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 40 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-cov ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

and played an important role in

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 wo ...

. 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 subfamily Haliaeetinae of the bird of prey family Accipitridae. Ten extant species exist, currently described w ...

, 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 general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

led Operation Brewer to take the islands from the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

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.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...

on 19 March 1944, who then built a large base at Seeadler Harbor including wharves and an airbase, Manus Naval Base. This US Naval Advance Base served as a staging area for further

operations in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

and the

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 tot ...

. 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-capable fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) from 1940 to 1945. The ...

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 Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

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

Nakajima B5N The Nakajima B5N (, World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft, Allied reporting name "Kate") was the standard Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based torpedo bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) for much of World War II. It also served ...

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 USS ABSD-4 and an

Imperial Japanese The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From 1910 to 19 ...

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, 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 after the explosion of ''Mount Hood'' 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, being repaired at Manus Naval Base on December 28, 1944 WW2 Admiralty Islands ops.jpg, Map Admiralty Islands operations, February 29 to May 30, 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, repairing

submarine chaser A submarine chaser or subchaser is a type of small naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. They encompass designs that are now largely obsolete, but which played an important role in the wars of the first half of th ...

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 ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost cons ...

USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6) tending PT boats in Seeadler Harbor on 25 March 1944.jpg, 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, and it was valued for its maneuverability and speed. However, PT boats were hampe ...

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, , and in floating dry dock ABSD-2 on December 2, 1944 USS Mindanao (ARG-3) damaged by explosion of USS Mount Hood (AE-11) in Seeadler Harbor on 10 November 1944.jpg, ''Mindanao'' damaged by the explosion of ''Mount Hood'' in Seeadler Harbor on November 10, 1944

References

External links

Manusisland.com: Manus Island website
Admiralty Islands Ports and harbours 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