Bombing of Rabaul (November 1943)

Air attacks on Rabaul
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
Japanese cruiser Chikuma under attack on 5 November 1943.
Date 2–11 November 1943 Location Rabaul on New Britain in the Bismarck Archipelago Result Allied victory End of Japanese naval threat at the invasion of Bougainville
Belligerents
United States  Australia  New Zealand	Japan
Commanders and leaders
George Kenney (land air forces), William Halsey, Jr., Frederick Sherman (naval forces)	Mineichi Koga, Jinichi Kusaka
Strength
3 fleet carriers, 2 light carriers, 2 light cruisers, 9 destroyers, 282 carrier aircraft, 349 land-based aircraft[1]	10 cruisers, 11 destroyers, 200 aircraft[1]
Casualties and losses
10 carrier aircraft, 17 land-based aircraft destroyed[2]	1 destroyer sunk 3 cruisers damaged, 3 cruisers lightly damaged, 52 aircraft destroyed[3]

The bombing of Rabaul in November 1943 was an air attack conducted by the Allies of World War II upon a cruiser force at the major Japanese base of Rabaul. In response to the Allied invasion of Bougainville, the Japanese had brought a strong cruiser force down to Rabaul from Truk, their major naval base in the Caroline Islands about 800 miles north of Rabaul in preparation for a night engagement against the Allied supply and support shipping. Allied carrier- and land-based planes attacked the Japanese ships, airfields, and port facilities on the island of New Britain to protect the Allied amphibious invasion of Bougainville. As a result of the Rabaul raids, the Japanese naval forces could no longer threaten the landings. The success of the raid began to change the strongly held belief that carrier-based air forces could not challenge land-based air forces.