![]() ![]() The array of ships and aircraft at the bottom of the lagoon has made what is now known as the Chuuk one of the world's most popular sites for wreck diving, but Moline said the three U.S. (United States Navy Museum of Naval Aviation) Avengers, Hellcats, and SBD Dauntless aircraft aboard the USS Intrepid, 1944. ![]() Most of the warships of the Combined Fleet had already been withdrawn, but the two days of attacks in Operation Hailstone destroyed about 250 Japanese aircraft and sank about 40 ships, including two light cruisers and four destroyers. The objective: to attack the Truk atoll, known to the Americans as the "Gibraltar of the Pacific." Raymond Spruance, commander of the 5th Fleet. Marc Mitscher, had been given the mission by Adm. The Navy's powerful Task Force 58, led by Rear Adm. The operation was a massive air and surface attack on the main anchorage of Japan's Combined Fleet in the Caroline Islands, about 1,100 miles northeast of New Guinea. ![]() aircraft, carrying a total of about 103 crew members, went down in the lagoon during Operation Hailstone on Feb. "We remain committed to locating more Americans missing in action in Chuuk and around the world," he said.Īpproximately 30 U.S. aircraft known to have gone down in the lagoon, Derek Abbey, a retired Marine aviator and president of Project Recover, said in a statement. More work needs to be done to find other U.S. The expedition team is putting together reports "to potentially set into motion a process for recovering and identifying the remains of up to seven crew members associated with these aircraft," said Andrew Pietruszka, an underwater archaeologist at Scripps and Project Recover's lead archaeologist. Related: WWII Ship Wreck Discovered in Philippine Sea Deepest Ever Found ![]()
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