There are firsthand accounts from Enterprise’s pilots stating their relationship with those serving on Iowa and New Jersey massively deteriorated after this action for obvious reasons. Did this extend to the other Iowas or other American fast battleships as well?
What is the closest that Britain has ever gotten (during the time period this chanal covers) to loosing it's status as a great naval power? and how did they bounce back?
@@bkjeong4302 North Carolina actually had a positive relationship with Enterprise. I think i head somewhere that it got to a point where Enterprise's crew would appeal to which ever Captain or Rear Admiral who happens to be in command to assign North Carolina as the BB escort.
@@ph89787 I’ve heard this as well, but that was before Hailstone. SoDak also didn’t have a good relationship with Enterprise, in large part thanks to Santa Cruz.
@@thomaskositzki9424 yup agreed it seems a hollow gesture, but the ship is sinking so you might as well carry on firing until the sea invaded the ship.
@@paulhicks6667 Having studied war and war history for 30 years I have come to the conclusion that fighting spirit is just a small factor amongst many. Indeed, most societies have it* and the difference it makes in war is really small. I'd say abandoning ship and maybe fight another day or at least maybe living on is more valuable than delivering an impressive show of defiance. * Example: even the Italians in WW2 had good fighting spirit, despite their horrific battle performance and a tendency to abandon post. The reason was that they most often didn't really had a chance due to horribly outdated equipment and doctrine. In situations where the odds were even or in their favour, they fought well.
My father served aboard the Essex class carrier USS Bunker Hill that was part of this strike group. He passed away in 2022. Dad was always able to tell me great stories about this raid, he was a Pharmacists mate. In February, after dad passed, I had renewed my scuba certifications to dive these wrecks off of the dive boat Odyssey. Just beyond words. I possess now photos and videos of a lifetime. Trucks, artillery and artifacts abound still, 80 years after the raids. Grateful to my father and the crew aboard Odyssey for this experience.
I had the privilege to dive Truk twice, in 2012 and then in 2017. Amazing experience and plenty of things to see without requiring really difficult dives. I wonder how the wrecks are now, I could notice visible deterioration on some of the wrecks when getting back there in 2017.
My grandpa fought against degeneracy, sexualization of children, transsexualism, jews, the destruction of the white race, pedophilia, but he lost and now here we are... Your grandpa must be so proud that you can all be gay and woke and take it on the butt of free nowadays, freedom is so overrated
Was your old man aboard the Bunker Hill when she was hit by a kamizake on her flight deck? My grandpa was a machinist on the her when she got smoked. He only told my dad stories about serving aboard cruisers that were home-ported in Australia.
For clarity, Truk is now called Chuuk and is a state of the Federated States of Micronesia. l visited there with my family when l was posted to another part of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau further to the west. lt is very beautiful as is pretty much all of Micronesia, but is fairly challenging to get to for anyone who lives outside of Micronesia. We arrived in the middle of the night as seems to be the case with most flights in and around Micronesia to be welcomed by two topless ladies in grass skirts at the airport! This is a pretty cultural thing there (women getting around topless, even in cars or at the shops), but was certainly a sight for sore eyes, l can tell you!!!
It's a bit easier to get to Chuuk these days. United flies a 737 there as one of the stops along its Island Hopper flights from Honolulu to Guam and back.
Lol Can you imagine the elation of those crews, circling Truk, battle flags flying….? Truk was akin to the supervillain’s lair, the secret island base location which they had just absolutely obliterated. Must have been one helluva day on those ships…. to be sure.
The Japanese fleet submarine force was a quite effective force and Spruance doing a victory lap around Truk was quite risky. Big ships were sunk by submarine attacks repeatedly throughout WW2.
@@robertsneddon731 yeah with a proper investment in fleet subs (and application of doctrine) they could have been sinking our shipping en route to Pearl and Australia faster than we could get replacements off the ways.
@@robertsneddon731 Japanese submarines were remarkably ineffective and totally failed at the "only sink capital ships" mission that the Japs refused to reconsider throughout the war. They got one once in a while, but usually a cripple or a lucky encounter like USS Indianapolis.
@@robertsneddon731 A number of big ships were sunk in 1941-1942. However, not one major US warship (fleet carriers, battleships, cruisers) would be sunk by IJN subs in 1943-1945 while under escort by destroyers. The only major US warship sunk by IJN sub in that period was USS Indianapolis, which was not being escorted. This is 1944 - but in 1943 the Allies managed to sink 40 German U-Boats in a single month. This shows how far anti-submarine warfare had progressed by that point in the war. Subs are ambush predators. They don't tend to fare well in major battles with lots of destroyers present. Even with the help of signal intercept, US subs often found themselves unable to get a shot at Japanese convoys without first having to surface at night and adjust their position. At Truk, it would have been enormous bad luck for a sub to be in the right place at the right time to get a torpedo in. So a risk, yes, but not a major risk.
I spent a good portion of my life verifying cross-referencing facts to check all angles of an event or period . It's a tremendous pain in time, cross-referencing, and digging in archival information. Yet, after watching you time & time again, the urge to go off the mainstream presentation of information of the events must be overwhelming. Yet your efforts are absolutely wonderful to watch . For yourself and your team, thanks ever much.
@khaelamensha3624 general archivist was the best degree I could recommend ,but if you pick 10 people unless it's an interest or a lively hood. Not many ppl know the in's & outs of Truk. 🤣. And that's just that episode. Thanks for talking .
@@frankknudsen842 Since you're into details this might be of interest to you, the picture shown at 22:40 was taken from a Curtiss SOC Seagull biplane, you can see the wing struts and the upper wing in the picture. As far as I know it's the only US biplane used in a combat role in WW2, it was launched and recovered from battleships (possibly cruisers to but I'm not sure on that one) and used mainly for reconnaissance and as a spotter for the ships guns, but it did have under wing shackles that permitted it to drop regular bombs and depth bombs in the anti submarine role. I believe it also had the distinction of being the only US WW2 aircraft that was retired before the war but was reinstated into service later, it was retired before the war and brought back into service in 1943. It also was in service with the Royal Navy, the Royal Australian Navy and the Soviet Navy.
I still remember seeing the Jacques Cousteau TV special on his visit to Truk lagoon. Probably the first time for many people to see the wrecks and devastation that happened far from the US. Great video, as always.
I was unaware of this battle thank you so much, my father was active in the pacific theatre at that time He had quit high school and enlisted in the Navy @ 16 years old for 3 years until Japan surrendered. He's been gone for 20 years and was tight lipped about his battles he was in all I ever knew he was an anti aircraft gunner aboard a battleship and had Manny experiences with Kamikazes.....Thank You Dad!!!
Dove Truk several years ago. Still think it was one of the best dive trips of my life, and gave me a strong understanding of the bravery shown on both sides. Dove the San Francisco Maru at 185' to the front hold. Land mines, tanks, 500 lb aerial bombs, and a burned out superstructure. Moving. One ship had the the bow and stern gun trained out to the Starboard, exactly opposite the direction of the torpedo that sank it. Some of the Japanese soldiers serving on the guns were reloading the shells by hand on the deck as they fought,.
@@hirisk761 I still believe that Enterprise had been with Task Force 38 when the Japanese surrendered. She should have been the ship on which the signing had taken place (with Missouri as an escort). To add salt to that wound, the Enterprise vs Japan sign should have a caption "Enterprise-1 Japan-0."
@ph89787 that woulda been absolutely perfect. unfortunately Enterprise was stateside getting repaired from a kamikaze that launched her forward elevator into orbit
Fantastic video, Drac. As time went on from 42 to 45, American operations in the pacific turned more and more into hitting a finishing nail with a sledgehammer. This is definitely an example of this.
Yeah, it is like that video over at Military History Visualized that shows the fleet sizes as of Pearl Harbor of the USN and IJN and all the construction of combat ships coming off the slipways in Japan and the US. By this point in the war it had become ridiculous what an edge the US had and it just kept increasing by the week.
Truk has some great diving on these wrecks so long as you're OK with 80-100 ft depths or more, although there are a few shallower. Minimal currents. Warm water. Great stuff. Between the history and the diving, it made for a memorable week on vacation a few years back.
I recall seeing the Cousteau documentary on Truk. My family watched all of the Cousteau episodes, as well as National Geographic documentaries, and the original US broadcast of The World at War series. My father served in the 8th US Army Air Force (England) during WW2 while my Mother worked as an Occupational Therapist in a variety of US Military Hospitals. (They did not meet until the 50s). History was important to them, and I developed a lifelong interest. It was unusual at the time that I was growing up to have parents that had direct experience of The Depression and WW2. Most of my classmates in school had parents who were too young to remember or to have served. Thank you for your episodes. When I was younger I “entertained myself” by reading the entire set of Morison History of Naval Operations in WW2. I learned a lot.
Where the Hell did all the great television series like Cousteau and NatGeo go? The crap on TV now zings back and forth between a great political clown show and what is loosely described as “Reality TV,” with rock bottom reaching out to embrace the improbable *Star*known as “Honey-boo.” Can hardly wait for the final collapse of Hollywood feature length film for “Ren and Stimpy: The Movie.”
I watched the Truk Cousteau episode, too, and Truk has held my interest ever since. We watched all those other shows, as well. Wild Kingdom was also a fav.
As a USNavy veteran of Vietnam and a student of WW II military history, I salute you for the most comprehensive, thoughtful and accurate description of this battle that is available on TH-cam. Thank you.
I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Admiral Spruance for creating such a great SCUBA diving venue, it was superb and we had a great time there!
There is a wonderful WWII documentary film called The Fighting Lady that is chock full of actual combat footage, and covers the raid on Truk. In his book Baa Baa Black Sheep, USMC ace Greg "Pappy" Boyington claimed to be on the ground during the raid, as he and some other POWs were being moved back to Japan. He said the film shows a small crater where he and some other POWs were taking cover. It's been many years since I read the book, so I assume he referred to the Operation Hailstone raid. As mentioned, there were actually a couple of other raids on Truk in subsequent months, and USS Tang's rescue of 22 aviators, described in detail in skipper Richard O'Kane's book Clear the Bridge, and shown late in the video around the 27:26 mark, was actually from one of those later raids. I visited Truk, or Chuuk as it is called now, in the late '90s on a dive trip! Every dive was a "wreck dive"...
"Fighting Lady" was the nickname of the USS Yorktown. Not sure how that ties in to what you mentioned, just tho't I'd throw it in there as my oldest Bro. served on the one (CV-S 10), in the '60's, that replaced the one lost in the Battle of Midway.
Parshall appears all the time on another channel, "Unauthorized History of the Pacific War Podcast" Go subscribe there if you want to hear himI like them better,anyway, they do less rivet-counting than Drachinifel.The hosts are both ex-Navy, one a flotilla commander.
@@scottgiles7546 I identify as a rivet, and speaking for rivets, we agree! I shall now take a POP at Heike (whose names sounds suspiciously like a Japaneses ship...).
The photo that's on from 5:53 to 6:58 is jaw-dropping in its portrayal of American naval might . . . absolutely astounding. It looks like every ship in the Pacific Fleet was pulled in for a photo op! Impressive, to say the least. Good catch, Drach!
Thank you. I've heard about the battle of Truk over the years, but no details. The research needed for this spot was a huge amount of work. Very much appreciated, sir! ❤
It'd be worth noting, I think, that when Jacques Y. Cousteau and his team of divers visited Truk Lagoon in the late 60's, (I think it was), they found human remains on some of the sunken Japanese vessels, and the Japanese undertook to recover them, and provide the appropriate disposal.
That’s still the case today. Oite is chock full of remains considering the incredibly high loss of life for such a small ship, and I’ve seen footage of a skull implanted in the bulkhead inside a freighter right where she took a torpedo. For some reason human remains last a while in Truk
Ah yes, when Adm. Spruance was so persistent in sending a task force of surface ships including the two Iowas to engage Japanese ships. The only time the Iowa battleships saw surface to surface action.
Not only that, he actually ended up REDUCING Japanese losses thanks to that decision (yes, it was a victory, could have been a bigger victory). The only time the Iowas fought surface ships, they were not just hilariously overkill and superfluous but actively detrimental. When you’re calling off airstrikes just to have your battleship shoot at crippled destroyers and a dead-in-the-water training ship, and then allow all three of them to get underway with one escaping thanks to that decision, you need to rethink your priorities….
@@bkjeong4302 It was a single destroyer, and there's no guarantee that she wouldn't have escaped the pilots too (hindsight ahoy). Nowaki also didn't really do much for the rest of the war and was sunk with all hands during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
The Kingfisher landing in hostile Truk itself to rescue downed air crew? Balls of Steel. Had to happen considering the possibilities of what would happen to the downed pilots if the Japanese captured them.
I feel this operation is very overlooked. I've read in quite a few places of it in the form of a status "after Truk", but somehow never came across a description of just WHAT happened at Truk. Thank you!
50+ years ago, when I was an avid reader of war histories, Truk didn't enter the narratives much. In the latter 70's I was introduced to a book, The Great Pacific War by Hector Bywater, which was written in the mid-20s B.C. (Before Carriers (as a capital ship)). The book hypothesized a naval war between Japan and the U.S. Among the problems examined was the difficulty of projecting naval power into either the western or the eastern Pacific by either country. Bywater used Truk in his narrative as a major anchorage captured and developed by the U.S. to assist their fleet's projection into the western Pacific. It is interesting to me that Japan developed Truk instead. The other interesting bit I found in this book was the use of zeppelins by the U.S. in the war as recon and carrier vessels. I haven't found a video by Drach on these rigid naval airships, but, if it hasn't already been done, I wouldn't mind seeing Drach's take on them.
Ryan Szimanski is of the opinion that New Jersey likely scored the longest range damaging hit from one ship to another when she got a very near miss on Nowaki (that is known to have killed a sailor and cut her speed down drastically) at 30,000+ yards
Everyone knows Enterprise’s story, how she fought to and then ruled the seas. But many forget: *CV-6N also ruled the night.* Edit: I’ve been corrected in the comments that it’s CV(N)-6 but old History Channel habits die hard.
She should have been saved as a museum ship, considering that the longevity of the Pacific Theatre was cut short because of her , that being said had we lost quad canal the war would’ve lasted a lot longer . We would have lost it had the enterprise not transferred some of her air crew to Henderson Field . That was mostly due to the forward elevator being knocked out.
Extremely glad this got covered. A few months ago I took a pretty deep dive into the operation, and I’ve gotta say it’s one of the most interesting parts of the pacific war.
When thinking about the size of the force sent to attack Truk, a famous line from a movie comes to mind... 'Do you think you used enough dynamite Butch?'
IJN: We will make our counterattack at night. Enterprise: Neat! Who are we attacking? IJN: The US Navy carriers......Oh no. Enterprise: Hiiiii. (Enterprise launches avengers)
Iowa and New Jersey: F off E, we’re doing this ourselves (Nowaki escapes thanks to the Iowas getting involved) No joke, Enterprise actually had major bad blood with the Iowas afterwards (or at least Iowa and New Jersey specifically) for this reason.
@@bkjeong4302 As a form of revenge. VB-10 decided that New Jersey would make for a great Dive Bombing target. At least until New Jersey threatened to make the Dauntlesses as AA Targets.
@@ph89787 It’s stuff like this that makes me frustrated that KC, AL or WSG all largely fail to address the issue of WWII-era fast battleships as a whole being massive underachievers at best and arguably (collectively, not individually) the worst strategic procurement disaster in history in hindsight, with the crews of other, far better warships realizing the truth and giving them deserved criticism for their uselessness. And of course, the battleships themselves never asked to be built at a time when their very existence was largely meaningless or to be ridiculed for existing against their own will. I’ve suggested before that realistically all 29 of them and the two Alaskas would return as Abyssals/Sirens or otherwise seek to destroy their own nations from within out of hatred for their own existence.
My uncle was a B24 pilot who led the first land based bombing mission over Truk, this was following Hailstone. He died April 10 1944 on a subsequent attack.
I just finished watching videos and reading a couple of good books about the sea and air battles in 1942 when the US carrier count was so low and the battle experience of American sailors and airmen was so paltry. Fast forward to this engagement and it's incredible to think of how much Americans had learned and how many ships and airplanes were available for the fight.
America's ship and airplane (and tanks, artillery, etc.) manufacturing capability in the 1940's was unmatched, and can be said to have won WW2 for the Allies. We have given away much of this capacity, and the likely enemy in a new large conflict has taken it on. Unfortunately this could lead to events going nuclear pretty quickly if another major war occurs.
@@Heike-- yes, we still had ~50% (SWAG) of our factories sitting idle before the 1940 two-ocean bill. It was a long hard grind to Okinawa but the IJN certainly provided the motivation.
@@davidg3944 That's complete baloney. US tanks, aircraft, ships, smart rockets, etc., are still top of the line. I just watched a video about the tanks being used in Ukraine and the Abrams tank is still #1. The Russian tanks are no match for it and other tanks, e.g., the German tanks that Ukraine is relying on.
@@emmgeevideo Since you're an expert in the field (I've only been working in manufacturing and scientific R&D for almost five decades), I'll bow to your statement of "baloney". Or maybe I'll just discount what you've said, as you're clearly ignoring what I actually said and substituted your own strawman. WW2 was a matter of volume, now we rely on specialized tech and precision. With the introduction of drone warfare, volume is back as a major factor in warfare. Swarms used to overwhelm defenses will defeat even our capabilities (unless we've really done miracles with laser anti-drone tech). China has vastly more drone manufacturing ability than the US, ignore that reality at your own peril.
That rescue of US Airmen within Truk Lagoon itself was such a power move. To think many in the Imperial government and even public thought the war was being won. Did it ever occur to them that their 'victories' where getting closer and closer to the home islands and many of their servicemen where suddenly not sending letters back?
That's the power of an unelected government's censorship. How many reading this think that we're winning the war against Russia right now? Or winning our other wars, like against Syria?
@@Heike-- it's the same in Russo-Ukrainian War. Russian media triumphantly announce: "In Kursk region, our victorious troops redeploy on new defensive positions, while the battered enemy chase them in panic." 😆😆
@@CipiRipi-in7dfIndeed. The Japanese did the same at Wake Island. Before their troops even landed they were shouting 'Victory!' 'Victory!' over their airwaves, yet the first landing was a disaster. Two destroyers and multiple landing craft were sunk while those troops who did land were quickly all killed by the American defenders. The Japanese command and government was shocked, then enraged. It will be a persistent pattern.
japanese public realized the war was not developing necessarily to their advantage when they started getting bombed by B-29s from the Marianas. And when they started seeing USN carrier planes they knew it was game over.
I always assumed that Spruance wanted to give some of his ships some real experience engaging enemy surface ships in a sort of safe environment. Many of the ships of the fleet were too new to have seen surface combat.
The problem is, he put his ships at unnecessary risk to do so. He easily could have had a couple of his major warships hit by long lance torpedoes. You don't voluntarily get into a knife fight for the "experience" when your sniper can just shoot the target down.
Excellent as always Drach. I knew about the USN Truk operations but this presentation was excellent in expanding my knowledge of the fascinating details. Good show sir!
Important to note, with the destruction of the Katori group, Akagi Maru would lose north of a thousand lives, that figure largely the result of Katori taking on survivors, which was then sunk and no survivors were picked up, thus all hands lost. Same with the crew of Maikaze and Shonan Maru No.15
thank you for the description of the battle of truk, I'm a history buff and knew little about the battle, I never realized that the Navy was so large that it had that many carriers to devote to this one battle. I think Spruance was so much more the carrier skipper than Fletcher ever thought of being, again thank yoy
After Midway Spruance never really trusted Mitscher fully again, but he did recognize Adm. Mitscer's abilities as probably the Best Carrier Commander there could be found then, maybe of all time
@@bkjeong4302 O I C! (FYI, for anyone who tuned in late, a whole bunch of planes from USS Hornet were sent on a wild goose chase that accomplished nothing beyond putting many of them in the drink on their way home.) -- And no, after a boner like that I wouldn't fully trust Mitscher either. 🤫
This episode of the war particularly interests me for two reasons: Following this raid, the USAAF was given the task of keeping the Truk facilities in bad shape. My mother's first husband was a B-24 pilot who was lost with his entire crew on a raid on Truk later in 1944. If you look at the development of the USN in the Pacific during the war, in 1942 the USN withstood everything the IJN could (or was willing to) throw at them. In 1943 new construction replaced the losses of 1942 while the USN learned important lessons. By early 1944 the Big Blue Fleet had taken form and was learning how to operate effectively. While new ships and men and planes would continue to join the 3rd/5th Fleet, from here on out it would have the status the Kidō Butai had had at the end of 1941. The Fleet would always have around 6 fast battleships and 4 task groups with 3 to 4 carriers each. You can give the credit to Spruance or Nimitz of King or Roosevelt -- or all of them and more -- but the USN had created a hammer capable of pounding flat any possible resistance. Not to mention the logistics train to keep that force in action. The IJN would make one more attempt to destroy the American Fleet, off Guam, but after that the main force of the IJN would be given instructions that would have been unimaginable in 1941 or 1942... they would be instructed to try to evade the enemy main force and instead attack softer targets. When people judge Kurita at Samar they should keep in mind what he was being asked to risk his ships and men for -- not a decisive victory but a slaughter of merchant shipping.
My father was a Machinist Mate on the Yosemite, reair ship. His stories amaze me still. Fixing/ repairing ships at sea during the war is not something I can take lightly. Amazing battles with damages hard to describe. Brave young men, the greatest generation.
Post a link to the biased video please. I'd like to see that even. I really don't even care about the bias, the fact of the matter is the war was over all except for Japan surrendering. Most of the battles by this time of the war were hopelessly one-sided. Check out yesterday's video on unauthorized history. They talk about Halsey taking the fast carrier task force into the South China Sea for a 3-week foray. I never knew about that either but WOW, did they go in there and open a can of whoop ass.
You can see the divots left in the island. www.google.com/maps/place/11%C2%B040'00.0%22N+162%C2%B011'13.0%22E/@11.670449,162.1838128,6668m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d11.666667!4d162.186944!5m1!1e4?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDgyNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
Dove in Truk in 1980, the hotel I stayed at was on the site of an old seaplane base. It had a concrete bunker at the waterline next to the ramp. We made three dives a day for 6 days. The one ships' name I can remember diving on was the Fujikawa Maru with zeros in her hold. She was photographed, and in a book my mom had on the coffee table.
Years ago I was in Truk (or Chuuk as they now call it). It is somewhat of a destination for scuba divers as the wrecks in the lagoon are all easily accessible to divers. Most of the warships seem to have sunk outside of the lagoon, so most of what we were diving were merchant ships of one sort or another. Some had military cargo of one sort or another still in the cargo bays. Some of the ships had been undergoing repairs while they were there, which meant that they could not make a run for it.
@@tachikaze222 History Channel was such garbage. Endless 40 minute shows that barely scratch the surface, tell the same story over and over and give you the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. Hey look, another show on D-Day!
The USS Frank O'hare (sp?) was a lightly armed transport battle ship that had amazing luck. Again and again is was in the midst of intense battles and somehow escaped. It won 5 Battle Stars in WW2 and another, later in Korea. I think its luck that made it remarkable.
As a youngster I saw a show here in the US on a Sunday night called 20th century with Walter Cronkite that for the time and being only 30 minutes did a great job covering this Battle and the reasoning for it. At that time I believe they mentioned that Truk was the first combat for the then new Grumen Hellcats. If this is true I'd love it confirmed at the time I was living on Long Island just a few miles away from where they and so many other planes were made. As were those by Republic Aircraft.
Once again, Drachinifel doing good work for history. Is there going to be a video on the followup strikes coming soon? That was kind of a cliffhanger you left us on!
Yes, but the Japanese didn't have anything like the resources to do the workmanlike jobs the Yanks did on Truk. That includes adequate reconnaissance before the attack. It meant having the resources to go back again and again launching attack after attack we\ith the same aircraft, multiplying the results obtained from the resources at hand. And it meant staying and fighting for DAYS if need be to achieve the desired effect, rather than two raids followed by a hasty departure for home. This applies to Midway as well. The Yanks showed how this kind of thing OUGHT to be done. Had the Japanese realized how outclassed they were even before the war began, perhaps they would have avoided the war in the first place. Of course, they weren't about to realize that reality.
To be clear, the Japanese did a pretty fair job at Pearl harbor. When it takes the US Navy three and a half years to clean up and some of the mess is still there 80 years later, I'd say that was effective. This was also, but make no mistake they did everything they were looking to do at Pearl harbor. With the exception of getting the carriers. I'm not even so sure it would have made that much difference, they probably would have just told the shipyard workers to build the replacements faster.
@@SeattlePioneer Actually, we have the minutes from the Imperial War Council meeting they had in November 1941 and they knew the awful risk they were taking. They just didn't see any other choice. FDR had boxed them in with the oil embargo and a war was exactly what he wanted.
@@Heike-- what FDR wanted was the IJA to pull back to Manchuria, where it belonged more or less. Somewhat parallel situation to Russia & Ukraine today.
Who can blame them, how could they know it carried "only" ammunition, plus orders are orders, they didnt have anti-ship missiles back then to take them out from safe distance.
I dived on the wrecks in July over nine days. 32 dives - 15 merchant ships, a destroyer (Fumitzuki), a submarine 40 metres or 131ft down (l-169… dived with hatches open during the attack) and a Betty bomber. Various cargos on the merchants were fascinating - spare periscopes for subs, lots of spare Zero propellers plus some broken down fuselages with the wings stacked up. One ship had a Japanese tank on its cargo deck.
I think Spruance ordered the surface attack to give the surface warships' crews some training. The aerial threat was deemed gone by that point, the target Japanese ships were no match for his ships and until then airmen were getting all the exp. In certain weather conditions, surface attack against US carriers was still possible and in that situation surface escorts would have to engage in surface action and experience (or lack thereof) could prove decisive.
Again, I have to doubt the idea of surface attack against the American fleet carriers (outside of the carriers being already badly damaged from air or sub attacks) being a viable threat at any point in WWII, let alone by 1944. Any condition where the carrier can’t operate aircraft is going to make it even harder for the Japanese to find American fleet carriers from potentially hundreds of miles away, let alone close the gap. The Japanese themselves figured trying to attack carriers with surface ships was impractical and planned on using their own aircraft instead for the job.
@@bkjeong4302 ight ive seen you plenty a time now. The biggest argument against yours of a possibly Japanese surface group attacking a US Carrier force is literally the Battle off Samar. Yes, it was a Taffy group, but it could be easily swapped with Halsey's Carrier Strike Force and the same would possibly happen, catching themselves offguard because they thought the Japanese have retreated through the night. A surface action between all of Lee's Fast Battleships and Yamato could've happened too if Halsey didnt take them away from the San Bernardino Strait. Point is, even since the Americans had the great advantage of airpower, they still could've been caught by surprise by Japanese surface units.
@@battleship6177 You’re completely ignoring the speed difference between fleet carriers and CVEs. Taffy 3 only ended up that way because running away and maintaining distance wasn’t an option; for Halsey’s force it was.
@VersusARCH I'm right now reading a Biography on Spruance. I suspect that sitting on the sidelines during this key action was something he didn't want to do. All through the war, Spruance would utilize his Flagships as more than just "Admiral's Barges," often placing the Indianapolis in the gun line supporting troops ashore (where shore batteries could reach her BTW) or, as in this case go haring off with Iowa or New Jersey in hopes of taking enemy surface ships under fire.
Having dived truk, the US Navy did one hell of a job on the ships sitting at anchor. Seeing a 500 foot merchant man lying on its side as you decend is amazing
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Pinned post for Q&A :)
There are firsthand accounts from Enterprise’s pilots stating their relationship with those serving on Iowa and New Jersey massively deteriorated after this action for obvious reasons. Did this extend to the other Iowas or other American fast battleships as well?
What is the closest that Britain has ever gotten (during the time period this chanal covers) to loosing it's status as a great naval power? and how did they bounce back?
Hey Drach, I know its a bit of a long haul, but could we get a watch party/review for the Battle 360 series?
@@bkjeong4302 North Carolina actually had a positive relationship with Enterprise. I think i head somewhere that it got to a point where Enterprise's crew would appeal to which ever Captain or Rear Admiral who happens to be in command to assign North Carolina as the BB escort.
@@ph89787
I’ve heard this as well, but that was before Hailstone.
SoDak also didn’t have a good relationship with Enterprise, in large part thanks to Santa Cruz.
As many a midwesterner and plainsman can attest, hailstones are very, very bad for the longevity of trucks
🤣🤣🤣
Couldn't agree more 🤣
Great Observation!
Trucks, buildings, animals and people. 😢
This is what more clever then I was ready for
"She went down with her guns firing" is always a hell of a sentence.
I always think: what a hollow gesture. 🤷
@@thomaskositzki9424 yup agreed it seems a hollow gesture, but the ship is sinking so you might as well carry on firing until the sea invaded the ship.
@@paulhicks6667 Having studied war and war history for 30 years I have come to the conclusion that fighting spirit is just a small factor amongst many. Indeed, most societies have it* and the difference it makes in war is really small. I'd say abandoning ship and maybe fight another day or at least maybe living on is more valuable than delivering an impressive show of defiance.
* Example: even the Italians in WW2 had good fighting spirit, despite their horrific battle performance and a tendency to abandon post. The reason was that they most often didn't really had a chance due to horribly outdated equipment and doctrine. In situations where the odds were even or in their favour, they fought well.
"Shooting everything that moved and some things that didn't but made nice explosions."
Big bada boom.
Drach has such a way around words 😂
@@michaelminch5490Another fan of the fifth element? 🤔😇😂
Classic Drach. 😄
My father served aboard the Essex class carrier USS Bunker Hill that was part of this strike group. He passed away in 2022. Dad was always able to tell me great stories about this raid, he was a Pharmacists mate. In February, after dad passed, I had renewed my scuba certifications to dive these wrecks off of the dive boat Odyssey. Just beyond words. I possess now photos and videos of a lifetime. Trucks, artillery and artifacts abound still, 80 years after the raids. Grateful to my father and the crew aboard Odyssey for this experience.
My grandpa was on Bunker Hill as well, but he didn't come aboard till the very end of the war
I had the privilege to dive Truk twice, in 2012 and then in 2017. Amazing experience and plenty of things to see without requiring really difficult dives. I wonder how the wrecks are now, I could notice visible deterioration on some of the wrecks when getting back there in 2017.
I have privilege drive truk twice too. Better much than my mule.
My grandpa fought against degeneracy, sexualization of children, transsexualism, jews, the destruction of the white race, pedophilia, but he lost and now here we are... Your grandpa must be so proud that you can all be gay and woke and take it on the butt of free nowadays, freedom is so overrated
Was your old man aboard the Bunker Hill when she was hit by a kamizake on her flight deck? My grandpa was a machinist on the her when she got smoked.
He only told my dad stories about serving aboard cruisers that were home-ported in Australia.
For clarity, Truk is now called Chuuk and is a state of the Federated States of Micronesia. l visited there with my family when l was posted to another part of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau further to the west. lt is very beautiful as is pretty much all of Micronesia, but is fairly challenging to get to for anyone who lives outside of Micronesia.
We arrived in the middle of the night as seems to be the case with most flights in and around Micronesia to be welcomed by two topless ladies in grass skirts at the airport! This is a pretty cultural thing there (women getting around topless, even in cars or at the shops), but was certainly a sight for sore eyes, l can tell you!!!
It's a bit easier to get to Chuuk these days. United flies a 737 there as one of the stops along its Island Hopper flights from Honolulu to Guam and back.
Sunday worship in a rather hot place included some topless ladies, but that is not unusual there.
Especially at other of the main festivals.
Sounds like a great place to visit :3
Well, getting greeted by topless ladies is definitely an upgrade over anti aircraft fire greetings
@@vitekhampejs2428"make love, not war"
Lol Can you imagine the elation of those crews, circling Truk, battle flags flying….? Truk was akin to the supervillain’s lair, the secret island base location which they had just absolutely obliterated. Must have been one helluva day on those ships…. to be sure.
The Japanese fleet submarine force was a quite effective force and Spruance doing a victory lap around Truk was quite risky. Big ships were sunk by submarine attacks repeatedly throughout WW2.
@@robertsneddon731 yeah with a proper investment in fleet subs (and application of doctrine) they could have been sinking our shipping en route to Pearl and Australia faster than we could get replacements off the ways.
@@robertsneddon731 Japanese submarines were remarkably ineffective and totally failed at the "only sink capital ships" mission that the Japs refused to reconsider throughout the war. They got one once in a while, but usually a cripple or a lucky encounter like USS Indianapolis.
@@robertsneddon731 A number of big ships were sunk in 1941-1942.
However, not one major US warship (fleet carriers, battleships, cruisers) would be sunk by IJN subs in 1943-1945 while under escort by destroyers.
The only major US warship sunk by IJN sub in that period was USS Indianapolis, which was not being escorted.
This is 1944 - but in 1943 the Allies managed to sink 40 German U-Boats in a single month. This shows how far anti-submarine warfare had progressed by that point in the war.
Subs are ambush predators. They don't tend to fare well in major battles with lots of destroyers present. Even with the help of signal intercept, US subs often found themselves unable to get a shot at Japanese convoys without first having to surface at night and adjust their position. At Truk, it would have been enormous bad luck for a sub to be in the right place at the right time to get a torpedo in.
So a risk, yes, but not a major risk.
A secret hollowed out Volcano laaair...
I spent a good portion of my life verifying cross-referencing facts to check all angles of an event or period . It's a tremendous pain in time, cross-referencing, and digging in archival information. Yet, after watching you time & time again, the urge to go off the mainstream presentation of information of the events must be overwhelming. Yet your efforts are absolutely wonderful to watch . For yourself and your team, thanks ever much.
I could have said it better. This channel is brilliant!
@khaelamensha3624 general archivist was the best degree I could recommend ,but if you pick 10 people unless it's an interest or a lively hood. Not many ppl know the in's & outs of Truk. 🤣. And that's just that episode. Thanks for talking .
@@frankknudsen842 Thank you for your answer. Wish you the best. Regards from France!
No. It was a breeze.
@@frankknudsen842
Since you're into details this might be of interest to you, the picture shown at 22:40 was taken from a Curtiss SOC Seagull biplane, you can see the wing struts and the upper wing in the picture.
As far as I know it's the only US biplane used in a combat role in WW2, it was launched and recovered from battleships (possibly cruisers to but I'm not sure on that one) and used mainly for reconnaissance and as a spotter for the ships guns, but it did have under wing shackles that permitted it to drop regular bombs and depth bombs in the anti submarine role.
I believe it also had the distinction of being the only US WW2 aircraft that was retired before the war but was reinstated into service later, it was retired before the war and brought back into service in 1943.
It also was in service with the Royal Navy, the Royal Australian Navy and the Soviet Navy.
I'm so glad this is being covered. It's often overlooked compared to the more talked about confrontations of the Pacific War
Doesn't Time Ghost Army have a video on it?
I've been begging for a Deep Dive on this raid for years on the Patreon.
Check out the unauthorized history of the pacific war podcast. They have covered this raid and several other operations that I hadn't even heard of!
I learned of it from Battle 360 as a kid.
@@BullGator-kd6ge same.
National Geographic had a feature on Truk. Divers investigated the wrecks. Among the goodies found were 18" shells for the Yamato and Musashi.
Did they took it to a museum?
I wonder how many divers it would take to lift an 18in shell...
@@VIDEOVISTAVIEW2020 No. These were live shells. They were left in place.
@@davecoz4227 They could weigh over 3000 pounds.
@@davecoz4227 each shell is about 3,200 lbs or 1.5 tons hence, they need a hoist to bring it up to the surface.
I still remember seeing the Jacques Cousteau TV special on his visit to Truk lagoon. Probably the first time for many people to see the wrecks and devastation that happened far from the US. Great video, as always.
Yes, and back then there were still piles of human skulls inside the ships. That part of his TV show really stuck out to me.
"Jacques Cousteau, here to spit flow..."
@@CultureCrossed64"Invented scuba, Captained the Calypso..."
I was unaware of this battle thank you so much, my father was active in the pacific theatre at that time He had quit high school and enlisted in the Navy @ 16 years old for 3 years until Japan surrendered. He's been gone for 20 years and was tight lipped about his battles he was in all I ever knew he was an anti aircraft gunner aboard a battleship and had Manny experiences with Kamikazes.....Thank You Dad!!!
Great praize to that Kate pilot. Alone, at night, scrapping the waves and still manages a hit? That's skill.
Legend has it that Kate and its crew are still prowling around each night out there to this day.
Definitely one of the most impressive individual actions I've heard of. :O
Him and that single Judy pilot in Leyte that suddenly appeared out of the clouds, sunk USS Princeton, then was shot down
@@kamikazeviking3053 yeah, that too.
Dove Truk several years ago. Still think it was one of the best dive trips of my life, and gave me a strong understanding of the bravery shown on both sides. Dove the San Francisco Maru at 185' to the front hold. Land mines, tanks, 500 lb aerial bombs, and a burned out superstructure. Moving. One ship had the the bow and stern gun trained out to the Starboard, exactly opposite the direction of the torpedo that sank it. Some of the Japanese soldiers serving on the guns were reloading the shells by hand on the deck as they fought,.
"Enemy ships that had presumed they were relatively safe from pinpoint attacks in the darkness"
Silly IJN, you're never safe from Enterprise.
Enterprise definitely lived rent free in the entire Japanese collective minds
@@hirisk761 I still believe that Enterprise had been with Task Force 38 when the Japanese surrendered. She should have been the ship on which the signing had taken place (with Missouri as an escort). To add salt to that wound, the Enterprise vs Japan sign should have a caption "Enterprise-1 Japan-0."
@ph89787 that woulda been absolutely perfect. unfortunately Enterprise was stateside getting repaired from a kamikaze that launched her forward elevator into orbit
@@hirisk761 Still trying to add that to the video list on Patreon.
The “Grey Ghost” will always come for you. Or The “Big E” will teach you how big she really is.
Fantastic video, Drac.
As time went on from 42 to 45, American operations in the pacific turned more and more into hitting a finishing nail with a sledgehammer. This is definitely an example of this.
Yeah, it is like that video over at Military History Visualized that shows the fleet sizes as of Pearl Harbor of the USN and IJN and all the construction of combat ships coming off the slipways in Japan and the US. By this point in the war it had become ridiculous what an edge the US had and it just kept increasing by the week.
14:38 😅@@kentvesser9484
Well, when you have a large supply of manpower, and the ability to outbuild the rest of the world, why run a shoestring operation.
As am occasionally ill tempered leprechaun, I've never been in a friendly fight, or won a fair one.
I love when you throw in snippets of humor, that’s why I’ve always enjoyed this channel.
Truk has some great diving on these wrecks so long as you're OK with 80-100 ft depths or more, although there are a few shallower. Minimal currents. Warm water. Great stuff. Between the history and the diving, it made for a memorable week on vacation a few years back.
I recall seeing the Cousteau documentary on Truk. My family watched all of the Cousteau episodes, as well as National Geographic documentaries, and the original US broadcast of The World at War series.
My father served in the 8th US Army Air Force (England) during WW2 while my Mother worked as an Occupational Therapist in a variety of US Military Hospitals. (They did not meet until the 50s).
History was important to them, and I developed a lifelong interest. It was unusual at the time that I was growing up to have parents that had direct experience of The Depression and WW2. Most of my classmates in school had parents who were too young to remember or to have served.
Thank you for your episodes. When I was younger I “entertained myself” by reading the entire set of Morison History of Naval Operations in WW2. I learned a lot.
Where the Hell did all the great television series like Cousteau and NatGeo go? The crap on TV now zings back and forth between a great political clown show and what is loosely described as “Reality TV,” with rock bottom reaching out to embrace the improbable *Star*known as “Honey-boo.” Can hardly wait for the final collapse of Hollywood feature length film for “Ren and Stimpy: The Movie.”
@@drcovell That programing disappeared and so did I, cut the cable and here we are.
I watched the Truk Cousteau episode, too, and Truk has held my interest ever since. We watched all those other shows, as well. Wild Kingdom was also a fav.
Two Iowas doing a victory lap will never not be a hilariously impressive mental image.
Hey!!! No badmouthing Iowans.😂😂😂
Just what they were designed for!
Guess the Torpedoes may be working?
As a USNavy veteran of Vietnam and a student of WW II military history, I salute you for the most comprehensive, thoughtful and accurate description of this battle that is available on TH-cam. Thank you.
I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Admiral Spruance for creating such a great SCUBA diving venue, it was superb and we had a great time there!
There is a wonderful WWII documentary film called The Fighting Lady that is chock full of actual combat footage, and covers the raid on Truk. In his book Baa Baa Black Sheep, USMC ace Greg "Pappy" Boyington claimed to be on the ground during the raid, as he and some other POWs were being moved back to Japan. He said the film shows a small crater where he and some other POWs were taking cover. It's been many years since I read the book, so I assume he referred to the Operation Hailstone raid. As mentioned, there were actually a couple of other raids on Truk in subsequent months, and USS Tang's rescue of 22 aviators, described in detail in skipper Richard O'Kane's book Clear the Bridge, and shown late in the video around the 27:26 mark, was actually from one of those later raids. I visited Truk, or Chuuk as it is called now, in the late '90s on a dive trip! Every dive was a "wreck dive"...
"Fighting Lady" was the nickname of the USS Yorktown. Not sure how that ties in to what you mentioned, just tho't I'd throw it in there as my oldest Bro. served on the one (CV-S 10), in the '60's, that replaced the one lost in the Battle of Midway.
@@garyhorton9827 Yes, USS Yorktown, CV-10, was The Fighting Lady, and was one of the Essex class fleet carriers involved in Operation Hailstone.
Drachinifel + Jonathan Parshall would be such a winning team!
Parshall appears all the time on another channel, "Unauthorized History of the Pacific War Podcast"
Go subscribe there if you want to hear himI like them better,anyway, they do less rivet-counting than Drachinifel.The hosts are both ex-Navy, one a flotilla commander.
@@Heike-- "they do less rivet-counting than Drachinifel."
You have now earned the hatred of all rivets! (Fear their wrath)
Drach makes some appearances on that pod cast as well.
Rivet counting, LOL
@@scottgiles7546 I identify as a rivet, and speaking for rivets, we agree! I shall now take a POP at Heike (whose names sounds suspiciously like a Japaneses ship...).
Jon has been on with Drach, just look em up. It would almost be difficult for these guys to have not run into each other by now.
The photo that's on from 5:53 to 6:58 is jaw-dropping in its portrayal of American naval might . . . absolutely astounding. It looks like every ship in the Pacific Fleet was pulled in for a photo op! Impressive, to say the least. Good catch, Drach!
Thank you. I've heard about the battle of Truk over the years, but no details. The research needed for this spot was a huge amount of work. Very much appreciated, sir! ❤
"Turned up to 11"...a Spinal Tap reference by Drach? 🤣
This was an awesome piece of work. What a difference a couple of years [and a half dozen new carriers) makes
It'd be worth noting, I think, that when Jacques Y. Cousteau and his team of divers visited Truk Lagoon in the late 60's, (I think it was), they found human remains on some of the sunken Japanese vessels, and the Japanese undertook to recover them, and provide the appropriate disposal.
There is nothing else to do in Truk but dive the wrecks in the harbor.
The Americans disposed of the japs quite appropriately during the battle.
That’s still the case today. Oite is chock full of remains considering the incredibly high loss of life for such a small ship, and I’ve seen footage of a skull implanted in the bulkhead inside a freighter right where she took a torpedo. For some reason human remains last a while in Truk
Ah yes, when Adm. Spruance was so persistent in sending a task force of surface ships including the two Iowas to engage Japanese ships. The only time the Iowa battleships saw surface to surface action.
I might also add either Iowa or New Jersey had the longest straddle in history against a Japanese destroyer during this action
Not only that, he actually ended up REDUCING Japanese losses thanks to that decision (yes, it was a victory, could have been a bigger victory).
The only time the Iowas fought surface ships, they were not just hilariously overkill and superfluous but actively detrimental. When you’re calling off airstrikes just to have your battleship shoot at crippled destroyers and a dead-in-the-water training ship, and then allow all three of them to get underway with one escaping thanks to that decision, you need to rethink your priorities….
@@bkjeong4302 It was a single destroyer, and there's no guarantee that she wouldn't have escaped the pilots too (hindsight ahoy). Nowaki also didn't really do much for the rest of the war and was sunk with all hands during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
@@theawickward2255
Just because you won anyways doesn’t mean it’s a smart idea to not win even harder when you could have.
@@bkjeong4302 And how do you know that she would not also escape the aircraft?
The Kingfisher landing in hostile Truk itself to rescue downed air crew? Balls of Steel. Had to happen considering the possibilities of what would happen to the downed pilots if the Japanese captured them.
19:16 "We will see who takes the Glory from this field" moment
I feel this operation is very overlooked. I've read in quite a few places of it in the form of a status "after Truk", but somehow never came across a description of just WHAT happened at Truk. Thank you!
50+ years ago, when I was an avid reader of war histories, Truk didn't enter the narratives much. In the latter 70's I was introduced to a book, The Great Pacific War by Hector Bywater, which was written in the mid-20s B.C. (Before Carriers (as a capital ship)). The book hypothesized a naval war between Japan and the U.S. Among the problems examined was the difficulty of projecting naval power into either the western or the eastern Pacific by either country. Bywater used Truk in his narrative as a major anchorage captured and developed by the U.S. to assist their fleet's projection into the western Pacific. It is interesting to me that Japan developed Truk instead. The other interesting bit I found in this book was the use of zeppelins by the U.S. in the war as recon and carrier vessels. I haven't found a video by Drach on these rigid naval airships, but, if it hasn't already been done, I wouldn't mind seeing Drach's take on them.
Ryan Szimanski is of the opinion that New Jersey likely scored the longest range damaging hit from one ship to another when she got a very near miss on Nowaki (that is known to have killed a sailor and cut her speed down drastically) at 30,000+ yards
Everyone knows Enterprise’s story, how she fought to and then ruled the seas. But many forget:
*CV-6N also ruled the night.*
Edit: I’ve been corrected in the comments that it’s CV(N)-6 but old History Channel habits die hard.
The World War II Enterprise was CV-6 (no N). You may be confusing her with the postwar CVN-65, the world's first atomic supercarrier.
@@seanbigay1042 From the end of 1944 to the end of the War. Enterprise was redesignated CV(N)-6. The N stands for "Night Carrier."
@@ph89787 O I C! Sorry, my bad, I missed that.
@@seanbigay1042 No problem
She should have been saved as a museum ship, considering that the longevity of the Pacific Theatre was cut short because of her , that being said had we lost quad canal the war would’ve lasted a lot longer . We would have lost it had the enterprise not transferred some of her air crew to Henderson Field . That was mostly due to the forward elevator being knocked out.
I really enjoy these videos discussing an individual battle. Thanks for the video!
Extremely glad this got covered. A few months ago I took a pretty deep dive into the operation, and I’ve gotta say it’s one of the most interesting parts of the pacific war.
When thinking about the size of the force sent to attack Truk, a famous line from a movie comes to mind... 'Do you think you used enough dynamite Butch?'
TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much dynamite is never NOT an option in a turkey shoot!
IJN: We will make our counterattack at night.
Enterprise: Neat! Who are we attacking?
IJN: The US Navy carriers......Oh no.
Enterprise: Hiiiii.
(Enterprise launches avengers)
Iowa and New Jersey: F off E, we’re doing this ourselves (Nowaki escapes thanks to the Iowas getting involved)
No joke, Enterprise actually had major bad blood with the Iowas afterwards (or at least Iowa and New Jersey specifically) for this reason.
@@bkjeong4302 Iirc LtCdr James "Jig Dog" Ramage (CO of VB-10) was the strike leader when he got the message.
@@bkjeong4302 "Denying me the right to Pad my SCORE?!"
-Enty calmly said, Probably
@@bkjeong4302 As a form of revenge. VB-10 decided that New Jersey would make for a great Dive Bombing target. At least until New Jersey threatened to make the Dauntlesses as AA Targets.
@@ph89787
It’s stuff like this that makes me frustrated that KC, AL or WSG all largely fail to address the issue of WWII-era fast battleships as a whole being massive underachievers at best and arguably (collectively, not individually) the worst strategic procurement disaster in history in hindsight, with the crews of other, far better warships realizing the truth and giving them deserved criticism for their uselessness. And of course, the battleships themselves never asked to be built at a time when their very existence was largely meaningless or to be ridiculed for existing against their own will.
I’ve suggested before that realistically all 29 of them and the two Alaskas would return as Abyssals/Sirens or otherwise seek to destroy their own nations from within out of hatred for their own existence.
Great presentation! Really enjoyed all the photographs which I've never seen before.
My uncle was a B24 pilot who led the first land based bombing mission over Truk, this was following Hailstone. He died April 10 1944 on a subsequent attack.
Salute
I just finished watching videos and reading a couple of good books about the sea and air battles in 1942 when the US carrier count was so low and the battle experience of American sailors and airmen was so paltry. Fast forward to this engagement and it's incredible to think of how much Americans had learned and how many ships and airplanes were available for the fight.
This is why Japan lost the war as soon as the first bomb dropped on Pearl harbor.
America's ship and airplane (and tanks, artillery, etc.) manufacturing capability in the 1940's was unmatched, and can be said to have won WW2 for the Allies. We have given away much of this capacity, and the likely enemy in a new large conflict has taken it on. Unfortunately this could lead to events going nuclear pretty quickly if another major war occurs.
@@Heike-- yes, we still had ~50% (SWAG) of our factories sitting idle before the 1940 two-ocean bill. It was a long hard grind to Okinawa but the IJN certainly provided the motivation.
@@davidg3944 That's complete baloney. US tanks, aircraft, ships, smart rockets, etc., are still top of the line. I just watched a video about the tanks being used in Ukraine and the Abrams tank is still #1. The Russian tanks are no match for it and other tanks, e.g., the German tanks that Ukraine is relying on.
@@emmgeevideo Since you're an expert in the field (I've only been working in manufacturing and scientific R&D for almost five decades), I'll bow to your statement of "baloney". Or maybe I'll just discount what you've said, as you're clearly ignoring what I actually said and substituted your own strawman.
WW2 was a matter of volume, now we rely on specialized tech and precision. With the introduction of drone warfare, volume is back as a major factor in warfare. Swarms used to overwhelm defenses will defeat even our capabilities (unless we've really done miracles with laser anti-drone tech). China has vastly more drone manufacturing ability than the US, ignore that reality at your own peril.
That rescue of US Airmen within Truk Lagoon itself was such a power move. To think many in the Imperial government and even public thought the war was being won. Did it ever occur to them that their 'victories' where getting closer and closer to the home islands and many of their servicemen where suddenly not sending letters back?
That's the power of an unelected government's censorship. How many reading this think that we're winning the war against Russia right now?
Or winning our other wars, like against Syria?
@@Heike-- it's the same in Russo-Ukrainian War. Russian media triumphantly announce: "In Kursk region, our victorious troops redeploy on new defensive positions, while the battered enemy chase them in panic." 😆😆
@@CipiRipi-in7dfIndeed. The Japanese did the same at Wake Island. Before their troops even landed they were shouting 'Victory!' 'Victory!' over their airwaves, yet the first landing was a disaster. Two destroyers and multiple landing craft were sunk while those troops who did land were quickly all killed by the American defenders. The Japanese command and government was shocked, then enraged. It will be a persistent pattern.
japanese public realized the war was not developing necessarily to their advantage when they started getting bombed by B-29s from the Marianas. And when they started seeing USN carrier planes they knew it was game over.
@@whiskeysknot to mention the BBs uncontested drive by shelling coastal towns of the home islands in the last month.
Great voice for listening to the story while relaxing. Happy Trails
I am taking you up on your offer of asking for a video on a ship. My dad was on CVL-29 USS Bataan. I request a video on the Bataan. Thank you.
My grandfather served on board the USS Saratoga when it was sent to strike Eniwetak.
I always assumed that Spruance wanted to give some of his ships some real experience engaging enemy surface ships in a sort of safe environment. Many of the ships of the fleet were too new to have seen surface combat.
The problem is, he put his ships at unnecessary risk to do so. He easily could have had a couple of his major warships hit by long lance torpedoes. You don't voluntarily get into a knife fight for the "experience" when your sniper can just shoot the target down.
Excellent as always Drach. I knew about the USN Truk operations but this presentation was excellent in expanding my knowledge of the fascinating details.
Good show sir!
Spruance is my spirit admiral.
Important to note, with the destruction of the Katori group, Akagi Maru would lose north of a thousand lives, that figure largely the result of Katori taking on survivors, which was then sunk and no survivors were picked up, thus all hands lost. Same with the crew of Maikaze and Shonan Maru No.15
A truly well played operation. Well explained 🎉
thank you for the description of the battle of truk, I'm a history buff and knew little about the battle, I never realized that the Navy was so large that it had that many carriers to devote to this one battle. I think Spruance was so much more the carrier skipper than Fletcher ever thought of being, again thank yoy
After Midway Spruance never really trusted Mitscher fully again, but he did recognize Adm. Mitscer's abilities as probably the Best Carrier Commander there could be found then, maybe of all time
After Midway, I would not have trusted Mitscher. So, not blaming Spruance at all. Sounds a bit like Betty/Jellico part Du.
@@chrissouthgate4554
The difference is that Beatty really was incompetent.
This is the first I've heard of this. What exactly did Mitscher do at Midway?
@@seanbigay1042
The Flight to Nowhere.
@@bkjeong4302 O I C! (FYI, for anyone who tuned in late, a whole bunch of planes from USS Hornet were sent on a wild goose chase that accomplished nothing beyond putting many of them in the drink on their way home.) -- And no, after a boner like that I wouldn't fully trust Mitscher either. 🤫
This episode of the war particularly interests me for two reasons:
Following this raid, the USAAF was given the task of keeping the Truk facilities in bad shape. My mother's first husband was a B-24 pilot who was lost with his entire crew on a raid on Truk later in 1944.
If you look at the development of the USN in the Pacific during the war, in 1942 the USN withstood everything the IJN could (or was willing to) throw at them. In 1943 new construction replaced the losses of 1942 while the USN learned important lessons. By early 1944 the Big Blue Fleet had taken form and was learning how to operate effectively. While new ships and men and planes would continue to join the 3rd/5th Fleet, from here on out it would have the status the Kidō Butai had had at the end of 1941. The Fleet would always have around 6 fast battleships and 4 task groups with 3 to 4 carriers each. You can give the credit to Spruance or Nimitz of King or Roosevelt -- or all of them and more -- but the USN had created a hammer capable of pounding flat any possible resistance. Not to mention the logistics train to keep that force in action.
The IJN would make one more attempt to destroy the American Fleet, off Guam, but after that the main force of the IJN would be given instructions that would have been unimaginable in 1941 or 1942... they would be instructed to try to evade the enemy main force and instead attack softer targets. When people judge Kurita at Samar they should keep in mind what he was being asked to risk his ships and men for -- not a decisive victory but a slaughter of merchant shipping.
Thank you for these clips and observations. I simply love watching your channel.
Good old Intrepid, home from the war in NY Harbor. A must-visit for everyone.
My father was a Machinist Mate on the Yosemite, reair ship. His stories amaze me still. Fixing/ repairing ships at sea during the war is not something I can take lightly. Amazing battles with damages hard to describe. Brave young men, the greatest generation.
Excellent job as usual in narration..
Impressive rate of "likes". Thanks for your work, Drach.
Thanks for helping me with the correct pronunciation of these Islands!
Excellent. I am familiar with Operation Hailstone and yet your piece added a number of interesting, even significant, pieces of information.
Best half an hour I will probably spend, today
Drach has outdone himself with this one. Very well presented.
Waiting for this one. Truk is so overlooked
Learned something new, thank you!
Excellent history, including the background of Truk prior to the attack.
I just saw a similar video yesterday about the exact same topic, but it was extremely biased. Glad to see a much more informative video!
Post a link to the biased video please. I'd like to see that even. I really don't even care about the bias, the fact of the matter is the war was over all except for Japan surrendering. Most of the battles by this time of the war were hopelessly one-sided. Check out yesterday's video on unauthorized history. They talk about Halsey taking the fast carrier task force into the South China Sea for a 3-week foray. I never knew about that either but WOW, did they go in there and open a can of whoop ass.
1:05 Enewetak atoll was in fact also famous for nuclear tests, including the first every Hydrogen/Thermonuclear/Super, Ivy Mike.
You can see the divots left in the island.
www.google.com/maps/place/11%C2%B040'00.0%22N+162%C2%B011'13.0%22E/@11.670449,162.1838128,6668m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d11.666667!4d162.186944!5m1!1e4?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDgyNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
Love the magnificent new music.
From the UK, Legends
Dove in Truk in 1980, the hotel I stayed at was on the site of an old seaplane base. It had a concrete bunker at the waterline next to the ramp. We made three dives a day for 6 days. The one ships' name I can remember diving on was the Fujikawa Maru with zeros in her hold. She was photographed, and in a book my mom had on the coffee table.
Amazing! I was getting curious about Truk from your other videos.
That was an action packed episode.
Maybe Cape Mattapan rerun for me tomorrow.
Years ago I was in Truk (or Chuuk as they now call it). It is somewhat of a destination for scuba divers as the wrecks in the lagoon are all easily accessible to divers. Most of the warships seem to have sunk outside of the lagoon, so most of what we were diving were merchant ships of one sort or another. Some had military cargo of one sort or another still in the cargo bays. Some of the ships had been undergoing repairs while they were there, which meant that they could not make a run for it.
Really enjoy your documentaries. This one was particularly epic.
Im very behind DD295 pt 1... so belated congratulations on 300 dry docks 500k subs and for getting a new tiny crew member ATB
A classic Drach video. They're is nothing better on this platform.
The quality and style of the narration adds a lot to enjoying these history lessons.
Anyone remember the Battle 360 episode on the Truk raid? That show was a big influence on me getting into naval military history.
Oh definitely.
Never seen that channel. How many subs?
@@Heike-- it was a show on the History Channel ca. 2008. Computer graphics were kinda OK, love to see a better job (might do it myself someday)
@@tachikaze222 History Channel was such garbage. Endless 40 minute shows that barely scratch the surface, tell the same story over and over and give you the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect.
Hey look, another show on D-Day!
@@Heike-- yeah I wanted to like Battle 360 but it was 3 minutes of content extended to 30 with fancy spinny graphics, and ads
The USS Frank O'hare (sp?) was a lightly armed transport battle ship that had amazing luck. Again and again is was in the midst of intense battles and somehow escaped. It won 5 Battle Stars in WW2 and another, later in Korea. I think its luck that made it remarkable.
Edward O'Hare (DD/DDR-889)
Awesome video Drach!
As a youngster I saw a show here in the US on a Sunday night called 20th century with Walter Cronkite that for the time and being only 30 minutes did a great job covering this Battle and the reasoning for it. At that time I believe they mentioned that Truk was the first combat for the then new Grumen Hellcats. If this is true I'd love it confirmed at the time I was living on Long Island just a few miles away from where they and so many other planes were made. As were those by Republic Aircraft.
Once again, Drachinifel doing good work for history. Is there going to be a video on the followup strikes coming soon? That was kind of a cliffhanger you left us on!
This video weirdly doubles as the 'next step' in the Spruance series, so when I get back to that I'll probably cover them :)
@@Drachinifel aces, thank you kind sir!
Wonderful introduction
This is basically exactly the devastating, crippling attack that Japan tried to inflict at Pearl Harbor
Yes, but the Japanese didn't have anything like the resources to do the workmanlike jobs the Yanks did on Truk. That includes adequate reconnaissance before the attack. It meant having the resources to go back again and again launching attack after attack we\ith the same aircraft, multiplying the results obtained from the resources at hand.
And it meant staying and fighting for DAYS if need be to achieve the desired effect, rather than two raids followed by a hasty departure for home. This applies to Midway as well.
The Yanks showed how this kind of thing OUGHT to be done.
Had the Japanese realized how outclassed they were even before the war began, perhaps they would have avoided the war in the first place. Of course, they weren't about to realize that reality.
To be clear, the Japanese did a pretty fair job at Pearl harbor. When it takes the US Navy three and a half years to clean up and some of the mess is still there 80 years later, I'd say that was effective. This was also, but make no mistake they did everything they were looking to do at Pearl harbor. With the exception of getting the carriers. I'm not even so sure it would have made that much difference, they probably would have just told the shipyard workers to build the replacements faster.
@@bughunter1766
@@SeattlePioneer Actually, we have the minutes from the Imperial War Council meeting they had in November 1941 and they knew the awful risk they were taking. They just didn't see any other choice. FDR had boxed them in with the oil embargo and a war was exactly what he wanted.
@@Heike-- what FDR wanted was the IJA to pull back to Manchuria, where it belonged more or less. Somewhat parallel situation to Russia & Ukraine today.
A very good presentation on a battle that doesn't get that much mention...though a book I read on the Marianas campaign started off with it.
Props to the Avenger crew that sank the ammunition ship and themselves got taken out by the explosion.
Mission successfully failed.
And some foreshadowing for the aircraft lost when Yamato's magazines detonated.
"Some gave all..."
They knew the risk and did their duty. God bless them.
Who can blame them, how could they know it carried "only" ammunition, plus orders are orders, they didnt have anti-ship missiles back then to take them out from safe distance.
Nicely described. Thanks, Drachy.
Thanks, Drach. I needed story time.
As the Dragon said, after six of his seven heads where lost, "dont you think this is geting excesive?"😂
I dived on the wrecks in July over nine days. 32 dives - 15 merchant ships, a destroyer (Fumitzuki), a submarine 40 metres or 131ft down (l-169… dived with hatches open during the attack) and a Betty bomber. Various cargos on the merchants were fascinating - spare periscopes for subs, lots of spare Zero propellers plus some broken down fuselages with the wings stacked up. One ship had a Japanese tank on its cargo deck.
Thank you.
This was a great video thanks 👍👍
Wow, thank you, that was riveting!
very enjoyable, a good portrayal of the battle and strategies...
I think Spruance ordered the surface attack to give the surface warships' crews some training. The aerial threat was deemed gone by that point, the target Japanese ships were no match for his ships and until then airmen were getting all the exp. In certain weather conditions, surface attack against US carriers was still possible and in that situation surface escorts would have to engage in surface action and experience (or lack thereof) could prove decisive.
Again, I have to doubt the idea of surface attack against the American fleet carriers (outside of the carriers being already badly damaged from air or sub attacks) being a viable threat at any point in WWII, let alone by 1944. Any condition where the carrier can’t operate aircraft is going to make it even harder for the Japanese to find American fleet carriers from potentially hundreds of miles away, let alone close the gap.
The Japanese themselves figured trying to attack carriers with surface ships was impractical and planned on using their own aircraft instead for the job.
@@bkjeong4302 ight ive seen you plenty a time now. The biggest argument against yours of a possibly Japanese surface group attacking a US Carrier force is literally the Battle off Samar. Yes, it was a Taffy group, but it could be easily swapped with Halsey's Carrier Strike Force and the same would possibly happen, catching themselves offguard because they thought the Japanese have retreated through the night. A surface action between all of Lee's Fast Battleships and Yamato could've happened too if Halsey didnt take them away from the San Bernardino Strait.
Point is, even since the Americans had the great advantage of airpower, they still could've been caught by surprise by Japanese surface units.
@@battleship6177
You’re completely ignoring the speed difference between fleet carriers and CVEs. Taffy 3 only ended up that way because running away and maintaining distance wasn’t an option; for Halsey’s force it was.
@VersusARCH I'm right now reading a Biography on Spruance. I suspect that sitting on the sidelines during this key action was something he didn't want to do. All through the war, Spruance would utilize his Flagships as more than just "Admiral's Barges," often placing the Indianapolis in the gun line supporting troops ashore (where shore batteries could reach her BTW) or, as in this case go haring off with Iowa or New Jersey in hopes of taking enemy surface ships under fire.
Thanks Drach.
Having dived truk, the US Navy did one hell of a job on the ships sitting at anchor. Seeing a 500 foot merchant man lying on its side as you decend is amazing
2:40 I would suppose that the Japanese forces had got very good at camouflaging things via an extremely Darwinian process.
Well done episode
Well done. I learned a great deal.