Central Pacific 1943

new Central Pacific strategy emerged in 1943
map from Time 1943/09 - big

March 15 - King reorganized fleets

new 5th Fleet under Spruance for Central Pacific
with Halsey's 3rd Fleet in SW Pacific and MacArthur's 7th Fleet

May 8 - Joint Strategic Plan approved at Cairo

South Pacific to Philippines (MacArthur)
China to Hong Kong, B-29 air bases (Chiang)
Central Pacific to Formosa, B-29 air bases (Nimitz)

Ultimate goal: Luzon "bottleneck" between China, Formosa, Luzon

cut off Japanese shipping, protect air bases for new B-29

Hellcat on Yorktown 11/43

Central Pacific, between Aleutians and Solomons, from CMH

light carrier USS Independence CVL22

"Hop, Skip" - Rabaul from Time, 1943/07

"Jump" - Rabaul from Time, 1943/07

map of Marshalls - "typical atoll: Wotje" from Time, 1943/12 - big - c

Spruance, from Time, 1944/06/26

"Target for Tomorrow?" was Truk, from Time 1943/11

camouflaged Essex-class carrier at Pearl - c - d

"Whose Aleutians?" from Time, 1943/05

Chester Nimitz 1942

May 30 - new USS Essex CV-9

1st of 24 "fast carriers" that were the idea of Admiral Sims in 1925
authorized 1938, begun April '41, arrived May 30, 1943

June 10 - PAC-10

creates multicarrier taskforce
each TF = 3 carriers, 2 battleships, 6 cruisers, 18 destroyers

August 30 - public first told of new carriers

12 ready at Pearl Harbor (actually 11)
Halsey fighting in South Pacific - within air range of Rabaul

Aug. 31 - Navy occupied Baker Island in Ellices

but this outpost was already obsolete - Japan had made decision to pull back perimeter to new defense line from Kuriles to Marianas to west New Guinea to Burma
Admiral Koga's Combined Fleet at Truk
only mobile TF could break this line in the middle

Aug. 31 - 1st test raid on Marcus Island 2700 miles from Pearl

TF15 formed under Charles "Baldy" Pownall
Essex CV-9, new Yorktown CV-10, light carrier Independence,
fast battleship Indiana, 2 cruisers, 10 destroyers, 1 sub, 1 oiler
1st Hellcat launched 4:22 am - dead calm - carriers at 30 knots into wind
5 waves flown - strafed and bombed island - some 2000 lb. blockbusters
launch point 150 mi. away - no Japan fighters (Iwo 700 mi. away)
was a success (except loss of 3 planes to AA fire)
especially successful was navigation of new formation

Sep. 18 - 2nd test - air strike against Tarawa & Makin

same formation and tactics as Marcus raid by TF15
photos taken during raid for upcoming invasion

Oct. 5 - 3rd test by TF14 - Wake Island

first time Hellcats fought Zeros - won
radar used to direct defensive planes
Japan fleet sailed to Wake, but found nothing - suspected only diversion
Japanese reinforced Rabaul - 375 planes

Nov. 1 - Halsey sent TF38 to support landings at Bougainville

first time fast carriers used in South Pacific
carriers Saratoga and Princeton - under Ted Sherman
air strikes against Buka-Boris - north end of island
next day, withdrew to south

Nov. 2 - Empress Augusta Bay battle between cruiser fleets

Nov. 5 - TF38 air strike vs 4 Japan heavy cruisers at Rabaul

97 planes attacked - only 8 lost
all 4 cruisers heavily damaged
never again would Japan heavy ships come to Rabaul

Nov. 11 - air strike against Rabaul by 5 carriers now with Halsey

TF38 and Essex, Bunker Hill, Independence
but now, Japan counterattacked
air strike of 120 land-based planes vs US carriers -
1st test of defensive ability of fast carriers
battle lasted 46 minutes - 25 Japan planes downed
only carriers and destroyers (cruisers had been detached)

Japanese fleet at Truk was crippled

lost 1/2 fighters, all cruisers
took six months to train fresh pilots

Nov. 12 - GALVANIC under Spruance began against Gilberts

200 ships, 27600 troops, 6000 vehicles, 117000 tons cargo
11 fast carriers in four groups
but carriers held back in defensive areas
Spruance feared attack by Japanese surface fleet (wrong)
Spruance emphasized battleship bombardment for 3 hours before amphibious assault
poor coordination between battleships (directing the bombardment) & carrier planes

Nov. 20 - Tarawa landings began on Betio

Marine landing force under Gen. Holland Smith
Marine casualties 3301, incl. 900 killed (Japan only 146 survive of 4836)
USS Independence hit by torpedo plan from Kwajalein in Marshalls - out for 6 months
was first island campaign covered by photographers - With the Marines at Tarawa used film shot by Norman Hatch and Marine Corps 2nd Division Photographic Service

Spruance blamed by Towers

carriers should have carried out raids on all airfields in Marshalls first, especially Kwajalein, rather than held back in defensive sectors

Nimitz ordered Spruance to attack Marshalls

but Spruance kept carriers to give air support to Marines on Tarawa

Nov. 24 - sub sunk USS Liscome Bay escort carrier - 644 killed, including Dorie Miller

Nov. 26 - Japan sent night torpedo plane attacks from Marshalls

met by special night air group #6 under Adm. Arthur Radford on USS Enterprise
2 Hellcats and radar-equipped Avenger made the 1st night radar interception of the war
were successful, but shot at each other also
loss of the Hellcat of Navy's 1st ace Edward "Butch" O'Hare

Nov. 28 - Japanese air attacks ended as Tarawa fell

Dec. 4 - TF50 raid on Marshalls and Kwajalein - under Pownall

but too cautious - got caught in night counterattack from Mitsubishi "Betty" torpedo bomber that had long range of 3000 mi. (twice any U.S. carrier plane), self sealing tanks, 5-7 man crew, was greatest threat to US carriers; missed on first raid and should have struck again quickly

Dec. 11 - FLINTLOCK

Nimitz decided on Kwajalein, skipping Maloelap and Watje
listening more seriously to air admirals such as Forrest Sherman
carrier TFs could neutralize all islands around Kwajalein
island leapfrogging not new - used by Adm. Kinkaid in Aleutians who skipped Kiska to take Attu in May '43
Halsey skipped Kolembangora to take Vella Lavella in July
future of Central Pacific advance depended on fast carriers
if successful, would continue to Truk and Marianas

December - Navy command reorganization due to success of fast carrier taskforce

King promoted to "Admiral of the Navy" - 5 stars (1st since Dewey)
King to leave Washington and take command in Pacific
Forrest Sherman became chief planner for CincPac
first time for air admiral to become a planner
pro-carrier Jack Towers promoted to Deputy CincPac
aggressive Marc "Pete" Mitscher to head TF58 for FLINTLOCK
Mitscher was USS Hornet commander for Doolittle in 1942

TF58 - "a revolution in naval warfare" (Clark Reynolds)

1943 began with only 2 pre-war carriers in Pacific
1943 ended with formation of TF58
4 groups, each with 3 carriers and 650 planes
8 fast battleships, 24 cruisers
outer screen of destroyers & subs

March of Time released "Naval Log of Victory" in December 1943 - U.S. resources were stretched thin to fight a 2-ocean war, but the balance of naval power had changed by the end of the year.

Success of the Central Pacific campaign made the China more important. FDR wanted Chiang Kai-shek to take the offensive against Japan, included him as one of the Big 4 of the postwar world. FDR met with Chiang at the Cairo conference Nov. 23-26, and supported China at the Teheran conference Nov. 28. To keep Chiang Kai-shek in the war, China would be supplied from India and Burma. The Allies created the South East Asia Command Nov. 15, 1943, under Lord Mountbatten to begin an offensive in Burma. Stilwell began his GALAHAD offensive in September 1943 to retake Burma with a joint American-British-Chinese army. This caused Japan to respond with the U-Go offensive in March 1944. Stilwell led a counterattack to retake Myitkyna and keep open the Burma Road supply route to Chiang-kai-Shek in Chungking. See The Burma Front and the March of Time issue "Back Door to Tokyo" of June 1944.

20th Century Fox released The Fighting Lady Dec. 27, 1944.