As in previous amphibious landings, the workhorses of this fire support mission were the venerable “OBBs”—the “old battleships”—several of which had been knocked out of action in the raid on Pearl Harbor, and later salvaged and rebuilt. Too slow to operate with the carrier task forces, but still packing a tremendous punch, they were commanded by Rear Admiral Morton L. Deyo, whose fire support group included nine cruisers, twenty-three destroyers, and 117 LCI gunboats armed with rockets and mortars.
