This was Task Force 58 (TF-58) under Vice-Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, consisting of nine battleships and the following aircraft carriers:
Task Group 58.1 (TG-58.1)
USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) with Light Carrier Air Group Twenty Four (CVLG-24)
USS Enterprise (CV-6) with Carrier Air Group Ten (CVG-10)
USS Yorktown (CV-10) with CVG-5
TG 58.2
USS Cabot (CVL-28) with CVLG-31
USS Essex (CV-9) with CVG-9
USS Intrepid (CV-11) with CVG-11
TG 58.3
USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) with CVG-17
USS Cowpens (CVL-25) with CVLG-22
USS Monterey (CVL-26) with CVLG-30
This was Operation HAILSTONE, an attack on Japanese installations and ships at Truk Atoll (07.43N, 151.46E) in support of Operation CATCHPOLE, the upcoming invasion of Eniwetok Atoll. The attack began at dawn with a strafing attack on Truk Atoll by 72 Grumman F6F Hellcats followed by bombing attacks by Curtiss SB2C Helldivers, Douglas SBD Dauntlesses and Grumman TBF Avengers. The USN attacks destroyed or damaged about 150 aircraft on the ground plus four Japanese warships and as many as 50 other vessels in the lagoon. The Hellcat pilots shot down 121 Japanese aircraft, mostly Mitsubishi A6M Zekes; four F6F Hellcats were lost.
During the night of 17/18 February, six Nakajima B6N Navy Carrier Attack Bomber Tenzans (Heavenly Mountain), Allied Code Name JILL, equipped with radar attacked TF 58; one torpedo hits the carrier USS Intrepid's starboard quarter, 15 feet (4.6 meters) below her waterline, flooding several compartments and jamming her rudder hard to port. By racing her port screw and idling her starboard engine, the captain kept her on course until two days later strong winds swung her back and forth and tended to weathercock her with her bow pointed toward Tokyo. Captain Sprague later confessed: "Right then I wasn't interested in going in that direction." At this point the crew fashioned a jury-rig sail of hatch covers and scrap canvas which swung Intrepid about and held her on course.
Decorated by her crazy-quilt sail, Intrepid stood into Pearl Harbor 24 February 1944.
Also during the night, Torpedo Squadron Ten (VT-10) in USS Enterprise launched 12 radar-equipped TBFs armed with 500-pound (227 kg) bombs against shipping in Truk Lagoon. This was the USN's first night radar attack; the attackers claimed several hits and several ships apparently were sunk.
1. The light cruiser HIJMS Naka was sunk by SB2Cs and TBFs from the USS COWPENS 35 miles (56 km) west of Truk.
2. The heavy cruisers USS Minneapolis (CA-36) and New Orleans (CA-32) and destroyers USS Bradford (DD-545) and Burns (DD-588) sink the training cruiser HIJMS Katori NW of Truk after she had been torpedoed by a TBF.
These four ships also sank the destroyer HIJMS Maikaza 40 miles (64 km) NW of Truk. The destroyer Burns then sinks submarine chaser Ch 24 W of Truk.
3. TF 58 aircraft sink:
- Destroyers Oite and Tachikaze,
- Armed merchant cruiser Akagi Maru,
- Auxiliary submarine depot ship Heian Maru,
- Aircraft transport Fujikawa Maru,
- Transports Rio de Janeiro Maru, Kiyozumi Maru, Aikoku Maru, Gosei Maru,
Hanakawa Maru, Hokuyo Maru, Amagisan Maru, Kensho Maru, Matsutani Maru, Momokawa Maru, Reiyo Maru, San Francisco Maru, Seiko Maru, Taiho Maru, Zukai Maru, No. 6 Unkai Maru, and Yamagiri Maru,
- Fleet tankers Fujisan Maru, Hoyo Maru, Shinkoku Maru and No. 3 Tonan Maru,
- Water carrier Nippo Maru,
- Auxiliary vessel Yamakisan Maru,
- Army cargo ships Nagano Maru and Yubai Maru,
- Freighter Taikichi Maru, and
- Motor torpedo boat Gyoraitei No. 10.
The aircraft damage:
- Destroyers Shigure and Matsukaze,
- Submarines I-10 and RO-37,
- Target ship Hakachi,
- Repair ship Akashi,
- Ammunition ship Soya,
- Seaplane tender Akitsushima, and
- Auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 20.
Jack McKillop