A series of raids on Deboyne were conducted by Allied forces against the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

seaplane base in the

Deboyne Islands The Deboyne Islands are an atoll, composed of a group of reefs and islands in the north of the Louisiade Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. Geography They are located from Misima and from the Torlesse Islands. Islands in the Deboyne Islands incl ...

of the

Louisiade Archipelago The Louisiade Archipelago is a string of ten larger volcanic islands frequently fringed by coral reefs, and 90 smaller coral islands in Papua New Guinea. It is located 200 km southeast of New Guinea, stretching over more than and spread ...

between 9–11 May 1942. The seaplane base had been set up prior to the

Battle of Coral Sea The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the battl ...

and became untenable and was abandoned by the Japanese, due to proximity to Allied airfields at

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

and the failure of '' Mo Sakusen'' (Operation ''Mo'').

Deboyne atoll installations

Deboyne is the name for both an island and the

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

of which it is a part. Deboyne Island is also known as Panniet Island. It is in the Louisiade Archipelago east of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. During World War II, the Japanese built a temporary seaplane base in the lagoon at Deboyne Atoll as part of MO Sakusen, the attempt to capture

, Papua. The base was created by units that came from

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...

, New Britain and Shortland Island in the Solomon Islands, including the seaplane tender ''Kamikawa Maru''. The base existed for approximately five-and-a-half days in May 1942, including the Battle of the Coral Sea. During that time the Japanese Navy operated a small number of

Aichi E13A The Aichi E13A ( Allied reporting name: "Jake") was a long-range reconnaissance seaplane used by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) from 1941 to 1945. Numerically the most important floatplane of the IJN, it could carry a crew of three and a bomblo ...

(Jake),

Mitsubishi F1M The Mitsubishi F1M ( Allied reporting name "Pete") was a Japanese reconnaissance floatplane of World War II. It was the last biplane type of the Imperial Japanese Navy, with 944 built between 1936 and 1944. The Navy designation was "Type Zero Obse ...

(Pete),

Nakajima E8N The Nakajima E8N was a Japanese ship-borne, catapult-launched, reconnaissance seaplane of the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was a single-engine, two-seat biplane with a central main-float and underwing outriggers. During the Pacific War, it was k ...

(Dave) and possibly other types of seaplanes there. Fortifications were minimal, consisting of felled palm trees and small-caliber

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

s on shore, as well as any firepower on ships in the lagoon.Diary of seaplane tender Kamikawa MaruDiary of Air Unit of Kiyokawa Maru

Operations at Deboyne

Two Australian planes made contact with the Japanese seaplane base force as it was approaching the Deboyne atoll on May 6, 1942 to set up the base. Lockheed Hudson bomber A16-160 escaped, but Catalina A24-20 was shot down by three Japanese seaplanes in the vicinity of Misima Island. An Australian

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Henry Hudson, English explorer * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...

carried out a bombing raid early on May 7. The light aircraft carrier Shôhô was sunk later on May 7, 1942 by American carrier-based airplanes north and east of Deboyne. At least two fighter planes from Shôhô ditched at Deboyne. In addition, one Japanese land-based bomber made an emergency landing in the lagoon on May 7 following its attack on Royal Australian Navy Rear Admiral Crace's task force, which was to the south of Deboyne. Japanese seaplanes flew in and out of the Deboyne base during the Coral Sea battle on reconnaissance and search-and-rescue missions. They particularly concentrated their searches to the south, where American aircraft carriers were expected. On May 8, a fighter plane from aircraft carrier

Zuikaku ''Zuikaku'' (Japanese: 瑞鶴 "Auspicious Crane") was the second and last built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) shortly before the beginning of the Pacific War. Her aircraft took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor that formally brought the ...

made an emergency landing in the lagoon. American Army bombers from Port Moresby attacked the seaplane base on May 9, 10 and 11, suffering the loss of one B-25 and one B-26. The Japanese left Deboyne during May 10–12, 1942 and did not return during World War II. The base became untenable for the Japanese due to proximity to Allied airfields at Port Moresby and the failure of MO Sakusen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deboyne Bombing South West Pacific theatre of World War II Conflicts in 1942 1942 in Papua New Guinea Battles and operations of World War II involving Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea in World War II World War II aerial operations and battles of the Pacific theatre