After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, America’s fast carrier task forces, with their

aircraft squadrons and powerful support warships, went on the offensive. Under orders from

the Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, the newly appointed Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, as the

Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, took the fight to the Japanese, using island raids

to slow their advance in the Pacific.

Beginning in February 1942, a series of task force raids led by the carriers USS

Enterprise, USS Yorktown, USS Lexington and USS Hornet were launched, beginning in

the Marshall Islands and Gilbert Islands. An attempted raid on Rabaul was followed by

successful attacks on Wake Island and Marcus Island. The Lae-Salamaua Raid countered

Japanese invasions on New Guinea. The most dramatic was the unorthodox Tokyo

(Doolittle) Raid, where 16 carrier-launched B-25 medium bombers demonstrated that the

Japanese mainland was open to U.S. air attacks.

The raids had a limited effect on halting the Japanese advance but kept the enemy away

from Hawaii, the U.S. West coast and the Panama Canal, and kept open lines of

communications to Australia.