World War Two Pacific Trivia Quiz

Answer: Leyte Gulf

The Battle of Leyte Gulf. The Japanese lost thirty-four ships, including four aircraft carriers and three battleships. The U.S. lost six ships, including one light aircraft carrier (USS Princeton) and two escort carriers (USS Gambier Bay and USS St. Lo).

Answer: USS Harmon DE-72

A mess attendant killed saving his shipmate's life during the Guadalcanal campaign, Leonard Roy Harmon was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and was the first black to have a ship named in his honor. His mother christened the destroyer escort USS Harmon DE-72 on July 25, 1943.

Answer: Laohokow, China, 1945

Laohokow, China, was captured near the end of March 1945. The U.S. Fourteenth Air Force destroyed anything of value prior to withdrawing, to deny Japanese use of the base.

Answer: USS Archerfish SS-311

The largest aircraft carrier of any navy, became part of the Japanese fleet on 11 November 1944, when the Shinano (with a thirty-centimeter-thick deck over concrete) went on-line. However, this ship recorded the briefest period of sea duty of any major ship in the war.

The U.S. submarine Archerfish SS-331 torpedoed her and she sank on November 29 in the Kumano Sea. The sinking of the 59,000-ton leviathan was the largest submarine kill of World War Two.

Answer: Shoho

The Battle of the Coral Sea was the first naval battle in which opposing forces fought solely with carrier aircraft, the Shoho was sank on May 7, 1942.

Answer: Chicago

Chicago's O'Hare Airport was named for Lt. Edward 'Butch' O'Hare, who downed five Japanese planes on February 20, 1942. O'Hare was stationed on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington. While flying from the USS Enterprise during combat in the Central Pacific in 1944, he lost his life.

Answer: Admiral Isaac C. Kidd

Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, died manning a machine gun aboard his flagship, the USS Arizona, on December 7, 1941.

Answer: The Battle of the Philippine Sea

Much larger than the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Coral Sea combined, the Battle of the Philippine Sea was the largest carrier duel of World War Two. The Allied fleet had fifteen carriers against the Japanese fleet strength of nine, overall fleet sizes were the Allies 112 ships, the Japanese 55 ships.

Answer: Twelve

Five fast U.S. aircraft carriers, the Hornet, Lexington, Princeton (CVL 23), Wasp and Yorktown. Six escort carriers the Bismarck Sea, Block Island, Gambier Bay, Liscome Bay, Ommany Bay and St. Lo. In addition, the navy's first carrier, the USS Langley, was sunk in the battle of the Java Sea, for a total of twelve U.S. carriers sunk in World War Two. (Technically, when the Langley was sunk she had been reclassified as a seaplane tender and was no longer classed as a carrier).

Answer: Montana

Work was started on a battleship to be named USS Montana for World War One, and in World War Two a Montana-class was also begun, but in both cases the wars ended before the ships were built and christened. Plus there never was a battleship named for Alaska or Hawaii.