6 MAY 1942 FALL OF CORREGIDOR The Japanese invasion of the Philippines began within hours of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Landing in the Lingayen Gulf, they swept southward across the island of Luzon toward Manila, Subic Bay, and the Bataan Read More
6-7 APRIL 1945 YAMATO’S DESPERATION SORTIE A second offshore phase of operation “Ten-Go” involved the Imperial Navy. Its warships were to sally forth and blast what remained of the Allied invasion fleet after the April 6th kikusui raid. But by this Read More
6-7 APRIL 1945 “FLOATING CHRYSANTHEMUMS” The Japanese plan for defense of Okinawa was known by the language characters “Ten-Go.” While defenders on land waged a battle of attrition, Japanese air and naval forces would engage the American invasion fleet. But the Read More
28 FEBRUARY 1945 PhM1c JOHN HARLAN WILLIS By D-Day + 9 on Iwo Jima, intense fighting was raging in several acres of low hills and gullies that would come to be known as the “meat grinder” just west of the central Read More
17-18 FEBRUARY 1944 OPERATION “HAILSTORM” Truk (now Chuuk) along with Yap, Pohnpei, and Korsae, comprise the Federated States of Micronesia in the South Pacific. An encircling reef forms Chuuk’s outer perimeter, creating a large, sheltered lagoon 40 miles in diameter that Read More
7 JANUARY 1945 THEODORE EDSON CHANDLER Theodore Edson Chandler was born at Annapolis on 26 December 1894 into a distinguished Navy family. His father, the future RADM Lloyd H. Chandler, attended the Naval Academy at the time. Young Chandler followed in Read More
18-20 DECEMBER 1944 MONAGHAN vs. THE TEMPEST The Pacific war was a long one for USS MONAGHAN (DD-354). She was the ready destroyer at Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941 and was just getting underway to investigate a Read More
7-8 DECEMBER 1941 WHERE WERE THE CARRIERS? Most everyone will recall that one significant shortcoming of the Pearl Harbor raid from the Japanese perspective was its failure to destroy the American Navy’s aircraft carriers. Yamamoto had targeted them in particular, appreciating Read More
7 DECEMBER 1941 DETERMINATION vs. COMPLACENCY Japan emerged from the First World War as a bona fide naval power, a rival to US primacy in the Pacific. And as early as 1918, Imperial Defense Policy identified the United States as her Read More
30 JULY 1942 LAST CALL FROM GRUNION On 30 June 1942, LCDR Mannert L. Abele conned the new Gato-class submarine USS GRUNION (SS-216) out of Pearl Harbor on her first war patrol. WWII was seven months old, and the first glimmers Read More