| Operation "Forager" |
| Indianapolis, escorted by two destroyers, left Pearl Harbor
on 26 May for Majuro, Kwajalein and Eniwetok. On 9 June, she joined Task
Force 58. Their targets were Guam, Saipan and Tinian. Capture of these islands
would bring Japan within the range of the new Boeing B-29 Superfortress
bombers. |
| Indianapolis joined the pre-invasion bombardment group
off Sipan on 13 June -- D-Day minus two. On June 14, Indianapolis
was hit by one shell from a Saipan battery. She shell was defective, and
didn't explode -- damage was minimal. |
| During June, the 5th Fleet was busy with the Marianas assault,
raids on Saipan which began with carrier-based planes on the 11th followed
by surface bombardment, in which Indianapolis had a major role, from 13 June.
On D-Day, 15 June, Admiral Spruance received reports that a large fleet of
battleships, carriers, cruisers and destroyers was headed south to relieve
their threatened garrisons in the Marianas. Since amphibious operations at
Saipan had to be protected at all costs, Admiral Spruance could not draw
his powerful surface units too far from the scene. Consequently, a fast carrier
force was sent to meet this threat while another force attacked Japanese
air bases on Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima in the Bonin and Volcano Islands bases
for dangerous potential enemy air attacks. |
