Operation Desecrate One
| date | March 30, 1944 to March 31, 1944 |
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| place | Palau |
| output | American victory |
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The Operation Desecrate One was an operation of the US Navy in the Pacific War during World War II . It essentially comprised the bombing of Japanese bases on the Palau Islands and served in preparation for Operations Reckless and Persecution , the Allied landings in western New Guinea .
prehistory
After the main base of the Japanese Navy in the South Pacific on Truk had been successfully eliminated by the Americans in mid-February 1944 (→ Operation Hailstone ), the Japanese had relocated a large part of their fleet to Palau. Since from there Japanese forces could endanger the planned American operations on the west coast of New Guinea, it was decided to neutralize Palau. The attacks on Palau and the smaller bases on Yap , Ulithi and Woleai were intended to destroy the war and merchant ships lying there. In the second place, it was planned to mine the entrance passages to the ports in order to prevent future use.
Admiral Raymond A. Spruance commissioned the Carrier Task Force 58 under Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher to carry out this operation and provided it with the support group 50.15. In total, the fleet consisted of five large and six small aircraft carriers , six battleships , four escort carriers , ten heavy and eight light cruisers , 60 destroyers , and four supply ships . She stabbed on 23/24. March from Espiritu Santo and Majuro towards Palau at sea.
As early as March 25th, Japanese scouts that had started from Truk sighted the American units heading to the assembly point. A sighting was also successful the following day, when the two units united southeast of Truk. Admiral Koga Mineichi then gave the order to leave the base. The main Japanese armed forces and their porters had been in Tawi-Tawi for days at that time .
The battle
Japanese fighter planes tried to locate and attack the incoming units on March 28, but the venture failed. Operation Desecrate One started as planned at 6:30 a.m. on March 30, when Task Force 58 was about 165 km south of Palau. USS Bunker Hill , USS Lexington and USS Hornet aircraft began laying sea mines over the atoll. A total of three waves had been flown on Palau by the following day. Then the American carrier planes bombed Yap, Ulithi and Woleai.
In Palau 31 auxiliary and merchant ships were sunk (approx. 130,000 GRT ), plus four submarine fighters and a troop transport .
While fleeing from Palau to Mindanao , Admiral Koga crashed a Kawanishi H8K flying boat on March 31 and was killed. He was replaced in early May by Admiral Toyoda Soemu as Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet ( 聯合 艦隊 , Rengō Kantai ).
Following the operation, the Fast Carrier Task Force returned to Majuro Atoll to prepare for Operation Desecrate Two , the direct support of the Hollandia landing .
Aftermath
The actual landing on the Palau with the aim of gaining bases for the planned reconquest of the Philippines came only five and a half months later, when the Battle of the Palau Islands began with the invasion of Peleliu .
Sunk Japanese ships (selection)
- Irō ( supply ship): Sunk by carrier aircraft from the USS Bunker Hill and USS Yorktown . Had previously been damaged by a torpedo hit by the USS Tunny .
- Chuko Maru (armed merchant ship): Sunk by the carrier aircraft of the USS Enterprise .
- Teshio Maru (armed merchant ship): Sunk by carrier aircraft of the USS Bunker Hill and USS Belleau Wood .
- Amatsu Maru (supply ship): Sunk by carrier aircraft of the USS Enterprise .
- Ryuko Maru (merchant ship): Sunk by the carrier aircraft of the USS Lexington .
- Nagisan Maru (Troop Carrier): Sunk by carrier aircraft from the USS Bunker Hill , USS Yorktown and USS Cabot .
- Kamikaze Maru ( Tender) : Sunk by the carrier aircraft of the USS Bunker Hill .