| In Europe by late March 1945, the Allied spring offensive was well underway. Allied troops had crossed the Rhine River into Germany. Soviet troops continued moving westward eventually meeting British and French troops at the Elbe River on April 26. | |
| At the same time U.S. and French troops surrounded the German army in Italy and forced it to surrender. The Nazi southern front had collapsed. On April 27 Mussolini was captured Italian Partisans and was executed the following day. On April 30, as Soviet forces were on the outskirts of Berlin, Hitler committed suicide. A military led caretaker government sought a separate peace with the Western Allies. By May 8 German armed forces surrendered unconditionally. The war in Europe was over and the United States began to shift its military priority to the Pacific. |
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| May 1 | Refueled. | * 250 miles E of Okinawa Jima (23-12 N 131-24 E) |
| May 2 | TCAP1 for Okinawa. VFN2 got a few bogies3 over tonight. | * 250 miles E of Okinawa Jima (26-37 N 129-34 E 1. TCAP - Target Combat Air Patrol 2. VFN - U.S. Navy Fighter 3. bogies - Enemy Aircraft |
| May 3 | TCAP1 for Okinawa. | 1. TCAP - Target Combat Air Patrol |
| May 4 | 0200 - 58.4 VFN1 splashed an Emily2. VFN got 5 bogies3 also. One pilot from Essex4 got 3 . CAP5 and strikes on Okinawa. Beach under attack, large raid. TF6 5 got 180. Essex CAP 38 - 300. Four DDs7 at beach were sunk. TF 58 has destroyed over 1000 planes since April 1st. | 1. VFN - U.S. Navy Fighter 2. Emily - Japanese Navy Patrol Bomber 3. bogies - Enemy Aircraft 4. U.S.S. Essex CV-9 5. CAP - Combat Air Control 6. TF - Task Force 7. DD - Destroyer |
| May 5 | Support strikes and TCAP1 for Okinawa. | 1. TCAP - Target Combat Air Patrol |
| May 6 | Refueled. | * 250 miles SE of Okinawa Jima (23-58 N 131-29 E) |
| May 7 | CAP1 and support of Okinawa. 1 Betty2 shot down 9 miles from force. Planes got a few bogies3 at target. | * 125 miles SE of Okinawa Jima (26-14 N 129-18 E) 1. CAP - Combat Air Patrol 2. Betty - Japanese Navy Bomber 3. bogie - Enemy aircraft |
| May 8 | Bad weather. No flights. |  |
| May 9 | Support Okinawa. | |
| May 10 | Refueled. | |
| May 11 | Support Okinawa. Had a few bogies1 last night. 10:15 Bunker Hill2 hit with two suicide planes. Few bogies approached near T.G.3 | * 75 miles E of Okinawa Jima (26-04 N 120-02 E) 1. bogie - Enemy aircraft 2. U.S.S. Bunker Hill CV-17 3. T.G. - Task Group |
| May 12 | 58.1 joined us. CAP1 and support Okinawa. 1 BM2 gunner strangled to death while working. Had bogies3 all night. Essex4 VFN5 got 3. | * 60 miles E of Okinawa Jima (25-53 N 129-51 E) 1. CAP - Combat Air Patrol 2. BM - Boatswain's Mate 3. bogie - Enemy aircraft 4. U.S.S. Essex CV-9 5. VFN - U.S. Navy Fighter |
| May 13 | Strikes on Kyushu. | |
| May 14 | Bogies1 all night. Had 11 raids all night. 0700 Enterprise2hit by bogie. CAP3 splashed a few. One dove on us. Splashed him 50 feet off port beam. Immediately after this, twin engine dove on us. He crashed in our wake. We threw up plenty of AA4. Several other bogies shot down. | 1. bogie - Enemy aircraft 2. U.S.S. Enterprise CV-6 3. CAP - Combat Air Patrol 4. AA - Anti-aircraft gunnery  Attack on Essex - Photo from CV-15 |
| May 15 | Refueled. Essex1 DDs2 at Okinawa took 4 bogies3. Shot down 15 planes. | * 200 miles SE of Okinawa Jima (24-03 N 130-03 E) 1. U.S.S. Essex CV-9 2. DDs - Destroyers 3. bogie - Enemy aircraft |
| May 17 -18 | Support to Okinawa. | * 80 miles E of Okinawa Jima (25-55 N 129-15 E) |
| May 19 | Refueled | * 200 miles E of Okinawa Jima (22-11 N 130-32 E) |
| May 20 | Support of Okinawa. | * 80 miles E of Okinawa Jima (26-16 N 129-14 E) |
| May 21 | Support of Okinawa. | |
| May 22 | Sank transport and 2 escort vessels. | |
| May 23 | Refueled. | * 150 miles E of Okinawa Jima (24-58 N 130-48 E) |
| May 24 | Support Okinawa. Snooper Myrt1 got away from CAP2. | * 80 miles E of Okinawa Jima (26-32 N 129-26 E) 1. Myrt - Japanese Navy Reconnaissance Plane 2. CAP - Combat Air Patrol |
| May 25 | Support Okinawa. Few snoopers last night. | |
| May 26 | Weather bad. No flight operations. | |
| May 27 | Refueled 1300. TF 58 changed to TF 381. | * 200 miles S of Okinawa Jima (22-49 N 129-10 E) 1. Task Force changed designation from 58 to 38 as Admiral Mitscher transfered command to Admiral Halsey. |
| May 28 | Support of Okinawa. | * 60 miles SE of Okinawa Jima (25-32 N 128-21 E) |
| May 29 | TCAP1 Okinawa. | 1. TCAP - Target Combat Air Patrol |
| May 30 | Enroute to Leyte. Gunnery exercise. | |
| May 31 | Enroute to Leyte. | |
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