Japan Thought Coral Atolls Were Useless — Americans Landed 2,000 Planes On Them In 90 Days.

On September twenty-second, nineteen forty-four, a United States Navy survey team waded ashore at Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands. The atoll consisted of forty small coral islands arranged in a rough circle around a lagoon measuring twenty miles long and ten miles wide. The largest island, Falalop, covered barely one square mile of dry land. Most islands were substantially smaller, mere strips of coral sand barely rising ten feet above sea level, covered in coconut palms and scrub vegetation. The scene that greeted the American surveyors was deceptively peaceful, an almost idyllic tropical setting that gave no hint of the massive transformation about to unfold.

Japanese forces had abandoned Ulithi without a fight three days earlier, retreating westward as American forces advanced through the Central Pacific. The atoll had served Japan as a minor seaplane base and weather station, nothing more. A handful of wooden buildings, a small radio shack, and a primitive pier constituted the entire infrastructure. No roads existed. No proper harbor facilities. No fuel storage. No fortifications worth mentioning. The Japanese Imperial Navy had evaluated Ulithi multiple times during their three years of occupation and concluded it offered minimal strategic value. Too remote. Too small. Too exposed to American naval raids to justify significant defensive investment. The few Japanese personnel stationed there had lived in basic conditions, maintaining the weather station and occasionally servicing seaplanes that used the lagoon for emergency landings. They had planted a few vegetable gardens, improved some footpaths between buildings, and otherwise left the atoll in its natural state.

#F6FHellcat #PacificWar #WW2History #JapaneseZero #NavalAviation #AirCombat #WorldWarII #MilitaryHistory #GreatMarianasShoot #CarrierWarfare #ZeroFighter #AmericanAces #PacificTheater #NavalHistory #WWIIDocumentary #AerialCombat #GrummanHellcat #ZeroVsHellcat #NavalAirForce #1944 #PhilippineSeaBattle #WWIIAviation #FighterAircraft #MilitaryAviation #WarHistory #HistoricalDocumentary #BattleOfPhilippineSea #USSLexington #Kamikaze #OkinawaBattle #DavidMcCampbell #WWIIAces #PacificWarStories #NavalWarfare #AircraftCarrier #WWIIPlanes #VintageAviation #AviationHistory #WarStories #TrueWarStories #WWII #SecondWorldWar #ImperialJapan #USNavy #TaskForce58 #ZeroFighters #HellcatFighter #AirSupremacy #WWIITactics #MilitaryTactics #HistoryChannel #WarDocumentary #RealHistory #UntoldHistory #ForgottenBattles #WWIIBattles #PacificCampaign #1944Battles #NavalBattles #AirToAirCombat #DogfightHistory #FighterPilots #WWIIPilots #CombatHistory #HistoricalEvents #EducationalVideo #HistoryLovers #MilitaryEducation #WWIIFacts #AviationLovers #Warbirds #VintageAircraft #ClassicAircraft #HistoryDocumentary #TrueStory #HistoricalAccuracy #WWIIResearch #MilitaryStrategy #TacticalHistory #IndustrialWarfare