Chapter 2 - The Great Carrier War

(Part 12)

The Final Campaign

During the last year of the War, the Royal Navy, freed of its European emenies, was able to devote a larger portion of its carrier forces to the Pacific campaigns. The HMS Victorious, HMS Illustrious, and HMS Indomitable conducted raids against Japanese interests in the Bay of Bengal and the East Indies. They were joined by the USS Saratoga on raids on Sabang Island off the northern tip of Sumatra and oil refineries on Java. On April 19, 1944, the British carriers launched massive strikes against oil refineries at Palemberg in southern Sumatra, which were the major source of Japanese aviation fuel. By January 1945, with the addition of the HMS Indefatigible, the British Pacific Fleet had a total of four carriers and about 200 aircraft. These aircraft included British Seafires and Fireflies, but were mainly Hellcats, Corsairs, and Avenger torpedo bombers. On January 24, a massive strike was launched by the British carriers on the Soengi Gerong refinery, which resulted in a 50 percent cut in production. Five days later, an attack on the Pladjoe refinery completely destroyed the facility and also resulted in the destruction of about 70 Japanese aircraft.

In the last year of the War, the British Formidable-class carriers HMS Victorious, HMS Illustrious, and HMS Indomitable and . . .

. . . the HMS Indefatigable joined the fight against the Japanese

Early in 1945, Admiral Spruance returned as commander of the American 3rd Fleet, which again became the 5th Fleet. In February 1945, Admiral Mitscher's carrier task force (again called Task Force 58) launched attacks on airfields near Tokyo, destroying almost 600 Japanese aircraft, in preparation for the Marine invasion of Iwo Jima. During the actual invasion of Iwo Jima, the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea was sunk by kamikazes.

On April 1, 1945, the United States landed a 200,000-man invasion force on Okinawa. Although the landings were mainly unopposed, the 100,000-man Japanese garrison on the island soon began strong resistance. Before the actual invasion, the carriers of Task Force 58 and the British Pacific Fleet, now designated Task Force 57, pounded the island, destroying about 500 Japanese aircraft. During this action, the USS Enterprise, USS Wasp, USS Yorktown, and USS Franklin were all damaged by Japanese bombs. In the case of the USS Franklin, her flight deck was filled with fueled and armed planes, which increased the level of damage. Although 724 of her crew were killed, the survivors saved the ship. The USS Franklin eventually sailed across the Pacific, through the Panama Canal, and back to her home port at New York, where she was decommissioned.

On April 5 and 6, the Japanese mounted massive kamikaze attacks on the Allied invasion fleet. A total of 19 ships were damaged by 355 kamikaze and over 300 bomb attacks. On April 7, the battleship Yamato was also sent on a suicide attack, with her 18-inch guns pounding at the invasion fleet. She was attacked by 280 carrier aircraft and after receiving many bomb and torpedo hits, sank with all but 220 of her crew of 2,500.

Throughout April and May 1945, the kamikaze attacks continued. In one series of attacks, Admiral Mitscher's flagship, the USS Bunker Hill, was hit and seriously damaged. He transferred his flag to the USS Enterprise, which was itself then hit by a kamikaze. He then transferred to the USS Randolph, which also was hit. The British carriers HMS Formidable, HMS Victorious, and HMS Indomitable were also kamikaze victims. However, their armored flight decks received only minor damage.

During the last year of the War, kamikaze attacks sank 34 ships and damaged another 368, resulting in 4,900 crew killed and 4,800 wounded. For all their destruction, however, the kamikaze attacks were a futile effort. The Japanese fleet had been defeated. Thereafter, the American and British carriers, along with Army Air Force B- 29 bombers had free run of the skies over Japan. After the atomic bomb strikes, Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945 aboard the battleship USS Missouri.

World War II saw the aircraft carrier prove itself to be the most powerful and important ship in the fleet. It is almost a certainty that without its carrier forces, Japan would not have attempted to take control of the Pacific. Likewise, without its carriers, the United States probably would not have been able to stop and turn back the Japanese advances. In the European theater, without the escort carriers, the German U-boats would have continued to severely restrict the supply of men and material for the Allied forces. Thus, even there the final outcome could have been much different.

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003