Battle of Dutch Harbor The Battle of Dutch Harbor took place on 3 – 4 June 1942 , when the Imperial Japanese Navy launched two aircraft carrier raids on the United States Army barracks and the US Navy base at Dutch Harbor , during the Aleutian Islands Campaign of World War II . Overview . In this battle , a Japanese aircraft carrier strike force under Kakuji Kakuta launched air attacks over two days against the Dutch Harbor Naval Base and Fort Mears in Dutch Harbor , Alaska . The attacks inflicted moderate damage on the U . S . base . Shortly thereafter , Japanese naval forces under Boshiro Hosogaya invaded and occupied Attu and Kiska islands in the Aleutians . Background . On 3 June , a Japanese light carrier strike force , under the command of Rear Admiral Kakuji Kakuta , comprising the light carriers and , plus escort ships , sailed to southwest of Dutch Harbor to launch air strikes at the facility to support a Japanese offensive in the Aleutians and in the central Pacific at Midway . The Japanese planned to occupy islands in the Aleutians in order to extend their defensive perimeter in the north Pacific to make it more difficult for the U . S . to attack Japan from that area . Dutch Harbor was ringed with anti aircraft artillery batteries from the 206th Coast Artillery ( Anti Aircraft ) , Arkansas National Guard . The 206th CA ( AA ) was deployed to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands , Alaska in August 1941 and had been on station for approximately four months when the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December . The 206th CA was equipped with the 3 - inch Gun M1918 ( an older model with a vertical range of ) , . 50in ( 12 . 7mm ) M2 Browning machine gun s , and Sperry searchlights . The 206th had one radar in position at Dutch Harbor at the time of the attack . Battle . Shortly before dawn at 02 : 58 , given the geographic latitude and longitude , Admiral Kakuta ordered his aircraft carriers to launch their strike which was made up of 12 fighter s , 10 high - level bomber s , and 12 dive bomber s which took off from the two small carriers in the freezing weather to strike at Dutch Harbor . The planes arrived over the harbor at 04 : 07 , and attacked the town ′ s radio station and oil storage tank s causing some damage . Many members of the 206th were awakened on 3 June by the sound of bombs and gunfire . While the unit had been on alert for an attack for many days , there was no specific warning of the attack before the Japanese planes arrived over Dutch Harbor . With no clear direction from headquarters , other than an initial cease fire order which was quickly withdrawn , gun crews from every battery quickly realized the danger , ran to their guns stationed around the harbor and began to return fire . In addition to their guns , guns and machine guns , members of the unit fired their rifles and one even claimed to have hurled a wrench at a low - flying enemy plane . Several members reported being able to clearly see the faces of the Japanese aviators as they made repeated runs over the island . The highest casualties on the first day occurred when bombs struck barracks 864 and 866 in Fort Mears , killing 17 men of the 37th Infantry and eight from the 151st Engineers . When all the Japanese planes were recovered , there were erroneous reports of enemy ships in the vicinity , but search planes found no ships within the area . During the search , four Nakajima E8N 2 " Dave " two - seat reconnaissance plane s — launched from the heavy cruiser s and — encountered U . S . fighters searching for the departing Japanese squadron . Aerial combat ensued and two of the reconnaissance aircraft were shot down and their two - man crews were captured by a U . S . patrol boat , while the two others were damaged . The two remaining Japanese planes managed to return to their ships , only to crash - land in the water . The crews of both were rescued . The first day of the Dutch Harbor air raid had inflicted little damage on the U . S . forces in the area . The Japanese attack was entirely ineffective as a diversion , since the Americans knew that the main Japanese offensive was to be at Midway Island . On the second day , the Japanese carriers steamed to less than south of Dutch Harbor to launch a second attack . The 206th CA spent much of the night of 3 / 4 June moving guns down off the mountain tops surrounding the harbor down into the city of Unalaska and into harbor facilities themselves . This was partially as a deception and partially to defend against an expected land invasion . Civilian contractors offered to help and were put to work filling sandbags to protect the new gun positions . At 16 : 00 on 4 June , a second airstrike of nine fighters , 11 dive bombers , and six level bombers took off and less than an hour later attacked the U . S . facilities at Dutch Harbor again . More targets were damaged including some grounded aircraft , an army barracks , oil storage tanks , aircraft hangar , and a few merchant ships in the port . When the Japanese returned on 4 June , the Zero fighters concentrated on strafing the gun positions while their bombers destroyed the fuel tanks located at the harbor . One wing of the military hospital at the base was destroyed . After hitting the fuel tanks , the enemy dive - bombers and high - level bombers concentrated on the ships in the harbor , " Fillmore " and " Gillis " . Driven away from these two targets by intense anti - aircraft fire , they finally succeeded in destroying the station ship which , because of its large size , they mistakenly believed was a warship . " Northwestern " was actually a transport ship which had been beached and used as a barracks for civilian workers . Although in flames and badly damaged , firefighters managed to save the hull . Its power plant was thereafter being used to produce steam and electricity for the shore installations . An antiaircraft gun was blown up by a bomb and four US Navy servicemen were killed . Two Japanese dive bombers and one fighter , damaged by anti - aircraft fire , failed to return to their carriers . On the way back , the Japanese planes encountered an air patrol of six Curtiss P - 40 fighters over Otter Point . A short aerial battle ensued which resulted in the loss of one Japanese fighter and two level bombers . Four out of the six U . S . fighters were lost as well . Aftermath . During the 4 June raid , one above - mentioned Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero was damaged by ground fire and crash - landed on Akutan Island , about northeast of Dutch Harbor . Although the pilot was killed , the plane was not seriously damaged . This Zero — known as the " Akutan Zero " — was recovered by American forces , inspected , and repaired . The recovery was an important technical intelligence gain for U . S . , as it showed the strengths and weaknesses of the Zero ′ s design . The following day , Admiral Kakuta received orders to break off further attacks and head for the central Pacific to support the Combined Fleet which was retreating after being defeated at Midway . Two days later , a small Japanese invasion force landed and occupied two of the Aleutian islands , Attu and Kiska , without further incident .