My Carrier War (33 page)

We were all surprised at the numbers Joe was using.

I had no idea the United States was building carriers at such a rate. I quickly estimated that we must have built at least twelve carriers between late 1942 and March 1944.

Damn, maybe this cruise won’t be so bad. All those planes on all those carriers. All that fire power. Wonder what airfield we’ll be attacking. Still...the Japs are tough. At Tarawa, they fought to the end. They won’t stop shooting. Damn! I still see that arch of bullets just over my cockpit.

I heard Joe again. “Fellas, our carriers are currently organized into Task Force 58 under the command of Admiral Mark Mitchner. The force has eight Essex-class carriers (CVs). The aircraft complement for the CVs total 82 aircraft, including fighters, dive-bombers, and torpedo planes. Also part of the task force

Essex-class carriers (CVs) were designed with the ability to recover aircraft on either the forward or after flight decks, having sufficient astern speed and a dual set of arresting gear. (
Courtesy of the U.S. Navy
)

Essex-class carriers (CVs) were designed with the ability to recover aircraft on either the forward or after flight decks, having sufficient astern speed and a dual set of arresting gear (Courtesy of the U.S. Navy) are eight Cabot-class carriers (CVLs) like
Monterey
. These carriers have a complement of 33 aircraft, including fighters and torpedo planes. Guys, that’s a total of 899 planes! There’s no doubt that we have the carrier power to win this war.”

I remember asking the question. “Joe, where does Monterey fit into this task force? Also, where are the next Japanese airfields we’re going after?”

With that question, the skipper took over. “Thanks, Joe. Good briefing. Norm, as to your question,
Monterey
will be part of Task Force 58. When we arrive in Hawaii, the squadron will have a short training period before going aboard the carrier. I expect that will be in early June.” Art paused, looking around the ready room. “Guys, this next information is classified confidential. We will be part of the invasion of the Marianas. Three of the islands, Saipan, Guam, and Tinian will be invaded. We will be part of the air support for that invasion force. I will keep you informed as our training program in Hawaii proceeds. That’s it. We’re due in Pearl Harbor on March 30th.”

I left the ready room.

Jesus! We’re going in to combat. It’s sure different than the Canal.
What a job our country is doing! Sixteen carriers, all operating together.
So damn many planes; this isn’t going to be so tough. We’ll just overwhelm the Japs. Hit them so hard they won’t be able to fight back. I’ll
be home. Bet earlier than I thought. Bring on those Japs. We’ll blow
them out of the sky.

Barnes
anchored at Pearl on schedule, and our torpedo squadron was bussed to N.A.S. Kaneohe for training in antisubmarine warfare. We flew planes attached to the training school, learning to use a new listening device that would help us locate a submerged sub. They would be dropped into the water over a suspected sub’s location. I flew 14 flights between April 1 and 11, and dropped a lot of the listening devices. They actually worked. We pilots knew though, having flown a lot of antisub patrols, you had to find the sub first.

The weather was great, and we did get into Honolulu twice for dinner and for some sight-seeing. There was still evidence of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The battleship, Arizona,a monument to those killed in the Japanese attack, was visible in the harbor. It was a somber visit for our group remembering that surprise attack on our Navy.

On April 12, 1944, we picked up our planes at N.A.S. Ford Island, a base in Pearl Harbor and flew to our new base, the Naval Air Facility, Barking Sands, on the island of Kauai. Kauai was north of the island of Oahu where Pearl Harbor was located. The island had a very small population, but it had several large coconut plantations, one small village, and some wonderful beaches. The base was very primitive. Officers lived in barracks, as did the enlisted men. The barracks were a large room with cots and a mess hall that was not too clean. There were absolutely no recreational facilities, except for the beach. It reminded me a little of the Canal, except that we had barracks instead of tents.

Funny, this place is kind of nice, no officers’ club. Don’t seem to miss the booze. Tough back in Crows Landing; almost lost Jean. She would have left me. Feel pretty good now. OK about flying against the Japs...the combat. Got to be all that air power we have. It’s not like the Canal, but I feel all alone. I can handle this.

In spite of the facilities, we were able to obtain excellent additional training. I flew 25 training flights between April 13 and 30. We practiced glide-bombing, gunnery, navigation, FCLP and joint training with our fighter squadron. One of the joint missions with the fighters was a simulated attack on Oahu. Unlike the Japanese attack, we were intercepted this time by Army fighters based at the Army Air Base at Hickham Field on the island of Oahu.

LSO directs pilot of FTF-3 Wildcat during an FCLP practice.

One of my duties as operations officer was to review the teletype messages each morning. On May 1, ComHawSea Frontier directed us to conduct a search for a missing aircraft. The search was to be centered in an area 20 miles west of our base. I notified the skipper, Art McHolland, then I contacted two of our pilots telling them I was scheduling them to conduct the search. I was briefing them on the details and search procedures when the skipper came into the room. He listened for a moment, then said, “Norm, put me on the schedule too. An extra plane won’t hurt—just another pair of eyes.”

I told him I didn’t recommend an extra plane out there. A traffic problem could develop if debris or a life raft was located. When something was spotted in the water, pilots tended to fly low over the water in an attempt to identify the object. There was a real danger of a mid-air collision. The skipper assured me he would control the search by maintaining radio contact with the other two planes.

The flight launched and the three planes headed out to the search area. I had a radio in the operations office, so I could monitor the radio traffic between our planes. I wasn’t really listening that morning, until I heard a garbled message. The pilot sounded almost frantic, rushing to make his report.

“Barking Sands control tower. This is Able Two conducting a search mission for a downed aircraft. There’s been a mid-air collision with two of the search planes. One aircraft exploded on contact with the water. I’m escorting the second aircraft back to the base. The crash site is marked with a smoke flare. Out.”

That evening, our squadron and the fighter squadron held a memorial service for our skipper, Lieutenant Art McHolland, and the two crewmen who died with him in the crash. The service was held in a small church in the village.

An accident investigation was carried out by the squadron as required by Navy regulations. The cause of the accident was determined to be pilot error. The two pilots who witnessed the accident testified that some debris had been spotted on the surface. The three aircraft were in a loose column formation circling at about 500 feet. Suddenly, the skipper pulled up in a tight turn and his right wing was struck by the propeller of the following plane. His plane went out of control, hit the water in a steep dive and exploded. The report closed with the statement. “Nothing remained visible on the surface except for an oil slick.”

Goddammit. Our first loss...a stupid accident. Art was a good skipper. Fair and interested in all of us. He and his wife lived in the same hotel with Jean and me in Crows Landing. He was so glad to get out of the training command. He wanted to face the challenge of combat. He did not have a lot of time in the TBM; he came right to the squadron from teaching cadets to fly. That may have contributed to the accident. He got excited and wanted to help the search. Such a waste. Rip’s been assigned as our commanding officer. I take the job as the squadron’s executive officer. More responsibility. Glad I’m off the liquor. Sorry about Art. I wrote Jean. She’ll want to contact Art’s wife. God, this damn war.

The squadron flew aboard Monterey on May 15 for three days of flight operations. My log book shows eight carrier landings, three catapult shots, and five deck launches during the period. This was a refresher period for the ship’s crew as well as for the pilots. We were operating very smoothly at the end of the shake-down period. The training program we had carried out was paying dividends. We were ready for the fleet.

On May 20, we moved to N.A.S. Barbers Point on Oahu where we took delivery of nine new TBMs. We had a chance to tour the island, see Diamond Head, go to Waikiki beach, and do some heavy partying at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. The women were as lovely as those at the Top of The Mark.

USS
Monterey
(CVL-26) with her flight deck elevator open.

On the morning of 29 May 1944 we departed Pearl Harbor aboard USS
Monterey
. My second combat cruise had begun. The training was over. I felt ready and relaxed.

In fact, my squadron mates gave me a new nickname—I was now “Doc.” The guys told me that it was appropriate—I was always willing to listen to their concerns about facing the dangers of combat flying. I’d been there.

The first few days aboard
Monterey
were devoted to getting settled and being brought up to speed on the up-coming mission against the Marianas Islands. As usual, our air intelligence officer (AIO), Joe Anson, gave us a briefing.

He started by reminding us of the overall plan for the war against the Japanese.

“Guys, over the past nine months, our carrier task forces have carried out antishipping strikes at the Japanese bases of Rabaul in November 1943 and at the Truk Atoll in February 1944. The task forces also covered the invasion of the islands of Kwajalien and Tarawa. This policy is part of the overall strategy of isolating Japanese bases and taking over those islands where the Japanese have built air bases. Our next targets are the Marianas in the western Pacific. Our objectives are the Japanese airfields on the islands of Guam, Saipan, and Tinian.” He paused, “Guys, the Japanese are going to defend these islands to the bitter end. They know that if our forces control these airfields, we can reach the home islands of Japan with land-based bombers. Japan will then suffer the same destruction that the cities in Germany have suffered. Guys, this mission is going to shorten the war.” He turned to the skipper, “Anything else, Sir?”

Rip stood. “OK. I’ll take it from here. The actual invasion is scheduled for the 15th of June (1944). Captain Ingersall,
Monterey
’s captain, tells me we’re due to begin our strikes against Japanese targets on the 13th. We have some time, so we’ll do some training en route to the Marianas operating area. Starting tomorrow, check the flight schedule. The first flight is scheduled to launch at 0800. That’s it, guys. Get some rest. It’s going to be a tough battle.”