The American Doctrine for the Use of Naval Gunfire in Support of Amphibious Landings: Myth vs. Reality in the Central Pacific of World War II.

Use of this dissertation is restricted to the UNT Community. Off-campus users must log in to read.

Description

The United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy developed during the interwar period a doctrine that addressed the problems inherent in the substitution of naval gunfire for artillery support in an amphibious assault. The invasion of Betio Islet, Tarawa Atoll, in November of 1943 was the first test of this doctrine. It has been said many times since the war that the doctrine basically passed this test and that lessons learned at Tarawa increased the efficiency with which the Marine Corps and Navy applied the prewar doctrine during the rest of the war. An analysis of the planning ... continued below

Creation Information

Mitchener, Donald Keith December 2006.

Context

This dissertation is part of the collection entitled: UNT Theses and Dissertations and was provided by UNT Libraries to Digital Library, a digital repository hosted by the UNT Libraries. It has been viewed 513 times . More information about this dissertation can be viewed below.


Search

Who

People and organizations associated with either the creation of this dissertation or its content.

Author

Chair

Committee Members

Publisher

Rights Holder

For guidance see Citations, Rights, Re-Use.

  • Mitchener, Donald Keith

Provided By

UNT Libraries

With locations on the Denton campus of the University of North Texas and one in Dallas, UNT Libraries serves the school and the community by providing access to physical and online collections; The Portal to Texas History and UNT Digital Libraries; academic research, and much, much more.

About | Browse this Partner

Contact Us

Corrections Questions

What

Descriptive information to help identify this dissertation. Follow the links below to find similar items on the Digital Library.

Degree Information

Description

The United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy developed during the interwar period a doctrine that addressed the problems inherent in the substitution of naval gunfire for artillery support in an amphibious assault. The invasion of Betio Islet, Tarawa Atoll, in November of 1943 was the first test of this doctrine. It has been said many times since the war that the doctrine basically passed this test and that lessons learned at Tarawa increased the efficiency with which the Marine Corps and Navy applied the prewar doctrine during the rest of the war. An analysis of the planning and execution of naval bombardments in the Central Pacific Campaign, after the invasion of the Gilberts, does not support this claim. This analysis leads the researcher to three conclusions. First, the Japanese developed defenses against many of the effects of the gunfire support doctrine that blunted much of the force of American firepower. American planners were slow to recognize the implications of these changes and, consequently, were slow to react to them. Second, many naval commanders responsible for providing naval gunfire support for Central Pacific operations still equated tonnage of ordnance to effectiveness of bombardment, regardless of their frequent references to "the lessons of Tarawa." Finally, strategic concerns and outright ignorance played a large part in determining the use of naval gunfire, the first taking precedence over the "lessons" and the second leading to the ignoring of the "lessons" all together.

Language

Item Type

Identifier

Unique identifying numbers for this dissertation in the Digital Library or other systems.

Collections

This dissertation is part of the following collection of related materials.

UNT Theses and Dissertations

Theses and dissertations represent a wealth of scholarly and artistic content created by masters and doctoral students in the degree-seeking process. Some ETDs in this collection are restricted to use by the UNT community.

About | Browse this Collection

What responsibilities do I have when using this dissertation?

Digital Files

When

Dates and time periods associated with this dissertation.

Creation Date

  • December 2006

Added to The UNT Digital Library

  • May 14, 2008, 9:18 p.m.

Description Last Updated

  • Dec. 14, 2016, 4:31 p.m.

Usage Statistics

When was this dissertation last used?

Yesterday: 0
Past 30 days: 1
Total Uses: 513
More Statistics

Interact With This Dissertation

Here are some suggestions for what to do next.

Start Reading

Thumbnail image of item number 1 in: 'The American Doctrine for the Use of Naval Gunfire in Support of Amphibious Landings: Myth vs. Reality in the Central Pacific of World War II.'.
Thumbnail image of item number 2 in: 'The American Doctrine for the Use of Naval Gunfire in Support of Amphibious Landings: Myth vs. Reality in the Central Pacific of World War II.'.
Thumbnail image of item number 3 in: 'The American Doctrine for the Use of Naval Gunfire in Support of Amphibious Landings: Myth vs. Reality in the Central Pacific of World War II.'.
Thumbnail image of item number 4 in: 'The American Doctrine for the Use of Naval Gunfire in Support of Amphibious Landings: Myth vs. Reality in the Central Pacific of World War II.'.

PDF Version Also Available for Download.

Citations, Rights, Re-Use

Mitchener, Donald Keith. The American Doctrine for the Use of Naval Gunfire in Support of Amphibious Landings: Myth vs. Reality in the Central Pacific of World War II., dissertation, December 2006; Denton, Texas. (digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5609/: accessed July 20, 2017), University of North Texas Libraries, Digital Library, digital.library.unt.edu; .