Operation Tan No. 2

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Operation Tan No. 2

Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II

USS Randolph (CV-15) alongside a repair ship at Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands on March 13, 1945, showing damage to her after flight deck resulting from the kamikaze hit on March 11.

Date	March 11, 1945
Location	Ulithi in the western Pacific
Result	Inconclusive

Combatants

United States

Empire of Japan

Commanders

Raymond A. Spruance

Soemu Toyoda
Matome Ugaki
Naoto Kuromaru^[1]

Strength

15 aircraft carriers^[2]

2 submarines,
30 aircraft^[3]

Casualties

1 aircraft carrier damaged,
26 killed^[4]

13 aircraft destroyed
60-70 killed^[5]

Operation Tan No. 2 was a long-range Kamikaze mission directed at the main Allied naval fleet anchorage at Ulithi atoll in the western Pacific on March 11, 1945. The Japanese hoped to take the U.S. Pacific fleet by surprise and sink or damage a significant number of the fleet's aircraft carriers or other large ships. In the attack, 24 "Frances" twin-engine bombers took off from Japan to conduct suicide attacks on the U.S. fleet at Ulithi atoll. Only two of the aircraft reached Ulithi, arriving after nightfall. One aircraft hit U.S. aircraft carrier Randolph on the starboard side aft just below the flight deck, killing 26 men and wounding 105. The second crashed into an access road on Sorlen islet, apparently believing the road with its nearby signal tower to be a ship. There were no deaths beyond the aircraft's crew in the attack, although several U.S. servicemen were injured from the debris and ignited fuel. Randolph was repaired locally and rejoined the U.S. fleet in April, 1945 to take part in the Battle of Okinawa.

1 References

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

^ Hackett, Operation Tan No. 2, [1]
^ Hackett, Operation Tan No. 2, [2]
^ Hackett, Operation Tan No. 2, [3] Aircraft included 24 Yokosuka P1Y "Frances" with Kamikaze crews and 6 Kawanishi H8K "Emily" non-kamikaze aircraft.
^ Hackett, Operation Tan No. 2, [4]
^ Hackett, Operation Tan No. 2, [5] Only 10 of the "Frances" aircrew personnel survived the mission. Since "Frances" aircraft usually carried a crew of three, that means up to 62 may have died. One "Emily," which normally carries a crew of 10, was lost.

[edit] Books

Hoyt, Edwin P. (1993). The Last Kamikaze. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-94067-5.
Jinno, Masami (2000). Azusa tokubetsu kougekitai: Bakugekiki "Ginga" sanzen kiro no kouseki (Azusa special attack unit: "Ginga" bombers' 3,000-km flight path) (in Japanese). Kojinsha.
Millot, Bernard (1971). DIVINE THUNDER: The life and death of the Kamikazes. Macdonald. ISBN 0-356-03856-4.
Ugaki, Matome; Masataka Chihaya (Translator) (1991). Fading Victory: The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki, 1941-1945. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-3665-8.