Campaign 348 - The Naval Siege of Japan 1945. War Plan Orange triumphant.pdf

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THE NAVAL SIEGE
OF JAPAN 1945
War Plan Orange Triumphant
BRIAN LANE HERDER
ILLUSTRATED BY DOROTHY J. HWEE
CAMPAIGN 348
THE NAVAL SIEGE OF
JAPAN 1945
War Plan Orange Triumphant
BRIAN LANE HERDER
ILLUSTRATED BY DOROTHY J. HWEE
Series editor Marcus Cowper
CONTENTS
ORIGINS OF THE CAMPAIGN
Prelude: November–December 1944
n
The legacy of War Plan Orange
Operation
Kita:
abandoning a collapsing empire, January–February 1945
5
CHRONOLOGY
OPPOSING COMMANDERS
Allied
n
Japanese
10
12
OPPOSING FORCES
Allied
n
Japanese
n
Orders of battle, February 1945
15
OPPOSING PLANS
United States
n
Japanese
21
THE CAMPAIGN
First raids on Tokyo, February 16–25
n
Home Islands strikes in support of Operation
Iceberg,
March 18–June 8
n
Operation
Starvation
n
Naval plans for Operation
Olympic
n
Air and surface
bombardments of northern Japan, July 10–16
n
Return to Tokyo, July 17–18
n
Operation
Barney
and
USS
Barb’s
exploits
n
Strikes on the Inland Sea, July 24–28 Endgame, July 29–August 15
24
AFTERMATH
THE BATTLEFIELDS TODAY
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
INDEX
88
93
93
94
95
N
ALASKA
TERRITORY
B e ri n g Se a
Sea of
Okhotsk
USSR
KAMCHATKA
Aleutian Islands
CANADA
Sakalin
MANCHUKUO
Karafuto
Sea of
Japan
XXXXX
XXXXX
Kurile
Islands
Kwantung
KOREA
Homeland
XXXX
Pacific situation, February 1, 1945
CHINA
China
17
XXXXX
Defense
P A C I F I C
O C E A N
UNITED
STATES
Exp.
1
3
Midway Island
XXXX
East
China
Sea
32
JAPAN
Bonin
Marcus
2
Islands
Island
Volcano
Islands
XXXXX
Hawaiian
Islands
Wake Island
X2
XXXX
XXXX
INDIA
Formosa
XXXXX
BURMA
10
Burma
XXXX
South
China
Sea
PHILIPPINES
Guam
X4
X1
Nimitz
THAILAND FRENCH
INDOCHINA
Mindanao
14
XXXXX
Southern
Terauchi
XXXX
Malaya
X3
Imamura
8
Palau
Islands
Gilbert
Islands
Caroline
Islands
4
Marshall
Islands
Line Islands
Sumatra
New Guinea
Borneo
Celebes
Solomon Islands
New
Britain
New
Caledonia
XXXXX
Java
US/British Fast Carrier anchorages
X1. Ulithi
X2. Eniwetok
X3. Manus
X4. San Pedro Bay (Leyte-Samar)
Scheduled US Fifth Fleet operations, February 1, 1945
1. Operation
Jamboree,
February 16, 1945
2. Operation
Detachment,
February 19, 1945
3. Operation
Iceberg,
April 1, 1945
New
Hebrides
INDIAN OCEAN
AUSTRALIA
Br
Fraser
Under Japanese control
Under Allied control
Major IJN Naval base
NEW ZEALAND
0
0
2000km
2000 miles
ORIGINS OF THE CAMPAIGN
Execute unrestricted air and submarine warfare against Japan.
US Admiral Harold Stark, December 7, 1941
PRELUDE: NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 1944
By late 1944 the US submarine campaign against Japan approached its
climax. Assisted by Magic codebreaking, ship movements to or from the
Home Islands had become increasingly suicidal. The submarines’ spectacular
crescendo began on November 14, 1944, with the departure of 25-ship
Japanese convoy Hi-81, en route to the Philippines from Kyushu’s Imari
Bay. Two US “wolfpacks” of three submarines each were dispatched to
stalk the convoy. At noon, November 15, Commander Charles E. Loughlin’s
USS
Queenfish
(SS-393) torpedoed Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) auxiliary
carrier
Akitsu Maru,
which exploded and sank in three minutes, taking
2,046 men with her. Then on November 17, USS
Picuda
(SS-382) torpedoed
and sank landing ship
Misayan Maru,
killing another 3,437. Five hours later
a surfaced USS
Spadefish
(SS-411) struck 17,200-ton escort carrier
Shinyo
Maru,
which sank in ten minutes. The US subs were eventually repulsed,
suffering no casualties, but Hi-81 had lost over 7,000 men killed and 40,000
tons sunk, including two carriers.
Barely three days after
Shinyo Maru’s
sinking, at 0020hrs, November 21,
1944, Lieutenant-Commander Eli Reich’s USS
Sealion
(SS-315) made radar
contact with an Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) convoy in the Formosa Strait,
which was fleeing Brunei for the Home Islands.
Sealion’s
nine-torpedo salvo
immediately sank destroyer
Urakaze,
killing all 240 aboard, then struck the
37,187-ton battleship
Kongo,
causing her to fall out of formation. Later,
at 0524hrs, November 21,
Kongo
exploded from a catastrophic magazine
detonation. Only 247 survived; among
Kongo’s
1,200 dead were Vice
Admiral Yoshio Suzuki and
Kongo
skipper Rear Admiral Toshio Shimazaki.
Sealion
escaped, having claimed the only submarine-sunk battleship of the
Pacific War.
A week later, on November 28, 1944, submarine USS
Archerfish
(SS-311)
spotted the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the 64,800-ton
Shinano,
departing
Yokosuka for a 16-hour transfer to Kure. Thirteen hours later
Archerfish
slammed six torpedoes into
Shinano,
then survived the subsequent depth
charging from escorting destroyers
Isokaze, Yukikaze,
and
Hamakaze.
Shinano
capsized at 1057hrs, November 29, 1944—history’s largest vessel
5

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