page_title: USS Lunga Point
section_title: Iwo Jima
hierarchical_section_title: USS Lunga Point / Service history / World War II / Iwo Jima
caption_attribution_description: English: "Kill" markings are added to the scoreboard of the U.S. Navy escort carrier USS Lunga Point (CVE-94) off Iwo Jima, on 22 February 1945. On the previous day, the ship was attacked by four aircraft. All were shot down, but the last slithered over the flight deck and crashed with the right wing into the after part of the island, shearing off the wing before falling into the sea. The resulting fires from burning gasoline were quickly extinguished. The ship's commanding officer, Captain G.A.T. Washburn, is visible on the left.
context_page_description: USS Lunga Point, originally named Alazon Bay, was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy. It was named for Lunga Point on the northern coast of Guadalcanal, the site of a naval battle during World War II. The ship notably participated in support of the landings on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Post war, the ship was decommissioned in 1946, before becoming part of the Pacific Reserve Fleet. In 1960, the ship was struck from the Navy list and broken up.
context_section_description: From 23 January 1945 to 10 February, Lunga Point prepared for the invasion of Iwo Jima, and stood off the beaches with the amphibious forces, acting as target coordinators and striking enemy positions during the landings on 19 February.
  On 16 February 1945, Vice-Admiral Kimpei Teroaka authorized the formation of a kamikaze special attack unit to counter the imminent landings on Iwo Jima. The kamikaze force consisted of twelve fighters, twelve carrier bombers, and eight torpedo bombers, divided into five groups, thirty-two aircraft in total. On the early morning of 21 February, they departed from Katori Naval Air Base, in Asahi, Chiba. They refueled at Hachijō-jima, and then proceeded towards the U.S. naval contingent surrounding Iwo Jima, arriving near sunset.
  On the evening of 21 February, Lunga Point was performing routine close air support with the rest of Task Group 77.4. At the time, the escort carrier task group consisted of Lunga Point, her sister ships Bismarck Sea, Makin Island, Saginaw Bay, Rudyerd Bay, and Anzio, along with a destroyer contingent. The task group was steaming approximately twenty-one miles (34 km) east of Iwo Jima. At 18:45, the task group spotted the Japanese planes headed for them, when a Mitsubishi G4M made a dive towards Lunga Point. Gunners from Bismarck Sea shot it down. At 18:46, five Nakajima B6Ns dove towards Lunga Point. The first plane, approaching from the starboard missed with its torpedo, passing harmlessly in front of Lunga Point. It subsequently crashed into the ocean at a high velocity. The second plane also missed with its torpedo, but managed to disengage and fly away. The third plane also missed with its torpedo, which proceeded behind the stern, and, set aflame and damaged heavily, attempted to crash into the carrier, approaching from the starboard side. The kamikaze exploded before it could hit the ship, and the wreckage of the plane skidded across the deck, and off the side of the carrier, sparking a brief gasoline fire. The fourth plane detonated in mid-air, due to a direct hit from a 5-inch (127 mm) anti-aircraft shell. The fifth plane switched targets to Bismarck Sea, sinking it with the loss of 318 lives. Damage to Lunga Point was minimal, and eleven of her crew was wounded. There were no fatalities. She was able to continue operating in support of troops on Iwo Jima.
  The special attack unit, in addition to sinking Bismarck Sea, also heavily damaged Saratoga, Keokuk, and slightly damaged Lunga Point, LST-477, and LST-809. Bismarck Sea was the only ship to sink as a result of the attacks. The kamikaze attacks killed 43 Japanese in total.
  She supported operations on Iwo Jima until 8 March, when land-based planes were present in sufficient strength to allow the ship to return to Ulithi to get ready for the Okinawa campaign. When Lunga Point returned to Ulithi, she only had six bombs left in her magazine, having dropped 596 in support of operations on Iwo Jima.
caption: The scoreboard of Lunga Point, on 22 February 1945.
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