In company with Task Unit 52.14.1, the
Irwin went from Pearl to Eniwetok arriving on June 9. Two days later, the Irwin was
helping in the pre-invasion attacks on Saipan in the Marianas. She was assigned as one of
the screening destroyers for a group of small escort carriers off the just recently
captured Marshall Islands.
The Marshall and Marianas islands located in the central Pacific were administered by
Japan under a mandate from the League of Nations following World War I.
The escort carriers concluded their attacks on Saipan on the 14th of June, one day
before the invasion. On D-day, the Irwin made two depth charge attacks on a sonar contact
with negative results.
A Japanese fleet moving to defend the islands was turned back over three days of
combat, June 19, 20 and 21 in an action that became known as the Battle of the Philippine
Sea. The Irwin participated in her first combat at this time.
After being beaten off by the big ships of the Fifth Fleet, remnants of the Japanese
carrier planes traversed the Irwin's escort carrier formation. A wild melee of air
and surface action began between US planes and ships and the Japanese aircraft. The
Irwin's guns knocked down one Kate torpedo plane with 40mm fire and got an assist on
another with her main 5 inch battery. The young sailors who made up the gun crews quickly
became veterans.
The lopsided air victories over these several days of the battle were referred to as
"the Marianas Turkey Shoot."
Throughout the remainder of the Marinas campaign, the Irwin bombarded the enemy on
Saipan - pounding Japanese positions for 8 straight days, from June 21 to 29. Also,
at this time, the commander of Destroyer Squadron 55 came aboard while his flagship the
Porterfield retired for repairs. The ship continued to guard the escort carriers and
performed the wide range of duties that are routinely assigned to destroyers.
On July 23, she participated in the invasion of Tinian near Saipan. The ship's
active involvement continued by providing shore bombardment in support of troops fighting
to retake Guam as well. Guam, while part of the Marianas was a US possession and not
included in Japan's prewar administration. It had been seized by Japanese forces
early in 1942. B-29 Superfortresses would soon be bombing Japan from bases in the
Marianas.
After the completion of the Marianas campaign the Irwin ended her
''apprenticeship" and joined the screen of the big fast attack carriers hitting enemy
bases in the western Caroline islands. The Carolines are made up of nearly 1,000 coral and
volcanic islands. The US was now preparing to retake the Philippines. But first another
island must be taken - Palau.
The battle for Palau Island was underway in late August, and as planes from the US
carriers cleared the skies, the task force moved westward for the first strikes on the
Philippines. On September 8, the task force struck at Mindanao.
The retaliatory air raids of the Japanese were unavailing and a powerful US naval force
roamed at will up and down the east coast of Mindanao. When Palau had been secured, the
task force raced eastward to the rear area, provisioned and then in a spectacular move,
slashed northward to the Ryukyus island chain to pound Okinawa. Formosa was hit next as
the task force struck another surprise and far reaching blow to cripple Japanese air power
in the area.
Off the enemy held Philippines, during an intensive air raid on the 14th of October,
the Irwin shot down a torpedo bomber in concert with the cruiser Reno. The next day, she
helped escort to safety the damaged cruisers Houston and Canberra, both of which had been
torpedoed off Formosa. She then rejoined the screen of fast attack carriers giving direct
air support to the liberation landings at Leyte on October 20, 1944.
That same day, the Japanese fleet began a complex three pronged approach toward the
Philippines and against the US Seventh and Third Fleets protecting the ships landing
troops. The second battle of the Philippines - the Battle for Leyte Gulf - was
shaping up. It would eventually involve four separate actions and become the largest naval
battle of all time.
