HH 104 American Naval History

Iwo Jima, Okinawa And The End Of WW II

After Leyte Gulf – B29s range 3,000mi at 360mph; 3x B22 payload

Iwo Jima

Importance – Japs used to inderdict B29s from Saipan; could be used for emergency B29 landings

Operations - 3^rd fleet changes back to the 5^th fleet; 3 days bombardment (wanted 10); 21k Japs vs 30k US first day (71k final)

Atop Mt. Suribachi – Taken 4^th day; 3 weeks fighting left

A Heavy Price To Pay – US 7k dead, 20k wounded to 216 of 21k Japs left

Okinawa

General – 12sq mi of volcanic ash; largest armada ever (1450 ships); last Pac land battle; both US LTGen and Jap CDR killed

Kamikaze Corps – “Divine Wind”; damage 300+ Allied ships, sunk 40; 5k sailors lost, another 5k wounded

Operations – 10^th Army seizes two airfields day 1; Jap CDR had 100k men

U.S. Losses To Kamikazes – USS MS hit b ut hardly damaged; USS Bunker Hill

Sinking The Yamato – attacked by 200 bombers; sunks with 1,400 crew

Losses On Okinawa – 7.6k KIA + 32k wounded US to Jap 80k dead

Final Stages Of WW II

General – 7 May ’45 Germans surrender

How To Finally Defeat Japan – 1) Blockade; 2) Invade; 3) Bomb Strategically (predicted to take 18mo)

American Submarines – Torpedo problems early on; 200 subs added (312 total) … function: supply line, photo recon, life guard during air strike, scout, pursue fleeing vessels; sank 1300 ships; used night periscopes, range finder, en. radar/comp

Invade Japan? – Op Olympic; casualty estimate at 250-500k +++; Potsdam Declaration: Unconditional surrender from Jap

Japan’s Status – No hope for winning

“Little Boy” & “Fat Man” – Enola Gay, Little Boy, Hiroshima, 80k casualties; 6 Aug ’45 … Nagasaki 3 days later; 40k casualties

Surrender – USS Missouri; Tokyo Bay

“Lords Of The Ocean, Lords Of The Air” – Brit Chiefs to US ADM King