| The Fast Carrier Task Force 38/58 and the USS Haynsworth DD700 |
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Written by: Martin Irons Author of: Phalanx Against the Devine Wind Through the battles of ’42, (Coral Sea, Midway, and the Solomons), America lost the majority of her carriers. But, the Navy had foreseen the need for greater numbers of fleet carriers. The keels for the first Essex class aircraft carriers were on the ways in 1941. As a short term fix, cruisers under construction were converted to light carriers (CVL). Starting in 1943, the number of modern available carrier increased almost monthly after the USS Essex CV-9 was put in commission. The Navy also order hundreds of the queen’s attendants to be built, the Fletcher class destroyers. By the end of the year, the first keels were being laid for the next generation of more heavily armed destroyers, the Sumner class. The Fast Carrier Task Force came into being in 1943 as Task Force 38. Built around task groups of carriers encircled by battleships and cruisers that were further encircled by a large ring of destroyers, Task Force 38 was the ultimate naval weapon. The force could fight as a whole or the groups could attack targets independently. All of the warships were capable of 30+ knots. At sea refueling between the larger ships and the fuel hungry destroyers allowed the armada to choose where and when to fight. The Japanese fleet could not compete with the ship building and logistics capabilities of the United States. Task Force 38 was initially commanded by Read Admiral Frederick Sherman as part of Admiral Halsey’s Third Fleet. After several months, the Task Force was re-designated Task Force 58 under Rear Admiral Marc Mitscher’s command and Fifth Fleet Commander Admiral Raymond Spruance. Though the same warships were used in both TF 38 and TF 58, the change in command structure allowed one command to plan the next battles while the other command was engaged in the missions they had already planned. Through 1944 the Fast Carrier Task Force grew in strength and size. By the end of the year, Rear Admiral John ‘Slew’ McCain was commanding four task groups. The capture of the Marshall Islands, the attacks on the naval base at Truk, the capture of the Carolinas, the invasion of western New Guinea, the invasion of the Marianas, and the invasion of the Philippines were just part of their actions. While the Fast Carrier Task Force was spearheading attacks, the Japanese introduced a weapon of terror on October 25th, 1944: the kamikaze. Quickly the airborne warriors’ intent on driving their steeds into American steel changed the face of battle. After the invasion of the Philippines, Task Force 38, attempted to out steam a typhoon brewing nearby in mid-December. Admiral Halsey was balancing the next series of planned attacks, a destroyer screen needing refueling, and the quickly developing storm. Task Force 38 ended up losing three destroyers to the seas. Dozens more warships were damaged. The attack schedule was abandoned and McCain brought Task Force 38 back to the southern anchorages of the Ulithi atoll so that repairs could carried out. Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Nimitz flew to Ulithi as a Halsey had to face a court of inquiry for the loss of his ships. The first Sumner class destroyer squadron, DesRon 60, joined the Task Group 38.4, in November, 1944. On December 28th, Destroyer Squadron 62 steamed into the anchorages of Ulithi. The nine sister destroyers (696-704) built by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company were the second Sumner squadron to serve with the fast carriers, following DesRon 60. Two days later, TF 38 broke from Ulithi to sail back into harm’s way. As the calendar turned the page into ’45, the Fast Carrier Task Force commenced attacks on Formosa (Taiwan) followed by the bold entry into the South China Sea for ten days. Halsey’s ships were surrounded on all sides by Japanese airfields. Halsey sought to damage neutralize enemy airfields, destroy command and transportation infrastructure, and sink the remnants of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Kamikazes did not engage the task force but Mother Nature was unrelenting. For the destroyermen, the majority of whom were teenagers, the harsh winter weather took a toll as storms continually pounded the fleet and sent green seas over the decks. Despite Tokyo Rose’s prediction that the American fleet would not survive the South China Sea, Halsey returned his fleet to Ulithi at the end of January. Command was transferred to the Fifth Fleet and so TF 38 became TF 58. To combat the kamikazes, Marine squadrons flying Corsairs were brought aboard the fast carriers to supplement the Navy’s Hellcat fighters. The bent wing birds had been rejected for carrier service by the Navy in 1943 for poor landing abilities and a lack of spare parts but it was the best fighter available. When Task Force 38 stormed out of Ulithi in mid-February, the decks of many of the carriers were crowded with the Corsairs. On their way to attack Japan for the first time in three years, Admiral Mitscher commanded five task groups. The mighty armada included seventeen carriers, eight battleships, eighteen cruisers, and nearly one hundred destroyers. Target: Tokyo! On February 16-17, 1945, hundreds of Navy and Marine fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo planes attacked the Japanese home islands. It was a bold raid that destroyed 509 enemy planes on the ground and in the air. Some of the few remaining IJN capitol ships were damaged at the Kure anchorage. For the destroyers on picket duty forward of the task groups phalanxes, theirs were battles that were more familiar with the nineteenth century navy: up close attacks with cannon against small Japanese picket ships that were an outer layer of warning for the Empire. On the 16th, the USS Haynsworth sank three pickets and took twelve prisoners on the high seas. Capturing enemy sailors was a rare occurrence as the carriers never slowed down, instead relying on the tin cans to rescue airmen and sailors swept overboard. The prisoners were highlined across to two of the carriers later for medical care and interrogation. Two days later, Task Force 58 participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima. The island of black sand, a marine rifleman’s living hell, was covered by Mitscher’s planes. After several days on station there, the Task Force returned to Japan for another attack against Tokyo then headed south to Okinawa for a series of attacks against the Ryukyu Islands. They would return again soon for an extended stay off Okinawa. Task Force 58 retired to Ulithi for several weeks of rest, repair, and re-provisioning. TF58 returned to Japan on March 18th. The size and scope of the aerial attacks was unrivaled but the next day, the Japanese drew blood. Two bombs struck the USS Franklin while its deck was loaded with planes ready to takeoff on bombing missions. After hours of explosions, the decision was made to try to save the ship rather than scuttle it. Brought under tow by the cruiser USS Pittsburg, the carrier and its partner could manage just six knots. The Fast Carrier Task Force slowly retired from the area but not before the Japanese sent their rocket guided kamikazes, the Bakas, against the fleet. The combat air patrol put an end to their threat. With damage to several carriers from enemy attacks, one task group was disbanded while the three groups were strengthened. The invasion of Okinawa, slated for April 1st, 1945, would be the last major battle before the invasion of the Japanese home islands. Task Force 58 steamed along its eastern approaches starting on March 23rd. Two task groups would provide the combat aerial patrols and missions against Japanese positions while the third group replenished south out of harm’s way. TF 58 was joined by TF 57, the British Pacific Fleet. TF57 was similar in size to a task group in TF58. Composed of fast British carriers, TF 57 would cover the southern approaches to Okinawa from Formosa. On April 1st, the Fifth Fleets invasion task forces arrived off the western coast of Okinawa. Its size has been unrivaled before or since. While it was expected that TF 58 would stay on station for a period of time after the invasion, resistance in the air and on the ground was so fierce that Mitscher’s carriers ended up staying on station for nearly three months. They were trapped in a nautical box on the northeast side of Okinawa. Marines and soldiers fought for every yard on Okinawa. Aerial opposition had been light. On decks, sailors wondered why the response from the air was light but many of the senior commanders, including Admiral Halsey, were of the opinion that the Japanese had been hoarding their planes until the Americans were on their doorsteps. They were right. A series of ten massed kamikaze attacks was planned. On April 6-7, 1945, the Kikusui No.1 was initiated. Three hundred fifty traditional flights would be flown against American targets. An equal number of kamikazes would be unleashed against the fleets surrounding Okinawa. From Japan, the largest battleship in the world, IJN Yamato, was launched with a small screen of cruisers and destroyers. Its goal was to beach itself on Okinawa, use its 18” guns against American warships and targets on land, and then its ships compliment would trade their sea caps for rifles and join their countrymen in the fight ashore. In a measure of magnitudes, it was the largest kamikaze attack of World War II. The sailors in Task Force 58 had been called to GQ multiple times through the morning as small raids approached the armada. But, just after lunch, the USS Haynsworth, twelve miles northwest of its group’s phalanx, was on picket duty. Out of overcast skies, the CAP shot down a Zero that tumbled burning into the sea near the destroyer. A Judy divebomber broke from the low ceiling with two Corsairs hot on its tail. As they crossed the bow of the destroyer, sailors were told to hold fire. The planes disappeared into a low cloud but the raider turned over on its wing and hurtled back at the destroyer, hugging the seas for protection. Cdr. Tackney maneuvered his ship to ‘cross the T’ and bring his guns to bear. In succession, the 20mm, 40mm, and 5” guns opened up. At the last second it pulled up, crashed through the 41 twin 40mm, and punctured the radio shack. Twelve blue jackets were killed, dozens more were wounded. The attack on DD 700 was just the first of twenty five more ships to be struck by kamikazes during a thirty hour period. Six were sunk, nearly 500 sailors perished. The majority of the ships struck were destroyers or destroyer mine sweepers. The Haynsworth retired from the battle two days later. Her dead were buried at sea on April 7th. She continued to Ulithi in the company of the USS Stembel DD 644 and the carriers USS Hancock CV 19 and USS Cabot CVL 28. On June 10, 1945, the Fast Carrier Task Force was relieved. It headed to the Philippines. After a month there, the fast carriers (now TF 38 again) returned to the seas off Japan with TF 57. Raids were sent aloft for a month before the Japanese capitulated. During the surrender ceremonies September 2nd in Tokyo Bay, the harbor was filled with hundreds of allied vessels but the fast carriers stayed at sea. Instead, their presence was represented by the sky darkening flyover of hundreds of planes from their decks. |
| Twenty-four hours after the Haynsworth was hit, the USS Hancock CV-19 was struck |
| Though the Haynsworth is not in this photo, it was nearby as part of Task Group 58.3. Twenty-four hours after the Haynsworth was hit, the USS Hancock CV-19 was struck. The Haynsworth rescued eight of her sailors that day. The photo was taken from the USS Bunker Hill CV-17. F4U Corsairs of Air Group 84 are warming up on deck. National Archives photo 80-G-259851. |
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