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3-11-45 Leyte. (P.I.)
3-15-45 Made Liberty Taclobin (city on Leyte)
3-21-45 Left Leyte.
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21 March departure was made for Kerama Retto, Nansei Shoto to begin the campaign for Okinawa. The BOYD at this time was in Task Force 51 and acting as a screening unit which was composed of CVE's.
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Navy & Marine Corps World War II Commemorative Committee
Navy Office of Information (CHINFO)
The Pentagon, Room 2E352
Washington, DC 20350-1200
The Role of the Jeep Carrier in World War II
By CE1 Robert A. Germinsky, USNR
The Navy's escort carriers, called "Jeep carriers" or (bythe press) "baby flat tops," never received the headlines or glory accorded their bigger sisters. Jeeps did the routine patrol work, scouting and escorting of convoys that their larger fleet-type counterparts couldn't do. Lightly armored, slower than the fleet carriers and with far less defensive armament and aircraft, they performed admirably when called upon.
Jeep carrier crews, who joked that "CVE" (the Navy's designation for this type of ship) really stood for "Combustible,Vulnerable and Expendable," became experts at hunting, finding and killing U-boats in both ocean theaters. Jeeps and their crews also provided fighter and close air support for amphibious landings, and served as aircraft transports as the tempo of the carrier war in the Pacific mounted to a crescendo.
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We knew we had a long siege of sea duty ahead of us when we pulled out of Leyte, in the Philippines, March 21st for our next operation. We were headed straight for the land of Sukiyaki and Tokio Rose with the idea of taking over a big slice of the Ryukyus and particularly Kerama Retto and Okinawa, both practically "spittin" distance from the Imperial Palace.
Our first job was protecting the "Jeep" carriers while their airmen flew support of the Kerama landings and relatively speaking it wasn't bad pickin's. We had heard of the intensive suicide campaign against our shipping closer in to the islands and the Japs were throwing every trick in the book at us and some that weren't.
She arrived off Okinawa 25 March and remained there on screening duty until 30 June.
03/25 Sun. Battleships, cruisers, and destroyers (Rear Adm. M. L. Deyo) bombard Kerama Retto and southeast coast of Okinawa,Ryukyu Islands; bombardment of Okinawa area continues daily.
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3-26-45 Arrived of Okinewa with 7 CVE's. On way up sunk 8 mines.
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Arrived off Kerama Retto 26 March.
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4-3-45 Air attack. WAKE hit by suicide plane. EVANS just got missed by another. (1700)
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From the ship's log of the USS WAKE ISLAND (CVE-65): "On the 3d, the escort carrier was operating southeast of Okinawa. At 1722, she completed the landing of her fifth spotting sortie, and all her planes were back on board. Eight minutes later, she went to general quarters and enemy bogies were reported. At 1742, a violent wave hit the ship while planes were being moved for spotting on the flight deck. Two FM-2s were thrown off the flight deck into the water. Two fighters were flipped over on their backs, and two others received severe damage when tossed about. At the same instant, two FM-2s broke loose from their lashings on the hangar deck and collided with major damage to both. At 1744, a Japanese single-engine plane plunged at the ship from a high angle and missed the port forward corner of the flight deck, exploding in the water abreast the forecastle. Thirty seconds later, a second similar plane whistled down on the starboard side at tremendous speed, narrowly missing the bridge structure and plunging into the water about 10 feet from the hull. The plane exploded after impact, ripping a hole in the ship's side below the waterline, about 45 feet long and about 18 feet from top to bottom and making many shrapnel holes. Parts of the plane were thrown onto the forecastle and into the gun sponsors. Various compartments were flooded, and the shell plating cracked between the first and second decks. Other shell plating buckled, and the main condensers were flooded with salt water, contaminating some 30,000 gallons of fresh water and 70,000 gallons of fuel oil. At 1824, salting made it necessary to secure the forward engine, and the ship proceeded on one propeller. Remarkably, there were no injuries; and, by 2140, corrective measures had been taken, and the ship was again steaming on both engines. The next day, WAKE ISLAND steamed to Kerama Retto anchorage with escorts DENNIS (DE-405) and GOSS (DE-444). While she remained there undergoing inspection by the fleet salvage officer, special precautions were taken to guard against possible Japanese suicide swimmers from islands of the cluster not yet secured."
04/03 Tue. United States naval vessel sunk: Motor minesweeper YMS-71, by mine, off Borneo, 04 d. 59'N,, 119 d. 47'E. United States naval vessels damaged, Okinawa area: Escort carrier WAKE ISLAND (CVE-65), by suicide plane, 26 d. 05'N., 128 d. 57'E. Destroyer SPROSTON (DD-577), by dive bomber, 26 d. 30'N.,127 d. 57'E. High-speed minesweeper HAMBLETON (DMS-20), by suicide plane, 27 d. 00'N., 127 d. 00'E. LST 554, by storm, 26 d. 20'N., 127 d. 45'E.
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4-6-45 (4 cans sunk, 1 sinking) 180 planes hit different groups. 116 shot down Jap force sunk by planes of 58. 1BB, 2CA, 3DD. Still of Okinewa. Many boggie raids.
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04/06 Fri. First heavy attack is made by Japanese suicide planes on United States ships at Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands; similar attacks persist throughout the Okinawa campaign.
04/12 Thu. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies; Vice President Harry S. Truman succeeds to the Presidency.
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4-24-45 Still of Okenewa. 2 of our CVE's hit, 1 can so far.
5-4-45 Took 1 CVE to Kerema to rebomb. Air attack while in port. 2 cans sunk outside on picket duty. 1 can hit took five suicide planes. AARRON WARD. She was a hell of a looking sight when they brought her in. At 0900 another can sunk on picket duty. 1600 left Kerama.
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