Evening star., 1944-10-27

several damaged enemy destl
o OF failure of communiques to speci
: Is u. 5. Batt|eships,
: 81 Cruisers Are Core
; OF Force Hitting Japs
S BY the Associated Press.
At least Is American battleship.
and 81 cruisers form the backbone
OF the force blasting the Japanese
fleet.
This indication of the strikins
power of surface craft in the Pa
ciflc Fleet-exclusive of scores ot
aircraft carriers and hundreds Of
destroyers-was given by the Navy
last night. In connection with the
observance of Navy Day today, il
released resumes of the war records
of l03 fighting craft.
These resumes also revealed thai
on August 15-the date Allied forces
invaded Southern France-at least
4 battleships and 10 cruisers were
providing the big guns of the At
lantic Fleet.
No indication was given of the
number of smaller ships in the two
oceans, but deStroyers, destroyer
escorts and submarines literally are
numbered in the hundreds.
i Many Small Ships in Pacific.
1t is reasonable to assume that
by far the greater part of the
smaller, but deadly warships are as
signed to the Pacific with orders to
seek out and destroy" the japanese.
Likewise, it is logical to count as
part of the Pacific Fleet most of the
approximately 100 aircraft carriers
in the United States Fleet-now the
largest sea fighting force in world
history.
Little information was given by
the Navy on assignment of carriers.
Only Is appeared in the 103 resumes.
All of that group of carriers have
been identified with action in the
Pacific.
| The carriers named are: Inde-
| pendence, Long Island. Yorktown,
Lexington, Santee. Nassau, Sanga-
mon, Suwanee, Chenango, Enter
prise, Cowpens. Saratoga, Essex,
Bunker Hill, and Princeton, the lat
ter listed only Wednesday as having
been sunk in the battle of the Phil
ippines.
Navy Releases Operational Data.
The Navy did make these dis
closures, for the first time, in dis
cussing operations of the carriers:
TIL Lexington, namesake of a
carrier lost in the battle of the Coral
Sea in May, 1912, has been damaged.
She was struck by an aerial torpedo
last December, returned to the
United States for repairs and now is
back In action
The air group of the Yorktown
successor to a carrier lost In the
Battle of Midway-has set this
record: Shot down every Jap plane
attacking the Yorktown; flown the
first planes into action from an
Essex class carrier; never lost a
dive or torpero bomber in battle with
japanese aircraft.
The Long Island f1attop'-
ferried planes to Guadalcanal in
August, 1912, first official notice that
these small carriers were in Pacific
action at that time.
i The Independence, first of a class
of medium aircraft carriers, was
struck by an aerial torpedo during
the invasion of the Gilbert Islands
in November, 1943.
Breakdown of Big Ships.
| Here is the breakdown of the big
ships of the fleet between the Pa
cif1c and Atlantic Oceans as shown
in the Navy's reports of battle action
up to the middle of August, subject
to changes since that time which
may have boosted the strength Of
the Pacific Fleet:
Pacific:
Battleships Q6)-Iowa, Alabama,
Massachusetts,, Washington, New
Jersey, North Carolina, South Da-
kota, New Mexico, California, Colo
RADIO, Mississippi, Indiana, Idaho,
Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ten
nessee
Heavy cruisers 14-Vincinnes,
Louisville, Indianapolis, Boston,
Baltimore, Wichita, San Francisco,
Houston new, succeeding Houston
lost in Java Sea-, Portland. New
Orleans, Pensacola, Minneapolis,
Salt Lake City, Chester.
| Light cruisers (23)-Boise, Mobile,
Birmingham, San Diego. Santa Fe,
Montpelier, Phoenix, St. Louis,
Honolulu, Oakland, Biloxi Detroit,
Denver, Raleigh, Miami, Trenton,
Columbia, Cleveland, Richmond,
Nashville, Concord, San Juan, Mar
blehead.
4 Battleships in Atlantic.
Atlantic:
Battleships N-New York, Ne
vada, Texas, Arkansas.
Heavy cruisers (3-Quincy (suc-
cessor to Quincy lost in Battle of
Savo Islan0, Augusta, Tuscaloosa.
Light cruisers CD Milwaukee,
Memphis, Philadelphia, Savannah,
Brooklyn, Cincinnati Omaha.
In addition the Navy disclosed
that the new battleships Wisconsin
and Missouri have been commits
stoned. Both presumably are headed
| for action in the Pacific. -
Two of the new battle cruisers,
officially listed as Large cruisers"
and unofficially described as pocket
battleships, also were disclosed by
the Navy to have been commissioned.
They are the Alaska and the Guam,
both expected to move into the Pa
cific war zones.
Other new warships included in
the Navy Day lists are these cruis-
/ nfc ffcI