MIGHTY NINETY
The Homepage of USS ASTORIA CL-90
Task Force 38 raids Japanese shipping in the South China Sea
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Task Group 38.2 refueling in the South China Sea on 11 January 1945. USS THE SULLIVANS DD-537 and USS ASTORIA are taking on fuel from opposite sides of an oiler while underway. Note the shamrock on THE SULLIVANS' forward stack.
-photo taken by and courtesy of USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper
Ever since the surface actions at Leyte Gulf in October 1944, Admiral Halsey had been champing at the bit for an opportunity to take Task Force 38 into the South China Sea to finish off ships of the Japanese Combined Fleet. Intelligence suggested that the remaining capital ships that had survived the actions at Leyte Gulf were divided into two sections--one group in the Inland Sea of Japan and the other in the South China Sea. Having missed the opportunity at Leyte, Halsey desperately wanted to engage the remaining Japanese surface threat and finish it off.
In January 1945, the logistical requirements of the Luzon invasion made this desire a practical reality. Supply lines west of the Philippines between Mindoro and Lingayen Gulf were critical to the success of the Luzon invasion, and the possibility of Japanese warships in the South China Sea posed a significant threat to these lines. Additionally, airfields along the coast of French Indochina and China were also within striking distance of the Luzon supply line. Therefore the timing was ideal for Halsey's long-sought-after incursion into Japanese-controlled waters, both to hunt for surface vessels and to strike other targets of opportunity.
9-10 January 1945
Overnight the ships of the Fast Carrier Task Force made a high-speed run southwest, entering the South China Sea via the Bashi Channel of Luzon Strait. As Captain Dyer informed ASTORIA's crew, this was the first time since the earliest days of the war that U.S. surface vessels had entered these waters.
At 0500 Air Emergency Stations were called--three Japanese "snoopers" had been picked up on radar. The night CAP fighters from USS INDEPENDENCE intercepted them to engage before they could report the presence of the task force.
USS ASTORIA F Division Fire Controlman J. Fred Lind wrote in his diary:
The first Japanese plane I saw was 8 miles off our port bow, and was going down in flames. A while ago I would have considered this a tragedy, but today I found myself smiling--it was a success rather than a tragedy. One pilot, "Cupid 3", shot down [two] enemy aircraft in his night fighter, all within 20 minutes. They chased another one out 110 miles before they got him. Our Combat Air Patrol is sure persistent.
11 January 1945
Poor weather conditions had prevented fueling the day before, but the morning of the 11th proved successful. All fueling and supply was complete by noon, and effective CAP ensured that the fleet was not discovered while at their most vulnerable. Mail and fuel oil weren't the only things circulating; the scuttlebutt also began to fly about what the next day might bring.
Confirmation came soon enough, as recorded by F Division Fire Controlman Jim Thomson:
It started as just another day. At 1030 came good news. We were to take mail from a destroyer. A few minutes later more startling news. Tomorrow we were to bombard a port on the coast of French Indochina. The ship was aflame with excitement--our first active action!
The target area was Cam Ranh Bay, where capital ships of the Japanese Combined Fleet were believed to be anchored. USS ASTORIA's Task Group 38.2, fortified by cruisers and destroyers from 38.1, was given the assignment of entering Cam Ranh Bay to bombard the area and destroy these surface vessels.
Once refueling was complete, ships began to reorganize in preparation. USS BALTIMORE and BOSTON plus five destroyers joined Task Group 38.2. At 1400 this fortified task group, including the night carriers, detached from the main force and began its run-in toward Cam Ranh Bay.
Admiral Halsey sent a message to his ships:
You know what to do--give them hell--God bless you all. HALSEY.
Jim Thomson recorded the specifics of ASTORIA's pending fire mission in his diary:
We were to close to four thousand yards and fire over a small island which blocked the bay. The idea was to drive out whatever was in the harbor then let fly with everything we had. Our "fantail Messerschmitts" were to do the honors of spotting our fire.
Each gun of the main battery was allowed fifty rounds. It didn't sound too good to the topside stations. Four thousand yards was rather close for comfort, especially against the shore installations which the Japanese must have.
During the evening Marines knocked down three Japanese patrol planes. We wondered if we had been spotted. That evening we made our final preparations.
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The grid chart used by USS ASTORIA CL-90 in preparation for the Cam Ranh Bay fire mission. Per Thomson's description, the ship was to fire over Tagne Island (lower right) into the bay while her Kingfisher floatplanes spotted her fire.
-grid chart image taken by and courtesy of USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper
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Track chart of USS ASTORIA as Task Force 38 moves through the Bashi Channel between Luzon and Formosa into the South China Sea. After refueling on 11 January, the fortified Task Group 38.2 performed the final run-in toward Cam Ranh Bay. The arrows indicate air strikes conducted against Saigon, Cam Ranh, and the coast of French Indochina.
-created from Google Earth global mapping and imagery
12 January 1945
At 0300 the night carriers took the lead in the attack on Cam Ranh Bay. Eight two-plane search teams of TBM Avenger bombers launched from ENTERPRISE and INDEPENDENCE.
From Edward Stafford's The Big E:
The blacked-out TBMs fanned out over the [Indochina] coast from a hundred miles to seaward like the fingers of an exploring hand, peering through the night with radar, laying naked suspicious areas with the harsh brilliance of parachute flares, occasionally scorching a rocket or two into likely targets. And behind the probing fingers, the heavy fist of the day carriers was cocked and ready.
As dawn approached, the ships of Admiral Gerald Bogan's fortified Task Group 38.2 began their preparations. At 0640 the unit assigned to bombard Cam Ranh Bay detached from the task group, consisting of USS PASADENA (unit flag and lead ship), ASTORIA (second in line), BALTIMORE, SAN JUAN, WILKES-BARRE, IOWA, WISCONSIN, NEW JERSEY, and two destroyer squadrons in escort.
Jim Thomson captured the collective mood of his shipmates in his diary:
The crew was strangely quiet. All it needed was the smell of liniment to make it feel like a track meet. For the first time I had to wait in line to use the head. No one complaining of constipation this morning.
At 0700 I went topside to my battle station, good old "53" (the gunfire director for the no.3 five-inch mount). A short time later the bugle sounded GQ. It was dark for 0700 and I felt a bit excited to know that we lay fifty miles from the target. Our planes were already making their strike. A sailing vessel was picked up and a flash of gunfire on the horizon said scratch one sailing vessel.
At 0731, as the surface strike unit approached Cam Ranh, aircraft were launched from carriers across all task groups. The Avengers launched from the night carriers had provided precise information on locations of Japanese targets, and strikes were dispatched accordingly.
From Jim Thomson's Diary:
As the dawn broke to reveal our small but potent force, the PASADENA came steaming up alongside the "Asty" plunging deep into the heavy sea. She gave a short blast on her horn then drove to the head of the formation. All was in readiness on the Asty as we built up speed for the run to the beach. Suddenly the PASADENA cut to our starboard bow and slackened speed; something was wrong. Presently we got the word from Forward Control. Our planes reported the bay empty of shipping and Halsey had ordered us to cruise in the area while he made his decision.
No heavy ships had been sighted. The Japanese Combined Fleet was not in Cam Ranh Bay, nor anywhere else that had been scouted. Frustrated, Halsey ordered the surface strike unit to turn back and the task groups were reconstituted. The focus for the day turned to making the most of the aerial raids taking place against smaller Japanese surface vessels, merchant shipping, and port facilities.
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Two Japanese freighters and a tanker are sunk during strikes on Saigon conducted by planes from USS TICONDEROGA CV-14, 12 January 1945. Note the stabilitor of the turning aircraft visible at the top of the photo.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
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An SB2C Helldiver of VB-7 from USS HANCOCK flies away from heavily burning ships of a Japanese convoy struck off the coast of French Indochina, 12 January 1945.
-U.S. Navy photo reproduced from U.S. Navy War Photographs, Steichen
J. Fred Lind wrote in his diary:
Scouting planes covered a radius of 400 miles in all directions and spotted a large convoy of enemy ships 75 miles from us. The planes attacked, sinking 41 ships and damaging 26 for a total of 127,000 tons destroyed. Among these [were] a light cruiser and seven destroyer escorts. We lost 25 planes.
Lind's totals matched the initial claims that Admiral Halsey circulated to the task force, but in fact the true results were understated. The strikes had been enormously successful.
Samuel Eliot Morison later wrote:
Actually Task Force 38 planes sank 44 ships totaling about 132,700 tons. Of these, 15 ships... were combatant vessels of the Japanese Navy and 29 ships... belonged to the merchant marine. An even dozen of the sunk Marus were oil tankers. Admiral Halsey did not exaggerate in calling this "one of the heaviest blows to Japanese shipping of any day of the war," and stating that "Japanese supply routes from Singapore, Malaya, Burma, and the Dutch East Indies were severed, at least temporarily."
The U.S. Navy later discovered the true location of the elusive Japanese capital ships. Prior to the new year, they had been moved much further south to safe anchorage at Lingga Roads, Malaya.
At 1931, exactly twelve hours after airstrikes were launched, the reconstituted Task Force 38 steamed away from Indochina for a refueling rendezvous with the Logistic Support Group. Jim Thomson added a coda for the day to his diary, writing, "it was a disappointing day... and yet was that a sigh of relief I heard?"
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Heavy seas and rain on the morning of 13 January 1945. Note the sheen of the rain-slicked weather deck and the hooded foul weather gear in use by several sailors in the photo.
-photo taken by and courtesy of USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper
13 January 1945
Weather conditions again deteriorated as the task force steamed on a northeasterly course. The high-speed departure from the Indochina coast had served two purposes--to prevent an enemy search and to outrun an approaching typhoon. As the seas rose throughout the morning, fueling proved to be impossible. Many ships parted lines while attempting to pass across fueling hoses.
ASTORIA had developed a reputation for sound execution in refueling operations. Admiral Halsey singled her out to make an attempt and demonstrate conclusively whether fueling was possible or not.
In his memoirs, Captain George C. Dyer later recalled:
It was rougher than all Harry, and we were supposed to have a fueling operation. A number of the ships had tried to fuel and had parted their oil lines, and had sprayed oil all over everything. Finally Admiral Halsey came up on the voice radio, it was his voice, he said, “Rampage [ASTORIA's radio call sign], you make a try at it. If you can’t do it, nobody can do it.” So I went up and I didn’t make it. I hooked up, but the sea was just too rough, and I rolled apart my oil lines.
Halsey then decided to postpone fueling operations until the next day.
I had written home a neat little ditty to the tune of "Inky Dinky Parlez-vous"... Well, the officer who censored my letter picked this up and made copies for all the officers, and when Captain Armitage got back aboard, they stood up and serenaded him with my little gem.
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USS ASTORIA's lines part as she attempts to refuel in very rough seas, 13 January 1945.
-photo taken by and courtesy of USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper
For the crew of USS ASTORIA, what happened next was the most memorable event from the South China Sea incursion. The ship's forward 20mm battery was not secured, and it began sluing wildly as the ship pitched and rolled. USMC Detachment Captain Gerard T. Armitage led a small party of volunteers forward with him to secure the guns.
The two 20mm mounts were situated far forward on the ship's bow. Armitage and his men made their way across the forecastle in treacherous conditions--whipping wind and lashing seas on a slippery deck. They reached the forward battery and managed to secure one of the loose guns. But as they turned their attention to the other gun, the ship dipped into a trough in the high seas. The bow plunged below the surface and the Marines were caught between exposed metal and crashing water.
Two men were battered by the loose 20mm mount. A third, a Marine sergeant, was "picked up and rolled along the anchor chain, and his leg was torn open from his knee to his groin," as F Division Fire Controlman J. Fred Lind recounted. Worst of all, Captain Armitage was lifted off the deck by the surging water and swept clear of the ship. When ASTORIA's bow resurfaced, the Marine Captain was overboard and rapidly falling behind the ship.
The bow of USS ASTORIA CL-90 plunges below the surface on 19 January 1945. A similar plunge took Marine Captain Gerard T. Armitage overboard six days earlier.
-photo taken by USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper (reproduced from Mighty Ninety Cruise Book)
Armitage was Fred Lind's watch officer, and Lind witnessed the events:
I was in the Optical Shop peering out the port hole, and made a brilliant remark. "Hey, that looks like Captain Armitage." There was a body turning end over end on a huge wave. Not "man overboard"--guess we were numb by now, and nothing surprised us. I put the target designator on him, relayed the data to the director, where they matched up and put the telescopes on him. These readings were passed on to a destroyer astern of us.
Other shipmates reacted to the situation. Armitage's good friend Charles Tanner led the effort to toss dye markers overboard close to the Marine captain. However, the formation was moving at a steady clip through the heavy seas; turning to retrieve their lost crewman was not a possibility for USS ASTORIA. The report of "man overboard" was signaled back.
Armitage was wearing a life jacket and remained afloat. The Marine Captain crested mountainous waves and disappeared in troughs, falling further and further behind his ship as the formation passed. But between the dye marker and positioning data relayed from ASTORIA, Armitage continued to be tracked in the water. The responsibility for a rescue attempt eventually fell upon one of the formation's picket destroyers, USS HALSEY POWELL DD-686.
As a picket ship, the destroyer was positioned to the outer perimeter of the task force, eighty miles behind ASTORIA. Although this ship was on track to maneuver and attempt the rescue, she was the only ship in position to do so. Several hours passed before she reached the Marine Captain. As Armitage drifted in the swells, he kept himself focused by reciting his Hail Marys and singing traditional Irish parlor songs.
When HALSEY POWELL moved in close, her crew fought the same treacherous seas that had swept Armitage from his ship. They eventually managed to get a line to him and reel him in, finally pulling Armitage aboard and ending a very harrowing experience for the soaked Marine officer in the South China Sea.
J. Fred Lind noted in his diary, "the last thing I saw of the forward gun, it was still sluing." Jim Thomson added the latest from the rumor mill as the ships of the task force plowed northeast: "The scuttlebutt says Hong Kong!"
14 January 1945
In spite of continued poor weather conditions, the task group managed to conduct refueling operations to the point that destroyers were fueled and larger ships were brought to at least 60% capacity, enough to continue operations.
As the task force refueled, HALSEY POWELL came up alongside ASTORIA. "We have Armitage," the ship announced. "What will you give us in exchange?"
The standard U.S. Navy ransom for recovery of an overboard crew member was negotiated; Captain Armitage would be returned to his ship in exchange for twenty-five gallons of the chocolate ice cream ration from ASTORIA's galley.
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Crew members crowd the decks of USS ASTORIA to watch as the destroyer HALSEY POWELL comes alongside to return USMC Captain Armitage to the ship, 14 January 1945.
-photo taken by and courtesy of USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper
Captain Armitage is transferred back to USS ASTORIA from HALSEY POWELL via breeches buoy.
-photo taken by USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper (reproduced from Mighty Ninety Cruise Book)
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Captain Armitage is received on the fantail of USS ASTORIA from HALSEY POWELL,14 January 1945.
-photo taken by and courtesy of USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper
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Captain Armitage leaves the fantail flanked by two members of the ship's Marine detachment, bringing an end to his South China Sea adventure.
-photo taken by and courtesy of USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper
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Marine Captain Armitage receives an "Extinguished Service Cross" medal from his fellow officers in ASTORIA's officers' wardroom mess, 14 January 1945. Joking aside, the entire crew was relieved to have him safely back aboard ship.
-photo taken by and courtesy of USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper
Once Armitage was transferred back to ASTORIA, he received quite the good-natured send-up from his fellow officers to commemorate his adventure. At dinner he was awarded an "Extinguished Service Cross," an oversized cross on a chain. They also sang to him their own version of a well-known tune:
The Captain of the Marines went over the rail, parlez-vous
It happened in a terrific gale, parlez-vous
He slipped on the deck and slid on his tail
You'll never teach a Marine to sail
Inky dinky parlez-vous
J. Fred Lind revealed the source of the song sung to his watch officer:
For Gerard Armitage, the day was all the more memorable for another reason; the USMC Captain had been returned safe and sound to USS ASTORIA on his 24th birthday.
Was quiet and drab day but we finally refuel in choppy waters. Still Hong Kong.
Joey Fubar gets in on the action, waving at his overboard shipmate in a cartoon from the USS ASTORIA Morning Press News.
-Joe Aman cartoon courtesy of Jim Peddie
15 January 1945
Admiral Nimitz had given Halsey the green light to conduct strikes further north up the coast at his discretion, working toward and then focusing on Hong Kong. Halsey also intended to continue his search for capital ships of the Japanese Combined Fleet.
Weather remained terrible as the Fast Carrier Task Force steamed north. In spite of adverse conditions, the task force launched planes.
From J. Fred Lind's diary:
We headed north to a point about 100 miles from
Jim Thomson added:
Late last night we were spotted by a Japanese patrol plane, who radioed back our position. Early this morning [the task force] shot down another patrol plane at 28 miles. During the night we had traveled north and the weather had become much colder. Today our carrier aircraft struck at Canton, Hong Kong, and Formosa simultaneously. No results yet, but we are standing four on and four off. George [Dyer] is constantly hoping for a visit from these suicide bombers but they never come! Weather still bad!
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Track chart of USS ASTORIA as Task Force 38 steams away from French Indochina, refuels, and conducts strikes against Formosa and the Chinese coast.
-created from Google Earth global mapping and imagery
16 January 1945
Air strikes were again launched in the early morning. The focus for the day's attacks was Hong Kong with ancillary raids conducted against Hainan and Canton. Weather was again a factor, and unexpectedly heavy antiaircraft fire also took its toll.
J. Fred Lind wrote:
On the 16th we continued operations off the
Carrier planes strike Japanese shipping in Hong Kong harbor, 16 January 1945.
-U.S. Navy Photo reproduced from World War II at Sea, McIntyre.
Overall the results of the day's raids were disappointing. One freighter and one tanker were confirmed sunk with four more ships heavily damaged. Only 13 enemy planes were destroyed, while the fast carriers lost 49 total, many of which fell victim to heavy antiaircraft fire.
Once again, the Japanese Combined Fleet was nowhere to be found. Jim Thomson wrote in his diary:
Still bad weather... It begins to look as though Tojo's Navy has gone home for keeps. We do everything but tell him where we are. Will be doing that soon methinks. Tough sleeping in rough weather.
Following the day's raids, Radio Tokyo announced the presence of the Fast Carrier Task Force in the South China Sea. Tokyo Rose stated, "we don't know how you got in, but how the hell are you going to get out?"
17-19 January 1945
Getting out was indeed becoming a significant problem. The weather remained heavy, seas were rough, and fueling was very difficult. The task force held station west of Luzon in hopes that the weather would improve. Supplies began to dwindle.
J. Fred Lind wrote:
We are running out of fresh food, and are too far away from supply convoys to do anything about it. We are down to dehydrated potatoes and eggs and milk. Powdered milk isn't so bad, but I'll never get used to powdered eggs and dehydrated spuds. Rough seas put us back on sandwiches again.
The next day offered no improvement. From Morison's The Liberation of the Philippines:
18 January proved even worse than the 17th. Fueling was impossible, and by noon Task Force 38 again had to reverse course and sail south in search of protected waters. Since fleet aerologists predicted that foul weather would continue at least through 19 January, Halsey decided that he had better fuel under the lee of Luzon that day and then leave South China Sea by Surigao Strait.
USS ASTORIA rolls to starboard in rough seas, 19 January 1945. The turret one guns are elevated to prevent water from flooding the barrels when the ship pitches into troughs.
-photo taken by USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper (reproduced from Mighty Ninety Cruise Book)
Halsey's intented route out would take the fleet far to the south. Admiral Nimitz pushed back and strongly encouraged Halsey to find a way to exit the South China Sea via the northern route. Nimitz wished to minimize risk, protecting the fast carriers from the vulnerability of straying too far from their planned area of operations. He also meant to keep them in position to strike Formosa and Okinawa.
Halsey complied with his orders, and was able to eventually fuel and supply his ships by finding a break in the weather. The task force once again headed north.
20 January 1945
From Morison's The Liberation of the Philippines:
By the afternoon... Task Force 38 was heading east into Balingtang Channel, a destroyer division sweeping ahead of the three task groups. Bogeys were almost constantly on the screen, but no attack developed; and about 15 enemy planes which were evacuating air personnel from Luzon to Formosa were shot down.
J. Fred Lind wrote in his diary:
On the 20th we had an Air Alert, and a Japanese George was shot down about eleven miles out. Three more Air Alerts between 1600 and 1900, during which our Combat Air Patrol shot down 13 planes. Two planes came within 12,000 yards of us. Other ships opened fire, but our range was fouled. We went to General Quarters at 2030, and remained there until 2315 while passing through a narrow channel from the
Jim Thomson added:
We are passing through the strait between Formosa and Luzon. There are Japanese all around. CAP gets about fourteen assorted Japanese bogies and two pass completely over the fleet and get away with it. They are above a heavy cloud formation and 38.1 and 38.3 throw up a lot of stuff but all that comes down is shrapnel. We are spotted and figure we are in for a rough time, so it is watch and watch!
In the early morning hours, the fast carriers took position to conduct more strikes against shipping and airfields across Formosa and the surrounding smaller islands. The Japanese airfields had been repaired and more planes shuttled in from the mainland while Halsey's ships were hunting further south over the past ten days. As the American planes launched throughout the morning, it became apparent that the weather would finally cooperate.
Jim Thomson wrote in his diary:
It is a Sunday, a beautiful day, crisp and cool like a spring day at home. We are 50 miles off Formosa and our planes are giving them hell. There is an alarm at noon and we come up to find the sky over [Task Group 38.3] covered with "stuff."
J. Fred Lind wrote:
We have had very little time to sleep or to get any rest... We were at our battle stations all day. Fifteen enemy planes were destroyed in our immediate vicinity. They attacked the task group about 16,000 yards (eight miles) off our port bow. I witnessed the attack, and watched the tremendous amount of flak put up by the other group. I couldn't see the planes at that range, as they stayed above the clouds.
Planes of the Japanese Special Attack Corps based at Tainan, Formosa were also taking advantage of the favorable weather conditions. As ASTORIA shipmates watched the flak bursts from a distance, Task Group 38.3 caught the worst of the attacks. At noon the light carrier USS LANGLEY was struck by two small Japanese bombs, damaging her flight deck and temporarily disrupting recovery operations. Two minutes later, a suicide plane dove from out of the sun on the fleet carrier USS TICONDEROGA and crashed into her flight deck. The plane's 550-lb. bomb penetrated and detonated between the hangar and gallery decks. Intense fires broke out on TICONDEROGA's hangar deck among tightly packed, fueled planes.
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USS TICONDEROGA CV-14 shortly after being struck by a suicide plane on 21 January 1945. Thick smoke rises through her damaged flight deck and forward elevator from planes burning on her hangar deck below. Light cruiser USS MIAMI CL-89 steams ahead of TICONDEROGA as Task Group 38.3 contracts to provide close support.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
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USS TICONDEROGA smoking furiously as fires begin to spread to her lower decks.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
While Task Group 38.3 reacted to its damaged ships, a group of 13 enemy planes launched from Luzon approached Task Group 38.1. CAP planes from USS COWPENS intercepted them and disrupted the attack. USS ASTORIA's task group remained untouched, insulated against attacks from Formosa in the north and Luzon in the south by the other task groups.
At 1250, 13 more enemy planes from Formosa descended upon Task Group 38.3. The heavily smoking TICONDEROGA provided a clear target. Although CAP and antiaircraft screen destroyed 12 of the would-be attackers, the 13th made it through and crashed into the carrier's island superstructure.
Among the casualties was the carrier's skipper, Captain Dixie Kiefer, who was badly wounded. Additional fires broke out on the flight deck as planes ignited. The fires below decks continued to take their toll and the ship began to list to port.
Following her second suicide attack, USS TICONDEROGA has begun to list to port. Open fires are visible on her forward flight deck in this photo taken from USS MIAMI. Note the 20mm gun crew on MIAMI's fantail watching helplessly.
-U.S. Navy photo reproduced from www.navsource.org
The carnage for the task force continued, as twenty minutes later the destroyer picket USS MADDOX DD-731 was also hit. She fell victim to a "Tail-end Charlie," a Japanese Zero that had joined an American formation of planes returning from airstrikes.
At 1328 Task Group 38.2 finally fell victim to the conflagration, albeit from a different source. USS HANCOCK was recovering strike aircraft when a TBM Avenger landed with a live bomb that had failed to release from its ordnance bay. The bomb detonated on the carrier deck, immediately killing the Avenger's crew and many surrounding flight deck personnel. The explosion punched through to the gallery and hangar decks causing multiple fires that were not brought under control for almost an hour.
Fires burn on the deck of USS HANCOCK CV-19 following the explosion of live ordnance from a landing bomber, 21 January 1945.
-U.S. Navy photo reproduced from http://www.usshancockcv19.com/
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Fires are slowly brought under control aboard USS TICONDEROGA, still listing considerably to port. Ships steaming along both sides of the carrier offer close protection.
-U.S. Navy photo reproduced from Wikimedia Commons
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Fires have been extinguished, but TICONDEROGA continues to list in the late afternoon as emergency repairs continue. The hole in her flight deck graphically illustrates the vulnerability of wooden deck construction to Japanese suicide attacks.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
Jim Thomson wrote:
We get the word that the TICONDEROGA and the LANGLEY from [Task Group 38.3] had been hit during the noon alarm. The TICONDEROGA took a hit in her flight deck which went through and destroyed her hanger deck plus a hit on the bridge which injured her captain & exec. Many men killed and wounded. Her planes are unable to take off or land. She is a complete loss to the fleet. The
The Japanese attacks subsided, and by late afternoon all damage control and emergency repairs had been completed. That evening TICONDEROGA and MADDOX were detached to limp back to Ulithi accompanied by two light cruisers and three destroyers.
One additional event took place that day which held more personal significance to the men aboard the Mighty Ninety. In the early afternoon, Kingfisher floatplanes of VCS-17 (Scout Squadron, Cruiser Division 17) were dispatched from ASTORIA and PASADENA to rescue downed airmen in the sea west of Formosa. Senior Aviator LT Charles Tanner piloted the single plane launched from ASTORIA with instructions to meet up with two planes from PASADENA and head to the site of the downed aircrew. But as the day progressed and night fell, the three planes did not return to their ships.
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USS ASTORIA crewmen watch as LT Charles Tanner launches from ASTORIA's starboard catapult on 21 January 1945. His plane would not return to the ship. In the background, USS HANCOCK has not yet been damaged by an exploding bomb.
-photo taken by and courtesy of USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper
The day had been eventful; both productive and costly. 1164 sorties were flown from the fast carriers, resulting in 104 enemy aircraft destroyed on the ground, more than 30 in the air, and ten Japanese merchant ships sunk. But the Japanese Special Attack Corps had managed to place a hefty price tag on these successes. A fleet carrier had been knocked out of action and 205 men were listed killed or missing in action aboard the four damaged ships. An additional 351 men were wounded.
Jim Thomson wrote:
Watch and watch again. That night the Japanese try to come back with our returning patrol. One is shot down in flames off our starboard beam by anti-aircraft fire & one flies over the Asty and we don't open up. It drops a bomb on a can but misses.
Tanner not back yet. Rumors that he is lost.
22 January 1945
Overnight Task Force 38 steamed northeast and took up position off Okinawa. Strikes were launched that day targeting shipping and airfields, but the primary objective of the day's operations was to perform photographic reconnaisance of targets in preparation for the Okinawa invasion scheduled for April.
J. Fred Lind wrote:
We are now only 700 miles from
As the day's events wound down, Jim Thomson returned his thoughts to more mundane things:
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USS ASTORIA 40mm gun crews at air emergency stations off Okinawa, 22 January 1945.
-photo taken by and courtesy of USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper
Reports came in from multiple sources and events were pieced together regarding the previous day's rescue mission. Word began to circulate throughout the ship regarding Senior Aviator Tanner.
As it turned out, the downed aircrew had been picked up by an American submarine on "lifeguard duty" before the VCS-17 Kingfishers could arrive. Tanner and the PASADENA pilots searched in vain for the aircrew and finally turned around. During their return trip, the PASADENA planes ran low on fuel and were forced down. LT Tanner made the decision to land his plane and attempt a rescue of his fellow Gooney Bird pilots, but the sea was extremely rough and he could not get to them. As darkness fell, Tanner realized he would not be able to get back to his ship. He spent the night riding the waves in his Kingfisher.
When morning came, there was no sign of the PASADENA pilots. Although Tanner established radio contact with USS ASTORIA, the fleet's move toward Okinawa put them far out of range for recovery. Although he had no chance of making it back to his ship, Tanner decided to take his chances with his limited fuel supply and took off again at 0614. This was the last radio contact that ASTORIA had with him.
USS HANCOCK buries her lost shipmates at sea, circa 22 January 1945.
-U.S. Navy photo reproduced from http://www.usshancockcv19.com/
Mess hall breaks out some stainless steel spoons which turn out to be a little less stainless & even less steel. They rust even quicker than the old ones. Again it is watch and watch but no trouble appears.
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Track chart of USS ASTORIA as Task Force 38 searches the South China Sea for a calm spot to refuel, then transits the Luzon Strait and launches strikes against Formosa and Okinawa.
-created from Google Earth global mapping and imagery
23-25 January 1945
Offensive operations for MIKE I and GRATITUDE completed, Task Force 38 began the long haul back to Ulithi. Although USS ASTORIA was now a combat veteran with two Battle Stars under her belt, she had yet to fire an offensive gun. Her surface fire mission against the Imperial Japanese Navy had been thwarted by the absence of ships at Cam Ranh Bay, and so far her participation in aerial attacks over the fast carriers had been limited to watching from a distance. Her reputation for efficient gunnery in practice had yet to be demonstrated in combat.
Of the return trip, Jim Thomson wrote:
We are back in a warm climate again. Really stinks below decks. We fuel in calm weather. At night we take mail aboard. We are heading back to our "home" Ulithi.
The next day he added:
Sleeve firing all day. Some good shooting by us. Carriers laying it right over us & shrapnel peppers the decks. We sight a whale 50 yards off the starboard beam.
The account of South China Sea operations printed after the war in the Mighty Ninety cruise book is remarkably short and understated:
Our carrier planes played havoc up and down the length of the South China and Indochina coast and over Formosa, Luzon, and Okinawa. Still no enemy had come within reach of our guns.
A cryptic entry in the Mighty Ninety cruise book recounts USMC Captain Armitage's ordeal. He is holding his "Extinguished Service Cross" in this photo from the officers' wardroom mess taken on 14 January 1945.
-photo taken by USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper (reproduced from Mighty Ninety Cruise Book)
With the return to Ulithi, Admiral Halsey and his staff would be handing the reigns of the Fast Carrier Task Force over to Admiral Spruance. 3rd Fleet would become 5th Fleet, and Task Force 38 would become Task Force 58. Until the end of the war Japan believed that these designations belonged to two separate fleets of ships.
In his parting message to his Sailors and Marines, Admiral Halsey stated:
I am so proud of you that no words can express my feelings. This has been a hard operation. At times you have been driven almost beyond endurance but only because the stakes were high, the enemy was as weary as you were, and the lives of many Americans could be spared in later offensives if we did our work well now. We have driven the enemy off the sea and back to his inner defenses. Superlatively well done.
-Halsey.
Joey Fubar, cold and wet off the coast of Japan, is informed that ASTORIA and 3rd Fleet are being relieved by 5th Fleet. The ironic humor of the cartoon is that 3rd Fleet and 5th Fleet are the same ships, just under different leadership and planning staff.
-Joe Aman cartoon courtesy of Jim Peddie
With his final diary entry from the GRATITUDE operation, Jim Thomson expressed a nagging lack of closure on one issue:
"No word on Tanner."
Coming soon! CHAPTER 10: OPERATION JAMBOREE
BACK TO SHIP HISTORY
Sources:
Aman, Joseph. Joey Fubar's Cavalcade of Humor. Printed aboard USS ASTORIA CL-90, 1945.
Dyer, George C., Vice Admiral USN (Ret.) Personal interviews conducted by John T. Mason, Jr.
Annapolis, MD: 1970
http://commons.Wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikimedia Commons image database.
http://earth.Google.com/ Google Earth.
Jones, Brent. Private photo and document collection.
Lind, J. Fred. Sea Attitudes: A Collection of WWII Memories. Privately published.
McIntyre, Colin. World War II at Sea. New York, NY: Mallard Press 1990.
MIGHTY NINETY: USS ASTORIA CL-90 cruise book. 1946.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of
Peddie, Jim. Private document collection.
Schnipper, Herman. Private photo and document collection.
Stafford, Edward P. The Big E. New York, NY: Random House, Inc., 1962.
Steichen, Edward (ed.). U.S. Navy War Photographs, 2nd Edition. New York, NY: Crown Publishers, Inc. 1984.
Thomson, James. Diary kept aboard USS ASTORIA CL-90, 1944-45.
www.navsource.org U.S. Navy photo archive.
www.usshancockcv19.com USS HANCOCK CV-19 Association website
