OS23U_recovered_by_USS_Baltimore.jpg
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| Vought OS2U-3 "Kingfisher" is recovered by USS Baltimore after she had rescued Lieutenant George M. Blair from Truk Lagoon, 1944-02-18. Blair's F6F "Hellcat", of Fighting Squadron Nine from USS Essex, had been shot down over Truk.
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| Attack on Truk
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| Conflict | World War II, Pacific War
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| Date | 17 February 1944 – 18 February 1944
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| Place | Truk, Caroline Islands
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| Result | Decisive American victory
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| Combatants
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| United States
| Japan
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| Commanders
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| Marc A. Mitscher
| Chuichi Hara
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| Strength
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| 9 carriers, 45 other warships, 10 submarines, 589 planes
| 3 cruisers, 8 destroyers, ? other warships, 50 merchant ships, 350 planes
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| Casualties
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| 1 carrier damaged, 25 planes destroyed
| 3 cruisers sunk, 6 destroyers sunk, 3 other warships sunk, 32 merchant ships sunk, 250 planes destroyed
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In World War II, Operation Hailstone was a massive naval air attack launched on 17 February and 18 February, 1944 against the Japanese naval and air base on Truk in the Caroline Islands. Truk was the main Japanese base in the Central Pacific and the only major airbase within range of the Marshall Islands. To ensure air and naval superiority for the invasion of Eniwetok Admiral Raymond Spruance ordered an attack on Truk.
Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's Task Force 58 had five fleet carriers
(Enterprise,
Yorktown,
Essex,
Intrepid, and
Bunker Hill)
and four light carriers
(Belleau Wood,
Cabot,
Monterey, and
Cowpens),
embarking more than 500 planes.
In two air strikes, American dive and torpedo bombers sank three Japanese cruisers
(Agano,
Katori, and
Naka),
six destroyers
(Oite,
Fumizuki,
Maikaze,
Hagio,
Isogu, and
Tachikaze),
three other warships and 32 merchant ships. Over 250 aircraft were destroyed, mostly on the ground.
The attackers lost only twenty-five aircraft, the USS Intrepid was hit by an aerial torpedo and damaged. The attack on Truk has often been compared to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The book Hailstorm Over Truk Lagoon describes the wrecks of the lagoon.
External links
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