This Day in History: Operation Hailstone

On this day in 1944, Operation Hailstone comes to an end. The naval attack has been called the “Japanese Pearl Harbor” because of the massive damage that U.S. Naval forces inflicted on the Japanese base at Truk Lagoon.

The base was more important to the Japanese effort than most people remember today.

Truk’s strategic location in the Caroline Islands, as well as its unique geography, was optimal for Japanese purposes. A huge coral reef surrounds a cluster of islands, enclosing a lagoon within its borders and making it effectively impossible for outside naval gunfire to strike ships anchored inside the lagoon.

The Japanese Combined Fleet relied heavily on the islands, which had also been fortified.

By early 1944, U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz had decided it was time to take on Truk, tapping Rear Admiral Marc “Pete” Mitscher’s Task Force 58 for the job.

Things almost went awry: The Japanese became suspicious when they noted a high-altitude, long-range photo-reconnaissance mission over Truk on February 4. Worried about a possible attack, they began moving ships out of the area.

Fortunately, they’d begun to let their guard down by the time Task Force 58 launched its attack early on February 17.

The first wave consisted of 72 F6F Hellcat fighters.

Stunned, the Japanese scrambled to get planes in the air. They managed to get about 80 Zeros up. “There were Hellcats all over the place,” American flying ace Alex Vraciu later recounted, “so sometimes you’d never know who it was that helped you at any particular time. The action was wild and almost unbelievable . . . . dogfights all over the place.”

He remembered seeing “a number” of Japanese pilots parachuting out of their planes, many of which appeared to be wearing pajamas.

The first wave was nothing if not successful: 30 Japanese Zeros had been downed, compared to just 4 Hellcats. Americans had also destroyed 40 additional enemy planes on the ground.

More attacks followed. When all was said and done, roughly 30 American attacks were launched that day. By afternoon, no Japanese fighters were left in the air, but they still had one trick up their sleeve: After sunset, they launched an attack with six radar-equipped B5N Kate torpedo planes. The attack was only moderately successful. USS Intrepid took a hit, but she was able to limp back to a base for repairs. By contrast, American nighttime raids with radar-equipped torpedo bombers made 13 direct hits.

As dawn broke on February 18, Americans pressed home the attack, going after airstrips, hangars, and cargo before finally leaving around noon. The wreckage they left behind was stunning.

“The Japanese had lost between 250 and 275 aircraft,” a Naval History and Heritage Command summary recounts, “and 75 percent of their supplies on Truk. Japanese warship losses included two light cruisers, four destroyers, two submarine chasers, one auxiliary minesweeper, and a motor torpedo boat. Additional ships sunk included three auxiliary cruisers, 16 Navy transport ships, three Army transport ships, one freighter, two submarine tenders, and––probably most valuable––five tankers.”

And those were just the ships lost. Many more were damaged. In the meantime, American losses had been relatively minor.

A follow-up raid would be launched in April, mostly as a “mop up” operation. For all intents and purposes, Operation Hailstone ensured that Japanese efforts to use Truk as a base had come to an end.

As our boys departed the area, they felt “really great,” according to pilot James “Jig Dog” Ramage. “We really felt that we had now started to repay these guys. . . . By this time, we were pretty damn good and knew it.”

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Primary Sources:

• Alan P. Rems, Two Birds with One Hailstone (Naval History Mag., Jan. 2014)

• Barrett Tillman, Hellcats over Truk (U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings; March 1977) (reprinted HERE)

• Oral History Interview with Alex Vraciu (October 9, 1994)

• Oral History Interview with James Ramage (Digital Collections of the National WWII Museum)

• Samuel J. Cox, H-026-3: Operation Hailstone—Carrier Raid on Truk Island, 17–18 February 1944 (Naval History and Heritage Command; Feb. 2019)