The Wilmington morning star., 1945-06-16
u S. S. Saratoga
BY ALINE MOSBY
United Press Staff Corre.n

PUGET SOUND NAVY vAan
Bremerton, Wash. June l5.-oIn
The U.s.s. Saratoga, queen y. y,
flattops, was severely dam.a n.
off Two lima last Feb. q nss
she took seven direct hit, t ,."
Japanese b o m BIS and s,I ;,G,a
planes and suffered 3l5 cssualti ,u'
The story Of the Sara ona ).
tht Navy's luckiest ships, can W y.
told for the first time today W "
cause the tough old LADY is h. w.
in action. She is sending all sS ay.
got against an enemy that mas b.,
good reason on three occasion, s :.
believe she was through. W
The Sara took her latest be.s,.
two days after the invasion Of Tn,.
Heroic action by her crew NOW "S'
bers saved the ship. She survives
but at a cost Of 1873 men kim;
or missing and 1872 wounded, Sa
on mat DAY OFT Two it looked
for many hours as though thsu
had succeeded. The repairmsr I.
the Puget Sound yard said "a.
Sara sailed in with enough dam.
age to sink ANY other ship
The Saratoga had survived ou
only the gaping wounds left Nv Wv
suicide plane crashes and ton,s
hits. but also the more dangeron,
damage caused by her own burn.
ing gasoline and exploding bombs
The old carrier was providin,
air support for the Marines at Iwo
after returning from the fjrs
large carrier strike at Tokyo. sh.
was cruising with fast carrie.
task group northeast Of the bloody
little island when nine or 10 sui.
eide bombers picked her out. Tbsv
began attacking at pm.
The Sara was launching her own
planes when the assault came
Her guns and aircraft shot down
four OF the attackers. Four others
got through and made crash hits
A fifth, knocked down alongside
bounced crafty on the waves anil
slammed into the carrier. II ey.
ploded and ripped large mole in
| the Sara's side.
A sixth enemy plane scored a
bomb hit that blew hole below
| the water line Of the vessel run.
| turing many fuel lines. One Of III.
crashing attackers had smashed
into the hangar deck and eyolod.
ed. starting roaring fire Water
rushed in the gaping hole. The
ship took on a six degree list.
A nightmarish spray Of "'ire.
works followed, Comdr, R. p.
Beebe, Coronado, Calf, told re.
porters while the ship was being
repaired here,
Planes blazed from thei. own
flaming gasoline and machine
guns popped like strings Of dead.
ly firecrackers.
The men we're terrific in their
heroism," Beebe said. They
dashed into the flames, despite the
heat and exploding ammunition,
and conquered them"
GMC Sc Millard Springer, KaW
City, Okla, said he was"plenty
mad at those Japs for killing my
buddies, so 1 just kept on doing
whatever there was to do
There was a lull in the attack,
after the sixth hit. The Saratoga
continued to operate with the fleet
while crew members fought the
flames and rescued their com
rades.
But all the damage had MOI been
done. Ninety minutes after the
first attack, the Sara had tc take
more punishment. More Jap
planes appeared in the deepenms
dusk and another bomb crashed
into her port side.
The crew cleaned up the second
mess and the carrier took aboard
her planes, which had been cl:'
cling the stricken ship with gas
running out. She recovered all 'ns
planes and proceeded to an lSlaAd
base for temporary repairs before
coming here.