Unicorn sustains the British Pacific Fleet during Operation Iceberg

Unicorn carried 120 engines and 82 aircraft from the Eastern Fleet to Australia before joining the forward support chain through Manus and San Pedro Bay. There she prepared newly arrived machines for squadrons attacking Japanese airfields in the Sakishima Islands and Formosa during the Battle of Okinawa. Between March and May 1945 her workshops repaired, modified, or heavily serviced about 105 aircraft. Each recovered airframe reduced the need to manufacture and ferry a replacement across the world. Keeping Unicorn at Manus also gave the projected campaign against Japan a repair reserve against kamikaze losses and the absence of firm shore bases.