On 15 June 1944, the United States invaded the Japanese island of Saipan using a force of 71,000 Marines and Army personnel.

Mind you, this was a mere 9 days after the largest over-the-beach invasion armada ever assembled put a couple of hundred thousand men onto the shore of Normandy, and 60 days before we invaded southern France.

The bombardment of Saipan began on 13 June 1944. Fifteen battleships were involved, and 165,000 shells were fired. Seven modern fast battleships delivered 2,400 16 in (410 mm) shells, but to avoid potential minefields, fire was from a distance of 10,000 yd (9,100 m) or more, and crews were inexperienced in shore bombardment.

The invasion fleet was supported by the Fifth Fleet, which covered the invasion using a mere 129 warships: 7 fleet carriers, 8 light fleet carriers, 7 battleships, 8 heavy cruisers, 13 light cruisers, 58 destroyers, 28 submarines, and 956 combat aircraft. The Fifth Fleet has a field day, known as "The Great Marianna's Turkey Shoot" (aka the Battle of the Philippine Sea) which almost ended Japan's Imperial fleet for once and all. It is important to note this did not include TF 52's seven older battleships and eleven cruisers, and seven escort carriers,or the ships need to transport the landing force and all of its supplies, including some 300 LVTs.

Think for a moment about all of the logistics involved in pulling off the Normandy invasion and a massive invasion and a major naval engagement on opposite sides of the planet.

America did this is just four years. We built and trained and deployed the most incredible military force in history.

Where do you start? Pencil and paper factories for all of the downstream planning? The tools to make the tools to make the tools to build this incredible capability?

America. They made her great. Let us make her great again.

Yep, it was a hell of a time. People who lived through war have a different outlook on everything.

I've put a hiatus on reading crime fiction and started with histories. Right now, Bunker Hill by Philbrick.

And Bunker Hill was three days ago, 1775 ... The British succeed in taking the hill, but at a loss of half their force, over a thousand casualties, with the Americans losing about 400, including important colonial leader, General Joseph Warren.

http://www.historyplace.com/un...lution/revwar-75.htm

Thanks for bringing this up...my father is one of those 71,000 Marines. He spent a majority of his time on Saipan before going into Hiroshima and Nagasaki to "clean up" post bomb drops.

At 93, he still reveals very little of what he saw and did, but he's still my hero.

quote:

Originally posted by JDHunz:
Thanks for bringing this up...my father is one of those 71,000 Marines. He spent a majority of his time on Saipan before going into Hiroshima and Nagasaki to "clean up" post bomb drops.

At 93, he still reveals very little of what he saw and did, but he's still my hero.

My Father who just passed at 90 in Nov. was also there as a Marine. After Siapan he went to Tinian and witnessed the A-bomb assembly and take off, then as your father, went to Japan.
He would talk about it, but never everything.
Near his end, suffering from Dementia he would occasionally go back, some of the things he would talk about were hard to here. I would try to comfort him, but the pain for him was too deep inside.
After the War he became a teacher. I'm sure that career choice came from his experiences when he was 17 and fighting in the Pacific as a Marine.

These current College age "students" and the libs from my own baby boomer generation make my stomach turn!
They are clueless as to what life can turn into in a moment.
Too bad they can't talk to the members of the GREATEST GENERATION anymore.
Too bad more members of the GREATEST GENERATION are not around to refresh our memories.

"Turn on the lights!"

-Marc Mitscher

My Dad was on one of those ships with the 27th Infantry. They stayed on Siapan until it was secure then they were shipped out. They went to another island for R&R and to brought back to strength and readied to their next assignment. In April 1945 they landed on Okinawa.

At its peak, the U.S. Navy was operating 6,768 ships on V-J Day in August 1945.
This including 28 aircraft carriers, 23 battleships, 71 escort carriers, 72 cruisers, over 232 submarines, 377 destroyers, and thousands of amphibious, supply and auxiliary ships.