War in the Pacific

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Sea Power and Maritime Affairs
Lesson 12 The US Navy in the Pacific, 1941-1945
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Learning Objectives

• Comprehend the political and economic forces that
  led Japan to strike at Pearl Harbor and the Far
  East.
• Comprehend the Japanese strategy for an early
  victory and their concept of the postwar Pacific
  power balance.
• Comprehend the impact of Pearl Harbor and the
  subsequent Battles of Coral Sea and Midway on the
  transformation of the aircraft carrier's role in
  naval warfare.
• Know the significant highlights of the evolution
  of US operational strategy in the Pacific,
  including major battles or campaigns and
  instances where strategy was flawed or ambiguous.
• Know the strategic significance of the employment
  and refinement of amphibious landing tactics by
  the US Navy and US Marine Corps.
• Comprehend the reasons the geopolitical world
  order was changed as a result of Japans actions
  in striking at the Western powers in 1941.

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Background Information

• Japanese-American Relations tense Japan
  challenged Americas Open Door policy by
  attacking Manchuria in 1931.
• In 1937, Japanese expansion in China resulted in
  attack on American gunboat, the Panay, by
  Japanese aircraft.
• Roosevelt adopted economic sanctions leading to
  an oil embargo by Americans, British and Dutch
  (July 1941)

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Background Information

• The Japanese struck for the oil-rich Dutch East
  Indies(Indonesia), Singapore, and the surrounding
  British-owned Malaya, Thailand, the Philippines,
  and Hong Kong.
• The Japanese camouflaged their plans with
  diplomatic negotiations in Washington. The
  United States expected an assault somewhere in
  the Pacific because cryptanalysts, in a technique
  called Magic, had broken the Japanese
  Diplomatic Code.

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Background Information

• The attack on Pearl Harbor surprised the
  Americans, who had not anticipated a strike so
  far east or one mounted solely by carrier-born
  aircraft.

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Pearl Harbor
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Pearl Harbor Japans Plan

• Southern drive into Indochina and Dutch East
  Indies for oil.
• Strike at Philippines and Singapore to knock out
  local American and British Forces.

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Pearl Harbor Japanese Plans

• Attack on Pearl Harbor conceived by Admiral
  Yamamoto
• Great risk U.S. would surely enter the war.
• Greater potential gain U.S. Pacific Fleet would
  be knocked out of the war.
• Japan would then consolidate gains throughout
  China and the Pacific.
• Possibility of U.S. agreeing to Japanese
  territorial gains to make peace.
• Good possibility of U.S. involvement in Europe as
  well.
• Will drain naval resources from Pacific Ocean.
• U.S. Atlantic Fleet already involved in convoy
  escort against U-boats.

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Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

• Commander in Chief
• Japanese Combined Fleet
• Wounded at Tsushima Strait
• Lived in the United States
• Boston - Studied English
• Washington D.C. - Naval Attaché
• Against war with the U.S.
• Demanded Pearl Harbor Attack
• Destruction of U.S. Pacific Fleet

September 1940 If I am told to fight
regardless of the consequences, I shall run wild
for the first six months or a year, but I have
utterly no confidence for the second or third
year.
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The Attack

• Six newest and largest Japanese carriers at core
  of striking force
• Sortie from Kuriles, rendezvous 7 Dec, 200 miles
  N of Pearl Harbor
• Launched 183 aircraft at 0600, strike 0755
• 90 of damage inflicted by 0825

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The Attack
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U.S. Pacific Fleet - Pearl Harbor

• No clear warning from Washington.
• Intercepts did not identify Pearl Harbor as a
  target.
• Slow communications between Washington and
  Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
• Battleships in berths at Pearl for weekend
  liberty.
• Battleship Row
• Carriers Lexington and Enterprise delivering
  aircraft to Midway and Wake Islands.
• Yamamoto - Climb Mount Niitaka message to
  Vice Admiral Nagumo to commence attack.

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Pearl Harbor

• 7 December 1941
• Tora Tora Tora

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Aftermath of Pearl Harbor

• Battleship fleet effectively destroyed
• Carriers survive and become new capital ships
• Submarines, repair facilities, and oil tanks also
  left unharmed by attack
• Result generally not anticipated by American
  naval planners before Pearl Harbor
• Naval tactics change to support carrier strikes
• Circular formations developed to protect carriers

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Aftermath of Pearl Harbor

• U.S. declares war on Japan
• Day of Infamy - Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• Hitler declares war on the U.S.
• American public opinion changes in favor of war

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To war we go...
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Continued Japanese Attacks

• Malay Peninsula attacked - December 1941
• British battleships HMS Repulse and Prince of
  Wales sunk
• 10 December 1941
• Guam taken
• 10 December 1941
• Wake Island
• First Invasion repulsed 8 December 1941
• Taken 23 December 1941

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Continued Japanese Attacks

• Hong Kong - 25 December 1941
• Thailand, Philippines, Borneo invaded in December
  1942
• Singapore - 15 February 1942
• Further attacks?
• Southwest Pacific New Guinea and Australia
• Central Pacific and northern Pacific Midway and
  Aleutian Islands

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Continued Japanese Advance

• Burma
• Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) - Southern
  Resources Area
• Rich in oil
• ABDA naval forces (Australia-Britain-Dutch-Ameri
  can)
• Defeated at the Battle of the Java Sea - 27
  February 1942
• Now the Japanese had all of the oil they needed
• Provided they could keep their SLOC open

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The Phillipines

• Initial strike on 8 December 1941 destroys U.S.
  aircraft
• General Douglas MacArthur evacuates Manila
• Retreats to Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor
  Island
• 12 March - MacArthur evacuates with family to
  Australia under orders from FDR in a Navy patrol
  boat - I shall return
• General Jonathan M. Wainwright - Surrender of
  U.S. and Filipino forces on 6 May 1942 leads to
  the Bataan Death March
• Filipino resistance against Japanese occupation
  continues

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U.S. Defensive Organization/ Plans

• Admiral Chester W. Nimitz relieves Kimmel as
  Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet
• Nimitz - Commander in Chief Pacific Ocean Areas
• Includes North, Central, and South Pacific Areas
• MacArthur - Commander in Chief Southwest Pacific
  Area
• Australia, New Guineau, East Indies, and
  Philippines
• Fleet elements in this zone remained under
  Nimitz's control

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U.S. Defensive Organization/ Plans

• Controversial command structure
• No common superior -- two separate wars in the
  Pacific
• Overwhelming U.S. industrial and logistical
  superiority
• Allows divided command until forces converge on
  Philippines in 1944

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Fleet AdmiralErnest J. King

• Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet (COMINCH)
• Chief of Naval Operations (March 1942)
• Proponent of changing previously agreed upon
  Germany First strategy and moving resources to
  the Pacific theatre of war.

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I SHALL RETURN!
General Douglas McArthur
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Fleet AdmiralChester W. Nimitz

• Commander in Chief
• U.S. Pacific Fleet
• and
• Pacific Ocean Areas
• World War II

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• Fleet Admiral
• William F. Bull Halsey
• Carrier strikes on Gilberts and Marshalls.
• 1 February 1942
• USS Saratoga torpedoed by Japanese submarine.

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U.S. Air Raid on Tokyo April 1942

• Halsey commands Task Force 16
• Hornet and Enterprise
• Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle - B-25
  Mitchells
• Army Air Corps bombers allow greater range
• Unable to return to land on carriers
• China used as landing area
• Early launch caused by sighting by Japanese
  pickets
• Increase in American morale
• FDR Attack was launched from Shangri-La
• Erases Japanese resistance to Yamamotos Midway
  plan

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Battle of the Coral Sea 4-8 May 1942

• Japanese attempt to cut communication to
  Australia
• Port Moresby in New Guinea
• Island of Tulagi
• Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher
• Commands Task Force 17
• Pure carrier engagement first in history
• Lexington sunk and Yorktown damaged

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Battle of the Coral Sea

• Japanese carrier Shoho sunk
• Zuikaku and Shokaku damaged - unavailable at
  Midway
• Japanese tactical victory
• Took more kills
• U.S. strategic victory
• Japanese advance temporarily halted

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Japanese Carrier Shokaku
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USS Lexington (CV2)
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Battle of Midway 3-6 June 1942
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Battle of Midway3-6 June 1942

• Yamamotos objective
• Lure out and destroy U.S. carrier forces
• Carrier raid and invasion backed by entire
  Japanese Combined Fleet
• Yamamoto divides his forces
• Overly confident
• Two carriers and invasion force attack the
  Aleutians
• They STILL have an overwhelming force

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U.S. Disadvantages and Advantages

• Heavily outnumbered
• Inferior aircraft susceptible to attacks by
  Japanese Zeros
• Airfield on Midway Island - unsinkable carrier
• Interception and decoding of Japanese
  communications
• Virtually complete information regarding
  Yamamoto's fleet, tactical disposition, and
  routes of approach.
• Radar

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Commanders

• Nimitz - Overall command from Pearl Harbor
• Halsey ill, replaced by Rear Admiral Raymond A.
  Spruance
• Fletcher - Tactical command from repaired
  Yorktown
• Yamamoto - Overall command aboard battleship
  Yamato
• Nagumo - Carrier Striking Force
• Japanese Zero aircraft technologically
  superior.
• Early Japanese advantage - U.S. attacks are
  repulsed.

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AdmiralChuichi Nagumo

• Commander
• Japanese
• Carrier Striking Force
• Battle of Midway

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Rear AdmiralFrank Jack Fletcher

• Commander
• Task Force 17
• USS Yorktown (CV 5)

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Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance

• Commander
• Task Force 16
• USS Hornet (CV 5)
• USS Enterprise (CV 6)

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Battle ofMidway
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Mitsubishi A6M Zero
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TBD-1 Devastator Torpedo Bombers
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USS Yorktown (CV 5)

• SBD-3 Dauntless Dive Bombers

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F4F Wildcats
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USS Enterprise (CV 6)
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USS Hornet (CV 8)

• Captain Marc Mitscher, Commanding Officer

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USS Yorktown (CV 5)

• Damaged by air strikes on 4 June.
• Sunk by submarine torpedo attack on 7 June.

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Japanese Carriers Kaga, Akagi, and Soryu
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USS Yorktown (CV 5)
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USS Yorktown (CV 5)
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Submarines in the Pacific

• Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
• Commences against Japan immediately following
  Pearl Harbor attack by order of CNO Admiral King.
• We shall never forget that it was our submarines
  that held the lines against the enemy while our
  fleets replaced losses and repaired wounds.
• - Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, 1947

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Break Time.
When We Resume The US Navy and the Offensive
Phase
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U.S. Aircraft Production

• Japan and Germany had early advantage in air war
• Messerschmit ME-109
• Mitsubishi A6M Zero
• U.S. aircraft industry produces higher
  performance aircraft
• American industrial base allows rapid and mass
  production
• New flight training programs developed
• U.S. gains advantage in air warfare
• Air supremacy eventually established in both
  European and Pacific theaters

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A6M Zero or Zeke

• Fighter

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F2A Buffalo

• Fighter

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F4F Wildcat

• Fighter

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Wildcats on the Prowl
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F6F Hellcat

• Fighter

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F4U Corsair

• Fighter

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SBD Dauntless

• Dive Bomber

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SB2C Helldiver

• Dive Bomber

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TBF Avenger

• Torpedo Bomber

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PBY Catalina

• Scout

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U.S. Submarine Force
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U.S. Submarine Warfare

• Simultaneously with Dual advance, US conducts war
  on commerce
• Unrestricted Submarine Warfare ordered
  immediately after Pearl Harbor -- new role for
  U.S. submarines
• Early operational problems - 1942-43
• Undependable torpedoes - poorly designed magnetic
  fusing.
• Many commanders were excessively cautious.

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Subs in Battle

• Bataan and Corregidor, Philippines
• Supplied by submarines from the Asiatic Fleet
• Evacuation of personnel
• Battle of Midway
• Guarded approaches to the island
• Guadalcanal Campaign
• Begin to be more effective at fleet operations

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U.S. Submarine Warfare

• Late 1943
• Torpedo fusing problems corrected
• Radar installed and sonar improved
• Central Pacific Advance
• Initially uncontested by Japanese Navy
• Battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf
• U.S. submarines support fleet and amphibious
  operations
• Japanese battleship and carriers sunk

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U.S. Submarine Warfare

• Search and rescue of downed naval aviators
• Commerce raiding of Japanese shipping from East
  Indies
• By 1945 - 3/4 of the Japanese merchant fleet
  sunk
• High casualty rates among submarine crews
• Rotation policy 20 of crew transferred after
  each patrol.

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Japanese Submarine Warfare

• Long Lance torpedo - smaller variant for
  submarines
• Focused attacks on U.S. warships and avoided
  supply ships
• Used to screen and scout for battle fleets
• Warrior ethos of Japanese naval leaders
• Used for supply of bypassed garrisons

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Japanese Submarine Warfare

• Battle of Midway
• Failed to intercept U.S. carrier forces
• Torpedoed USS Yorktown under tow
• Guadalcanal Campaign
• USS Saratoga torpedoed January 1942
• USS Wasp sunk
• USS Indianapolis sunk -- July 1945 - shark
  attacks

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Prelude to Guadalcanal

• Japanese leadership shocked by defeat at Midway
• Cancel plans to take Fiji, Samoa, and New
  Caledonia
• Must proceed with plan to take Port Moresby
• Within bomber range of major naval operating base
  at Rabaul
• Japanese begin building airfield at Guadalcanal

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Prelude to Guadalcanal

• Nimitz moves to reinforce South Pacific Area
• Protect vital sea lines of communication with
  Australia.
• Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley
• Commander South Pacific Ocean Area (Subordinate
  to Nimitz).
• Two bases established in New Hebrides.

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Army - Navy Dispute

• MacArthur proposes retaking Rabaul
• Wants Navy to let him borrow First Marine
  Division
• Admiral King
• Objects to Macarthur's plan
• Proposes step-by-step advance through Solomons to
  re-take Rabaul.
• Nimitz and Ghormley in command with Marines
  making amphibious assaults and Navy providing
  support.
• Army forces used as garrisons for islands

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Operation Watchtower

• Compromise Three-Stage Plan of Operations
• Initial advance in Eastern Solomons under Nimitz
• Boundary between Areas moved west
• MacArthur takes command after Tulagi secured

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Gudalcanal Campaign Aug 1942-Feb 1943
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Guadalcanal

• Whoever controlled an airfield would control air
  over the Solomons
• Vital SLOC
• For both sides it symbolized offensive rather
  than defensive warfare

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Force Commanders

• Admiral Robert L. Ghormley overall command of
  Watchtower
• Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner - Amphibious
  Forces
• Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher carrier group
• Provided support against Japanese fleet during
  day

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GeneralArcher Vandegrift

• Commander - First Marine Division
• Amphibious landing virtually unopposed
• Marines take Henderson Field - Cactus Air
  Force.

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Guadalcanal River Crossing
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See-Saw Pattern

• Japan dominates nighttime action.
• Tokyo Express down The Slot into Ironbottom
  Sound
• U.S. dominates daytime with shore and carrier
  aircraft

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Actions

• Battle of Savo Island, 8-9 August 1942
• Battle of the Eastern Solomons, 24 August 1942
• Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, 26-27 October,
  1942
• Naval Battle of Gudalcanal, 12-13 November, 1942

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Guadalcanal Campaign

• Battle of Savo Island - Allies defeated in night
  surface action
• Battle of the Eastern Solomons - carrier battle
• USS Enterprise damaged by bombers
• USS Wasp sunk and Saratoga damaged by Japanese
  submarines

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Battle of Santa Cruz Islands

• Halsey relieves Ghormley - 18 October 1942
• Rear Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid
• Hornet sunk and Enterprise damaged
• No operational carriers left
• Zuiho and Shokaku badly damaged
• Tactical defeat by strategic victory?maybe

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Naval Battle

• Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee
• uses RADAR to his advantage to win nighttime
  naval battle
• Washington and South Dakota outfight Japanese
  battleships
• Warships flee
• Transports beach themselves

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Guadalcanal Campaign

• 1st Marine Division relieved by Armys 25th
  Infantry Division
• Japanese forces evacuate Guadalcanal
• U.S. forces begin advance up Solomon Islands
• Land-based airfields established
• Marine Corps Black Sheep Squadron (VMF-214)
• Commanded by Maj Greg Pappy Boyington
• Medal of Honor Recipient
• MacArthur drives Japanese from eastern Papua
• Captures main Japanese base at Buna

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Aftermath

• Both sides suffered heavy losses
• U.S loses more tonnage at sea, carriers
• Japan loses more lives
• Japan allowed to dominate sea at night while U.S.
  dominates day
• Battle drags on from Aug 42- Feb 43

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Aftermath

• MacArthur successful in driving Japanese from
  Papuan Peninsula
• By Feb 43 Jap plans for offensives in S. and W
  Pacific stopped cold
• King uses Casablanca Conference to allocate more
  resources to Pacific

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Reconquest of Attu and Kiska Aleutian Islands
(January - May 1943)

• No real threat to security.
• Necessary to end Japanese control of American
  territory for political reasons.
• Battle of the Komondorskis
• Last classic surface ship battle.
• Americans attack heavily guarded Japanese convoy.
• Minimal resistance on Attu, none on Kiska.

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Operation Cartwheel

• The Solomons Campaign
• Halsey goes to work for McArthur
• Leads Amphibious Assault from Guadalcanal along
  Solomons
• McArthur wants direct assault on Rabaul
• King and Marshall overrule him
• Capture every island BUT Rabaul to isolate it
• Rabaul becomes isolated and insignificant
• On to the Phillipines (October 1944)

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The Defeat of Japan
Objective The Philippines and the penetration
of the Japanese inner defense zone!
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The Advance

• Pacific Thrust
• Amphib support
• Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance
• Significant campaigns
• Gilberts
• Marshalls
• Marianas

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Essex Class Fast Carrier
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The Gilberts (Tarawa)

• New fleet organization due to new Essex Class
  carrier fleet production
• Objective to gain airfield on Betio Island to
  launch further attacks in Central Pacific Drive
• 3 days cost US gt 3,000 marines

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Marines at Tarawa
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Kwajalein Atoll
Tarawa
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The Marshalls

• After the Gilberts, concern for death toll in
  Marshalls
• Nimitz orders RADM MITSCHER attack on Airpower
• Destroys Japanese Force
• Kwajalein success furthers to the rest of the
  islands
• Total Marshall loss less than first day of Tarawa
• Onto Marianas

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The Marianas

• Draws out Japanese Fleet
• Battle of Philippine Sea, 19-20 June 1944 The
  Great Marianas Turkey Shoot
• 346 Jap planes downed
• 3 Jap carriers sunk
• Classic Mahanian engagement

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Liberation of the Philippines

• U.S. advance continues after Marianas Campaign
• Macarthur's forces capture New Guinea
• Air strikes in the Phillipines wipe out two
  hundred aircraft
• Bypass smaller islands and head to Leyte Gulf
  early
• from 20 December to 20 October

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BattleofLeyte Gulf
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Battle of Leyte Gulf 24-25 October 1944

• Largest battle in all of naval history
• U.S. command structure remains divided and
  confused
• U.S. landings in Leyte Gulf
• MacArthur returns

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BattleofLeyte Gulf

• In case opportunity for destruction of the major
  portion of the enemy fleet is offered or can be
  created, such destruction becomes the primary
  task. -- Standing Order of
  Fleet Admiral Nimitz
• Where is, repeat where is, Task Force 34? The
  world wonders. -- Nimitz (message to Halsey
  during the battle.)

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AdmiralMarc Mitscher

• Commander
• Fast Carrier Task Force
• Battle of Leyte Gulf

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Battle of Leyte Gulf

• Japanese Combined Fleet divided into three
  forces
• Northern
• Central
• Southern
• Japanese defeated in a series of separate
  engagements.
• Effective end of Japanese Navys ability to
  control the sea.

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Battle of Leyte Gulf
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Japanese Kamikaze Squadrons

• Explosives loaded aboard aircraft.
• Japanese pilots fly one-way suicide attack
  missions against U.S. fleet.
• First used at Leyte Gulf.

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USS Lexington (CV 16)

• Essex Class Fast Carrier
• Mitschers Flagship -- Battle of Leyte Gulf

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AdmiralThomas Kinkaid

• Commander
• U.S. Seventh Fleet
• Battle of Leyte Gulf

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The Sands of Iwo Jima Mount Suribachi
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The Road to Japan

• Iwo Jima
• Okinawa

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Iwo Jima

• Emergency landing field and fighter escort base
  desired.
• Midway between Marianas and Tokyo
• Support B-29 strategic bombing of Japan
• 26,000 casualties
• 2,400 Emergency landings - 27,000 aircrew
• General Holland Smith
• Iwo Jima was the most savage and most costly
  battle in the history of the Marine Corps.
• Admiral Nimitz
• Uncommon valor was a common virtue.

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Okinawa Campaign April-June 1945

• Staging base for invasion of Kyushu
• Joint amphibious operation
• Marines under Army command
• Japanese use delaying tactics at the beach
• Continued heavy resistance inland

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Okinawa Campaign

• Kamikaze raids continue
• 34 U.S. ships sunk
• 4,900 Sailors killed in action
• Over 40,000 U.S. casualties
• Carrier groups begin raids on Japanese home
  islands.
• U.S. has established complete control of the
  seas.

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USS Benjamin Franklin

• -- Damaged in Kamikaze raid during invasion of
  Okinawa - March 1945.

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Japanese Battleship Yamato

• Sunk by U.S. carrier-based aircraft during
  Okinawa Campaign.
• 7 April 1945

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U.S. Carrier Raidson theJapaneseHome
IslandsJuly 1945
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Manhattan Project Atomic Bombs

• President Truman orders two bombings.
• Hiroshima - 6 August 1945
• Nagasaki - 9 August 1945
• Believed potential for casualties during a
  prolonged struggle for the Japanese home islands
  is too high.

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Hiroshima
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Japan Surrenders

• Japanese officially surrender aboard USS Missouri
  in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945.
• MacArthur commands U.S. army of occupation.

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Discussion
Next time The US Navy in the Early Cold War,
1945-1953