49 Operation Starvation, 1945 LCDR Ellis Johnson, MWORG: Mines are Weapons of Strategy ADM Nimitz & MG LeMay (21 st Bomber Command) 21,000 sea mines l
{"Image DocumentName": "Operation Starvation, 1945LCDR Ellis Johnson, MWORG: Mines are Weapons of Strategy ADM Nimitz & MG LeMay (21st Bomber Command)", "Image ImageDescription": "21,000 sea mines laid; 4323 sorties. 5.7% of B-29 sorties. 961 Japanese ships damaged or sunk (2 million tons) Johnson, later to become the one & only Director of the Operations Research Office, worked in the first US ORG (Mine Warfare ORG, Naval Ordnance Laboratory, MD. Eventually, sent to the Pacific theater & put into uniform. Mission of 21st Bomber Command (LeMay): Blockade of all Japanese sea commerce. Aircraft from AAF (B-29: 2087 sorties), Royal Australian Air Force (PBY: 1128 sorties), Royal Air Force (631 sorties), US Naval air (486 sorties); total sorties: 4323; 21,000 mines. Results: 961 ships damaged or sunk (484) (2 million total tonnage of which 650,000 tons were sunk. Casualties were: 2 battleships, 8 cruisers, 2 escort carriers, 7 submarines, 46 destroyers & destroyer escorts, & 82 others; total warships: 147; balance of 814 were merchant shipping. 21st Bomber Command targets were the inner zone (closest to Japan): 606 ships sunk or damaged; 283 sunk & 137 damaged so badly as to be out of the war. 1,250,000 tons sunk or damaged over a period of 4 \u00bd months by one Bomb Group of 40 aircraft (compared with 4,780,000 tons by a force of about 100 US submarines over a period of 3 \u00bd years! Cost: 1 B-29 lost for every 45 ships sunk. XXI Bomber Cmd: Also low-level sorties; LeMay concurred. Result: B-29 attrition from 10% to 1%.", "Image XResolution": "37", "Image YResolution": "37", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Centimeter", "Image Software": "SlidePlayer", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered"}