SOUTH PACIFIC DIARY - Frank Ciociolo
USS Coolbaugh D.E. 217 1943 - 1945
1943
Oct. 15 - Nov. 5 - We took on supplies and getting the ship ready for sea duty making a run in the Delaware River.
Nov. 6 - Left Philadelphia for Norfolk, Va. to get ammunition.
Nov. 11 - Dec. 9 - Left Norfolk for Bermuda, ship shakedown and training.
Dec. 10 - 13 - Left Bermuda to return to Philadelphia. On our way we encountered a bad hurricane. SOS from fishing trawler SS St. Peter lost from the storm. Located St. Peter around dusk. Tugboat came to tow her to port.
Dec. 14 - 24 - Arrived at Philadelphia. Received commendation from Eastern Sea Frontier.
Dec 28 - Left Philadelphia for Fort Miflin to take on ammunition and then on to Norfolk, Va.
1944
Jan. 3 - Left Norfolk for Panama Canal. Went through the locks with D.E. 201
Jan. 14 - Left Balboa Panama for Galapagos
Jan. 16 - Crossed the Equator for the first time. US Pollywog were initiated and became a trusty Shellback.
Jan 17 - Arrived at Galapagos. Refueled and left the same day with troop ship SS Azalea City bound for Bora Bora, Society Island.
Jan 27 - Arrived at Bora Bora. Assigned to Admiral Halsey's third fleet.
Jan 29 - Left Bora Bora bound for Pago Pago, Somoa Island
Feb. 1 - Arrived at Tretiula and then Pago Pago. Left next day, Feb. 2, for
Apia.
Feb. 3 - Arrived at Apia, Upola Island. Left same day and crossed the International Dateline. Received orders to search for Jap sub operating close by.
Feb. 5 - Gave up search for sub and proceeded for Efate, New Herbrides.
Feb. 8 - Arrive at Havannah Harbor which is in Efate, New Herbrides.
Feb. 14 - Left Efate for short run to Buttons Harbor - Espiritu Santo, New
Herbrides
Feb. 15 - Went in dry-dock for five days. At this time the Coolbaugh had its first change of command. Lt. Comdr. Hotchkiss relieved Comdr. Kintberger.
Feb. 22 - Left Espiritu Santo for Guadalcanal, Solomons Island
Feb. 25 - Pass Savo Island and anchor at Lunga Point Guadalcanal.
Mar. 1 - Pulled in Tulagi Harbor. Took on stores then went to Purvis Bay.
Mar. 2 - Left Purvis Bay for Naumea, New Caledonia Island
Mar. 5 to April 5 - During this time we were doing Convoy duty from Tulagi to New Herbrides, New Caledonia then ordered to go to Emirau Island.
Apr. 9 - Easter Sunday made contact with Jap sub off coast of Trench Island. Fired hedgehogs - no hits. Later that day we arrived at Emirau, Admiralty Island that is being invaded. We landed some Marines while laying out smoke screen.
Apr. 15 - Had patrol duty for seven days off coast of Emirau, Mussare-New Hanover Island.
Apr. 16 - June 13 - Left Emirau for Tulage, Purvis Bay. Take on supplies and do Convoy duty, Manus, Admiralty Island - Emirau, Munda New Georgia.
June 14 - Went to dry dock for three days to repair sound gear. More Convoy duty from our home base Purvis Bay.
Aug. 1 - Left Purvis Bay - Guadalcanal enroute to Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands where we were to rendezvous with a Convoy. We missed the Convoy and headed for Eniwetok, Marshall Islands then to Purvis Bay to do escort duty -
Ping duty.
Oct. 7 - Left Purvis Bay bound for Pearl Harbor.
Oct. 8 - Change of orders. We are to proceed to Manus Island and join the 7th fleet under Admiral Kinkiad.
Oct. 10 - Arrived at Seeadler Harbor, Manus Island and were assigned with Carrier Task Force 77.4. We got underway. Our Task Force consisted of 16 CVE, 9 Destroyers, 12 D.E. This group was under Rear Adm. Thomas L. Sprague. Task Force 77.4 CVE group was split into three forces, Code name Taffy 1, which the Coolbaugh is in. Under Rear Adm. Thomas L. Sprague.
|
Taffy 1 |
Taffy 2 |
Taffy 3 |
| CVE Sangamon | CVE Natoma Bay | CVE Fanshaw Bay |
| CVE 27 Suwannee | CVE Manila Bay CARDIV 27 Rear Adm. W. D. Sample |
CVE St. Lo* |
| CVE 29 Santee | CVE Marcus Island | CVE White Plains |
| CVE 80 Petrof Bay | CVE Kadshan Bay | CVE Kalinin Bay CARDIV 26 Rear Adm. R. A. Ofstie |
| CVE Savo Island | CVE 71 Kitkom Bay | |
| CVE Ommaney Bay | CVE 72 Gambier Bay | |
|
SCREEN |
SCREEN |
SCREEN |
| DD McCord | DD Haggard | DD Hoel* |
| DD Trathen | DD Franks | DD Johnston* |
| DD Hazelwood | DD Hailey | DD Heermann |
| DE 402 Richard S. Bull | DE 342 Suesens | DE 405 Dennis |
| DE 403 Richard M. Rowell | DE 343 Abercrombie | DE 339 Butler |
| DE 404 Eversole* | DE 414 LeRoy Wilson | DE 413 Raymond |
| DE 217 Coolbaugh | DE 412 W. C. Wann | DE 413 S. B. Roberts* |
| * Ships Sunk |
Oct. 12 - We rendezvous with a very large force of the 7th fleet, Task Force 77, consisting of six battleships, eight heavy and light cruisers and 28 destroyers. We are heading for the bombardment of Leyte Island, Philippines so our forces can land on A-day, which should be October 20.
Oct. 14 - Ran into a bad typhoon.
Oct. 16 - Refueled at sea with a Carrier, sea still very rough.
Oct. 17 - Today our planes were to bomb Leyte, but the sea is too rough and the mission had to be aborted. Some ships had to be sent back because of damage from the storm.
Oct. 18 - Storm let up, planes took off for bombing raids on Leyte. One T.B.F. Avenger plane crashed into the sea. We picked up the four survivors.
Oct. 19 - A-1 day. Planes still taking off for raids on Leyte. A Wildcat plane crashed into the sea. We picked up the pilot. Had G.Q. enemy planes in area.
Oct. 20 - A-day. Our forces are landing at Leyte. G.Q. at 0830 (8:30 a.m.) three Jap Zeke planes dropped bombs on Carriers. No hits. One Jap Zeke shot down by our Wildcat fighter plane. Two Jap planes made strafing runs on Coolbaugh. We shot down one plane; the other was shot down by our plane.
Oct. 21- Our troops have already landed at Leyte. Gen. MacArthur was aboard the USS Nashville Light Cruiser. I believe he came ashore at Leyte today. G.Q. Enemy planes in area. (Jap planes were dropping tinfoil to confuse our radar.)
Oct. 22 - Our planes still bombing targets inland. One sub was sighted, but found to be friendly.
Oct. 23 - One of our fighter planes was forced down. The pilot was picked up by a destroyer.
Oct. 24 - We rescued another pilot. This makes six pilots we have picked up so far. Had four G.Q. today.
Oct. 25 - G.Q. 0745 (7:45 a.m.) We were attacked by 30 Jap planes. Our planes shot down 27. One shot down by the carrier Santee. One Jap plane made a suicide dive on the Santee and another on the Suwannee. This was the first kamikaze of the war. We never saw anything like it. During the air attack, an enemy sub torpedoed the carrier Santee that later on took two bombs from enemy planes. Another of our TBF planes crashed. We picked up the three-man crew. We stayed at G.Q. all day. At 2230 (10:30 p.m.) enemy aircraft overhead and we are being attacked by Jap submarines. One sub periscope was on our starboard side. He was so close to us that it seemed like we could touch the periscope with our hands. We fired three dept charges and blew the sub clear out of the water. 0245 (2:45 a.m.) we got more sub contact. We fired many hedgehogs and 16 dept charges. No report on any sinking. Our T.B.S. crapped out and we had no way of communication with our ships. Our ships were going to open fire on us thinking we were an enemy ship. We finally identified ourselves. Two large Jap navy task force consisting of Battleships, Cruisers and Destroyers. One went through Surigao Strait and was met by our Task Force 77, which crossed the Jap "T" and beat the hell out of them. All that was left of the Jap force were two cruisers and three destroyers. While this battle was going on, the other Jap task force went through San Bernardino Strait which was unguarded because Adm. Halsey's 3rd fleet went after a Jap decoy. The Jap force caught Taffy 3 by surprise off of Samar. The little destroyer and D.E. heroically engaged the big ships to try and save our CVE Carriers. We lost D.E. Roberts, DD Hoel which was under Commander Kintberger, our first skipper, DD Johnston, CVE Gambrier Bay. Later Taffy 3 was attacked by Jap kamikazes and lost CVE St. Lo and damage to four other CVE. The Coolbaugh has been very lucky so far; most of the ships with us have been hit.
Oct. 26 - G.Q. under attack by three Jap planes. One shot down while making a suicide dive on the carrier Suwannee. It crashed forward of the bow. The second plane made a suicide dive on the same carrier - made a direct hit. The plane went through two decks and exploded in the mess hall. The third plane dropped two bombs on the same carrier. It was shot down by one of our fighters. We picked up 91 survivors that were blown off the Suwannee. Our pharmacist, Mate Robert Wicks, worked all day and night on the burned and wounded sailors. For this he received the Bronze Star. One of the survivors died and we gave him a burial at sea. We transferred about eight of the seriously wounded to another carrier.
Oct. 27 - Left the Philippine area with the crippled carrier Suwannee and the survivors we picked up. We are heading for Palau Island.
Oct. 28 - Two more destroyers joined us. They were also carrying survivors. We were followed by a Jap P.T. boat which was soon sunk by one of our destroyers. Arrived at Koroe, Palau Island at 11:00 a.m. G.Q. enemy aircraft in area. Secured from G.Q. at 1245 - transferred wounded men to hospital ship USS Bountiful H-9.
Nov. 1- Our troops still fighting inland. Left Palau with the Suwannee, heading for Manus Island.
Nov. 4 - Arrived at Manus Island.
Nov. 10 - At 10:30 a.m. ammunition ship USS E11 Mt. Hood exploded and sank within minutes.
Nov. 19 - Left Manus Island at 5:30 a.m. heading for Philippines with
Carrier Task Force, under the command of Rear Admiral Sample.
Nov. 23 - Arrived at our rendezvous area, off the coast of Philippines to do
patrol duty.
Nov. 27 - Left Philippines, heading for Palau.
Nov. 28 - Arrived at Koroe, Palau at noon.
Nov. 30 - All ships in the harbor got underway, expecting a big Jap air
raid. Later in the day we separated from the other ships and headed for
Manus Island with two carriers and three destroyers and one D.E.
Dec. 4 - Arrived at Manus
Dec. 13 - Left Manus for New Guinea
Dec. 14 - Arrived at Humboldt Bay, Hollandia, New Guinea 1500 (3:00 p.m.)
attached to amphibious force 7797 with 7th fleet for invasion of Luzon,
Philippines
Dec. 26 - Went in dry dock for repairs. (Xmas and New Year very dull)
1945
Jan. 3 - Left Hollandia about 3:00 a.m. with two P.A.
Jan. 4 - Joined Convoy of about 20 PA, later two CVE carriers joined us. We are heading for Luzon.
Jan. 5 - Refueled at sea. Four more ships joined the convoy.
Jan. 6 - G.Q. enemy aircraft in area
Jan 7 - Arrived at Leyte. Went through Surigao Strait G.Q.
Jan 10 - G.Q. we are in the South China Sea, joined with a big convoy of L. S. T., A.P.A. and many other ships.
Jan. 11 - Arrived in Lingayen Gulf at 6:30 a.m. Started landing troops G.Q. Surprise air attack lasted about one hour. Enemy suicide hit two ships.
Jan. 12- G.Q. 5:45 a.m. Attacked by enemy aircraft. One DE and one APD were hit by kamikaze. One plane dropped a few bombs at our ship, but missed. He then was ready to make a suicide dive on us, but we opened up with all we had and made lots of hits. He crashed on the beach. We had seven men wounded from this attack, all from the fan tail 20MM guns. They were Jerome Kahl, Felix Boney, Walker, Reds and I don't remember the names of the rest. After dusk alert, we stood watch with 30 calb. rifle walking up and down the deck because of Jap suicide squads.
Jan. 13 - G.Q. enemy air attack. The 3rd wave of troops are landing today
Jan. 18 - On patrol on ping duty
Jan. 19 - G.Q. enemy aircraft. At 1620 (4:20 p.m.) we went out to see how DE 680 USS Loesu was making out. She got a contact with a sub and her T.B.S. crapped out.
Jan. 20 - G.Q. enemy aircraft. Two US P.38 planes crashed at sea. One pilot killed, the other was picked up by DE 680 USS Loesu.
Jan. 22 - Secured from patrol duty. We are leaving Lingayen Gulf, Luzon with a large convoy.
Jan. 27 - Arrived at Leyte to refuel and take on stores. G.Q. enemy aircrafts.
Jan. 30 - A storm broke out and threatened to turn some Philippines boats over. So, we had to let some of them come aboard.
Feb. 2 - Left Leyte with a medium size convoy.
Feb. 4 - G.Q. for one hour. Left convoy alone and heading for Hollandia, New Guinea
Feb. 6 - Arrived at Hollandia, picked up convoy heading for Luzon.
Feb. 7 - G.Q.
Feb. 9 - Met our rendezvous. Convoy now is pretty big.
Feb. 11 - G.Q. One L.S.T. #577 was hit by a Jap sub torpedo which blew the whole stern off. Went hunting for the sub, could not make contact. At noon more LST joined our convoy.
Feb. 13 - Arrived at Leyte to refuel and take on supplies. Left with a large convoy.
Feb. 15 - G.Q. APD made contact with a sub. We also made contact with a sub. Made hedgehog run on sub and hit it. Oil came up to the surface. Made four more hedgehog runs, but got no more hits. Later made six dept charge runs; got more oil. We returned to convoy, but left another DE to stay in sub area to keep dropping dept charges.
Feb. 17 - G.Q. Radar showed a surface sub about eight miles away. We left the convoy to investigate. Sub was American. Returned to convoy.
Feb. 18 - Arrived at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon and refueled.
Feb. 19 - We are on patrol and ping duty G.Q.
Feb. 20 - Secured from ping duty and underway at 5:00 p.m. with a convoy
G.Q.
Feb. 25 - Took on personnel from the "Rocky Mount" communication ship. Transferred them to an Australian ship in our convoy. Note Vice Admiral Connly is aboard the Rocky Mount. At 6:45 p.m. spotted a Jap sand pad. A Jap was on it. We picked up the Jap, stripped him, gave him a shower, fed him, and locked him up.
Feb. 26 - Arrived at Leyte, tied up along side DE 219, the Blackwood to pick up our division Commander. The Coolbaugh is the division flagship.
Feb. 27 - Transfer the Jap prisoner to the brack.
Feb. 28 - This morning about 1:00 a.m. a LSM rammed into our wake boat. 11:00 a.m. we got underway with all of our division except DE 680 USS Loeser. We are leaving the Philippines for good.
Mar. 4 - Arrived at Ulethi, Caroline Island at 6:00 a.m. and refueled
Mar. 5 - Picked up new orders and got underway at 12:30 p.m. with Convoy.
G.Q. for two hours.
Mar. 9 - G.Q. 3:45 a.m. enemy air attack expected. Arriving at Iwo Jim, Volcano Islands. Got orders not to go in close yet because of heavy enemy air attack.
Mar. 11 - DE 218 Darbey blew up a floating mine
Mar. 18 - Went out looking for four flyers whose TBF crashed at sea.
Mar. 19 - Still searching for flyers, but no luck. Orders to return to Iwo Jima.
Mar. 25 - G.Q. Five waves of Jap bombers (Betty). Our night fighter P61 Black Widows chase them away.
Mar. 27 - Left Iwo Jima at 6:00 p.m. with transport carrying marines whom fought at Iwo, heading for Eniwetok and then Pearl Harbor.
Apr. 2 - G.Q. Spotted Jap mines. Blew it up.
Apr. 3 - Arrived at Eniwetok and took on stores.
Apr. 4 - 11 - Left Eniwetok with six DE of our 36th div., a destroyer a 14HPA heading for Pearl Harbor. Cross International Date Line.
Apr. 12 - Arrived at Oahu, Hawaiian Island the day President Roosevelt died. At Pearl Harbor we were attached to the submarine training command.
Jun. 13 - Captain inspection at 0900. After inspection we had our second change of command - Comdr. Hotchkiss turned the ship over to our new skipper, Lt. Comdr. Zimmerman.
Aug. 14 - The day we have been waiting for - the end of the war. We were out at sea operating with a sub, when we got the news. All this time at Pearl, we have made different maneuvers with subs, planes and CVE.
Aug. 29 - Left Pearl for good old USA Mare Island San Francisco
Sept. 4 - Arrived at Mare Island. The Coolbaugh and rest of division will have a major overhaul with new 5" guns, 40MM, etc. This is where I get off. Good luck mates. I will never forget.
Shipmates who served aboard Coolbaugh from April 1944 to February 1945 are authorized to wear: American Theater Ribbon Asiatic Pacific Campaign Ribbon with three bronze stars Philippine Liberation Ribbon with two bronze stars Combat Action Ribbon (CAB)
Frank J. Ciociolo
Plank owner