Posted on 11/10/2025 11:21:15 PM PST by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas
In February 1944, the U.S. Navy launched one of the most devastating strikes of the Pacific War — Operation Hailstone. Over the skies and seas of Truk Lagoon, the Japanese stronghold once called the “Gibraltar of the Pacific” was shattered in a two-day assault that rewrote naval warfare.
This video tells the forgotten story of how the USS Iowa, USS New Jersey, and America’s radar-guided firepower changed history. Discover how advanced analog computers, precision gunnery, and overwhelming air superiority combined to destroy Japan’s once-invincible fleet. From massive 16-inch naval guns thundering across the ocean to the smoldering wrecks beneath Truk’s lagoon, every moment marked the end of Japan’s naval dominance.
Through declassified reports, survivor accounts, and wartime footage, experience the battle that proved technology, courage, and strategy could outmatch even the most disciplined adversary. This is the story of the strike that broke Japan’s shield — and announced America’s unstoppable reach across the Pacific.
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More WW2 stories
Range was about the same as USN, but I'm not sure if their fire control was equal to USN.
US fire control was overwhelmingly superior in 1943.
American battleships could fire with accuracy while maneuvering at full speed. The Japanese had to choose between accuracy or evasive action.
Exactly. The Japanese found out the hard way.
America battleships could hit vessels outside visual range. Japanese ships never could.
It would have been awesome to be on that ship when it fired.
No. Japanese fire control was weak at longer ranges. Yet as accounts of the night combat engagements off Guadalcanal reveal, the Japanese were tough opponents in surface warfare, especially in the early years of WW II.
Based on optical sighting, Japanese fire control was relatively weak at long range. Yet, as accounts of the night combat engagements off Guadalcanal reveal, the Japanese were tough opponents in surface warfare, especially in the early years of WW II.
“It would have been awesome to be on that ship when it fired”.
.
You might notice the ship moving sideways...
battleship firing 16 inch guns https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_ZyQ6WTT3A8
At the start of the war, the Japanese had superior optics which allowed them to see us before we could see them – especially at night. They also had the oxygen based "Long Lance" torpedos with a range that far outstripped that of the U.S. Mark 14 torpedos which were defective anyway.
At Guadalcanal this allowed the Japanese to win several surface engagements. As pointed out, once U.S. radar came on line (and U.S. captains at sea learned to trust and use it) it negated these Japanese advantages.
(But you probably knew all that.)
[“It would have been awesome to be on that ship when it fired”.
.
You might notice the ship moving sideways...]
Any Desert Storm vets who experienced this?
I seem to recall 2 stories from the Pacific:
1. A US Seaman thought it was funny to make the smokestack belch black smoke. Despite being ordered not too, he did it anyway. A Jap ship seeing the black smoke fired and sank the US ship.
2. The US captain did not trust that the new fangled radar was providing the right information, so he sailed his ship within visual range and got his ass kicked by the Japs.
I think the USN BB main battery gun fire control system could accept both optical and radar targeting data at the same time. I do not think it was either one or the other. Which was awesome and deadly.
Getting hit by a 16 inch shell will do the damage you need.
Iowa-class Battleships had some serious firepower.
Still, the Japanese Yamato and Musashi were bigger.
Carriers ruled the waves though…. Mahan’s “battleship supremacy” was doomed by air power, as Billy Mitchell proved.
I saw the USS New Jersey fire all 9 in Beirut from another ship about 2500 yards away. It was spectacular. It was also getting dark at the time enhancing the effect. Tan smoke everywhere! She was going about 10 knots at the time so I didn’t notice any sideways movement.
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