OCCUPATION OF BAKER ISLAND
The USS ASHLAND loaded into the docking well the following landing craft on 23 August, 1943 while
moored at berth M-4, PEARL HARBOR:   14 - LCM(3)  1 - DUKW   4 - LCVP  1 - 36'
Salvage Boat   2 - LVT   1 - 26' Surf Boat

The 14 LCM(3)'S were loaded with heavy landing field construction equipment when they
were floated into the dock. The two amphibian tractors were also floated in. The remainder of
the craft was hoisted in by ship's crane. No difficulties were experienced in loading.

The ship proceeded to sea with Task Force Eleven and arrived off Baker Island on 1 September, 1943.
The voyage was uneventful, standard speed was 13 knots

. Americans were moving into the friendly ELLICES north of FUNAFUTI and into Baker Island.
Between 18 and 28 August, elements of the VII Army Air Force and a battalion of Seabees,
conveyed by the carriers INDEPENCENCE and PRINCETON, occupied NUKUFETAU AND NANOMEA.
Work on airfields started immediately with equipment begged, borrowed and stolen from ESPIRITU SANTO, WALLIS , TUTUILA and HAWAII. NANOMEA, the more advanced of the two, had a bomber field with a
mile-long runway ready on 27 October and was already supporting an occupation and service force of 2300
men.

BAKER ISLAND offered a new and profitable staging point for air search and photo reconnaissance. This
tiny elliptical island, an American possession for almost a century, rises from great depths to mark the
Equator.

Rear Admiral WILLIS AGUSTUS LEE, in what must have seemed to him a strange sort of flagship,
naval freighter HERCULES, commanded a small task group which landed on BAKER, 1 September 1943,
an engineer battalion of the VII Army Air Force and other base troops. ASHLAND, first of the new LSDs,
brought up 23 landing craft preloaded with bulldozers in her womb-like dock, supposedly a snug harbor
for them to operate from. But the ground swell caused her to roll so heavily that the gear carried away
and her offspring, half full of water after sloshing around inside, had to be hoisted out by cranes - an LSD
Caesarian, as it were. Nor was that the end of their troubles. There is no bottom off Baker that ground
tackle can reach, and the current runs parallel to the lee shore; so the transports could unload only by
heaving-to broadside to the swell and lowering both men and cargo over the lee bulwarks, while ship and
landing craft rolled and drifted downwind together. LCM crews had not acquired sufficient seamanship
toenable them to cope with such conditions, and 11 out of 23 of these craft were sunk or damaged beyond
repair.

Participating in the occupation of BAKER ISLAND by 1 September, the ship successfully landed all cargo
and equipment. The ship's worst enemy during this mission was weather. Heavy seas carried away the
stern gate hoisting equipment. The occupation of BAKER ISLAND was a preliminary to the assault on
the Gilbert Islands." - (This account was supplied by J. Bruce Carroll from an unknown source. Bruce
was on ASHLAND from Pearl to BAKER ISLAND and then served as Beachmaster for the unloading.)

ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF THE BAKER ISLAND OCCUPATION
Ballasted down to take on LCM's loaded with bulldozers, cats, Jups, etc. Departed for the occupation of
BAKER ISLAND on 23 August in company with seven other vessels, TF 11, twelve minutes (distance)
north of the equator, arriving at BAKER ISLAND on 1 September, 1943.

"At dawn this morning sighted BAKER ISLAND, our destination. Later started unloading LCM's but ran
into a lot of trouble - water was rough. One boy got both legs crushed. Caught six sharks off fantail." DR

"Arriving at Baker, we found there was no lee to be had. The island itself was only one mile long,
by half a mile wide and highest elevation twelve feet -- some "Air Base" what!"

This was an unopposed landing and occupation of a strategic location near the Gilbert Islands.
Heavy seas carried away the stern gate hoisting gear. ASHLAND people figured out that heavy springs
were needed and the recoil spring from a 5 inch gun was used and made standard on all LSD's. No star
was awarded for this operation.

"Bear in mind, at this time our tail-gate was solid - no drainage of any kind - just dead weight. The swell
was too great to attempt to launch broadside to it so the only alternative was to keep streerageway on
and head directly into it."

"Well, we succeeded in getting all boats out after some tense moments then it happened -- an air raid
alert! The S.O.P. ordered all possible speed so way we went at all of 8 knots with the tail gate dragging.
Did you know that an LSD with a solid tailgate has almost no rudder control? Anyway, we didn't go very
far before the cables on the gate snapped as the ship was pitching considerably."
"The 'enemy' proved to be merely a reconnaissance plane so we went to work cutting and splicing new
cables for the gate. It took two days and nights before we finally got that - - - - gate up and secured.
A tough way to learn, but I guess it's always that way on a "Guinea Pig."

"Obviously, some kind of shock-absorber had to be built into the gate handling system. I think the Ships'
Carpenter and myself got the idea at the same instant -- the recoil cylinder from, say, a 5" gun to take up
the slack in the wire. We made a crude sketch of our idea and it got an enthusiastic O.K. at Pearl and
was installed in Jig time. We never worried about that gate again."

"The other thing we learned at Baker was to lash each 3-boat tier of LCM's tightly together and send them
out of the well as a unit. This is the only way when you have a surge in the water in the well." NEA

4 September, 1943, ASHLAND leaves BAKER ISLAND for KANTON, PHEONIX Islands with
wounded men aboard. The ship and crew cross the equator for the first time on 5 September, 1943.
Pollywogs are initiated by shellbacks into King Neptunes Court. Arrival at KANTON (one palm tree
on Island, formerly a Pan American seaplane base) on 6 September, 1943, tied up to dock, took
wounded man off. 7 September 1943, underway for BAKER ISLAND, cross Equator sometime during
the night.

ASHLAND returned to BAKER ISLAND on 8 September, 1943 (a runway was being built), began
repairing LCM's. "15 September, 1943, ballasted down to take on LCM's and other equipment.
BAKER ISLAND air field ready for planes." Underway again for PEARL HARBOR, 22 September,
but circled down south first because of submarine scare. Crossed equator twice more. "Hot"." DR

Returning to PEARL HARBOR, the ship loaded 18 LCM's plus Army troops and departed for
NOUMEA, NEW CALEDONIA on 19 October. On 26 October ASHLAND crosses the 180th Meridan
for the first time. Set clocks ahead one day. Arrived at NOUMEA on 31 October.