The Marianas Turkey Shoot
A combined fleet met the enemy on 19 June in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Enemy carrier planes, which hoped to use the airfields of Guam and Tinian to refuel and rearm and attack our off shore shipping, were met by carrier planes and the guns of the escorting ships. That day the Navy destroyed 402 enemy planes while losing only 17 of her own. Indianapolis, which had operated with the force that struck Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima, shot down one torpedo plane. This famous day's work became known throughout the fleet as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot." With enemy air opposition wiped out, the U.S. carrier planes pursued and sank two enemy carriers, two destroyers and one tanker and inflicted severe damage on other ships. Indianapolis returned to Saipan on 23 June to resume fire support there and 6 days later moved to Tinian to smash shore installations. Meanwhile, Guam had been taken; and Indianapolis was the first ship to enter Apra Harbor since that American base had fallen early in the war. The ship operated in the Marianas area for the next few weeks, then moved to the Western Carolines where further landings were planned. From 12 to 29 September she bombarded the Island of Peleliu in the Palau Group, both before and after the landings. She then sailed to Manus in the Admiralty Islands where she operated for 10 days before returning to the Mare Island Navy Yard.
While in overhaul and refit, Indianapolis underwent many changes. The air search radar was elevated an additional 20 feet; a smaller stick mast with a Radio Direction Finding (RDF) antenna was added to the mainmast; a new fire control dish replaced the more cumbersome bedspring antenna on the fire control directors; and two whip antennas were added to the forward funnel. Two quad 40mm mounts replaced the dual mounts on the fantail; and a total of five 20mm mounts were removed. The camouflage scheme was changed with a false waterline/horizon of dull black from the main deck down and the rest of the ship painted a light gray.
With the work completed, Indianapolis departed for Pearl Harbor to embark Admiral Spruance and his staff.
Indianapolis joined Vice Adm. Mare A. Mitscher's fast carrier task force on 14 February 1945 two days before it made the first attack on Tokyo since General Doolittle's famous raid in April 1942. The operation covered American landings on Iwo Jima, scheduled for 19 February 1945, by destroying Japanese air facilities and other installations in the "Home Islands." Complete tactical surprise was achieved by approaching the Japanese coast under cover of bad weather, and attacks were pressed home for two days. On 16 and 17 February, the American Navy lost 49-carrier plane's while shooting down or destroying on the ground 499 enemy planes. Besides this 10-to-1 edge in aircraft victories, Mitscher's Force sank a carrier, nine coastal ships, a destroyer, two destroyer escorts and a cargo ship. Moreover, they wrecked hangars, shops, aircraft installations, factories and other industrial targets. Throughout the action, Indianapolis played her vital role of support ship.
Immediately after the strikes, the Task Force raced to the Bonins to support the landings on Iwo Jima. The ship remained there until 1 March, aiding in the bloody struggle for that little island by protecting the invasion ships and training her guns on any targets spotted on the beach. The ship returned to Admiral Mitscher's Task Force in time to strike Tokyo again on 25 February and Hachijo off the southern coast of Honshu the following day. Although weather was extremely bad, the Americans destroyed 158 planes and sank five small ships while pounding ground installations and demolishing trains.

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