Status - John Skinner - USS Daly:
USS Daly (DD-519) -New Guinea
May 27th: En route to Biak Island, New Guinea to support landing of invasion force at the island. Bombarding targets on the beach at 6:30 AM. After bombardment, assumed radar duties for the patrol force. Air attacks in the afternoon, no damage; four enemy planes shot down. Temperatures 80s, light winds.
May 28th: On patrol all day at Biak. No engagements during the day. Temperatures 80s. light breezes.
May 29th: Again on patrol all day at Biak. No engagements. Temperatures 80s. light breezes.
May 30th: Again on patrol all day at Biak. No engagements. Temperatures 70s-80s; breezy, winds up to 25 mph.
Biak Island was the next step in MacArthur's quick advance across New Guinea to the Philippines. It was about 200 miles beyond Wakde and near the western end of Papua New Guinea. The troops had actually got a little ahead of their air support, as heavy bombers could not land at the muddy airfields that were being constructed. This kind of leapfrogging, however, was keeping the Japanese in retreat and on the defensive.
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In
the Central Pacific, the various task forces for the invasion of the
Marianas were now in motion, moving toward the mid-month invasion of
Saipan, Tinian, and Guam.
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More Information:
- Official Navy Chronology, pp. 488-489.
- New Guinea and the Marianas, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 96-102, 157-169.
- War at the End of the World, James P. Duffy, pp, 317-327.
- Events of May, 1944
- Logbooks of the US Navy at the National Archives, USS Daly, DD-519, May 1944
NEXT POST: JUNE 3RD
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