On June 3rd the IJN attacked Dutch Harbor and Fort Mears on the Aleutian isle of Unalaska. This was in time with the attack on Midway island. Although the Japanese intention is not exactly known it is most likely they wanted to secure their northern flank and abolish the USN line of defence stretching from Pearl Harbor to Dutch Harbor.
To combat this threat the United States and Canada pushed up forces into Alaska and the Aleutian islands of Kodiak, Umalaska and Umnak. These forces were slight as the U.S was stretched in other theatres of war and in the PTO itself.
Task Force Tare was set up under Rear Admiral Robert A. Theobald. He commanded all the Canadian forces in the Aleutians as well as all U.S Navy and Army personel.
Under his command were fifty-two vessels which broken down were:
Two Heavy Cruisers
Three Light Cruisers
Eleven Destroyers
Six Submarines
Two Destroyer Seaplane Tenders
One Gunboat
One Minesweeper
Two Oilers
Ten Coast Guard vessels
Fourteen District Patrol vessels
He also had one hundred and sixty-nine aircraft (Mostly 11th Air Force):
Ninety-Four Fighters
Seven Four-Engined Bombers
Forty-Two Twin-Engined Bombers
Twenty-Three Maritime Patrol
Three Scouts
The U.S knew an attack was coming. The defence order was put out on May 27th, 1942. All of the U.S forces were on high alert for early June. Twenty-three Catalinas were seperated between Dutch Harbor (Unalaska) and Kodiak island. The USAAF also posted twelve P-40 fighter aircraft at the highly secret Fort Glenn on Umnak. Twelve F4F-4 Wildcats were on shipment to the Aleutian isles as reinforcement.
On June 2nd - two Japanese carriers were spotted 400 miles south of Kiska Island. On the 3rd, Dutch Harbor and Ft. Mears were attacked by fifteen fighters and thirteen bombers. They did not meet resistance from U.S fighters who failed to intercept them. However, two aircraft were claimed by U.S anti-aircraft fire.
On the 4th, Dutch Harbor was attacked again. This time throughout the evening. Altogether the attacked made up eleven fighters, ten dive bombers and eight bombers. On the same day Fort Glenn (Umnak) was attacked by nine aircraft, two were destroyed by the defending P-40s and the rest had to withdraw.
Does anyone the accurate loss statistics of these two days (3rd and 4th June, 1942) for the Aleutians?
What ships were there? Names please.
And what are the codings for U.S ships? I still haven't learnt that!
Any other information would be nice. And feel free to discuss the campaign afterwards. I'm learning about it now so I'll add bits and pieces if it's worth it.
To combat this threat the United States and Canada pushed up forces into Alaska and the Aleutian islands of Kodiak, Umalaska and Umnak. These forces were slight as the U.S was stretched in other theatres of war and in the PTO itself.
Task Force Tare was set up under Rear Admiral Robert A. Theobald. He commanded all the Canadian forces in the Aleutians as well as all U.S Navy and Army personel.
Under his command were fifty-two vessels which broken down were:
Two Heavy Cruisers
Three Light Cruisers
Eleven Destroyers
Six Submarines
Two Destroyer Seaplane Tenders
One Gunboat
One Minesweeper
Two Oilers
Ten Coast Guard vessels
Fourteen District Patrol vessels
He also had one hundred and sixty-nine aircraft (Mostly 11th Air Force):
Ninety-Four Fighters
Seven Four-Engined Bombers
Forty-Two Twin-Engined Bombers
Twenty-Three Maritime Patrol
Three Scouts
The U.S knew an attack was coming. The defence order was put out on May 27th, 1942. All of the U.S forces were on high alert for early June. Twenty-three Catalinas were seperated between Dutch Harbor (Unalaska) and Kodiak island. The USAAF also posted twelve P-40 fighter aircraft at the highly secret Fort Glenn on Umnak. Twelve F4F-4 Wildcats were on shipment to the Aleutian isles as reinforcement.
On June 2nd - two Japanese carriers were spotted 400 miles south of Kiska Island. On the 3rd, Dutch Harbor and Ft. Mears were attacked by fifteen fighters and thirteen bombers. They did not meet resistance from U.S fighters who failed to intercept them. However, two aircraft were claimed by U.S anti-aircraft fire.
On the 4th, Dutch Harbor was attacked again. This time throughout the evening. Altogether the attacked made up eleven fighters, ten dive bombers and eight bombers. On the same day Fort Glenn (Umnak) was attacked by nine aircraft, two were destroyed by the defending P-40s and the rest had to withdraw.
Does anyone the accurate loss statistics of these two days (3rd and 4th June, 1942) for the Aleutians?
What ships were there? Names please.
And what are the codings for U.S ships? I still haven't learnt that!
Any other information would be nice. And feel free to discuss the campaign afterwards. I'm learning about it now so I'll add bits and pieces if it's worth it.
