USS Kenneth Whiting (AV-14) was the lead ship of her class of seaplane tenders.
Seaplane tender USS Kenneth Whiting (AV-14) at anchor at an unknown location. She is painted in camouflage scheme Measure 32/8x and has a PB2Y "Coronado" on her after deck.
At 1830, 21 June, five hours after Major General Roy Geiger had declared Okinawa secured, a small group of kamikazes penetrated Kerama Retto. Kenneth Whiting knocked down a Ki-43 "Oscar" but part of the plane hit her, causing minor damage and wounding five men. However, she continued operations out of Okinawa for the rest of the war. During July her planes flew armed reconnaissance along the coasts of Japan, Korea, and China locating targets for 3rd Fleet raids.
USS Curtiss (AV-4)
The U.S. Navy seaplane tender USS Curtiss (AV-4) soon after her completion, in 1940.
USS Curtiss was at Pearl Harbor, 7 Dec 1941. She was struck at 09:05, she hit a Japanese plane which crashed into her No. 1 crane and burned. Three minutes later, she splashed a plane, then began firing at a dive bomber. A bomb from this plane struck Curtiss in the vicinity of her damaged crane and exploded below decks, setting the hangar and main decks and No. 4 handling room on fire, as the plane splashed off her port beam. Despite 19 dead and many wounded, Curtiss' crew quenched the fires, then turned to for emergency repairs.
On 21 June 1945, a kamikaze and its bomb ripped two holes in her hull and exploded on the third deck, killing 35 and wounding 21 of her crew. Effective damage control kept her afloat, and four days later she was underway for the west coast and an overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard.
Ashore - from Battle of Okinawa
On June 21, organized resistance came to an end in the 6th Marine Division zone, which encompassed the southern shore of the island. By then, Japanese troops were surrendering by the hundreds. The 1st Marine Division mounted its final attacks of the campaign, also on June 21, and reported by nightfall that all its objectives had been secured. The XXIV Corps made similar announcements. It thus fell to General Geiger to declare Okinawa secure following a bloody 82-day battle. The final official flag-raising ceremony on a Pacific War battlefield took place at the Tenth Army headquarters at 1000 hours, June 22, 1945. Earlier that morning, Ushijima and his chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Isamu Cho, committed ritual suicide.
