Topeka (CL 67) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 27 text:

:.u+L'2 .53i1LIZL 5TZZ'l 25132-ZLJ: . r Nobody Hurt ,lust a Training M ishap .... We Learned We Had To With An Admiral Aboard . .

Page 26 text:

F. ---- L - .s- -In 1' - , . , g X '.. ,1'v' - T i f ' 1 1 fix' .4 bf-N3 -L1 l XX 'KH W - . ,415 M M ffl I ,. ONS! ,.,, fz' if f? 1,11 fffyyff' Z qll 'll'-1 11 . 2 e . ' ' 11 it 33 , 2 rem 'f A X - 11 113 5 1 13353 is f . . l J v- Il ,F ' J ill A Minmfll HV -.EU.,. ' i.-Y-.Lil gf xfggbg gf- X ,sk l -Ni ki I, ,,.f -- U W ,W 4 f. I .. HN Uv N R U .rife aaa ff .JL 1 1 n , 32.17-J V Q. - - Tc NQATQ-?f X X , V J ,041-J - ll J: flflfklfi'-If ' V! -I M im , , ig . .-'I 'g ' 511 X 4 f is 7' f .f ,S N Z , 5,9-, JF ,. H 0 7 Q J Lt - 4 W fm .11 N. - A .sf ' , '-ia' 1' ' , , ,A -F ,-z.:-125 W ! Nix- X fit , I i ,,r-v- Q H , ,, LTFJ - - 1- 13 EX X X- , ...f . asain-.zf. f . .. .1 2 -. x :JA 1 . - -9 - V- - . -xx X ' - -- X' ' xl- X -.- - f' - l - - . N- .Xa Iljj, X Q14-, ifag igfl-:if'?1-:-'fg 1555? Jil ,.., 4' 0 I: M if ' ' -fgf f,4 A' 3-'1 M ' X u ' Mog Mog Island, where the liberty parties went ashore, still had a number of native thatched huts, but most of the natives had been carried away by the Japanese or removed to other islands of the atoll. Native cemeteries were every- where on the island, and despite the presence of the newly constructed Navy buildings, there was a timeless air of placid permanence to the place. On 4 June the Topeka steamed out of Ulithi in company with the carrier Bon Homme Richard, the Oklahoma City and two destroyers to join with the fueling group then on its way to rendezvous with Task Force 38. The ship was at last about to move into the front line. The rendezvous with Task Force 38 was effected on 6 June, and the Topeka was ordered into Task Force 38.1, one of the groups comprising Task Force 38. The ship was now fulfilling the role for which she was designed-she was a part of the Fast Carrier Task Force whose mission was to destroy Japanese shipping, aircraft and shore in- stallations and whose lightning raids up and down the tenuously stretched Japanese Empire were fast annihilating the Japanese Fleet and demoralizing the Japanese govern- ment. These Task Groups were ordinarily composed of a half-dozen carriers, three or four battleships, seven or eight cruisers and a score or more destroyers. With their speed and fighting power, plus their ability to stay at sea for in- definite periods, they were the 'most devasting and most feared forces in the history of naval warfare. The group which the Topeka joined consisted of the carriers Hornet, Bennington, and Bon Homme Richard, the Battleships Indiana, Massachusetts, and Alabama, the light carriers San Jacinto and Belleau Wood, the heavy cruisers Baltimore and Quincy, the light cruisers San Juan, Okla- homa City, Atlanta and Topeka, and 15 destroyers. The group was operating about 300 miles east of Okinawa. On June 8 the carriers of the group launched an aircraft strike in support of the Okinawa campaign against enemy aircraft and installations on southern Kyushu, one of the three principal islands of the Japanese homeland. This was the Topeka's first taste of offensive action against the enemy. The ship went to General Quarters for the launching of the strike and for the recovery of the planes when they returned from the strike. This procedure was to become routine in the days to come, but on this day it was new and highly exciting. The crew had been warned that the greatest danger lay in the recovery of the planes by the carriers, for the Japanese aircraft frequently followed the planes back to the Task Group to attack at the time of recovery, when the carriers were most vulnerable. A few minutes after noon that day, the shrill call of air defense sounded over the ships Hsquawk-boxesf' Thirteen hundred men raced to their battle stations, believing that this, finally, was it. As it turned out, a bogey-unidentified aircraft-had been detected closing on the group, but it was identified as friendly just after the men reached their battle stations. This, too, was to become a familiar proce- dure, for it was not always possible to identify planes as friendly until they were close to the group. On 9 June the group fueled at sea in the morning and launched another air strike in the afternoon, and the fol- lowing day another strike was launched against Okino Daito Shima. For this strike, the Topeka lanuched one of its seaplanes for the air-sea rescue, but its services were not required. Late that day the entire group was underway for San Pedro Bay, Leyte, Philippine Islands. The Topeka had had herfirst opportunity-however short and indecisive it may have been-of playing on the first team. From now until the war ended, she would be a regular member of the first team. Three days later, with the decks hot enough to fry an egg from the merciless beating of the sun, the ship anchored in San Pedro Bay for minor repairs, painting and a general cleaning up. The 18-day stay at Leyte would have been more welcome had it not been for the weather. The sun bore down relent- lessly, and it was virtually impossible to sleep below-decks at night. From 1900 on, the topside decks were jam-packed with sleeping men. Those who cultivated the sun emerged with magnificently tanned skins. Because of the threat of enemy air action, gun watches were maintained just as they had been at sea. One night all the ships in the harbor were alerted by the shore radar station, but again the bogey turned out to be friendly. ' Liberty facilities at Leyte were limited, to put it mildly. The crew went ashore in groups of 200 or more to drink beef, SWIIH and play ball, but the oppressive heat confined 22

Page 28 text:

their activities to drinking beer and trying to trade with the natives for souvenirs. Most of the trading was for Philip- pine money, but the great quantities of clean crisp bills substantiated the story that the natives had obtained posses- sion of the presses on which the Japs had turned out occu- pation currency and were printing new money as fast as the sailors would buy it. There were too, the usual stories of what one could obtain in exchange for a package of Ameri- can cigarettes. Time passed rapidly, and before long the word was passed around that the Task Force would get underway 1 July for another series of smashing attacks on the Japanese homeland, these attacks to be co-ordinated with the pulver- izing bombing tactics of the Army's B-29s. When the ship steamed out of San Pedro Bay on 1 July. it was generally believed that she would be back in again within six or eight weeks, no one knew how much history would be written before the Topeka dropped anchor again. For nine days the Task Force tuned up for battle with numerous drills and practices, including a mock battle be- tween two groups of battleships, cruisers and destroyers. Enemy mines were spotted every day and exploded by destroyers of the screen. The great concern shown over the sighting of mines in daylight led to a certain amount of cynical discussion about the mines that must be just as nu- merous at night when they could not be seen. The group moved slowly north from Leyte during these nine days. Task Force 38.1, of which the Topeka was again a member, was composed of the carriers Bennington, Lex- ington and Hancock, the light carriers San Jacinto and Belleau Wood, the battleships South Dakota, Indiana and Massachusetts, the light cruisers Atlanta, Dayton, Okla- homa City, Amsterdam, and Topeka, the AA cruiser San Juan and about 18 destroyers. On the morning of 10 July the Task Force, composed of Task Groups 38.1, 38.3 and 38.4-, was ready to renew the onslaught against Japan. From a point off the eastern coast of Honshu, the central and most important of the three Jap- anese islands, a mammoth air strike was launched against the Tokyo Plains area, which includes the most heavily populated and most highly industrialized sections of Japan. From 0400 all through the day the planes roared off the carriers, and flew in to their targets, dropped their bombs and returned to be recovered, loaded, gassed and again launched. This routine was typical of the strike days to follow. As many as 2,000 missions would be flown in a day by the carrier planes. On this day, as in days to come, little opposition was encountered by the pilots although at some targets the anti-aircraft fire was moderate to heavy. The Topekais job on strike days was to maintain a sharp radar and lookout watch for enemy planes about to attack the Task Group, to open fire and destroy enemy planes as directed, and to supply air-sea rescue planes as ordered. During these days the ship went to General Quarters for launching and recovery of planes and twhenever enemy planes approached the formation, and maintained Condition Two Able-Able, with half to two-thirds of the men on watch, the rest of the time. Although few enemy planes, except those that were apparently suicide reconnaissance missions, approached close enough to cause any great alarm, it was a grueling routine, particularly for the anti-aircraftjbattery, the lookouts, and Combat Information Center. By sunset all planes had been recovered and the night combat air patrol had been launched. The group retired for fueling on 11 and 12 July, then steamed north for an attack on Hokkaido, the northernmost of the three principal islands, on the 13th. Foul weather prevented effective air strikes on the 13th, but on the 14th a full-scale attack was launched with enemy planes, enemy airfields and certain industrial points the targets. As on the 10th over the Tokyo area, many planes were destroyed on the ground and little opposition was encountered in the air. The Japanese either had run out of planes or were saving them for the expected invasion of the homeland. About noon two planes ap- proached the formation but were shot down by the combat air patrol before they could do any damage. The next day, the 15th, was in general a repetition of the 14th. That night the group retired for fueling the following day. While fueling on 16 July the Task Force was joined by a British task group of carriers, battleships, cruisers and destroyers, which was to conduct future air operations in conjunction with Task Force By the morning of the 17th the ships had again reached a point off Tokyo for scheduled strikes on that and the next day. Bad weather interferred again, however. The first two strikes of the day were launched on the 17th, but then the weather closed in, preventing any further operations that day or the next. But those who thought that operations were setting into a routine were due for a surprise that night. 1 At 1630 on 18 July the Topeka, along with her sister cruisers the Dayton, Oklahoma City and Atlanta, was de- tached from the Task Group for a shipping sweep off the eastern entrance to Tokyo Bay, within easy range of Jap warships, planes, and even shore batteries. Purpose of the mission was to destroy enemy shipping encountered and to bombard the southern tip of Nojima Cape. Navigating largely by radar, the four cruisers with -their destroyer screen, commanded by Rear Admiral Holden, USN, in the Topeka, approached the Japanese homeland in the early evening. At about 2200, radar contact was made with an unidentified surface craft. Two destroyers were sent out to investigate, but the contact turned out to be an American submarine. Just before midnight, steaming in column, the cruisers opened fire on Japanese radar installations on Nojima Cape. Belching flame and destruction, the 6 guns fired salvo after salvo toward shore in an awe-inspiring spectacle, and the target was seen to explode in a quick flash as the projectiles reached their objective, The Task Unit proceeded westward from Nojima Cape and reached a point 45 miles south of Tokyo, the closest to the .Japanese capital that any enemy force had ever been since the days of Genghis Kahn in the 13th century. Turn-