USS Springfield

June 19, 1945 Went to Takloban, Leyte to see if I could find where Walter is he is on the island somewhere nearby
June 20-23, 1945 at sea
June 24, 1945 Back to port
June 25, 1945 Duty in port
June 26, 1945 Beer party
June 27-30, 1945 Duty in port
July 1, 1945 Under way again, thank God
July 2 - 8, 1945 at sea
July 9, 1945 at sea quiet
July 10, 1945 Lots of things happened today, main thing we raided Tokyo
July 11, 1945 at sea, 75 miles off Tokyo
July 12, 1945 at sea, refueled all, returned out, also we have been reported sunk by the Japs
July 13, 1945 Heavy seas, getting cold as hell. We are supposed to raid Hokkeido.
July 14, 1945 G.Q. at 0430 lots of things happened today
July 15, 1945 G.Q. today we were within 2 miles of Japan
July 16, 1945 Refueled
July 17, 1945 Planes make 7 strikes today, quiet other than that
July 18, 1945 Quiet heavy seas
July 19, 1945 Quiet heavy seas. Cans exploding floating mines
July 20, 1945 Refueled
July 21, 1945 Went alongside stores ship. Damn dull so far on this trip
July 22, 1945 Loading ammo, mail also 16 letters
July 23, 1945 Heading for Japan again in 35.3
July 24, 1945 Quiet
July 25, 1945 We raid radio station and air stations at Kushimoto
July 26, 1945 Refueled, a lot of mines
July 27, 1945 Quiet, rough seas
July 28, 1945 Planes raid Kurile, two planes cracked up on the carriers seen a lot of that since I've been out here
July 29, 1945 No strikes today 70 miles off Honshu
July 30, 1945 Two air alerts no strikes today
July 31, 1945 Quiet, refueled
Aug. 1, 1945 Quiet not much going on
Aug 2 - 5, 1945 Quiet still rough seas
Aug 6, 1945 Quiet but getting colder
Aug 7, 1945 Refueled
Aug 8, 1945 Quiet, Broke off the rest of the group to close on Jap ships
Aug 9, 1945 Four air alerts, one tin can hit
Aug 10 - 11, 1945 Quiet not much doing
Aug 12, 1945 still quiet
Aug 13, 1945 One hundred forty mile off Tokyo nothing doing
Aug 14, 1945 Refueled nothing doing
Aug 15, 1945 Same old story
Aug 16, 1945 Quiet in with the rest of the 8th fleet
Aug 17, 1945 Pay day quiet
Aug 18, 1945 Refueled, new exec came aboard
Aug 19, 1945 Nothing much today, other ships took on food and ammo
Aug 20, 1945 Took on ammo and stayed around in the same places talk we are going into Tokyo tomorrow
Aug 21, 1945 Nothing today just going around in circles, main thing waiting for all ships to take on food
Aug 22, 1945 Some place took on ammo also for the first time in 51 days we took on food. We also got mail for the first time in over a month. 103 bags so far more coming
Aug 23, 1945 Quiet nothing doing. We got 12 more bags of mail also new men and six new officers. Outside of that same old story each day.
Aug 24, 1945 Quiet nothing doing we are on our way to Tokyo.
Aug, 25 1945 Still same old story on way to Tokyo supposed to get there tomorrow morning
Aug 26, 1945 Seeing how the war is over I am stopping my diary Number of days at sea for each month
Jan 12 days spent at sea
Feb 21 days spent at sea
March 25 days spent at sea
April 30 days spent at sea
May 31 days spent at sea
June 4 days spent at sea
July 31 days spent at sea
Aug 26 days spent at sea
Sept 30 days spent at sea
Oct 8 days spent at sea
Nov 12 days spent at sea
Dec 16 days at sea
July 1st Up to this date I have spent 123 days at sea and 58 near land or on liberty and in port. Not too bad for the first half of the year.
Sept 29 Went on liberty in Tokyo today, one place I always wanted to go now all I have to do is go to Hong Kong, China
Nov 22 Went on liberty in China today. I am now ready to go back to the States.
Places I have been:
Boston, Aysishie Island, Okinawa, Honshui, Kucie + Kobie, Honolulu, Kyushie, Norfolk, Va, Azores, Portugal, Panama, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Entiwotok, Lamar, San Antonio, Phillipines, Sicgra Bay, Kogota, Mt. Fuijinumaju, Leyte, Norfolk, Va, Ulithi, Wakoyama, Tokyo, Japan, Sasebo
Ships I have seen hit and damaged:
USS Randolf (Bad) March 11, 1945
USS Franklin (Very bad) March 19, 1945
USS Wasp (Slightly) March 19, 1945
USS Hancock (Slightly) March 20, 1945
USS Enterprise (Slightly) March 20, 1945
USS Essex (Slightly) April 14, 1945
USS Bunker Hill (Very bad) May 10, 1945
USS Enterprise (very bad) May 17, 1945
A lot of destroyers and CVL plus one hospital ship
Things that happened on the USS Springfield while in the Pacific:
April 17 Seven men were hit on the quarter deck. They were all in a repair party. All received the Purple Heart.
May 14, 1945 Captain Johnston was sent back to the States. New Captain Tom Kelly
May 31, 1945 Have spent 80 days at sea without going into a port up to this date.
June 21, 1945 Entered the port of Leyte
June 5, 1945 Bob Zine got shot in the foot in a beer party. S.P. trouble
July 1, 1945 left Leyte for another operations against the Japs.
July 8, 1945 One officer went crazy and jumped over board in the night. Was picked up by a tin can.
July 10, 1945 We made a raid on Tojo
July 14, 1945 We took part in a raid on Yosnshuo and Northern part of Japan
July 25, 1945 We were within 2 miles of the coast of Japan bombardment of radio stations and air systems
Aug. 24, 1945 Up to his day we have been to sea 51 days and taken on food once. We are eating rice and beans.
Sept 3, 1945 Today we entered the bay of Tokyo quite a few ships here.
Sept 29, 1945 I went on liberty in Tokyo today. The place is all blown to hell. Girls are good looking but funny in a way.
Sept 30, 1945 One man from our ship was on a Jap barge when it blew up he was hurt very bad. TC 1/C
Oct 14, 1945 Today we became the flagship of Task Force B. We now have Vice Admiral Oldendoy on board.
Oct 16, 1945 We were told today we were going back to the States Dec. 25 for sure, maybe sooner.
Oct 20, 1945 We pulled into Sasabo near where the first Atomic bomb was dropped. Everything is all blown to hell.
Nov 22, 1945 We pulled into Tsengtao, China today. We are going to be a Flagship. This place here is nice.