1944-Contin ued
Force Fighter Director on his staff coordinated fighter
direction. Two fast carrier groups to the west kept
Eniwetok Atoll neutralized until the initial objectives
were achieved. Their early achievement permitted
the second phase of the campaign, Seizure of
Eniwetok, earlier than the planned date of 10 May.
The landings (17 Feb) and the ground action were
.'
.r
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Adm. Marc Mitscher
UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION
1910-1995
135
supported by aircraft from one fast carrier group and
one escort carrier group. Covering operations were
provided by the First Strike on Truk (17-18 Feb), car-
ried out by the Truk Striking Force (Vice Admiral R.
A. Spruance), built around three fast carrier groups.
In a two-day attack, the carriers launched 1,250 com-
bat sorties against this key naval base and exploded
the myth of its impregnability with 400 tons of
bombs and torpedoes, sinking 37 war and merchant
ships aggregating 200,000 tons and doing heavy dam-
age to base installations. In this action the first night
bombing attack in the history of U.S. carrier aviation
was carried out by VT-10 from
Enterprise
with 12
radar equipped TBF-l Cs. The attack, delivered at low
level, scored several direct hits on ships in the har-
bor. In a brief enemy air attack on the same night,
Intrepid
was hit by an aerial torpedo. For the cam-
paign, night fighter detachments of VF(N)-76 and
VF(N)-101 (assigned F6F-3s and F4U-2s equipped
with AIA radar) were assigned to five carriers and,
while not widely used, were on occasion vectored
against enemy night raiders.
30 January
To effect the neutralization of Wake
Island during the Marshalls operation, two squadrons
of Coronados from Midway Island made the first of
four night bombing attacks. Repetitions of the 2,000-
mile round trip mission were completed on 4, 8, and 9
February.
2 February
The last of the World War II ceilings for
Navy aircraft, calling for an increase to 37,735 useful
planes, was approved by the president.
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Invasion of the Marshalls. Japanese airstrip at Engebi burning after attack by U.S. carner based planes 221248
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