Naval Powerhouse: The U.S. in WWII
The beginning of World War II was a time of low self-pride and belief in America. America was still on it’s heels from the Great Depression and many Americans lived lowly lives consumed by poverty and sadness. 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 (Lanzendörfer 2). The US Navy won many battles in the Pacific during World War II, thus helping the Americans win the war and boosting the morale that helped bring the U.S. out of the Great Depression.
The beginning of World War II was characterized by a greatly depleted American morale in the armed forces and on the American home front (Wikipedia 3). The U.S. was defeated in almost every battle with Japan in the Pacific and spirits were low, as indications did not look favorable on the European front either. Russell Ingram, a seaman who was stationed in the South Pacific on the USS Suffolk during the later half of the war, stated this about the U.S. Navy,
“At the beginning of the war America really felt low about itself. We were on the start of coming out of the Great Depression but still the nation was kind of in the dumps. It was really not a great time in the history of our nation and many people were not proud to be Americans…. But it was also a different time in our country. The country wanted to be patriotic. Many young men wanted to enroll in the service so they could fight the Japanese so they could be proud of their country, and their country could be proud of them” (Ingram).
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 (Wikipedia 6). It was the courageous and patriotic leader that eventually pulled America through to victory. When asked if the United States could have won the war on both fronts without the Navy, Ingram replied, “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” (Ingram)
The battle of Midway was the turning point in the war (Lanzendörfer 4). In this battle, the U.S. Navy sank five Japanese battle ships and greatly damaged another (Clancey 2). 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 (Lanzendörfer 4) 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 (Lanzendörfer 5). These first battles that turned the edge of the war to the side of the Americans were crucial in gaining morale for the troops and those still on the home front. Russell Ingram compared the Japanese Navy to a “little guy” beating the US Navy on the top of the head. He said once these battles were over it was nice to get the “little guy” off from on top of the U.S. and to give Japan a couple of shots too (Ingram). These battles were essential when it came to gaining morale and propelled America through the war. “Any sea battles won at all were considered big victories because we were so depleted before World War II, it helped the overall moral of all of us and it made winning the war seem more like a possibility and reality then” (Ingram).
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 (Lanzendörfer 7). By ultimately rendering the Japanese navy harmless, the US gained confidence in the home front that we could win the war and it put us in a position to drop the atomic bomb on Japan and forever end the war.
“Everybody was very excited when news of the atom bomb came to us. We knew the war was going to be over at this point. We had no idea of the destruction that it would cause because the government had kept it a big secret from all of us. It was a great thing for America but it was also very horrible” (Ingram). Had it not been for the success of the US Navy in World War II, the planes that bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have never had made it to Japan to complete their mission and the U.S. may never have won the war. The world we live in today may be vastly different than the world we could be living in had the U.S. Navy not been so successful in the Pacific Theatre.
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 (Stanley 2). 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 (Stanley 3). While the U.S. Navy picked up battle after victorious battle in the Pacific, the need for these goods and products arose on the home front. 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 (Stanley 5).
“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” (Ingram).
This new need for artillery brought about a lot of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. While the Navy still continued to fight and bring American closer to the end of the war by its success, it also helped America overcome one of the hardest times of its great history by spurring an economy with the need of its supplies and artillery.
The success of the U.S. Navy and the ultimate victory in the war brought a new life to America. The war effort stimulated the American economy and brought the nation out of the Great Depression. American felt like she had aged over 20 years before this war came to an end. Had it not been for the success of the US Navy in the Pacific to defeat the Japanese, America may have not have won the war and could have slumped into an even greater depression than it had been in at the end of the 1920’s.
Works Cited
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.
Ingram, Russell. Personal Interview. 21 April 2006.
Lanzendörfer, Tim. “The Pacific War: The US Navy.” 10 November 2003. US Department of
the Navy. 20 April 2006. http://www.microworks.net/PACIFIC/.
“Pacific War.” 15 April 2006. Wikipedia. 20 April 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_War.
Priolo, Gary P. “AKA-69 Suffolk.” 23 September 2005. US Naval Historical Center. 20 April
2006. http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/02069.html.
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.
By: Kyle Ingram