USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24)
USS Belleau Wood December 1943
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Belleau Wood |
Namesake | Battle of Belleau Wood |
Builder | New York Shipbuilding Corporation |
Laid down | 11 August 1941 |
Launched | 6 December 1942 |
Commissioned | 31 March 1943 |
Decommissioned | 13 January 1947 |
Stricken | 1 October 1960 |
Honors and awards |
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Fate | Sold for scrapping 21 November 1960 |
France | |
Name | Bois Belleau |
Commissioned | 23 December 1953 |
Decommissioned | 12 December 1960 |
Fate | Returned to US, September 1960 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Independence-class aircraft carrier |
Displacement | ) |
Length | 622 feet 6 inches (189.74 m) |
Beam | 71 ft 6 in (21.79 m) (waterline) |
Draft | 24 ft 3 in (7.39 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 31.6 kn (58.5 km/h; 36.4 mph) |
Complement | 1,569 officers and men |
Armament |
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Aircraft carried |
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USS Belleau Wood was a United States Navy Independence-class light aircraft carrier active during World War II in the Pacific Theater from 1943 to 1945. The Independence class were ordered as light cruisers of the Cleveland class, but during construction, were converted into light carriers owing to the need for additional vessels of that type during the war. The ship was originally named New Haven, but was renamed Belleau Wood after conversion work had begun, after the Battle of Belleau Wood of World War I.
Belleau Wood saw extensive action during World War II, participating in the
The ship was loaned to the French
Design
The
Belleau Wood was 622 feet 6 inches (189.74 m)
The Independence-class carriers were powered by four General Electric
The ship's flight deck was 552 ft (168 m) long, and it was fitted with two elevators. She carried a total of thirty aircraft, divided into twelve
Service history
Construction and initial service
The
Beginning in late May, Belleau Wood got underway for initial training in Chesapeake Bay, before a brief stay at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia. On 8 June, she sailed to begin her shakedown cruise in the West Indies. She stopped in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 13 June, and thereafter conducted various training exercises, including damage control practice, flight training, and tactical maneuvers in the Gulf of Paria. She sailed back to the United States in early July, arriving in Philadelphia on 3 July. There, she underwent repairs and modifications to correct issues identified during the shakedown; on 15 July, she also received a new hull number: CVL-24. On 21 July, she departed for the Pacific Ocean, passing through the Panama Canal on 26 July, before meeting her sister ship Princeton, the Essex-class carrier Lexington, and six escorts in Balboa, Panama. The ships then sailed together for Pearl Harbor on 28 July, arriving there on 9 August. The ship's crew spent the following two weeks preparing to join the operation to seize Baker Island.[4]
Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
Belleau Wood was assigned to Task Group (TG) 11.2, which also included Princeton and seven escorts. The ships
The ship spent the next month training off Pearl Harbor as the fleet readied for the invasion of
The fleet conducted training operations off Pearl Harbor for the next five weeks, and the ships' crews replenished fuel and ammunition for the next major operation, which was codenamed Flintlock: the invasion of the Marshall Islands. The fleet left Pearl Harbor on 16 January 1944; for the operation, Belleau Wood had been transferred to Task Group 58.1, along with Enterprise and the carrier
Belleau Wood and the rest of her task group sailed to
Operations in New Guinea
The fast carrier task force withdrew back to Majuro on 26 February for another period of replenishment and repairs. Belleau Wood also took on replacement aircraft after her losses in the campaign. Task Group 58.1, which by then included only Belleau Wood and Enterprise and their escorts, sailed on 7 March for
The task group then returned to Majuro for another period of maintenance and resupply, which lasted for about a week. The ships sortied again on 13 April to return to operations in support of the ground troops fighting in Hollandia in New Guinea. Belleau Wood once again provided air cover to the rest of the carriers as they struck Japanese positions at
Marianas campaign
Belleau Wood and the rest of TG 58.1 then returned to Majuro to rejoin the rest of the fleet as it made preparations for
The American command hoped that raiding airfields in the Bonins would catch Japanese planes being ferried to reinforce the Marshalls. On 15 June, the American carriers struck Hahajima and Chichijima, though Belleau Wood's fighters once again filled the CAP role. Her bombers attacked and sank a large cargo ship in the area that day. While attempting to land that evening, one of her F6Fs crashed through the barrier and into the island, starting a major fire. Damage-control parties put out the fire after 23 minutes, and no one was injured in the accident, and Belleau Wood resumed flight operations the next day. That morning, the carriers sent a group of fighters to raid Iwo Jima, but reports of a Japanese fleet approaching the American invasion fleet in the Marianas led TG 58.1 to cancel a larger raid on the island planned for that afternoon and steam south at high speed to rendezvous with the rest of the fast carrier task force. The American fleet assembled on 18 June at a position about 150 nmi (280 km; 170 mi) west of Saipan to await the Japanese fleet.[4]
In the ensuing Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Japanese located the American fleet first, allowing them to make the first strike. On the morning of 19 June, Belleau Wood and Bataan launched their CAP fighters to defend the task group, but none of the fourteen Japanese attack groups approached TG 58.1. Those groups were all disrupted by fighters from the other American task groups. Belleau Wood instead sent some of her fighters to sweep Guam again, where they shot down another ten Zero fighters that had been based on the island. The lopsided American victory, which saw some 300 Japanese aircraft destroyed, was dubbed the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot". That evening, the Japanese carriers began withdrawing to the west, and on the morning of 20 June, the American carriers turned to pursue them. Belleau Wood again sent her CAP fighters aloft that morning, but the fleet's search planes did not locate the retreating Japanese until late in the day. The American carriers nevertheless launched a major strike, and Belleau Wood contributed four TBF torpedo bombers and six F6F fighters to the force. The planes sank the Japanese carrier Hiyō at dusk and then had to make a difficult night landing.[4]
The American fleet continued its pursuit of the retreating Japanese on 21 June, but the latter had too far of a head start, and the Americans soon broke off the chase to return to the invasion beaches. While the fleet steamed to the Marianas, one of Belleau Wood's fighters shot down a G4M bomber. The carriers also reorganized their air groups, as many planes had landed on other carriers in the confused night landing the previous evening. The ships of TG 58.1 detached from the main fleet and steamed north to resume their attacks on the Bonin Islands that had been interrupted by the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Belleau Wood once again provided the task group's fighter defense while the rest of the carriers raided Iwo Jima and inflicted heavy damage on the Japanese aircraft on the island. TG 58.1 then departed for the Marshalls to replenish and refuel, and they arrived in Eniwetok on 27 June. The same day, Belleau Wood left the fleet to return to Pearl Harbor for modifications that included storage for rocket ammunition for her aircraft. She arrived in Hawaii on 2 July, entered the dry dock the next day, and the work was carried out over the course of the following week. She conducted a short training period in Hawaiian waters before departing for the fleet anchorage in the Marshalls on 22 July. She reached Eniwetok on 30 July and joined TG 58.4 on 2 August.[4]
Belleau Wood and the rest of the fast carrier task force were then sent to support the
Belleau Wood's fighters carried out sweeps over the airfields at
Philippines campaign
The American fleet then began operations to prepare for its next major amphibious assault in the central Pacific: the
The ships of TG 38.4 turned south on 14 October to begin preparatory attacks on Leyte, which was the target of the impending amphibious assault. The carrier planes raided airfields at Aparri on the island of Luzon first, and then struck targets around Manila Bay as they made their way south to Leyte. In the course of these raids, Belleau Wood's fighters claimed another eleven Japanese aircraft of various types. They also claimed a pair of cargo ships and an oil tanker. The Battle of Leyte began on 20 October, and over the following three days, Belleau Wood provided CAP over the invasion beach.[4]
In response to the American invasion of the Philippines, the Japanese sent four major fleet units to attack the invasion fleet in a synchronized action. The ensuing action, the
The ships of TG 38.4 refueled on 26 October and then returned to direct support of the soldiers fighting on Leyte for the next four days. The carriers also struck airfields around Manila to interdict reinforcements being sent to the Philippines. The Japanese began the first kamikaze suicide attacks in response to the worsening strategic situation; the first struck the carrier Intrepid on 29 October, and another attack was carried out the next day. At around 14:00, five kamikazes slipped past the CAP defense by flying at an altitude of around 18,000 ft (5,500 m). Three of the planes were shot down by the fleet's antiaircraft fire, but one crashed into Franklin; the last plane, identified as a Zero fighter, dropped a bomb on Franklin before diving on Belleau Wood at 14:27 and slamming into her flight deck. The Zero landed in the middle of eleven loaded F6F fighters and started a series of explosions and serious fires. The damage control teams worked for three hours to suppress the blaze. The attack killed 92 and wounded another 97, and damaged the flight deck, which prevented further air operations. The ship detached from the fleet and sailed east to the Caroline Islands.[4][5]
While stopped at Ulithi from 3 to 10 November, the ship's crew made some temporary repairs, before she departed for San Francisco for permanent repairs. She passed through Pearl Harbor on the way, finally arriving on the West Coast on 29 November. There, she was dry docked at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard the following day. Along with repair work, the ship was overhauled and additional 40 mm Bofors guns were installed. The work was completed by mid-January 1945, and she thereafter got underway to rejoin the fleet. She reached Ulithi on 7 February, where she joined TG 58.1, which included Hornet, Wasp, and the fleet carrier Bennington.[4]
Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign
On 10 February, the ships of TG 58.1 sortied to carry out a series of strikes against Japanese positions in the
Belleau Wood provided air defense over Iwo Jima for the following five days to prevent Japanese aircraft from supporting the garrison as US marines fought for control of the island. Her aircraft also raided the airfield at
The ships lay at Ulithi for ten days, until 14 March, when they sortied to begin preparatory attacks for the last major invasion of the war: the
American forces went ashore on Okinawa on 1 April, and Belleau Wood provided air defense over the invasion fleet. She also provided close air support to the marines fighting their way across the island. On 6 April, a Zero fighter attempted to crash into the ship, but her antiaircraft guns shot it down before it could collide with the ship. The shock wave from the underwater explosion of the sinking Zero threw one man overboard, who was not recovered. The next day, the ship took part in the destruction of the battleship Yamato, which had been sent on a final suicide mission to attack the invasion fleet. Aircraft from Belleau Wood claimed hits on several of the destroyers escorting Yamato; carrier aircraft from the American fleet sank most of the Japanese ships, including Yamato.[4]
Belleau Wood resumed air operations over Okinawa, both to defend the fleet and ground forces from Japanese air attack, and to degrade Japanese airfields on nearby islands. Over the course of the following three weeks, the ship's fighters destroyed fourteen Japanese aircraft. She thereafter withdrew to Ulithi to refuel and rearm. She arrived there on 30 April, but arrived back on station off Okinawa by 12 May. There, she replaced the carrier Bunker Hill in TG 58.3, which had been badly damaged by a kamikaze. The unit at that time also included Essex, the fleet carrier Hancock, and the light carrier Cabot. Belleau Wood resumed her previous activities, her fighters patrolling over Okinawa and attacking Japanese airfields in the region. During this period, her fighters shot down a Nakajima Ki-84 fighter and a G4M bomber, though one of her TBFs was shot down by antiaircraft fire. By early June, the onset of typhoon season forced the carriers to halt flight operations, though Belleau Wood was able to launch one raid on 7 June. On 10 June, the fast carrier task force withdrew to the Philippines to avoid the severe weather.[4]
Japan campaign and the end of the war
The carriers spent the next two weeks in the Philippines training and making repairs, before departing on 1 July to return to operations off Japan. Belleau Wood's aircraft participated in a strike on airfields near Tokyo on 10 July, followed by attacks on various targes on Hokkaido on 14 and 15 July. The carriers returned to attacking the Tokyo area two days later before breaking off to refuel at sea from 19 to 23 July. Belleau Wood's aircraft next raided the naval base at Kur on 24 July, where they assisted in the sinking of the hybrid battleship-carrier Hyūga and another fifteen smaller vessels. On 25 July, Belleau Wood's fighters were attacked by a group of Japanese fighters while over Yōkaichi, and in the ensuing battle, the Americans claimed to have shot down five Ki-84s and two Ki-61s, and lost two fighters to the Japanese. Further attacks were cancelled due to bad weather for most of the rest of the month, until 29 July, when Belleau Wood and the other carriers launched another series of raids then and on 30 July. The ships then withdrew to refuel again, and coupled with another typhoon, the carriers were not back on station again to resume air attacks until 9 August. Belleau Wood's aircraft struck airfields on the northern end of Honshu, which disrupted a Japanese strike on the Marianas using long-range bombers. Operations around Tokyo resumed on 13 August, and two days later, a patrol of four F6Fs from Belleau Wood engaged a group of Japanese fighters that had attempted to intercept a strike of TBFs operated by the British Pacific Fleet. In that action, the American fighters shot down five Zeroes and a Ki-43 fighter; this was to be the ship's last action of the war. Shortly thereafter, the Japanese indicated they would surrender, leading to a cessation of all combat missions.[4]
Belleau Wood cruised for the next week in Japanese waters, waiting on instructions for the final Japanese surrender. From 22 August to 10 September, the ship's aircraft patrolled over Japan, searching for downed aircrew and dropping supplies to
The ship remained
Bois Belleau arrived in southeast Asian waters on 30 April 1954,[7] during the final stages of the Indochina War. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu had reached a critical stage by that point, and the French garrison soon surrendered on 7 May.[8] The French carriers operated in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Indochina War, and their aircraft were hampered by the long flight time to Dien Bien Phu in western Indochina.[9]} Bois Belleau served in the area until November 1955. For the rest of the 1950s, Bois Belleau, La Fayette, and Arromanches formed the core of the French carrier fleet until the French-built carriers of the Clemenceau class were completed in the early 1960s.[10]
In June 1957, Bois Belleau joined a contingent of six ships to participate in an international
The French Navy returned the ship to the United States in early September 1960 at the
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Friedman 1980, p. 105.
- ^ Friedman 1983, p. 403.
- ^ Smith 2002, pp. 5, 16.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab DANFS.
- ^ Smith 2014, p. 27.
- ^ Hooper, Allard, & Fitzgerald, p. 219.
- ^ Hooper, Allard, & Fitzgerald, p. 221.
- ^ Polmar, pp. 113–115.
- ^ Clayton, p. 169.
- ^ Polmar, p. 176.
- ^ Kinsley, pp. 20–22.
References
- Clayton, Anthony (2014). Three Republics One Navy: A Naval History of France 1870–1999. Solihull: Helion & Co. ISBN 9781909982994.
- "Belleau Wood I (CV-24)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. 27 March 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
- Friedman, Norman (1980). "United States of America". In Gardiner, Robert & Chesneau, Roger (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 86–166. ISBN 978-0-87021-913-9.
- Friedman, Norman (1983). U.S. Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-739-9.
- Hooper, Edwin Bickford; Allard, Dean C.; Fitzgerald, Oscar P. (1976). The United States Navy and the Vietnam Conflict: The Setting of the Stage to 1959. Washington D.C.: Navy Historical Division.
- Kinsley, William A., ed. (August 1957). "International Naval Review". Naval Aviation News. Vol. 38. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office. pp. 20–25.
- Polmar, Norman (2008). Aircraft Carriers: Vol. 2: A History of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on World Events, 1946–2006. Dulles: Potomac Books. ISBN 9781574886658.
- ISBN 978-1-59114-119-8.
- Smith, Michael C. (2002). U.S. Light Carriers in Action. Warships. Carrollton: Squadron/Signal Publications. ISBN 0-89747-437-6.
- Smith, Peter C. (2014). Kamikaze: To Die for the Emperor. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd. ISBN 9781781593134.
Further reading
- Aircraft Carriers of the United States Navy 1922–1947. Marrickville, NSW: Topmill Pty., 1999. OCLC 56769278
- Belleau Wood(Aircraft carrier : CVL-24). "Flight quarters" : the war story of the U.S.S. Belleau Wood. Los Angeles : Cole-Holmquist Press, 1946. OCLC 34371906
- Ewing, Steve. American cruisers of World War II : a pictorial encyclopedia. Missoula, Mont. : Pictorial Histories Pub. Co., 1984. OCLC 12108375
- Moulin, Jean (2020). Tous les porte-aéronefs en France: de 1912 à nos jours [All the Aircraft Carriers of France: From 1912 to Today]. Collection Navires et Histoire des Marines du Mond; 35 (in French). Le Vigen, France: Lela Presse. ISBN 978-2-37468-035-4.
- Stille, Mark and Tony Bryan. US Navy aircraft carriers 1942–45 : WWII-built ships. Oxford : Osprey, 2007. OCLC 74968768
- Terzibaschitsch, Stefan. Aircraft Carriers of the U.S. Navy. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press, 1980. OCLC 9073653
Media links
- Departute of the Bois Belleau from Toulon (newsreels video)
- Arrival in the French Indochina of the Bois Belleau (newsreels video)
External links
- USS BELLEAU WOOD(CV-24)(later CVL-24)
- USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24, originally CV-24), 1943–1960 Archived 2 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- USS Belleau Wood (CVL 24)
- USS BELLEAU WOOD CV 24
- (in French) PA Bois Belleau R97 (USS Belleau Wood in the French Navy)
- Air Group 31 (CAG-31) was the last carrier air group to serve aboard USS Belleau Wood
- USS Belleau Wood at Nine Sisters Light Carrier Historical Documentary Project