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80 years ago this day

Mikel

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doollitte-raid-large2-56a61c453df78cf7728b6473.jpg
 
That was awesome.

Could you imagine?

There were guys from enterprise telling about seeing the hornet emerge from the fog with funny looking planes on the deck. They had no idea what was going on.
 
Didn't do much physical damage but holy cow the psychological damage!! China sure suffered the consequences from it. He was one of my boyhood heros.
 
shortbus4x4 said:
Didn't do much physical damage but holy cow the psychological damage!! China sure suffered the consequences from it. He was one of my boyhood heros.
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Yes, it shocked the Japanese so much that they radically changed their expansion strategy to push the Americans as far away from the Japanese islands, precipitating the disaster at Midway.
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
Hey we need some volunteers to try and take off a aircraft carrier with a fucking bomber go and fly over Japan drop a few bombs then find yourselves someplace to crash in China. Those guys were true heroes. :usa:
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Japanese-occupied China, for the most part :eek:
 
I went to a memorial service for one of my dad's long time friends on the Hornet. One of the planes he flew in Vietnam is on display in the Hornet.

Another of his planes is in the Smithsonian. Was a bit bummed the Smithsonian is closed for renovation when I was in DC a couple weeks ago. Wanted to see his plane there and get some pictures for my dad.
 
Could you possibly be more vague? There are poorly-educated in the audience, you know... :flipoff2: Thanks for the post.

After I googled it:

1942: April 18: Doolittle Raid on Japan

In the first attack of the Japanese mainland during World War II on April 18, 1942, sixteen U.S. Army Air Force B-25B "Mitchell" bombers launched from USS Hornet (CV-8) approximately 600 miles off Japan. Led by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle, USAAF, the bombers departed earlier than expected due to being discovered by a Japanese guard-boat. Each bomber had a five-man crew for the Tokyo attack. Additional U.S. Navy support came with a small surface force led by Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, USN, onboard his flagship USS Enterprise (CV-6).

Fifteen of the bombers were lost in the attack, with one landing at Vladivostok, where the Soviets interned the crew. Flying in darkness towards China after the attack, four bombers crash landed or were ditched offshore, resulting in the loss of three men. Local residents helped many of the crew, though the Japanese later retaliated against the Chinese. The Japanese captured eight of the men, and three of those men were executed that October and another captured man died in captivity. Embarrassed by the attack, the Japanese high command sped-up their debate to attack the U.S. naval base at Midway, leading to the Battle of Midway in June 1942.
Image: 80-G-41197: Doolittle Raid on Japan, April 1942. USS Hornet (CV-8) launches U.S. Army Air Force B-25B "Mitchell" bomber at the start of the first U.S. air rade on the Japanese home lands, April 18, 1942. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

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Santa said:
I went to a memorial service for one of my dad's long time friends on the Hornet. One of the planes he flew in Vietnam is on display in the Hornet.
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+1 to the poorly educated comment above.

My googling led me to believe the USS hornet is 16000' underwater?

EDIt: further googling indicates there is a newer USS Hornet that is now a museum.
 
Doolittle was an outstanding leader, not just by leading this raid but also by his actions long after the fact by standing up for his men after the war was over.
Looks like they had a little memorial flyby for his raid and his men.
www.yahoo.com

Hundreds gather for Okaloosa Island flyover honoring Doolittle Raiders, Air Force anniversary

A flyover of more than two dozen military aircraft delighted Monday crowds along Okaloosa Island as it honored the Doolittle Raiders and the Air Force
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com
 
The Doolittle Raid was the single most important raid/mission of the entire war against them.

I am thoroughly convinced the Doolittle Raid caused more 'damage' that affected the Japanese than any other raid of the entire war.
Damage; meaning they were mindfucked/scare-to-shit that they could actually be attacked at home.
As such; the Japanese always had one eye on the homeland, which in turn affected how they used their military.

When the Doolittle Raid destroyed Japan's government lie of invincibility; Japan always kept part of their military close enough to the homeland, which greatly affected their conquest in the Pacific.

Japan had not experienced/suffered a defeat in over 300 years; until WWII.
 
CDA 455 II said:
The Doolittle Raid was the single most important raid/mission of the entire war against them.
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Besides all that it caused the Japs to change their strategy. instead of moving forward in the pacific they started to focus on resources. This helped us make a bee line for the mainland.

We bypassed a lot of jap held territory on the way to the mainland only picking strategic targets that would benefit us.
 
Mikel said:
Yes, it shocked the Japanese so much that they radically changed their expansion strategy to push the Americans as far away from the Japanese islands, precipitating the disaster at Midway.
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They also pulled units back to Japan for home island defense that could have been used elsewhere.
 
A lot of the battles in the pacific were luck really, or probably an act of God,

No air craft carriers at pearl harbor

battle of midway.

What was the one battle where the light destroyers were charging the battle ships? talking about the 5" guns had no hope of doing damage but between that and air planes riddling the deck with bullets kept the japs sucked under cover enough for us to move in and use torpedos. We were hopelessly outgunned but still came out on top.
the japs led our air craft carriers away as a decoy, Nimitz loved sinking air craft carriers they knew he would follow even though the japs didn't have enough planes to fight back.
 
Tiha said:
A lot of the battles in the pacific were luck really, or probably an act of God,

No air craft carriers at pearl harbor

battle of midway.

What was the one battle where the light destroyers were charging the battle ships? talking about the 5" guns had no hope of doing damage but between that and air planes riddling the deck with bullets kept the japs sucked under cover enough for us to move in and use torpedos. We were hopelessly outgunned but still came out on top.
the japs led our air craft carriers away as a decoy, Nimitz loved sinking air craft carriers they knew he would follow even though the japs didn't have enough planes to fight back.
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That was the battle of Leyte Gulf and the U.S. admiral that sailed our carriers north was Bull Halsey, not Nimitz.
 
Yes, the battle off Samar.

The wreck of the USS Johnston was found recently. I cannot begin to comprehend the balls these people had to charge one of the biggest battlefleets ever assembled with a few destroyers and escort carriers. Just the Yamato weighed more than all the Taffy 3 ships put together.

And yes, equal doses of courage and sheer luck. Either way, these guys belong in the pantheon of naval heros.

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SanDiegoCJ said:
That was the battle of Leyte Gulf and the U.S. admiral that sailed our carriers north was Bull Halsey, not Nimitz.
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Commander Evans of the USS Johnston was an amazing captain and warrior in the Battle of Leyte Gulf off Samar Island. He rapidly assessed the situation and knew the only course of action was to close with and attack the enemy which he did without waiting for orders. Him and his crew fought their ship with extreme skill and courage and lasted far longer than probably even he imagined, partly because of the sheer ferocity with which Taffy 3 attacked and partly because of "we're not going down without a fight" attitude of the taskforce. He was one hell of a leader and only got the Medal of Honor because there was no higher award.:usa:

I sure miss my older relatives who have passed away who lived and fought WWII. Didn't think of themselves as heros, they just had an unpleasant job to do and the faster they got it done the quicker they could go home.
 
shortbus4x4 said:
Commander Evans of the USS Johnston was an amazing captain and warrior in the Battle of Leyte Gulf off Samar Island. He rapidly assessed the situation and knew the only course of action was to close with and attack the enemy which he did without waiting for orders. Him and his crew fought their ship with extreme skill and courage and lasted far longer than probably even he imagined, partly because of the sheer ferocity with which Taffy 3 attacked and partly because of "we're not going down without a fight" attitude of the taskforce. He was one hell of a leader and only got the Medal of Honor because there was no higher award.:usa:

I sure miss my older relatives who have passed away who lived and fought WWII. Didn't think of themselves as heros, they just had an unpleasant job to do and the faster they got it done the quicker they could go home.
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This is a great book about those "Tin Cans".

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There is another interesting story. During the invasion of Norway by the Germans in 1940, the Brit destroyer Glowworm single-handedly charged a German force including the cruiser Admiral Hipper... And managed to ram her. The Glowworm was quickly blown to pieces.

After the engagement the commander of the Admiral Hipper wrote to the British admiralty through neutral channels, recommending the Victoria Cross for the captain of the Glowworm, which was eventually awarded.
 
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