Pacific Theater
Hirohito (Emperor Shōwa)’s Triumph
By Blaine TaylorIt was fated to be the last wartime conference of the Big Three Allies of World War II, but it was the first not attended by the late American President Franklin D. Read more
Pacific Theater
The Pacific Theater during World War II is generally regarded as the area of military confrontation between the Allied powers and Imperial Japan. The Pacific Theater consists of the entire operational expanse of the war from the Aleutian Islands in the north to Australia in the south, including island chains such as the Solomons, Gilberts, Marshalls, and Marianas. The China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater is also considered a major component of the Pacific Theater.
Pacific Theater
Action off Santa Cruz: Last Stand of the USS Hornet
By David Alan JohnsonDuring the early morning hours of October 26, 1942, several hours before the sun came up, Admiral William F. Read more
Pacific Theater
The U.S. Navy in World War II: Problems with Torpedoes
by David Alan JohnsonAny American submarine that had made contact with a Japanese task force a year or two earlier would almost certainly not have had the success that Darter and Dace had with Admiral Kurita’s task force. Read more
Pacific Theater
Darter & Dace at the Battle of Leyte Gulf
By David Alan JohnsonAs soon as he arrived on the bridge of the submarine USS Dace, Lt. Cmdr. Rafael C. Read more
Pacific Theater
Merrill’s Maurauders: Into Myitkyina
by Al HemingwayWhy, with the Marauders riddled with disease and fatigue, were they given the mission to attack Myitkyina? Stilwell and Merrill had to be aware that the unit was decimated. Read more
Pacific Theater
A Gamble for Peace: Ellis Zacharias & the South Pacific
By Todd Raffensperger“I submit that it was the wrong decision. It was wrong on strategic grounds. And it was wrong on humanitarian grounds.” Read more
Pacific Theater
Unnecessary Hell: The Battle of Peleliu
By Eric NiderostIn the predawn hours of September 15, 1944, the official start of the two-month Battle of Peleliu, a powerful fleet of U.S. Read more
Pacific Theater
Top Flying Tiger: General Claire Chennault
By Michael D. HullLaden with 500-pound bombs and incendiaries, 10 Japanese twin-engine Mitsubishi Ki21 Sally bombers took off from the Hanoi airfield in Indochina on the morning of Saturday, December 20, 1941. Read more
Pacific Theater
The Long Lance Torpedo at Guadalcanal
By David Alan JohnsonThe bogey man of the U.S. Navy during the Guadalcanal campaign was not the Zero fighter or the I-class submarine. Read more
Pacific Theater
The Battle of Peleliu: Was it necessary?
by Eric NiderostIf Peleliu was one of the bloodiest campaigns of the Pacific Theater, it was also one of the least known until recently. Read more
Pacific Theater
Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki: Underwater Peril at Pearl Harbor
By John PerryDuring the early hours of December 7, 1941, five midget submarinesof the Imperial Japanese Navy waited to enter Pearl Harbor, the anchorage of the U.S. Read more
Pacific Theater
The USS Panay: First Step on the Road to War
By Eric NiderostAround 10 o’clock on the morning of December 13, 1937, New York Times correspondent Hallett Abend received an unexpected visitor: Rear Admiral Tadao Honda of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Read more
Pacific Theater
World’s First Smart Weapon: the ‘Bat’
By Alan AlpersOn May 27, 1945, U.S. Naval Reserve Lieutenant Leo Kennedy was patrolling from his station at Yonton Field in Okinawa. Read more
Pacific Theater
USS Rasher: The Legendary Undersea Warrior
By Kelly BellAt 12:30 am, October 9, 1943, Commander Edward S. Hutchinson spotted his first targets as a submarine commander. Read more
Pacific Theater
Hollywood’s Dream Factory During World War II
By Herb KugelWorld War II came to the Hollywood motion picture studios, the “Dream Factories” as they were sometimes called, the day after Pearl Harbor. Read more
Pacific Theater
Rescue at Ladd Reef
By Paul FaraceAs the submarine USS Cod left Apra harbor, Guam, on the afternoon of June 26, 1945, for her seventh war patrol, her crew of 97 officers and enlisted men were all but certain that their new assignment was to be junk hunting—a thankless and dangerous job that in the words of one Cod crewman saw “Uncle Sam risk a seven million dollar submarine and crew to sink a leaky sailboat not worth more than $20,000!” Read more
Pacific Theater
USS Astoria Sunk: The Disaster Off Savo Island
By John DomagalskiAdmiral Ernest King could not believe what he was reading. The graying 63-year-old chief of U.S. naval operations had been awoken from his sleep. Read more
Pacific Theater
The Battle of Cape Esperance: A Sorely Needed Naval Victory
By David Alan Johnson“One large, two small vessels, one six miles from Savo off northern beach, Guadalcanal. Will investigate closer.” Read more
Pacific Theater
Japan’s “Diving Shells” in the Battle of Cape Esperance
By David Alan JohnsonThe eight-inch shell that penetrated the cruiser’s hull and threatened to blow up her forward magazines was a Type 91 armor-piercing shell, which had been designed to continue through the water when it fell short of its target and penetrate the ship’s hull below the waterline. Read more
Pacific Theater
Japanese Transports Major Losses
By John W. WhitmanJapan had serious difficulties deploying her manpower, and a few examples illustrate some of the worst events. Read more
