South China Sea 1945: Task Force 38's bold carrier rampage in Formosa, Luzon, and Indochina Spiral-Bound | February 28, 2023

As 1945 opened, Japan was fighting defensively everywhere and, as the Allies got closer to the Home Islands, the risks increased. Luzon was the next island to be retaken and here land-based Japanese aircraft from Formosa or Indochina couldv still reach the invasion fleet. US Naval Intelligence believed battleships Ise and Hyuga were operating out of Camranh Bay. A fast carrier sweep through the South China Sea was a potential answer. A bonus was that the South China Sea was the main nautical highway for cargo from Japan’s conquests in Southeast Asia through.
Thus was born Operation Gratitude, a month-long sweep where TF38 would spend the better part of two weeks marauding though the South China Sea, launching airstrikes harbors in Indochina, the Chinese coast and Formosa and targeting shipping in the high-traffic nautical highway of the South China Sea. By the time the Taskforce exited, over 300,000 tons of enemy shipping and dozens of Japanese warships were at the bottom of the sea. With follow-up strikes against Japanese harbors and airfields in Formosa and Ryukyus, the sweep was unprecedented.
This intriguing account explains how no fleet could defeat shore-based fortifications demonstrated the rules was changed - permanently. From the Korean War through Vietnam and to the campaigns in Iraq, carriers could sail safely offshore, knowing their aircraft would dominate both sea and land.