3-6 FEB 44
Admin Note: Welcome Aboard to friend and business associate of sister Lane, MR1 John Hoesing (Machinist Repairman First Class), Navy veteran whose sea duty included service in destroyer tender USS Piedmont (AD-17) and repair ship USS Jason (AR-8). Recalling our previous discussion regarding the importance of logistics, supply and repair you will appreciate the fact that Piedmont's service to the nation lasted 40 years, while Jason was in commission an amazing 52 years! Both vessels were laid down in the early years of World War II and saw service in every conflict until well into the Cold War. Thank you for your service sir and glad to have you aboard!
An amazing photo of USS Jason assisting USS Randolph after a Kamikaze hit at Ulithi, 1945.
3-6 FEB 44
February 3rd through the 6th found Princeton steaming 75-100 miles southeast of ENIWETOK, conducting repeated strikes against Japanese installations and personnel on the three main islands of the atoll, ENGEBI, PERRY and the atoll's namesake.
There were, as always, interruptions to the routine:
"At 0828 received orders from O.T.C. to challenge all multi-engine aircraft coming within visual range and reporting results."
Placing oneself in Rear Admiral Ginder's shoes it is understandable, particularly when considering aircraft from three carriers buzzing around the sky like so many tropical gnats, that he demanded the entire Task Group be on guard for a wily enemy attempting to sneak in amongst the gaggle to wreak havoc.
"At 1515 catapulted one additional VT to drop photographs on USS SARATOGA."
I have been unable to find an exact description of how these film canisters were delivered but I do know that the main technique was for messages to be dropped using a simple method involving a pouch weighted down with a bean bag:
A US Navy Douglas SBD Dauntless drops a message container known as a “bean-bag” on the flight deck of USS Enterprise while crew members dart to catch the message to deliver it up to the ship’s bridge.(National Naval Aviation Museum)
An actual message container called a “bean-bag” used to deliver messages from an aircraft to the ship during World War II.
(National Naval Aviation Museum)
Photographs taken by Princeton's "photo bird" were then delivered by a VT from Saratoga "to ComCenPacFor at KWAJALEIN ATOLL."
ComCenPacFor is classic Navy alphabet soup for Commander, Central Pacific Force. In this case, Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance.
James V. Forrestal (center), Under Secretary of the Navy, visited Roi-Namur, Kwajalein a few days after the battle ended. Here he is accompanied by (left to right) Admirals Spruance and Conolly, Generals Schmidt and Smith.
KWAJALEIN Island, at the southern end of the atoll, had been captured and secured by the Army's 7th Infantry Division on the 4th of February, allowing Admiral Spruance and his staff to "set up shop" and proceed with planning the following phases of the island-hopping campaign that would ultimately lead to the Japanese homeland. On the north end of the atoll, the 4th Marines, experiencing their initial combat, confronted and defeated a determined enemy.
It is worth taking a moment to put the entire Pacific campaign into perspective. Commenting on the necessity of attacking islands where the Japanese were dug in and prepared, Vice Admiral Harry Hill spelled it out rather succinctly:
“If you will examine an air map of the Central Pacific, you will note that the successive objectives of attack, namely Kwajalein and Eniwetok, Saipan and Iwo Jima are all approximately 500 miles away from the last objective seized. At that time, none of our fighters was capable of operating 500 miles from base. Therefore, the job of fighter protection and ground supported troops devolved completely upon our carrier task forces. . . . The question naturally arises, therefore, why did we not utilize shorter sea hops in order to have better land based air support. . . . The only islands we wanted were ones which had sufficient land mass to provide a runway into the direction of the prevailing wind, which was northeast, and also to provide a harbor. Such islands and atolls were few and far between. Practically all that there were had been already occupied by the Japanese. For the same reason, therefore, we could not do in the Central Pacific as General MacArthur had done in the Southwest Pacific--make unopposed landings. Instead, we were forced to go to the atolls or islands already held by the Japanese and which, of course, were heavily defended.”
With the defeat of the Japanese on the northern Islands of Roi-Namur, Admiral Nimitz's Graybook noted the entire atoll's occupation completed by the evening of February 6th. Princeton received orders to conduct airstrikes on ENIWETOK the morning of the 6th and then "proceed to Roi Anchorage inside the northern end of Kwajalein Lagoon, arriving forenoon 7 February."
The War Diary notes that "On signal the carriers will form a column in order USS SARATOGA, USS LANGLEY, USS PRINCETON, with one half the destroyers as screen. Approach will be made to Mellu Pass, USS SARATOGA entering at zero hour, other carriers following at 15 minute intervals."
The movement of great fleets and task groups may seem a given when we read the histories or view the occasional thirty minute documentary. In reality it is a ballet requiring detailed planning and communication. On a smaller scale, but an arguably more complicated undertaking, is operating of aircraft from boats.
Most of us, if asked, would likely characterize the word “routine” as something mundane or uneventful, but life at sea, particularly on an aircraft carrier at war was redefining the term:
On February 4th "At 1039 VT-9 crashed into barriers and caused slight damage to tail of VT-2. Pilot and crew uninjured."
On February 5th, according to the Action Report submitted by the Air Group, "Ensign Boyd in an F6F-3, attempting to land at 0945 on a rolling, pitching deck, bounced over the barriers, his tail hook clearing them by about 6 inches, gave his plane full gun, barely clearing three VF parked at the forward end of the flight deck. The propellor of a VF, which had just taxied forward, cut off his hook. After dropping his belly tank and expending all his ammunition, Ensign Boyd landed on the Saratoga at 1030. A barrier crash resulted, with minor damage to the plane and no injury to the pilot."
The Action Reports are so much more interesting to read than the War Diary!
Later on the 5th, the flying circus continued...
"At 1801, during recovery of patrols, VT-3 skidded off the starboard side of flight deck and plane's right wheel lodged in beading. Flight operations suspended until 1807 when plane was returned to the flight deck; no damage to plane or injury to personnel involved."
February 6th's War Diary would conclude with the notification that...
"Upon arrival at Roi Anchorage, Captain William H. BURACKER, USN, will relieve Captain George R. HENDERSON, USN, as Commanding Officer of the USS PRINCETON."
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