Meanwhile, the fleet was steaming close by and some ships were in the bombardment group. We refueled late in the afternoon making 3 day out 4 that we had taken underway. To us that’s a new record and after fueling we returned to our radar picket station.
During the night one of our planes spotted a small Japanese force to the west and we sent a group of torpedo planes after them. There was on cruiser, two destroyers and 6 LCM’s in the force. The results were 1 ship seriously damaged and 2 more dead in the water but it was too dark to be sure just which ships were hit. We were called to general quarters twice during the night and the second time we saw a Japanese Betty fly by with three Hellcats chasing her. They flew within 4 miles of our ship and we saw one of the Hellcats shoot her down. The Betty really made a flash as she exploded when she hit the water. However, she managed to get in a burst of fire before she went down and we thought for awhile the Hellcat would have to make a crash landing. He finally got squared away and made the carrier ok.
The next morning we were still on radar station and just off the island. We had no excitement during the morning other than payday which was usually plenty because by payday everyone was usually broke or badly bent. Most of the crew was in their bunks as they had spent the big part of the night on their battle stations. There was no excitement during the day although we went to general quarters once but did not fire. The third of April too was plenty quite until late in the afternoon a plane came over and we again had a chance to burn powder. The marines have met only slight resistance and have cut the island half in two and already have two airfields from our spotter planes are operating. Even Tokyo really alarmed and after listening to here broadcast of 41 ships of ours sunk we had a big laugh. She cannot muster enough men and equipment to stop those boys on the beach much less give the fleet trouble other than a few air raids now and then. Our casualties have been much lighter that anyone expected because the big boys have cancelled an additional hospital ship that they thought they would need.
One can never understand these people as they are reported committing suicide in large numbers especially the civilian population and most of the people including many troops have taken to the hills. Tokyo announced 14 more admirals killer in action bringing the total up to 104. I guess they make admirals almost as easy as we make ensigns in our Navy.
Everything looks like it will be a long time before we see port again as we have been warned to conserve food as much as possible and to even cut the food rationing down. So some of those poor civilians who are always screaming back in the states are just about as well off as we are. They can at least feel the hard earth beneath them which is a hell of a lot more than we can say, as we have been encountering very heavy seas lately and the ship never seems to be still.
On April 4 we once again refueled and once more were ready for whatever came our way. It seemed as though during the past weeks we really kept a full tank of fuel ready for any emergency.
On the island of Okinawa our troops had really made large advances and by the 5th of April only five days after the initial invasion 1/6 of the island was ours. In fact we had 80 square miles and still meeting little resistance. Over 10,000 civilians had surrendered to our troops and already a new form of government had been set up.
It was on the 5th when we first received news of one of the Japanese secret weapons we had captured but which so far as we know had never been use. It consists of a human bomb shaped something like a football and resembling the German Buzz bombs except there is room enough in it for on man and this bomb can be launched from either the belly of a large plane of from the ground. Its nose is loaded with high explosives and the speed of the human bomb is nearly 600 mph.