USS Eldorado (AGC-11) - 1945

1945

After rehearsal landings in Hawaii, the command ship sailed on 27 January 1945 for the Marianas and further preparations for the assault on Iwo Jima. She also carried General Holland Smith, USMC, and his staff, and Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal and his party when she sailed from Saipan on 16 February for Iwo Jima. From 19 February to 9 March, Eldorado lay off Iwo Jima, her distinguished passengers directing operations ashore and afloat. She served as headquarters for war correspondents, and broadcasted directly from the beachhead to the people at home through her facilities. Through the critical period of this bloody and arduous operation, she carried out her duties as flagship and operations center with effective thoroughness.

Arriving at Guam on 12 March 1945, Eldorado embarked Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner, USA, Commanding General of the 10th Army, then after rehearsals at Leyte in the Philippines, hove to off the Hagushi Beaches, Okinawa, for the initial invasion landings on 1 April. Here she carried out with equal distinction the same type of duties she had performed at Iwo Jima. Since both the Commander, Air Support Control Unit, and the Force Fighter Director Officer were embarked, Eldorado's combat information center was the central unit in the air defense against the day and night air raids. General Buckner and his staff debarked on 18 April to establish headquarters on the island itself, and until the ship's departure on 18 May, she was visited by several distinguished guests, including Admirals Chester W. Nimitz, William F. Halsey, Jr., and Raymond A. Spruance, and the noted war correspondent Ernie Pyle.