The United States Third Fleet is one of the numbered fleets in the United States Navy . Third Fleet's area of responsibility includes approximately fifty million square miles of the eastern and northern Pacific Ocean areas including the Bering Sea , Alaska, the Aleutian Islands , and a sector of the Arctic. Major oil and trade sea lines of communication within this area are critically important to the economic health of the United States and friendly nations throughout the Pacific Rim region.
145-674: First established in 1943, the Third Fleet conducted extensive operations against Japanese forces in the Central Pacific during World War II . Deactivated in 1945, the fleet remained inactive until 1973, when it was reactivated and assumed its current responsibilities. The Third Fleet plans and executes naval operations in the Pacific Ocean. The fleet provides maritime homeland defense, regional security, and humanitarian operations support through integrated naval and coastguard forces acting as
290-590: A tributary state of China's Qing Empire , which exerted large influence over the conservative Korean officials who gathered around the royal family of the Joseon kingdom. On February 27, 1876, after several confrontations between Korean isolationists and the Japanese, Japan imposed the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876 , forcing Korea open to Japanese trade. The act blocked any other power from dominating Korea, resolving to end
435-636: A Theory of Civilization", which detailed Western society and his own philosophies. In the Meiji Restoration period, military and economic power was emphasized. Military strength became the means for national development and stability. Imperial Japan became the only non-Western world power and a major force in East Asia in about 25 years as a result of industrialization and economic development. As writer Albrecht Fürst von Urach comments in his booklet "The Secret of Japan's Strength", published in 1942, during
580-592: A chapel of the Russian Consulate. St. Nicholas of Japan made his own translation of the New Testament and some other religious books ( Lenten Triodion , Pentecostarion , Feast Services , Book of Psalms , Irmologion ) into Japanese . Nicholas has since been canonized as a saint by the Patriarchate of Moscow in 1970, and is now recognized as St. Nicholas, Equal-to-the-Apostles to Japan. His commemoration day
725-417: A combination of cruisers , destroyers , and frigates . They also have more than 30 submarines and a dozen supply ships to support the strike groups. Third Fleet's air forces comprises more than 400 Navy aircraft, including Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets , Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeyes , McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II , Bell AH-1Z SuperCobra and Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk helicopters. The Third Fleet
870-979: A conflict to carry out the primary wartime mission of Third Fleet—the defense of the western sea approaches to the United States, including Alaska and the Aleutian Islands . There are four Carrier Strike Groups reportedly assigned to the Third Fleet: USS ; Nimitz (CVN-68) and Carrier Strike Group Eleven ; USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) and Carrier Strike Group One ; USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and Carrier Strike Group Nine ; and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and Carrier Strike Group Three . In peacetime, Third Fleet continually trains Navy and U.S. Marine Corps forces for their expeditionary warfare mission. Third Fleet training has been designed to ensure that deploying forces are fully prepared for joint operations. All training
1015-623: A continued collaboration with the Tokugawa, Saigō Takamori , leader of the Satsuma clan, threatened the assembly into abolishing the title shōgun and ordered the confiscation of Yoshinobu's lands. On January 17, 1868, Yoshinobu declared "that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration and called on the court to rescind it". On January 24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces. This decision
1160-483: A debate developed" amongst Western Allied political and military leaders, "over the size, mission, equipment, and support of these contingents". Following negotiations, it was decided that Coronet would include a joint Commonwealth Corps , made up of infantry divisions from the Australian, New Zealand , British and Canadian armies. Reinforcements would have been available from those countries, as well as other parts of
1305-635: A debate over defining the political system of Japan as a dictatorship . The Imperial Japanese Armed Forces initially achieved large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War . However, from 1942 onwards, and particularly after decisive Allied advances at Midway Atoll and Guadalcanal , Japan was forced to adopt a defensive stance against the United States . The American-led island-hopping campaign led to
1450-511: A few top officials outside the Manhattan Project (and to the Soviet espionage apparatus, which had managed to infiltrate agents into, or recruit agents from within the program, despite the tight security around it), and the initial planning for the invasion of Japan did not take its existence into consideration. Once the atomic bomb became available, General Marshall envisioned using it to support
1595-719: A force of 500–1,000 aircraft, including units dedicated to aerial refueling . Planning was later scaled back to 22 squadrons and, by the time the war ended, to 10 squadrons: between 120 and 150 Avro Lancasters / Lincolns , operating out of airbases on Okinawa. Tiger Force was to have included the elite 617 Squadron , also known as "The Dambusters", which carried out specialist bombing operations. Initially, US planners also did not plan to use any non-US Allied ground forces in Operation Downfall. Had reinforcements been needed at an early stage of Olympic, they would have been diverted from US forces being assembled for Coronet—for which there
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#17328632182901740-450: A prospect hard-liners from Satsuma and Chōshū found intolerable. On January 3, 1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the imperial palace in Kyoto , and the following day had the fifteen-year-old Emperor Meiji declare his own restoration to full power. Although the majority of the imperial consultative assembly was happy with the formal declaration of direct rule by the court and tended to support
1885-531: A realistic prospect of winning the war, Japan's leaders believed they could make the cost of invading and occupying the Home Islands too high for the Allies to accept, which would lead to some sort of armistice rather than total defeat. The Japanese plan for defeating the invasion was called Operation Ketsugō (ja) ( 決号作戦 , ketsugō sakusen ) ("Operation: Decisive" or "Final Battle"). The Japanese planned to commit
2030-434: A similar number wounded per sortie —and Kyūshū was likely to be worse. To attack the ships off Okinawa, Japanese planes had to fly long distances over open water; to attack the ships off Kyūshū, they could fly overland and then short distances out to the landing fleets. Gradually, intelligence learned that the Japanese were devoting all their aircraft to the kamikaze mission and taking effective measures to conserve them until
2175-717: A single Sea Service. It strengthens relations between the U.S. and its allies and partners through joint, inter-agency and multinational exercises and operations like Rim of the Pacific, Pacific Partnership, and Fleet Weeks. The Third Fleet ensures realistic, relevant training to its personnel so they have the necessary skills to promote peace and prevail in conflict. The Third Fleet is a combat-ready power in control of ships, submarines, and aircraft stationed in California , Washington , and Hawaii . The Third Fleet's sea-going force includes five aircraft carrier strike groups, each consisting of
2320-652: A specific event or contingency. As such, the JTF commander reports via a joint chain of command to a unified commander. Commander, U.S. Pacific Command is the unified commander in the Pacific theater. To allow 7th Fleet to focus more resources on a potential North Korean contingency, the 3rd Fleet is building up its ability to operate forces beyond the International Date Line , in areas of the Western Pacific hitherto commanded by 7th Fleet. The "3rd Fleet Forward" concept
2465-656: A staging base, the objective would have been to seize the southern portion of Kyūshū. This area would then be used as a further staging point to attack Honshu in Operation Coronet. Olympic was also to include a deception plan, known as Operation Pastel . Pastel was designed to convince the Japanese that the Joint Chiefs had rejected the notion of a direct invasion and instead were going to attempt to encircle and bombard Japan. This would require capturing bases in Formosa , along
2610-508: A staging ground and a valuable airbase for Operation Coronet. After the name Operation Olympic was compromised by being sent out in unsecured code, the name Operation Majestic was adopted. Operation Coronet, the invasion of Honshu at the Kantō Plain south of the capital, was to begin on "Y-Day", which was tentatively scheduled for March 1, 1946. Coronet would have been even larger than Olympic, with up to 45 U.S. divisions assigned for both
2755-569: A total of 900,000 men. Although the Japanese were able to muster new soldiers, equipping them was more difficult. By August, the Japanese Army had the equivalent of 65 divisions in the homeland but only enough equipment for 40 and ammunition for 30. The Japanese did not formally decide to stake everything on the outcome of the Battle of Kyūshū, but they concentrated their assets to such a degree that there would be little left in reserve. By one estimate,
2900-413: A two-stage invasion. Operation Olympic would attack southern Kyūshū. Airbases would be established, which would give cover for Operation Coronet, the attack on Tokyo Bay . While the geography of Japan was known, the U.S. military planners had to estimate the defending forces that they would face. Based on intelligence available early in 1945, their assumptions included the following: Operation Olympic,
3045-449: A variety of fields to come to Japan to educate the populace. For instance, the judicial system and constitution were modeled after Prussia , described by Saburō Ienaga as "an attempt to control popular thought with a blend of Confucianism and German conservatism ." The government also outlawed customs linked to Japan's feudal past, such as publicly displaying and wearing katana and the top knot , both of which were characteristic of
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#17328632182903190-529: Is February 16. Andronic Nikolsky , appointed the first Bishop of Kyoto and later martyred as the archbishop of Perm during the Russian Revolution , was also canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as a Saint and Martyr in the year 2000. Divie Bethune McCartee was the first ordained Presbyterian minister missionary to visit Japan, in 1861–1862. His gospel tract translated into Japanese
3335-459: Is conducted within a joint environment—employing joint doctrine, terminology, procedures, command and control—to ensure that forces are ready to join with the other United States armed forces branches under a joint command structure. Commander, Third Fleet is also designated as a Joint Task Force (JTF) commander. In that capacity, the commander and their staff may be assigned responsibilities for command of joint U.S. forces deployed in response to
3480-526: Is currently better known as the Kaihōrei ( 解放令 Emancipation Edict ). However, the elimination of their economic monopolies over certain occupations actually led to a decline in their general living standards, while social discrimination simply continued. For example, the ban on the consumption of meat from livestock was lifted in 1871, and many former burakumin moved on to work in abattoirs and as butchers . However, slow-changing social attitudes, especially in
3625-510: Is frequently referred to as the "Empire of Japan", the "Japanese Empire", or "Imperial Japan" in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon Teikoku ( 大日本帝國 ) , which translates to "Empire of Great Japan" ( Dai "Great", Nippon "Japanese", Teikoku "Empire"). Teikoku is itself composed of the nouns Tei "referring to an emperor" and -koku "nation, state", literally "Imperial State" or "Imperial Realm" (compare
3770-613: The Axis powers period: The rise of Japan to a world power during the past 80 years is the greatest miracle in world history. The mighty empires of antiquity, the major political institutions of the Middle Ages and the early modern era, the Spanish Empire, the British Empire, all needed centuries to achieve their full strength. Japan's rise has been meteoric. After only 80 years, it is one of
3915-742: The Battle of the Sibuyan Sea and the Battle off Cape Engaño – that made up the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944, encountered the damaging Typhoon Cobra in December 1944, endured Typhoon Connie in June 1945, and took part in the war's final operations in Japanese waters in the summer of 1945, launching air attacks on Tokyo, the naval base at Kure , and the island of Hokkaidō and bombarding several Japanese coastal cities with naval gunfire. The British Pacific Fleet
4060-694: The Emperor from the Shogun , Japan underwent a period of large-scale industrialization and militarization , often regarded as the fastest modernization of any country to date. All of these aspects contributed to Japan's emergence as a great power following the First Sino-Japanese War , the Boxer Rebellion , the Russo-Japanese War , and World War I . Economic and political turmoil in the 1920s, including
4205-556: The German Kaiserreich ). The name "Empire of Japan" appeared for the first time in the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa between the United States and the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate . This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, and its surrounding areas. The nomenclature Empire of Japan had existed since the anti-Tokugawa domains, Satsuma and Chōshū , which founded their new government during
4350-673: The Great Depression , led to the rise of militarism , nationalism , statism and authoritarianism, and this ideological shift eventually culminated in Japan joining the Axis alliance with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy , and also conquering a large part of the Asia-Pacific . During this period, the Japanese army committed many atrocities, including the Nanjing Massacre . However, there has been
4495-699: The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force , the Royal Australian Navy , the Royal New Zealand Navy , and the United States. In 2015, Nora Tyson was installed as the new commander of the Third Fleet, making her the first woman to lead a numbered fleet in the U.S. Navy. Third Fleet's primary mission is one of conflict deterrence, but in the event of general war, it would conduct prompt and sustained combat operations at sea. Such operations would be executed well forward and early in
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4640-677: The Mariana Islands . Following the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, plans were also made to transfer some of the heavy bomber groups of the veteran Eighth Air Force to airbases on Okinawa to conduct strategic bombing raids in coordination with the Twentieth. The Eighth was to upgrade their B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators to B-29 Superfortresses (the group received its first B-29 on August 8, 1945). In total, General Henry Arnold estimated that
4785-673: The Meiji Restoration , with the intention of forming a modern state to resist Western domination. Later the Empire emerged as a great power in the world. Due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonyms "Empire of the Sun" and "Empire of the Rising Sun". After two centuries, the seclusion policy, or sakoku , under the shōguns of the Edo period came to an end when
4930-678: The Meiji period , affecting religious practices and institutions. Conversion from traditional faith was no longer legally forbidden, officials lifted the 250-year ban on Christianity, and missionaries of established Christian churches reentered Japan. The traditional syncreticism between Shinto and Buddhism ended. Losing the protection of the Japanese government which Buddhism had enjoyed for centuries, Buddhist monks faced radical difficulties in sustaining their institutions, but their activities also became less restrained by governmental policies and restrictions. As social conflicts emerged in this last decade of
5075-467: The New Guinea and Borneo campaigns , should be appointed. The war ended before the details of the corps were finalized. Figures for Coronet exclude values for both the immediate strategic reserve of 3 divisions as well as the 17 division strategic reserve in the U.S. and any British/Commonwealth forces. Meanwhile, the Japanese had their own plans. Initially, they were concerned about an invasion during
5220-705: The Ryukyu Islands , and the Japanese Home Islands , first with the battleship USS New Jersey and, from May 1945 to the end of the war, the battleship USS Missouri as its flagship . As the Third Fleet, it took part in the Palau Islands campaign of September–November 1944 and the Philippines campaign of 1944–1945, defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy in two of the four major actions –
5365-776: The Shrine Consolidation Policy and the Meiji government built the new modern 15 shrines of the Kenmu restoration as a political move to link the Meiji restoration to the Kenmu restoration for their new State Shinto cult. Japanese had to look at old paintings in order to find out what the Horyuji temple used to look like when they rebuilt it. The rebuilding was originally planned for the Shōwa era. The Japanese used mostly concrete in 1934 to rebuild
5510-502: The Soviet declaration of war , and the invasion of Manchuria . The operation had two parts: Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet. Set to begin in November 1945, Operation Olympic was intended to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island, Kyūshū , with the recently captured island of Okinawa to be used as a staging area. In early 1946 would come Operation Coronet,
5655-521: The Togetsukyo Bridge , unlike the original destroyed wooden version of the bridge from 836. The idea of a written constitution had been a subject of heated debate within and outside of the government since the beginnings of the Meiji government . The conservative Meiji oligarchy viewed anything resembling democracy or republicanism with suspicion and trepidation, and favored a gradualist approach. The Freedom and People's Rights Movement demanded
5800-649: The United States Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific (USASTAF)—a formation which comprised the Eighth and Twentieth air forces, as well as the British Tiger Force . USASTAF and Tiger Force were to remain active through Operation Coronet. The Twentieth Air Force was to have continued its role as the main Allied strategic bomber force used against the Japanese home islands, operating from airfields in
5945-481: The abdomen ." They were expected to serve as a "second defense line" during the Allied invasion, and to conduct guerrilla warfare in urban areas and mountains. The Japanese command intended to organize its Army personnel according to the following plan: US military intelligence initially estimated the number of Japanese aircraft to be around 2,500. The Okinawa experience was bad for the US—almost two fatalities and
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6090-505: The bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864. The Chōshū clan also launched the failed coup known as the Kinmon incident . The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu . In early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito (Meiji) . On November 9, 1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to
6235-492: The Allied invasion plans and thus adjust their defensive plan, Operation Ketsugō (ja) , accordingly. The Japanese planned an all-out defense of Kyūshū, with little left in reserve for any subsequent defense operations. Casualty predictions varied widely, but were extremely high: into the millions, depending on the extent of resistance by Japanese civilians. Responsibility for the planning of Operation Downfall fell to American commanders Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz , General of
6380-616: The Army Douglas MacArthur and the Joint Chiefs of Staff —Fleet Admirals Ernest King and William D. Leahy , and Generals of the Army George Marshall and Hap Arnold (the latter being the commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces ). At the time, the development of the atomic bomb was a very closely guarded secret (not even then-Vice President Harry Truman knew of its existence until he became president), known only to
6525-411: The British commander. The force landed near Tianjin on July 5. On 17 June 1900, naval Rikusentai from the Kasagi and Atago had joined British, Russian, and German sailors to seize the Dagu forts near Tianjin. In light of the precarious situation, the British were compelled to ask Japan for additional reinforcements, as the Japanese had the only readily available forces in the region. Britain at
6670-402: The Chinese coast, and in the Yellow Sea area. Tactical air support was to be the responsibility of the Fifth , Seventh , and Thirteenth Air Forces . These were responsible for attacking Japanese airfields and transportation arteries on Kyushu and Southern Honshu (e.g. the Kanmon Tunnel ) and for gaining and maintaining air superiority over the beaches. The task of strategic bombing fell on
6815-421: The Chinese forces on the Liaodong Peninsula , and nearly destroyed the Chinese navy in the Battle of the Yalu River . The Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed between Japan and China, which ceded the Liaodong Peninsula and the island of Taiwan to Japan. After the peace treaty, Russia, Germany, and France forced Japan to withdraw from Liaodong Peninsula in the Triple Intervention . Soon afterward, Russia occupied
6960-460: The Commonwealth Corps, a combined Commonwealth fleet should be led by Vice-Admiral Sir William Tennant , and that—as Commonwealth air units would be dominated by the RAAF – the Air Officer Commanding should be Australian. However, the Australian government questioned the appointment of an officer with no experience in fighting the Japanese, such as Keightley and suggested that Lieutenant General Leslie Morshead , an Australian who had been carrying out
7105-511: The Commonwealth. However, MacArthur blocked proposals to include an Indian Army division because of differences in language, organization, composition, equipment, training and doctrine. He also recommended that the corps be organized along the lines of a U.S. corps, should use only U.S. equipment and logistics, and should train in the U.S. for six months before deployment; these suggestions were accepted. The British Government suggested that: Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Keightley should command
7250-605: The Daimyo and Shoguns. It was only due to the 1964 Summer Olympics in Japan that cheap concrete replicas of those castles were built for tourists. The vast majority of castles in Japan today are new replicas made out of concrete. In 1959 a concrete keep was built for Nagoya castle. During the Meiji restoration's Shinbutsu bunri , tens of thousands of Japanese Buddhist religious idols and temples were smashed and destroyed. Many statues still lie in ruins. Replica temples were rebuilt with concrete. Japan then closed and shut done tens of thousands of traditional old Shinto shrines in
7395-429: The Edo period, some new religious movements appeared, which were directly influenced by shamanism and Shinto . Emperor Ogimachi issued edicts to ban Catholicism in 1565 and 1568, but to little effect. Beginning in 1587 with imperial regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi's ban on Jesuit missionaries, Christianity was repressed as a threat to national unity. Under Hideyoshi and the succeeding Tokugawa shogunate, Catholic Christianity
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#17328632182907540-502: The Emperor and his Imperial House, and also against some major Shinto shrines which were believed to be tied strongly to the Emperor. The government strengthened its control over religious institutions that were considered to undermine State Shinto or nationalism. The majority of Japanese castles were smashed and destroyed in the late 19th century in the Meiji restoration by the Japanese people and government in order to modernize and westernize Japan and break from their past feudal era of
7685-457: The Heavens and with the Earth, We shall maintain and secure from decline the ancient form of government. ... In consideration of the progressive tendency of the course of human affairs and in parallel with the advance of civilization, We deem it expedient, in order to give clearness and distinctness to the instructions bequeathed by the Imperial Founder of Our House and by Our other Imperial Ancestors, to establish fundamental laws. ... Imperial Japan
7830-425: The IJN still maintained a fleet of thousands of warplanes and possessed nearly 2 million personnel in the Home Islands, ensuring it a large role in the coming defensive operation. In addition, Japan had about 100 Kōryū -class midget submarines , 300 smaller Kairyū -class midget submarines, 120 Kaiten manned torpedoes , and 2,412 Shin'yō suicide motorboats. Unlike the larger ships, these, together with
7975-401: The International Fleet Review (IFR) commemorating the 100th birthday of the Royal Canadian Navy in Victoria, British Columbia . Joining Ronald Reagan for the naval review were the cruiser Chosin , the destroyer Sampson , and the frigate Ford . The naval review took place 9–12 June 2010, and it involved 21 naval ships and more than 8,000 naval personnel from Canada, the French Navy ,
8120-414: The Japanese government one million British pounds in exchange for Japanese participation. Operation Downfall#Olympic Second Sino-Japanese War Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II . The planned operation was canceled when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ,
8265-501: The Japanese military in the Home Islands amounted to 4,335,500, of whom 2,372,700 were in the Army and 1,962,800 in the Navy. The buildup of Japanese troops on Kyūshū led American war planners, most importantly General George Marshall, to consider drastic changes to Olympic, or replacing it with a different invasion plan. Fears of "an Okinawa from one end of Japan to the other" encouraged the Allies to consider unconventional weapons, including chemical warfare. Widespread chemical warfare
8410-472: The Korean government. When Korea demanded that Japan withdraw its troops from Korea, the Japanese refused. In early June 1894, the 8,000 Japanese troops captured the Korean king Gojong, occupied the Royal Palace in Seoul and, by June 25, installed a puppet government in Seoul. The new pro-Japanese Korean government granted Japan the right to expel Qing forces while Japan dispatched more troops to Korea. China objected and war ensued. Japanese ground troops routed
8555-436: The Liaodong Peninsula, built the Port Arthur fortress, and based the Russian Pacific Fleet in the port. Germany occupied Jiaozhou Bay , built Tsingtao fortress and based the German East Asia Squadron in this port. In 1900, Japan joined an international military coalition set up in response to the Boxer Rebellion in the Qing Empire of China. Japan provided the largest contingent of troops: 20,840, as well as 18 warships. Of
8700-421: The Meiji Restoration, the practices of the samurai classes, deemed feudal and unsuitable for modern times following the end of sakoku in 1853, resulted in a number of edicts intended to 'modernise' the appearance of upper class Japanese men. With the Dampatsurei Edict of 1871 issued by Emperor Meiji during the early Meiji Era, men of the samurai classes were forced to cut their hair short, effectively abandoning
8845-405: The Navy had suggested. Ultimately, the Army's viewpoint prevailed. Physically, Japan made an imposing target, distant from other landmasses and with very few beaches geographically suitable for sea-borne invasion. Only Kyūshū (the southernmost island of Japan) and the beaches of the Kantō Plain (both southwest and southeast of Tokyo ) were realistic invasion zones. The Allies decided to launch
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#17328632182908990-410: The Navy's losses at Okinawa. Allied counter- kamikaze preparations were known as the Big Blue Blanket . This involved adding more fighter squadrons to the carriers in place of torpedo and dive bombers , and converting B-17s into airborne radar pickets in a manner similar to present-day AWACS . Nimitz planned a pre-invasion feint, sending a fleet to the invasion beaches a couple of weeks before
9135-485: The Pacific Fleet AOR ...be it a major humanitarian disaster requiring that level of [joint task force] three-star commander, be it some scenario, maritime security issue in the South China Sea. So we have been working very closely with 7th Fleet, [Aucoin] and his team, and PACFLT to ensure that we have the connective tissue where if something were to happen that 3rd Fleet could very quickly respond, complement [Aucoin] and his team and handle whatever scenario may come to pass in
9280-438: The Pacific theater." In April 2016, Vice Admiral Tyson deployed a three-ship Surface Action Group of warships ( Momsen, Spruance , and USS Decatur (DDG-73) )) to the Western Pacific. On Oct. 21, one of them, the destroyer USS Decatur conducted a " Freedom of Navigation " passage near the Paracel Islands , separately claimed by the PRC, Vietnam and Taiwan. All three ships remained under Third Fleet command during
9425-434: The Tokugawa army. A series of battles were then fought in pursuit of supporters of the Shogunate; Edo surrendered to the Imperial forces and afterward, Yoshinobu personally surrendered. Yoshinobu was stripped of all his power by Emperor Meiji and most of Japan accepted the emperor's rule. Pro-Tokugawa remnants retreated to northern Honshū ( Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei ) and later to Ezo (present-day Hokkaidō ), where they established
9570-400: The United States Army Air Forces a series of forward airbases from which to bombard Japan into submission. The Army, on the other hand, argued that such a strategy could "prolong the war indefinitely" and expend lives needlessly, and therefore that an invasion was necessary. They supported mounting a large-scale thrust directly against the Japanese homeland, with none of the side operations that
9715-409: The Western Allies and the Soviet Union , with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria . The Pacific War officially came to an end on 2 September 1945, leading to the beginning of the Allied occupation of Japan , during which United States military leader Douglas MacArthur administered the country. In 1947, through Allied efforts, a new Japan's constitution
9860-476: The Western Pacific, with the assumption that if something were to happen – and as [Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin , Commander 7th Fleet] said, the number-one probability fight-tonight scenario would be on the Korean Peninsula . "If that were the case, the assumption is that [Aucoin] and his team would be pretty busy up there.. working for General Brooks [ComUSFK/CFC/UNC] and 3rd Fleet would be available to provide that command element to handle whatever else may happen in
10005-415: The battle. An Army estimate in May was 3,391 planes; in June, 4,862; in August, 5,911. A July Navy estimate, abandoning any distinction between training and combat aircraft, was 8,750; in August, 10,290. By the time the war ended, the Japanese actually possessed some 12,700 aircraft in the Home Islands, roughly half kamikazes . Ketsu plans for Kyushu envisioned committing nearly 9,000 aircraft according to
10150-454: The bomb tonnage dropped in the Pacific Theater by USAAF aircraft alone would exceed 1,050,000 tons in 1945 and 3,150,000 tons in 1946, excluding the blast yields of nuclear weapons. Before the main invasion, the offshore islands of Tanegashima , Yakushima , and the Koshikijima Islands were to be taken, starting on X−5. The invasion of Okinawa had demonstrated the value of establishing secure anchorages close at hand, for ships not needed off
10295-439: The breakaway Republic of Ezo . An expeditionary force was dispatched by the new government and the Ezo Republic forces were overwhelmed. The siege of Hakodate came to an end in May 1869 and the remaining forces surrendered. The Charter Oath was made public at the enthronement of Emperor Meiji of Japan on April 7, 1868. The Oath outlined the main aims and the course of action to be followed during Emperor Meiji's reign, setting
10440-456: The cabinet demanded that there be guarantees from the British in return for the risks and costs of the major deployment of Japanese troops. On July 6, 1900, the 5th Infantry Division was alerted for possible deployment to China, but no timetable was set for this. Two days later, with more ground troops urgently needed to lift the siege of the foreign legations at Peking, the British ambassador offered
10585-674: The centuries-old Chinese suzerainty . On June 4, 1894, Korea requested aid from the Qing Empire in suppressing the Donghak Rebellion . The Qing government sent 2,800 troops to Korea. The Japanese countered by sending an 8,000-troop expeditionary force (the Oshima Composite Brigade) to Korea. The first 400 troops arrived on June 9 en route to Seoul , and 3,000 landed at Incheon on June 12. The Qing government turned down Japan's suggestion for Japan and China to cooperate to reform
10730-438: The chonmage ( chonmage ) hairstyle. During the early 20th century, the government was suspicious towards a number of unauthorized religious movements and periodically made attempts to suppress them. Government suppression was especially severe from the 1930s until the early 1940s, when the growth of Japanese nationalism and State Shinto were closely linked. Under the Meiji regime lèse majesté prohibited insults against
10875-724: The combat effectiveness of many units. The Australian government had asked at an early stage for the inclusion of an Australian Army infantry division in the first wave (Olympic). This was rejected by U.S. commanders and even the initial plans for Coronet, according to U.S. historian John Ray Skates, did not envisage that units from Commonwealth or other Allied armies would be landed on the Kantō Plain in 1946. The first official "plans indicated that assault, followup, and reserve units would all come from US forces". By mid-1945—when plans for Coronet were being reworked—many other Allied countries had, according to Skates, "offered ground forces, and
11020-672: The command of Captain Shimamura Hayao . The Japanese were able to contribute 52 men to the Seymour Expedition . On 12 June 1900, the advance of the Seymour Expedition was halted some 50 kilometres (30 mi) from the capital, by mixed Boxer and Chinese regular army forces. The vastly outnumbered allies withdrew to the vicinity of Tianjin , having suffered more than 300 casualties. The army general staff in Tokyo had become aware of
11165-503: The country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa which came when Matthew C. Perry arrived in Japan in 1854. Thus, the period known as Bakumatsu began. The following years saw increased foreign trade and interaction; commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part due to the humiliating terms of these unequal treaties ,
11310-562: The countryside, meant that abattoirs and workers were met with hostility from local residents. Continued ostracism as well as the decline in living standards led to former burakumin communities turning into slum areas. In the Blood tax riots , the Japanese Meiji government brutally put down revolts by Japanese samurai angry over the legal revocation of the traditional untouchable status of burakumin. The social tension continued to grow during
11455-585: The decentralized American system with no central bank. In 1871, the New Currency Act of Meiji 4 (1871) abolished the local currencies and established the yen as the new decimal currency. It had parity with the Mexican silver dollar. The First Sino-Japanese War , fought in 1894 and 1895, revolved around the issue of control and influence over Korea under the rule of the Joseon dynasty . Korea had traditionally been
11600-487: The destroyers and fleet submarines, were expected to see extensive action defending the shores, with a view to destroying about 60 Allied transports. The Navy trained a unit of frogmen to serve as suicide bombers, the Fukuryu . They were to be armed with contact-fuzed mines , and to dive under landing craft and blow them up. An inventory of mines was anchored to the sea bottom off each potential invasion beach for their use by
11745-456: The duties of the former First Fleet and Pacific Anti-Submarine Warfare Force located at Ford Island , Hawaii. Third Fleet's new duties were to train naval forces for overseas deployment and evaluate state-of-the-art technology for fleet use. Additionally, Third Fleet could deploy in the event of a major conflict. On 26 November 1986, Commander, Third Fleet shifted his flag from his headquarters ashore to resume status as an afloat commander for
11890-437: The emperor, agreeing to "be the instrument for carrying out" imperial orders, leading to the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. However, while Yoshinobu's resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. Moreover, the shogunal government, the Tokugawa family in particular, remained a prominent force in the evolving political order and retained many executive powers,
12035-674: The entire operation. As Tyson partially acknowledged during her WEST 2017 conference remarks, "the Chinese know that this administrative (and) operational innovation is directed at them," said Toshi Yoshihara, a U.S. Naval War College professor in January 2017. U.S. Third Fleet component units include the following: Japanese Empire Unitary parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy (1889–1947) The Empire of Japan , also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan ,
12180-470: The entire population of Japan to resisting the invasion, and from June 1945 onward, a propaganda campaign calling for "The Glorious Death of One Hundred Million" commenced. The main message of "The Glorious Death of One Hundred Million" campaign was that it was "glorious to die for the holy emperor of Japan, and every Japanese man, woman, and child should die for the Emperor when the Allies arrived". Although it
12325-470: The eventual loss of many of Japan's Oceanian island possessions in the following three years. Eventually, the American military captured Iwo Jima and Okinawa Island , leaving the Japanese mainland unprotected and without a significant naval defense force. By August 1945, plans had been made for an Allied invasion of mainland Japan , but were shelved after Japan surrendered in the face of a major breakthrough by
12470-458: The few great powers that determine the fate of the world. In the 1860s, Japan began to experience great social turmoil and rapid modernization. The feudal caste system in Japan formally ended in 1869 with the Meiji restoration . In 1871, the newly formed Meiji government issued a decree called Senmin Haishirei ( 賤民廃止令 Edict Abolishing Ignoble Classes ) giving burakumin equal legal status. It
12615-510: The fire-bombing campaign against Japanese cities and the blockade of food and supplies until the Japanese surrendered. However, General Marshall argued that forcing surrender that way might take several years, if ever. Accordingly, Marshall and United States Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox concluded the Americans would have to invade Japan to end the war, regardless of casualties. Despite
12760-400: The first time since World War II, aboard USS Coronado . In August 1991, Third Fleet's commander, his staff and the command ship Coronado shifted homeports to San Diego . In September 2003, Commander, Third Fleet shifted his flag from the command ship Coronado to headquarters ashore at Point Loma, San Diego, California. USS Ronald Reagan and other Third Fleet ships participated in
12905-473: The fleet for major operations, allowing the other admiral and his staff time to plan for subsequent operations. A secondary benefit was confusing the Japanese into thinking that there were actually two separate fleets as the fleet designation flipped back and forth. While under Halsey's command as the Third Fleet, the fleet operated in and around the Solomon Islands , the Philippines , Formosa , Okinawa ,
13050-530: The following sequence: The Japanese planned to commit the majority of their air forces to action within 10 days after the Allied fleet's arrival off Kyūshū. They hoped that at least 15 to 20% (or even up to a half) of the US transport ships would be destroyed before disembarkation. The United States Strategic Bombing Survey subsequently estimated that if the Japanese managed 5,000 kamikaze sorties, they could have sunk around 90 ships and damaged another 900, roughly triple
13195-827: The forces in Kyūshū had 40% of all the ammunition in the Home Islands. In addition, the Japanese had organized the Volunteer Fighting Corps , which included all healthy men aged 15 to 60 and women 17 to 40 for a total of 28 million people, for combat support and, later, combat jobs. Weapons, training and uniforms were generally lacking: many were armed with nothing better than antiquated firearms, molotov cocktails , longbows , swords, knives, bamboo or wooden spears, and even clubs and truncheons: they were expected to make do with what they had. One mobilized high school girl, Yukiko Kasai, found herself issued an awl and told, "Even killing one American soldier will do. ... You must aim for
13340-542: The immediate establishment of an elected national assembly , and the promulgation of a constitution. The constitution recognized the need for change and modernization after the removal of the shogunate : We, the Successor to the prosperous Throne of Our Predecessors, do humbly and solemnly swear to the Imperial Founder of Our House and to Our other Imperial Ancestors that, in pursuance of a great policy co-extensive with
13485-412: The impressment of wood and fabric airframe training aircraft into the kamikaze role which would have been difficult for Allied radar systems of the time to detect and track), they hoped to raise that to one for six by overwhelming the US defenses with large numbers of kamikaze attacks within a period of hours. The Japanese estimated that the planes would sink more than 400 ships; since they were training
13630-799: The initial landing and follow-up (The Overlord invasion of Normandy , by comparison, deployed 12 divisions in the initial landings.). In the initial stage, the First Army would have invaded at Kujūkuri Beach , on the Bōsō Peninsula , while the Eighth Army invaded at Hiratsuka , on Sagami Bay ; these armies would have comprised 25 divisions between them. Later, a follow-up force of up to 20 additional U.S. divisions and up to 5 or more British Commonwealth divisions would have landed as reinforcements. The Allied forces would then have driven north and inland, encircling Tokyo and pressing on toward Nagano. Olympic
13775-601: The invasion if sufficient numbers could be produced in time. The Pacific War was not under a single Allied commander-in-chief (C-in-C). Allied command was divided into regions: by 1945, for example, Chester Nimitz was the Allied C-in-C Pacific Ocean Areas , while Douglas MacArthur was Supreme Allied Commander, South West Pacific Area , and Admiral Louis Mountbatten was the Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command . A unified command
13920-594: The invasion of Kyushu in the Japanese Home Islands, scheduled to begin on 1 November 1945, during which it would have operated simultaneously with the Fifth Fleet for the first time. The end of the war made this operation unnecessary. Embarked aboard Missouri , Admiral Halsey led the Third Fleet into Tokyo Bay on 29 August 1945. On 2 September 1945, the documents of surrender of the Japanese Empire ending
14065-422: The invasion of Kyūshū, was to begin on "X-Day", which was scheduled for November 1, 1945. The combined Allied naval armada would have been the largest ever assembled, including 42 aircraft carriers , 24 battleships , and 400 destroyers and destroyer escorts . Fourteen U.S. divisions and a "division-equivalent" (two regimental combat teams ) were scheduled to take part in the initial landings. Using Okinawa as
14210-430: The invasion planners assumed that the Americans would outnumber the Japanese by roughly three to one. In early 1945, Miyazaki was virtually undefended, while Ariake, with its good nearby harbor, was heavily defended. The invasion was not intended to conquer the entire island, just the southernmost third of it, as indicated by the dashed line on the map labeled "general limit of northern advance". Southern Kyūshū would offer
14355-473: The invasion, and air strength had been increasing in preparation for the all-out assault on Japan. In preparation for the invasion, an air campaign against Japanese airfields and transportation arteries had commenced before the Japanese surrender. Through April, May, and June, Allied intelligence followed the buildup of Japanese ground forces, including five divisions added to Kyūshū, with great interest, but also some complacency, still projecting that in November
14500-541: The landing beaches and for ships damaged by air attack. Kyūshū was to be invaded by the Sixth United States Army at three points: Miyazaki , Ariake , and Kushikino . If a clock were drawn on a map of Kyūshū, these points would roughly correspond to 4, 5, and 7 o'clock, respectively. The 35 landing beaches were all named for automobiles: Austin , Buick , Cadillac , and so on through to Stutz , Winton , and Zephyr . With one corps assigned to each landing,
14645-590: The largest landing. In March 1945, there was only one combat division in Kyūshū. Four veteran divisions were withdrawn from the Kwantung Army in Manchuria in March 1945 to strengthen the forces in Japan, and 45 new divisions were activated between February and May 1945. Most were immobile formations for coastal defense, but 16 were high quality mobile divisions. By August, the formations, including three tank brigades, had
14790-519: The legal stage for Japan's modernization. The Meiji leaders also aimed to boost morale and win financial support for the new government . Japan dispatched the Iwakura Mission in 1871. The mission traveled the world in order to renegotiate the unequal treaties with the United States and European countries that Japan had been forced into during the Tokugawa shogunate, and to gather information on western social and economic systems, in order to effect
14935-478: The mission. More than 10,000 aircraft were ready for use in July (with more by October), as well as hundreds of newly built small suicide boats to attack Allied ships offshore. Up to 2,000 kamikaze planes launched attacks during the Battle of Okinawa, achieving approximately one hit per nine attacks. At Kyūshū, because of the more favorable circumstances (such as terrain that would reduce the Allies' radar advantage, and
15080-561: The modernization of Japan. Renegotiation of the unequal treaties was universally unsuccessful, but close observation of the American and European systems inspired members on their return to bring about modernization initiatives in Japan. Japan made a territorial delimitation treaty with Russia in 1875, gaining all the Kuril islands in exchange for Sakhalin island . The Japanese government sent observers to Western countries to observe and learn their practices, and also paid " foreign advisors " in
15225-405: The most defensible terrain. For the defense of Kyūshū, the Japanese took an intermediate posture, with the bulk of their defensive forces a few kilometers inland, back far enough to avoid complete exposure to naval bombardment, but close enough that the Americans could not establish a secure foothold before engaging them. The counteroffensive forces were still farther back, prepared to move against
15370-598: The murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson , by a party of samurai from Satsuma . The British demanded reparations but were denied. While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima . They responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863. The Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity for Richardson's death. Shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to
15515-466: The pilots to target transports rather than carriers and destroyers, the casualties would be disproportionately greater than at Okinawa. One staff study estimated that the kamikazes could destroy a third to half of the invasion force before landing. Admiral King, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Navy, was so concerned about losses from kamikaze attacks that he and other senior naval officers argued for canceling Operation Downfall and for instead continuing
15660-496: The planned invasion of the Kantō Plain , near Tokyo , on the main Japanese island of Honshu . Airbases on Kyūshū captured in Operation Olympic would allow land-based air support for Operation Coronet. If Downfall had taken place, it would have been the largest amphibious operation in history, surpassing D-Day . Japan's geography made this invasion plan obvious to the Japanese as well; they were able to accurately predict
15805-570: The planners had to deal with were time and casualties—how they could force Japan's surrender as quickly as possible with as few Allied casualties as possible. Before the First Quebec Conference , a joint Canadian–British–American planning team had produced a plan ("Appreciation and Plan for the Defeat of Japan") which did not call for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands until 1947–48. The American Joint Chiefs of Staff believed that prolonging
15950-458: The potential to deploy ten. "These [six] divisions have since made their appearance, as predicted," he observed, "and the end is not in sight." If not checked, this threatened "to grow to [the] point where we attack on a ratio of one (1) to one (1) which is not the recipe for victory." By the time of surrender, the Japanese had over 735,000 military personnel either in position or in various stages of deployment on Kyushu alone. The total strength of
16095-425: The real invasion, to lure out the Japanese on their one-way flights, who would then find ships bristling with anti-aircraft guns instead of the valuable, vulnerable transports. The main defense against Japanese air attacks would have come from the massive fighter forces being assembled in the Ryukyu Islands . The US Army Fifth and Seventh Air Forces and US Marine air units had moved into the islands immediately after
16240-576: The rest of the Axis powers , the formalized Japanese Instrument of Surrender was issued on 2 September 1945 in compliance with the Potsdam Declaration of the Allies , and the empire's territory subsequently shrunk to cover only the Japanese archipelago resembling modern Japan. Under the slogans of fukoku kyōhei and shokusan kōgyō , which followed the Boshin War and the restoration of power to
16385-570: The same orders would have been given in the home islands. The Japanese were secretly constructing an underground headquarters in Matsushiro, Nagano Prefecture, to shelter the Emperor and the Imperial General Staff during an invasion. In planning for Operation Ketsugo, IGHQ overestimated the strength of the invading forces: while the Allied invasion plan called for fewer than 70 divisions, the Japanese expected up to 90. Admiral Matome Ugaki
16530-475: The samurai class, which was abolished together with the caste system. This would later bring the Meiji government into conflict with the samurai . Several writers, under the constant threat of assassination from their political foes, were influential in winning Japanese support for westernization . One such writer was Fukuzawa Yukichi , whose works included "Conditions in the West", " Leaving Asia ", and "An Outline of
16675-715: The shattering damage it had absorbed by this stage of the war, the Imperial Japanese Navy , by then organized under the Navy General Command, was determined to inflict as much damage on the Allies as possible. Remaining major warships numbered four battleships (all damaged), five damaged aircraft carriers, two cruisers, 23 destroyers, and 46 submarines. However, the IJN lacked enough fuel for further sorties by its capital ships and planned instead to use its anti-aircraft firepower to defend naval installations while docked in port. Despite its inability to conduct large-scale fleet operations,
16820-450: The shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement, the sonnō jōi (literally "Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians"). In March 1863, the Emperor issued the " order to expel barbarians ." Although the shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to
16965-505: The strategic use of chemical weapons on a massive scale was not seriously studied or proposed by any senior American leader; rather, they debated the tactical use of chemical weapons against pockets of Japanese resistance. Although chemical warfare had been outlawed by the Geneva Protocol , neither the United States nor Japan was a signatory at the time. While the US had promised never to initiate gas warfare, Japan had used gas against
17110-542: The suicide divers, with up to 10,000 mines planned. Some 1,200 suicide divers had been trained before the Japanese surrender. The two defensive options against amphibious invasion are strong defense of the beaches and defense in depth . Early in the war (such as at Tarawa ), the Japanese employed strong defenses on the beaches with little or no manpower in reserve, but this tactic proved vulnerable to pre-invasion shore bombardment . Later at Peleliu , Iwo Jima , and Okinawa, they switched strategies and dug in their forces in
17255-493: The summer of 1945. However, the Battle of Okinawa went on for so long that they concluded the Allies would not be able to launch another operation before the typhoon season , during which the weather would be too risky for amphibious operations. Japanese intelligence predicted fairly closely where the invasion would take place: southern Kyūshū at Miyazaki, Ariake Bay and/or the Satsuma Peninsula . While Japan no longer had
17400-608: The time was heavily engaged in the Boer War , so a large part of the British army was tied down in South Africa. Further, deploying large numbers of troops from its garrisons in India would take too much time and weaken internal security there. Overriding personal doubts, Foreign Minister Aoki Shūzō calculated that the advantages of participating in an allied coalition were too attractive to ignore. Prime Minister Yamagata agreed, but others in
17545-406: The total for Kyūshū would be about 350,000 servicemen. That changed in July, with the discovery of four new divisions and indications of more to come. By August, the count was up to 600,000, and Magic cryptanalysis had identified nine divisions in southern Kyūshū—three times the expected number and still a serious underestimate of the actual Japanese strength. Estimated troop strength in early July
17690-563: The total, 20,300 were Imperial Japanese Army troops of the 5th Infantry Division under Lt. General Yamaguchi Motoomi; the remainder were 540 naval rikusentai (marines) from the Imperial Japanese Navy . At the beginning of the Boxer Rebellion the Japanese only had 215 troops in northern China stationed at Tientsin; nearly all of them were naval rikusentai from the Kasagi and the Atago , under
17835-522: The two-hundred-year-old Tokugawa shogunate. Tokugawa Yoshinobu launched a military campaign to seize the emperor's court in Kyoto. However, the tide rapidly turned in favor of the smaller but relatively modernized imperial faction and resulted in defections of many daimyōs to the Imperial side. The Battle of Toba–Fushimi was a decisive victory in which a combined army from Chōshū, Tosa, and Satsuma domains defeated
17980-545: The war to such an extent was dangerous for national morale. Instead, at the Quebec conference, the Combined Chiefs of Staff agreed that Japan should be forced to surrender not more than one year after Germany's surrender . The United States Navy urged the use of a blockade and airpower to bring about Japan's capitulation. They proposed operations to capture airbases in nearby Shanghai , China , and Korea , which would give
18125-558: The war were signed on Missouri ' s deck. The Third Fleet remained in Japanese waters until late September 1945, when its ships were directed to proceed to the United States West Coast . On 7 October 1945, the Third Fleet was designated a reserve fleet and decommissioned from active status. On 1 February 1973, following a reorganization of the Pacific Fleet , the Third Fleet was recommissioned as an active fleet and assumed
18270-588: The worsening conditions in China and had drafted ambitious contingency plans, but in the wake of the Triple Intervention five years before, the government refused to deploy large numbers of troops unless requested by the western powers. However three days later, a provisional force of 1,300 troops commanded by Major General Fukushima Yasumasa was to be deployed to northern China. Fukushima was chosen because he spoke fluent English which enabled him to communicate with
18415-517: Was 350,000, rising to 545,000 in early August. The intelligence revelations about Japanese preparations on Kyushu emerging in mid-July transmitted powerful shock waves both in the Pacific and in Washington. On 29 July, MacArthur's intelligence chief, Major General Charles A. Willoughby , was the first to note that the April estimate allowed for the Japanese capability to deploy six divisions on Kyushu, with
18560-456: Was among the first Protestant literature in Japan. In 1865, McCartee moved back to Ningbo , China, but others have followed in his footsteps. There was a burst of growth of Christianity in the late 19th century when Japan re-opened its doors to the West. Protestant church growth slowed dramatically in the early 20th century under the influence of the military government during the Shōwa period . Under
18705-483: Was announced by U.S. Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Scott Swift in 2015, but 3rd Fleet commander Vice Adm. Nora Tyson said at the "WEST 2017" conference that the North Korean threat was a main driver behind this effort: "What we have done in the past really 18 months is we, 3rd Fleet, have worked very closely with 7th Fleet and PACFLT in developing our, 3rd fleet's, capability to command and control forces forward in
18850-424: Was characterized by rapid industrialization , the development of a capitalist economy , and the transformation of many feudal workers to wage labour . The use of strike action also increased, and 1897, with the establishment of a union for metalworkers, the foundations of the modern Japanese trade-union movement were formed. Samurai were allowed to work in any occupation they wanted. Admission to universities
18995-411: Was considered against Japan's population and food crops. While large quantities of gas munitions were manufactured and plans were drawn, it is unlikely they would have been used. Richard B. Frank states that when the proposal reached Truman in June 1945, he vetoed the use of chemical weapons against personnel; their use against crops, however, remained under consideration. According to Edward J. Drea ,
19140-570: Was deemed necessary for an invasion of Japan. Interservice rivalry over who it should be (the United States Navy wanted Nimitz, but the United States Army wanted MacArthur) was so serious that it threatened to derail planning. Ultimately, the Navy partially conceded, and MacArthur was to be given total command of all forces if circumstances made it necessary. The primary considerations that
19285-422: Was determined based on examination results. The government also recruited more than 3,000 Westerners to teach modern science, mathematics, technology, and foreign languages in Japan ( O-yatoi gaikokujin ). Despite this, social mobility was still low due to samurai and their descendants being overrepresented in the new elite class. After sending observers to the United States, the Empire of Japan initially copied
19430-628: Was enacted, officially ending the Japanese Empire and forming modern Japan . During this time, the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces were dissolved. It was later replaced by the current Japan Self-Defense Forces in 1954. Reconstruction under the Allied occupation continued until 1952, consolidating the modern Japanese constitutional monarchy . In total, the Empire of Japan had three emperors: Meiji , Taishō , and Shōwa . The Imperial era came to an end partway through Shōwa's reign , and he remained emperor until 1989. The historical state
19575-682: Was founded, de jure , after the 1889 signing of Constitution of the Empire of Japan. The constitution formalized much of the Empire's political structure and gave many responsibilities and powers to the Emperor. In 1890, the Imperial Diet was established in response to the Meiji Constitution. The Diet consisted of the House of Representatives of Japan and the House of Peers . Both houses opened seats for colonial people as well as Japanese. The Imperial Diet continued until 1947. Economic development
19720-502: Was not realistic that the entire Japanese population would be killed off, both American and Japanese officers at the time predicted a Japanese death toll in the millions. From the Battle of Saipan onward, Japanese propaganda intensified the glory of patriotic death and depicted the Americans as merciless "white devils." During the Battle of Okinawa, Japanese officers had ordered civilians unable to fight to commit suicide rather than fall into American hands, and all available evidence suggests
19865-475: Was operating as Task Force 57 of the Fifth Fleet when Halsey relieved Spruance of command in May 1945. Like the rest of the Fifth Fleet's ships, the British ships were resubordinated from Spruance's Fifth Fleet to Halsey's Third Fleet. The British Pacific Fleet then constituted Task Force 37 under the Third Fleet's operational command through the end of World War II on 15 August 1945. The Third Fleet's next major combat operation would have been Operation Olympic ,
20010-495: Was originally formed during World War II on 15 March 1943 under the command of Admiral William F. Halsey . Its on-shore headquarters at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii was established on 15 June 1944. The ships of the Third Fleet also formed the basis of the Fifth Fleet , formed on 26 April 1944, which was the designation of the "Big Blue Fleet" when under the command of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance . Spruance and Halsey alternated command of
20155-556: Was prompted by his learning of a series of arson attacks in Edo, starting with the burning of the outworks of Edo Castle , the main Tokugawa residence. The Boshin War ( 戊辰戦争 , Boshin Sensō ) was fought between January 1868 and May 1869. The alliance of samurai from southern and western domains and court officials had now secured the cooperation of the young Emperor Meiji, who ordered the dissolution of
20300-587: Was recalled to Japan in February 1945 and given command of the Fifth Air Fleet on Kyūshū. The Fifth Air Fleet was assigned the task of kamikaze attacks against ships involved in the invasion of Okinawa, Operation Ten-Go , and began training pilots and assembling aircraft for the defense of Kyūshū, the first invasion target. The Japanese defense relied heavily on kamikaze planes. In addition to fighters and bombers, they reassigned almost all of their trainers for
20445-415: Was repressed and adherents were persecuted. After the Tokugawa shogunate banned Christianity in 1620, it ceased to exist publicly. Many Catholics went underground, becoming hidden Christians ( 隠れキリシタン , kakure kirishitan ) , while others lost their lives. After Japan was opened to foreign powers in 1853, many Christian clergymen were sent from Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches, though proselytism
20590-491: Was still banned. Only after the Meiji Restoration, was Christianity re-established in Japan. Freedom of religion was introduced in 1871, giving all Christian communities the right to legal existence and preaching. Eastern Orthodoxy was brought to Japan in the 19th century by St. Nicholas (baptized as Ivan Dmitrievich Kasatkin), who was sent in 1861 by the Russian Orthodox Church to Hakodate , Hokkaidō as priest to
20735-676: Was the Japanese nation-state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 until the Constitution of Japan took effect on 3 May 1947. From 1910 to 1945 , it included the Japanese archipelago , the Kurils , Karafuto , Korea , and Taiwan . Concessions such as the Kwantung Leased Territory were de jure not parts of the empire but dependent territories. In the closing stages of World War II , with Japan defeated alongside
20880-613: Was to be a massive redeployment of units from the US Army's Southwest Pacific , China-Burma-India and European commands, among others. These would have included spearheads of the war in Europe such as the US First Army (15 divisions) and the Eighth Air Force. These redeployments would have been complicated by the simultaneous demobilization and replacement of highly experienced, time-served personnel, which would have drastically reduced
21025-469: Was to be mounted with resources already present in the Pacific, including the British Pacific Fleet , a Commonwealth formation that included at least eighteen aircraft carriers (providing 25% of the Allied air power) and four battleships. Tiger Force, a joint Commonwealth long-range heavy bomber unit, was to be transferred from RAF , RAAF , RCAF and RNZAF units and personnel serving with RAF Bomber Command in Europe. In 1944, early planning proposed
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