Island Hopping Advantages

The Island Hopping Strategy employed by the US Navy had extreme strategic importance in relation to their victory in the Pacific Theatre. In choosing which islands to “hop to”, General MacArthur only chose islands that were of strategic importance to the US. In the context of the conflict on the Pacific Theatre, and the US goal of launching an invasion on mainland Japan, this meant choosing islands of geographic importance. Thus, General MacArthur chose islands that were either lying in the US’s previously chosen path to Japan, or that had helpful military supplies, such as airfields, harbors, or fortified military bases. By selectively choosing such island, the US forces were able to easily “hop” from one island to the next, with the help of the military fortifications that were either already on the islands, or that they were able to quickly build with their superior construction equipment. Island Hopping had many advantages. It gave the US the ability to ‘pick and chose’ which battles to fight. They chose to only engage in conflict with the Japanese’s least fortified islands, thus giving them an advantage in terms of sheer manpower and weaponry. They avoided conflict with the Japanese’s most fortified islands, saving them from an extreme loss in …show more content…
By bypassing the most heavily fortified islands, the US was able to save essential resources and manpower. By capturing islands lying in the path to Japan, the US was able to quickly move directly from one island to the next and get to Japan more quickly. By capturing islands with helpful military supplies, the US was able to more quickly and readily set up and operate their weapons and military supplies that they could use to “hop onto” the next