. 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Funeral services on the hangar deck for Rudolph KAZMIER. One of our many close calls-a Kamikaze is splashed by I our guns a few teet from the bow of the ship on 6 April, Rear Admzral I I CLARK our Task Group Corn mander arrives to present awards to our departing Arr Group FORTY FIVE on 1 May Large Iap destroyer sunk by SAN IACINTO planes--our contribution to elzmmatmg the Iap Task Force sent tot reinforce OKINAWA on 7 April M .defy Twm engjne bomber headed for the SAN IACIN TO We had a gala smoker at LEYTE featurrng a variety of entertainment on 21 March We shot It down and two huge One More Operation cakes

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