Seeadler Harbor, also known as Port Seeadler, is located on

Manus Island Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth-largest island in Papua New Guinea, with an area of , measuring around . Manus Island is covered in rugged jungles w ...

Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 18 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-co ...

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 ...

and played an important role in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In German, "Seeadler" means

sea eagle A sea eagle or fish eagle (also called erne or ern, mostly in reference to the white-tailed eagle) is any of the birds of prey in the genus ''Haliaeetus'' in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. Taxonomy and evolution The genus ''Haliaeetus'' ...

, pointing to German colonial activity between 1884 and 1919 in that area. The bay was named in 1900 after the German cruiser SMS ''Seeadler''.

History

Seeadler Harbor with floating drydocks in September 1945

On 29 February 1944, General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

led

Operation Brewer The Admiralty Islands campaign (Operation Brewer) was a series of battles in the New Guinea campaign of World War II in which the United States Army's 1st Cavalry Division took the Japanese-held Admiralty Islands. Acting on reports from airme ...

to take the islands from the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese who had occupied them beginning in 1942. The islands were secured by the

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many Multi ...

on 19 March 1944, who then built a large base at Seeadler Harbor including wharves and an airbase,

Manus Naval Base file:NABManus19455 USNavy.jpg, Manus Naval Base, Naval supply depot with piers and Quonset hut, quonset Hut warehouses on September 18, 1945 Manus Naval Base was a number of bases built after the World War II Battle of Manus by United States N ...

. This

US Naval Advance Base US Naval Advance Bases were built globally by the United States Navy during World War II to support and project U.S. naval operations world-wide. A few were built on allied soil, but most were captured enemy facilities or completely new. Advanc ...

served as a staging area for further

operations in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. 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. A Japanese

Mitsubishi A6M The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-based fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was ...

reconnaissance aircraft reported "two large aircraft carriers" at Seeadler Harbor on 22 April 1945, which were actually the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

's Large Auxiliary Floating Dry Docks USS ABSD-2 and USS ABSD-4. Two

Nakajima B5N The Nakajima B5N ( ja, 中島 B5N, Allied reporting name "Kate") was the standard carrier-based torpedo bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) for much of World War II. Although the B5N was substantially faster and more capable than its Al ...

torpedo bombers attacked the floating drydocks five nights later. Both were hit but received only moderate damage to a single pontoon each. The wrecks of the sections of

Large auxiliary floating drydock An auxiliary floating drydock is a type of US Navy floating dry dock. Floating dry docks are able to submerge underwater and to be placed under a ship in need of repair below the water line. Water is then pumped out of the floating dry dock, ...

USS ABSD-4 and an

Imperial Japanese The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...

ship amongst others are located within the harbor.Seeadler Harbor
on PacificWrecks.com, retrieved 16 April 2016.

Gallery

File:USS Mount Hood (AE-11) explodes at Seeadler Harbor on 10 November 1944.jpg, USS Mount Hood (AE-11) 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 USS Mindanao (ARG-3) after the explosion of USS Mount Hood (AE-11) 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, USS Iowa

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

being repaired at Manus Naval Base on December 28, 1944 WW2 Admiralty Islands ops.jpg, Map Admiralty Islands operations, 29 February to 30 May 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 An auxiliary floating drydock is a type of US Navy Dry dock#Floating, floating dry dock. Floating dry docks are able to submerge underwater and to be placed under a ship in need of repair below the water line. Water is then pumped out of the fl ...

, repairing

submarine chaser A submarine chaser or subchaser is a small naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. Many of the American submarine chasers used in World War I found their way to Allied nations by way of Lend-Lease in World War II. ...

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 A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...

and Navy

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...

USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6) tending PT boats in Seeadler Harbor on 25 March 1944.jpg, USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6) tending

PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the wa ...

s 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, USS Claxton (DD-571), USS Canberra (CA-70) and USS Killen (DD-593) in floating dry dock ABSD-2 on 2 December 1944 USS Mindanao (ARG-3) damaged by explosion of USS Mount Hood (AE-11) in Seeadler Harbor on 10 November 1944.jpg, USS Mindanao (ARG-3) damaged by the explosion of USS Mount Hood (AE-11) in Seeadler Harbor on November 10, 1944

References

External links

Manusisland.com: Manus Island website
Admiralty Islands Ports and harbours of Papua New Guinea History of Papua New Guinea Manus Province German New Guinea Papua New Guinea in World War II {{ManusProvince-geo-stub

History

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links