MIGHTY NINETY
The Homepage of USS ASTORIA CL-90
Chapter 5: Reporting for Duty
-Carl Mydans photo from May 7th, 1945 LIFE Magazine
Tucked into the back pages of their May 7th, 1945 issue, LIFE magazine ran a four-page article about the tiny Pacific island of Fassarai. Mostly comprised of photos of island life, the article only contained a few paragraphs of text which read:
LIFE Visits an Enchanted Isle
Americans take Fassarai and find it the romantic kind of South Sea Island they have always dreamed about.
American fighting men who have traveled to the South Pacific in this war have looked in vain for the legendary South Sea islands. Writers like Robert Louis Stevenson and movies like "White Shadows in the South Seas" had prepared them for a happy land of waving palms, warm sand and half-nude girls, a place where life was no work at all. Last fall, when the U.S. took the atoll of Ulithi, 400 miles southwest of Guam, Americans found the closest approach to such a place. On the island of Fassarai in the atoll the palms waved, the sand was warm, and the girls were beautiful. Fassarai was shortly declared off-limits.
-Carl Mydans photo from May 7th, 1945 LIFE Magazine
Although the people of Fassarai are bronzed and unspoiled, they have been saddened by their recent history. When the Japanese came after the last war they took the strongest men and the prettiest girls. Now the islanders live by themselves except for two Navy men. The islanders have made one of these men... their No. 2 king.
LIFE's article may have glamorized the island of Fassarai, but it didn't tell the full story of Ulithi Atoll and the U.S. presence there. One significant clue in the article appeared in the caption of a photo showing a short strip of beach with open water beyond that read "Ulithi's calm lagoon, shown at sunset, is large enough to accommodate hundreds of U.S. ships."
-Carl Mydans photo from May 7th, 1945 LIFE Magazine
Although it would still be several more months before the information would become public, this is exactly how Ulithi Atoll had been utilized since it was seized by U.S. forces in late September 1944. Following the exit of Japanese occupiers, the few remaining native Micronesians had relocated to the island of Fassarai under U.S. Navy medical supervision.
Map of Ulithi Atoll. At center is the island of Fassarai, featured in the LIFE article, and at top center is Mogmog Island, used as a recreation area for sailors while their ships were at anchorage. The atoll was split into north and south anchorages with Mugai Channel as the divider.
-map modified from Leyte: June 1944-January 1945, Morison
Ulithi Atoll was only a speck on maps of the Pacific if it was even present. Officially part of the Caroline Islands, the atoll contained the world's fourth largest lagoon at 209 square miles. In addition to its size, Ulithi was perfectly located as a staging area for the United States against Japan. The Philippines, Formosa, and Okinawa--all of which were targets within U.S. sights--were similar distances from Ulithi.
By October 1944, Ulithi had become the hub of U.S. Navy operations in the Western Pacific, a role it would maintain for eight months until the liberated Philippines replaced it as the new forward staging area. At the peak of its usage, during the initial buildup for Okinawa operations in March 1945, Ulithi Atoll was home to 617 American ships.
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
In stark contrast to the photos from LIFE magazine, Ulithi Anchorage as it appeared circa November 1944 when ASTORIA CL-90 reported for duty. More than one hundred U.S. ships--aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and auxiliary vessels--are present in this photo, which only depicts a fraction of the ships at anchor in the atoll.
-U.S. Navy photo from NARA collection
26 November 1944
USS ASTORIA CL-90 entered the lagoon at Ulithi anchorage and reported for duty.
From the Mighty Ninety cruise book:
Ulithi, our base during the majority of our first cruise, is a small atoll in the Caroline
As ASTORIA arrived at Ulithi, the ships of the Fast Carrier Task Force were also arriving, one task group at a time, from their support of Leyte operations. In ASTORIA's newly-assigned unit, Task Group 38.2, three carriers had been hit by suicide planes off Leyte--HANCOCK, INTREPID, and CABOT. It was immediately clear that Mighty Ninety's role in screening carriers would require defending them against threats from above.
The crew of ASTORIA spent the next few days resupplying in anticipation of a pending departure with her task group. The entire anchorage was a hive of activity preparing a quick turnaround: the fast carriers were returning to the Philippines to support landings on the island of Mindoro.
1 December 1944
Drawing from his wartime diary, Mighty Ninety sailor Herb Blodgett later wrote:
We pulled out for some training exercises with the big boys: 2 BBs, 3 CVs, 5 CLs, and 15 DDs. We returned to Ulithi on the 8th to take on fuel and provisions and get ready to go.
Blodgett was describing the composition of Task Group 38.2, ASTORIA's new assignment under the group command of Rear Admiral Gerald Bogan. The 5 CLs he mentioned refer to the cruiser screen for Task Group 38.2. Designated Cruiser Division 17, Mighty Ninety was joined by three other CLEVELANDs: her Cramp-built sister MIAMI CL-89; VINCENNES CL-64, the namesake of another cruiser lost during the Battle of Savo Island; and fellow newcomer PASADENA CL-65, a ship that ASTORIA would spend her entire career alongside. Rounding out the division was the older cruiser SAN JUAN CL-54--a ship which had fought alongside ASTORIA CA-34 back at Guadalcanal in 1942.
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
An overhead view of CLEVELAND-class cruiser USS PASADENA CL-65 off Boston lightship from 21 July 1944. Her disruptive camouflage scheme, measure 32 pattern 24d, was the same pattern worn by USS ASTORIA but with a higher contrast between colors. Note also the plate steel aircraft crane, as opposed to ASTORIA's tubular steel contsruction.
-U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Larry Cote
When Task Groups 38.1 and 38.2 left Ulithi on 1 December, they were originally headed back to the Philippines for further combat operations, not training exercises. But a few hours after the ships put to sea, they learned that General MacArthur had postponed the Mindoro invasion by ten days due to a variety of factors. This news was well received, as it allowed the weary Task Group 38.3 to retire to Ulithi for rest and upkeep while the other groups conducted training exercises in the surrounding waters.
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Task Group 38.3 was the final task group to return to Ulithi following Leyte operations. In this photo taken from USS ESSEX CV-9 circa 2 December 1944, TG38.3 has executed a simultaneous turn to port. Most visible are LANGLEY CVL-27 and TICONDEROGA CV-14, but there are seven more ships behind them in the formation.
-Photo taken by Chief Photographer's Mate Paul Madden, reproduced from www.navsource.org
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
From the same sequence of photos taken from ESSEX circa 2 December 1944, Task Group 38.3 approaches Ulithi in column. Front to back are carriers USS LANGLEY and TICONDEROGA, battleships WASHINGTON BB-56, NORTH CAROLINA BB-55 and SOUTH DAKOTA BB-57, and cruisers SANTA FE CL-60, BILOXI CL-80, MOBILE CL-63, and OAKLAND CL-95.
-Photo taken by Chief Photographer's Mate Paul Madden, reproduced from www.navsource.org
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Left to right: SOUTH DAKOTA, NORTH CAROLINA, WASHINGTON, and TICONDEROGA.
-U.S. Navy Photo reproduced from www.navsource.org
Taken further back in the column from the superstructure of TICONDEROGA CV-14, this photo clearly shows the three BBs behind her. Behind the battleships is the CLEVELAND-class cruiser SANTA FE CL-60.
-U.S. Navy Photo reproduced from www.navsource.org
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Another photo of Task Group 38.3 in column. ASTORIA's crew did not see this final task group arrive at Ulithi; one day earlier they had steamed out and were conducting training exercises.
-U.S. Navy Photo reproduced from www.navsource.org
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
One of ASTORIA's OS2N-1 Kingfisher floatplanes during recovery operations off Ulithi, circa December 1944. The plane has hooked onto the recovery sled and the pilot is out of the cockpit, preparing to hook up to the ship's recovery crane.
-photo taken by and courtesy of USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Ships performing a synchronized turn during exercises off Ulithi in late 1944. The ship in the foreground is a CLEVELAND-class cruiser.
-U.S. Navy photo from NARA collection
8 December 1944
ASTORIA and the ships of Task Group 38.2 returned to Ulithi for final provisioning and preparation. Three days later, USS ASTORIA CL-90 would steam for the Philippines as part of the greatest display of naval power that the world had ever seen: the Pacific Fleet's Fast Carrier Task Force.
Continue to Chapter 6: OPERATION LOVE III
CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ADVANCE TO NEXT CHAPTER
BACK TO SHIP HISTORY
Sources:
Blodgett, Herbert. "Remembering Typhoon Cobra." U.S. Navy Cruiser Sailors Association Quarterly, Summer 2006, pp. 29-30.
Cote, Larry. Private photo collection.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of
Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of
Schnipper, Herman. Private photo collection.
Unk. editor. MIGHTY NINETY: USS ASTORIA CL-90 cruise book. Unk. publisher, 1946.
www.archives.gov National Archives and Records Administration WWII photo archive.
www.navsource.org cruiser photo archive.
-Carl Mydans photo from May 7th, 1945 LIFE Magazine
Tucked into the back pages of their May 7th, 1945 issue, LIFE magazine ran a four-page article about the tiny Pacific island of Fassarai. Mostly comprised of photos of island life, the article only contained a few paragraphs of text which read:
LIFE Visits an Enchanted Isle
Americans take Fassarai and find it the romantic kind of South Sea Island they have always dreamed about.
American fighting men who have traveled to the South Pacific in this war have looked in vain for the legendary South Sea islands. Writers like Robert Louis Stevenson and movies like "White Shadows in the South Seas" had prepared them for a happy land of waving palms, warm sand and half-nude girls, a place where life was no work at all. Last fall, when the U.S. took the atoll of Ulithi, 400 miles southwest of Guam, Americans found the closest approach to such a place. On the island of Fassarai in the atoll the palms waved, the sand was warm, and the girls were beautiful. Fassarai was shortly declared off-limits.
-Carl Mydans photo from May 7th, 1945 LIFE Magazine
Although the people of Fassarai are bronzed and unspoiled, they have been saddened by their recent history. When the Japanese came after the last war they took the strongest men and the prettiest girls. Now the islanders live by themselves except for two Navy men. The islanders have made one of these men... their No. 2 king.
LIFE's article may have glamorized the island of Fassarai, but it didn't tell the full story of Ulithi Atoll and the U.S. presence there. One significant clue in the article appeared in the caption of a photo showing a short strip of beach with open water beyond that read "Ulithi's calm lagoon, shown at sunset, is large enough to accommodate hundreds of U.S. ships."
-Carl Mydans photo from May 7th, 1945 LIFE Magazine
Although it would still be several more months before the information would become public, this is exactly how Ulithi Atoll had been utilized since it was seized by U.S. forces in late September 1944. Following the exit of Japanese occupiers, the few remaining native Micronesians had relocated to the island of Fassarai under U.S. Navy medical supervision.
Map of Ulithi Atoll. At center is the island of Fassarai, featured in the LIFE article, and at top center is Mogmog Island, used as a recreation area for sailors while their ships were at anchorage. The atoll was split into north and south anchorages with Mugai Channel as the divider.
-map modified from Leyte: June 1944-January 1945, Morison
Ulithi Atoll was only a speck on maps of the Pacific if it was even present. Officially part of the Caroline Islands, the atoll contained the world's fourth largest lagoon at 209 square miles. In addition to its size, Ulithi was perfectly located as a staging area for the United States against Japan. The Philippines, Formosa, and Okinawa--all of which were targets within U.S. sights--were similar distances from Ulithi.
By October 1944, Ulithi had become the hub of U.S. Navy operations in the Western Pacific, a role it would maintain for eight months until the liberated Philippines replaced it as the new forward staging area. At the peak of its usage, during the initial buildup for Okinawa operations in March 1945, Ulithi Atoll was home to 617 American ships.
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
In stark contrast to the photos from LIFE magazine, Ulithi Anchorage as it appeared circa November 1944 when ASTORIA CL-90 reported for duty. More than one hundred U.S. ships--aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and auxiliary vessels--are present in this photo, which only depicts a fraction of the ships at anchor in the atoll.
-U.S. Navy photo from NARA collection
26 November 1944
USS ASTORIA CL-90 entered the lagoon at Ulithi anchorage and reported for duty.
From the Mighty Ninety cruise book:
Ulithi, our base during the majority of our first cruise, is a small atoll in the Caroline
As ASTORIA arrived at Ulithi, the ships of the Fast Carrier Task Force were also arriving, one task group at a time, from their support of Leyte operations. In ASTORIA's newly-assigned unit, Task Group 38.2, three carriers had been hit by suicide planes off Leyte--HANCOCK, INTREPID, and CABOT. It was immediately clear that Mighty Ninety's role in screening carriers would require defending them against threats from above.
The crew of ASTORIA spent the next few days resupplying in anticipation of a pending departure with her task group. The entire anchorage was a hive of activity preparing a quick turnaround: the fast carriers were returning to the Philippines to support landings on the island of Mindoro.
1 December 1944
Drawing from his wartime diary, Mighty Ninety sailor Herb Blodgett later wrote:
We pulled out for some training exercises with the big boys: 2 BBs, 3 CVs, 5 CLs, and 15 DDs. We returned to Ulithi on the 8th to take on fuel and provisions and get ready to go.
Blodgett was describing the composition of Task Group 38.2, ASTORIA's new assignment under the group command of Rear Admiral Gerald Bogan. The 5 CLs he mentioned refer to the cruiser screen for Task Group 38.2. Designated Cruiser Division 17, Mighty Ninety was joined by three other CLEVELANDs: her Cramp-built sister MIAMI CL-89; VINCENNES CL-64, the namesake of another cruiser lost during the Battle of Savo Island; and fellow newcomer PASADENA CL-65, a ship that ASTORIA would spend her entire career alongside. Rounding out the division was the older cruiser SAN JUAN CL-54--a ship which had fought alongside ASTORIA CA-34 back at Guadalcanal in 1942.
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
An overhead view of CLEVELAND-class cruiser USS PASADENA CL-65 off Boston lightship from 21 July 1944. Her disruptive camouflage scheme, measure 32 pattern 24d, was the same pattern worn by USS ASTORIA but with a higher contrast between colors. Note also the plate steel aircraft crane, as opposed to ASTORIA's tubular steel contsruction.
-U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Larry Cote
When Task Groups 38.1 and 38.2 left Ulithi on 1 December, they were originally headed back to the Philippines for further combat operations, not training exercises. But a few hours after the ships put to sea, they learned that General MacArthur had postponed the Mindoro invasion by ten days due to a variety of factors. This news was well received, as it allowed the weary Task Group 38.3 to retire to Ulithi for rest and upkeep while the other groups conducted training exercises in the surrounding waters.
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Task Group 38.3 was the final task group to return to Ulithi following Leyte operations. In this photo taken from USS ESSEX CV-9 circa 2 December 1944, TG38.3 has executed a simultaneous turn to port. Most visible are LANGLEY CVL-27 and TICONDEROGA CV-14, but there are seven more ships behind them in the formation.
-Photo taken by Chief Photographer's Mate Paul Madden, reproduced from www.navsource.org
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
From the same sequence of photos taken from ESSEX circa 2 December 1944, Task Group 38.3 approaches Ulithi in column. Front to back are carriers USS LANGLEY and TICONDEROGA, battleships WASHINGTON BB-56, NORTH CAROLINA BB-55 and SOUTH DAKOTA BB-57, and cruisers SANTA FE CL-60, BILOXI CL-80, MOBILE CL-63, and OAKLAND CL-95.
-Photo taken by Chief Photographer's Mate Paul Madden, reproduced from www.navsource.org
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Left to right: SOUTH DAKOTA, NORTH CAROLINA, WASHINGTON, and TICONDEROGA.
-U.S. Navy Photo reproduced from www.navsource.org
Taken further back in the column from the superstructure of TICONDEROGA CV-14, this photo clearly shows the three BBs behind her. Behind the battleships is the CLEVELAND-class cruiser SANTA FE CL-60.
-U.S. Navy Photo reproduced from www.navsource.org
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Another photo of Task Group 38.3 in column. ASTORIA's crew did not see this final task group arrive at Ulithi; one day earlier they had steamed out and were conducting training exercises.
-U.S. Navy Photo reproduced from www.navsource.org
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
One of ASTORIA's OS2N-1 Kingfisher floatplanes during recovery operations off Ulithi, circa December 1944. The plane has hooked onto the recovery sled and the pilot is out of the cockpit, preparing to hook up to the ship's recovery crane.
-photo taken by and courtesy of USS ASTORIA ship's photographer Herman Schnipper
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Ships performing a synchronized turn during exercises off Ulithi in late 1944. The ship in the foreground is a CLEVELAND-class cruiser.
-U.S. Navy photo from NARA collection
8 December 1944
ASTORIA and the ships of Task Group 38.2 returned to Ulithi for final provisioning and preparation. Three days later, USS ASTORIA CL-90 would steam for the Philippines as part of the greatest display of naval power that the world had ever seen: the Pacific Fleet's Fast Carrier Task Force.
Continue to Chapter 6: OPERATION LOVE III
CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ADVANCE TO NEXT CHAPTER
BACK TO SHIP HISTORY
Sources:
Blodgett, Herbert. "Remembering Typhoon Cobra." U.S. Navy Cruiser Sailors Association Quarterly, Summer 2006, pp. 29-30.
Cote, Larry. Private photo collection.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of
Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of
Schnipper, Herman. Private photo collection.
Unk. editor. MIGHTY NINETY: USS ASTORIA CL-90 cruise book. Unk. publisher, 1946.
www.archives.gov National Archives and Records Administration WWII photo archive.
www.navsource.org cruiser photo archive.
