PACIFIC NAVALWAR-1944

Pacific Naval War!

10/02/1944 The Japanese combined fleet leaves Truk for Palau. 15/02/1944 The USAAF decimate a Japanese convoy off New Ireland. 19/02/1944 A Japanese convoy is smashed by allied aircraft in the Bismarck Archipelago. 13/03/1944 A U.S. submarine, Sandlance sinks a Japanese troopship convoy en route to the Marianas. 29/03/1944 The U.S. Navy bombards the Palau Islands to the East of the Philippines, destroying 150 planes, six naval vessels and 100,000 tons of shipping. 29/04/1944 The US Navy pounds the Japanese base at Truk, destroying 120 planes. 21/05/1944 An accidental explosion on board an LST unloading ammunition in West Loch, Pearl Harbor sinks 6 LST's killing 121 and injuring 380. 19/06/1944 The 'Battle of the Philippine Sea' begins. 08/07/1944 The U.S. Navy shells Guam in the Pacific. 17/07/1944 Admiral Shimada, the Japanese Navy Minister is sacked, Nomura takes over. 25/07/1944 The British Eastern Fleet pounds the Japanese airfields and port at Sabang on Sumatra. 04/08/1944 Aircraft from a U.S. carrier task group, cruisers and destroyers attack a Japanese convoy and other shipping in the Chichi Jima area, Bonin Is. Simultaneously, aircraft from a second carrier task group bomb airfield facilities on Iwo Jima. 05/08/1944 U.S. Aircraft from two carrier task groups, cruisers and destroyers bombard Japanese installations on Chichi Jima and Haha Jima, Bonin Is. 18/08/1944 A Japanese escort carrier is sunk by a U.S. submarine off northwestern Luzon, Philippine Is. A Japanese cruiser is sunk by a U.S. submarine east of Samar, Philippine Is. 23/08/1944 U.S. destroyer and smaller naval vessels start a bombardment, repeated daily for 4 days, on Japanese installations and positions on Aguijan Island, Northern Mariana Islands. 31/08/1944 Aircraft from a U.S. carrier force (Task Force 38) commence a 3-day attack on Iwo Jima and the Bonin Island in the western Caroline's and Visayas Archipelago, which is the next step to the Philippines. 03/09/1944 Wake Island and other strategic targets in Pacific are strafed by U.S. Navy aircraft for two days, during which 13 Japanese ships are reported sunk. 10/09/1944 The U.S. Navy begins a two-day bombardment of the Palau Islands in the Pacific. 21/09/1944 U.S. planes hit Manila in the Philippines, sinking 40 ships and damaging 35. 23/10/1944 The decisive three-day battle of Leyte Gulf begins. The Japanese lose four carriers, three battleships, six heavy and four light cruisers, 11 destroyers, one submarine and some 500 planes, with approximately 10,000 sailors killed. The first organised use of Kamikaze's by the Japanese are reported. 15/12/1944 A third Japanese prison ship is mistakenly sunk by US planes off the Philippines, with less than half of POWs surviving, to be recaptured.