Suwannee (CVE 27) - Naval Cruise Book

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faced medium sized Vichy-French submarine and successfully attacked with depth charges. On the morning of November I2 French forces in Casa- blanca capitulated. Threatened by General Pat- ton's armored division to the east, by the guns of U. S. battleships and cruisers to the west and by SUVVANNEE planes overhead. the French forces surrendered. At 1226 Admiral Hewitt sent word that our mission had been completed and we set course for Bermuda again. The trip home was extremely uncomfortable for most of the green crew since a 50 knot gale blew almost continuously bringing on the u roughest weather we have ever experienced. It was in this storm that the lledical Department officially went into commission by performing its First major surgery-a successful appendec- tomy on C. R. E. llurray. C. Alexanderg Lt. Comdr. Delaney and Lt. Burwell operated in spite of the heavy pitch and roll C27 degrees maximum ll :Xfter a short stop in Bermuda land one liberty? the SL'lV.-XNNEE proceeded to Nor- folk where she stayed just long enough for all hands to have a 4.8 hour' liberty before shoving off, on December 5th, to join the Pacific Fleet. fs? 'gYIl'im 'fm its I N .v ,wxwlis L . X wigs., in 9' Inspection in White x X . F v ifgsv,s'N. 'i X N. ai Nl SK 3

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shima Gunto airfields. It came to be a dailY routine affair. While other carriers and land based aviators were enjoying tremendous suc- cesses in the turkey shoots over Okinawa, my planes were lugging bombs and rockets to neu- tralize Sakashima and didn't get a chance at the gravy. I noticed, though, that Jap airforces at- tacking Okinawa came not from the Sakashima group, but from the homeland to the North. Six Jap airfields at Sakashima might have been used without the Hproper treatment. SUWANNEE men did an important job. lVIany Jap planes were destroyed on the ground. ALL THIS AND MOROTAI TOO just two years ago today 5 at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. in Newport News, Virginia, Rear Admiral O. L. Cox accepted the U.S.S. SUXVANNEE for the Navy, and the ship was placed in full commission under the command of Captain sl. J. Clark. Originally scheduled for commissioning a month later, the ship was rushed to completion in order to be available for impending operations. On October I she left pier 9 at the Newport News Shipyard and headed out for what was later laughingly called a' shakedown cruise. During the next two weeks we depermed, ran the degaussing range, .calibrated the compass and R. D. F., fired several gunnery practices, landed planes aboard and had our first TBF go into the catwalk, took aboard ammunition and provisions and, after an inspection by R111 Gates, the Assistant SecNav for Air, reported ready for sea. On October 17, we left N.O.B. Norfolk and entered the high seas for the first time, bound for Bermuda, B.W.I. A Soon after anchoring in lVIurray's Anchorage off Hamilton, Bermuda, it became apparent that we were to participate in an assault operation, Rumors of a strike at Dakar ran rife but soon after setting sail again an announcement was made that we were to participate in the long heralded second front in the vicinity of Casa- blanca. The carrier force consisting of the SUWANNEE, RANGER, SANGAMON and SANTEE was scheduled to support amphibious landings until an airfield was secured and 70 P-40,8 from the CHENANGO could be cata- pulted and sent ashore. We carried 39 planes, an unprecendented load for a CVE, and success- ful operation was problematical sincethe cata- pult had been decommissioned, and there was no assurance that wind conditions would be favor- able. We soon rendezvoused with the greatest amphibious force in history. The voyage to Africa was completed successfully and the convoy arrived on schedule after running through the German U-Boat picket line along the coast' of Africa witho ut loss. D Day, Sunday, November 8, was much similar to the numerous D Days that we have since participated in. Psychologically, however, the first is always the worst, and it was with much relief that the end of the day found us relatively unscathed. 'The landings had been successful and SUWANNEE bombers had assisted in silencing heavy shore batteries and the French battleship JEAN BART.'f Two French 'submarines in Casablanca Harbor were sunk by aerial attack and French cruisers and destroyers which attempted to clear the harbor to fight were mortally wounded by gunfire from our ships assisted by SUWAN N EE TBF's. Shortly thereafter, we struck the key- note for the successful war against the German U-Boat menace by becoming the first CVE to sink a submarine. A Hight of TBF's of VGS-27 led by Lt. Comdr. Nation sighted a fully sur- .A

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On December 11th and 12th, we passed through the Panama Canal without incident and with- out libertyj except for a tangle betW6Cf1 the signal yardarm and control tower. The Canal authorities would not cooperate by removing the control tower so we officially put the C. and R. Department into commission. The yardarm WHS removed about midnight amidst much confusion he WICHITA, and long debates were held 0 the advantages of being fully illuminated at night in submarine waters. On anuary 4 1943 the amazement as we steamed into Noumea, New Caledonia, with the officers and crew at quarters in whites. We were unimpressed by our new surroundings except for the reassuring sight of Formation Over Ship and under the close supervision of the ISt Lieutenant from the roof of the control tower. The passage across the Pacific was marked by our first crossing of the Equator and the 180th llieridian and our first Christmas at sea. fwith- out mail buoy in the vicinityl. lVe engaged in numerous starshell and searchlight practices at night under the tutelage of Admiral Giffen, on the big old SARA sitting peacefully at anchor in spite of numerous rumors of her sinking. After officially reporting to ComSoPac f0f duty, we soon got underway and headed fOr Havannah Harbor, Efate where we were des- tined to spend the next seven months. OH Jan' UZITY 17, the SUVVANNEE moored to the n0W famous Buoy 14N and prepared for tremendoui ..,-.,-4-- f'X 4 P+ cn FP rn P-1 SD I3 cn O r-+-. PP D' CD CD O C . f-+ D' ZF Q. Q :h . O 'TJ O . -1 O fp N. CID FY- N f-1 rn v Q.. . 5' :S wu-iun-.mmnmQfe4fnm.w..f,.q.w....aa-frw.wf-Aafaaaqavfrqf- -.-,..........,. N K, V, i +