The Chuuk Islands are a group of small islands within the Federated States of Micronesia. The historical name of these islands is Truk.
The history of the Truk Islands began with their discovery by Spanish navigators and continued with the exploration of the French explorer Dumont-D'Urville, and then the Russian explorer Fyodor Petrovich Litke. After the Spanish-American War of 1898, by agreement between Spain, Germany and the United States, Micronesia, with the exception of the island of Guam, was bought from the United States by Germany for $ 4.2 million. At the beginning of World War I, in 1914, the islands were occupied by Japan.
Truk Atoll was a major Japanese logistics base as well as the "home" naval base of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Joint Fleet. In fact, this base was the Japanese equivalent of Pearl Harbor of the US Navy, was the only large Japanese air base within the radius of the Marshall Islands and played a key role in the logistical and operational support of the Japanese garrisons that make up the defensive perimeter on the islands and atolls of the central and southern parts of the Pacific Ocean.
Five airfields for almost 500 aircraft. In addition, patrol, landing and torpedo boats, submarines, tugs and ship mine sweepers took part in ensuring the protection and functioning of the base.
To provide air and sea support for the forthcoming offensive against Eniwetok, Admiral Raymond Spruance ordered an attack on Truk. Task Force TF 58 of Vice Admiral Mark Mitcher consisted of five aircraft carriers (Enterprise, Yorktown, Essex, Intrepid and Bunker Hill) and four light aircraft carriers (Bello Wood, Cabot, Monterey and Cowpense), which carried over 500 aircraft. The carrier escort provided a large fleet of seven battleships and numerous cruisers, destroyers, submarines and other ships.
Fearing that the base would become too vulnerable, the Japanese redeployed the United Fleet's carriers, battleships and heavy cruisers to Palau a week earlier. Nevertheless, numerous smaller warships and cargo ships remained at anchorage, and several hundred aircraft continued to remain at the atoll's airfields.
This attack, codenamed Operation Halestone, caught the Japanese military by surprise, leading to one of the most successful US battles during World War II.
A Japanese freighter off Truk Atoll after being hit by a torpedo dropped by the aircraft carrier Enterprise's TBF Avenger during a raid on Truk on February 17, 1944.
The American offensive was a combination of airstrikes, surface ships and submarines for two days and seemed to take the Japanese by surprise. Several daytime, along with nighttime air raids, including fighter aircraft, dive bombers and torpedo bombers on Japanese airfields, aircraft, coastal infrastructure and ships on and near the anchorage of Truk Island. American surface ships and submarines patrolled possible escape routes from anchorage and attacked Japanese ships that were trying to escape air raids.
In total, three Japanese light cruisers were sunk during the operation: (Agano, Katori and Naka)
Agano
Katori
four destroyers: (Oite, Fumizuki, Maikaze and Tachikaze), three auxiliary cruisers (Akagi Maru, Aikoku Maru, Kiyosumi Maru), two submarine bases (Heian Maru, Rio de Janeiro Maru), three smaller warships (including including sea hunters Ch-24 and Shonan Maru 15), Fujikawa Maru air transport and 32 cargo ships.
Some of these ships were destroyed at the anchorage, and the rest in the vicinity of Truk Lagoon. Many cargo ships were loaded with reinforcements and supplies for the Japanese garrisons in the central Pacific. Only a small number of troops aboard the sunken ships and a small part of the cargo were saved.
Maikaze and several other ships were scuttled by American surface ships while attempting to leave Truk's anchorage. Those who escaped from sinking Japanese ships, according to reports, refused to be rescued by American ships.
The cruiser Agano, injured during the raid on Rabaul and which at the time of the start of the raid was already on its way to Japan, was sunk by the American submarine Skate. Oite, who had raised 523 sailors from Agano, returned to Truk to take part in the defense with his anti-aircraft guns. It was sunk immediately after the start of the air raid with all the surviving Agano sailors, only 20 of Oite's crew were saved.
Over 250 Japanese aircraft were destroyed, most of them still on the ground. Many of the aircraft have been in various stages of assembly since they had just been delivered from Japan disassembled aboard cargo ships. Only a small part of the assembled aircraft were able to take off to repel an attack by US aircraft. Several Japanese aircraft that took off were shot down by US fighters or bombers.
The Americans lost 25 aircraft, mostly from intense anti-aircraft fire from the Truk batteries. About 16 American pilots were rescued by submarines or seaplanes. A night torpedo attack by a Japanese aircraft from Rabaul or Saipan damaged Interpid, killing 11 crew members, forcing the ship to return to Pearl Harbor and then to San Francisco for repairs. The ship returned to service in June 1944. Another attack by Japanese aircraft resulted in the bombing of the battleship Iowa.
The Truk raid ended Truk as a major threat to Allied operations in the central Pacific; The Japanese garrison on Eniwetok could not receive real help and reinforcements that could help him defend against the invasion, which began on February 18, 1944, and, accordingly, the raid on Truk greatly facilitated the capture of this island by the Americans.
Later, the Japanese transferred about 100 of the remaining aircraft from Rabaul to Truk. These aircraft were attacked by the US carrier forces on April 29-30, 1944, as a result of which most of them were destroyed. American aircraft dropped 92 bombs within 29 minutes, destroying Japanese aircraft. During the April 1944 raids, no ships were found in Truk Lagoon, and this attack was the last raid on Truk during the war.
Truk was isolated by Allied forces (mostly the United States), who continued their offensive against Japan, capturing islands in the Pacific Ocean, including Guam, Saipan, Palau and Iwo Jima. Cut off, Japanese troops on Truk, as well as on other islands in the center of the Pacific, were starved and food short at the time of Japan's surrender in August 1945.
Around 20 years later, adventurers Jacques Yves Cousteau, Al Giddings and Klaus Lindemann discovered the delights of this lagoon, which combines sunken war machines with strings of coral and a variety of living underwater world.
The Chuuk Islands with their shallow and picturesque lagoons are a real Mecca for divers. Laguna Truk is undeniably one of the best wreck diving spots on the planet, with a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes that attracts divers from all over the world for both day and night dives. But not all of the historical side of the lagoon is hidden under water. The Japanese lighthouses, located on the peaks with the best views of the lagoon, can be reached by car or on foot. In addition, experienced guides can show you old airstrips and command posts, firing positions and cave networks, hospitals and libraries.
