Symon
Posts: 1928
Joined: 11/24/2012 From: De Eye-lands, Mon Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: spence Since a REAL base at Truk was something of an IJN "Pipe Dream" will the IJN be given lots of supply to run this whole affair on? Speaking of "Pipe Dreams", here's what was at Truk in March '42. The "Pearl Harbor of the Pacific" had darn near as many total Naval troops as the Main Navy Bldg on Oahu the morning of PH. An entire Japanese base, that was smaller than the comtemporary US PacFleet HQ establishment, frightened the crap out of our military planners. Going forward to 1945, the "Field Survey of Truk's Defenses" Geiger, Marshall, Peterson, USA/N/MC, by direction; has pretty much the same organization, but there was some Navy reinforcement and a ton of Army units that all came in, in the late '44, '45 time frame. So the "real" Truk base in March of 1942, was as follows: The numbers are Officers : Warrants : Ranks ; Civilians -- unit total 41st Naval Gd Unit – 61 : 29 : 1680 : 155 civ -- 1925 4th Port & Dock Unit – 11 : 1 : 200 : 158 civ – 370 4th Nav Transp Unit – 11 : 2 : 74 : 612 civ – 699 4th Construction Unit – 24 : 5 : 474 : 31 civ – 534 4th NavCivEng Dept – 20 : 15 : 70 : 9293 civ – 9398** 104th Nav Air Depot – 6 : 1 : 20 : 547 civ – 574 17th Ku’tai Av Support – 9 : 2 : 224 : 5 civ – 240 85th Sub Base Unit – 6 : 2 : 71 : 36 civ – 115 148 Off, 56 WO, 2813 OR, 10837 Civilians Civilians are not called out in Japanese records. They are listed simply as non-Military personnel, and include everything from Civil Engineers, civilian airframe and motor mechanics, barge operators and harbor facility stevedores/maintenance/repair technicians, to Korean, Chinese and Native laborers. ** this number went up and down because it was the source of various Naval Construction Units that were sent hither and yon. The NCUs sent to Guadalcanal came from this pool. For example, the designations of 10th and 13th Construction Units, was for convenience of intendance, and had little basis in OOB organizational structure. The 85th Sub Base was just like the one on Kwajalein. It wasn’t a Sub Base in the US sense. It was nothing more than an R&R facility for sub crews, with a minimal facility for rearming torpedoes from minimal stocks in caves above the single pier. The “real” sub base was whatever AS happened to be in town at the moment. 85th had some civilian welders that could do some pipefitting and some surface arc welding, but had no capability whatsoever for deep welds. At Truk, the Harbor Dept (Nav Transp and Ports & Docks Unit) was formed by taking over the facilities and personnel of the South Seas Company, wholesale. There were minimal repair facilities at Truk in the beginning, and they remained minimal throughout the entire war period. At it’s best, Truk could fix up topside damage on a destroyer. But didn’t have the repair facilities to do a complete job. From the beginning of the war, to the end, all she could do was fix ‘em up good enough to get home to Japan. [ed] Oh jeez, you guys want sources, so : Senshi Sosho, IJM, Vol. 4, Kato, 14 Part, Coox A.D., San Diego Field Survey - Japanese Defenses, Truk, CINCPAC - CINCPOA, Mar 15, 1946. Japanese Monographs, vol 116, Chf Mil Hist, Dept of Army
< Message edited by Symon -- 8/24/2014 10:29:19 PM >
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Nous n'avons pas peur! Vive la liberté! Moi aussi je suis Charlie! Yippy Ki Yay.
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