Historical Background Between The Battle of the Philippine Sea, June 19th and 20th 1944, and The

Battl e of Leyte Gulf, October 23rd to 26th 1944, the Japanese attempted to reinforce their forces occupying the Philippines. For divers, Coron's history started on 24 September 1944 when a US Navy strike f orce of fighters and dive bombers attacked a Japanese supply fleet of up to 24 s hips, at anchor, in Coron Bay and around Busuanga Island. Whether the Japanese fleet was spotted by aerial photo reconnaissance interprete rs who noticed that some camouflaged ships had moved, or whether Japanese radio transmissions were intercepted is still debated. Photos taken from the air durin g the attack do not show any signs of camouflage netting on the ships. The conse quence of detection was a surprise aerial attack by US Navy carrier based aircra ft that sank the fleet at anchor. The US Third Fleet was under the command of Ad miral William F. "Bull" Halsey aboard the battleship USS New Jersey. Olympia Maru Bull Halsey missed the battle of Midway sitting in a Pearl Harbor n aval hospital with a skin rash. He had his chance to catch the Japanese navy by surprise at Coron. Tactical control of the Third Fleet rested with the air combat genius of the Pac ific Fleet, Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, who was in command of Task Force 38 f rom the aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The Irako Task Force 38 was engaged in the mission of naval air strikes against Japanese forces in the Philippines from Sept 21st to 24th 1944. Heavy air strike s against Japanese shipping in Manila Bay resulted in sinking 15 ships which for ced the Japanese to move their remaining ships to other anchorages which they th ought were out of range of US naval aircraft and land-based bombers. One of thes e secure anchorages was Coron Bay, only 12 to 16 hours steaming time from Manila . Many of the ships arrived in Coron Bay on September 23rd. On the morning of Sept ember 24th 1944 at 05.50, a total of 96 Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter escorts and 24 Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bombers took off on a flight to their targets 340 miles away. The raid on Coron was a long distance carrier based air strike and would only allow the aircraft a brief time over the Japanese fleet. Akitsushima At 0900 the strike force reached Busuanga Island, Palawan and found 12 large enemy ships anchored in Coron Bay and around Busuanga Island. After a 1 5 minute attack they left behind a carnage of burning and sinking ships. At least 8 ships were closely packed in Coron Bay, a beautiful place bordered by pristine beaches and countless coconut palm trees. The big transport vessel Kogyo Maru carrying vital aircraft spare parts for land based aircraft damaged during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the freighter O lympia Maru, the oiler Kamoi, other cargo ships and one destroyer tried to conceal their pres ence in the narrow sound between Tangat island and Lusong island which confine t he bay to the east and west. West, beyond Lusong Island, the seaplane tender Aki tsushima and the oiler Okikawa Maru were swinging at their anchors in the slight tidal current. Located about 170 nautical miles southwest of Manila, Coron Bay was a supposedly safe assembly area for Japanese shipping. The cargo ship Kyokuzan Maru and two others were anchored in a small bay on the northeast coast of Busuanga.

Okikawa MaruIn the early morning of 24 September 1944, 22 American carrier-based dive bombers and 96 fighter escorts (some carrying bombs) of the Fast Carrier T ask Force (TF) 38 surprisingly appeared. Without hesitation, a squadron of Curti ss Helldivers took on Akitsushima and Okikawa Maru. Although the seaplane tender was heavily armed and opened fire with all her guns, she was no match for the s killed dive bomber crews. A bomb hit the hull at the port side, causing a severe explosion. Wracked by fire and explosion from other impacts, Akitsushima went d own in the passage between Lajo and Manglet Island. Fully laden with fuel oil, O kikawa Maru was fatally bombed and caught fire. However, she remained afloat and slowly began to drift to the north. , she was finally sank on by a second air a ttack on 9 October. Hellcat on USS LexingtonMeanwhile, the second bomber squadron had teamed up to s ink the other ships. Ten dive bombers took on Olympia Maru. Three American pilot s completed runs on the ship. It stood little chance to survive after the fourth plane hit the midships section causing the engine to stop. Finally, Olympia Mar u sank from the stern, becoming a graveyard for 19 crew members. In rapid succes sion, the remaining ships faced dive bombing attacks by the US Navy bombers. Kog yo Maru went down with no less than 39 seamen. Considerably armed with a variety of flak guns, Irako responded with ferocity. But even she was annihilated and s ent to the bottom. The others suffered a similar fate. The final casualty of the morning-long slugfest was the Kyokuzan Maru, which had erroneously felt secure on her natural anchorage far to the northeast. She and two other ships were atta cked by planes from the USS Lexington. Damage and a fire was reported on one of the ships. The Kyokuzan Maru was scuttled by the Japanese. Badly damaged, the oi ler Kamoi was able to escape and to make it back to Hong Kong.