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 is peppered with a dozen islands.  During WWII this ideal natural harbor was used by the Japanese as their main forward naval base, much as Pearl Harbor was to our Navy.  When the Allied island-hopping campaign gained momentum in 1943-44, Truk represented a key target.

Three carrier groups of RADM Marc A. Mitscher’s Task Force 58, and a group from Task Force 50, all part of ADM Raymond A. Spruance’s FIFTH FLEET, staged a surprise attack on the facility 82 years ago this week.  Torpedo planes, dive bombers, and fighters from nine fleet carriers and four light carries conducted a two-day “hailstorm” attack involving 1250 sorties.  Truk’s ship repair docks, supply depots, 265 aircraft, and four airfields were destroyed.  The attack caught many Japanese ships in the lagoon and over 30 supply ships (140,000 tons) and several destroyers were sunk.  None of the Japanese battleships were in port at the time, and in a curious parallel to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, neither were any enemy carriers.  The attack was so successful in isolating the base however, that surviving Japanese personnel became marooned on the island until the end of the war.

Losses sustained by US forces were limited to 30 aircraft and damage to USS INTREPID (CV-11).  A Nakajima B5N “Kate” torpedo-bomber from Truk’s Param airfield hit INTREPID with a single torpedo, striking her 15 feet below the waterline on the starboard quarter.  Though the crew was able to contain the damage, her rudder jammed hard aport.  CAPT Thomas L. Sprague turned back toward Hawaii and was able to make headway by racing the port engine and idling the starboard.  But two days later strong winds began buffeting the ship.  The breeze pushed her onto a westward heading, toward Tokyo.  Not wishing to go that direction, the crew jury-rigged a “sail” of sewn-together hatch covers and spare canvas.  Steerage was thus regained and on February 24^th, still “under sail,” INTREPID stood in to Pearl.

The Japanese stranded on Truk as a result of this raid forbade the locals from salvaging the sunken ships.  In an unparalleled stroke of good fortune, the ban on salvage activity continues to this day.  As a result, Chuuk today is a sport diver’s paradise.  Trucks, airplanes, tanks, and other military equipment can still be seen on the decks of these sunken ships, and the holds still contain munitions, spare parts, crew artifacts, and in some cases, even crew remains.  As such, the utmost respect is demanded of visitors.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  25 FEB 26

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 3 “G-K”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977, pp. 446-47.

Morison, Samuel Eliot.  History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol 7  Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls.  Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1951, pp. 315-32.

Parzymieso, Michael.  “Truk Diary.”  Sea Classics, Vol 49 (7), July 2016, pp. 10-14, 56-58.

Rems, Alan P.  “Two Birds with One Hailstone.”  Naval History, Vol 28 (1), February 2014, pp. 16-21.

Site visit, Chuuk Lagoon, Federated States of Micronesia, November 1988.

Stewart, William H.  Ghost Fleet of the Truk Lagoon, Japanese Mandated Islands.  Missoula, MT: Pictorial Histories Pub Co., 1985, pp. 17-46.

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