America's Revenge Bomb Hit So Hard It Left a Giant Crater in the Ocean

(QUOTE) “My first instinct was to jump overboard.”

That was how Air Group 9 leader Lieutenant Commander Philip H. Torrey Junior described his reaction to hearing the loudspeaker on USS Essex announce the target of their upcoming strike: the notorious Japanese base of Truk Lagoon.

Known as “The Gibraltar of the Pacific,” bristling with anti-aircraft guns, shore batteries, airfields, and battleships, it was virtually impenetrable - a one-way ticket to the bottom of the ocean for any pilot or captain foolish enough to attempt an attack. The island fortress was so remote and protected that few Allied personnel had ever even seen it.

In February 1944, the American carrier fleet was about to do the unthinkable –the ultimate payback for Pearl Harbor– a daring assault on Truk and the many Japanese ships anchored there. If they could pull it off, this would be more than a hard rain - this was Operation Hailstone.