The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Satawan (153.732E 5.326N) is an atoll in the central Carolines, located about 180 miles (290 km) southeast of Truk. It was also known to Westerners as Mortlock Islands. The Japanese built a small airfield on Satawan islet.
Some versions of the American contingency plan
for war with Japan, Plan
Orange, called for Satawan to be seized as an intermediate
base for a drive across the Pacific to relieve the Philippines.
The atoll was heavily bombarded by nine heavy cruisers under Jesse Oldendorf on 30
April
1944, largely as "a welcome change to the crews of the ships
participating," who had suffered numerous false alerts while
escorting carrier
strikes. There was
no return fire and the only damage observed was the destruction of
an
ammunition dump and a fuel storage tank. The island was then
bypassed
by the Allied
counteroffensive.
References
Kuehn (2008)The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2009, 2011, 2016 by Kent G. Budge. Index
