Over the past two months I have published a series of posts regarding the British Pacific Fleet’s participation in Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa from March through May 1945.

 

Over the past two months I have published a series of posts regarding the British Pacific Fleet’s participation in Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa from March through May 1945. Today I am submitting a final post on the subject to review the fleet’s accomplishments during this period.

During Operation Iceberg, the British Pacific Fleet’s Task Force 57 spent 62 days at sea and carried out 23 strike days and one naval bombardment against Japanese targets. Altogether, the British conducted 5,335 sorties of which roughly 40 percent were offensive. 

During the latter, the British expended 927 tons of bombs, half a million rounds of ammunition and 950 rockets. In doing so, they claimed 42 Japanese aircraft destroyed in the air (excluding eight aircraft destroyed in Kamikaze strikes) with over 100 destroyed or damaged on the ground. They also sank a definite six minor vessels with a further 180 vessels either probably sunk or damaged worth an estimated 30,000 tons. 

This cost the British some 160 aircraft in return of which 26 were shot down in combat and at least 32 were destroyed in Kamikaze attacks. Operational causes and accidents accounted for the remaining aircraft losses.

 No British ships were sunk during the battle, although the destroyer Ulster was heavily damaged due to a near miss inflicted during a conventional bombing attack. Likewise, all five of the engaged British aircraft carriers sustained Kamikaze hits, but none was seriously damaged. Finally, the fleet’s personnel casualties amounted to 85 killed and 83 wounded.

By comparison, during Operation Iceberg the mighty U.S. Fifth Fleet destroyed 16 Japanese warships, including the 64,000-ton super-battleship Yamato, a cruiser and five destroyers, along with untold numbers of Japanese aircraft.

 Japanese ground losses were even worse as the Japanese army suffered an estimated 100,000 casualties in its failed attempt to hold Okinawa. Of these, the vast majority were killed, but this included 7,400 men taken prisoner. Putting this immense slaughter into perspective, this was roughly twice the number of casualties sustained by the Japanese during their epic defeats at Imphal and Kohima, which up to that point had constituted the worst defeats in the history of the Imperial Japanese Army.

 While clearly a substantial victory, this triumph came at a heavy price for the Americans as the Fifth Fleet lost 36 assorted vessels sunk and another 368 damaged, mostly due to Kamikaze and conventional air attacks. American aircraft losses amounted to 763 while the navy lost some 4,900 men killed and missing and 4,824 wounded out of a total American butcher’s bill of 49,144 battle casualties for the campaign.

Put in this perspective, Britain’s contribution to Operation Iceberg seemed small, but these materiel results only partially measured the fleet’s success. Despite the unglamorous nature of its mission, Task Force 57’s relentless campaign to neutralise the airfields of the Sakishima Gunto helped minimize these islands as potential staging areas for large-scale air strikes against the invasion area.

 In this manner, the British fulfilled their primary function and contributed to the operation’s overall success. Likewise, the fleet gained valuable experience and earned the respect of their American allies. The Americans were particularly impressed by the durability of the British aircraft carriers as they withstood multiple Kamikaze hits with no appreciable damage. 

By comparison, during the same period Kamikaze hits forced the withdrawal of no fewer than seven American aircraft carriers from the operational area to undergo major repairs. This American admiration was amply demonstrated during the fleet’s replenishment period in San Pedro Bay about half way through the operation when Admiral Ernest King, the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, tried to divert the British fleet away to support the upcoming invasion of Borneo. Admirals Chester Nimitz and Raymond Spruance so vehemently opposed him on this matter, that King was forced to reverse himself and relented to leave the British fleet under Nimitz’s control. Now with Operation Iceberg complete, Admiral Spruance reported the British Pacific Fleet ready to form part of the American fast carrier force thus securing a British role in the upcoming assault against Japan (which will be the subject of future posts).

Pictured here are ships of the British Pacific Fleet at anchor during this period. Among the ships visible are the aircraft carriers Indomitable, Indefatigable, Unicorn (aircraft repair ship), Illustrious, Victorious and Formidable. Royal Navy, public domain. For more information on this and other related topics, see Forgotten War, the British Empire and Commonwealth’s Epic Struggle Against Imperial Japan, 1941-1945.