1945 Map of East Asia w/ Manuscript U.S.S. Saratoga's Final WWII Combat Voyage

This is a 1945 manuscript annotated map of the final Pacific World War II combat voyage of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Saratoga. The map, executed by an unknown member of Saratoga's crew, features manuscript annotation that chronicles the Saratoga's movements from February 14, 1945 through February 22, 1945.

The Annotations

The unknown annotator marks the ship's position in 'military time' (24-hour clock) and provides short commentary on events. These include the attack on Japan on February 16-17, 1945 and notes on enemy aircraft and ships destroyed by the Saratoga or accompanying vessels. Detailed notes surrounding Saratoga's participation in the invasion of Iwo Jima appear just to the right of center, including its arrival on station the day before the invasion (February 18), H-Hour (0900 2-19-45), a 'Dinah' downed by the Enterprise on February 20, and five downed enemy planed on February 21. Perhaps the most noteworthy comment, however, surrounds the attack suffered by Saratoga on February 21. The notation reads 'Big attack 1700 three suicide planes two bomb hits one or two torpedoes'. Saratoga somehow survived this devastating attack, although her forward flight deck was damaged to the point that planes could only take off or land from the aft section of her flight deck. Saratoga immediately headed for Pearl Harbor, and from them continued on to the Puget Sound Navy Yard.

A Short History of the U.S.S. Saratoga

The U.S.S. Saratogawas originally authorized as a Lexington-class battlecruiser in 1916, but her construction was put on hold to prioritize anti-submarine vessels in World War I. Saratoga was laid down by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation on September 25, 1940, but, because of the 1922 Washington Naval Conference, her construction was suspended with just twenty-eight percent complete. The navy decided to convert the ship into an aircraft carrier and it was redesignated CV-3. Saratoga was launched April 7, 1925 and was assigned to the Pacific Squadron, where she spent the entirety of her naval career. Saratoga was entering San Diego Harbor when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. She left for Hawaii the following morning with a full complement of airplanes. After stopping at Pearl Harbor, she continued on defend Wake Island but was too late to prevent the Japanese invasion. Over the next four years of the Pacific War, Saratoga participated in the Guadalcanal Campaign, the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, and the invasion of the Marshall Islands, surviving two torpedo strikes and being refitted several times.

The Iwo Jima Campaign

Saratoga departed Pearl Harbor on January 29, 1945, to rendezvous with the U.S.S. Enterprise and joint Task Group 58. Saratoga and Enterprise formed a night fighter task group. Night flight operations during World War II were particularly difficult, especially from aircraft carriers. The Task Group then sailed to Japan, where they led diversionary strikes on the Japanese home islands on February 16 and 17. This map's creator covers this strike in detail and states that 509 planes were destroyed, along with one carrier, one destroyer, and thirty-three patrol boats. He also notes that air operations were successfully completed at 2000 hours on February 17. Saratoga provided air cover for the group while Enterprise's air group launched attacks on Japan. Saratoga was then ordered south to Iwo Jima to cover the Marine landings. She arrived off Iwo Jima the day before the invasion and offered air cover for the Marines. The following day, due to low cloud cover and a weak escort (aircraft carriers were considered incredibly valuable assets and were protected from air attack by other ships - Saratoga's escort at the time numbered only three destroyers), Saratoga was hit by five bombs and three kamikaze attacks. She also suffered at least one torpedo hit. This attack wrecked her flight deck and her hanger deck was gutted by fires. 123 crew members were killed or missing with a further two hundred wounded. Saratoga was immediately sent to the west coast for repairs and called at Pearl Harbor along the way.

Saratoga's career after Iwo Jima

Saratoga arrived at Bremerton, Washington, on March 16 and was not declared fit to return to service until May 20. During her time at Bremerton, the outdated Saratoga was converted into a training vessel. This is how Saratoga ended the war, training air crews for deployment on other aircraft carriers. By the end of her 17-year career, Saratoga's aviators had set a record for most carrier landings, 98,549. Her crew also set a record for most landings in a day, 643. Saratoga ended her life as one of the ships sunk at Bikini Atoll during the test of the effects of atomic bomb on ships.

Saratoga's Profile

Two manuscript additions to this archive include a manuscript illustration of Saratoga from the starboard side, the port side, and above. The view from above also marks the carrier's elevators, used for moving aircraft from the hanger deck to the flight deck. Saratoga's guns are illustrated, and the illustrator differentiates between the four different types of gun. The illustrator also marks the damage suffered by Saratoga on February 21, with the two holes in the flight deck and the two holes in the starboard side.

Task Force 58

Another interesting piece of this collection is a handwritten list of the one hundred ships that participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima (codenamed Task Force 58). The list is broken up into groups based on types of ships: aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, tankers, and escort destroyers. The carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers are listed by name, but the twenty-three tankers and three escort destroyers remain unnamed. An note appears near the bottom, 'Note: This List to be destroyed by burning not later than 0900 the 11th day of February 1945.'

About the Annotator

The previous comment, regarding the destruction of the list of ships in the Task Force, suggests that, although this information is readily available today, that we are dealing with someone who had extremely high clearance. Lower ranking members of the crews of any of these ships would not have needed to know how many ships were involved, much less which ships. The fact that this identifies by name the carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers involved in the operation presents specific information that would have been available to only a select few. The fact that this list accompanies a detailed map of the movements of the U.S.S. Saratoga underscores that the maker must have been a high-ranking crewmember of the Saratoga.

A Document Archive

This map, the profile sketches of the Saratoga, and the list of Task Force 58, are all accompanied by a document archive relating to the Saratoga. The bulk of the archive consists of newspaper clippings about the Saratoga from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that was most likely compiled by Mrs. E. Hoppenyon, whose name appears on an envelope in the archive. Two newsletters from when Saratoga was in Washington in 1944 are part of the archive as well. A handful of portraits of soldiers and sailors appear as well, as does one 5 x 6.75 inch photograph of the U.S.S. Saratoga. The menu from the Saratoga's victory dinner on August 15, 1945 is part of the collection.

Publication History and Census

The manuscript-annotated map of Saratoga's movements during the Iwo Jima Campaign was drawn on a map created and published by the Joint Intelligence Center Pacific Operations Area (JICPOA) and printed by the 64th Engineer Topographic Battalion. Given the nature of this collection, it is unlikely that anything resembling this content will appear on the market again. For a World War II collector, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.