Fechteler, William Morrow, ADM

Other Memories
The first attempt to operate a multi-carrier group as a strike force occured on August 23, 1943 when the carriers Essex (CV-9), Yorktown (CV-10), and Independence (CVL-22) along with ten destroyers, two cruisers and the battleship Indiana (BB-58) were grouped together to form Taskforce 15. By August 31st the taskforce was in striking posistion 130 miles north of Marcus Island. Home to a Japanese airfield and weather station, Marcus Island, was quickly desimated by the suprise air attack.

Following the Marcus Island raid INDIANA returned to Pearl Harbor, where she was drydocked for 16 days.

On 21 October 1943 she left Pearl Harbor with the support forces designated for the invasion of the Gilbert Islands, arriving in the Fiji Islands on 07 November 1943. Four days later, however, the battleship was again underway, with rear Admiral Lee now Commander, Battleships, Pacific, in company with other units of BatDivs 8 and 9. On the 16th, the battlewagons and their screens joined. Rear Admiral C. A. "Baldy" Pownall's TG 50.1, Rear Admiral Pownall flying his two-starred flag in Yorktown (CV-10), the namesake of the carrier lost at Midway. The combined force then proceeded toward the Gilbert Islands to join in the daily bombings of Japanese positions in the Gilberts and Marshalls- softening them up for impending assault. On the 19th, the planes from TG 50.1 attacked Mili and Jaluit in the Marshalls, continuing those strikes through 20 November, the day upon which Navy, Marine, and Army forces landed on Tarawa and Makin in the Gilberts. On the 22d, the task group sent its planes against Mili in successive waves; subsequently, the group steamed to operate north of Makin.

It was at Tarawa that she shot down her first plane. She was with the northern group of our forces, near Makin Island, when enemy torpedo bombers from the Marshalls attacked. They came in at dusk from the east, leaving the ships of the task force silhouetted against the western sun, and against flares that other Japs had dropped. The torpedo planes came in low, just off the water, with INDIANA s guns sending up a terrific barrage. She made her first kill when one of the enemy planes made the mistake of coming too close to her.

Indiana rendezvoused with other carrier groups that composed TF 50 on 25 November and, during the reorganization that followed, was assigned to TG 50.4, the fast carrier task group under the command of Rear Admiral Frederick C. "Ted" Sherman. The carriers comprising the core of the group were Bunker Hill (CV-17) and Monterey (CVL-26); the battleships screening them were Alabama (BB-60), South Dakota (BB-57) in addition to the the Indiana. Eight destroyers rounded out the screen.

The group operated north of Makin, providing air, surface, and antisubmarine protection for the unfolding unloading operations at Makin, effective on 26 November. Enemy planes attacked the group on the 27th and 28th but were driven off without inflicting any damage on the fast carrier task forces.

As the Gilbert Islands campaign drew to a close, TG 50.8 was formed on 6 December 1943, under Rear Admiral Lee, in Washington. Other ships of that group included North Carolina (BB-55), Massachusetts (BB-59), Indiana (BB-58), South Dakota (BB-57), and Alabama (BB-60) and the Fleet carriers Bunker Hill and Monterey. Eleven destroyers screened the heavy ships. The group first steamed south and west of Ocean Island to take position for the scheduled air and surface bombardment of the island of Nauru, the rich little phosphate island the Japs had stolen from the British. Before dawn on 8 December, the carriers launched their strike groups while the bombardment force formed in column; 135 rounds of 16-inch fire from the six battleships fell on the enemy installations on Nauru; and, upon completion of the shelling, the battleships secondary batteries took their turn; two planes from each battleship spotted the fall of shot. After a further period of air strikes had been flown off against Nauru, the task group sailed for Efate, where they arrived on 12 December. On that day, due to a change in the highest command echelons, TF 57 became TF 37. 1944

On 19 January 1944 the battleship, along with the rest of the task group, put to sea to make rendezvous with elements of TF 58, the fast carrier task force under the overall command of Vice Admiral Marc A. "Pete" Mitscher. Becoming part of TG 58.1, Indiana screened the fast carriers in her group as they launched air strikes on Taroa and Kwajalein in the waning days of January 1944. Indiana, together with Massachusetts and Washington; left the formation with four destroyers as screen and shelled Kwajalein Atoll on the 30th. Further air strikes followed the next day