Evening star., 1945-07-19
Ticonderogo
Continued From First Page)

carrier back to the Bremerton
(Wash) Navy Yard. There the "ci-
villain navy" of shipyard workers
rushed her repairs, which required
5000 man-days of work. Today
the ship, according to the Navy De-
partment. is filter than ever, due to
new installations.
In her devastating course through
the Pacific the Tconderoga. in ad-
dition to sinking and damaging the
ships and planes mentioned earlier.
had made forays against Jap install
lations in Indo-China. the South
China coast, Luzon and Formosa
before the kamikaze attacks.
Hits Flight Deck.
1t was just before noon on Janu-
ary 81 that single-engined Jap
plane, believed TO have been a
"Zeke,' came out of a cloud bank
and crashed through the Ticondero-
gas flight deck. The planes bomb
exploded between the gallery deck
and the hangar deck. which was
jammed with planes being refueled
and rearmed. Part of her crew
turned to fireflghting, while others
maintained stations at their guns.
An hour later still another suicide
plane, though hit by the carriers
antiaircraft fire, crashed into her
One of the planes
two bombs exploded just outside the
island structure, while another was
detonated just inboard of the island,
ripping more holes in the fight deck
and starting more fires.
Eight attacking Jap planes were
shot down, five by the Tconderoga's
planes and three by her antiair-
craft.
Officers and men of the Ticon-
deroga," the Navy's report said,
fought the fire as determinedly as
they had fought the Japs"
After the first kamikaze hit. Capt
Kiefer changed course to prevent
the wind from aiding the fire and
to prevent smoke from entering
ventilation intakes. He held that
course except momentarily. when he
had to alter it to permit the rescue
of a number of airmen who we're
trapped in the gallery deck ready
rooms. All were rescued.
Floods Magazines.
Meanwhile. below deck, the ex-
ecutive officer, Comdr. william O.
Burch of Norfolk, Va, supervised
the flooding of magazines and COM
partments to give the ship lode
gree list to port, which resulted in
the burning gasoline on decks being
swept overheard by streams of
water.
Comdr. Francis Mallory, jr., also
of Norfolk. meanwhile, supervised
the highly trained crew of firefiight-
ers, who walked among flames to
throw bombs overheard, cut into
gasoline tanks to permit the liquid
to flow overheard and fought exist
ing blazes.
When the second kamikaze
crashed into the carriers super
structure, Commodore Kiefer was
severely wounded, but insisted on
continuing command. Comdr. Burch
also was injured in the new attack.
With the bridge in flames" the
Navy reported, "it was necessary to
organize a new attack against the
fire. Again, there was plan, and
men trained for just such an emer-
gency. ' The Signalmen swarmed
up into the island to handle hose,
operate fog nozzles and rescue those
OF their companions who were
trapped. Lines were. dropped over
the blistering side of the ship near
the flames so that men without
other means of escape could be
saved"
Few Planes Lost.
Fallingsdebris from bombs of the
second Jap plane started a fire
among planes on the port side of
the flight deck. But the firef1ghters
went into action so promptly and
effectively that few of the planes
were lost.
BY 2:37 pm. all fires on the
Ticonderoga were under control,
and the ship counted its casualties
337 officers and men. There were
many stories of heroism. Some of
the casualties we're among personnel
who disregarded their own safety to
search for shipmates in smoke
choked sections of the vessel.
At the end of her struggle with
the blaze, the carrier still was able
to launch and land aircraft, the
Navy said. But her operating ability
was impaired by severe damage to
her flight and hangar decks and