Seeadler Harbor
Seeadler Harbor, also known as Port Seeadler, is located on Manus Island, Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea and played an important role in World War II. In German, "Seeadler" means sea eagle, pointing to German colonial activity between 1884 and 1919 in that area. The bay was named in 1900 after the German cruiser SMS Seeadler.
HistoryEdit
Template:Further On 29 February 1944, General Douglas MacArthur led Operation Brewer to take the islands from the Japanese who had occupied them beginning in 1942. The islands were secured by the Americans on 19 March 1944, who then built a large base at Seeadler Harbor including wharves and an airbase, Manus Naval Base. This US Naval Advance Base served as a staging area for further World War II operations in New Guinea and the Philippines.<ref>Chapter XVII: Logistic Support at Seeadler and at Sea in Beans, Bullets, and Black Oil by Rear Adm. Worrall Reed Carter, USN (Retired), retrieved 16 April 2016.</ref>
Template:USS exploded accidentally while moored in Seeadler Harbor on 10 November 1944. The ship was carrying ammunition and the tremendous explosion caused 432 fatalities, 371 wounded, damage to surrounding ships and base from debris and sinking or severely damaging 22 smaller craft.<ref>USS Mount Hood (AE-11) entry in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, retrieved 16 April 2016.</ref>
A Japanese Mitsubishi A6M reconnaissance aircraft reported "two large aircraft carriers" at Seeadler Harbor on 22 April 1945, which were actually the U.S. Navy's Large Auxiliary Floating Dry Docks USS ABSD-2 and USS ABSD-4. Two Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers attacked the floating drydocks five nights later. Both were hit but received only moderate damage to a single pontoon each.<ref>AFDB-2 and AFDB-4 on PacificWrecks.com, retrieved 16 April 2016.</ref>
The wrecks of the sections of large auxiliary floating drydock USS ABSD-4 and an Imperial Japanese ship amongst others are located within the harbor.<ref>Seeadler Harbor on PacificWrecks.com, retrieved 16 April 2016.</ref>
GalleryEdit
- USS Mount Hood (AE-11) explodes at Seeadler Harbor on 10 November 1944.jpg
Template:USS explodes: the smoke trails are left by fragments ejected by the explosion.
- Aerial view of USS Mindanao (ARG-3) after the explosion of USS Mount Hood (AE-11) at Seeadler Harbor on 10 November 1944.jpg
Aerial view of Template:USS after the explosion of Mount Hood at Seeadler Harbor on November 10, 1944
- MapofLosNegrosUSNavy.jpg
US Navy map Manus Naval Base in 1945
- ShipRepairFacilities Lombrum1944.jpg
Ship Repair Facilities Manus Naval Base at Lombrum in 1944. Built by 46th Seabees
- USS Iowa Floating Drydock.jpg
Template:USS being repaired at Manus Naval Base on December 28, 1944
- WW2 Admiralty Islands ops.jpg
Map Admiralty Islands operations, February 29 to May 30, 1944
- Admiralties-day08.JPG
Admiralty Islands map 1944
- Map of Manus and Los Negros.jpg
Map of Manus and Los Negros
- Small floating drydock at Seeadler Harbor in September 1944.jpg
Small Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock, repairing submarine chaser PC-1121 at Seeadler Harbor in September 1944
- Seeadler USN drydock 1945.jpg
US Navy floating Dry Dock Number 4 in Seeadler Harbor 1945, surrounded by floating barges with workshops and a tugboat, repairing seaplane tender and Navy Liberty ship
- USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6) tending PT boats in Seeadler Harbor on 25 March 1944.jpg
Template:USS tending PT boats in Seeadler Harbor on March 25, 1944
- USS Claxton (DD-571), USS Canberra (CA-70) and USS Killen (DD-593) in floating dry dock ABSD-2 on 2 December 1944 (80-G-304088).jpg
Template:USS, Template:USS and Template:USS in floating dry dock ABSD-2 on December 2, 1944
- USS Mindanao (ARG-3) damaged by explosion of USS Mount Hood (AE-11) in Seeadler Harbor on 10 November 1944.jpg
Mindanao damaged by the explosion of Mount Hood in Seeadler Harbor on November 10, 1944
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
- Template:Cite book - full text