Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) at a luncheon meeting, mid-1943. From left to right: General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold (USAAF), Admiral William D. Leahy, Admiral Ernest J. King, General George C. Marshall.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, USN (left), and Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift, USMC, on the flag bridge of the transport McCawley during the WATCHTOWER Operation.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Japanese G4Ms armed with aerial torpedoes fly through antiaircraft bursts to attack the American fleet off Guadalcanal on August 8, 1942. Note the skilled wave-top approach.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, in late August 1942. This aerial view looks northwest, with the Lunga River and Ironbottom Sound in the background. Bomb and shell craters pockmark the entire area.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Wreckage of a SBD scout bomber on Guadalcanal, still afire after being destroyed on the ground by a Japanese air attack.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Battle of the Eastern Solomons, August 24, 1942. This photograph, taken from the island veranda of the Enterprise (CV-6), recorded the third of three bombs to strike the carrier in a huge Japanese dive-bombing attack.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
South Pacific command conference on USS Argonne at Noumea, New Caledonia, on September 28, 1942. From left to right: Major General Richard K. Sutherland, chief of staff to General MacArthur; Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, CINCPAC; Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, COMSOPAC; and Major General Millard F. Harmon, USAAF.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Battle of Tassafaronga, November 30, 1942. A wounded man is evacuated from the torpedostricken cruiser Minneapolis, flagship of Rear Admiral Carleton H. Wright.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
U.S. amphibious troops transfer into landing craft for the landing at Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, November 1943.
U.S. National Archives.
An LST transports troops of the 1st Marine Division to a landing on Cape Gloucester, the western extremity of New Britain, in December 1943. Note the wealth of supplies and munitions loaded into trucks and jeeps on deck.
U.S. National Archives.
Marines encounter rough surf as they wade ashore unopposed at Cape Gloucester on December 26, 1943.
U.S. National Archives.
The Gato-class submarine Wahoo (SS-238) is launched at Mare Island, California, February 1942.
Courtesy of Mare Island Historic Park Foundation.
The newly commissioned Wahoo gets underway in the Napa River, July 1942.
Courtesy of Mare Island Historic Park Foundation.
Richard O’Kane, executive officer, and Dudley “Mush” Morton, captain of the Wahoo.
Courtesy of Mare Island Historic Park Foundation.
The Japanese destroyer Harusame struck by an audacious “down the throat” torpedo shot in Wewak Harbor, northern New Guinea. Photograph taken through the periscope of the Wahoo, January 24, 1943.
Courtesy of Mare Island Historic Park Foundation.
Preliminary design plan for the Essex-class aircraft carriers.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
USS Essex (CV-9), underway in May 1943. She was the first in a new class of powerful fleet carriers that would spearhead the advance into the western Pacific. A squadron of SBD scout bombers (lacking folding wings) are parked aft on the flight deck. Amidships, with wings folded, are F6F Hellcat fighters and TBF torpedo planes.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Marines advance across a devastated landscape on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, November 1943.
U.S. National Archives.
Hangar deck of the Yorktown (CV-10), circa October–December 1943. Ordnancemen are working on bombs among several parked F6F Hellcats. In the background, a movie is being screened for their shipmates.
U.S. National Archives.
A Hellcat prepares to launch from the Yorktown during Operation GALVANIC, November 1943.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
A Hellcat crash-lands on the Enterprise during Operation GALVANIC, November 1943.
U.S. National Archives.
Combat Information Center (CIC) of the Lexington (CV-16) during a carrier raid on Japanese bases in the central Pacific, November 1943.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Lexington Hellcat pilots (VF-16) are briefed by the squadron’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Paul D. Buie, during Operation GALVANIC, November 1943.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
VF-16 pilots exult after massacring a formation of enemy planes headed for Tarawa, November 23, 1943. Fourth from right is Lieutenant (jg) Ralph Hanks, who has just become an “ace in a day” by shooting down five Zeros in one flight.
U.S. National Archives.
Crewmen catch up on their sleep during a lull in the action. Photo taken on the flight deck of the Lexington during Operation GALVANIC, November 1943.
U.S. National Archives.
A wounded aviator is lifted from his aircraft after returning to the Saratoga (CV-3) from a raid on Rabaul, November 1943.
U.S. National Archives.
Soldiers of the army’s 7th Infantry Division attack a Japanese blockhouse on Kwajalein Island, February 4, 1944.
U.S. National Archives.
Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance (center) and Admiral Nimitz (right) tour Kwajalein on February 5, 1944. They are accompanied by a brigadier general (left).
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
“The thousand-yard stare.” A combat-weary marine is hoisted aboard a transport in Eniwetok Lagoon in the Marshall Islands.
U.S. National Archives.
Troops of the 163rd Infantry Regiment storm the beach on Wadke Island, Dutch New Guinea.
U.S. National Archives.
Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, Commander Task Force 58, with his chief of staff, Commodore Arleigh A. Burke. Photo taken in spring 1945.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
A basketball game in the forward elevator well of the USS Monterey (CVL-26). The jumper on the left is Lieutenant Gerald R. Ford, an athletics officer and future president of the United States. Circa June–July 1944.
U.S. National Archives.
Battle of the Philippine Sea, June 19, 1944. A Hellcat recovers aboard the Lexington.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
A Curtiss SB2C Helldiver enters the Yorktown’s landing pattern, circa June–July 1944.
U.S. National Archives.
Army reinforcements wade ashore on Saipan, June or July 1944.
U.S. National Archives.
A marine discovers a Japanese family hiding in a cave on Saipan, June 21, 1944.
U.S. National Archives.
SB2C Helldivers return to the Yorktown after a raid in the Marianas in early July 1944.
U.S. National Archives.
Admiral Spruance and Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith, USMC, at a flag-raising ceremony at Smith’s headquarters on Saipan, marking the end of organized Japanese resistance on the island, July 10, 1944.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
