28 - _____ We had GQ at 200 & again at 400. at 500 (5AM) we left Point Bowlow & we went to N________ bay _ we got there at 700 (7AM) & drop anchor. Cond. II was set for bombarding _ 5" fired most of the day. We had GQ at 2200 (10PM) _ no planes showed up but at 2300 (11PM) we could see heavy AA firing over island also large sh[irce] lights. a few planes flew over us but we had heavy sm[oke] screen around us & they couldn't see us.________________
shirce = search
Smoke screens were unreliable earlier in the war. Most of the time ships would retire away from the battle area for the night. By Okinawa, though, smoke screens were so much improved that admirals began ordering 24-hour bombardments, with ships retiring only for fuel, ammo and supplies. Throughout the operation, the crews would have been severely sleep-deprived.
The photo is an amazing image of a smoke screen at either Okinawa or Iwo Jima.
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