Operation Desecrate One was a US Navy offensive against Japanese military targets on the Palau islands during WW2. It was carried out by Task Force 58, under Adm. Raymond Spruance, from March 29 to March 30, 1944, several months before the Battle of Peleliu (September/November 1944). It was part of the leap-frogging campaign of the Pacific Theater of Operation. Task Force 58 was a large armada which included carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers.
Allied warships involved
In order to carry out Operation Desecrate 1, Adm. Spruance divided his fleet into three groups: Task Group 58-1, which was composed of 3 carriers (USS Enterprise, Belleau Wood, Cowpens), 4 cruisers, and 25 destroyers ; Task Group 58-2, which comprised 4 carriers (USS Bunker Hill, Hornet, Monterrey, and Cabot), 3 battleships (USS Iowa and New Jersey), and 6 cruisers; and Task Group 58-3, which was made up of 4 carriers (USS Yorktown, Lexington, Princeton, Langley), 4 battleships (USS Massachusetts, South Dakota, North Carolina, Alabama), 5 cruisers, and 16 destroyers.
Summary
As soon as Spruance's fleet arrived off the islands of Palau on March 29, the American warships immediately proceeded to attack the airfields on Peleliu and Ngesebus, as well as a Seaplane base at Arakabesan island. Meanwhile, Hellcat fighters and Avenger and Dauntless dive bombers bombed all type of military targets located on every islands of the Palau Group as they had done at Truk. Barracks and airfield facilities and infrastructure were destroyed as all merchant ships were sunk and the harbor mined.
By the afternoon of March 30, Operation Desecrate One had been carried out successfully. It eliminated all Japanese naval and airborne presence throughout the islands. About 110 enemy aircraft had been wiped out, along with most shipping. Thus, the Imperial Japanese Navy abandoned all hope of making the Palau islands their next line of defense in the Pacific. The US Navy had showed that it could neutralize any Japanese military presence in that region.
Below, archive photo of Task Force 58, with the deck of USS Enterprise CV6 in 1944, before Operation Desecrate 1
