The FReeper Foxhole Revisits "Operation Watchtower" - Guadalcanal (8/1942-2/1943)

.......

The tide began to turn against the Japanese when the "Cactus Air Force" started to operate. Now the Japanese no longer had control of the air and soon the skies would be clear of them altogether. Marine Captain John Smith became the first ace of the squadron and also won a Medal of Honor.

On the 18th of September the 7th Marines landed (4,200 strong) and Vandergrift became even more aggressive. Firefights were a daily occurrence now.The Japanese were still determined to kick the Americans off the island and were landing about a thousand men a night and the Marines kept on shooting them. The Japanese finally landed a full division on Guadalcanal under the command of General Masao Maruyama. Maruyama planned to hit the Americans in full force and put an end to them once and for all. He had his division split into 2 attacking forces. While one hit the Marines from the west the other would hit from the south. This latter force would hit the Marines on Bloody Ridge again. This battle would feature two of the Marine Corps legendary figures, Gunnery Sgt John Basilone and Lt.Col. Lewis "Chesty" Puller The young Marines serving with them would soon become war hardened veterans.

The all out attack that the marines expected hit them on the night of October 24th. The brunt of the assault came against the south perimeter, Bloody Ridge again, in wave after wave of "Banzai" attacks. This position was held by Puller's 1st Battallion, 7th Marines. At almost 10 PM the Japanese came screaming out of the jungle and into heavy machine gun fire. GySgt. John Basilone, set up in the middle of the line, fired a constant stream of bullets from one gun and kept the other guns supplied with ammo.He moved about the positions directing fire and had to run to the rear on several occassions to bring up more ammo. Several times he had to have his men crawl out in front of their position and drag the bodies of the dead Japanese away. They would pile up so high as to block the field of fire. The attacks continued all night(7 in all) as did the rain,and when it ended there were 1,300 hundred Japanese lying dead in front of the marines,a large percentage of them killed by Basilone's machine gunners.

Dead Japanese on the Beach after the Battle of the Teneru

Basilone received the Medal of Honor for his actions. Sadly to say, he was killed at the battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. He could have stayed out of the action. He was offered a commssion and could have stayed Stateside on a bond tour but refused and went back to his fellow Marines.

By November the 182nd U.S. Army Infantry Regiment was landed to bolster the Marines. The "Tokyo Express" was still landing troops each night and the outcome was still to be decided. The war on the sea was just as savage as that on the land. In fact more Americans would be killed in sea battles in this campaign than would be on the land. Shortly after midnight on November 13th a fierce surface battle erupted north of Guadalcanal. It was one of the largest sea battls of the war. The U.S.Navy took another beating, losing the Juneau, Atlanta, and 4 destroyers. The San Francisco was badly damaged.

Marines, wary of snipers, move into a formerly-held Japanese area.

With the loss of the Juneau, 5 brothers who served together aboard her were killed.

The Japanese also suffered losses. The battleship Hei was sunk. They also lost some 12,000 men from their 38th Division that were drowned when the U.S. sunk their troop transports on the 14th of November. Navy Lt.Cmdrs. Bruce McCandless and Herbert Schonland received the Medal of Honor for their actions in this sea battle. Another member of the "Cactus Air Force" Lt.Col Harold Bauer, who had received the medal for actions taken on October 16th was missing in this action and later declared KIA. Another Medal of Honor winner was Marine Captain Joe Foss, who, between October and January shot down 26 Japanese planes. He became Governor of South Dakota after the war.

Burned Out Tanks Which Tried to Cross the Matanikou

The Tokyo Express finally petered out and came to a halt on November 30th. The lst Marine Division was officially relieved and the Army took over on December 9th 1942. These men, relatively new to military service, and led mostly by officers that, except for the higher grades, were also new to the military, had fought face to face with a battle hardened, experienced enemy, and had beaten them.

The battle now was continued by the XIV Corps which consisted of the 2nd Marine Division and the Army 25th and Americal Divisions under the command of Army General Patch. The fighting was still vicious, but while American strength on and around the island was building, the Japanese strenght was on the wane. Attrition was wearing them down. Due to the American buildup of ships and planes the Japanese could only supply the island with men and supplies by submarines. On January 3rd 1943, Japanese headquarters conceded defeat and ordered the evacuation of their remaining troops from Guadalcanal and on the 7th the last of the defeated Japanese left the island via destroyers. They left 25,000 dead on the island and between 600 and 900 pilots in the sea. I don't have any figures on the number of sailors killed. 1,600 Americans were killed on the island and many more killed at sea. The rest of the Solomon Islands chain would take almost another year of fighting before being entirely in American hands.

This victory, coming after the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, showed the world that the United States was definitely recovered from the devastating damages done at Pearl Harbor and was on the way back.

Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:

The FReeper Foxhole Remembers "Operation Watchtower" - Guadalcanal (8/1942-2/1943) - Aug. 28th, 2003

1 posted on 08/26/2004 11:23:53 PM PDT by snippy_about_it

............

Guadalcanal was, in many senses, the Thermopylae of the Pacific War. In its urgency, its desperation, its hair-thin margins between success and failure, and in its profound effects upon both the U.S. and the Japanese war efforts, it may well rank as one the decisive campaigns of history.

Beached and sunk on the Guadalcanal shore, November 1943. She had been sunk by U.S. aircraft on 15 November 1942, while attempting to deliver men and supplies to Japanese forces holding the northern part of the island.
Savo Island is in the distance.

Between August and November of 1942, the seemingly irresistible advance of the Japanese collided head-on with the scanty forces which the United States could throw in their path. By the end of November, the enemy had been halted on the ground, turned back at sea, and virtually driven from the air above Guadalcanal. After 7 August 1942, when U.S. Marines opened the assault, the Japanese never again advanced beyond the Pacific positions which they held at that time. Their succeeding movements throughout the war were always to the rear. This turn of the tide, largely accomplished by the forces of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, inflicted at least 27,500 casualties upon the enemy, and cost us 6,111, including 1,752 killed or missing in action.1 What is more, it gained for the United States a strategic initiative which was never relinquished.

In many respects, Guadalcanal was a victory in relative terms. That is to say, when the Fleet Marine Force was committed to action in the summer of 1942, no one could pretend that we were fully ready, afloat, ashore or in the air, to assume and sustain an offensive of this character. On the other hand, however, as a result of the battle of Midway and their position of extreme extension, the Japanese were less ready, either to meet our resolute thrust or to dislodge our forces, than we were to attempt such a venture. Because of the enemy's unbalanced position, August 1942 was--strategically--a time of now or never. Relatively, the United States was lessunready for the Guadalcanal campaign than were the Japanese.

Relatively speaking again, the autumn hemorrhage of naval strength between the Japanese and U.S. force told more heavily against the enemy than against ourselves. Both sides sustained serious losses, but, after the November sea-fights, it was the U.S. Navy which held the balance, slim as it was, and with that balance held the sea, and with that control of the sea, inevitably held ultimately victory.

Examined as a victory of seapower in its broadest sense (which includes all elements of a balanced fleet, by they air, surface, subsurface or ground), it is apparent that the outcome, and indeed the outset, of Guadalcanal, as a naval campaign, was profoundly influenced by the existence within the U.S. Naval Establishment of the Fleet Marine Force. Organized and trained--as no other U.S. force then was--to act as an amphibious expeditionary component within the Fleet, the FMF was ready, just as it had been a year before, in the occupation of Iceland. The fact that Admiral King had at his disposal a balanced ready force of the combined arms, including marine Corps Aviation, enabled the United States to embark without hesitation upon the operation, and at the unique moment. Without the Fleet Marine Force, Guadalcanal would never have taken place.

Dead Japanese After the Battle of the Matanikou

In considering the fighting on shore, especially as compared to later great battles such as Iwo Jima or Okinawa, it is easy to dismiss the Guadalcanal campaign as a protracted series of small-unit actions, bitterly fought, perhaps, but small. Unless we can weigh the consequences of those actions, this view is perhaps true. We have already seen, however, that the importance of Guadalcanal lay in its character as a turning-point, as the moment when the Japanese drive reversed itself. That, certainly, is how the most astute of the Japanese themselves evaluated it.

Prior to the latter part of 1942, Japan had counted on a relatively easy victory and a war effort which could readily be supported by what was, after all, their rather limited economy. In the Japanese thinking, even the battle of Midway was only a single defeat, a disastrous but temporary setback. Guadalcanal, however, removed the blindfold, and it was only from that time on that the Japanese--too late--set their economic and strategic sights for total war. For example, after the war, Mr. Hoshino Naoki, Chief Secretary of the Tojo Cabinet, stated that the calendar of the Japanese war economy should be dated "After Guadalcanal." As an official U.S. Government appraisal of the war (based on interrogation of high enemy officials) added,

The entire Guadalcanal campaign lasted from 7 August 1942 to 9 February 1943, but the handwriting on the wall had become plainly visible in mid-November 1942. This date, 11 months after the Pearl Harbor attack, marked the end of the first phase of Japanese economic development in the Pacific war. With November 1942 began the really energetic effort. . . .

After the Battle of the Tenaru

At another point, the same source summarizes,

At midyear 1942 the Japanese could set the occupation of the southern regions, including Burma and much of New Guinea, against the one major defeat at Midway. In August the American forces secured a position on Guadalcanal and thereafter the picture changed rapidly. By October-November the decisive engagements for control of Guadalcanal were being fought. . . . By the end of November, total Japanese merchant shipping was reduced to 5,946,000 tons, or 430,000 tons below the December 1941 and July 1942 level.

Not only from an economic point, however, did the Japanese feel the immense impact of Guadalcanal. Fleet Admiral Nagano Osami, IJN, Supreme Naval Adviser to the Emperor and (from April 1941 to February 1944) Chief of Naval General Staff, was asked, after the war:

Admiral, what would you consider was the turning point from the offensive to the defensive for Japan, and what was that caused by?

After a moment, the Admiral replied,

I look upon the Guadalcanal and Tulagi operations as the turning point from offense to defense, and the cause of our setback there was our inability to increase our forces at the same speed as you did.

Japanese Knee Mortar

Captain Toshikazu Ohmae, IJN, one of the foremost of general staff planners of Japan, confirmed this view without hesitation. "After Guadalcanal, in the latter part of 1942, I felt we could not win," he said.

Lieutenant General Kawabe, former Deputy Chief of the Japanese Army General Staff, reached, from the Army's standpoint, virtually the same conclusion, which he expressed as follows:

As for the turning point (of the war), when the positive action ceased or even became negative, it was, I feel, at Guadalcanal.

Marines struggle up a jungle trail

Not only from those high officers just cited, but from many other such interrogations of the defeated Japanese, comes this same theme: The theme of Guadalcanal as the turning point. From the slim victories by small forces; from the discipline and ability of Marines to hold on despite hunger, fatigue and disease; from the resolution of U.S. airmen and seamen who were often outnumbered but never outfought; and from the fact that, at this ultimate single point of extension and conflict, the United States, straining its utmost, as against Japan straining its utmost, could exert a few more ounces of effort--from this aggregate came victory, not only on Guadalcanal, but ultimately in the whole Pacific.

Additional Sources:

www.waikato.ac.nz
www.ibiblio.org
www.history.navy.mil
www.microsoft.com
www.lib.utexas.edu
www.gnt.net
www.pacificghosts.com
www.1sted.dk
www.daveswarbirds.com

2 posted on 08/26/2004 11:25:15 PM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)

The Guadalcanal campaign was an air, sea and land battle that raged for six months to determine who would control an obscure hot, humid, disease-ridden mountainous jungle-clad tropical hell-hole. It claimed thousands of lives, mostly Japanese, who died mainly of fever and starvation.

The Guadalcanal Patch

The campaign also killed several thousand Americans, many of whom were also struck down by disease and the climate. Naval losses were considerable, each side losing 24 warships each as well as many hundreds of aircraft.

The Strategic Background

Guadalcanal is an island in the Solomons group directly to the east of New Guinea, and due north of the New Hebrides. At the outbreak of World War II, it was a colonial possession of Britain inhabited mainly by native Melanesians, with a handful of British colonial officials and other British nationals. Many of these took to the bush when the Japanese arrived and stayed there as "Coastwatchers" to observe and report Japanese movements and activities as part of the organisation.

Guadalcanal's only significance was its location. In 1942, the Japanese Empire was expanding across the Pacific and South-East Asian regions with dramatic speed, winning almost every battle it fought. Japan had set up a major air and naval base at Rabaul, on New Britain in the northern Solomons. Taking Guadalcanal would enable the Japanese to threaten supply lines to Australia and New Zealand, preventing them from acting as forward bases for future Allied advances.

The significance of Guadalcanal from an operational point of view was that it provided an opportunity to compare the performance of the US and the Japanese on the land, the sea, and in the air. The lessons learnt during the campaign would be put to good use later on in the war.

Origins of Operation "Watchtower"

The struggle to take Guadalcanal had its beginnings when the US Joint Chiefs of Staff began organising a counter-offensive to prevent further Japanese moves. Using available resources, they intended to capture Guadalcanal as the opening move in efforts to push the Japanese out of the Solomon Islands.

Weary Marines march back from the front lines after being relieved by the US Army

US air reconnaissance and Coastwatchers reports had by 6 July 1942 confirmed that, besides the seaplane base on Tulagi (one of the small islands just north of Guadalcanal), the Japanese had also begun building an airstrip on Guadalcanal itself. 3,100 Japanese were estimated to be on Guadalcanal and that by 15 August the airfield would be complete.

Speed was of the essence, to take the island before the airstrip became fully operational. A plan - codenamed "Operation Watchtower" - was improvised and put into effect. The operation was mounted in haste, which meant that preparations that would become hallmarks of later amphibious operations could not be carried out.

3 posted on 08/26/2004 11:25:47 PM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)

To: Diva Betsy Ross; Americanwolf; CarolinaScout; Tax-chick; Don W; Poundstone; Wumpus Hunter; ...

"FALL IN" to the FReeper Foxhole!

It's Friday! Good Morning Everyone.

If you would like to be added to our ping list, let us know.

If you'd like to drop us a note you can write to:

The Foxhole
19093 S. Beavercreek Rd. #188
Oregon City, OR 97045

4 posted on 08/26/2004 11:28:01 PM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)

John Kerry told the world we were war criminals who raped, tortured and murdered in Vietnam. Now, thirty-three years later, we will tell America the truth.

Join us at the rally we call:

What: A peaceful remembrance of those with whom we served in Vietnam - those who lived and those who died.
We will tell the story of their virtues and how that contrasts with the lies told by John Kerry.

When: Sunday, Sept. 12, 2004 @ 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT

Where: The West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, DC

All Vietnam veterans and their families and supporters are asked to attend. Other veterans are invited as honored guests. This will be a peaceful event--no shouting or contact with others with different opinions. We fought for their rights then, and we respect their rights now. This is NOT a Republican or a pro-Bush rally. Democrats, Republicans and independents alike are warmly invited.

Our gathering is to remember those with whom we served, thereby giving the lie to John Kerry's smear against a generation of fine young men. B.G. "Jug" Burkett, author of "Stolen Valor," will be one of our speakers. Jug has debunked countless impostors who falsely claimed to be Vietnam veterans or who falsely claimed awards for heroism. Jug recommends that we refrain from dragging fatigues out of mothballs. Dress like America, like you do every day. Dress code: business casual, nice slacks, and shirt and shoes. No uniform remnants, please. Unit hats OK.

Selected members will wear badges identifying them as authorized to speak to the media about our event. Others who speak to the media will speak only for themselves.

The program will be controlled in an attempt to stay on-message. Speakers are encouraged not to engage in speculative criticism of John Kerry but (1) to stick to known and undisputed facts about John Kerry’s lies while (2) reminding America of the true honor and courage of our brothers in battle in Vietnam.

Send this announcement to 10 or more of your brothers! Bring them by car, bus, train or plane! Make this event one of pride in America, an event you would be proud to have your mother or your children attend.

Contact: kerrylied.com

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization.

Actively seeking volunteers to provide this valuable service to Veterans and their families.

Thanks to quietolong for providing this link.

UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004

The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul

Click on Hagar for
"The FReeper Foxhole Compiled List of Daily Threads"

5 posted on 08/26/2004 11:29:49 PM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)

To: snippy_about_it

6 posted on 08/26/2004 11:38:04 PM PDT by SAMWolf (Strip mining prevents forest fires.)

7 posted on 08/27/2004 12:27:20 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)

To: snippy_about_it

"The Wasp and the battle ship North Carolina were also sunk"

The North Carolina did receive a torpedo hit in the Solomons campaign, but it certainly wasn't sunk. It was repaired and went on to fight in many actions in the Pacific. Today it can be visited in Wilmington, NC.

8 posted on 08/27/2004 12:43:57 AM PDT by Poundstone

Good catch. Thanks. I didn't even notice the writer said that.

I've been on the USS North Carolina in Wilmington while visiting my sister.

North Carolina now gave her mighty strength to protect USS Saratoga (CV-3). Twice during the following weeks of support to Marines ashore on Guadalcanal, North Carolina was attacked by Japanese submarines. On 6 September 1942, she maneuvered successfully, dodging a torpedo that passed 300 yards off the port beam. Nine days later, sailing with USS Hornet (CV-8), North Carolina took a torpedo portside, 20 feet below her waterline, and five of her men were killed. But skillful damage control by her crew and the excellence of her construction prevented disaster; a 5½ degree list was righted in as many minutes, and she maintained her station in a formation at 25 knots.

9 posted on 08/27/2004 12:52:29 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)

To: snippy_about_it

Both American C.O.'s in the Pacific,General Douglas MacArthur (SW Pacific) and Admiral Chester Nimitz (Pacific Ocean) were offensive minded, aggressive leaders, and welcomed the directive that came from the Joint Chiefs on July 2, 1942.

"Watchtower" was really E.J. King's brainchild. It was his firm belief that a Pacific offensive needed to be undertaken immediately and that the Solomons was the place to do it. Marshall was committed to the ETO first and wanted to wait until after "Torch" in N. Africa.

10 posted on 08/27/2004 1:46:57 AM PDT by GATOR NAVY

To: snippy_about_it

Good morning, snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

11 posted on 08/27/2004 3:01:51 AM PDT by E.G.C.

To: snippy_about_it

12 posted on 08/27/2004 5:16:28 AM PDT by Darksheare (The Liberals say: Join me and together we shall RUE the galaxy!)

To: snippy_about_it; bentfeather; Samwise

Good morning ladies. It's Friday!

Friday Foxhole FReeper Flag-o-gram.

Today's PATRIOT SIZED Foxhole flag is from Snippy_about_it and SAMWolf

See your flag here! FReepmail me today.

13 posted on 08/27/2004 5:41:08 AM PDT by Professional Engineer (An observed bumper sticker collage ~ Have You Hugged Your Gay Whales For Jesus Today?)

To: snippy_about_it; SAMWolf

Bob Dylan/Jimi Hendrix Foxhole Bump

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

14 posted on 08/27/2004 6:11:31 AM PDT by alfa6 (80 folders down, 280+ to go)

To: snippy_about_it

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on August 27:
0551 BC- Confucius Chinese philosopher
1770 Georg Wilhelm F Hegel German philosopher/inventor (dialectic)
1809 Hannibal Hamlin (R) 15th VP (1861-65)
1824 Hiram Gregory Berry Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1863
1826 Frank Stillman Nickerson Brig General (Union volunteers)
1832 James Alexander Walker Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1901
1839 Emory Upton Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1881
1865 Charles Gates Dawes (R) 30th VP (1925-29, Nobel 1925)
1871 Theodore Dreiser US, novelist (Sister Carrie, American Tragedy)
1882 Samuel Goldwyn pioneer film maker/producer (MGM)
1886 Eric Coates Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, England, composer
1877 Charles Stewart Rolls British auto manufacturer (Rolls-Royce Ltd)
1899 C.S. Forester, England, historical novelist, created Horatio Hornblower
1890 Man Ray US artist/photographer/movie (dada)
1905 Frederick O'Neal Brooksville Miss, actor (Car 54 Where Are You)
1908 Lyndon B Johnson (D) 36th Pres (1963-1969)
1908 Martha Raye [Margaret Reed], Butte Mont, actress / Viet-Nam vet (Martha Raye Show)
1910 Mother Teresa [Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu], Yugoslavia (Nobel 1979)
1915 Walter W Heller economist (Old Myths & New Realities)
1929 Elizabeta Bagrintseve USSR, discus thrower (Olympic-silver-1952)
1929 Ira Levin author (Rosemary's Baby, Sleuth, This Perfect Day)
1932 Antonia Fraser biographer (Mary Queen of Scots)
1935 Frank Yablans NYC, writer (North Dallas Forty)
1937 Tommy Sands singer/actor (Teenage Rock, Dream With Me)
1941 Yuri V Malyshev cosmonaut (Soyuz T-2, T-11)
1942 Daryl Dragon Pasadena Calif, keyboardist (Capt & Tennille)
1943 Bob Kerrey (ex-Sen-D Nebraska)
1943 Susan "Tuesday" Weld NYC, actress (Dobie Gillis, Wild in Country)
1949 Barbara Bach [Goldbach], Queens NY, actress (Spy Who Loved Me)
1950 Charles Fleischer Wash DC, comedian (Roger Rabbit)
1952 Pee-wee Herman aka Paul Reubens, actor / movie lover (Pee-wee's Big Adventure)
1955 Diana Scarwid actress (Extremities, Psycho 3, Strange Invaders, Heat)
1961 "Downtown" Julie Brown TV host (Club MTV, Inside Edition)
1963 Patty Duffek Woodland Hills Calif, playmate (May, 1984)

Deaths which occurred on August 27:
1576 Titan Italian artist, dies
1590 Sixtus V [Felice Peretti/"Montalto"], Pope (1585-90), dies at 68
1840 William Kneass 3rd US chief engraver (1824-40), dies in office
1879 Sir Rowland Hill introduced postage stamps, dies at 84
1958 Dr Ernest O Lawrence inventor (Cyclotron-Nobel 1939), dies at 57
1963 W E B Du Bois scholar/founder (NAACP), dies at 95 in Accra Ghana
1964 Gracie Allen (Burns and Allen)
1967 Brian Epstein Beatles' manager, dies
1971 Bennett Cerf (Random House)/panelist (What's My Line), dies at 73
1975 Haile Selassie depossed Ethiopian emperor, dies at 83
1978 Robert Shaw actor (Quint - Jaws), dies at 51
1979 Earl Mountbatten British adm of the Fleet, assassinated by IRA
1979 Nicholas Mountbatten, Lord Mountbatten's grandson, murdered at 14
1980 Sam Levenson humorist (Sam Levenson Show), dies at 68
1984 Billy Sands actor (Phil Silvers Show, McHale's Navy), dies at 73
1990 Stevie Ray Vaughan blues guitarist, dies in a helicopter crash at 35

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 COKER GEORGE T. LINDEN NJ.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1966 FELLOWES JOHN H. VIRGINIA BEACH VA.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1967 BACIK VLADIMIR HENRY HOUSTON TX.
1967 BOGGS PASCHAL GLENN EAST POINT GA.
1968 PICK DONALD WILLIAM RICHLAND WA.
1970 ROGERS LYLE D.
1972 EVERETT DAVID A. BRUNSWICK GA.
[03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1972 TRIEBEL THEODORE VIENNA VA.
[03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0413 BC. Eclipse of the moon causes panic on Athens fleet.
0479 BC. Battle at Plataeae: Greece attack Persians
1172, Marguerite, wife of Henry Plantagenet, "the Young King," crowned Queen of England
1626 The Danes are crushed by the Catholic League in Germany, marking the end of Danish intervention in European wars.
1667 Earliest recorded hurricane in US (Jamestown Virginia)
1776 British defeat Americans in Battle of Long Island
1783 1st hydrogen balloon flight (unmanned); reaches 900 m altitude
1789 French Natl Assembly issues "Decl of the Rights of Man & the Citizen"
1793 Maximilien Robespierre is elected to the Committee of Public Safety in Paris, France.
1859 1st successful oil well drilled, near Titusville, Penn
1861 Battle of Cape Hatteras SC-Union troops take Ft Clark
1862 Battle of Cub Run, VA
1862 Stonewall Jackson captures and plunders Union supply depot at Manassas Junction, Virginia
1883 Krakatoa, west of Java, explodes with a force of 1,300 megatons
1894 Congress passed the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act, which contained a provision for a graduated income tax that was later struck down by the Supreme Court.
1900 U.S. Army physician James Carroll, Havana, Cuba, allowed an infected mosquito to feed on him in an attempt to isolate the means of transmission of yellow fever. Days later, Carroll developed a severe case of yellow fever, helping his colleague, Army Walter Reed, prove that mosquitoes can transmit the sometimes deadly disease.
1896 Zanzibar loses to England in a 38 minute war (9:02 AM-9:40 AM)
1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs' publishes Tarzan
1913 Lt Peter Nestrov, of Imperial Russian Air Service, performs a loop in a monoplane at Kiev (1st aerobatic maneuver in an airplane)
1921 J E Clair of Acme Packing Co of Green Bay granted an NFL franchise
1927 Parks College, America's oldest aviation school, opens
1928 16 die in a NYC subway's 2nd worst accident
1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, where 60 nations agree to outlaw war
1937 George E.T. Eyston sets world auto speed record at 345.49 MPH
1939 Erich Warsitz makes 1st jet-propelled flight (in a Heinkel He-178)
1939 Nazi Germany demands Danzig & Polish corridor
1940 Caproni-Campini CC-2, experimental jet plane, maiden flight (Milan)
1941 Shah of Iran abdicates throne to his son Reza Pahlawi
1945 US troops land in Japan after Japanese surrender
1945 B-29 Superfortress bombers begin to drop supplies into Allied prisoner of war camps in China.
1950 General Foods blacklists Jean Muir of Aldrich Family as a communist
1955 "Guinness Book of World Records" 1st published
1961 Francis the Talking Mule is the mystery guest on "What's My Line"
1962 Mariner 2 launched; 1st probe to fly by Venus
1965 Bob Dylan booed off stage in NY's Forest Hills
1966 Francis Chichester begins the 1st solo sail around the world
1966 Race riot in Waukegan Illinois
1972 US bombs Haiphong North Vietnam
1974 NY Met Benny Ayala hits a home run in his 1st at bat
1975 Veronica & Colin Scargill (England) complete tandem bicycle ride, a record 18,020 miles around the world
1976 Transsexual Renee Richards barred from competing in US Tennis Open
1977 Toby Harrah & Bump Wills hit back-to-back inside-the-park-homers off Yankee Ken Clay at Yankee Stadium, Rangers won 8-2
1978 Reds Joe Morgan is 1st to hit 200 HRs & have 500 stolen bases
1981 Divers begin to recover a safe found aboard the Andrea Doria
1982 Rickey Henderson steals 119th base of season breaks Lou Brock's mark
1982 Soyuz T-7 returns to Earth
1984 President Reagan announces the Teacher in Space project
1985 20th Space Shuttle Mission (51-I)-Discovery 6-launched
1989 100 march through Bensonhurst protesting racial killings
1990 52 Americans arrive in Turkey from Iraq
1990 WWF Summer Slam-Ultimate Warrior beats Rick Rude
1991 The Soviet republic of Moldavia declared its independence. And the European Community recognized Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as independent nations
1996, California Gov. Pete Wilson signed an executive order aimed at halting state benefits to illegal immigrants.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Gibralter : Late Summer Bank Holiday
Hong Kong : Liberation Day (1945) ( Monday )
Be Kind to Humankind Week (Day 6)/Favors Granted Friday
National Golf Month

Religious Observances
RC : Memorial of St Monica, mother of St Augustine of Hippo
Old RC : Feast of St Joseph Calasanctius, confessor
Christian Feast of St Poemen
Christian Feast of St Marcellus of Tomi
Christian Feast of St David Lewis Little
Christian Feast of St Margaret & barefooted
Christian Feast of St Hugh
RC Ebbo, archbishop of Sens
RC Feast of St Caesarius, archbishop of Arles
RC Gebhard II, bishop of Konstanz/patron saint of Vorarlberg

Religious History
1660 Following England's Restoration, books by poet John Milton were ordered burned because of his attacks on the monarchy. Milton had advocated an elder-ruled (presbyterian) church government over that of bishop-ruled (episcopal).
1830 English churchman John Henry Cardinal Newman wrote in a letter: 'It is our great relief that God is not extreme to mark what is done amiss, that He looks at the motives, and accepts and blesses in spite of incidental errors.'
1865 Rhenish missionary Ludwig I. Nommensen, 31, baptized four families of the Batak tribe in North Sumatra (Indonesia) the first to be converted to the Christian faith. Nommensen later established a theological training school and in 1878 completed a translation of the New Testament into the Batak language.
1876 At age 13, future English clergyman G. Campbell Morgan preached his first sermon. He later grew to become one of the most famous expository preachers and writers of late 19th century England and America.
1877 Birth of Lloyd C. Douglas, American Lutheran clergyman and religious novelist. Douglas published his first best-seller, "Magnificent Obsession," in 1929, followed later by "The Robe" (1942) and "The Big Fisherman" (1948).

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Youth isn't a time of life but a state of mind."

Translating Southern United States Slang to English...
JAWJUH - noun. A state just north of Florida.
Usage: "My brother from Jawjuh bard my pickup truck."

Top 10 Difference Between Cats & Dogs...
2. Dogs will tilt their heads and listen whenever you talk. Cats will yawn and close their eyes.

Politically Correct Terms for Females...
She is not a bad driver,
she is automotively challenged

Feel Smarter -- Instantly!...
I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law.

-- David Dinkins, New York City Mayor, answering accusations that he failed to pay his taxes.

15 posted on 08/27/2004 6:13:52 AM PDT by Valin (It Could Be that the Purpose of Your Life is Only to Serve as a Warning to Others.)

To: snippy_about_it

Today's classic warship, USS San Francisco (CA-38)

New Orleans class heavy cruiser

Displacement: 9,950 t.
Length: 588’2”
Beam: 62’9”
Draft: 19’5”
Speed: 32.7 k.
Complement: 708
Armament: 9 8”; 8 5”; 8 .50 cal. MG

The USS SAN FRANCISCO (CA-38) was laid down on 9 September 1931 at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, Calif.; launched on 9 March 1933; sponsored by Miss Barbara M. Bailly; and commissioned on 10 February 1934, Capt. Royal E. Ingersoll in command.

After an extensive shakedown cruise--which included operations off Mexico, in Hawaiian waters, off Washington and British Columbia, and a voyage to the Panama Canal Zone--the cruiser returned to the Mare Island Navy Yard. Gunnery installation and conversion to a flagship took her into the new year, 1935. In February, she joined her division, Cruiser Division (CruDiv) 6 at San Diego. In May, she moved north, participated in Fleet Problem XVI; then returned to southern California. A few weeks later, she was back off the northwest coast for fleet tactics, and, in July, she steamed farther north to Alaska. In August, she returned to California and, through the end of 1938, SAN FRANCISCO continued to range the eastern Pacific, cruising from the state of Washington to Peru and from California to Hawaii.

In January 1939, she departed the west coast to participate in Fleet Problem XX conducted in the Atlantic east of the Lesser Antilles. In March, she became flagship of CruDiv 7 and commenced a goodwill tour of South American ports. Departing Guantanamo Bay in early April, she called at ports on the east coast of that continent, moved through the Strait of Magellan; visited west coast ports; and, in early June, transited the Panama Canal to complete her voyage around the continent.

On 1 September, World War II started, and, on the 14th, SAN FRANCISCO moved south from Norfolk to join the Neutrality Patrol. The cruiser carried freight and passengers to San Juan, thence sailed for a patrol of the West Indies as far south as Trinidad. On 14 October, she completed her patrol back at San Juan and headed for Norfolk, where she remained into January 1940. On the 11th, she headed for Guantanamo Bay, where she was relieved of flagship duties by WICHITA (CA-45), and whence she returned to the Pacific.

Transiting the Panama Canal in late February, she called at San Pedro and, in March, continued on to her new home port, Pearl Harbor, where she rejoined CruDiv 6. In May, she steamed northwest to the Puget Sound Navy Yard for an overhaul, during which she also received four 3-inch guns. On 29 September, she returned to Pearl Harbor. In early May 1941, she became flagship of CruDiv 6, and, at the end of July, she moved east for a cruise to Long Beach, returning to Hawaii on 27 August. In September, the flag of ComCruDiv 6 was hauled down, and, on 11 October, SAN FRANCISCO entered the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for an overhaul which was scheduled for completion on 25 December.

On 7 December, SAN FRANCISCO was awaiting docking and the cleaning of her heavily fouled bottom. Her engineering plant was largely broken down for overhaul. Ammunition for her 5-inch and 8-inch guns had been placed in storage. Her 3-inch guns had been removed to permit installation of four 1.1-inch quadruple mounts. The 1.1-inch mounts had not been installed. Her .50 caliber machine guns were being overhauled. Only small arms and two .30 caliber machine guns were available. Moreover, a number of SAN FRANCISCO's officers and men were absent.

At 0755, Japanese planes began bombing dives on Ford Island, and by 0800, the surprise air attack was well underway. The men in SAN FRANCISCO had secured the ship for watertightness and had begun looking for opportunities to fight back. Some crossed to NEW ORLEANS (CA-32) to man antiaircraft batteries. Others began using available rifles and machine guns. Fifty caliber machine gun ammunition was transferred to TRACY (DM-19) for use.

By 1000, the Japanese had left; and work to ready SAN FRANCISCO for action was begun.

On 14 December, the cruiser left the yard; scaling had been postponed in favor of more necessary repairs on other ships. On 16 December, she sortied with Task Force (TF) 14 to relieve Wake Island. The force moved west with a Marine Corps fighter squadron on board SARATOGA (CV-3) and a Marine battalion embarked in TANGIER (AV-8). But, when Wake fell to the Japanese on the 23d, TF 14 was diverted to Midway which it reinforced. On the 29th, the force returned to Pearl Harbor.

On 8 January 1942, SAN FRANCISCO again moved west. In TF 8, she steamed toward Samoa to rendezvous with, and cover the offloading of, transports carrying reinforcements to Tutuila. Thence it joined TF 17 for raids on Japanese installations in the Gilberts and Marshalls. SAN FRANCISCO arrived in the Samoan area on the 18th and, on the 24th, was detached to continue coverage for the transports while the remainder of the task force and TF 17 conducted offensive operations to the northwest.

On 8 February, SAN FRANCISCO departed Tutuila. On the 10th, she rejoined CruDiv 6, then in TF 11, and set a course for an area northeast of the Solomons to strike Rabaul. However, the American force was sighted and attacked by two waves of twin-engined Japanese bombers. Sixteen of the planes were destroyed, but the element of surprise had been lost. TF 11 retired eastward.

During the next few days, TF 11, centered on LEXINGTON (CV-2), conducted operations in the South Pacific, then headed for New Guinea to participate with TF 17 in a raid against Japanese shipping and installations.

On 7 March, one of SAN FRANCISCO's scout planes was reported missing and could not be found.

On the night of 9 and 10 March, TF's l1 and 17 entered the Gulf of Papua, whence, at dawn, LEXINGTON and YORKTOWN (CV-5) launched their aircraft to cross the Owen Stanley range and attack the Japanese at Salamaua and Lae.

The next day, the missing plane was sighted by MINNEAPOLIS (CA-36) and recovered by SAN FRANCISCO. It had landed on the water, but had been unable to communicate. The pilot, Lt. J. A. Thomas, and the radioman RM3 O. J. Gannan, had headed for Australia, sailing the plane backwards as it tended to head into the prevailing east wind. In five days and 21 hours, they had covered approximately 385 miles on a course within 5% of that intended.

SAN FRANCISCO returned to Pearl Harbor on the 26th. On 22 April, the cruiser departed Oahu for San Francisco in the escort of convoy 4093. At the end of May, she headed west, escorting convoy PW 2076, made up of transports carrying the 37th Army Division, destined for Suva, and special troops bound for Australia. The cruiser remained in the escort force as far as Auckland; thence steamed for Hawaii, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 29 June.

SAN FRANCISCO steamed west with destroyer LAFFEY (DD-459) and seaplane tender BALLARD (AVD-10) to escort convoy 4120 to the Fiji Islands. From there, she got underway to rendezvous with the Solomon Islands Expeditionary Force.

Operation "Watchtower," the Guadalcanal-Tulagi offensive, opened on the morning of 7 August. Through that day and the remainder of the month, SAN FRANCISCO helped to cover the American forces in the area. The flag of Rear Admiral Norman Scott, commanding the cruisers attached to TF 18, was shifted to SAN FRANCISCO.

On 3 September, SAN FRANCISCO's force put into Noumea, New Caledonia, for fuel and provisions. On the 8th, the ships departed that island to cover reinforcements moving up to Guadalcanal. On the 11th, SAN FRANCISCO's force, TF 18, rendezvoused with TF 17, the HORNET (CV-8) group, and, the next day both groups refueled at sea. On the 14th, the reinforcement convoy departed the New Hebrides. TF 61 commenced covering operations with TF 17 operating to the eastward of TF 18 and conforming to the movements of TF 18.

At about 1450, on the 15th, WASP (CV-7) was torpedoed on the starboard side. Fires broke out on the carrier. Explosions multiplied the fires. Rear Admiral Scott took command of TF 18. SAN FRANCISCO and SALT LAKE CITY (CA-25) prepared to take the carrier in tow; but, by 1520, the fires were out of control and destroyers began taking on survivors. LANSDOWNE (DD-486) torpedoed the burning hulk. TF 18 headed for Espiritu Santo.

On the morning of 17 September, SAN FRANCISCO, JUNEAU (CL-52), and five destroyers put back to sea to rendezvous with TF 17 and resume coverage of reinforcement convoys. Other units of TF 18 had headed for Noumea with WASP survivors.

On 23 September, SAN FRANCISCO, SALT LAKE CITY, BOISE (CL-47), HELENA (CL-50), MINNEAPOLIS, CHESTER (CA-27), and Destroyer Squadron 12 became TF 64, a surface screening and attack force under the command of Rear Admiral Scott in SAN FRANCISCO. On the 24th, the force headed to the New Hebrides.

On 7 October, TF 64 departed Espiritu Santo and moved back into the Solomons to cover Allied reinforcements and to intercept similar operations by the Japanese. On the 11th, at about 1615, the ships commenced a run northward from Rennel Island, to intercept an enemy force of two cruisers and six destroyers reported heading for Guadalcanal from the Buin-Faisi area. The force continued north, to approach Savo Island from the southwest.

By 2330, when the ships were approximately six miles northwest of Savo, they turned to make a further search of the area. A few minutes after setting the new course, radar indicated unidentified ships to the west, several thousand yards distant. At about 2345, the Battle of Cape Esperance began.

Initial confusion caused both sides to momentarily check their fire in fear of hitting their own ships. Then, the battle was reopened and continued until 0020 on the 12th, when surviving Japanese ships retired toward Shortland. Two American cruisers, SALT LAKE CITY and BOISE, and two destroyers, DUNCAN (DD-485) and FARENHOLT (DD-491), had been damaged. Later, DUNCAN went down. A Japanese cruiser and a destroyer had been sunk during the surface action. Two more enemy destroyers were sunk on the 12th by planes from Henderson Field. After the engagement, TF 64, having shown the United States Navy to be the equal of the Imperial Japanese Navy in night fighting, retired to Espiritu Santo.

On 15 October, SAN FRANCISCO resumed operations in support of the Guadalcanal campaign. On the evening of the 20th, her group was ordered back to Espiritu Santo. At 2119, torpedoes were reported. CHESTER was hit amidships on the starboard side but continued under her own power. Three other torpedoes exploded: one off HELENA’s starboard quarter; a second between HELENA and SAN FRANCISCO; and the third about 1,200 yards off SAN FRANCISCO's port beam. Two others were sighted running on the surface.

SAN FRANCISCO reached Espiritu Santo on the night of the 21st, but departed again on the 22d to intercept any enemy surface units approaching Guadalcanal from the north and to cover friendly reinforcements. On the 28th, Rear Admiral Scott transferred to ATLANTA (CL-51). On the 29th, SAN FRANCISCO returned to Espiritu Santo; and, on the 30th, Rear Admiral D. J. Callaghan commanding officer of SAN FRANCISCO when the United States entered the war, returned to the ship and raised his flag as CTG 64.4 and prospective CTF 65.

On 31 October, the newly-designated TF 65 departed Espiritu Santo, the ships again headed into the Solomons to cover troop landings on Guadalcanal. Bombardment missions in the Kokumbona and Koli Point areas followed. On 6 November, the transport group completed unloading, and the force retired, arriving at Espiritu Santo on the 8th. On the 10th, SAN FRANCISCO, now flagship for TG 67.4, got underway again toward Guadalcanal.

Just before noon, a Japanese twin-float reconnaissance plane began shadowing the formation.

The force arrived off Lunga Point on the 12th, and the transports commenced unloading. By mid-afternoon, an approaching Japanese air group was reported. At 1318, the ships got underway. At 1408, 21 enemy planes attacked.

At 1416, an already damaged torpedo plane dropped its torpedo off SAN FRANCISCO's starboard quarter. The torpedo passed alongside, but the plane crashed into SAN FRANCISCO's control aft, swung around that structure, and plunged over the port side into the sea. Fifteen men were killed, 29 wounded, and one missing. Control aft was demolished. The ship's secondary command post, Battle Two, was burned out but was reestablished by dark. The after antiaircraft director and radar were put out of commission. Three 20 millimeter mounts were destroyed.

The burning ship on the horizon is the USS San Francisco (CA-38)

The wounded were transferred to attack transport PRESIDENT JACKSON (APA-18) just before the approach of an enemy surface force was reported. The covering force escorted the transports out of the area, then reassembled and returned. At about midnight, SAN FRANCISCO, in company with one heavy cruiser, three light cruisers, and eight destroyers, entered Lengo Channel.

At 0125 on the 13th, the enemy force was discovered about 27,000 yards to the northwest. Rear Admiral Callaghan's task group maneuvered to intercept. At 0148, SAN FRANCISCO opened fire on an enemy cruiser 3,700 yards off her starboard beam. At 0151, she trained her guns on a small cruiser or large destroyer 3,300 yards off her starboard bow. An enemy battleship was then sighted and taken under fire, initial range 2,200 yards.

At about 0200, SAN FRANCISCO trained her guns on a second battleship. At the same time, she became the target of a cruiser off her starboard bow and of a destroyer which had crossed her bow and was passing down her port side. The enemy battleship joined the cruiser and the destroyer in firing on SAN FRANCISCO, whose port 5-inch battery engaged the destroyer but was put out of action except for one mount. The battleship put the starboard 5-inch battery out of commission. SAN FRANCISCO swung left while her main battery continued to fire on the battleships which, with the cruiser and the destroyer, continued to pound SAN FRANCISCO. A direct hit on the navigation bridge killed or badly wounded all officers except the communications officer. Steering and engine control were lost and shifted to Battle Two. Battle Two was out of commission by a direct hit from the port side. Control was again lost.

Control was then established in the conning tower which soon received a hit from the starboard side. Steering and engine control were temporarily lost, then regained. All communications were dead.

Soon thereafter, the enemy ceased firing. SAN FRANCISCO followed suit and withdrew eastward along the north coast of Guadalcanal.

Seventy-seven sailors, including Rear Admiral Callaghan and Capt. Young, had been killed. One Hundred and five had been wounded. Of seven missing, three were subsequently rescued. The ship had taken 45 hits. Structural damage was extensive, but not serious. No hits had been received below the waterline. Twenty two fires had been started and extinguished.

At about 0400, SAN FRANCISCO, all her compasses out of commission, joined HELENA and followed her through Sealark Channel.

At about 1000, JUNEAU’s medical personnel transferred to SAN FRANCISCO to assist in treating the numerous wounded. An hour later, JUNEAU took a torpedo on the port side, in the vicinity of the bridge. "The entire ship seemed to explode in one mighty column of brown and white smoke and flame which rose easily a thousand feet in the air. The JUNEAU literally disintegrated." SAN FRANCISCO was hit by several large fragments from JUNEAU. One man was hit, both his legs were broken. Nothing was seen in the water after the smoke lifted.

On the afternoon of 14 November, SAN FRANCISCO returned to Espiritu Santo. For her participation in the action of the morning of the 13th, and for that of the night of 11 and 12 October, she received the Presidential Unit Citation. On 18 November, the cruiser sailed for Noumea, and, on the 23d, she got underway toward the United States. She reached San Francisco on 11 December. Three days later, repairs were begun at Mare Island.

On 26 February 1943, she got underway to return to the South Pacific. After escorting convoy PW 2211 en route, SAN FRANCISCO arrived at Noumea on 20 March. Five days later, she continued on to Efate. She arrived back in the Hawaiian Islands in mid-April; thence headed north to the Aleutians to join the North Pacific Force, TF 16, and reached Alaska toward the end of the month. Based at Kuluk Bay, Adak, she operated in the Aleutians for the next four and one half months. She patrolled the western approaches to the area, participated in the assault and occupation of Attu in May and of Kiska in July; and performed escort duties.

In mid-September, she was ordered back to Pearl Harbor for repairs and reassignment to TF 14. On the 29th SAN FRANCISCO departed Pearl Harbor in Task Unit (TU) 14.2.1 for a raid against Wake and Wilkes Islands. On 5 October, the group arrived off the target area and conducted two runs by the enemy positions. On the 11th, her task unit returned to Pearl Harbor.

On the 20th, the force arrived off Makin. SAN FRANCISCO participated in the pre-invasion bombardment of Betio, then patrolled outside the transport area to the west of Makin. On the 26th, she was detached and assigned to TG 50.1, joining YORKTOWN (CV-10), LEXINGTON (CV-16), COWPENS (CVL-25), five cruisers, and six destroyers. With that force, she steamed toward the Marshalls to strike Japanese shipping and installations in the Kwajalein area. On 4 December, the carriers launched their planes against the targets. Shortly after noon, enemy aerial activity increased, and, at 1250, SAN FRANCISCO came under attack. Three torpedo planes closed her on the port bow. Her guns splashed two. The third was shot down by YORKTOWN. But the cruiser had been strafed several times. One man had been killed; 22 were wounded. After dark, the Japanese returned and, on that night, LEXINGTON was torpedoed. The force moved north and west. Shortly after 0130, on the 5th, enemy planes faded from the radar screens. On the 6th, the ships headed back to Pearl Harbor.

On 22 January 1944, SAN FRANCISCO sortied with TF 52 and again headed for the Marshalls. On the 29th, the division, screened by destroyers, left the formation and moved against Japanese installations on Maloelap to neutralize them during the conquest of Kwajalein. Following the bombardment, the ships proceeded on to Kwajalein. SAN FRANCISCO arrived off the atoll at about 0630 on the 31st. At 0730, she opened fire on targets of opportunity, initially a small ship inside Kwajalein lagoon. At 0849, she ceased firing. At 0900, she resumed firing at targets on Berlin and Beverly Islands. Through the day, she continued to shell those islands, and, in late afternoon, added Bennett Island to her targets. During the next week, she provided pre-landing barrages and support fire for operations against Burton, Berlin, and Beverly Islands. On the 8th, the cruiser sailed for Majuro, whence she would operate as a unit of TF 58, the fast carrier force.

On 12 February, SAN FRANCISCO, in TG 58.2 cleared Majuro lagoon. Four days later, the carriers launched their planes against Truk. On the night of 16 and 17 February, INTREPID (CV-11) was torpedoed. SAN FRANCISCO with others, was assigned to escort her eastward. On the 19th, the group split: INTREPID, with two destroyers, continued toward Pearl Harbor; SAN FRANCISCO and the remaining ships headed for Majuro. On the 25th SAN FRANCISCO sailed for Hawaii with TG 58.2. On 20 March, the group returned to Majuro, refueled, and departed again on the 22d to move against the Western Carolines. From 30 March to 1 April, carrier planes hit the Palaus and Woleai. SAN FRANCISCO's planes flew rescue missions.

On 6 April, the force was back in Majuro lagoon. A week later, the ships set a course for New Guinea. From the 21st to the 28th, TG 58.2 supported the assault landings in the Hollandia area. On the 29th, the ships moved back into the Carolines for another raid against Truk. On the 30th, SAN FRANCISCO was detached and with eight other cruisers, moved against Satawan. On completion of that bombardment mission, the cruisers rejoined TG 58.2 and headed back to the Marshalls.

Initially at Majuro, SAN FRANCISCO shifted to Kwajalein in early June, and, on the 10th, departed that atoll in TG 53.15, the bombardment group of the Saipan invasion force. On the 14th, she commenced two days of shelling Tinian, then, after the landings on Saipan, shifted to fire support duties. On the 16th, she temporarily joined CruDiv 9 to bombard Guam. Word of a Japanese force en route to Saipan, however, interrupted the cannonade, and the ships returned to Saipan.

On 17 June, SAN FRANCISCO refueled and took up station between the approaching enemy force and the amphibious force at Saipan. On the morning of the 19th, the Battle of the Philippine Sea opened for SAN FRANCISCO. At about 1046, she was straddled fore and aft by bombs. ". . . a mass of enemy planes on the screen at 20 miles." At 1126, the cruiser opened fire. A 40 millimeter shell from INDIANAPOLIS (CA-35) set off SAN FRANCISCO's smoke screen generators. By noon, quiet had returned. At 1424, dive bombers made the last Japanese attack. By the 20th, SAN FRANCISCO steamed westward in pursuit of the Japanese force. On the 21st, she returned to the Saipan area and resumed operations with the covering force for the transports. On 8 July, SAN FRANCISCO again steamed to Guam to bombard enemy positions. During the next four days, she shelled targets in the Agat and Agana areas. On the 12th, she returned to Saipan, replenished, refueled and, on the 18th, again took station off Guam.

On that day and on the 19th and the 20th, she shelled enemy positions, supported beach demolition units, and provided night harassing and defense repair interdiction in the Agat and Faci Point areas. On the 21st, she began to support Marines assaulting the Agat beaches. On the 24th, the cruiser shifted her fire to the Orote Peninsula.

On the 30th, she headed, via Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor, for San Francisco. The cruiser arrived back on the west coast on 16 August for overhaul.

On October 31st, she steamed west again and, on 21 November, arrived at Ulithi where she resumed flagship duties for CruDiv 6. On 10 December, she cleared the anchorage and moved toward the Philippines in TG 38.1. On the 14th and 15th, during carrier strikes against Luzon, SAN FRANCISCO's planes were employed on antisubmarine patrol and in rescue work. On the 16th, the force headed for a rendezvous with TG 30.17, the replenishment force. A typhoon interrupted the refueling operations, and, on the 17th and 18th, the ships rode out the storm. On the 19th, she participated in a search for survivors from three destroyers which had gone down during the typhoon.

On the 20th, TF 38 turned westward again to resume operations against Luzon, but high seas precluded strikes. On the 24th, the force returned to Ulithi.

Six days later, the force again sortied from Ulithi. On 2 and 3 January 1945, strikes were conducted against Formosa. On the 5th, 6th, and 7th, Luzon was hit. On the 9th, fighter sweeps against Formosa were resumed. The force then headed for the Bashi Channel and a five-day, high speed strike against enemy surface units in the South China Sea and against installations along the coast of Indochina. On the 15th and 16th, the Hong Kong-Amoy-Swatow area was hit; and, on the 20th, the force passed through Luzon Strait to resume operations against Formosa. On the 21st, aerial opposition was constant. Bogies appeared on the screen throughout the day. LANGLEY (CVL-27) and TICONDEROGA (CV-14) were hit. On the 22d, strikes were launched against the Ryukyus, and, on the 23d, the force headed for the Western Carolines.

Arriving on 26 January, the ships sailed again on 10 February. On the 16th and 17th, strikes were conducted against air facilities in central Honshu. On the 18th, the force moved toward the Volcano and Bonin Islands; and, on the 19th, covering operations for the Iwo Jima assault began. The next day, SAN FRANCISCO closed that island with other cruisers and assumed fire support duties, which she continued until the 23d. Then she headed back toward Japan. On the 25th, Tokyo was the target. Poor weather prohibited operations against Nagoya on the 26th; and, on the 27th, the force headed back to Ulithi.

On 21 March, SAN FRANCISCO, now attached to TF 54 for Operation "Iceberg," departed Ulithi for the Ryukyus. On the 25th, she approached Kerama Retto west of Okinawa, and furnished fire support for minesweeping and underwater demolition operations. That night, she retired and the next morning moved back in to support the landings and supply counter battery fire on Aka, Keruma, Zamami, and Yakabi.

By the morning of the 27th, aerial resistance had begun. On the 28th, SAN FRANCISCO shifted to Okinawa for shore bombardment in preparation for the assault landings scheduled for 1 April. On that day, she took up station in fire support sector 5, west of Naha, and for the next five days, shelled enemy emplacements, caves, pill boxes, road junctions, and tanks, trucks, and troop concentrations. At night, she provided harassing fire near the beachhead.

On 6 April, the cruiser retired to Kerama Retto; refueled and took on ammunition, assisted in splashing a "Jill," then, rejoined TF 54 off Okinawa as that force underwent another air raid. SAN FRANCISCO downed a "Kate." Dawn of the 7th brought another air raid, during which a kamikaze attempted to crash the cruiser. It was splashed 50 yards off the starboard bow. After the raid, SAN FRANCISCO shifted to TF 51 for fire support missions on the east coast of Okinawa, rejoining TF 54 on the west coast in late afternoon. On the 11th, air attacks increased; and, the next day, SAN FRANCISCO set a "Val" on fire. The plane then glanced off a merchant ship and hit the water, enveloped in flames.

On the 13th and 14th, the cruiser again operated with TF 51 off the east coast of the embattled island. On the 15th, she returned to Kerama Retto, thence proceeded to Okinawa and operations with TF 54 in the transport area. There, she provided night illumination to detect swimmers and suicide boats and, just before midnight, assisted in sinking one of the latter. During the night, two further attempts by suicide boats to close the transports were thwarted.

With dawn, SAN FRANCISCO returned to the Naha area to shell the airfield there. On the 17th, she moved up the coast and fired on the Machinato air field. On the 18th, she again shifted to the eastern side of the island and, that night, anchored in Nakagusuku Wan. The next day, SAN FRANCISCO supported troops in the southern part of the island. From 21 April through 24 April, she shelled targets in the Naha airstrip area; and got underway for Ulithi.

On 13 May, SAN FRANCISCO returned to Okinawa, arriving in Nakagusuku Wan and resuming support activities against targets in southern Okinawa. For the next few days, SAN FRANCISCO supported the 96th Infantry Division in an area to the southeast of Yunabaru. On the 20th, she shifted to Kutaka Shima, and by the night of the 22d, she had depleted her supply of ammunition for her main batteries. On the 25th, the Japanese launched a large air attack against Allied shipping in Nakagusuku Wan. On the 27th, SAN FRANCISCO provided fire support for the 77th Infantry Division, and, on the 28th, she retired to Kerama Retto. On the 30th, the cruiser returned to the western side of Okinawa and, for the next two weeks, supported operations of the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions.

On 21 June, SAN FRANCISCO was ordered to join TG 32.15, 120 miles southeast of Okinawa. A week later, she put into Kerama Retto for a brief stay, then rejoined that group. In early July, she provided cover for the eastern anchorage. On the 3d, she sailed toward the Philippines to prepare for an invasion of the Japanese home islands. The cessation of hostilities in mid August, however, obviated that operation, and SAN FRANCISCO prepared for occupation duty.

On 28 August, the cruiser departed Subic Bay for the China coast. After a show of force in the Yellow Sea and Gulf of Pohai areas, she covered minesweeping operations and, on 8 October, anchored at Jinsen, Korea. From the 13th to the 16th, she participated in another show of force operation in the Gulf of Pohai area, then returned to Jinsen, where Rear Admiral J. Wright, ComCruDiv 6, acted as senior member of the committee for the surrender of Japanese naval forces in Korea.

On 27 November, SAN FRANCISCO headed home. Arriving at San Francisco in mid-December, she continued on to the east coast in early January 1946 and arrived at Philadelphia for inactivation on the 19th. Decommissioned on 10 February, she was berthed with the Philadelphia Group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until 1 March 1959 when her name was struck from the Navy list. On 9 September, she was sold for scrapping to the Union Mineral and Alloys Corp., New York.

SAN FRANCISCO (CA-38) earned 17 battle stars during World War II.

16 posted on 08/27/2004 6:51:37 AM PDT by aomagrat (Where arms are not to be carried, it is well to carry arms.")

The North Carolina did receive a torpedo hit in the Solomons campaign, but it certainly wasn't sunk.

Good Catch. If I remember correctly there were no US BB's sunk during the campaign.

17 posted on 08/27/2004 7:02:24 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Strip mining prevents forest fires.)

Morning Gator Navy.

The Navy had to constantly fight to try and get priority for the Pacific Theatre.

18 posted on 08/27/2004 7:04:43 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Strip mining prevents forest fires.)

Morning E.G.C. It's supposed to clear up today but from looking out my window you couldn't tell it.

19 posted on 08/27/2004 7:05:26 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Strip mining prevents forest fires.)

20 posted on 08/27/2004 7:05:43 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Strip mining prevents forest fires.)

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