Operation Inmate was an attack by the British Pacific Fleet against Japanese positions on Truk Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean during the Second World War. The attacks against the isolated islands on 14 and 15 June 1945 were conducted to provide combat experience for the aircraft carrier HMS Implacable and several of the fleet's cruisers and destroyers ahead of their involvement in more demanding operations off the Japanese home islands.
Shells from a British Pacific Fleet cruiser falling on Japanese oil tanks at Truk during the 15 June 1945 bombardment
HMS Implacable arriving at Sydney on 8 May 1945
Rockets being fired from a Firefly at the radio station on Moen island
HMS Implacable (at back right) and Victorious viewed from Formidable on 10 July 1945
Chuuk Lagoon, previously Truk Atoll, is an atoll in the central Pacific. It lies about 1,800 kilometres northeast of New Guinea and is part of Chuuk State within the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). A protective reef, 225 kilometres (140 mi) around, encloses a natural harbour 79 by 50 km, with an area of 2,130 km2 (820 sq mi). It has a land area of 93.07 square kilometres, with a population of 36,158 people and a maximal elevation of 443 metres (1,453 ft). Weno city on Weno Island functions as both the atoll's capital and the state capital, and is the largest city in the FSM with its 13,700 people.
Chuuk islands
Native Micronesian of Japanese Truk Island, circa 1930s.
Japanese battleships Yamato and Musashi in anchorage off Truk Islands in 1943
Japanese shipping under attack in Truk Lagoon during Operation Hailstone on 17 February 1944