OPERATION “HAILSTORM”

Truk (now Chuuk) along with Yap, Pohnpei, and Korsae, comprise the Federated States of Micronesia in the South Pacific.  An encircling reef forms Chuuk’s outer perimeter, creating a large, sheltered lagoon 40 miles in diameter that is peppered with a dozen islands.  During WWII this ideal natural harbor was used by the Japanese as their main forward naval base, much as Pearl Harbor was to our Navy.  When the Allied island-hopping campaign gained momentum in 1943-44, Truk represented a key target.

Three carrier groups of RADM Marc A. Mitscher’s Task Force 58, and a group from Task Force 50, all part of ADM Raymond A. Spruance’s FIFTH FLEET, staged a surprise attack on the facility 82 years ago this week.  Torpedo planes, dive bombers, and fighters from nine fleet carriers and four light carries conducted a two-day “hailstorm” attack involving 1250 sorties.  Truk’s ship repair docks, supply depots, 265 aircraft, and four airfields were destroyed.  The attack caught many Japanese ships in the lagoon and over 30 supply ships (140,000 tons) and several destroyers were sunk.  None of the Japanese battleships were in port at the time, and in a curious parallel to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, neither were any enemy carriers.  The attack was so successful in isolating the base however, that surviving Japanese personnel became marooned on the island until the end of the war.

Losses sustained by US forces were limited to 30 aircraft and damage to USS INTREPID (CV-11).  A Nakajima B5N “Kate” torpedo-bomber from Truk’s Param airfield hit INTREPID with a single torpedo, striking her 15 feet below the waterline on the starboard quarter.  Though the crew was able to contain the damage, her rudder jammed hard aport.  CAPT Thomas L. Sprague turned back toward Hawaii and was able to make headway by racing the port engine and idling the starboard.  But two days later strong winds began buffeting the ship.  The breeze pushed her onto a westward heading, toward Tokyo.  Not wishing to go that direction, the crew jury-rigged a “sail” of sewn-together hatch covers and spare canvas.  Steerage was thus regained and on February 24^th, still “under sail,” INTREPID stood in to Pearl.

The Japanese stranded on Truk as a result of this raid forbade the locals from salvaging the sunken ships.  In an unparalleled stroke of good fortune, the ban on salvage activity continues to this day.  As a result, Chuuk today is a sport diver’s paradise.  Trucks, airplanes, tanks, and other military equipment can still be seen on the decks of these sunken ships, and the holds still contain munitions, spare parts, crew artifacts, and in some cases, even crew remains.  As such, the utmost respect is demanded of visitors.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  25 FEB 26

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 3 “G-K”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977, pp. 446-47.

Morison, Samuel Eliot.  History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol 7  Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls.  Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1951, pp. 315-32.

Parzymieso, Michael.  “Truk Diary.”  Sea Classics, Vol 49 (7), July 2016, pp. 10-14, 56-58.

Rems, Alan P.  “Two Birds with One Hailstone.”  Naval History, Vol 28 (1), February 2014, pp. 16-21.

Site visit, Chuuk Lagoon, Federated States of Micronesia, November 1988.

Stewart, William H.  Ghost Fleet of the Truk Lagoon, Japanese Mandated Islands.  Missoula, MT: Pictorial Histories Pub Co., 1985, pp. 17-46.

The post Operation “Hailstorm” appeared first on Today in Naval History.

                                   WHERE WERE THE CARRIERS?

Most everyone will recall that one significant shortcoming of the Pearl Harbor raid from the Japanese perspective was its failure to destroy the American Navy’s aircraft carriers.  Yamamoto had targeted them in particular, appreciating as he did, the importance of naval air power.  It was with some disappointment that the airstrike launched knowing the carriers were not in port.  But just where were our carriers at 0755, 7 December 1941?

For the past year, US attentions had focused on the Atlantic where four of our seven carriers were based.  German U-boats had already attacked US warships escorting freighters on Roosevelt’s “Neutrality Patrol.”  In fact, REUBEN JAMES (DD-245) had been sunk in September 1941 on just such a mission.  Dawn on December 7^th found YORKTOWN (CV-5) in Norfolk and RANGER (CV-4) a day out, both having just finished Neutrality Patrols.  Brand new HORNET (CV-8), just 2 months in commission, was also readying herself in Norfolk.  WASP (CV-7) was serving as our training carrier and lay at anchor in Grassy Bay, Bermuda, observing the usual Sunday morning routine between Caribbean cruises.

In the Pacific, SARATOGA (CV-3) was fresh out of dry-dock in Bremerton.  The morning of December 7^th found her pulling into San Diego to embark Marine Corps aircraft intended for Wake.  After hearing the news from Hawaii, SARATOGA got underway immediately, hoping to reinforce the besieged garrison at Wake.  She reached Pearl Harbor on the 15^th, stopping only for fuel.  But the tiny island outpost at Wake fell before SARATOGA could arrive.

Two carriers were in the waters around Hawaii.  ENTERPRISE (CV-6) was returning from an aircraft ferrying assignment, having delivered VMF-211 to Wake Island.  She had planned to make Pearl that day, in fact, her scout planes arrived over the harbor in the midst of the Japanese attack and joined the defense.  She pulled in on this day, pausing briefly to refuel, then departed to hunt down the Japanese.  Though she did not locate the enemy strike force, her aircraft did sink the sub I-170 on the 10^th.  Our oldest flattop in service, LEXINGTON (CV-2), was returning from Midway, having likewise delivered a squadron of Marine fighters.  Upon learning of the Pearl Harbor attack she promptly launched search planes in an unsuccessful attempt to locate the Japanese fleet, then diverted south to rendezvous with ENTERPRISE and INDIANAPOLIS (CA-35).

After today’s disaster, YORKTOWN cast off for Hawaii on December 16^th.  HORNET was readied for Doolittle’s Tokyo raid, departing Norfolk on 4 March 1942.  WASP was pulled from training duties and eventually transferred to the Pacific after the loss of YORKTOWN at Midway in June 1942.  RANGER remained in the Atlantic.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  13 DEC 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 2 “C-F”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977, p. 356.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 3 “G-K”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977, pp. 368, 434.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 4 “L-M”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1969, pp. 47, 104.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 6 “R-S”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1976, pp. 31, 85, 340.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 8 “W-Z”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1981, pp. 144, 534.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  RANGER is perhaps the least well-remembered of our seven pre-WWII carriers.  She remained in the Atlantic and Mediterranean until August 1944, when she also transferred to the Pacific.  Here she was relegated to pilot training duties off the California coast.

Our first carrier, the former LANGLEY (CV-1), was still in service, but had been converted to a seaplane tender (AV-3) in the 1930s.  She was operating with the Asiatic Fleet at the war’s outbreak and was sunk by Japanese planes in late February 1942.

The post Where Were the Carriers? appeared first on Today in Naval History.

                                                 “FOREST” FIRE

There were three major fires aboard US Navy aircraft carriers during the course of the Vietnam conflict.  The first occurred on 26 October 1966, killing 44 sailors aboard ORISKANY (CVA-34) after a phosphorous parachute flare accidently ignited in a hangar-deck storage locker.  The last was aboard ENTERPRISE (CVAN-65) on 14 January 1969, when a rocket ignited under the wing of an F-4 during start-up, touching off a multi-level blaze that killed 28 and took three hours to control.  But the worst, and best remembered, of these disasters occurred aboard USS FORRESTAL (CVA-59).

Having transferred from the Atlantic Fleet for a rotation off Southeast Asia, FORRESTAL had arrived on Yankee Station just four days earlier.  Her seven squadrons, VF-11, VF-74, VA-46, VA-106, VAH-10, RVAH-11, and VAW-123 flew 150 sorties without incident.  Flight operations were continuing around 1100 on the 29^th of July when a Zuni air-to-ground rocket under the wing of an F-4B misfired as the plane was being readied on the after flight deck.  The rocket skidded forward among aircraft crowding the deck and struck an A-4 in the fuel tank.  The resultant explosion spread flaming JP-5 over the after half of the flight deck.  Within minutes ordnance and fuel from other aircraft began exploding.  Fanned by a 20-knot wind, the blaze quickly turned to an inferno and spread to berthing spaces below the flight deck.  Here the flames blocked the egress of about fifty unfortunate sailors.

Meanwhile secondary explosions were turning the 4-acre flight deck into an aircraft scrapyard.  Panicked sailors began ripping ordnance from aircraft hardpoints to be thrown overboard.  Many were blown overboard themselves, or had bombs and rockets explode in their faces.  It took almost an hour, with firefighting help from nearby ORISKANY and RUPERTUS (DD-851), to control the flight deck blaze.  Secondary fires below decks burned into the night.

One hundred and thirty-four officers and enlisted lost their lives in this tragedy.  Sixty-four aircraft were destroyed or damaged.  FORRESTAL was detached to Norfolk where $72 million in repairs began in September (not including replacement aircraft).  She returned to active service, this time with the dubious nickname, “USS Forest Fire” which she carried for years.  On 4 February 1991 she was re-designated AVT-59 and took over as our pilot training carrier, replacing the venerable WWII-era LEXINGTON (AVT-16).  Her duty in this capacity was short-lived, she was decommissioned on 30 September 1993, another victim of post-Cold War downsizing.  Video of this after deck disaster was subsequently used in a film shown to many sailors of the late 20^th century as part of damage control training.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  5 AUG 24

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Mersky, Peter B. and Norman Polmar.  The Naval Air War in Vietnam.  Annapolis, MD: Nautical and Aviation Pub., 1981, pp. 121-22.

Polmar, Norman.  The Naval Institute Guide to the Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet, 16^th ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1997, pp. 87,101.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History:  An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3^rd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, p. 227.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Flight deck cameras caught much of this mishap, including the escape of the pilot of the A-4 struck by the rocket.  LCDR John S. McCain, III, saved his own life and that of another pilot, after jumping from the wing of his Skyhawk.  He was wounded in the legs and chest by fragments of an exploding bomb.  He would later be shot down over Hanoi and spend 5 1/2 years as a POW of the North Vietnamese.

FORRESTAL remembers former Secretary of the Navy and our first Secretary of Defense in 1947, James V. Forrestal.  McCain is remembered today, along with his father and grandfather, with the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer JOHN S. MCCAIN (DDG-58).  We currently do not maintain a designated AVT carrier.

The post “Forest” Fire appeared first on Today in Naval History.

                                         THE SACRIFICE OF VT-8

Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8) from HORNET (CV-8) flew an early version of the TBD Devastator.  A three-seater, behind the pilot a navigator/radioman sat ahead of a rear-most gunner operating the only defensive weapon, a .30 caliber Browning machine gun.  The TBD was designed to attack under a fighter escort, a shortcoming that would prove fatal this day.

Aware of the Japanese battle plans, Pacific commander ADM Chester W. Nimitz “hid” the three carriers of Task Force 16 at “Point Luck” northeast of the anticipated enemy position off Midway.  TF 16’s commander, RADM Raymond A. Spruance, learned of the enemy’s arrival this morning.  HORNET now launched the 15 TBDs of VT-8 along with 35 dive bombers and LCDR Samuel G. Mitchell’s ten Wildcat fighters.  Overall command of HORNET’s aircraft fell to CDR Stanhope C. Ring of the dive bomber group.  But heavy cloud cover prevented Ring from correctly grouping the squadrons over HORNET.  LCDR John C. Waldron’s Devastators became separated.  To complicate matters, within an hour of HORNET’s launch the Japanese changed course, moving to the northwest away from Midway.  Waldron’s squadron, now flying without its fighter escort, arrived at the target site to find the Japanese gone.  Ring had arrived a few minutes earlier but gambled incorrectly by turning toward Midway.  Waldron on the other hand, guessed correctly and shortly spotted smoke on the horizon.

Estimates vary as to the number of Japanese Zeros that jumped Waldron’s naked Squadron.  Even before they were within flak range, four Devastators had been splashed.  The remaining eleven now began their slow, deliberate run toward the carrier Akagi.  The result was suicidal.  Five more Devastators went down, one even attempted to crash dive into Akagi’s bridge but missed.  The heavy anti-aircraft fire spurred Waldron to redirect his surviving pilots to the center carrier, Soryu.  Yet the Zeros mercilessly chewed through the squadron.  Waldron himself, was observed to struggle unsuccessfully in his flaming cockpit.  Only a single plane piloted by LTJG George H. Gay survived to launch its torpedo, which Soryu dodged.  Gay’s crewmen were already dead by this time, and as he pulled up, a flak burst disabled the TBD’s rudder pedal, and a Zero shot off a wing.  He belly-flopped the plane and jumped.  With his 29 buddies of VT-8 wiped out, Gay bobbed in the water amidst the enemy fleet, concealing himself under a seat cushion.

The sacrifice of VT-8 did not go for naught.  Distracted by the torpedo bombers, the Japanese fighter CAP completely missed LCDR C. Wade McClusky’s Dauntless dive bombers high overhead.  These unloaded on Akagi, Soryu, and Kaga, ultimately sinking all three!

Watch or more “Today in Naval History”  9 JUN 24

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Miller, Nathan.  The Naval Air War 1939-1945.  USNI Press, Annapolis, MD, pp. 80-88, 1980.

Morison, Samuel Eliot.  History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol 4  Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions.  Little, Brown and Co., Boston, MA, pp. 116-21, 1949.

Stephen, Martin.  Sea Battles in Close-up: World War 2.  USNI Press, Annapolis, MD, pp. 170-71, 1988.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  To complicate what was a dangerous practice at face value, the Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bomber was itself a death trap for pilots–skimpy armor, poorly maneuverable, weak defenses, and painfully slow.  The TBD began its torpedo approach at 200 mph and could not release the torpedo above 115 mph.  (The Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” cruised at 270 mph).  In addition, the faulty Mark 13 torpedo the TBD carried often failed to detonate.  Of the 41 Devastators launched in the battle of Midway, none scored a torpedo hit, and only six returned to their carriers.  The Navy withdrew the Devastator from service after the battle of Midway to be replaced by the Grumman TBF Avenger.

LCDR Waldron received the Navy Cross for his actions this day, and “Torpedo-8” was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.  The WWII Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer WALDRON (DD-699) remembers the Commander.  RMC Horace F. Dobbs in Waldron’s 2^nd seat was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. 

LTJG Gay’s attempt to hide beneath a seat cushion succeeded; he was rescued later, the sole survivor from the squadron and an eye-witness to the entire battle.

In our early days of carrier aviation the squadrons embarked adopted the hull number of the ship as their designator.  Thus, we have squadrons VT-8, VB-8, and VF-8 above.

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                                                      LUCKY 13

By this date in the Pacific war, the Iwo Jima invasion was well underway, and plans were being made to assault the next island on the path to Japan–Okinawa.  American naval forces had begun striking targets on the very Japanese home islands themselves.  This morning, “Big Ben,” as the Essex-class carrier FRANKLIN (CV-13) was nicknamed, found herself only 50 miles off Kyushu, closer to Japan than any carrier had previously ventured.  She was launching a fighter sweep against Honshu and strikes against Imperial Navy warships in Kobe Harbor.  FRANKLIN was carrying over 40,000 gallons of aviation fuel and so many bombs that they had to be stowed in the heads.

Suddenly, a lone enemy bomber appeared out of the low clouds–flying straight for the carrier.  Anti-aircraft batteries awoke with a flurry of flak, but the plane bore on, dropping two semi-armor piercing bombs.  The first penetrated the flight deck amidships hitting readied planes and fueling areas of the hanger deck below.  The second struck aft, detonating the third deck magazine.  Communications went out and fires and explosions racked the hull–some violent enough to be heard by VADM Mitscher aboard BUNKER HILL (CV-17) over the horizon.  While FRANKLIN’s sailors fought fires and rescued shipmates, more enemy planes appeared.  Then within a stone’s throw of Japan she went dead in the water.

Heroism was the order of the day.  LTJG Donald Gray made repeated trips to the mess deck leading over 300 trapped men to safety.  LCDR Joseph T. O’Callahan, the ship’s chaplain, not only busied himself with his spiritual duties but organized firefighting and damage control parties.  When fires threatened munitions magazines below decks, he saw to their wetting down, saving countless lives.  As the carrier developed a 13^o starboard list the skipper, CAPT Leslie H. Gehres, ordered all non-essential men of the 3450-man crew to abandon ship.  SANTA FE (CL-60) pulled alongside to assist, but Big Ben’s future looked grim.

The 704 men of the salvage parties battled on.  And slowly they began to stem the fires.  Shortly the cruiser PITTSBURGH (CA-72) took the carrier under tow.  FRANKLIN’s shafts were again turning 14 knots within a day.  After a brief stop in Pearl Harbor, she made New York under her own power.

The fight to save FRANKLIN is one of the most heroic stories in American Naval history.  The ordeal cost 724 sailors’ lives and 265 injuries.  No other US Navy warship has sustained as many casualties and remained afloat.  “Big Ben” became one of our most decorated warships, and LCDR O’Callahan became the first Navy chaplain to receive the Medal of Honor.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  22 MAR 24

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Bruce, Roy W.  “‘Done Blowed the Ship to Hell'”.  Naval History, Vol 9 (2), pp. 41-47, Mar/Apr 1995.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 2 “C-F”. Washington, DC: GPO, p. 443-44, 1977.

Holch, Arthur.  “Big Ben”.  New York, NY: Time-Life Television Productions, “GI Diary” Video Series, 1978.

Morison, Samuel Eliot.  History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol 14  Victory in the Pacific.  Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., pp. 94-99, 1960.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 2^nd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, pp. 207-09, 1991.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  The Cold War Garcia-class frigate O’CALLAHAN (FF-1051) remembers Chaplain O’Callahan.  She is one of seven past or present warships that remember chaplains, the others being:  LIVERMORE (DD-318); KIRKPATRICK (DE-318); SCHMITT (DE-676); CAPODANNO (FF-1093); RENTZ (FFG-46); LABOON (DDG-58).

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                                             FLEET PROBLEM IX

Between the World Wars, US military planners began to imagine the Pacific as a direction from which a future enemy might emerge.  They listed Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Alaska, and the Panama Canal as potential targets of such an enemy’s first strike.  In fact, periodically during the 1920s and 1930s our Navy conducted exercises near these sites, practicing various attack and defense scenarios.  The exercise of 1929, Fleet Problem IX, was staged in the eastern Pacific around Panama.  A “Black Fleet” aggressor force was tasked with attempting to “destroy” the Panama Canal.

Fleet Problem IX was historic before it started.  It would be the first exercise in which aircraft carriers played a role.  LEXINGTON (CV-2) and SARATOGA (CV-3) had been commissioned just a year earlier; the former being assigned to the force protecting Panama, and SARATOGA, under the command of CAPT Harry E. Yarnell, would scout for the Black Fleet.  Most tacticians in this day saw little role for flattops in direct combat.  The battleship was capital; aircraft carriers were but supporting auxiliaries, scouting over the horizon as the “eyes of the Fleet.”  Only a few forward thinkers saw a potential for naval aviation in direct offensive combat.  One of these was RADM Joseph M. “Bull” Reeves, commander of Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet.          

On January 25^th, as Fleet Problem IX proceeded, Reeves quietly detached SARATOGA from her Black Fleet duties and sent her south under escort of a single cruiser.  She made a large end sweep around the southern arm of the defending forces, closing undetected to within 150 miles of the Canal during the early morning hours of this day, the 26^th.  From here she launched 69 biplanes into the pre-dawn darkness.

The surprise was total.  SARATOGA’s planes arrived over the Canal at sunrise, unnoticed until their “bombs” were falling.  Though defenders had been on alert throughout the exercises, opposition could not be mounted in time.  Referees ruled the vital Miraflores and Pedro Miguel Locks destroyed, effectively disabling the Panama Canal.  Her strike planes sustained no combat losses, though SARATOGA herself was discovered and “sunk” by the defending force later that day.

Naval planners were stunned by the effectiveness of SARATOGA’s coup d’etat, but the raid was so “outside the box” that it was dismissed out of hand by doctrinal experts.  Indeed, the utility of the offensive naval airstrike was re-demonstrated in later Fleet Problems, but traditional thought prevailed.  It was not until the Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor in 1941 that the concept of offensive airstrikes gained wide endorsement in the American Navy.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  2 FEB 24

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 2 “C-F”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977, pp. 339-40.

Department of the Navy, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air Warfare).  United States Naval Aviation 1910-1980.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1981, pp. 66-67.

Johnson, Brian.  Fly Navy:  A History of Naval Aviation.  New York, NY: William Morrow & Co., 1981, pp. 138-41.

Potter, E.B.  Sea Power: A Naval History, 2^nd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1981, p. 237.

Reynolds, Clark G.  The Fast Carriers:  The Forging of an Air Navy.  New York, McGraw-Hill, 1968, p. 17.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 2^nd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1991, p. 153.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  CAPT Yarnell (1875-1959) fought at the Battle of Santiago in the Spanish-American War and received the Navy Cross for his work in the CNO’s Office during WWI.  By the interwar period he had developed a reputation as an expert in Naval aviation.  He was promoted to Flag in 1930 and served later as the CIC of the Asiatic Fleet.  He retired on 1 November 1941, a month before Pearl Harbor but was recalled to Active Duty twice during the war.  He died 7 July 1959 in Newport, Rhode Island.  Seventeen months after his death the Navy launched our second of the Leahy-class guided missile cruisers, HARRY E. YARNELL (DLG-17).  Like her Leahy-class sisters, YARNELL  decommissioned after the 1991 Persian Gulf War and was sold for scrap.

Admiral Reeves is also remembered with a Leahy-class cruiser, REEVES (DLG-24). 

The post Fleet Problem IX appeared first on Today in Naval History.

                                              USS OMMANEY BAY

The twin-engine Japanese medium bomber, converted into a flying bomb herself, dove toward USS OMMANEY BAY (CVE-79).  To the American crew it was a complete surprise!  Screened by the numerous small Philippine islands nearby, Ommaney’s radar never picked up the plane.  Only New Mexico (BB-40) detected her presence but was not able to shoot her down.  The suicide plane clipped the escort carrier’s island, then crashed her forward starboard flight deck.  Two bombs penetrated, the first exploded among fully fueled aircraft on the hangar deck.  The second penetrated farther, cutting the fire main on the second deck and exploding in the forward engine room.  An oil fire quickly erupted, filling the ship with acrid black smoke.  Communications from the bridge were paralyzed.  In an instant, the fires blazed too intensely for damage controlmen to make headway.  Power failed throughout the ship, aircraft gasoline tanks exploded, and cooked-off .50 caliber ammunition peppered the decks!

OMMANEY BAY was part of the task force intent on re-taking the main Philippine Island of Luzon.  The force had left Leyte Gulf and headed west through the Surigao Strait, then turned north through the Sulu Sea.  They were to converge on the Lingayen Gulf northwest of Manila, the site of the Allied landings.  Kamikazes had been a constant threat throughout the Philippine campaign.  Indeed, this same afternoon another kamikaze missed LUNGA POINT (CVE-94) by only 50 yards.  Now it was OMMANEY BAY’s turn.

By 1730 the fires had spread throughout the hangar deck.  The flight deck above became untenable as flames and smoke engulfed it as well.  Burned and injured sailors cried out in agony.  Nearby destroyers attempted to close the stricken “baby flattop,” to help put out her fires–only to be driven off by the intense heat and flying debris.  Worse, the flames threatened to reach the carrier’s stockpile of torpedoes!

Burned and injured sailors were strapped to cots, covered with kapok life vests, and lowered over the side with two able swimmers accompanying each.  Then about 1750, a massive explosion sprayed metal shards that killed two sailors aboard EICHENBERGER (DE-202).  Skipper CAPT H.I. Young had no choice but to order “Abandon Ship!” and at 1812 he, too, went over the side.  Six minutes later the flames reached the torpedo lockers.

Oppressive heat and secondary explosions from the flaming carrier spelled her doom.  In all 93 OMMANEY BAY mates were lost and 65 injured.  BURNS (DD-588) was ordered to scuttle the stricken carrier.  Seven other OMMANEY BAY survivors died as well when rescuing ships were also crashed by kamikazes in the ensuing days.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  11 JAN 24

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Cooney, David M.  A Chronology of the U.S. Navy:  1775-1965.  New York, NY: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1965, p. 358.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 5 “N-Q”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1979, p. 154.

Morison, Samuel Eliot.  History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol XIII  The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindinao, the Visayas.  Little Brown and Co., Boston, MA, 1959, pp. 99-101.

Poolman, Kenneth.  Allied Escort Carriers of World War Two in Action.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1988, pp. 235-36.

Robbins, Gary.  “Wreckage Found Off Philippines is WWII Aircraft Carrier Which Deployed from San Diego.”  military.com website, 12 July 2023.  AT: http://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/-7/12/wreckage-found-off-philippines-wwii-aircraft-carrier-which-deployed-from-san-diego.html, retrieved 12 July 2023.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  The Casablanca-class “Jeep carriers” were the most prolific of WWII, comprising fully one-third all of US carriers commissioned during the conflict.  Hers was the first class of escort carrier built from the keel up for that purpose (rather than from conversion of merchant hulls).  Most were named for bays, inlets, or peninsulas—Ommaney Bay is in southern Alaska.

In 2019 the wreck of OMMANEY BAY was discovered off Mindanao, Philippine Islands.  The Naval History and Heritage Command confirmed the identity of the carrier in 2023.

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                   TWO CARRIERS IN HARM’S WAY

As the third day of the battle for Iwo Jima began, the ships of Task Force 58 kept up their shore bombardment and their efforts against Japanese sea and air defenses.  Indeed, on this morning, USS SARATOGA (CV-3) and three destroyers were detached from Task Group 58.5 to provide combat air patrol over the amphibious landing zones from a position 35 miles to the northwest of the island.  But just as SARATOGA arrived on station at 1628, an inbound flight of aircraft was seen on radar.  Initially identified as “friendlies,” it was not for 20 minutes that the inbounds were revealed to be 25 enemy kamikazes.  In only ten more minutes the planes were upon SARATOGA!  The first two fell ablaze from anti-aircraft fire, but bounced into the carrier at the waterline, releasing bombs that penetrated and exploded.  Another crashed the anchor windlass on the bow, taking out of action most of the forward flight deck and a plane about to launch.  All within a span of three minutes, yet another kamikaze struck the port catapult, and a fifth took out the starboard crane and gun gallery.  The carrier got up headway and turned away from the wind while damage control parties fought the fires.  The situation gradually improved, but at 1846 a final suicide plane slammed unseen out of the darkness onto the flight deck.  The bomb it dropped blew a 25-foot hole in the deck and started new fires.  Despite losing 36 planes to fires and water landings, 123 sailors killed, and 192 injured, SARATOGA was not crippled.  She ultimately steamed under her own power to Eniwetok for repairs.

But at that same 1845 moment, 45 miles east of Iwo Jima, the escort carrier BISMARCK SEA (CVE-95) was approached on her port bow.  All eyes turned in that direction as anti-aircraft guns blasted the onrushing manned missile.  Quietly from the opposite side a G4M3 “Betty” bomber glided in low.  She wasn’t spotted until only 1000 yards out.  The guns couldn’t be depressed sufficiently, and she struck the after aircraft elevator.  Debris and flaming gasoline shotgunned through the hangar, and the elevator platform crashed to the deck, cutting the fire mains.  Fully gassed planes and bomb and torpedo lockers were engulfed.  That same moment from above, another kamikaze carrying two bombs struck vertically at the same spot on the flight deck.  Exploding aircraft and ordnance spread uncontrollable fires throughout the ship.  Moments after CAPT J.L. Pratt called “Abandon Ship!” and stepped off, a tremendous explosion blew off most of the carrier’s stern.  BISMARCK SEA burned for three hours, rolled, then sank.  Some 218 sailors went down with the carrier.  Six destroyers crisscrossing the area through the night rescued the rest of her 943 crewmen.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  28 FEB 22

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 1 “A-B”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1959, p. 126.

Morison, Samuel Eliot.  History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol XIV  Victory in the Pacific.  Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1960, pp. 52-55.

Poolman, Kenneth.  Allied Escort Carriers of World War Two in Action.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1988, pp. 239-40.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History:  An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3rd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, p. 185.

Wheeler, Richard.  Iwo. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1980, p. 145.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  As above, by the Iwo Jima campaign the kamikaze was proving to be Japan’s most effective weapon against our Navy.  During the course of WWII more sailors and ships were lost to kamikazes than to Japanese submarines, surface actions, conventional air attacks, mines, or manned torpedoes.

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