Tag Archives: USS HORNET (CV-12)

Woleai, back in the news after 80 years

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An isolated coral atoll of 22 islands inhabited by about 1,000 locals, Woleai is 35nm away from the nearest other inhabited island (which has a population of about 500) and is 400 miles away from the nearest serious airport in Guam.

The current civil airfield, an overgrown 1,200-foot strip that hasn’t been used in two decades, is listed as “closed for repairs.” The most reliable physical connection to the outside world these days is a semi-regular four-day boat service with Yap, some 350 miles away.

Considered part of the Caroline Islands under the Spanish from 1686 on, and briefly under the Germans from 1899, the Japanese navy scooped up the chain in 1914 as part of the Emperor’s contribution to the Great War. Post-Versailles, the Japanese retained Woleai under the South Seas Mandate and during WWII transformed it into a fortress, complete with a 3,300-foot airstrip (Falalap Airfield), seaplane base, and port facilities, protected by a 6,000-strong garrison.

Starting in late March 1944 and continuing for the next 18 months, the U.S. military turned the airfield and harbor at Woleai into a smoking ruin as extensively detailed in NARA reports.

Woleai under attack, 1 April 1944, by Navy carrier-based aircraft. US Air Force Reference Number: 60226AC

Japanese airfield on the Island of Woleai Atoll under attack by Task Force 58 planes, probably on 1 April 1944. 80-G-45318

The first large raids, by TF 58 F6Fs, SBDs, and TBFs from USS Lexington (CV 16), USS Bunker Hill (CV 19), and USS Hornet (CV 12), were followed after August 1944 by Army tactical air (P-47s, etc) flying from recently occupied Saipan. Then came regular airstrikes by land-based Navy bombers and flying boats (PB4Y-1s, PV-1s, and PBY-5s) of VD-5, VPB-133, VP-33, VP-52, VB-150, and VPB-151.

Left to wither on the vine, the garrison had constricted to just over 1,600 when USS Sloat (DE-245) arrived two weeks after VJ Day with the unarmed 9,300-ton Japanese hospital Takasago Maru to accept the island’s surrender. It was all very unceremonial.

Unlike other islands in the Pacific, there were no documented holdouts on Woleai. The Japanese there just wanted to go home.

Members of the Japanese garrison on Woleai Island in the Caroline Islands about to be evacuated by a waiting ship. Japanese prisoners are searched by US Marine Corps enlisted men. The Japanese appeared to be in good physical shape, in direct contrast to those found on other islands. 80-G-495722

Japanese rifles and samurai swords are neatly stacked by members of the Japanese garrison on tiny Woleai, an island in the Carolines just west of Truk, preparatory to being evacuated by US Pacific Units cleaning up by-passed islands in the Pacific, September 1945. 80-G-485723

Three days later, with the garrison loaded on Takasago Maru and the garrison’s weapons and interesting equipment stowed aboard Sloat, the two vessels went their separate ways.

Administered by the Navy (U.S. Naval Base Woleai for a time) as a Trust Territory until 1979, the Carolines became the Federated States of Micronesia, and Woleai soon after the Cold War became a backwater for real. I can’t find where a U.S. warship has visited the island since Johnson was in office (USS Brister (DER-327) in February 1965).

So it should not be surprising that the Chinese government just recently broke ground on a new airport project in Wolei.

Did we mention this is just 400 miles from Guam?

As noted by The Island Times, “The FSM maintains diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China, while Palau and the Marshall Islands, which also have Compacts of Free Association with the United States, recognize Taiwan.”

Murderers’ Row

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80 years ago today, 2 December 1944, in an ode to the ’27 Yankees. Third Fleet fast carriers anchored in Ulithi Atoll, Carolines, in a brief lull before the start of the Mindoro landings in the Philippines.

NHHC Catalog #: 80-G-294150. Copyright Owner: National Archives

Ships are (L to R): USS Wasp (CV-18), USS Yorktown (CV-10), USS Hornet (CV-12), and USS Hancock (CV-19). A destroyer escort and LCI are passing by. Planes in the foreground on board USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) are F6F-5 Hellcats of VF-80 with a TBM-3 Avenger of VT-80 making a cameo on the far right.

One of Tico’s F6F-5P Photocats got a great profile shot of the group on 8 December, with a sixth sister, Lexington, joining the line-up. The much better known 80-G-294129:

"Murderers' Row" Third Fleet aircraft carriers at anchor in Ulithi Atoll, 8 December 1944, during a break from operations in the Philippines area. The carriers are (from front to back): USS Wasp (CV-18), USS Yorktown (CV-10), USS Hornet (CV-12), USS Hancock (CV-19) and USS Ticonderoga (CV-14). Wasp, Yorktown, and Ticonderoga are all painted in camouflage Measure 33, Design 10a. Photographed from a USS Ticonderoga plane. 80-G-294131

U.S. Third Fleet. Caption: Aircraft carriers and other ships at anchor at Ulithi Atoll, on 8 December 1944. Carriers in line are (from the front): USS Wasp (CV-18), USS Yorktown (CV-10), USS Hornet (CV-12), and USS Hancock (CV-19); USS Ticonderoga (CV-14); USS Lexington (CV-16) is in the left background. Note camouflage schemes used with Wasp, Yorktown, and Ticonderoga all clad in camouflage Measure 33, Design 10a. Photographed from a Ticonderoga plane. 80-G-294129

Of note, none of these six Essex class carriers were in commission during the Pearl Harbor attack just three years prior. Indeed, Hancock and Ticonderoga had only joined the fleet six months before these images were snapped.

It’s worth remembering that when Nagumo’s carriers closed in on Oahu on the early morning of 7 December 1941, the entire U.S. Pacific Fleet only had three carriers to its name.

A sleeping giant, indeed.

Jeep Carrier Pop Gun

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80 years ago today: Testing the 5-inch/38-caliber dual-purpose gun on the newly-commissioned Casablanca-class escort carrier, USS Manila Bay (CVE 61), 3 November 1943. Note fuzed ready shells in the open box and the “Gilligan” style dixie cup on the gun later.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-372778.

Built on freighter hulls, the Casablancas in addition to a AAA battery of 8 Bofors, and 12 Orlekons, these little 7,800-ton ships carried a single Mark 30 Mod 80 open-based ring mount  5″/38 DP gun without a shield, as seen above.

It ran on three motors: a single 10 hp motor to work both elevation and train, a 7.5 hp motor for the shell hoists, and a 5 hp motor for ramming, allowing a decent rate of fire with a trained crew of some 12-15 round per minute.

Capable of throwing a 55-pound shell to a theoretical maximum range of 18,000 yards (or to an altitude of 37,220 ft), it used the same core gun as on the rest of the American carriers (Yorktown and Essex class CVs and Independence-class CVLs) but in single mount.

USS Hornet (CV-12) fires her after 5″ / 38 guns during practice in the Western Pacific, circa June 1945. Hornet’s 5-inch guns fired no less than 7,275 shells in anger during WWII (a figure that was small compared to the 115,179 rounds of 40 mm and 409,580 rounds of 20 mm ammo). 80-G-K-5701 (color)

USS Hornet (CV-12) firing her starboard 5″ / 38 gun battery in a Western Pacific practice exercise, circa June 1945. The next ship astern, also firing, is USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31). During their SCB-27C/SCB-125 modernizations in the 1950s, these big twin mounts were removed to free up deck space but the Essexes still carried seven Mk.24 5″/38 DP singles on sponsons for another couple of decades and Hornet still has hers with her as a museum ship.80-G-K-5704 (color)

As far as effectiveness? In addition to “kills” against aircraft, at least three of the Casablanca class used their single 5-inch popgun in the one-sided action against more superior Japanese surface ships, the cruiser-destroyer force of Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita during the Sacrifice of Taffy 3 in October 1944: this included USS St. Lo (ex-Midway ex-Chapin Bay) (CVE-63) recording a hit on a destroyer, USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68) landing two hits on a Myōkō-class cruiser, and USS White Plains (CVE-66) claiming to hit the Takao-class heavy cruiser Chōkai with six shells.

American carriers would continue to carry at least a few 5-inch guns in open mounts well into the Cold War with the Essex and Midway class still keeping some of their teeth into the 1970s (and the Forrestal class supercarriers being commissioned with an eight-pack of more modern 5″/54 Mark 42 guns mounted on sponsons jutting out from the sides of the ship so they did not interfere with the flight deck.

Aerial starboard bow view of the training aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CVT-16) underway. Although the photo is dated 1985, it must have been taken before 1970, as the ship is still fitted with sponson-mounted Mk.24 Mod. 11 5-inch 38-cal open gun mounts. DN-ST-86-02002.

Essex-class USS Intrepid (CVA-11), left, with her 5-inch twins deleted from her flight deck but still carrying single mounts on sponsons, and the newForrestal-class supercarrier USS Independence (CVA-62) alongside Pier 12 now Pier 14 Norfolk March 1961, note the 5-inch Mk. 42 guns– the same as on Knox class frigates and Forest Sherman class tin cans–on Indy. These would be deleted in the 1970s

The first batch of Tarawa-class LHAs even carried two 5″/54 Mark 45 guns that edged out the front of the flight deck into the 1980s. 

USS Tarawa with bow 5-inch MK45 guns. These were later removed. 

It wasn’t until 1961 that the first American flattop, USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) arrived in the fleet without at least a 5-inch gun aboard.

Wishing you a happy Labor Day

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Hopefully, you have the day off. If not, proceed accordingly, setting your own level of commitment. Maybe work on your mustache.

Photographed by Lieutenant Commander Charles Kerlee, USNR. Description: National Archives Catalog #: 80-G-469326

Lieutenant Junior Grade H. Blake Moranville, USNR, napping in Fighter Squadron Eleven’s ready room on USS HORNET (CV-12), in company with VF-11’s mascot dog, circa January 1945. He was shot down while strafing Saigon Airport, French Indochina, on 12 January 1945. Captured by local French authorities, he ultimately escaped via China.