Invasion of Lingayen Gulf

The Invasion of Lingayen Gulf (Filipino: Paglusob sa Golpo ng Lingayen), 6–9 January 1945, was an Allied amphibious operation in the Philippines during World War II. In the early morning of 6 January 1945, a large Allied force commanded by Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf began approaching the shores of Lingayen. U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy warships began bombarding suspected Japanese positions along the coast of Lingayen from their position in Lingayen Gulf for three days. On 9 January, the U.S. 6th Army landed on a 20 mi (32 km) beachhead between the towns of Lingayen and San Fabian.

For the Japanese campaign against the Philippines in the Lingayen Gulf, see Japanese invasion of Lingayen Gulf.

Invasion of Lingayen Gulf
Part of World War II, Pacific War
The U.S. Navy battleship USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) leading USS Colorado (BB-45) and the cruisers USS Louisville (CA-28)to the shores of Lingayen.
Date 6–9 January 1945 Location Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippines Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United States  Commonwealth of the Philippines  Australia	Japan  Second Philippine Republic
Commanders and leaders
Jesse B. Oldendorf Douglas MacArthur Walter Krueger	Tomoyuki Yamashita
Strength
: 875 + warships 203,608 soldiers : 1 heavy cruiser	Unknown
Casualties and losses
24 ships sunk 67 ships damaged (Entire Luzon campaign and Mindoro Is.) (13 Dec 44-13 Jan 45)[1]	Unknown

Background

During World War II, the Lingayen Gulf proved a strategically important theater of war between American and Japanese forces. On 22 December 1941, the Japanese 14th Army—under Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma—landed on the Eastern part of the gulf at Agoo, Caba, Santiago and Bauang, where they engaged in a number of relatively minor skirmishes[2] with the defenders, which consisted of a poorly equipped contingent of predominantly American and Filipino troops, and managed to successfully invade and occupy the gulf. Following the defeat, the next day General Douglas MacArthur issued the order to retreat from Luzon and withdraw to Bataan. For the next three years, the gulf remained under Japanese occupation prior to the Lingayen Gulf Landings.

Operations

USS Columbia is attacked by a kamikaze off Lingayen Gulf, 6 January 1945.

The kamikaze aircraft hits Columbia at 17:29.

Beginning on 6 January 1945, a heavy naval and air bombardment of suspected Japanese defenses on Lingayen began. Underwater demolitions began, but found no beach obstacles, and encountered sparse opposing forces. Aircraft and naval artillery bombardment of the landing areas also occurred, with kamikazes attacking on the 7th. On the 8th, it was observed that in the town of Lingayen, as a response to the pre-landing bombardment, Filipinos had begun to form a parade, complete with United States and Philippine flags; fire was shifted away from that area.[3]

At 09:30 on 9 January 1945, about 68,000 GIs under General Walter Krueger of the U.S. 6th Army—following a devastating naval bombardment—landed at the coast of Lingayen Gulf meeting no opposition. A total of 203,608 soldiers were eventually landed over the next few days, establishing a 20 mi (32 km) beachhead, stretching from Sual, Lingayen and Dagupan (XIV Corps) to the west, and San Fabian (I Corps) to the east. The total number of troops under the command of MacArthur was reported to have even exceeded the number that Dwight D. Eisenhower controlled in Europe.[4] Within a few days, the assault forces had quickly captured the coastal towns and secured the 20-mile-long (32 km) beachhead, as well as penetrating up to five miles (8 km) inland.

Despite their success in driving out the Japanese forces stationed there, they suffered relatively heavy losses; particularly to their convoys, due to kamikaze attacks. From December 13, 1944 - January 13, 1945, a total of 24 ships were sunk and another 67 were damaged by kamikazes, though this number includes landings on Luzon, outside of Lingayen Gulf, and the Philippine island of Mindoro. Ships damaged included the battleships USS Mississippi, New Mexico and Colorado (the latter was accidentally hit by friendly fire), the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia, the light cruiser USS Columbia, and the destroyers USS Long and USS Hovey.[4] Following the landings, the Lingayen Gulf was turned into a vast supply depot for the rest of the war to support the Battle of Luzon.

Naval vessels damaged at Lingayen Gulf

Following are the allied Naval vessels damaged and sunk by kamikaze strikes between 3-13 January, 1945 at the Battle of Lingayen Gulf. Two of the ships were not technically damaged by kamikazes, the Destroyer/Minesweepers Hovey, which was sunk by an aerial torpedo, and the Palmer which was sunk by two bombs from an enemy dive bomber. The third Destroyer/Minesweeper sunk, the Long, was sunk by a kamikaze strike. Hovey, Long, and Palmer, three of the four ships sunk, were all classified as Destroyer/Minesweepers and were relatively small craft at 314 feet in length.

The Omanney Bay, a large escort carrier, was severely damaged by a Yokosuka P1Y kamikaze carrying two bombs, and later had to be scuttled by a torpedo. Although a large variety of ship classes were hit, Destroyer/Minesweepers made up three of the four ships sunk, and may have been targeted because they were smaller, isolated while performing their sweeping duties, and by necessity in the front of the convoy, as they had to sweep for mines before the larger ships of the allied force could advance into the Gulf. The naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison noted that at least on January 6, minesweepers bore the brunt of the attack because they were isolated from other ships, and had fewer and less sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons than larger ships. By January 12, most of the ships hit were larger cargo ships supplying troops that had already landed.[5]

Nearly all the ships were American, except those designated by HMAS for ships in the British commonwealth, or SS for Liberty Ships, usually operated by America's Merchant Marines. Those ships struck more than once have a number in parenthesis to the right of the name of the ship. An asterisk indicates a ship that was sunk. Time is in Naval military time.

Naval vessels damaged and sunk by kamikazes at Lingayen Gulf, 3-13 Jan 1945[6]
Day	Time	Ship	Type	Damage	Killed	Wounded
3 Jan 1945	0728	USS Cowanesque	Transport Oiler	Minor	2	1
3 Jan 1945	1712	*USS Ommaney Bay	Escort Carrier	Sunk (Scuttled)	93	65
5 Jan 1945	1651	USS Helm	Destroyer	Minor	0	6
5 Jan 1945	1706	USS Louisville (1)	Heavy Cruiser	Moderate	1	59
5 Jan 1945	1735	HMAS Australia (1)	Heavy Cruiser	Minor	30	46
5 Jan 1945	1735	HMAS Arunta	Destroyer	Minor	2	4
5 Jan 1945	1739	USS Apache	Fleet Tug	Minor	0	3
5 Jan 1945	1740	USS LCI-(G)-70	Small Troop Carrier	Moderate	6	9
5 Jan 1945	1745	USS Manilla Bay	Escort Carrier	Moderate	32	56
5 Jan 1945	1750	USS Savo Island	Escort Carrier	Negligible	0	0
6 Jan 1945	1105	USS Alan M. Sumner	Destroyer	Extensive	14	29
6 Jan 1945	1145	USS Richard P. Leary	Destroyer	Minor	0	1
6 Jan 1945	1159	USS New Mexico	Battleship	Minor	30	87
6 Jan 1945	1201	USS Walke	Destroyer Escort	Extensive	13	34
6 Jan 1945	1215	*USS Long	Destroyer/Minesweeper	Sunk	1	35
6 Jan 1945	1252	USS Brooks	Destroyer Transport	Extensive	3	11
6 Jan 1945	1424	USS Columbia	Light Cruiser	Minor	0	1
6 Jan 1945	1427	USS O'Brien	Destroyer	Moderate	0	0
6 Jan 1945	1437	USS Minneapolis	Heavy Cruiser	Minor	0	2
6 Jan 1945	1545	USS Orca	Oiler Transport	Minor	0	4
6 Jan 1945	1720	USS California	Battleship	Minor	45	151
6 Jan 1945	1720	USS Newcomb	Destroyer	Minor	2	15
6 Jan 1945	1729	USS Columbia (2)	Light Cruiser	Extensive	13	44
6 Jan 1945	1730	USS Louisville (2)	Heavy Cruiser	Extensive	32	56
6 Jan 1945	1732	USS Southard	Destroyer/Minesweeper	Moderate	0	6
6 Jan 1945	1734	HMAS Australia (2)	Heavy Cruiser	Serious	14	26
7 Jan 1945	0430	*USS Hovey	Destroyer/Minesweeper	Sunk	46	3
7 Jan 1945	1835	*USS Palmer	Destroyer/Minesweeper	Sunk	28	38
8 Jan 1945	0545	USS LST-912	Tank Landing Ship	Minor	4	3
8 Jan 1945	0720	HMAS Australia (3)	Heavy Cruiser	Minor	0	0
8 Jan 1945	0739	HMAS Australia (4)	Heavy Cruiser	Extensive	0	0
8 Jan 1945	0751	USS Kadashan Bay	Escort Carrier	Serious	0	3
8 Jan 1945	0755	USS Callaway	Large Attack Transport	Minor	29	22
8 Jan 1945	1857	USS Kitkun Bay	Escort Carrier	Extensive	17	36
8 Jan 1945	1903	HMAS Westralia	Large Troop Carrier	Minor	0	0
9 Jan 1945	0700	USS Hodges	Destroyer Escort	Minor	0	0
9 Jan 1945	0745	USS Columbia (3)	Light Cruiser	Serious	24	68
9 Jan 1945	1302	USS Mississippi	Battleship	Minor	23	63
9 Jan 1945	1311	HMAS Australia (5)	Heavy Cruiser	Minor	0	0
10 Jan 1945	1710	USS Le Ray Wilson	Destroyer Escort	Extensive	6	7
10 Jan 1945	1915	USS Du Page	Large Attack Transport	Minor	32	157
12 Jan 1945	1658	USS Gilligan	Destroyer Escort	Extensive	12	13
12 Jan 1945	1727	USS Richard W. Suesens	Destroyer Escort	Slight	0	11
12 Jan 1945	753	USS Belknap	Destroyer Transport	Extensive	38	49
12 Jan 1945	1815	USS LST-700 (1)	Tank Landing Ship	Extensive	0	6
12 Jan 1945	1250	SS Otis Skinner	Liberty Ship Cargo	Extensive	0	0
12 Jan 1945	1830	SS Kyle V. Johnson	Liberty Ship Cargo	Extensive	129	0
12 Jan 1945	1830	USS LST-778	Tank Landing Ship	None	0	0
12 Jan 1945	1830	SS David Dudley Field	Liberty Ship, Cargo	Minor	0	0
12 Jan 1945	1830	SS Edward N. Wescott	Liberty Ship, Cargo	Substantial	0	13
13 Jan 1945	1810	USS LST-700 (2)	Tank Landing Ship	Extensive	2	2
13 Jan 1945	1821	USS Zeilin	Large Attack Transport	Extensive	8	32
13 Jan 1945	858	USS Salamaua	Escort Carrier	Extensive	15	88

Commemoration

On 9 January 2008, Gov. Amado Espino, Jr. and Vice Gov. Marlyn Primicias-Agabas of Pangasinan institutionalized the commemoration to honor the war veterans. The resolution named 9 January as Pangasinan Veterans' Day. In the 63rd anniversary commemoration of the Lingayen Gulf Landing, President Fidel Ramos appealed to U.S. President George W. Bush for 24,000 surviving war veterans, to pass two legislative bills pending since 1968 at the US House of Representatives — the Filipino Veterans' Equity Act of 2006 and the Filipino Veterans' Equity of 2005 sponsored by former Senator Daniel Inouye.[7]

References

1. Smith, Robert Ross (1993). Triumph in the Philippines (PDF). Washington, D.C.: United States Army. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-4102-2495-8. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
2. Encyclopedia of American History
3. Smith, Robert Ross (1993). Triumph in the Philippines (PDF). Washington, D.C.: United States Army. pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-1-4102-2495-8. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
4. Pacific wrecks – Lingayan Gulf
5. Morison, Samuel, Eliot, The Liberation of the Philippines, Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944-45, (Copyright 1959), published in 2001, Castle Books, Edison, New Jersey, pgs. 109, 113
6. All information is public domain from United States Navy, but table format and structure is borrowed from Morison, Samuel, Eliot, The Liberation of the Philippines, Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944-45, (Copyright 1959), published in 2001, Castle Books, Edison, New Jersey, Appendix IV pgs. 325-26
7. Abs-Cbn Interactive, 63rd anniversary of Lingayen Gulf Landing commemorated