The destroyer charge off Samar
Ernest Evans had Johnston. She went in off Samar with Hoel. Clifton Sprague’s flag was in Fanshaw Bay.
Pacific War, 1941–1945
Ships, captains, and the battles they fought.
Open a ship and you get the battles she was in. Open a battle and you get every other ship that was there. The men who had them are on the same pages.
Sean’s Astronomy ShopSongs and shanties about remarkable WWII ships
764Ships
49Battles
1291Officers
Start here
Four ways in.
Each card opens a chain that is already in the catalog. The search box and the full lists stay where they are.
Shigure, fight after fight
One Japanese destroyer, from the Coral Sea to the Gulf of Siam. At Surigao Strait she was the only ship of Nishimura’s force to get out. Blackfin ended that run on 24 January 1945.
Indianapolis, late in the war
Spruance’s flagship at the Philippine Sea. She unloaded components of the Hiroshima bomb at Tinian, and she was not carrying the finished bomb. On the way to Leyte, I-58 sank her on 30 July 1945.
The carriers at Midway
The carrier fight northwest of Midway on 4 June 1942. Enterprise, Yorktown, and Hornet were there, with Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu.
19415 battles. Pearl Harbor, Force Z, Wake194219 battles. Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal194310 battles. Kula Gulf, Vella Gulf, Augusta Bay194410 battles. Philippine Sea, Surigao, Samar19455 battles. Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Indianapolis
Isokaze, Shigure, Enterprise, and Hamakaze are on the most battle pages in this catalog. The counts.
How a name leads to the next
A captain, his ship, that fight, and the ships beside her.
Ernest Evans had Johnston. She went in off Samar with Hoel and Fanshaw Bay. Shigure is the other kind of link: one ship, several fights, and each fight lists who else was there.
Evans, Ernest E. (Medal of Honor)Captain of Johnstonhad
JohnstonDD-557atBattle off Samar1944-10-25Also off Samar
HoelDD-533
Fanshaw BayCVE-70The same ship, other fights
ShigureIJNBattle of the Coral Sea1942-05-08Battle of Vella Gulf1943-08-06Battle of Empress Augusta Bay1943-11-02Battle of Surigao Strait1944-10-25Augusta Bay also lists
MontpelierCL-57
Charles AusburneDD-570
ShigureIJNBattle of the Coral Sea1942-05-08Battle of Vella Gulf1943-08-06Battle of Empress Augusta Bay1943-11-02Battle of Surigao Strait1944-10-25Augusta Bay also listsMontpelierCL-57Charles AusburneDD-570Noboru Seo had Shigure from 1 September 1941, including the Coral Sea. Tameichi Hara later flew his flag in her. He was not her captain. At Empress Augusta Bay, Arleigh Burke’s flag was in Charles Ausburne. Luther Reynolds had her. Burke was not her captain. Merrill’s flag was in Montpelier. The cruisers sank Sendai. That is not credited to one ship.
1941-11-19Sydney and KormoranIndian Ocean, west of Western Australia
1941-12-07Attack on Pearl HarborPearl Harbor, Oahu
1941-12-10Loss of Prince of Wales and RepulseSouth China Sea, off Kuantan, Malaya
1942-01-24Battle of BalikpapanBalikpapan anchorage, Makassar Strait, east Borneo
1942-03-01Battle of Sunda StraitBantam Bay, at the eastern entrance of Sunda Strait
1942-05-08Battle of the Coral SeaCoral Sea, south of the Louisiade Islands
1942-08-07Landings on Guadalcanal and TulagiGuadalcanal and Tulagi
1943-11-02Battle of Empress Augusta BayEmpress Augusta Bay, Bougainville
The ships page lists every ship, with search and filters.
Burnett, JosephCaptain of Sydney when she was lost, 19 November 1941.Evans, Ernest E. (Medal of Honor)Captain of Johnston. Lost with her off Samar.
Burke, Arleigh A.Flag in Charles Ausburne at Empress Augusta Bay. Not her captain.
Moosbrugger, FrederickCommanded the division at Vella Gulf. Dunlap was his ship.
Merrill, Aaron S.Flag in Montpelier at Empress Augusta Bay.
Hara, TameichiCaptain of Amatsukaze. His flag was later in Shigure. He was not her captain.
Kennedy, John F.In command of PT-109.
Armstrong, John MaletCaptain of HMAS Australia from 29 October 1944.
Fluckey, Eugene (Medal of Honor)Commander of Barb from late April 1944.
Copeland, Robert W.Captain of Samuel B. Roberts when she was lost, 25 October 1944.