User:Hungrydog55/sandbox/military/pacificfront/1945-01 Luzon navaloob
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The January 1945 invasion of Luzon was the second phase of the fulfillment of General Douglas MacArthur's promise in March 1942 that he would liberate them from Japanese rule. The landings took place about two weeks after the conclusion of major military operations on Leyte, the first of the Philippines to be liberated from the Japanese.
MacArthur's formal title was Supreme Commander, Allied Forces, Southwest Pacific Area. Naval forces, consisting of the US Seventh Fleet, were under the direction of Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid.
The United States Army Air Force (USAAF) had expected to be able to guarantee air superiority over the Philippines after establishing airfields on Leyte, but two factors prevented this: the Japanese mounted an unexpected level of resistance in the air, and the USAAF pilots available were too inexperienced to take off and land in the dark. Thus, Seventh Fleet had to provide its own air cover, and Admiral Kinkaid insisted that escort carriers could do the job. Being considerably slower than fleet carriers such as the Essex class, it was expected that they would be extremely vulnerable to Japanese air attack. In the event, the escort carriers took a beating but performed admirably.[1]
US Navy combat ships:
18 escort carriers, 6 old battleships, 3 heavy cruisers, 5 light cruisers, 61 destroyers, 21 destroyer escorts
Amphibious assault vessels:
12 high-speed transports, 19 attack transports, 4 transports, 12 attack cargo ships, 9 cargo ships, LCIs, LSMs, 50 LSTs, LSVs, etc.
Auxiliaries:
1 submarine chasers, 63 minesweepers, 3 minelayers, 4 patrol craft, 21 tankers, 21 others
Australian vessels:
2 heavy cruisers, 2 destroyers, 2 frigates, 1 survey ship, 1 harbour defense motor launch, 3 LSIs
British vessels:
1 tanker, 1 ammunition ship
Losses: 1 escort carrier, 3 fast minesweepers