Raids on Deboyne (1942)

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A series of raids on Deboyne were conducted by Allied forces against the Imperial Japanese Navy seaplane base in the Deboyne Islands of the Louisiade Archipelago between 9–11 May 1942. The seaplane base had been set up prior to the Battle of Coral Sea and became untenable and was abandoned by the Japanese, due to proximity to Allied airfields at Port Moresby and the failure of Mo Sakusen (Operation Mo).

Imperial Japanese Navy Naval branch of the Empire of Japan

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 until 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender in World War II. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) was formed after the dissolution of the IJN.

Deboyne Islands group of islands in the Solomon Sea, Papua New Guinea

The Deboyne Islands are an atoll, composed of a group of reefs and islands in the north of the Louisiade Archipelago, Papua New Guinea.

Louisiade Archipelago archipelago of Papua New Guinea

The Louisiade Archipelago is a string of ten larger volcanic islands frequently fringed by coral reefs, and 90 smaller coral islands in Papua New Guinea.

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Deboyne atoll installations

Deboyne is the name for both an island and the atoll of which it is a part. Deboyne Island is also known as Panniet Island. It is in the Louisiade Archipelago east of Papua New Guinea. During World War II, the Japanese built a temporary seaplane base in the lagoon at Deboyne Atoll as part of MO Sakusen, the attempt to capture Port Moresby, Papua. The base was created by units that came from Rabaul, New Britain and Shortland Island in the Solomon Islands, including the seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru. The base existed for approximately five-and-a-half days in May 1942, including the Battle of the Coral Sea. During that time the Japanese Navy operated a small number of Aichi E13A (Jake), Mitsubishi F1M (Pete), Nakajima E8N (Dave) and possibly other types of seaplanes there. Fortifications were minimal, consisting of felled palm trees and small-caliber anti-aircraft guns on shore, as well as any firepower on ships in the lagoon. [1] [2]

Atoll Ring-shaped coral reef, generally formed over a subsiding oceanic volcano, with a central lagoon and perhaps islands around the rim

An atoll, sometimes called a coral atoll, is a ring-shaped coral reef including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. The coral of the atoll often sits atop the rim of an extinct seamount or volcano which has eroded or subsided partially beneath the water. The lagoon forms over the volcanic crater or caldera while the higher rim remains above water or at shallow depths that permit the coral to grow and form the reefs. For the atoll to persist, continued erosion or subsidence must be at a rate slow enough to permit reef growth upward and outward to replace the lost height.

Papua New Guinea constitutional monarchy in Oceania

Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea is a country in Oceania that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The western half of New Guinea forms the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.

Port Moresby Place in National Capital District, Papua New Guinea

Port Moresby, also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea and the largest city in the South Pacific outside of Australia and New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the south-western coast of the Papuan Peninsula of the island of New Guinea. The city emerged as a trade centre in the second half of the 19th century. During World War II it was a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43 as a staging point and air base to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia and the Americas.

Operations at Deboyne

Two Australian planes made contact with the Japanese seaplane base force as it was approaching the Deboyne atoll on May 6, 1942 to set up the base. Lockheed Hudson bomber A16-160 escaped, but Catalina A24-20 was shot down by three Japanese seaplanes in the vicinity of Misima Island. An Australian Hudson carried out a bombing raid early on May 7.

Lockheed Hudson family of transport and patrol bomber aircraft

The Lockheed Hudson was an American-built light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built initially for the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and primarily operated by the RAF thereafter. The Hudson was a military conversion of the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra airliner, and was the first significant aircraft construction contract for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation—the initial RAF order for 200 Hudsons far surpassed any previous order the company had received. The Hudson served throughout the war, mainly with Coastal Command but also in transport and training roles as well as delivering agents into occupied France. They were also used extensively with the Royal Canadian Air Force's anti-submarine squadrons and by the Royal Australian Air Force.

The light aircraft carrier Shôhô was sunk later on May 7, 1942 by American carrier-based airplanes north and east of Deboyne. At least two fighter planes from Shôhô ditched at Deboyne. In addition, one Japanese land-based bomber made an emergency landing in the lagoon on May 7 following its attack on Royal Australian Navy Rear Admiral Crace's task force, which was to the south of Deboyne. Japanese seaplanes flew in and out of the Deboyne base during the Coral Sea battle on reconnaissance and search-and-rescue missions. They particularly concentrated their searches to the south, where American aircraft carriers were expected.

Japanese aircraft carrier <i>Shōhō</i> Zuihō-class aircraft carrier

Shōhō was a light aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Originally built as the submarine support ship Tsurugizaki in the late 1930s, she was converted before the Pacific War into an aircraft carrier and renamed. Completed in early 1942, the ship supported the invasion forces in Operation MO, the invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea, and was sunk by American carrier aircraft on her first combat operation during the Battle of the Coral Sea on 7 May. Shōhō was the first Japanese aircraft carrier to be sunk during World War II.

On May 8, a fighter plane from aircraft carrier Zuikaku made an emergency landing in the lagoon. American Army bombers from Port Moresby attacked the seaplane base on May 9, 10 and 11, suffering the loss of one B-25 and one B-26. The Japanese left Deboyne during May 10–12, 1942 and did not return during World War II. The base became untenable for the Japanese due to proximity to Allied airfields at Port Moresby and the failure of MO Sakusen. [1] [2] [3]

Japanese aircraft carrier <i>Zuikaku</i> Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy

Zuikaku was a Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Her complement of aircraft took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor that formally brought the United States into the Pacific War, and she fought in several of the most important naval battles of the war, before being sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

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Maloelap Atoll atoll

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References

  1. 1 2 Diary of seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru
  2. 1 2 Diary of Air Unit of Kiyokawa Maru
  3. ↑ Lundstrom, John. "The First Team". Asahi Journal (4.2).
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