December, 1943The Central Pacific Force regrouped once more and the Mobile was assigned to Task Force 50, which proceeded to the Marshall Islands for preliminary air strikes on December 4 and 5, 1943. The amazing photo shows what the strike force looked like from the air.
As they were leaving, the task force was heavily attacked by Japanese planes for, according to Joe, "7 hours." The Mobile assisted in the takedown of one plane. Sometime during this operation, "a five-inch shell exploded in a 40MM mount, killing two men and wounding twenty-three, eight of them seriously" and causing a fire. These were the Mobile's first personnel casualties.
Although it's unclear exactly where repairs were made, the ship spent just over two weeks at Pearl before being sent on Christmas Day back to Long Beach, California for "rehearsals" of the forthcoming landings on the Marshall Islands, scheduled for late January. Their assignment this time was to Task Force 53, the Northern Attack Force. The Moe would assist in the assaults on Roi and Namur Islands of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshalls.
Quotes are from Captain Lewis's War Record and Ship's History of U.S.S. Mobile.
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From the Data Section of Joe's Journal:
6 - Marshall Is. __________ Dec. 15, 1943*
Wotje & Kwajalin Air strike we were attacked by Jap planes for 7 hours _ The Japs lost 5 ships & unknown number of planes.
* The official war record states that the Marshall Island operation was December 4-5, 1943 and that "During the retirement from these strikes, the task force was under enemy air attack,during which Mobile's anti-aircraft fire assisted in the destruction of one plane. In mid-December the task force returned to Pearl Harbor." The ship's cruise book lists them back in Pearl by December 9. Since Joe probably wrote this nearly 2 years later, he may have simply mis-remembered the date. Or his pen slipped and it just looks like a "1".
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