USS Franks (DD-554)
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USS Franks (DD-554)
USS ''Franks'' (DD-554), a World War II-era in the service of the United States Navy, was named after Medal of Honor recipient Acting Master's Mate William Joseph Franks. ''Franks'' was launched on 7 December 1942 by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation, Seattle, Washington; sponsored by Mrs. Martha F. W. Carr, a cousin of Acting Master's Mate Franks, and commissioned on 30 July 1943. History ''Franks'' arrived at Pearl Harbor 25 October 1943 to prepare for the invasion of the Gilbert Islands, for which she sortied 10 November. She screened escort carriers providing air cover for the Tarawa landings, then patrolled off Betio until 27 December, returning then to Pearl Harbor for a brief repair period. The destroyer was underway once more 22 January 1944 with the Southern Attack Force for the invasion of Kwajalein, during which she patrolled against submarines, as well as closing Ebeye Island for reconnaissance and bombardment. Again she replenished at Pearl Harbor, betwe ...
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William Joseph Franks
William Joseph Franks (1830 – April 18, 1880) was a United States Navy sailor who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in the American Civil War. Biography Franks was born in Pittsboro, North Carolina in 1830. He enlisted in the United States Navy on September 16, 1863, during the American Civil War. Franks distinguished himself in action at Yazoo City, Mississippi on March 5, 1864, when he and his shipmates from the landed a 12-pound howitzer to defend the city, which was threatened by strong Confederate forces. He and his group were in the thickest of the fighting, but it was never enough to drive them from their cannon. The actions of Franks and his men came to play the most important role in maintaining the Union position. Franks received the Medal of Honor and was promoted to Acting Master's Mate in recognition of his actions. Two of his shipmates, Seaman James Stoddard and Seaman Bartlett Laffey, were also awarded the medal for being on the gun crew. Fran ...
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Mussau
Mussau Island is the largest island of St Matthias Islands, Papua New Guinea,Müller, Chris J. "Butterflies of Mussau Island (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera)." ''A Rapid Biodiversity Survey of Papua New Guinea’s Manus and Mussau Islands'' (2015): 21. at . It is part of the New Ireland Province of Papua New Guinea. The island is a noted biodiversity hotspot with pristine primeval rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ... covering most of Mussau's hilly landscape. The island has over 243 endemic plant species as well as at least 47 native butterfly species.Venter, Fanie, and Arison Arihafa. "Plants of Mussau Island." ''A rapid biodiversity survey of Papua New Guinea’s Manus and Mussau Islands''. Wildlife Conservation Society Papua New Guinea Program. Goroka, PNG (20 ...
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Mindoro
Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ), it has a population of 1,408,454, as of the 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luzon and northeast of Palawan. Mindoro is divided into two provinces: Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro. Calapan is the only city on the island, while San Jose is the largest settlement on the island with a total population of 143,430 inhabitants as of 2015. The southern coast of Mindoro forms the northeastern extremum of the Sulu Sea. Mount Halcon is the highest point on the island, standing at above sea level located in Oriental Mindoro. Mount Baco is the island's second highest mountain with an elevation of , located in the province of Occidental Mindoro. Etymology The name Mindoro was likely a corruption of the native name ''Minolo.'' Domingo Navarette ('Tratados...', 1676) wrote "The island which the natives call Minolo is ...
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Battle Of Leyte Gulf
The Battle of Leyte Gulf () 23–26 October 1944, was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. By late 1944, Japan possessed fewer capital ships (aircraft carriers and battleships) than the Allies of World War II, Allied forces had total aircraft carriers in the Pacific, which underscored the disparity in force strength at that point in the war. After the catastrophic Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, senior Japanese military leaders understood that Japan's remaining naval forces were incapable of achieving a strategic victory against the Allies. However, the Japanese general staff believed that continuing to contest Allied offensives at sea was necessary, in order to both deter a future invasion of mainland Japan and to give the Japanese navy an opportunity to utilize its remaining strength. As a result, the Imperial Japanese Navy () mobilized nearly all of its remaini ...
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Leyte (island)
Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been depleted, Leyte has provided countless number of migrants to Mindanao. Most inhabitants are farmers. Fishing is a supplementary activity. Rice and corn (maize) are the main food crops; cash crops include coconuts, abaca, tobacco, bananas, and sugarcane. There are some manganese deposits, and sandstone and limestone are quarried in the northwest. Politically, the island is divided into two provinces: (Northern) Leyte and Southern Leyte. Territorially, Southern Leyte includes the island of Panaon to its south. To the north of Leyte is the island province of Biliran, a former sub-province of Leyte. The major cities of Leyte are Tacloban, on the eastern shore at the northwest corner of Leyte Gulf, and Ormoc, on the west coast. Leyte tod ...
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Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a total area of roughly 300,000 square kilometers, which are broadly categorized in Island groups of the Philippines, three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. With a population of over 110 million, it is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, twelfth-most-populous country. The Philippines is bounded by the South China Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to the east, and the Celebes Sea to the south. It shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan to the northeast, Palau to the east and southeast, Indonesia to the south, Malaysia to the southwest, Vietnam to the west, and China to the northwest. It has Ethnic groups in the Philippines, diverse ethnicities and Culture o ...
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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 which can be broadly described as lowland tropical rain forest. The highest point on Manus Island is Mt. Dremsel, above sea level at the centre of the south coast. Manus Island is Volcanic rock, volcanic in origin and probably broke through the ocean's surface in the late Miocene, 8 to 10 million years ago. The substrate of the island is either directly volcanic or from uplifted coral limestone. Lorengau, the capital of Manus Province, is located on the island. Momote Airport, the terminal for Manus Province, is located on nearby Los Negros Island. A bridge connects Los Negros Island to Manus Island and the provincial capital of Lorengau. In the 2000 census, the whole Manus Province had a population of 50,321. The Austronesian Manus l ...
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Ulithi
Ulithi (, , or ; pronounced roughly as YOU-li-thee) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap, within Yap State. Name The name of the island goes back to Chuukic languages, Proto-Chuukic ''*úlú-diwo''. Overview Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the Yap State, state of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia. Ulithi's population was 773 in 2000. There are four inhabited islands on Ulithi Atoll. They are Falalop (), Asor ''(Yasor)'', Mogmog ''(Mwagmwog)'', and Fedarai ''(Fedraey)''. Falalop is the most accessible with Ulithi Airport, a small resort hotel, store and one of three public high schools in Yap state. Mogmog is the seat of the high chief of Ulithi Atoll though each island has its own chief. Other important islands are Losiap (), Sorlen ''(Sohl'oay)'', and Potangeras ''(Potoangroas)''. The atoll is in the ...
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Palau
Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands, while the eastern and central parts make up the Federated States of Micronesia. It has a total area of , making it the sixteenth smallest country in the world. The most populous island is Koror, home to the country's most populous city of the same name. The capital, Ngerulmud, is located on the largest island of Babeldaob, in Melekeok State. Palau shares maritime boundaries with international waters to the north, the Federated States of Micronesia to the east, Indonesia to the south, and the Philippines to the northwest. The country was originally settled approximately 3,000 years BP by migrants from Maritime Southeast Asia. Palau was first drawn on a European map by the Bohemian missionary Paul Klein based on a description g ...
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Eniwetok
Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; , , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 296 people (as of 2021) forms a legislative district of the Ralik, Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. With a land area total less than , it is no higher than and surrounds a deep central lagoon, in circumference. It is the second-westernmost atoll of the Ralik Chain and is west from Bikini Atoll. It was held by the Japanese from 1914 until its Battle of Eniwetok, capture by the United States in February 1944 during World War II, then became Naval Base Eniwetok. Nuclear weapons testing, Nuclear testing by the US, totaling the equivalent of over 30 megatons of TNT, took place during the Cold War; in 1977–1980, a concrete dome (the Runit Dome) was built on Runit Island to deposit radioactive soil and debris. The Runit Dome is deteriorating and could be breached by a typ ...
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Guam
Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most populous village is Dededo. It is the List of extreme points of the United States#Westernmost points, westernmost point and territory of the United States, as measured from the geographic center of the United States, geographic center of the U.S. In Oceania, Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and the largest island in Micronesia. As of 2022, its population was 168,801. Chamorros are its largest ethnic group, but a minority on the multiethnic island. The territory spans and has a population density of . Indigenous Guamanians are the Chamorro people, Chamorro, who are related to the Austronesian peoples, Austronesian peoples of the Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, Taiwanese indigenous peoples, Taiwan, and Polyne ...
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Buka Passage
Buka Passage is a narrow strait that separates Buka Island from the northern part of Bougainville Island, within the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of northeastern Papua New Guinea. History A number of shipwrecks are located in the passage. Before the World War II, Irish missionary Patrick O'Reilly joined a religious mission to Buka Passage, and began collecting artefacts that helped to preserve Bougainville cultural history. The 1943 aerial photograph to the right shows the Buka Passage between Bougainville and Buka islands. Two Japanese airfields are visible, Buka Airfield (center) and Bonis Airfield (left). Today, Buka Airfield has become Bougainville's major airport, whereas Bonis Airfield has been disused since World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the w ...
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