Ulithi had become a major forward base whose lagoon could hold about 1,000 large ships, with facilities including floating dry docks. Supply ships, tugs, escorts, cruisers, destroyers, battleships, and several types of carrier filled the anchorage. Counting only the carriers hid the depth of the force being targeted. A small force sent piecemeal against such a concentration would be expended without producing strategically meaningful damage, much as repeated small attacks fail once a defended opponent has concentrated strength.
Chapter · 18:01-21:36
Ulithi and the wrong scale for a penny-packet raid
Ulithi's immense anchorage exposes the mismatch between the American fleet base and Japan's small proposed raid.