US Navy

Public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied.The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and equalization.Split with MKVmerge GUI (part of MKVToolNix), the same freeware (or Avidemux) can recombine the downloaded parts (in mp4 format): http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/doc/mkvmerge-gui.htmlpart 2: http://youtu.be/VhNi3rOhXKUhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_Navy...On 7 December 1941, Japan launched the Attack on Pearl Harbor, sinking 5 battleships at their anchorages and severely damaging 3... the Japanese attacked Wake Island, invaded Guam, the Philippines. The Japanese also attack Hong Kong, Thailand from its bases in French Indochina and Malaya after passing through Thai territory. These attacks lead to the US, Britain, Australia and other Allies to declare war on Japan....A unified American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDA) was formed in January 1942 to stop the Japanese from advancing past Malaya. However, Singapore surrendered in 15 February 1942, and by 28 February 1942 the Japanese decisively defeated the ABDA forces in the Battle of the Java Sea, sunk the USS Houston in the Battle of Sunda Strait, and invaded Java.... The carrier USS Hornet launched the Doolittle Raid against Tokyo in April 1942, while task forces organized around carriers fought the Battle of the Coral Sea in May and the Battle of Midway in June, checking Japanese advances to the east and south.When the United States launched its first counteroffensive, the invasion of Guadalcanal, the Navy became involved in a series of fights with the Japanese; the disastrous Battle of Savo Island, where four cruisers were sunk, the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, the Battle of Cape Esperance, and the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal...In the summer of 1943, the US began the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign to retake the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. After this success, the Americans went on to the Mariana and Palau Islands in summer 1944. Following their defeat at the Battle of Saipan, the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, with 5 aircraft carriers sortied to attack the Navy's Fifth Fleet during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, which was the largest aircraft carrier battle in history. The battle was so one-sided that it became known as the "Marianas turkey shoot"; the US lost 130 aircraft and no ships while the Japanese lost 411 planes and 3 carriers. Following victory in the Marianas, the US began the reconquest of the Philippines at Leyte in October 1944. The Japanese fleet sortied to attack the invasion fleet, resulting in the four-day Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the largest naval battles in history. The first kamikaze missions are flown during the battle, sinking USS St. Lo (CVE-63) and damaging several other US ships; these attacks were the most effective anti-ship weapon of the war.The island of Iwo Jima served as the next area of battle, which began on 19 February 1945. The Japanese had learned from their defeats in the Marianas campaign and prepared many fortified positions on the island, including pillboxes and underground tunnels. The Japanese put up fierce resistance, but American forces reached the summit of Mount Suribachi on 23 February. It was there that five Marines and one Navy Corpsman famously planted the American flag.The Battle of Okinawa became the last major battle between US and Japanese ground units. Okinawa was to become a staging area for the eventual invasion of Japan since it was just 350 miles (550 km) south of the Japanese mainland. Marines and soldiers landed unopposed on 1 April 1945, to begin an 82-day campaign which became the largest land-sea-air battle in history and was noted for the ferocity of the fighting and the high civilian casualties with over 150,000 Okinawans losing their lives. Japanese kamikaze pilots enacted the largest loss of ships in US naval history with the sinking of 36 and the damaging of another 243. Total US casualties were over 12,500 dead and 38,000 wounded, while the Japanese lost over 110,000 men, making Okinawa one of the bloodiest battles in history.The fierce fighting on Okinawa is said to have played a part in President Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb and to forsake an invasion of Japan. When the Japanese surrendered, a flotilla of 374 ships entered Tokyo Bay to witness the ceremony conducted on the battleship USS Missouri. By the end of the war the US Navy had over 1200 warships...