Saratoga (CV 3) - Naval Cruise Book

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Early at night on the llth of Ianuary as Sara was silhouetted by Venus 400 miles west of Hawaii, a Tap submarine managed to sneak into the formation and launched a deadly torpedo which struck the port quarter with a blinding flash and terrific explosion. Columns of water and oil shot skyward as high as the smokestack. The Cld Lady had suf- fered her first battle scar! Six men died as a result of the tor- pedoing. Fortunately, the engineering plant was not damaged, so she was able to steam to Pearl Harbor under her own power. There a temporary patch of steel was applied to her ruptured skin, and she was sent to Bremerton, Wash- ington, for repairs. Almost three months were spent in the Puget Sound Navy Yard. Perma- nent repairs were made and a thorough modernization was effected. Light anti- aircraft weapons were installed and gun sponsons added. Late in May, 1942, Sara docked at San Diego and loaded planes and sup- plies aboard. The Battle of Midway was pending as she sped west toward the combat zone. lt was a fearful juncture in the war. The Allies despaired at the heavy toll of shipping in the Atlantic, at the sustained successes of Rommel in Africa, and at the overwhelming armor ., ,.... .........,..,.. .,,..., .....,-..... - .. v. --...,... -- .,.. ,W H , A Y .W ...A Y- - ---'-A--r r' 1:1-' 1, ' THE NEW TBF FIRST LAUNCHED FROM SARA'S FLIGHT DECK IN JUNE I942 of the German Army slashing across to Crimea and into the Caucasus. ln the Pacific, we looked with dismay on the fall of l-long Kong, Singapore, the Philip- pines, the East lndies, the threat to Aus- tralia and India, the presence of enemy garrisons in the Aleutians, the immi- nent invasion of Alaska, Midway, Ha- waii. The Lexington was at the bottom of the Coral Sea, and no man could say where the next grievous blow would fall. ln less than 24 hours at Pearl Harbor, the Sara loaded replacement planes for U. S. carriers staving off the Tap fleet at Midway. lncluded were a handful of the new TBF's, replacements for famed Torpedo Squadron Eight. Sara thereby had the distinction of being the first car- rier to launch the new Grumman Plane, which soon became the standby of the fleet. Arriving too late. actually to engage

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During peacetime years she pio- neered in the development of Naval Aviation. Experiments conducted on her expansive flight deck proved the power of the aircraft carrier as a new weapon of war. Sara and the old Lex demonstrated our Hawaiian bases were vulnerable to air attack by pre- viewing the Pearl 1-larbor disaster in 1935 during the fleet war games-six years before the laps proved the theory! When commissioned, Sara's official- ly announced displacement was 33,000 tons, but much has been added since 1927. We,who manned her guns in bat- tle,, launched her angry planes on countless strikes, swabbed her decks, cooked the chow, and performed nu- merous other vital tasks, will remember her as the largest warship in the Pacific -Queen of 'em all! No carrier could match her fighting weight of over 50,000 tons, and not even the newest battle- ships could compare in length, for Sara's rare teakwood flight deck meas- ures over 909 feet. We're proud of those figures. We are proud of her trim, grace- ful lines, too-like a greyhound. But, we are proudest of her record of achieve- ment in battle, and the dull, unspec- tacular tasks she has performed in the line of duty. lust out of the Navy Yard, she was tied up to the dock at San Diego when Pearl 1-larbor was attacked. She broke all rec- ords for provisioning ship and put to sea the following day. Arriving at Pearl the 15th of December, 1941, amid the ruins of the Pacific Fleet, Sara was given the critical assignment of delivering Ma- rine fighter planes for the beleagured defenders of Wake Island. ln less than 24 hours she was underway with the precious cargo aboard. Those planes never reached their ob- jective, however, because Wake fell December 23rd with Sara only 'one day's cruising distance away. They were transported instead to Midway, where later they helped repulse a seri- ous Iap thrust. Since the International Dateline was crossed enroute, two Christmas holidays on successive days were spent at sea. Following a return trip to Pearl 1-larbor for more planes and provisions, the ship spent the early part of lanuary, 1942, patrolling the sub-infested waters west of the Hawaiian lslands. The Sara and her planes watched for enemy sur- face craft as well as underseas marau- ders. OFF DIAMOND HEAD ' .

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..........-....-......., the enemy fleet she was given credit for helping disperse its battered and de- pleted remnants Our losses were cost- ly too as the carrier Yorktown had been sunk Early in Iuly Sara set out on a record 62-day cruise which saw her aerial might used to great advantage in the flight of SBD s that demolished lapa- nese defenses at Kukum Sara-based Torpedo Squadron Eight led by Lieu- tenant Larsen attacked installations on Florida and Malaita Islands while Commander Shumway s flight hit Bin- gana and Tanambogo Such targets as communication centers and supply dumps were bombed for two days as I 1 n I U 1 l I l . . . - 1 , . . I I I . . - . 1 I I I I I I - . . . I I . . . . . 1 invasion of Guadalcanal-Tulagi and the first phases of the Battle of the East- ern Solomons. ln company with a large invasion task force she steamed south- west from Pearl as flagship for Vice Ad- miral Frank lack Fletcher. Brief exer- cises were held off Koro Island in the Fijis before the entire assault group moved west for the first U. S. offensive campaign. Sara had a major role in the historic amphibious operation at Guadalcanal. August 7th, l942, was D-Day for our landings and the beginning of the long, costly struggle to roll back the terri- torial gains made by imperialistic Iapan in sudden, treacherous assaults and quick victories. Many a battle- weary Leatherneck was grateful for Sara's planes and expert pilots. Lunga Airfield Clater renamed Hend- erson Fieldb was smashed by her bombs, and Bullet Lou Kirn led a the Marines poured ashore and fighter planes strafed the laps in their foxholes. The Nips sent a large group of bombers and fighters from Rabaul, but this for- mation was broken up in furious dog fights. TANAMBOGO