Indeed Skunk works...

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On the logistics of the Okinawa operation:

Participating units staged at Espritu Santo, Guadalcanal,the Russels, Saipan, Guam, Eniwetok,New Caledonia, Leyte,Oahu and the West Coast of the United States. They formed up at Ulithi over 1,000 miles to the southeast of Okinawa while other forces moved directly from Leyte. Just the effort and resources required to support all these far flung bases and maintain a supply line 4,000 miles and 17 days steaming from Pearl Harbor- 6,200 miles , 26 days steaming from the West Coast-were phenomenal. A total of 458 ships were required to tranport and support landing forces. Ammunition expenditure rates would be so high, over three times that used in the Marianas, that shortages were experienced from the West Coast all the way across the Pacific.

From Okinawa 1945 by Gordon Rottman

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