Clancey, Patrick. “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.” Office of Chief of Naval Operations. 20 April 2006. http://ftp.metalab.unc.edu/hyperwar/USN/ships/dafs/AKA/aka69.html.

• Suffolk, after outfitting, got underway for the Charleston Navy Yard where she was depermed on 19 November and, on the 25th, began her shakedown cruise in the Chesapeake Bay. After a post-shakedown availability period, she sailed for the Panama Canal Zone on 11 December and arrived at San Francisco on 29 December 1944. She loaded cargo on 10 January 1945 and sailed the following week for Manus, Admiralty Islands.
• Suffolk loaded elements of the 6th Marine Division at Guam and sailed, on 22 October, with Transport Division 35 for China. Tsingtao was reached on 28 October. The ship remained there until 4 November when she was ordered to return to the United States, via Okinawa. She arrived at Portland where she landed her passengers before proceeding to the east coast. She reported to the 5th Naval District in March 1946 for layup with the reserve fleet in the James River.
• Suffolk was decommissioned on 27 June, returned to the War Shipping Administration on 28 June, and struck from the Navy list on 19 July 1946.

Ingram, Russell. Personal Interview. 21 April 2006

• Occupation was a seaman aboard the USS Suffolk, which carried troops into the Pacific theatre.  He was a pilot of the land cruiser that would take the troops from the ship to the beaches of China and other islands in the Pacific. 
• How do you think the navy helped in winning the Pacific War?

No… not a chance, so many lives were lost and the Navy was the only way that the United States was going to win the war.  The Navy had to come forward and be successful or else there was no way that the US could have won the war.

• What strategic things did the navy do to win battles?

These invasions (of islands) were planned many miles away and the plan of action consisted of hundreds of manpower and ships to haul invasion items in… usually the navy big battle wagons would soften up the islands with heavy bombardments and artillery, (the Navy) also had carrier that dropped bombs on islands and would take care of a big part of the resistance. They would then send in men by invasion craft and they would then have to fight hand-to-hand battles to secure the whole island.

Lanzendörfer, Tim. “The Pacific War: The US Navy.” 10 November 2003.  US Department of the Navy. 20 April 2006.  http://www.microworks.net/PACIFIC/.

• American armaments certainly were not spectecular. There was no 460mm gun. There were no underwater-trajectory shells, no 640mm super-torpedoes. Indeed quite a few weapons were rather useless - notably the 28mm anti-air mounts and the Mk13/14/15 series of air-dropped, submarine-launched, or destroyer-fired torpedos. But the U.S. Navy had to use all of these weapons in 1942 at least, and some quite longer. 
• In early September 1942, at Milne Bay, near the eastern tip of New Guinea, Japanese land forces suffered their first outright defeat since 1939. Japanese marines attacked a strategic Royal Australian Air Force base, defended mostly by the Australian Army, as well as some US forces. Both sides poured resources into Guadalcanal over the following six months, in an escalating battle of attrition, with eventual victory going to the United States.
• From this time on the Japanese forces were decidedly on the defensive. The constant need to reinforce Guadalcanal weakened the Japanese effort in other theatres, leading to successful Australian-US counteroffensives in New Guinea, which culminated in the capture of the key bases of Buna and Gona in early 1943. This prepared the way for Nimitz's island-hopping campaign towards Japan.
• America was looking for a way to break out of the Great Depression and get back to the glory days of the early 1920’s.  Although a Second World War was not the idea anybody had in mind to bring the nation out of this state of poverty and depression, it gave America the feeling that she was back in the days of the early 1920’s and gave her a new sense of pride and satisfaction.  A factor that helped win the Second World War and boost American moral was the U.S. Navy
• The battle of Midway was the turning point in the war
• Japan lost its naval and offensive edge in the war in this battle, which led to the slow and ultimately catastrophic defeat of the Japanese
• The Battle of Midway was the decline of the Japanese navy and led to the battles in the Solomons that would eventually break the Japanese’s back and give the Americans the edge they would finally need to win the war
• The end of the Solomon Islands campaign marked the snapping of the logistical backbone of the Japanese Navy.  Many Japanese naval vessels were sunk in the months during this conflict, and still many more were seriously damaged and were no longer able to participate and contribute to the Japanese war effort.  Even the vessels that still had some fighting semblance had been disregarded their normal maintenance and refits, which made these vessels less and less efficient and productive against the U.S. Navy as the war wore on.  The net result was that the Japanese fleet that was no longer in a position to effectively fight the U.S. Navy in the Pacific and thus, started to crumble under the pressure of the U.S. Navy slowly making its way to the island of Japan.  Japan no longer had enough escorts to protect its carriers, andguard convoys against submarine attacks, andretain sufficient strength and proficiency to engage in surface battles

“Pacific War.” 15 April 2006. Wikipedia. 20 April 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_War.

• The Pacific War occurred in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in Asia. The conflict took place between 1937 and 1945. However, the most decisive actions took place after December 7-8, 1941, when Japan attacked the United States, Thailand, the Philippines and British territories. Today, most Japanese also use the term "Pacific War"
• Because of the U.S. Navy’s success in the later half of the war, morale was boosted and the battles it won helped deliver victory in for the United States in the Second World War.  The US Navy was a lone shining star during the middle half of the war and was the main factor that turned the tide of the war in the Americans’ favor
• Between 1942 and 1945, there were four main Allied theaters/commands in the war against Japan: China, the Pacific Ocean Areas, the South East Asia Command and the South West Pacific Area.
• It was fought between Japan on one side and the Allied powers, including China, the United States, the United Kingdom (including British-controlled India), Australia, the Philippines, the Netherlands and New Zealand on the other
• The beginning of World War II was characterized by a greatly depleted American morale in the armed forces and on the American home front

Priolo, Gary P. “AKA-69 Suffolk.” 23 September 2005. US Naval Historical Center. 20 April 2006. http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/02069.html.

•   The USS Suffolk leaving port for World War II.
• Commissioned USS Suffolk (AKA-69), 23 October 1944, CDR. E. C. Clusman, USNR, in command
• Suffolk received one battle star for World War II

Schultz, Stanley K. “World War II: The Impact at Home.” American History 102. University of
            Wisconsin: 1999. 19 April 2006.
http://us.history.wisc.edu/histo102/lecutes/lecture21.html

• One main supply that was needed in the Pacific were bombs and artillery.  This weaponry could then be fired off of ships and fighter jets towards the island the US was looking to capture and use as a base as they inched closer and closer to China and Japan
• While the U.S. was winning the war on the Pacific Ocean, it was also winning the war on the home front.  The war brought about a need for more ships, supplies, and other products to be transported to the Navy and other branches of the armed forces
• This new demand brought about both new jobs and a boost to the struggling American economy, which was still crushed by the Stock Market Crash in 1929

 
Unidentified soldiers helping a wounded comrade while raiding a small Pacific island during World War II.

 
Seaman aboard a carrier in the Pacific look on as they travel in convoy with other ships from the U.S. Navy.

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