A U.S. Navy carrier air raid on Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in July 1945 damaged Japan's last operational battleship and destroyed dozens of aircraft.
Key Facts
- Date of raid
- 18 July 1945
- Primary target
- Japanese battleship Nagato
- Allied aircraft lost
- 14 (12 American, 2 British)
- Japanese aircraft destroyed
- 43 claimed destroyed, 77 damaged
- Japanese vessels sunk
- 4 (destroyer, submarine, two escort vessels)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
In the final weeks of the Pacific War, Allied naval forces sought to neutralize remaining Japanese naval assets and air power. The battleship Nagato, sheltering at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, represented a significant symbolic and military target that U.S. Navy planners prioritized for destruction before a planned invasion of the Japanese home islands.
On 18 July 1945, U.S. Navy carrier aircraft, joined by Royal Navy aircraft, attacked Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. The primary target, battleship Nagato, sustained only light damage, but American planes sank a destroyer, a submarine, and two escort vessels, and damaged five smaller craft. Allied pilots also claimed 43 Japanese aircraft destroyed and 77 damaged on nearby airfields.
Despite failing to sink Nagato, the raid further depleted Japan's dwindling naval and air defenses. Fourteen Allied aircraft were lost to anti-aircraft fire, but the cumulative effect of such strikes continued to erode Japanese defensive capacity in the Tokyo region during the war's closing weeks.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Side B
1 belligerent