_underway_on_22_December_1943_(NH_97269).jpg) USSBelleau Wood December 1943 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Belleau Wood |
| Namesake | Battle of Belleau Wood |
| Builder | New York Shipbuilding Corporation |
| Laid down | 11 August 1941 |
| Launched | 6 December 1942 |
| Commissioned | 31 March 1943 |
| Decommissioned | 13 January 1947 |
| Stricken | 1 October 1960 |
| Honors & awards | |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping 21 November 1960 |
 France | |
| Name | Bois Belleau |
| Commissioned | 23 December 1953 |
| Decommissioned | 12 December 1960 |
| Fate | Returned to US, September 1960 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Independence-classaircraft carrier |
| Displacement | Full load: 14,751long tons (14,988 t) |
| Length | 622 feet 6 inches (189.74 m) |
| Beam | 71 ft 6 in (21.79 m) (waterline) |
| Draft | 24 ft 3 in (7.39 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 31.6 kn (58.5 km/h; 36.4 mph) |
| Complement | 1,569 officers and men |
| Armament | |
| Aircraft carried |
|
USSBelleau Wood was aUnited States NavyIndependence-classlight aircraft carrier active duringWorld War II in thePacific Theater from 1943 to 1945. TheIndependence class were ordered aslight cruisers of theCleveland class, but during construction, they were converted into light carriers owing to the need for additional vessels of that type during the war. The ship was originally namedNew Haven, but was renamedBelleau Wood after conversion work had begun, after theBattle of Belleau Wood ofWorld War I.
Belleau Wood saw extensive action during World War II, participating in theGilbert and Marshall Islands campaigns in late 1943 and early 1944, and theMariana and Palau Islands campaign in mid-1944. There, she saw action at theBattle of the Philippine Sea, where her aircraft contributed to the sinking of the Japanese carrierHiyō. She fought in thePhilippines campaign later that year, and saw action at theBattle of Leyte Gulf. Shortly thereafter, she was damaged by akamikaze. After repairs, she supported theinvasion of Iwo Jima in March 1945 and operations against the JapaneseHome Islands. After the war, she participated inOperation Magic Carpet missions before being placed inreserve in 1947.
The ship was loaned to the FrenchMarine Nationale in the 1950s and served in theFirst Indochina War. During this period, she was renamedBois Belleau, the French equivalent of her original name. The ship was returned to the United States in 1960, but was not retained in US Navy service; she was insteadbroken up forscrap that same year.
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TheIndependence class oflight carriers came about as a result of a decision made in 1942 to convert a number ofCleveland-classlight cruisers then under construction. At the time, senior leaders in theUS Navy had concluded that no new fleet carriers would enter service before 1944, when the firstEssex-class aircraft carriers would be completed. Therefore, they hoped that converting ships already being built would provide reinforcements for the fleet's carrier force. Ironically,USS Essex was completed in December 1942, two months beforeIndependence entered service.[1]
Belleau Wood was 622 feet 6 inches (189.74 m)long overall and had abeam of 71 ft 6 in (21.79 m) and adraft of 24 ft 3 in (7.39 m). Herstandard displacement amounted to 10,662 long tons (10,833 t) and increased to 14,751 long tons (14,988 t) atfull load. Hersuperstructure consisted of a small island styleconning tower on thestarboard side of the flight deck. Her crew numbered 1569 officers and enlisted men.[1]
TheIndependence-class carriers were powered by four General Electricsteam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by four oil-firedBabcock & Wilcox boilers. Each boiler was vented through its own smallfunnel, each of which was placed on the starboard side, directly behind the island. Rated at 100,000shaft horsepower (75,000 kW), the turbines were intended to give a top speed of 31.6knots (58.5 km/h; 36.4 mph).[1]
The ship's flight deck was 552 ft (168 m) long, and it was fitted with two elevators. She carried a total of thirty aircraft, divided into twelvefighters, ninedive bombers, and ninetorpedo bombers.[2] For self defense,Belleau Wood carried ananti-aircraft battery of twenty-four40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors guns, which were carried in two quadruple and eight twin mounts, along with twenty-two20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon autocannon, all in individual mounts. These guns were primarily distributed along the length of the flight deck, though the quad 40 mm guns were placed on the main deck, on either end of the flight deck.[1]
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Thekeel forBelleau Wood waslaid down on 11 August 1941 at theNew York Shipbuilding Corporation. She was originally ordered as aCleveland-class cruiser under the nameNew Haven, which was to be designated with thehull number CL-76.[1] Starting in January 1942, PresidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt ordered the first of several of the new cruisers to be converted into light carriers, andNew Haven was among those selected for conversion on 10 February.[3] On 31 March, the ship was renamedBelleau Wood, after theBattle of Belleau Wood, a major battle fought by theMarine Corps duringWorld War I. She also received an updated hull number: CV-24.[4] The third member of what was now theIndependence class of light carriers, the ship waslaunched on 6 December 1942, and after completingfitting out work, the ship, now renamedBelleau Wood, wascommissioned on 31 March 1943.[1]
Beginning in late May,Belleau Wood got underway for initial training inChesapeake Bay, before a brief stay at theNorfolk Naval Shipyard inNorfolk, Virginia. On 8 June, she sailed to begin hershakedown cruise in theWest Indies. She stopped inPort of Spain,Trinidad and Tobago, on 13 June, and thereafter conducted various training exercises, including damage control practice, flight training, and tactical maneuvers in theGulf of Paria. She sailed back to the United States in early July, arriving in Philadelphia on 3 July. There, she underwent repairs and modifications to correct issues identified during the shakedown; on 15 July, she also received a new hull number: CVL-24. On 21 July, she departed for the Pacific Ocean, passing through thePanama Canal on 26 July, before meeting hersister shipPrinceton, theEssex-class carrierLexington, and six escorts inBalboa, Panama. The ships then sailed together forPearl Harbor on 28 July, arriving there on 9 August. The ship's crew spent the following two weeks preparing to join the operation to seizeBaker Island.[4]
Belleau Wood was assigned to Task Group (TG) 11.2, which also includedPrinceton and seven escorts. The shipssortied from Pearl Harbor on 25 August, bound for Baker Island, which they reached on 1 September. That day, fighters fromBelleau Wood'scombat air patrol (CAP) intercepted and shot down a JapaneseKawanishi H8Kflying boat. Over the following two weeks,Belleau Wood andPrinceton covered ground forces on the island as they constructed an airfield that would be used to support the impendingGilbert and Marshall Islands campaign. The two light carriers rejoinedLexington in mid-September to carry out strikes on Japanese positions in theGilbert Islands on 18 and 19 September, as part of the preparatory attacks before theBattle of Tarawa. Her CAP also shot down aMitsubishi G4M bomber that attempted to attack the fleet.Belleau Wood then returned to Pearl Harbor on 23 September to rearm and refuel, before sailing again to launch a raid onWake Island on 29 September. For this operation,Belleau Wood was transferred to Task Group 14.5, which included five other carriers.Belleau Wood was primarily occupied with maintaining CAP defense for the fleet, but her air group launched two raids on the island. Two of herGrumman F6F fighters were lost during the raids, one of which was shot down by Japanese anti-aircraft guns, and the other crashed on attempting to land. Four deck crewmen were killed in the accident. The ships then returned to Pearl Harbor on 11 October.[4]
The ship spent the next month training off Pearl Harbor as the fleet readied for the invasion ofTarawa andMakin.Belleau Wood, now part of Task Group 50.2, which included her sisterMonterey and the fleet carrierEnterprise, sortied on 10 November. The three carriers struck Makin on 19 November, the day before the invasion of Tarawa began, and they continued to support the fighting on the two islands until 26 November, when the last Japanese resistance was defeated. The following day,Belleau Wood andEnterprise were transferred to Task Group 50.3, which also includedEssex. The ships of TG 50.3 and TG 50.1 were sent to raid theMarshall Islands, both to weaken Japanese air power in the area and to reconnoiterKwajalein Atoll, which was the target of the next major amphibious operation in the campaign.Belleau Wood provided the CAP that defended the task group on 4 December, while the other two carriers struck Kwajalein andWotje. That evening, in a Japanese counter-attack, a G4M bomber nearly hitBelleau Wood with atorpedo that passed some 10 yd (9.1 m) to starboard.Lexington, of TG 50.1, was hit by a torpedo in the attack, and the two groups covered the damaged carrier as she withdrew to Pearl Harbor for repairs.[4]
The fleet conducted training operations off Pearl Harbor for the next five weeks, and the ships' crews replenished fuel and ammunition for the next major operation, which was codenamed Flintlock: the invasion of the Marshall Islands. The fleet left Pearl Harbor on 16 January 1944; for the operation,Belleau Wood had been transferred to Task Group 58.1, along withEnterprise and the carrierYorktown. The carriers began raids on Japanese airfields on the Kwajalein, Wotje, and theMaloelap Atolls on 29 January to suppress Japanese air power in the area before the invasion. As before,Belleau Wood was primarily occupied with maintaining the CAP for the rest of the task group, but she did launch one raid onTaroa Airfield on the island ofTaroa, one of the constituent islands of Maleolap. During that attack, two ofBelleau Wood's fighters were shot down by anti-aircraft fire. The carriers then transitioned to providing direct support to the soldiers and marines fighting in theBattle of Kwajalein, during which another three ofBelleau Wood's planes were shot down.[4]
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Belleau Wood and the rest of her task group sailed toMajuro to refuel and replenish munitions and other supplies on 4 February. They then returned to Kwajalein to resume operations against the Japanese defenders. The bulk of theFast Carrier Task Force, includingBelleau Wood, sailed west on 12 February to launchOperation Hailstone, a major attack on the Japanese base inTruk. The raid was intended to cover the next amphibious assault in the campaign, theinvasion of Eniwetok.Belleau Wood once again provided air defense for the task group, and on the afternoon of 16 February, one of her fighters shot down aNakajima B5N torpedo bomber. Following another series of attacks the next day, the task group withdrew to the east to refuel. The carriers sailed back west to attack Japanese positions onTinian andSaipan in theMariana Islands;Belleau Wood covered the rest of the carriers as usual. On 22 February, a pair of G4M bombers slipped through the CAP aircraft and attempted to bombBelleau Wood, but her anti-aircraft battery shot both planes down before they could hit the ship. In the same attack, aKawasaki Ki-61 fighter attackedEssex, but as it attempted to withdraw,Belleau Wood's guns shot it down as well. TwoKawasaki Ki-48 light bombers were also shot down byBelleau Wood's fighters.[4]
The fast carrier task force withdrew back to Majuro on 26 February for another period of replenishment and repairs.Belleau Wood also took on replacement aircraft after her losses in the campaign. Task Group 58.1, which by then included onlyBelleau Wood andEnterprise and their escorts, sailed on 7 March forEspiritu Santo in the south Pacific, which they reached five days later. There, they joined an amphibious assault force that struck the island ofEmirau on 20 March. Thelanding on Emirau went unopposed, permitting TG 58.1 to sail north to strike airfields in the westernCaroline Islands and onNew Guinea to suppress Japanese air power in the region as other forces landed inHumboldt Bay andTanahmerah Bay in theBattle of Hollandia. The carriers then steamed north to hit the Carolines again;Belleau Wood's aircraft targetedPalau on 30 March, and the next day, she launched raids onYap,Ulithi, andNgulu. That same day, her fighters shot down two G4M bombers. The ships withdrew on 1 April, and while leaving the area,Belleau Wood sent her fighters to raidWoleai, destroying seven Japanese aircraft on the ground in the process.[4]
The task group then returned to Majuro for another period of maintenance and resupply, which lasted for about a week. The ships sortied again on 13 April to return to operations in support of the ground troops fighting in Hollandia in New Guinea.Belleau Wood once again provided air cover to the rest of the carriers as they struck Japanese positions atSawar,Wakde, andSarmi.Belleau Wood refueled at sea on 23 April, then returned to launch raids of her own on Sawar and Sarmi. Task Group 58.1 then got underway forSeeadler Harbor onManus Island, where they refueled. On 29 April, the fleet carriers raided Truk again, whileBelleau Wood provided the CAP defense; the same pattern was repeated the following day againstPohnpei in the Carolines. On 1 May,Belleau Wood's fighters swept the island while Americanbattleships bombarded it. The ships departed for Kwajalein that day, arriving there on 4 May. Over the course of the preceding month's operations,Belleau Wood lost one F6F fighter and twoTBF Avenger torpedo bombers.[4]
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Belleau Wood and the rest of TG 58.1 then returned to Majuro to rejoin the rest of the fleet as it made preparations forOperation Forager, the invasion of the Mariana Islands in the central Pacific. In the course of the preparations, TG 58.1 was reorganized, and now consisted ofBelleau Wood,Yorktown, and the carriersHornet andBataan, the latter being a sister toBelleau Wood. The fast carrier task force sortied on 6 June to begin the first phase of the operation, a series of large-scale air attacks on the islands of Saipan, Tinian, andGuam to suppress Japanese air power in the area. The attacks began five days later, andBelleau Wood contributed fighters to a raid on Guam, which shot down fourMitsubishi A6M Zero fighters overAgana, the capital of Guam. The carrier's fighters shot down another Zero and aKawasaki Ki-45 fighter in a second attack on 12 June, though one ofBelleau Wood's F6Fs was also shot down in the engagement. With the initial round of strikes over, the carriers withdrew to refuel on 14 June and then sailed north to strike theBonin Islands.[4]
The American command hoped that raiding airfields in the Bonins would catch Japanese planes being ferried to reinforce the Marshalls. On 15 June, the American carriers struckHahajima andChichijima, thoughBelleau Wood's fighters once again filled the CAP role. Her bombers attacked and sank a largecargo ship in the area that day. While attempting to land that evening, one of her F6Fs crashed through thebarrier and into the island, starting a major fire. Damage-control parties put out the fire after 23 minutes, and no one was injured in the accident, andBelleau Wood resumed flight operations the next day. That morning, the carriers sent a group of fighters to raidIwo Jima, but reports of a Japanese fleet approaching the American invasion fleet in the Marianas led TG 58.1 to cancel a larger raid on the island planned for that afternoon and steam south at high speed to rendezvous with the rest of the fast carrier task force. The American fleet assembled on 18 June at a position about 150 nmi (280 km; 170 mi) west of Saipan to await the Japanese fleet.[4]
In the ensuingBattle of the Philippine Sea, the Japanese located the American fleet first, allowing them to make the first strike. On the morning of 19 June,Belleau Wood andBataan launched their CAP fighters to defend the task group, but none of the fourteen Japanese attack groups approached TG 58.1. Those groups were all disrupted by fighters from the other American task groups.Belleau Wood instead sent some of her fighters to sweep Guam again, where they shot down another ten Zero fighters that had been based on the island. The lopsided American victory, which saw some 300 Japanese aircraft destroyed, was dubbed the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot". That evening, the Japanese carriers began withdrawing to the west, and on the morning of 20 June, the American carriers turned to pursue them.Belleau Wood again sent her CAP fighters aloft that morning, but the fleet's search planes did not locate the retreating Japanese until late in the day. The American carriers nevertheless launched a major strike, andBelleau Wood contributed four TBF torpedo bombers and six F6F fighters to the force. The planes sank the Japanese carrierHiyō at dusk and then had to make a difficult night landing.[4]
The American fleet continued its pursuit of the retreating Japanese on 21 June, but the latter had too far of a head start, and the Americans soon broke off the chase to return to the invasion beaches. While the fleet steamed to the Marianas, one ofBelleau Wood's fighters shot down a G4M bomber. The carriers also reorganized their air groups, as many planes had landed on other carriers in the confused night landing the previous evening. The ships of TG 58.1 detached from the main fleet and steamed north to resume their attacks on the Bonin Islands that had been interrupted by the Battle of the Philippine Sea.Belleau Wood once again provided the task group's fighter defense while the rest of the carriers raided Iwo Jima and inflicted heavy damage on the Japanese aircraft on the island. TG 58.1 then departed for the Marshalls to replenish and refuel, and they arrived in Eniwetok on 27 June. The same day,Belleau Wood left the fleet to return to Pearl Harbor for modifications that included storage for rocket ammunition for her aircraft. She arrived in Hawaii on 2 July, entered thedry dock the next day, and the work was carried out over the following week. She conducted a short training period in Hawaiian waters before departing for the fleet anchorage in the Marshalls on 22 July. She reached Eniwetok on 30 July and joined TG 58.4 on 2 August.[4]
Belleau Wood and the rest of the fast carrier task force were then sent to support theinvasion of Guam, and the carrier contributed her aircraft to strikes against Japanese positions on the island during the fighting. She returned to Eniwetok on 13 August to refuel and rearm before the last major phase of the Mariana and Palau campaign. The carriers were ordered to raid Japanese airfields on Yap,Mindanao in the southern Philippines, and the Bonin Islands again, to neutralize any aircraft that might attempt to interfere with the invasion of the Palau Islands andMorotai in New Guinea.Belleau Wood joinedWasp and two other carriers in what was now Task Group 38.1, which sortied on 29 August to begin raids on the Palaus. The following day, one ofBelleau Wood's F6F fighters crashed on landing, killing three men, including the assistant air operations commander. On 7 August, the carriers began attacking targets in the Palaus, and several ofBelleau Wood's planes struck aphosphate plant onAngaur. The task group continued westward to make their attack on Mindanao. While the carriers steamed off the island,Belleau Wood's fighters shot down aYokosuka P1Y bomber and a Kawasaki Ki-45 fighter, though one of her F6Fs was shot down as well.[4]
Belleau Wood's fighters carried out sweeps over the airfields atBuayan andDigos on 10 September, while her TBF Avengers raided the field atCotabato, though they found few Japanese aircraft to destroy. The task group then turned north to raid theVisayas in the central Philippines, where the ship's fighters raidedNegros andCebu, claiming a pair of Zeros, aNakajima Ki-43 fighter, and aNakajima B6N torpedo bomber on 12 September.Belleau Wood's aircraft also launched a series of rocket attacks on Japanese installations and coastal shipping in the area. The next day, her fighters destroyed another Ki-43 and a P1Y. TG 38.1 then sailed south to provide cover for the landings on Morotai, whereBelleau Wood's fighters destroyed five G4M bombers and a Ki-45 fighter on the ground. The landing was carried out between 15 and 17 September, but the carriers saw no further significant combat during that period, and on the 18th,Belleau Wood was transferred to TG 38.4; she departed for Seeadler Harbor to refuel and rearm before joining her new unit, which includedEnterprise, the fleet carrierFranklin, and the light carrierSan Jacinto. The group left Seeadler Harbor on 24 September to patrol off Palau, remaining there until 5 October because of atyphoon in the area, before rejoining the rest of the fast carrier task force west of the Marianas.[4]
The American fleet then began operations to prepare for its next major amphibious assault in the central Pacific: theinvasion of the Philippines. After refueling at sea on 7 October, the fast carrier task force got underway to begin a series of raids on nearby targets that would try to interfere with the coming invasion, beginning with theRyukyu Islands. Three days later, the carriers raided airfields onOkinawa and two other islands in the group, destroying dozens of Japanese aircraft and many coastal ships. The carriers then turned south, struck airfields onLuzon in the northern Philippines, before turning west to raid the island ofFormosa. In the course of the so-calledFormosa Air Battle, which lasted from 12 to 16 October,Belleau Wood carried out a series of raids against Japanese infrastructure on the island, claiming to have destroyed five aircraft in strikes on airfields. Her fighters on CAP also shot down three Zeros, a Ki-43 fighter, and five G4M bombers that attempted to hit the carriers on 13 October. Later that day, another six G4Ms slipped through the CAP aircraft, butBelleau Wood's anti-aircraft guns assisted with the destruction of four of the bombers.[4]
The ships of TG 38.4 turned south on 14 October to begin preparatory attacks onLeyte, which was the target of the impending amphibious assault. The carrier planes raided airfields atAparri on the island of Luzon first, and then struck targets aroundManila Bay as they made their way south to Leyte. In the course of these raids,Belleau Wood's fighters claimed another eleven Japanese aircraft of various types. They also claimed a pair of cargo ships and anoil tanker. TheBattle of Leyte began on 20 October, and over the following three days,Belleau Wood provided CAP over the invasion beach.[4]
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In response to the American invasion of the Philippines, the Japanese sent four major fleet units to attack the invasion fleet in a synchronized action. The ensuing action, theBattle of Leyte Gulf, consisted of a series of separate battles between American and Japanese forces. TG 38.4 launched search planes on the morning of 24 October to try to locate the Japanese fleet in the Visaya islands; after locating the Japanese Center Force,Belleau Wood and the other carriers launched a major attack on it, which resulted in theBattle of the Sibuyan Sea. In that action,Belleau Wood's TBFs claimed to have made torpedo hits on one of the Japanese battleships. Later that evening, Halsey received reports of the aircraft carriers of the Northern Force, and the fast carrier task force steamed north to intercept them. The following morning, all four Japanese carriers were sunk in theBattle off Cape Engaño, thoughBelleau Wood did not contribute any aircraft to their destruction. Her TBFs did assist with the sinking of the light cruiserTama, however. A separate action fought between surface forces—the Battle of Surigao Strait—saw the destruction of the Southern Force on the night of 24–25 October. Center Force, not dissuaded from its attacks the previous day, pressed on and nearly broke through to the invasion fleet in theBattle off Samar, but was eventually driven off by theescort carriers, destroyers, anddestroyer escorts providing local defense to the fleet.[4]
The ships of TG 38.4 refueled on 26 October and then returned to direct support of the soldiers fighting on Leyte for the next four days. The carriers also struck airfields aroundManila to interdict reinforcements being sent to the Philippines. The Japanese began the firstkamikaze suicide attacks in response to the worsening strategic situation; the first struck the carrierIntrepid on 29 October, and another attack was carried out the next day. At around 14:00, fivekamikazes slipped past the CAP defense by flying at an altitude of around 18,000 ft (5,500 m). Three of the planes were shot down by the fleet's antiaircraft fire, but one crashed intoFranklin; the last plane, identified as a Zero fighter, dropped a bomb onFranklin before diving onBelleau Wood at 14:27 and slamming into her flight deck. The Zero landed in the middle of eleven loaded F6F fighters and started a series of explosions and serious fires. The damage control teams worked for three hours to suppress the blaze. The attack killed 92 and wounded another 97, and damaged the flight deck, which prevented further air operations. The ship detached from the fleet and sailed east to the Caroline Islands.[4][5]
While stopped at Ulithi from 3 to 10 November, the ship's crew made some temporary repairs, before she departed forSan Francisco for permanent repairs. She passed through Pearl Harbor on the way, finally arriving on the West Coast on 29 November. There, she was dry docked at theHunters Point Naval Shipyard the following day. Along with repair work, the ship was overhauled and additional 40 mm Bofors guns were installed. The work was completed by mid-January 1945, and she thereafter got underway to rejoin the fleet. She reached Ulithi on 7 February, where she joined TG 58.1, which includedHornet,Wasp, and the fleet carrierBennington.[4]
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On 10 February, the ships of TG 58.1 sortied to carry out a series of strikes against Japanese positions in theJapanese Home Islands to disrupt forces that would interfere with the planned invasions of the Bonin and Ryukyu Islands in theVolcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign, which was to prepare the way for the eventualinvasion of Japan. By 16 February, TG 58.1 had reached a position about 125 nmi (232 km; 144 mi) southeast ofTokyo, and they began their attacks on airfields in Japan. The American carrier planes claimed several hundred Japanese aircraft destroyed in these raids. That morning, one ofBelleau Wood's fighters on CAP shot down aMitsubishi Ki-46 reconnaissance plane that approached the fleet. Poor weather forced the remaining planned attacks to be canceled, and the fast carrier task force instead sailed south to provide cover for theinvasion of Iwo Jima on 19 February.[4]
Belleau Wood provided air defense over Iwo Jima for the following five days to prevent Japanese aircraft from supporting the garrison as US marines fought for control of the island. Her aircraft also raided the airfield atSusaki on Chichi Jima to reduce Japanese counterattacks on the invasion force. The Japanese were mounting increasingly severekamikaze attacks on the fleet, so the fast carrier task force sailed north to launch another major raid on the Tokyo area. They were again blocked by bad weather on 25 February, and they instead diverted to raid Okinawa.Belleau Wood's fighters once again provided CAP defense, and her TBFs were used to carry out rocket attacks on Japanese installations on Okinawa on 1 March. The fleet then sailed south to replenish stores and ammunition at Ulithi to prepare for the next phase of the campaign.[4]
The ships lay at Ulithi for ten days, until 14 March, when they sortied to begin preparatory attacks for the last major invasion of the war: theinvasion of Okinawa. TG 58.1 was ordered to attack Japanese airfields onKyushu, the southern-most of the Home Islands, to reduce the considerable air power assembled for the final defense of Japan. Four days later, the ships were in position and launched a large-scale raid on the island, along with secondary raids on the naval bases atKure andKobe.Belleau Wood's fighters again served in the CAP for the following three days and saw extensive combat. On 21 March alone, her aircraft and eight fighters fromHornet claimed the destruction of twenty-one Japanese planes between them. The carriers then turned their attention to Okinawa itself from 23 to 28 March, andBelleau Wood's fighters conducted sweeps over the Ryukyus to catch any Japanese aircraft that may be in the area. On 29 March, she contributed her aircraft to a major raid on Kyushu airfields in concert withBoeing B-29 Superfortress bombers flying from the Mariana Islands. She thereafter resumed strikes on Okinawa.[4]
American forces went ashore on Okinawa on 1 April, andBelleau Wood provided air defense over the invasion fleet. She also providedclose air support to the marines fighting their way across the island. On 6 April, a Zero fighter attempted to crash into the ship, but her antiaircraft guns shot it down before it could collide with the ship. The shock wave from the underwater explosion of the sinking Zero threw one man overboard, who was not recovered. The next day, the ship took part in the destruction of the battleshipYamato, which had been sent on a final suicide mission to attack the invasion fleet. Aircraft fromBelleau Wood claimed hits on several of the destroyers escortingYamato; carrier aircraft from the American fleet sank most of the Japanese ships, includingYamato.[4]
Belleau Wood resumed air operations over Okinawa, both to defend the fleet and ground forces from Japanese air attack, and to degrade Japanese airfields on nearby islands. Over the course of the following three weeks, the ship's fighters destroyed fourteen Japanese aircraft. She thereafter withdrew to Ulithi to refuel and rearm. She arrived there on 30 April, but arrived back on station off Okinawa by 12 May. There, she replaced the carrierBunker Hill in TG 58.3, which had been badly damaged by akamikaze. The unit at that time also includedEssex, the fleet carrierHancock, and the light carrierCabot.Belleau Wood resumed her previous activities, her fighters patrolling over Okinawa and attacking Japanese airfields in the region. During this period, her fighters shot down aNakajima Ki-84 fighter and a G4M bomber, though one of her TBFs was shot down by antiaircraft fire. By early June, the onset of typhoon season forced the carriers to halt flight operations, thoughBelleau Wood was able to launch one raid on 7 June. On 10 June, the fast carrier task force withdrew to the Philippines to avoid the severe weather.[4]
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The carriers spent the next two weeks in the Philippines training and making repairs, before departing on 1 July to return to operations off Japan.Belleau Wood's aircraft participated in a strike on airfields near Tokyo on 10 July, followed by attacks on various targets onHokkaido on 14 and 15 July. The carriers returned to attacking the Tokyo area two days later before breaking off to refuel at sea from 19 to 23 July.Belleau Wood's aircraft next raided the naval base at Kur on 24 July, where they assisted in the sinking of the hybrid battleship-carrierHyūga and another fifteen smaller vessels. On 25 July,Belleau Wood's fighters were attacked by a group of Japanese fighters while overYōkaichi, and in the ensuing battle, the Americans claimed to have shot down five Ki-84s and two Ki-61s, and lost two fighters to the Japanese. Further attacks were cancelled due to bad weather for most of the rest of the month, until 29 July, whenBelleau Wood and the other carriers launched another series of raids then and on 30 July. The ships then withdrew to refuel again, and coupled with another typhoon, the carriers were not back on station again to resume air attacks until 9 August.Belleau Wood's aircraft struck airfields on the northern end ofHonshu, which disrupted a Japanese strike on the Marianas using long-range bombers. Operations around Tokyo resumed on 13 August, and two days later, a patrol of four F6Fs fromBelleau Wood engaged a group of Japanese fighters that had attempted to intercept a strike of TBFs operated by theBritish Pacific Fleet. In that action, the American fighters shot down five Zeroes and a Ki-43 fighter; this was to be the ship's last action of the war. Shortly thereafter, the Japanese indicated they would surrender, leading to a cessation of all combat missions.[4]
Belleau Wood cruised for the next week in Japanese waters, waiting on instructions for the final Japanese surrender. From 22 August to 10 September, the ship's aircraft patrolled over Japan, searching for downed aircrew and dropping supplies toprisoner of war camps. Over the course of her career during the war, the ship received twelvebattle stars. On 10 September, she enteredTokyo Bay for maintenance, before departing on the 15th for Eniwetok to take on a load of supplies to bring back to Japan. She arrived off Japan on 7 October, and proceeded to Tokyo Bay, which she reached five days later. After embarking several hundred men, she departed again on 20 October, this time bound for Pearl Harbor, arriving there eight days later.Belleau Wood was then assigned toOperation Magic Carpet, the repatriation of thousands of American servicemen after the end of the war. Her crew installed some 600 additional bunks in the hangar to accommodate additional passengers. On her first mission, she took on 1,248 men from the Army and Navy, departing on 1 November and arriving in San Francisco five days later. She made two further Magic Carpet trips, the first to Guam from 11 November to 10 December and carrying 2,053 men home, and the second from 18 December to 31 January 1946, also to Guam. The ship was thereafter placed inreserve at San Francisco. She underwent modifications through 1946 and into 1947 and was eventually decommissioned on 13 January 1947 and placed at theAlameda Naval Air Station.[4]
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The ship remainedlaid up until 5 September 1953, when she was transferred to theFrench Navy as aid according to theMutual Defense Assistance Act. During this period, she was renamedBois Belleau.[4] The French, then at the height of theFirst Indochina War, was in need of additional aircraft carriers to support the two light carriers—La Fayette (formerlyUSS Langley), andArromanches (formerly HMSColossus)—then operating offFrench Indochina. The loan ofBelleau Wood was ordered by PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower. The French Navy initially had trouble putting together a crew to man the ship, which delayed her delivery to France until December. In addition, her boilers were found to be in poor condition upon her reactivation, which required repairs once she arrived in France.[6]
Bois Belleau arrived in southeast Asian waters on 30 April 1954,[7] during the final stages of the Indochina War. TheBattle of Dien Bien Phu had reached a critical stage by that point, and the French garrison soon surrendered on 7 May.[8] The French carriers operated in theGulf of Tonkin during the Indochina War, and their aircraft were hampered by the long flight time to Dien Bien Phu in western Indochina.[9]Bois Belleau served in the area until November 1955. For the rest of the 1950s,Bois Belleau,La Fayette, andArromanches formed the core of the French carrier fleet until the French-built carriers of theClemenceau class were completed in the early 1960s.[10]
In June 1957,Bois Belleau joined a contingent of six ships to participate in an internationalnaval review held inHampton Roads, Virginia, in the United States. The French squadron, led by theanti-aircraft cruiserDe Grasse, was the largest foreign delegation to the review. The squadron also included the destroyersChevalier Paul andDupetit-Thouars and thefrigatesLe Gascon andLe Lorrain.[11]
The French Navy returned the ship to the United States in early September 1960 at thePhiladelphia Naval Shipyard. She was struck from theNaval Vessel Register on 1 October, and was sold toship breakers forscrap on 21 November.[4]
