Truk Lagoon, Japan's Gibraltar of the Pacific, Died in Two Days
The American Soldier
175 views
Truk Lagoon, the Japanese Combined Fleet's forward anchorage and the base Western writers called the Gibraltar of the Pacific, was struck at first light on 17 February 1944 and ceased to function as a naval base within two days. Roughly forty ships and roughly 250 aircraft were destroyed, and the Imperial Japanese Navy would never again use Truk as a fleet anchorage.
This documentary covers Operation Hailstone in full: Task Force 58 under Admirals Spruance and Mitscher, nine American carriers, the 72-Hellcat fighter sweep that broke Japanese air defenses, the B-24 photo reconnaissance of 4 February, Admiral Koga's early withdrawal of the main fleet, the night radar-guided Avenger strikes, the torpedo hit on USS Intrepid, and the wrecks that still lie in Chuuk Lagoon today. It follows the causal chain from Midway and Rabaul through the Marshalls to the two days that ended the Gibraltar of the Pacific.
Every figure is drawn from after-action reports, loss tables and squadron records, and where sources differ the narration says so, rather than repeating the legend.
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#WW2 #WorldWarII #PacificWar #USNavy #WWIIHistory #Hellcat #OperationHailstone #TaskForce58 #TrukLagoon #MilitaryHistory #USAInWW2
Truk Lagoon, Japan's Gibraltar of the Pacific, Died in Two Days
The American Soldier
175 views
Truk Lagoon, the Japanese Combined Fleet's forward anchorage and the base Western writers called the Gibraltar of the Pacific, was struck at first light on 17 February 1944 and ceased to function as a naval base within two days. Roughly forty ships and roughly 250 aircraft were destroyed, and the Imperial Japanese Navy would never again use Truk as a fleet anchorage.
This documentary covers Operation Hailstone in full: Task Force 58 under Admirals Spruance and Mitscher, nine American carriers, the 72-Hellcat fighter sweep that broke Japanese air defenses, the B-24 photo reconnaissance of 4 February, Admiral Koga's early withdrawal of the main fleet, the night radar-guided Avenger strikes, the torpedo hit on USS Intrepid, and the wrecks that still lie in Chuuk Lagoon today. It follows the causal chain from Midway and Rabaul through the Marshalls to the two days that ended the Gibraltar of the Pacific.
Every figure is drawn from after-action reports, loss tables and squadron records, and where sources differ the narration says so, rather than repeating the legend.
Subscribe for the definitive history of the United States in the Second World War — new documentaries every few days.
#WW2 #WorldWarII #PacificWar #USNavy #WWIIHistory #Hellcat #OperationHailstone #TaskForce58 #TrukLagoon #MilitaryHistory #USAInWW2