I haven’t been able to open the pdf file at http://usnwc.edu/Academics/Library/Naval-Historical-Collection.aspx#items/show/849 yet.
Any volunteers to post the admiral’s daily entries to our news posts?
I was not able to load it either. The 1944 section is pretty big, ~37MB. I wish they had chopped it down by month to make it more digestible.
24 February (Oahu Date) Task Groups 58.2 (ESSEX, YORKTOWN, BELLEAU WOOD) and 58.3 (BUNKER HILL, i,MONTEREY, COWPENS) of Rear Admiral Mitscher' s Task Force (58) made two air strikes against SAIPAN-TINIAN on 22 Feb and, concurrently, a 12-plane fighter strike on GUAL1. The task force, having been sighted during its approach on the afternoon of 21 Feb, received almost continuous air attacks throughout the night of 21 Feb and during the forenoon of 22 Feb; the force relentlessly pushed its attack against the opposing defense, and bombed and strafed aircraft and radio installations, fuel oil storage, and shipping in the harbors. Reports give the following estimate of ships sunk: 4 AK and 1 PC; 2 tugs and 5 small escorts were damaged. A total of 136 aircraft was reported destroyed. Of these, 87 were destroyed on the ground; of the remaining 48, 29 were shot down in combat over the target, 14 were shot down by ships' gunfire, and 5 were shot down by CAP. Our losses were 1 VF(N), 4 VF, and 1 TBF. The force started its retirement at 1600, 22 Feb. Our ships suffered no combat damage; however, the ALABAMA’s 5-inch Mount 9 fired into the back of Mount 5; this accident resulted in 5 being killed and 11 wounded, 2 seriously. Rear Admiral Mitscher states: "This battle is historic for courage and determination of purpose."
Land based air strikes (under TF 57) on 24 Feb were directed against KUSAIE, WOTJE, TAROA, MILLE, and EMIDJ. 19 tons of bombs were dropped in the barrack, radio station, and wharf areas of KUSAIE, resulting in large explosions; 25 tons fired the barrack area of EMIDJ; the remaining bombings were of moderate intensity and produced moderate damage; no plane loss was reported. A searcher over NAURU received heavy A/A and reports runways 1 and 2 operational.
TAMBOR reports sinking 3 AKs for a total of 20,500 tons and 1 9500-ton AO during the period 29 Jan to 3 Feb on the route between JAPAN and the PHILIPPINES.
GRAYBACK reports two more MARUs sunk on 24 Feb in the same general area as that of the TAMBOR.
In the South Pacific, bombardment by destroyers continued in the KAVIENG-RABAUL- DUKE OF YORK ISLAND areas.