Air attacks on Rabaul | |||||||
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Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II | |||||||
![]() Japanese cruiser Chikuma under attack on 5 November 1943. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
George Kenney (land air forces), William Halsey, Jr., Frederick Sherman (naval forces) |
Mineichi Koga, Jinichi Kusaka | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
3 fleet carriers, 2 light carriers, 2 light cruisers, 9 destroyers, 282 carrier aircraft, 349 land-based aircraft[1] |
10 cruisers, 11 destroyers, 200 aircraft[1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
10 carrier aircraft, 17 land-based aircraft destroyed[2] |
1 destroyer sunk 3 cruisers damaged, 3 cruisers lightly damaged, 52 aircraft destroyed[3] |
The bombing of Rabaul in November 1943 was an air attack conducted by the Allies of World War II upon a cruiser force at the major Japanese base of Rabaul. In response to the Allied invasion of Bougainville, the Japanese had brought a strong cruiser force down to Rabaul from Truk, their major naval base in the Caroline Islands about 800 miles north of Rabaul in preparation for a night engagement against the Allied supply and support shipping. Allied carrier- and land-based planes attacked the Japanese ships, airfields, and port facilities on the island of New Britain to protect the Allied amphibious invasion of Bougainville. As a result of the Rabaul raids, the Japanese naval forces could no longer threaten the landings. The success of the raid began to change the strongly held belief that carrier-based air forces could not challenge land-based air forces.