Luzon
Luzon is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. It is ranked 15th largest in the world by land area. Located in the northern region of the archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as well as Quezon City, the country's most populous city. With a population of 53 million as of 2015, it is the fourth most populous island in the world containing 52.5% of the country's total population. Luzon may refer to one of the three primary island groups in the country; as such, it includes the Luzon mainland, the Batanes and Babuyan groups of islands to the north, Polillo Islands to the east, the outlying islands of Catanduanes, Masbate, Romblon and Palawan, among others, to the south. The name Luzon is thought to derive from the Tagalog word lusong, a large wooden mortar used in dehusking rice. Luzon was inhabited by Negrito people before Austronesians from Taiwan displaced them; the Austronesian groups were divided further into two types of nations.
Highland civilizations were based in the mountains and had built up plutocracies based on agriculture, such as the Igorot Society, responsible for building the Banaue Rice Terraces. Meanwhile, maritime states were split among Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Muslim principalities, ethnoreligious tribes, who had trading connections with Borneo, Java, India, Korea and China before the Spanish established their rule. From just before the first millennium, the Tagalog and Kapampangan peoples of south and central Luzon had established several major coastal polities, most notable among them those of Maynila and Namayan; the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, the first Philippine document written in 900AD, names places in and around Manila Bay as well as Medan in Indonesia. These kingdoms were based on leases between village rulers and landlords or Rajahs, to whom tributes and taxes were levied; these kingdoms were coastal thalassocracies based on trade with neighboring Asian political entities at that time.
There was a Sino-Buddhist country in nearby Mindoro called the country of Ma-i. According to sources at the time, the trade in large native Ruson-tsukuri clay jars used for storing green tea and rice wine with Japan flourished in the 12th century, local Tagalog and Pangasinense potters had marked each jar with Baybayin letters denoting the particular urn used and the kiln the jars were manufactured in. Certain kilns were renowned over prices depended on the reputation of the kiln. Of this flourishing trade, the Burnay jars of Ilocos are the only large clay jar manufactured in Luzon today with origins from this time. During the 1300s, the Javanese-centered Hindu empire of Majapahit ruled over Luzon as recorded in the epic poem Nagarakretagama, which stated that they had colonies in the Philippines at Saludong and Solot; the kingdoms of Luzon regained independence from Majapahit after the Battle of Manila and Sulu reestablished independence and in vengeance, assaulted the Majapahit province of Poni before a fleet from the capital drove them out.
The Yongle Emperor instituted a Chinese Governor on Luzon during Zheng He's voyages and appointed Ko Ch'a-lao to that position in 1405. China had vassals among the leaders in the archipelago. China attained ascendancy in trade with the area in Yongle's reign. Afterwards, some parts of Luzon were Islamized when the former Majapahit province of Poni broke free, converted to Islam, imported an Arab prince from Saudi Arabia, in the person of Sharif Ali, became the Sultanate of Brunei, a nation that expanded its realms from Borneo to the Philippines and set up the Kingdom of Maynila as its puppet-state as well as incorporate the newly converted Sultanate of Sulu by a royal marriage. However, other kingdoms resisted Islam, like the Wangdom of Pangasinan which had remained a tributary state to China and was a Sinified kingdom which maintained trade with Japan. In the 1500s, people from Luzon were called Lucoes and they established many overseas communities within the Indo-Pacific and were employed in trading and military campaigns across Southeast Asia.
The Portuguese were the first European explorers who recorded it in their charts as Luçonia or Luçon and inhabitants were called Luçoes. Edmund Roberts, who visited Luzon in the early 19th century, wrote that Luzon was "discovered" in 1521. Many people from Luzon had active-employment in Portuguese Malacca. Lucoes such as the Luzon spice magnate Regimo de Raja, based in Malacca, was influential and the Portuguese appointed him as Temenggong or a governor and chief general responsible for overseeing of maritime trade, at Malacca; as Temenggung, he was the head of an armada which traded and protected commerce between the Indian Ocean, the Strait of Malacca, the South China Sea, the medieval maritime principalities of the Philippines. His father and wife carried on his maritime trading business after his death. Another important Malacca trader was Curia de Raja who hailed from Luzon; the "surname" of "de Raja" or "diraja" could indicate that Regimo and Curia, their families, were of noble or royal descent as the term is an abbreviation of Sanskrit adiraja.
Pinto noted that there were a number of Lucoes in the Islamic fleets that went to battle with the Portuguese in the Philippines during the 16th century. The Sultan of Aceh gave one of them the task of holding Aru in 1540. Pinto says one was named leader of the Malays remaining in the Moluccas Islands after the
Battle of Leyte
The Battle of Leyte in the Pacific campaign of World War II was the amphibious invasion of the island of Leyte in the Philippines by American forces and Filipino guerrillas under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, who fought against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita. The operation, codenamed King Two, launched the Philippines campaign of 1944–45 for the recapture and liberation of the entire Philippine Archipelago and to end three years of Japanese occupation. Japan had conquered the Philippines in 1942. Controlling it was vital for Japan's survival in World War II because it commanded sea routes to Borneo and Sumatra by which rubber and petroleum were shipped to Japan. For the U. S. capturing the Philippines was a key strategic step in isolating Imperial Japan's military holdings in China and the Pacific theater. It was a personal matter of pride for MacArthur. In 1942, just a month before Japan forced the surrender of all USAFFE forces in the Philippines, U.
S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ordered MacArthur to leave the Philippines and organize the U. S. forces gathering in Australia, which were meant to relieve the USAFFE. Those relief forces were non-existent. Still, MacArthur had vowed, he stated that it was a moral obligation of the U. S. to liberate the Philippines as soon as possible. In March 1944, the Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered MacArthur to plan an attack on the southern Philippines by the end of the year, Luzon in early 1945. In July 1944, Roosevelt met with MacArthur and Chester Nimitz in Hawaii, where the decision was made to invade the Philippines, from which land air bases could be used for the Pacific Theater of Operations. Over the summer of 1944, planes from the aircraft carriers of the U. S. 3rd Fleet under Admiral William F. Halsey carried out several successful missions over the Philippines and found Japanese resistance lacking. Halsey recommended a direct strike on Leyte, canceling other planned operations, the Leyte invasion date moved forward to October.
Leyte, one of the larger islands of the Philippines, has numerous deep-water approaches and sandy beaches which offered opportunities for amphibious assaults and fast resupply. The roads and lowlands extending inland from Highway 1, that ran for 40 mi along the east coast between Abuyog town to the north and the San Juanico Strait between Leyte and Samar Islands, provided avenues for tank-infantry operations, as well as suitable ground for airfield construction. American air forces based on Leyte could strike at enemy bases and airfields anywhere in the archipelago. A forested north-south mountain range dominates the interior and separates two sizable valleys, or coastal plains; the larger Leyte Valley extends from the northern coast to the long eastern shore and contains most of the towns and roadways on the island. The other, Ormoc Valley, situated on the west side, was connected to Leyte Valley by a roundabout and winding road, Highway 2; this continued south to the port of Ormoc City along the western shore to Baybay town.
The road turned east to cross the mountainous waist of the island and it connected with Highway 1 on the east coast at Abuyog. Below these towns, the mountainous southern third of Leyte was undeveloped. High mountain peaks over 4,400 ft, as well as the jagged outcroppings and caves typical of volcanic islands offered formidable defensive opportunities; the timing late in the year of the assault would force combat troops and supporting pilots, as well as logistical units, to contend with monsoon rains. Leyte's population of over 900,000 people—mostly farmers and fishermen—could be expected to assist an American invasion, since many residents supported the guerrilla struggle against the Japanese in the face of harsh repression. Japanese troop strength on Leyte was estimated by U. S. intelligence at 20,000. Southwest Pacific Area General Douglas MacArthur in light cruiser Nashville US Seventh Fleet Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid in amphibious command ship Wasatch Task Group 77.4 – Escort Carrier Group Rear Adm. Thomas L. Sprague Task Force 78 – Northern Attack Force Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbey in amphibious command ship Blue Ridge Embarking Maj. Gen. Franklin C.
Sibert's X Army CorpsTask Force 79 – Southern Attack Force Vice Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson Embarking Maj. Gen. John R. Hodge's XXIV Army CorpsAllied Air Forces Lieutenant General George C. Kenney, USAAF Fifth Air Force Thirteenth Air ForceUS Sixth Army Lieutenant General Walter Krueger X Army Corps Lieutenant General Franklin C. Sibert Left Sector: 24th Infantry "Taro" Division Division commander: Maj. Gen. Frederick A. Irving 19th Infantry Regiment 34th Infantry RegimentRight Sector: 1st Cavalry Division Division commander: Maj. Gen. Verne D. Mudge 5th Cavalry Regiment 7th Cavalry Regiment 12th Cavalry Regiment Reserve: 7th Cavalry RegimentXXIV Army Corps Lieutenant General John R. Hodge Left Sector: 7th Infantry "Bayonet" Division Division commander: Maj. Gen. Archibald V. Arnold 17th Infantry Regiment 32nd Infantry Regiment 184th Infantry RegimentRight Sector: 96th Infantry "Deadeye" Division Division commander: Maj. Gen. James L. Bradley 381st Infa
Bofors 40 mm gun
The Bofors 40 mm gun referred to as the Bofors gun, is an anti-aircraft autocannon designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. It was one of the most popular medium-weight anti-aircraft systems during World War II, used by most of the western Allies as well some captured systems being used by the Axis powers. A small number of these weapons remain in service to this day, saw action as late as the Persian Gulf War. In the post-war era, the original design was not suitable for action against jet-powered aircraft, so Bofors introduced a new model of more power, the 40 mm L/70. In spite of sharing nothing with the original design other than the calibre and the distinctive conical flash hider, this weapon is widely known as "the Bofors". Although not as popular as the original L/60 model, the L/70 remains in service as a multi-purpose weapon for light armoured vehicles, as on the CV 90. Bofors has been part of BAE Systems AB since March 2005; the Swedish Navy purchased a number of 2-pounder Pom-Poms from Vickers as anti-aircraft guns in 1922.
The Navy approached Bofors about the development of a more capable replacement. Bofors signed a contract in late 1928. Bofors produced a gun, a smaller version of a 57 mm semi-automatic gun developed as an anti-torpedo boat weapon in the late 19th century by Finspång, their first test gun was a re-barreled Nordenfelt version of the Finspong gun, to, added a semi-automatic loading mechanism. Testing of this gun in 1929 demonstrated that a problem existed feeding the weapon in order to maintain a reasonable rate of fire. A mechanism, strong enough to handle the stresses of moving the large round was too heavy to move enough to fire rapidly. One attempt to solve this problem used zinc shell cases; this proved to leave heavy zinc deposits in the barrel, had to be abandoned. In the summer of 1930 experiments were made with a new test gun that did away with controlled feed and instead flicked the spent casing out the rear whereafter a second mechanism reloaded the gun by "throwing" a fresh round from the magazine into the open breech.
This seemed to be the solution they needed, improving firing rates to an acceptable level, the work on a prototype commenced soon after. During this period Krupp purchased a one-third share of Bofors. Krupp engineers started the process of updating the Bofors factories to use modern equipment and metallurgy, but the 40 mm project was kept secret; the prototype was completed and fired in November 1931, by the middle of the month it was firing strings of two and three rounds. Changes to the feed mechanism were all that remained, by the end of the year it was operating at 130 rounds per minute. Continued development was needed to turn it into a weapon suitable for production, completed in October 1933. Since acceptance trials had been passed the year before, this became known as the "40 mm akan M/32". Most forces referred to it as the "Bofors 40 mm L/60", although the barrel was 56.25 calibres in length, not the 60 calibres that the name implies. The gun fired a 900 g high explosive 40 × 311R shell at 2,960 ft/s.
The rate of fire was about 120 rounds per minute, which improved when the barrels were closer to the horizontal as gravity assisted the feeding from the top-mounted magazine. In practice firing rates were closer to 80–100 rpm, as the rounds were fed into the breech from four round clips which had to be replaced by hand; the maximum attainable ceiling was 7,200 m. The gun was provided with an advanced sighting system; the trainer and layer were both provided with reflector sights for aiming, while a third crew-member standing behind them "adjusted" for lead using a simple mechanical computer. Power for the sights was supplied from a 6V battery. In spite of the successful development, the Swedish Navy changed its mind and decided it needed a smaller hand-traversed weapon of 13 mm-25 mm size, tested various designs from foreign suppliers. With the 40 mm well along in development, Bofors offered a 25 mm version in 1932, selected as the Bofors 25 mm M/32; the first version of the 40 mm the Navy ordered was intended for use on submarines, where the larger calibre allowed the gun to be used for both AA and against smaller ships.
The barrel was shorter at 42 calibers long, with the effect of reducing the muzzle velocity to about 700 m/s. When not in use, the gun retracted into a watertight cylinder; the only known submarines that used this arrangement was the Sjölejonet-class boats. The guns were removed as the subs were modified with streamlined conning towers; the first order for the "real" L/60 was made by the Dutch Navy, who ordered five twin-gun mounts for the cruiser De Ruyter in August 1934. These guns were stabilized using the Hazemeyer mount, in which one set of layers aimed the gun, while a second manually stabilized the platform the gun sat on. All five mounts were operated by one fire control system. Bofors developed a towable carriage which they displayed in April 1935 at a show in Belgium; this mount allowed the gun to be fired from the carriage with no setup required, although with limited accuracy. If time was available for setup, the gunners used the tow-bar and muzzle lock as levers, raising the wheels off the ground and thereby lowering the gun onto supporting pads.
Two additional legs folded out to the sides, the platform was leveled with hand cranks. The entire setup process could be completed in under a minute. Orders for the land based versions were immediate, starting with
Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German 20 mm Becker design that appeared early in World War I. It was produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models employed by both Allied and Axis forces during World War II, many versions still in use today. During World War I, the German industrialist Reinhold Becker developed a 20 mm caliber cannon, known now as the 20 mm Becker using the Advanced Primer Ignition blowback method of operation; this had a cyclic rate of fire of 300 rpm. It was used on a limited scale as an aircraft gun on Luftstreitkräfte warplanes, an anti-aircraft gun towards the end of that war; because the Treaty of Versailles banned further production of such weapons in Germany, the patents and design works were transferred in 1919 to the Swiss firm SEMAG based near Zürich. SEMAG continued development of the weapon, in 1924 had produced the SEMAG L, a heavier weapon that fired more powerful 20x100RB ammunition at a higher rate of fire, 350 rpm.
In 1924 SEMAG failed. The Oerlikon firm, named after the Zürich suburb of Oerlikon where it was based acquired all rights to the weapon, plus the manufacturing equipment and the employees of SEMAG. In 1927 the Oerlikon S was added to the existing product line; this fired a still larger cartridge to achieve a muzzle velocity of 830 m/s, at the cost of increased weight and a reduced rate of fire. The purpose of this development was to improve the performance of the gun as an anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapon, which required a higher muzzle velocity. An improved version known as the 1S followed in 1930. Three sizes of gun with their different ammunition and barrel length, but similar mechanisms, continued to be developed in parallel. In 1930 Oerlikon reconsidered the application of its gun in aircraft and introduced the AF and AL, designed to be used in flexible mounts, i.e. manually aimed by a gunner. The 15-round box magazine used by earlier versions of the gun was replaced by drum magazine holding 15 or 30 rounds.
In 1935 it made an important step by introducing a series of guns designed to be mounted in or on the wings of fighter aircraft. Designated with FF for Flügelfest meaning "wing-mounted", these weapons were again available in the three sizes, with designations FF, FFL and FFS; the FF fired a larger cartridge than the AF, 20x72RB, but the major improvement in these weapons was a significant increase in rate of fire. The FF weighed 24 kg and achieved a muzzle velocity of 550 to 600 m/s with a rate of fire of 520 rpm; the FFL of 30 kg fired a projectile at a muzzle velocity of 675 m/s with a rate of fire of 500 rpm. And the FFS, which weighed 39 kg, delivered a high muzzle velocity of 830 m/s at a rate of fire of 470 rpm. Apart from changes to the design of the guns for wing-mounting and remote control, larger drums were introduced as it would not be possible to exchange magazines in flight. For the FF series drum sizes of 45, 60, 75 and 100 rounds were available, but most users chose the 60-round drum.
The 1930s were a period of global re-armament, a number of foreign firms took licenses for the Oerlikon family of aircraft cannon. In France, Hispano-Suiza manufactured development of the FFS as the Hispano-Suiza HS.7 and Hispano-Suiza HS.9, for installation between the cylinder banks of its V-12 engines. In Germany, Ikaria further developed the FF gun as firing 20x80RB ammunition, and the Imperial Japanese Navy, after evaluating all three guns, ordered developments of the FF and FFL as the Type 99-1 and Type 99-2. The incorporation of the improvements of the FFS in a new anti-aircraft gun produced, in 1938, the Oerlikon SS. Oerlikon realized further improvements in rate of fire on the 1SS of 1942, the 2SS of 1945 which achieved 650 rpm. However, it was the original SS gun, adopted as anti-aircraft gun, being widely used by Allied navies during World War II; this gun used a 400-grain charge of IMR 4831 smokeless powder to propel a 2,000-grain projectile at 2,800 feet per second. The Oerlikon FF was installed as armament on some fighters of the 1930s, such as the Polish PZL P.24G.
Locally produced derivatives of the Oerlikon cannon were used much more extensively, on aircraft, on ships and on land. In the air, the Ikaria MG FF was used as armament on a number of German aircraft, of which the most famous is the Messerschmitt Bf 109; the Japanese Navy used their copy of the FF, designated the Type 99 Mark One cannon on a number of types including the Mitsubishi A6M Zero. In the war, they equipped fighters including the Zero with the Type 99 Mark Two, a version of the more powerful and faster-firing Oerlikon FFL; the French firm of Hispano-Suiza was a manufacturer of aircraft engines, it marketed the moteur-canon combination of its 12X and 12Y engines with a H. S.7 or H. S.9 cannon installed between the cylinder banks. The gun fired through the hollow propeller hub, this being elevated above the crankcase by the design of the gearing; such armament was installed on the Morane-Saulnier M. S.406 and some other types. Similar German installations of the MG FF were not successful.
The Oerlikon became best known in its naval applications. The Oerlikon was not looked upon favorably by the Royal Navy as a short-range anti-aircraft gun. All through 1937-1938 Lord Louis Mountbatten a Captain in the Royal Navy, waged a lone campaign within the Royal Navy to set up an unprejudiced trial for the Oerlikon 20 mm gun, but it was all in vain, it was not until the Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, Admiral Sir Roger Backhouse, was appointed First Sea Lord tha
Kamikaze
Kamikaze Tokubetsu Kōgekitai, were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who initiated suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy warships more than possible with conventional air attacks. About 3,800 kamikaze pilots died during the war, more than 7,000 naval personnel were killed by kamikaze attacks. Kamikaze aircraft were pilot-guided explosive missiles, purpose-built or converted from conventional aircraft. Pilots would attempt to crash their aircraft into enemy ships in what was called a "body attack" in planes laden with some combination of explosives and torpedoes. Accuracy was much higher than that of conventional attacks, the payload and explosion larger. A kamikaze could sustain damage that would disable a conventional attacker and still achieve its objective; the goal of crippling or destroying large numbers of Allied ships aircraft carriers, was considered by the Empire of Japan to be a just reason for sacrificing pilots and aircraft.
These attacks, which began in October 1944, followed several critical military defeats for the Japanese. They had long since lost aerial dominance as a result of having outdated aircraft and enduring the loss of experienced pilots. Japan suffered from a diminishing capacity for war and a declining industrial capacity relative to that of the Allies. Japan was losing pilots faster than it could train their replacements; these combined factors, along with Japan's unwillingness to surrender, led to the use of kamikaze tactics as Allied forces advanced towards the Japanese home islands. While the term kamikaze refers to the aerial strikes, it has been applied to various other suicide attacks; the Japanese military used or made plans for non-aerial Japanese Special Attack Units, including those involving submarines, human torpedoes and divers. The tradition of death instead of defeat and shame was entrenched in Japanese military culture. One of the primary traditions in the samurai life and the Bushido code: loyalty and honor until death.
The Japanese word kamikaze is translated as "divine wind". The word originated from Makurakotoba of waka poetry modifying "Ise" and has been used since August 1281 to refer to the major typhoons that dispersed Mongol-Koryo fleets who invaded Japan under Kublai Khan in 1274. A Japanese monoplane that made a record-breaking flight from Tokyo to London in 1937 for the Asahi newspaper group was named Kamikaze, she was a prototype for the Mitsubishi Ki-15. In Japanese, the formal term used for units carrying out suicide attacks during 1944–1945 is tokushu kōgekitai, which means "special attack unit"; this is abbreviated to tokkōtai. More air suicide attack units from the Imperial Japanese Navy were called shinpū tokubetsu kōgeki tai. Shinpū is the on-reading of the same characters. During World War II, the pronunciation kamikaze was used only informally in the Japanese press in relation to suicide attacks, but after the war this usage gained acceptance worldwide and was re-imported into Japan; as a result, the special attack units are sometimes known in Japan as kamikaze tokubetsu kōgeki tai.
Before the formation of kamikaze units, pilots had made deliberate crashes as a last resort when their planes had suffered severe damage and they did not want to risk being captured, or wanted to do as much damage to the enemy as possible, since they were crashing anyway. Such situations occurred in both the Allied air forces. Axell and Kase see these suicides as "individual, impromptu decisions by men who were mentally prepared to die". In most cases, little evidence exists that such hits represented more than accidental collisions of the kind that sometimes happen in intense sea or air battles. One example of this occurred on 7 December 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor. First Lieutenant Fusata Iida's plane had taken a hit and had started leaking fuel when he used it to make a suicide attack on Naval Air Station Kaneohe. Before taking off, he had told his men that if his plane were to become badly damaged he would crash it into a "worthy enemy target"; the carrier battles in 1942 Midway, inflicted irreparable damage on the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, such that they could no longer put together a large number of fleet carriers with well-trained aircrews.
Japanese planners had assumed a quick war and lacked comprehensive programmes to replace the losses of ships and sailors. The following Solomon Islands campaign and the New Guinea campaign, notably the Battles of Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz, further decimated the IJNAS veteran aircrews, replacing their combat experience proved impossible. During 1943–1944, U. S. forces advanced toward Japan. Newer U. S.-made planes the Grumman F6F Hellcat and Vought F4U Corsair and soon outnumbered Japan's fighter planes. Tropical diseases, as well as shortages of spare parts and fuel, made operations more and more difficult for the IJNAS. By the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Japanese had to make do with obsolete aircraft and inexperienced aviators in the f
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, west of Honolulu. It has been long visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U. S. with the signing of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is now a United States Navy deep-water naval base, it is the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet. The U. S. government first obtained exclusive use of the inlet and the right to maintain a repair and coaling station for ships here in 1887. The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941, was the immediate cause of the United States' entry into World War II. Pearl Harbor was an extensive shallow embayment called Wai Momi or Puʻuloa by the Hawaiians. Puʻuloa was regarded as the home of the shark goddess, Kaʻahupahau, her brother, Kahiʻuka, in Hawaiian legends. According to tradition, the head of the powerful Ewa chiefs, is credited with cutting a navigable channel near the present Puʻuloa saltworks, by which he made the estuary, known as "Pearl River," accessible to navigation.
Making due allowance for legendary amplification, the estuary had an outlet for its waters where the present gap is. During the early 19th century, Pearl Harbor was not used for large ships due to its shallow entrance; the interest of United States in the Hawaiian Islands grew as a result of its whaling and trading activity in the Pacific. As early as 1820, an "Agent of the United States for Commerce and Seamen" was appointed to look after American business in the Port of Honolulu; these commercial ties to the American continent were accompanied by the work of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. American missionaries and their families became an integral part of the Hawaiian political body. Throughout the 1820s and 1830s, many American warships visited Honolulu. In most cases, the commanding officers carried letters from the U. S. Government giving advice on governmental affairs and of the relations of the island nation with foreign powers. In 1841, the newspaper Polynesian, printed in Honolulu, advocated that the U.
S. establish a naval base in Hawaii for protection of American citizens engaged in the whaling industry. The British Hawaiian Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Crichton Wyllie, remarked in 1840 that "... my opinion is that the tide of events rushes on to annexation to the United States." From the conclusion of the Civil War, to the purchase of Alaska, to the increased importance of the Pacific states, the projected trade with countries in Asia and the desire for a duty-free market for Hawaiian staples, Hawaiian trade expanded. In 1865, the North Pacific Squadron was formed to embrace Hawaii. Lackawanna in the following year was assigned to cruise among the islands, "a locality of great and increasing interest and importance." This vessel surveyed the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands toward Japan. As a result, the United States claimed Midway Island; the Secretary of the Navy was able to write in his annual report of 1868, that in November 1867, 42 American flags flew over whaleships and merchant vessels in Honolulu to only six of other nations.
This increased activity caused the permanent assignment of at least one warship to Hawaiian waters. It praised Midway Island as possessing a harbor surpassing Honolulu's. In the following year, Congress approved an appropriation of $50,000 on March 1, 1869, to deepen the approaches to this harbor. After 1868, when the Commander of the Pacific Fleet visited the islands to look after American interests, naval officers played an important role in internal affairs, they served as arbitrators in business disputes, negotiators of trade agreements and defenders of law and order. Periodic voyages among the islands and to the mainland aboard U. S. warships were arranged for members of the Hawaiian royal family and important island government officials. When King Lunalilo died in 1873, negotiations were underway for the cession of Pearl Harbor as a port for the duty-free export of sugar to the U. S. With the election of King Kalākaua in March 1874, riots prompted landing of sailors from USS Tuscarora and Portsmouth.
The British warship, HMS Tenedos landed a token force. During the reign of King Kalākaua the United States was granted exclusive rights to enter Pearl Harbor and to establish "a coaling and repair station." Although this treaty continued in force until August 1898, the U. S. did not fortify Pearl Harbor as a naval base. As it had for 60 years, the shallow entrance constituted a formidable barrier against the use of the deep protected waters of the inner harbor; the United States and the Hawaiian Kingdom signed the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 as supplemented by Convention on December 6, 1884, the Reciprocity Treaty was made by James Carter and ratified it in 1887. On January 20, 1887, the United States Senate allowed the Navy to exclusive right to maintain a coaling and repair station at Pearl Harbor.. The Spanish–American War of 1898 and the desire for the United States to have a permanent presence in the Pacific both contributed to the decision. Following the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the United States Navy established a base on the island in 1899.
On December 7, 1941, the base was attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy airplanes and midget submarines, causing the American entry into World War II. One of the main reasons that Pearl Harbor happened was because the United States had major communication breakdowns among several branches of the U. S. armed services and departments of the U. S. government. This led to the surprise Japanese attack at the Hawai
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone, it is larger than the next 13 navies combined, which includes 11 U. S. allies or partner nations. With the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, two new carriers under construction. With 319,421 personnel on active duty and 99,616 in the Ready Reserve, the Navy is the third largest of the service branches, it has 282 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of March 2018, making it the second-largest air force in the world, after the United States Air Force. The U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, established during the American Revolutionary War and was disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter.
The U. S. Navy played a major role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy and seizing control of its rivers, it played the central role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The US Navy emerged from World War II as the most powerful navy in the world; the 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a sizable global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, it is a blue-water navy with the ability to project force onto the littoral regions of the world, engage in forward deployments during peacetime and respond to regional crises, making it a frequent actor in U. S. foreign and military policy. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, headed by the civilian Secretary of the Navy; the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, headed by the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Naval Operations is the most senior naval officer serving in the Department of the Navy.
The mission of the Navy is to maintain and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas. The U. S. Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States; the Navy's three primary areas of responsibility: The preparation of naval forces necessary for the effective prosecution of war. The maintenance of naval aviation, including land-based naval aviation, air transport essential for naval operations, all air weapons and air techniques involved in the operations and activities of the Navy; the development of aircraft, tactics, technique and equipment of naval combat and service elements. U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is "to be prepared to conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest." As part of that establishment, the U. S. Navy's functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to "sealift" duties, it follows as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, with it, everything honorable and glorious.
Naval power... is the natural defense of the United States The Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors and shipbuilders. In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia; the rationale for establishing a national navy was debated in the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, make it easier to seek out support from foreign countries. Detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy the world's preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships and reported the captures to the Congress. On 13 October 1775, the Continental Congress authorized the purchase of two vessels to be armed for a cruise against British merchant ships. S. Navy; the Continental Navy achieved mixed results.
In August 1785, after the Revolutionary War had drawn to a close, Congress had sold Alliance, the last ship remaining in the Continental Navy due to a lack of funds to maintain the ship or support a navy. In 1972, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, authorized the Navy to celebrate its birthday on 13 October to honor the establishment of the Continental Navy in 1775; the United States was without a navy for nearly a decade, a state of affairs that exposed U. S. maritime merchant ships to a series of attacks by the Barbary pirates. The sole armed maritime presence between 1790 and the launching of the U. S. Navy's first warships in 1797 was the U. S. Revenue-Marine, the primary predecessor of the U. S. Coast Guard. Although the USRCS conducted operations against the pirates, their depredations far outstripped its abilities and Congress passed the Naval Act of 1794 that established a permanent standing navy on 27 March 1794; the Naval Act ordered the construction and manning of six frigates and, by October 1797, the first three were brought into service: USS United States, USS Constellation, USS Constitution.
Due to his strong posture on having a strong standing Navy during this period, John Adams is "often called the father of the American Navy". In 1798–99 the Navy was involved in an undeclared Quasi-War with France. From 18
_underway_c1943.jpg)
United States
