| The following is a U.S. Pacific Fleet Headquarters press release for publication on November 16, 1944.
Source: Original document provided by Reno Victory Kwast, ABM2C, V-1 Division "yellow shirt"
U.S.S. Saratoga, CV3, Oct. 1943 to Oct. 1945 UNITED STATES PACIFIC FLEET and PACIFIC OCEAN AREAS Press Release No. 630 The United States Navy's oldest and biggest aircraft carrier celebrates her seventeenth birthday 16 November 1944. She is the U.S.S. SARATOGA, known affectionately as "SARA" throughout the Navy, but her officers and crew often refer to her as "Queen of the Seas". The SARATOGA is a "seven-star ship". She has, by that designation, participated in seven engagements for which the Navy Department has authorized bronze stars on the area service ribbons which may be worn by officers and men serving aboard her in these engagements. The list includes these engagements or operations:
In excess of 78,000 landings have been made on the 909 foot long flight deck in the 17 years the SARATOGA has been afloat, commencing with the very first made by the now Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, USN, who is a Carrier Task Force Commander. That first landing was made shortly after her commissioning in 1927. When war broke out on 7 December 1941 she was at San Diego, California. The next day she sailed for Pearl Harbor with a full load of planes, and broke her speed record on the run. A few days later her crew spent two Christmas Days at Sea, having crossed the International Date Line in her operations. From her flight deck terrible blows have been delivered against the Japanese in practically all theaters of the Pacific. On 5 November 1943 her air group put eight enemy cruisers and two destroyers out of commission as the Japanese prepared at Rabaul to prevent the Marines from landing at Empress Augusta Bay. It was shortly after that achievement that Admiral C.W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, said of the SARATOGA: "You are the mainstay of the Fleet." She was the first American warship to strike the Japanese from the west, striking oil refineries and other installations at Sabang and at Soerabaja, in the Dutch East Indies, in April and May of this year. At the time the SARATOGA was operating in a unit of the British Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean with H.M.S. ILLUSTRIOUS. She was accorded an ovation probable never before given a United States warship, when upon detachment from the Eastern Fleet, the British Fleet filed by the SARATOGA and her escorts in a thrilling procession of honor to the "Queen of the Sea." In the Battle of Guadalcanal and the Eastern Solomons, 24 August 1942, her airmen sank a Japanese carrier. It was worthy of note that in late 1942 and the early months of 1943 the SARATOGA was the only American aircraft carrier left in the South Pacific to ward off the enemy's blows. She set something of a record for the time when, from 19 November 1942 to 1 December 1942, she made 9 strikes in 19 days in the Gilberts in connection with the famous marine assault on Tarawa. There was a little rest for her men after these engagements, for on 19 January 1943 she struck Taroa; and on 31 January 1943 other places in the Marshall Islands felt her blows. During this time the crew of the ship worked 18 hour shifts daily reservicing and rearming planes, while her air group was setting a record of 25 strikes in 16 days. Six times has the SARATOGA been reported "sunk" by the enemy. Yet an enemy bomb has still to land on her deck or to damage her Battle cruiser hull. On two occasions torpedoes have struck her, but the damage on those occasions was not great. The SARATOGA was commissioned 16 November 1927 at Camden, New Jersey, as the worlds largest carrier. She was built on a hull originally intended for a Battle cruiser, the change in plans being the result of the Washington Disarmament Conference. Her skippers have been:
Some of the SARATOGA'S Executive Officers have been:
Two of the SARATOGA's Ship's company served continuously on the famous carrier from the day she was commissioned. (they are called "plank-owners", thus. To be entitled to such distinction, a plank owner must have been a member of the ship's company the day the ship was commissioned and have served in such capacity continuously. "Plank ownership" ends forever upon detachment.) One "plank owner" is Lieutenant (junior grade) Oscar Johnson USN, an engineering officer, who is a native of Jamestown, New York. His home is in Long Beach, California, where his wife and 10 year old son live. He has remained on the SARATOGA because: "I never had a desire to l eave this ship". He has been in the Navy since 1920, having come up through the ranks. The other "plank owner" is Federick L. Blanchard, chief electrician's mate (permanent appointment), who was born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1897, and who has spent nearly 26 years in the Navy. He is married and makes his home at Long Beach, California; his parents live in Newark New Jersey. Chief Blanchard is recognized as an historian of the SARATOGA's career, and is called "Pop" by all the crew. His days as a plank-owner are numbered; his orders are "in". Third longest in terms of continuous service on the ship is Machinist Edward W. Riley, a Warrant Officer in the engineering branch, and a veteran of 25 years service in the Navy. He missed out as a plank owner by five months, but has been on board ever since 1928, most of the time as fueling officer. His wife and 13 year old daughter make the family home in Long Beach, Calif. The USS SARATOGA is a name held by five ships in the history of the Navy.
The first to bear that name was a sloop of the era of the American Revolution.
The third accomplished what the 3,000 officers and men of the present SARATOGA hope their
ship will do --- she sailed into Tokyo Bay! That was at the time Admiral Perry's
operations brought Japan into the commerce of the world. The following excerpt
from the Thanksgiving Day issue of the Ship's paper "Planetalk" last year bears out
the spirit of the ship's company: "The SARATOGA is more than a ship: It
is an idea and a dream. The fellow who thought up this great aircraft
carrier had vision and guts. The SARATOGA is the dream of free people who think of
free enterprise and by the free consecration of free men to a noble cause, out
tremendous coastline can be made invulnerable to attack. Since the day when
the SARATOGA first hit the waves until now, it has existed for but one purpose,
and that purpose was not to impose tyranny upon weaker people, not to conquer
or subdue the unfortunate, but to protect the freedom to which we as a nation are pledged."
The above article was released by U.S. Pacific Fleet Headquarters for publication on November 16,
1944. There are no objections to your sending it in the mail.
The USS Saratoga Association would like to thank Mr. Reno Kwast for sharing this piece of History with his Shipmates, the Association and the Internet community. To Reno, Fair Winds and Following Seas. |
