Battle of the Bismarck Sea order of battle
World War II battle between U.S. and Australian and Japanese forces / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Battle of the Bismarck Sea (2–4 March 1943) took place in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) during World War II.
At midnight 28 February 1942, eight transports carrying about 6,900 troops of the Imperial Japanese Army, escorted by eight destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, departed their base at Rabaul, New Britain heading for Lae, New Guinea. Through the afternoon of 1 March, the overcast weather held at which point the weather changed direction and the slow-moving task force was spotted by an Allied scout plane.
Aircraft of the U.S. 5th Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) attacked the convoy, sinking all eight transports and four of the eight destroyers. The remaining destroyers with about 2,700 surviving troops limped back to Rabaul.