Editing Bombing of Darwin (section)

==Background==
{{Main|Military history of Australia during World War II|Military history of Japan#Shōwa era and World War II (1926–1945)|l2=Military history of Japan during World War II}}

In 1942, Darwin—the capital of the [[Northern Territory]]—was a small town with limited civil and military infrastructure. Due to its strategic position in northern Australia, the [[Royal Australian Navy]] (RAN) and [[Royal Australian Air Force]] (RAAF) had constructed bases near the town in the 1930s and the early years of [[World War II]].<ref name="AWM_Bombing of Darwin">{{cite web|title=Bombing of Darwin|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/units/event_59.asp|work=War history|publisher=Australian War Memorial|access-date=22 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Forster|first=Pat|title=Fixed Naval Defences in Darwin Harbour 1939–1945|url=http://www.navy.gov.au/Fixed_Naval_Defences_in_Darwin_Harbour_1939_-_1945|publisher=Royal Australian Navy|access-date=22 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107024319/http://www.navy.gov.au/Fixed_Naval_Defences_in_Darwin_Harbour_1939_-_1945|archive-date=7 January 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> Darwin's pre-war population was 5,800.<ref name="Grose_2">Grose (2009), p. 2</ref>

As early as August 1941, Darwin had been a key in the [[South Pacific air ferry route in World War II|South Pacific air ferry route]] designed to avoid routes through the [[South Pacific Mandate|Japanese mandate]] in the central Pacific for bomber reinforcement of the Philippines. The first flight to use the route occurred when nine [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17D]] bombers of the [[14th Bombardment Squadron|14th Bombardment Squadron (H)]] left Hawaii on 5 September and passed through Darwin 10–12 September. By October 1941, plans were underway to position fuel and supplies with two ships, including {{USAT|Don Esteban}}, being chartered and actively engaged in that purpose when war came. By November 1941 Australia had agreed to allow the establishment of training bases, maintenance facilities, munitions storage, communications, and improvement of airfields, including at Darwin, to meet the needs of the B-17 bombers in Australia.{{sfn|Matloff|Snell|1999|pp=70–71}}{{sfn|Craven|Leagate|1983|pp=178–179}}

Following the outbreak of the [[Pacific War]] in early December 1941, Darwin's defences were strengthened. In line with plans developed before the war, several [[Australian Army]] and RAAF units stationed in the town were sent to the [[Netherlands East Indies]] (Dutch East Indies; NEI) to strengthen the defences of the islands of [[Ambon Island|Ambon]] and [[Timor]].<ref name="AWM_Bombing of Darwin" /><ref>Grose (2009), pp. 52–53</ref> An improvised plan for support of the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies was completed in Washington on 20 December 1941 by the U.S. Army General Staff. It envisioned Darwin as the hub of transshipment efforts to supply those forces by landing supplies at Brisbane, shipping overland to Darwin, and onward by air and [[blockade runner|blockade-running]] ships.{{sfn|Leighton|Coakley|1995|pp=166–167}} In reality, transport to Darwin by sea was necessary. Supplies and shipping intended both to build the Darwin base and to support the Java and Philippine forces were gathered in Darwin and the vicinity.{{sfn|Leighton|Coakley|1995|pp=168, 170}} In the two months before the air raids, all but 2,000 civilians were evacuated from the town.<ref name="Grose_2" /> Japanese submarines [[I-121 class submarine|''I-121'' and ''I-123'']] laid mines off Darwin in January 1942.<ref name="Hiromi"/>

By mid-February 1942, Darwin had become an important Allied base for the defence of the NEI.<ref name=Stanley_2002>{{cite web|last=Stanley|first=Peter|title=The bombing of Darwin, 19 February 1942|year=2002|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/remembering1942/darwin/transcript.asp|work=Remembering 1942|publisher=Australian War Memorial|access-date=22 January 2012}}</ref> The Japanese had captured Ambon, [[Borneo]], and [[Sulawesi|Celebes]] between December 1941 and early-February 1942. Landings on Timor were scheduled for 20 February, and an invasion of [[Java]] was planned to take place shortly afterwards. In order to protect these landings from Allied interference, the Japanese military command decided to conduct a major air raid on Darwin.<ref name="Coulthard-Clark_204">Coulthard-Clark (2001), p. 204</ref><ref name="Grose_71">Grose (2009), p. 71</ref> On 10 February a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft overflew the town, and identified an [[aircraft carrier]] (actually the seaplane tender {{USS|Langley|CV-1|6}}), five [[destroyer]]s, and 21 merchant ships in Darwin Harbour, as well as 30 aircraft at the town's two airfields.<ref name="Grose_72">Grose (2009), p. 72</ref>

Among the ships in harbour were those returned the morning before the attack from the [[USS Houston (CA-30)#Timor Convoy|convoy]] escorted by {{USS|Houston|CA-30|6}} involved in the failed effort to reinforce Timor.{{sfn|Office of Naval Intelligence|1943|pp=36–37}} ''Houston'' had departed for Java but left ''Mauna Loa'' and the ''Meigs'' which had attempted to transport Australian troops to Timor and the U.S. Army transports ''Portmar'' and ''Tulagi'' which had embarked a U.S. infantry regiment at Darwin.{{sfn|Office of Naval Intelligence|1943|pp=36–37}}{{sfn|Masterson|1949|p=26}}