Attack on Kure (March 1945)

Attack on Kure
	Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
	; Two Japanese aircraft carriers under attack at Kure on 19 March 1945. The ship at bottom of the photo is either Amagi or Katsuragi. The other carrier is Kaiyo.
Date	19 March 1945
Location	Kure, Japan34°14′N 132°33′E / 34.23°N 132.55°E
Status	Japanese victory
Belligerents
United States	Japan
Strength
321 aircraft	17 warships
Casualties and losses
825 killed; 2 fleet carriers damaged; 27 aircraft shot down; 59 aircraft destroyed (on USS Franklin)	4 battleships damaged; 4 fleet carriers damaged; 1 light cruiser damaged; 25 aircraft destroyed

The attack on Kure was an air raid conducted during the Pacific War by the United States Navy on 19 March 1945. It targeted the remnants of the Japanese Combined Fleet located in and near the Japanese city of Kure. The attack by 321 aircraft was unsuccessful, as no Japanese warships were sunk though several were damaged. Japanese forces struck the American fleet on the morning of 19 March, and crippled one aircraft carrier and badly damaged another. This attack would be followed up in July by a successful series of raids on Kure and the Inland Sea that sank or disabled most of Japan's surviving large warships.