Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands commandos undertook intensive training at Saitama Kanto and the raid was scheduled to take place on January 17, 1945, but was canceled after damage to the airfields at Iwo Jima. The Giretsu Airborne Unit instead attacked a U.S. airbase at Okinawa on 24 May, destroying nine aircraft and damaging another 29. Following the perceived success of the raid on Okinawa the IJN developed plans for a force of naval commandos to attack airfields in the Marianas. On June 24, it issued orders for a raid involving 30 Yokosuka P1Y "Frances" bombers and 20 G4Ms carrying naval commandos. The plan, Operation
Attack on Kure (March 1945) Force (designated Task Force 58) was ordered to neutralize airfields in the Japanese home islands which could be used to attack the invasion force after the landings commenced on 1 April 1945. As part of these operations, the Task Force was also to attack Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) warships sheltering in ports. Task Force 58 was the main striking element of the United States Pacific Fleet. It included 15 aircraft carriers, and was organised into four task groups. The March attacks would be the third time Task Force 58 had struck the Japanese home islands. The first had been a