The Doolittle Raid

Clare O’Brien WWII in the Pacific

The Main Players

Vice Admiral Halsey of the U.S.S. Enterprise

Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle

Captain Marc Mitscher of the U.S.S. Hornet

In response to the shock and anger following Pearl Harbor

Roosevelt pressed military planners to strike against Tokyo

An act of defiance against the triumphant Japanese military

The Reasons for the Raid

No air base close enough to Japan

The carrier would have to be 300 miles from Japan for planes to reach

300 miles would be too close and would ensure destruction

The Problems

Army B-25 medium ground based bombers would be launched from Naval aircraft carriers◦ B-25s were

capable of flying 2,000 miles with additional fuel tanks

◦ The Hornet and Enterprise, as air cover, with 4 cruisers, would sail towards Japan April 17th

The Plan

Attack Japanese cities◦ Colonel James

Doolittle and crew alone would drop incendiary bombs on Tokyo to guide remaining bombers to targets

◦ They would bomb military and industrial targets

Land in friendly airfields in China

The Plan

April 18th - Enterprise’s radar hit two surface contacts

Halsey turned north to evade them, then resumed course an hour later

Hours later a Japanese picket ship was spotted but Halsey pressed on

Another picket ship was spotted and the Americans intercepted broadcasts reporting the Task Force’s presence

Halsey ordered the premature launch of the bombers

The Change of Plans

Doolittle and the bombers were launched 170 miles further away than planned

Doolittle and 12 other bombers bombed industrial targets in Tokyo ◦ An oil tank farm, steel

mill, power plants Other bombers struck

Yokohama and Yokosuka

Some civilian buildings were hit◦ 6 schools and an army

hospital

The Raid

Planes flew at a low altitude causing the Japanese Army & Navy interceptors to miss them as they were flying higher

Unforeseen use of shorter range B-25s

Air defense command thought there would be no attack before dawn so full defensive precautions were not yet put in place when raiders struck

The Missed Signals

Little physical damage to Japan Most of the bombers, short of fuel, crashed

or ditched over China One plane landed in Russia

The Results

Of the 80 pilots and crewmen

4 died in the raid 8 were captured

by the Japanese• 3 executed• 1 died in

captivity

Huge American morale boost

Impacted minds of Japan’s naval leaders

Raid steeled determination of Combined Fleet to launch a major move and Yamamoto decided not to delay in taking the offensive

The Midway operation was now definitely decided

The Consequences

“Doolittle Raid.” The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia. 2010. http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/D/o/Doolittle_Raid.htm (accessed February 26, 2013).

“The Doolittle Raid.” USS Enterprise CV-6. 2006. www.cv6.org/1942/doolittle.htm (accessed February 26, 2013)

“The Doolittle Tokyo Raiders.” Doolittle Raiders. 2013. www.doolittleraider.com (accessed February 26, 2013).

Fuchida, Mitsuo and Masatake Okumiya. Midway. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1955.

The Bibliography