Evening star., 1944-10-17
JAP FLEET UNITS FLEE FORMOSA ACTION
Chennau|t Flyers Sink Cruiser;
B-29s Blast Island Third Time
No u. S. Wurships
Badly Damaged in
Seu-Air Battles
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
The Japanese fleet refused te
fight Admiral William F. Hal
seys powerful Sd Fleet off For
moSa, Admiral Chester w. Nimitz
announced today in contradict
ing Tokyo'S boasts of an "oyer-
Whelming victory"
Part of the enemy fleet came out
of hiding. but fled when the ships
saw the American force, the Pacific
commander said.
Other new developments in the
Pacific war:
l. Bombers of Mai Gen. Claire L.
Chennault's 14th Air Force. operat-
ing from China bases. in co-opera-
ton with the naval forces, yester-
day sank a japanese cruiser and
destroyer in the South China Sea
They also struck and possibly sank
$4,000 tons of enemy shipping which
had taken refuge in Hong Kong
when threatened by American naval
action.
B-29s Raid FOrmosa Again.
2. Super Fortresses of the goth
Bomber Command today attacked
targets on FormoSa for the third
time in four days. Einansho air base
installations at Tainan were the tar
gets of todays medium sized force
Admiral Nimitz's terse commu-
nique giving the lie to the Japs'
boasts said of the enemy's refusal
to fight:
"On discovering our fighting
strength unimpaired, they avoided
action and have withdrawn toward
their bases
There has been no damage of
consequence to our battleships or
carriers" in the week-long strike
along the inner island approaches
to Japan, from the Ryukyu Islands
to the Philippines, the admiral said.
Two ships, apparently destroyers or
cruisers, in Admiral Halsey's fleet,
were damaged. But they were able
to retire under their own power.
Previously Admiral Nimitz an
nounced that sea borne fighters and
bombers were still attacking the
Philippines, opening the second week
of raids on the Ryukyu Islands, For
, mosa and the Philippines.
800 Aircraft Knocked Out.
New japanese aerial losses an
nounced today brought to more than
300 the number of enemy aircraft
knocked out in the first week of
these raids.
The about t-face of the japanese
fleet apparently ended another at
tempt to lure the reluctant imperial
navy into battle.
This fat refusal to engage the
American forces bellies Tokyo's
broadcast claim that imperial war
ships not only engaged the Amer
ican fleet but sank up to 50 ships,
including II carriers.
Admiral Nimitz also disclosed that
Admiral Marc A. Mitscher'S carrier
pilots destroyed 164 enemy aircraft
in the October 13-14-15 bombings of
Formosa and in defending the car
rier force against torpedo attacks.
Earlier he said two American
ships were damaged by Japanese
aerial torpedoes. This communique
reporting "our fighting strength
unimpaired" substantiates his earlier
statement regarding minor damage
and further contradicts Tokyo
claims.
No Damage of Consequence.
During the fighting between our
carrier task forces and the enemy
air forces based on shore in the
RyukyuS, Formosa and Luzon Island
in the Philippines from October 10
until the time of this communique, "
Admiral Nimitz elaborated, there
has been no damage of consequence
to our battleShips or carriers. How
every, two medium sized ships were
hit by aircraft torpedoes and are
retiring from the area.
Fortunately the personnel cas-
ualties in these two ships were
small"
Pacific fleet headquarters CORE
spondents interpreted medium
sized ships" to indicate cruisers or
destroyers and promptly recalled
that casualties were surprisingly
light on both the cruisers North
Hampton, sunk in the night battle
Of Longa Point November 80, 1912
and the cruiser Chicago, sunk south
of Guadalcanal after taking five
torpedoes in early February, 1943.
Amazing as it reads, Northamp-
ton lost only SIS men and the Chi
cago similarly small number.
Adding to his previous communi-
ques, Admiral Nimitz reported that
l9l enemy planes attacked one of
our task groups off Formosa by day
(See PACIFIC, Page A-5