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A regiment of the U.S. Army's 81st Division landed on Ulithi unopposed (September 23, 1944). The Americans simply walked ashore and took possession of the Atoll--one reason that Ulithi is not well known. It was a gift of unimaginable value, a strategic prize that would play an important role in the final phase of the Pacific War. Tragically, the Americans and Japanese in the same month would fight an extended pitched battle for Pelilu in the Palaus, an island in the Carolines of virtually no value. A battalion of Seabees followed the 81st Division on Pelilu. The survey ship USS Sumner) assessed the lagoon and concluded it was capable of accomodating an stonishing 700 vessels. This was more than Pearl Harbor and then Majuro after the seizure of the Marshalls could handle. While a magificent natural harbor, it was totally undeveloped without snny important infrstructure. The Seebees would have to begin from scratch. The Pacific Fleet rapidly turned Ulithi into a huge, well equipped supply base. Ulithi did not play role in the climatic Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 1944), but it was vital for the major operations in the last year of the War (Luzon, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa). This was done with little publicity. Even duriungthe War, few Americans heard of Ulithi. The Japanese eventually realized what they had conceded to the Americans without a fight. But ghey no longer had surface xshios or aircraft to attack Ulithi and the ships znbchored there. A few Japanese midgit subnarines attacked ships in the harbor, but despite a few successes had no real impact on the supply operations there. After the War, Ulithi was used as a military radio outpost.
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