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
Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II on the American perimeter. The Japanese continued to underestimate the number of American forces on the island, assuming that were that only 2,000 marines were on the island. However, the actual number was closer to 20,000, subsequently attacks launched by the Japanese on two successive nights on September 12–14, failed. Meanwhile, the Japanese did better in the struggle for control of the waters around Guadalcanal. On September 15, the submarine sank the carrier , leaving only a single American carrier, the , active in the Pacific at the time. However, as the Japanese possessed up to six operational carriers during