"Takeshima" Air Base, Eten island, Truk Lagoon

[Curtis Block]

By request of Django,

These photos were taken during a shore break in our dives to survey the hold of the Fujikawa Maru. We went over to Eten for some lunch and to let the nitrogen in our bodies dissolve before going back down. Unfortunately I did not get to spend as much time wondering around as I would have liked, but I was brought to this site.

Situated inside the Combined Fleet Headquarters of Truk Lagoon, Eten was an unsinkable island aircraft carrier constructed by the Japanese starting in 1941. Construction consisted of leveling a majority of the island and pushing it into the sea. This reclaimed land is held in place by a seawall that runs around the entire island. Known as "Takeshima" Air Base by the Japanese, construction was completed in 1943.


A little context.

Then...


...and now.

Eten air headquarters and administration building.















Generator building.


















3rd building, unknown use.









As you can see these reinforced concrete buildings show the effects of bombing carried out during the initial U.S. Navy attack, Operation Hailstone, in Feb. 1944. As well as subsequent attacks by naval and land based bombers.

On small island, overgrown and crumbling these vestiges of a war gone by, stand as a reminder.

[daveymac82c]

Wow, those pictures are great!

They remind me of some old installations in the Vancouver area.

Thanks for posting them.

Cheers,

David

[gregv]

They remind me of some old installations in the Vancouver area.

David, you have piqued my interest; tell me more....


cheers

greg v.

[tom d. friedman]

graffitti out their on a remote island too...... a real shame!! great pics though!! think about it......... while the japanese had rudimentary earth moving equipment & cement making machinery, most of that mason work was done by hand & back labor!!! that base looked like a real strong point at 1 time.

[Curtis Block]

Truk was considered the Gibraltar of the Pacific. This was one of the reasons it was bypassed. Remember that the Japanese had been in control of the area since the Germans were defeated in WWI. The Japanese had plenty of time to build up the area before the start of WWII. The natural features, coupled with defensive positions made it very well protected against amphibious invasion, and the lagoon offered an excellent anchorage. The site was perfectly suited to be the Combined Fleet Headquarters. I would venture to state it provided a better base than Pearl Harbor. Almost every island was fortified. Caves are everywhere (now mostly filled with garbage). An invasion would have been incredibly bloody.

[Steve S]

Awesome pics- thanks for sharing

I really enjoy things like this because it makes the history we read about real and tangebile. I really liked the then and now shot of the island. Goes to show that no matter how arrogant man is about exerting his influence, mother nature will always win in the end.

For a similar journey in of Guam check out this web site that I found-

http://www.airdaleamericanhistory.com/P ... sHome.html

Later
Steve S

[the330thbg]

Those are amazing photos!!!!!!!!!1

[Ztex]

Very Interesting, I learned something new today. I had never heard of this island "aircraft carrier" at Truk.

Found this site with some interesting pics...

http://www.shutter.fi/truk/index2.htm


Thanks for sharing your photos.

[jdvoss]

Here's an interesting tidbit I recently discovered. In June of 1945 elements the British Pacific Fleet made attacks on Truk from the aircraft carrier HMS Implacable. No.1771 Sqdn( Fairly Fireflys), Nos 801 and 880 Sqdns (Supermarine Seafires) and No. 828 Sqdn (Grumman Avengers) all participated in the operations.

[Lightjug]

Found this site with some interesting pics...

http://www.shutter.fi/truk/index2.htm

Some great pictures here too... actually they're some of the best underwater pics I've ever seen.

[the330thbg]

Looks like the island where they filmed parts of 'HeII in the Pacific' with Lee Marvin and Toshiru Mifune!

??

Last edited by the330thbg on Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Django]

Great pics!! It must be pretty eirie standing in some of those structures.

[Speedy]

By request of Django,

Eten was an unsinkable island aircraft carrier constructed by the Japanese starting in 1941. Construction consisted of leveling a majority of the island and pushing it into the sea. This reclaimed land is held in place by a seawall that runs around the entire island. Known as "Takeshima" Air Base by the Japanese, construction was completed in 1943.


A little context.

Man, that must've been a bitch to turn into the wind to launch and recover!

Fantastic pictures, though. Would love to go explore that someday.

[the330thbg]

[/quote]

Man, that must've been a bitch to turn into the wind to launch and recover!

Fantastic pictures, though. Would love to go explore that someday.[/quote]


nah.., they had a big ass rudder!!!!!!!!

[Holedigger]

They just had their officers line up at the end of the runway and BLOW!
Great pics. By the time we started hammering Truk, they were starting to run out of good pilots and fuel IIRC. The stranglehold was tightening. Cut em off and starve them out.