Suwannee (CVE 27) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 25 text:

operations with the South Pacific Force. On january 21, 1943, Captain F. W. McMahon took over command from Captain Clark who went back to assume command of the new YORKTOWN. On January 27th we received orders to get underway to rendezvous with and provide coverage for several transports filled with Army troops under the command of General Patch. The Army was finally moving into Guadalcanal and it was rumored that the advance elements contained two U.S.O. shows, material for an officers' club, and a Chinese hand laundry. This comparatively simple operation ended tragical- ly, for the cruiser force under Admiral Giffen was subjected to a dusk torpedo attack off Guadalcanal and the U. S. S. CHICAGO was hit. The next day the troops landed success- fully but the CHICAGO, under tow and escorted by five DD's was again attacked and sunk in spite of coverage by SUIVANNEE, Cl-IENANGO, ENTERPRISE planes. The CHENANGO and SUNVANNEE narrowly averted a dusk attack of I5 ,lap bombers, by running into a weather front where the enemy failed to make contact. At this time word was received that the ,lap fleet was at sea and would attempt to reinforce Guadalcanalg the SUWANNEE, CHEN- ANGO, SANGAIVION, four cruisers and four old battleships joined up under Vice Admiral Leary and proceeded to the vicinity of Vanikoro Island to protect the northeastern approaches to the Solomons. All indications pointed to the possibility of an engagement and all I5 TBF's were on deck in condition II loaded with torpe- does. Admiral Leary sent word about 0200 one morning I expect to contact the enemy at dawn. The enemy never did materalize how- ever. Instead, 20 Jap destroyers ran down to Guadalcanal and evacuated troops rather than reinforce their garrison. Shortly thereafter, the capture of Guadalcanal was announced as being completed. It was during this cruise off Vani- koro that CarDiv22's first commander took over. Rear Admiral llason, former skipper of the HORNET, was transferred to the flagship CSLIIVANNEEJ at sea by breeches buoy. After the retirement of the Tokoyo Express we returned to port for a short stay and then successfully covered the movement of troops in the occupation of the Russell Islands in the Solomons group. At the conclusion of this operation we returned to Efate, took aboard the new Division Commander, Admiral IN'IcI all, and sat at Buoy 14 till about IO August except for a week of covering troops for the occupation of New Georgia. During this period the squadrons, VT and VF 27, were sent to Guadalcanal for two long periods during which they amassed an impressive combat record. Early in August, we received the glorious news that we would soon depart for Uncle Sugar for yard availability. In no time at all we were learning all over again the pitfalls of life in the states and fighting the battle of hIarket Streetf' Also in no time at all we arrived in San Diego, took aboard VF and VT 60 and set out for the occupation of the Gilbert Islands which marked the first step of a whole new phase of Pacific warfare. The SIIVVANNEE and Air Group 60 have been engaged almost continuously since October, 1943, in the support of amphibious operations. Except for a short stay in San Diego, where Captain VV. D. Johnson took over command, the duty has been severe but most satisfactory. - f,-me -swf:-gear.:-A-,.'e:.f ,- -vvf fe.,srM.:ugu,q.wQ

Page 24 text:

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 +

Page 26 text:

-'f my-rs-as-1 -- :Q .gi-Sf-s,,NQ5.,.-.. 4 -K K The past year has seen the fall, in rapid succession, of Jap garrisons at Tarawa, Ape- mama, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Aitape, Hollandia, Saipan, Tinian, Guam, lVIorotai and Csoonb Peleliu. The SUWANNEE and her sister ships have the unique distinction of having parti- cipated in every major amphibious operation in the Pacific except the present one at Peleliu. We have proven ourselves to be invaluable support for these operations and we have success- fully completed operations of such length and intensity that they taxed the endurance of all hands. The squadrons have outflown and out- lasted all other carrier based squadrons in the fieet and in doing so have established operating records that should warm the hearts of every strong advocate of a carrier Navy. Statistics give a fair idea of the relative intensity of our operations during the past year as compared to the first year. XVhen Air Group 60 came aboard, the SUXVANNEE had something les.: than 2,000 landings. Lt. Comdr. Feilbach made the 2,000tl1 and noxv the figure stands at 6,369 X-Vhen wc arrived in San Francisco September 10, 1943, we had logged slightly more than 40,000 nautical miles. Wie now have I2I,200l Twelve ofiicers and 313 men who were aboard for the commissioning ceremony Cplank-oxvnersj M ustering . . . ,-,.,, i v are still aboard Cnow considerably saltierlj Our longest cruise, during the Gilberts operation, took II days, 21 hours and 24 minutes and covered 10,812.16 non stop miles. Cn that trip We also crossed the equator 27 times. Our equator cross- ings now total 54 with 9 crossings of the 180th Nleridian. Air-craft o p e r a t i n g from the SUWANNEE have dropped approximately 500,000 pounds of bombs and fired 350,000 rounds of 50 calibre ammunition. The signal force has handled about 18,000 messages by blinker and semaphore. About the same number of radio messages have been Written up While IO times that number have been copied. The officers and men have consumed some 4,000,000 pounds of food. Thesquadrons of Air Group 60 had Hown 16,000 hours at the end of the lllarianas Campaign and had an average of 420 carrier hours per pilot. One hundred and forty- one combat missions had been flown up to that time with an additional S30 sorties. In summary, it is now evident that the SUVVANNEE, starting as a stop-gap and an experiment, has become an unqualified success in spite of the claim our rivals make, namely that the only thing we've ever sunk Was the tug at the deperming lock in San Francisco! Change of Command i in MQ' iv - 1 f., , ,la A ss 5 X , Z V, ' . X - .X - U . 5 ,.a, , kb XX X X bf - Q ' - 14462, ,. ' f , , K ,, ' if 1 s X ss 'I - , vf, f k . f X sq ss st - 7. 12, ,, ,V 1, 4, NV f- - f ,. -ffm ' .avi .2