IJN SHINANO was laid down in 1949 as a YAMATO-class BB, converted to a carrier in 1942, and commissioned and launched on 19 November 1944.
10 days later, on 29 November, she was sunk by four torpedoes fired from the USS ARCHERFISH ...
Posted on 01/10/2019 6:43:08 AM PST by fugazi
Today’s post is in honor of Sgt. Michael J. McMullen, who on this day in 2006 died of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device in Ramadi, Iraq. The 25-year-old from Salisbury, Md. served as a firefighter-paramedic on the Salisbury Fire Department and was assigned to the Maryland National Guard’s 243rd Engineer Company. McMullen was posthumously awarded the Silver Star (for saving the life of a fellow soldier during the attack), the Purple Heart, and promoted to Staff Sergeant.
1942: After just a month of war in the Pacific, the United States Navy meets to determine the best way to quickly strike the Japanese home islands. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted an attack to boost U.S. morale while weakening that of Japan’s. Several potential options were discussed, such as:
Dispatching B-24 Liberators from Hawaii and refueling them with Navy seaplanes (nearly an 8,000-mile round trip); Launching B-17s from Midway and topping off with fuel from B-24 tankers (over 5,000 miles round-trip); B-17s towing fuel-laden gliders
One suggestion from a Naval antisubmarine officer made the most sense: sail an aircraft carrier within striking range and launch Army twin-engine bombers. The “Doolittle Raid” is born, and will be carried out in just three months.
(Excerpt) Read more at victoryinstitute.net ...
Ping list
Only one Raider Left:
Lt Col. Richard E. Cole, copilot of aircraft No. 1 (age 103) is the last surviving Doolittle Raider and the only one to live to an older age than Doolittle, who died in 1993 at age 96. Cole was Doolittle’s co-pilot on the raid.
The raid was a feel good.
So much so, it marked the turning point of the stock market on the exit from the Great Depression
Same year that Ret. Gen. LeMay visited us at the 51st MMS.
Didn’t know that about the stock market.
As for the raid, a Japanese fishing boat saw the carrier two hundred miles beyond what the range of the raid was meant to be. Figuring the jig was up, they launched anyway. Not much time to linger on target, but what damage was done was mostly psychological anyway.
Yamamoto was in the process of trying to get the Japanese Army to go along with his plans for the next step of the war. The Japanese were suffering from “victory fever” stemming from the success of Pearl Harbor, et al, and wanted the country to do something.
The Doolittle raid shocked the military into giving Yamamoto a mostly free hand, resulting in their disastrous attack on Midway Island, breaking the back of the IJN.
Today in military history, I was a US E-4 discharged from the Army.
Yes. Japanese leadership had told the people they would never be bombed. Even though the damage caused by the Doolittle Raid was minimal the psychological shock was great. So the Japanese decided on the Midway operation in an attempt to destroy the remaining US Pacific fleet. They lost three carriers and in truth never recovered. We built thirty-three fast carriers during the war. The Japanese built .... none.
Your profile reads a little differently...
A tidbit ...
The Army’s bombers attacked the Japanese strike force from altitude. Out of 621 bombs dropped, none of them hit anything but water. The Japanese skippers saw the bomb released, steered away from it.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;q=quick;s=dulacki
Did you see this post yesterday? (Mentioned Doolittle raid)
IJN SHINANO was laid down in 1949 as a YAMATO-class BB, converted to a carrier in 1942, and commissioned and launched on 19 November 1944.
10 days later, on 29 November, she was sunk by four torpedoes fired from the USS ARCHERFISH ...
Thanks for your service, FRiend. Personally, I don't recall anything specifically in my military career on this date, though 40 years ago, I was probably freezing my ass off in Germany.
Truthfully, for the first six months of 1979, I'm trying to erase that from my memory, as I was enduring probably the worst job of my career, one that ensured that I would never make major. I was the battery's maintenance officer, a career killing job for non West Pointers.
Oh hell, I cast that die when I asked the Group Commander for a delay in our ARTEP while the Battery Commander was at Battalion HQ 45 miles away. The GC had made an unannounced visit, as he was wont to do, on a Friday afternoon, and I was the only officer on site. There was no way we could get 75% of our weapons systems out the gate, we needed those two weeks...even then, our operational status was tenuous at best.
That's ok, though, as I never seriously contemplated a career. The second half of '79 through my departure from Germany in mid '81 were two of the best years of my life. Those two years have played a large role in keeping me from getting bitter as an old man...I thank God for it.
We actually sank 4 of their carriers at Midway.
my departure from Germany in mid ‘81 .................... I was sent on tours to BK, 82-85 during Wintex, I’m still feeling the damp cold when I think of it. I went back there in 2015, 30 yrs later, its all gone. All the stores in town changed, I was lucky to actually see a couple of Germans in town. I bought a vest while there in an Vietnamese owned clothing store. I think the Germans move to Florida, we got a lot of them around here.
I had the honor of sharing a beer with Lt Col Cole a few years back at an Air Commando reunion in Ft Walton Beach. Only 4 of us at the table. Great but humble man.
The Chinese paid a very heavy price for supporting airmen in the Doolittle raid. I have read that over 200k Chinese were butchered for the assistance.
Hi.
On January 10, 1979 in military history, I was pulling CQ at a place called TUSLOG Det 67 in TU. A nuclear missile site that didn’t exist.
Not a thread hijack attempt.
5.56mm
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.