Eniwetok

THE NEW BASE AT ENIWETOK, at the extreme northwest rim of the Marshalls, offered advantages over Majuro in the southeast. Not only was Eniwetok a larger anchorage; it was 660 miles closer to Saipan. With its beautiful lagoon fifty miles in circumference, Eniwetok was a logical attraction as a naval operating base. However, the Japanese brigade dispatched to defend it had hardly unloaded its gear before Operation Catchpole descended. The Americans seized the atoll in one week of February 1944 and began developing facilities. The work was well under way when Forager kicked off, and Task Force 58 would steam to Eniwetok from Saipan.

Clark’s group slid into Eniwetok on the twenty-seventh, joining Task Groups 58.2 and 58.3. It seemed incredible that so much had occurred since Mitscher led the task force outbound from Majuro on June 6, only three weeks before. But the post-Philippine Sea respite was short-lived. On June 30 the force raised steam and hoisted anchors, headed for the western horizon. Clark arranged yet another visit of the Jocko Jimas, and beyond them lay the Philippines . . . and more.

In July Halsey relieved Spruance in the Fifth Fleet/Third Fleet turnover, while Vice Admiral John S. McCain took the helm of 38.1, anticipating his eventual replacement of Mitscher. When Task Force 38 sortied for the Philippines in October, the lineup was even greater than Forager’s: seventeen carriers, including four new ships and six new air groups.

In the ultimate confrontation in Leyte Gulf, Japan’s last four deployable carriers would be sunk and the world’s last battleship slugfest would occur. The process begun at Coral Sea in May 1942 took two and a half years to complete, but at length the work was done.

The world will never see its like.