Allied naval bombardments of Japan during World War II During the last weeks of World War II , warships of the United States Navy , Britain ' s Royal Navy , and the Royal New Zealand Navy bombarded several cities and industrial facilities in Japan . These bombardments caused heavy damage to several of the factories targeted , as well as nearby civilian areas . The Japanese military did not attempt to attack the Allied fleet , and none of the warships involved in the bombardments suffered any damage . As many as 1 , 739 Japanese were killed in the attacks , and up to another 1 , 497 were wounded . Background . During the Pacific War the U . S . Navy ' s fast battleship s were mainly used to escort the groups of aircraft carrier s which formed the United States Pacific Fleet ' s main striking force . They were occasionally used to bombard Japanese positions near the shore , however , and fought a small number of actions with Japanese warships . By mid - 1945 , cities and industrial facilities in the Japanese home islands were under sustained attack from United States Army Air Forces B - 29 Superfortress heavy bombers based in the Mariana Islands . Attacks by Allied submarines , aircraft , and surface ships had also cut most of the country ' s trade routes and U . S . Navy aircraft carrier task groups had raided locations in the home islands on several occasions during 1945 . Shortages of fuel had confined most of the Imperial Japanese Navy ' s ( IJN ' s ) surviving ships to port and forced the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and IJN to hold its air units in reserve against the expected Allied invasion . Prior to the war , the Japanese military had assessed that coastal artillery was no longer suited to the country ' s circumstances . As a result , only a small number of strategic ports were protected by artillery capable of engaging enemy warships , and most of these guns were of relatively small calibers . Bombardments . First attack on Kamaishi . On 1 July 1945 , the U . S 3rd Fleet sortied from Leyte Gulf in the Philippines under the command of Admiral William Halsey to attack the Japanese Home Islands . Halsey ' s plans included the use of battleship s and cruiser s to bombard military facilities and factories , and in preparation for these attacks U . S . Navy submarine s sailed into inshore waters to search for naval mine s . United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) B - 29 Superfortress and B - 24 Liberators also conducted photo reconnaissance flights over much of Japan in search of airfields and facilities which could be attacked by the Third Fleet . The 3rd Fleet ' s main component , Task Force 38 ( TF 38 ) which was commanded by Vice Admiral John S . McCain , began striking targets in Japan on 10 July . On this day aircraft flying from the Task Force ' s aircraft carrier s attacked facilities around Tokyo . Following this Task Force 38 sailed north , and began raids on Hokkaido and northern Honshu on 14 July . These areas were outside the range of USAAF B - 29 Superfortress bombers , and had not been attacked to that point in the war . The U . S . Navy ( USN ) aircraft met little opposition , and sank eleven warships and 20 merchant ships as well as destroying 25 aircraft . A further eight warships and 21 merchant ships were damaged . The first Allied bombardment of a Japanese coastal town took place on 14 July in conjunction with the air attacks on Hokkaido and northern Honshu . A bombardment group commanded by Rear Admiral John F . Shafroth designated Task Unit 34 . 8 . 1 ( TU 34 . 8 . 1 ) was detached from TF 38 to attack the iron works at Kamaishi in northern Honshu . At the time the city had a population of 40 , 000 and the iron works was among the largest in Japan . However , due to shortages of coking coal and other raw materials the iron works was running at less than half its capacity . TU 34 . 8 . 1 comprised the battleships , and as well as the heavy cruiser s and and nine destroyer s . Allied prisoners of war had been assigned to work at the Nippon Steel Company , and were housed in two camps in Kamaishi . The bombardment group opened fire on the ironworks at 12 : 10 from a range of . The ships subsequently moved closer to the city , but did not cross the 100 - fathom line as no minesweeper s were available to sweep for naval mine s . The bombardment lasted for over two hours , during which time the force made six passes across the mouth of Kamaishi ' s harbor and fired 802 shells , 728 shells and 825 shells . While most of the shells landed within the grounds of the ironworks , the concussion from their explosions caused kitchen fires to break out across the city . The resulting smoke prevented USN aircraft from being able to support or spot for the warships , which continued to fire accurately on predetermined targets . No Japanese aircraft or coastal guns responded to this bombardment . Following the attack Allied aircraft photographed the ironworks , but photo interpreters underestimated the extent to which they had been damaged . This was one of the first times that photographic intelligence had been used to determine the extent of damage from a naval bombardment , and the interpreters placed too much weight on the fact that none of the ironwork ' s buildings had been destroyed . The Allies learned after the war that the ironworks had been extensively damaged and forced to cease production for several weeks . This resulted in a loss of four weeks of pig iron production and two and a half months of coke production . Five Allied POWs were also killed in the bombardment . Muroran . On the night of 14 / 15 July , another bombardment unit — TU 34 . 8 . 2 — was detached from TF 38 to attack the town of Muroran on the south - east coast of Hokkaido . TU 34 . 8 . 2 comprised the battleships , and , light cruiser s and as well as eight destroyers and was commanded by Rear Admiral Oscar C . Badger . Admiral Halsey accompanied this force onboard " Missouri " . The targets of this attack were the Japan Steel Company ' s facility and the Wanishi Iron Works . That night , a force of four cruisers and six destroyers also sailed near the east coast of Honshu to attack Japanese shipping but did not locate any targets . TU 34 . 8 . 2 ' s bombardment began at dawn on 15 July . The three battleships fired 860 shells from a range of from the city . Aerial observation and spotting of damage was made difficult by hazy conditions , and only 170 shells landed within the grounds of the two plants . Nevertheless , this caused considerable damage , and resulted in the loss of two and half months of coke production and slightly less pig iron production . Damage to buildings across the city was also extensive . As with the bombardment of Kamaishi , the interpreters of post - attack photographs underestimated the scale of the damage . TU 34 . 8 . 2 was highly vulnerable to air attack throughout the more than six hour period it was visible from the shore , and Admiral Halsey later wrote that these were the longest hours of his life . The failure of the Japanese to attack the ships convinced Halsey that they were preserving aircraft for use against an Allied invasion of Japan . On 15 July , aircraft flying from TF 38 ' s aircraft carriers struck again at Hokkaido and northern Honshu and devastated the fleet of ships which carried coal between the two islands . Hitachi . The attacks on Hokkaido and northern Honshu ended on 15 July , and TF 38 sailed away from the Japanese coast to refuel and rendezvous with the main body of the British Pacific Fleet , which was designated Task Force 37 ( TF 37 ) . On the morning of 17 July , the British and U . S . carriers attacked targets to the north of Tokyo . Later that day , TU 34 . 8 . 2 and the British battleship and her two escorting destroyers detached from the carrier force to bombard targets around the city of Hitachi , which is located about northeast of Tokyo . This force was commanded by Rear Admiral Badger and comprised the battleships " Iowa " , " Missouri " , " Wisconsin " , , and HMS " King George V " , light cruisers " Atlanta " and " Dayton " and eight U . S . and two British destroyers . " King George V " and her two escorts sailed astern of the U . S . force but operated independently . Halsey again accompanied this force on board " Missouri " . The bombardment of the Hitachi area took place on the night of 17 / 18 July . Rain and fog made locating the targets difficult and prevented artillery spotting aircraft from flying , but light air protection was provided for the bombardment force by carrier aircraft . The Allied warships opened fire at 23 : 10 , and aimed at their targets using radar and LORAN . The attackers targeted nine industrial facilities and " King George V " was assigned similar targets to those engaged by the American battleships . By the time the bombardment ceased at about 01 : 10 , the American battleships had fired 1 , 238 shells , and the British battleship 267 shells . The two light cruisers also fired 292 shells at radar and electronics installations south of Hitachi . All firing was conducted at a range of . Damage to the Hitachi area from the Allied bombardment was limited . Only three of the nine targets were hit , and overall damage to the city ' s industrial area was " slight " . The attack inflicted considerable damage on the city ' s urban area and essential services , however . This damage was greatly increased by a B - 29 raid on Hitachi on the night of 18 / 19 July which destroyed or damaged 79 % of the city ' s urban area . The official history of the U . S . Navy states that " individual Japanese " considered the naval bombardment to be more terrifying than the air attack . Nojima Saki and Shionomisaki . On 18 July , TFs 37 and 38 conducted further air strikes in the Tokyo area , with the U . S . Navy ' s main effort being an attempt to sink the Japanese battleship in Yokosuka Naval Base . That night , Cruiser Division 17 ( CruDiv 17 ) , which comprised the light cruisers , , and and six destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral J . Cary Jones , fired 240 shells at a radar station on Cape Nojima in a five - minute period but did not score any hits . After completing their strikes on Tokyo , TFs 37 and 38 conducted an at - sea replenishment from 21 – 23 July before attacking Kure and the Inland Sea from the 24th to the 28th of the month . On the night of 24 / 25 July , CruDiv 17 patrolled the Kii Channel and bombarded the naval seaplane base at Kushimoto , a landing field near Cape Shionomisaki and a radio station . This attack lasted for only four minutes and caused little damage . Hamamatsu . On 29 July , a group of warships was detached from the main body of the Allied fleet to bombard the city of Hamamatsu . This force comprised the same ships which had attacked Kamaishi on 14 July with the addition of HMS " King George V " and the destroyers , and ; the four British ships were designated Task Unit 37 . 1 . 2 ( TU 37 . 1 . 2 ) . The city had previously suffered extensive damage from air attacks . The British and American ships engaged their targets independently . " King George V " opened fire at the Japan Musical Instrument Company ' s Plant No . 2 , which was being used to manufacture aircraft propellers , at 23 : 19 from a range of . The battleship fired 265 rounds at the plant in 27 minutes and was able to make use of artillery spotting aircraft as visibility was good . Little damage was caused to the facility , however . " Massachusetts " fired at Plant No . 1 but also scored only a small number of hits . Despite the limited physical damage , the shelling caused increased labor absenteeism and disruption to vital services which caused the factory to cease production . The American ships also shelled the Imperial Government Railway Hamamatsu Locomotive works and three other industrial facilities . Of these targets , the locomotive works ceased operations for about three months due to damage , but two of the other facilities had almost ceased production before the attack and the third was not damaged . Two bridges on the important Tōkaidō Main Line were also fired upon but not hit , though damage to rail infrastructure in Hamamatsu closed the line for 66 hours . During the bombardment " Undine " twice opened fire on small groups of ships , though these were probably fishing boats . No Japanese aircraft or shore batteries responded to the Allied attack . The bombardment of Hamamatsu was the last time a British battleship fired its guns in anger . Shimizu . The next bombardment of Japan took place on the night of 30 / 31 July . On that night Destroyer Squadron 25 ( DesRon 25 ) , which was commanded by Captain J . W . Ludewig aboard , swept Suruga Gulf looking for Japanese shipping to attack . No Japanese ships were located , however , and in the early hours of 31 July the squadron sailed deep into the gulf and fired 1 , 100 rounds of shells in seven minutes at a railway yard and aluminium plant in the town of Shimizu . While the aluminium plant was hit , this was of little importance as it had almost ceased production due to a shortage of raw materials . No damage was caused to the rail yard . Second attack on Kamaishi . During the last days of July and into early August , the Allied fleet sailed away from the Japanese coast to avoid a typhoon and allow the ships to replenish their stocks of fuel and ammunition . Following this the fleet sailed north , and on both 9 and 10 August the carrier aircraft attacked a large concentration of Japanese aircraft on airfields in northern Honshu . The carrier pilots claimed to have destroyed 720 Japanese aircraft in this operation . As part of these operations off northern Japan , Kamaishi was bombarded again on 9 August in the mistaken belief that the iron works had not been badly damaged . TU 34 . 8 . 1 conducted this attack , and comprised the ships which had bombarded the city in July with the addition of the heavy cruisers and , British light cruiser , Royal New Zealand Navy light cruiser HMNZS " Gambia " and destroyers , and . The Allied force opened fire on the iron works and docks at Kamaishi at 12 : 54 and the bombardment lasted for almost two hours from an average range of . During this time , the ships made four passes outside of Kamaishi harbor and fired 803 shells , 1 , 383 shells and 733 shells . " Gambia " fired the final shots of the attack . During the bombardment , several Japanese aircraft approached the Allied ships and two were shot down by Allied naval fighters . This attack caused more damage than the July bombardment and large quantities of pig iron were destroyed . The sounds of this bombardment were broadcast live on radio in the U . S . via a radio relay onboard " Iowa " . One of the POW camps in Kamaishi was destroyed by the Allied attack , resulting in the deaths of 27 Allied prisoners . A further bombardment by " King George V " , three light cruisers and escorting destroyers was planned to be conducted against an unspecified Japanese target on 13 August . This attack was cancelled due both to mechanical problems on the battleship and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . The Allied fleet did not conduct any further bombardments as Japan surrendered on 15 August . Results . The Allied naval bombardments were successful in disrupting the Japanese steel industry . While several of the factories attacked were operating at reduced capacity , the important Kamasishi and Wanishi Iron Works suffered heavy damage when they were bombarded in July and August . During both these attacks , the Allied gunnery was accurate and focused on the factories ' coke batteries , which were critical to continued production . Post - war assessments found that the damage caused to industrial buildings by even naval shells was less than that which could be inflicted by the and general - purpose bomb s which were used by Allied naval aircraft , however . While this supported Vice Admiral McCain ' s view that the aircraft assigned to protect the bombardment forces could have caused more damage than the ships themselves , the United States Strategic Bombing Survey ' s ( USSBS ) assessment concluded that the use of naval bombardments was appropriate as there was little risk to the ships involved . The bombardments also had an important impact on morale . Several of the industrial facilities which were attacked but suffered little damage nevertheless incurred a significant loss in production due to absenteeism and reduced productivity . This was not the case for all facilities which were attacked , however , and the morale among workers in two of the factories which were bombarded was reported to have increased . Japanese civilians who experienced both air and naval bombardment found the naval attacks to be more terrifying due to their unpredictability and longer duration . The appearance of Allied warships just off the coast also convinced many Japanese that the war had been lost . In 1949 , the Japanese Economic Stabalization Agency calculated that the Allied naval bombardments and other forms of attack other than bombing had caused 3 , 282 casualties , representing 0 . 5 % of all casualties inflicted by the Allies in the Japanese home islands . The casualties attributed to naval bombardments and other causes included 1 , 739 fatalities , 46 persons who were still classified as missing and 1 , 497 people who were wounded .