{"id":28859359,"date":"2026-10-20T11:47:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T09:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-starvation-1945-b-29-aerial-mining-japan-shimonoseki\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T11:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T09:48:16","slug":"operation-starvation-1945-b-29-aerial-mining-japan-shimonoseki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-starvation-1945-b-29-aerial-mining-japan-shimonoseki\/","title":{"rendered":"Operation Starvation: The B-29s That Mined Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\r\n\r\n<style>\r\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid 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The crews had been firebombing Japanese cities for weeks, but on this night their bomb bays carried no incendiaries. Each bomber held a dozen sea mines.<\/p>\r\n<p>Their target was not a factory or a city but a narrow stretch of water: the Shimonoseki Strait, the channel between Honshu and Kyushu a vital route for Japanese shipping. It was the opening night of Operation Starvation, the US Army Air Forces campaign to strangle Japan from the air by sowing its harbours and sea lanes with mines.<\/p>\r\n<p>Over the next five months the B-29s laid about 12,000 mines. Long overshadowed by the fire raids and the atomic bombs, it has been called the most efficient means of destroying Japanese shipping in the whole war.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:18px 22px;margin:22px 0 26px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px\"><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Dates:<\/strong> 27 March to 15 August 1945<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Force:<\/strong> 313th Bombardment Wing, XXI Bomber Command, flying from Tinian<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> Boeing B-29 Superfortress<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Mines laid:<\/strong> About 12,000 (12,135 per Wikipedia; 12,034 per the US Strategic Bombing Survey)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Sorties:<\/strong> 1,533 sorties on 46 missions<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Ships sunk or damaged:<\/strong> 670 to 961, depending on the source<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>B-29s lost:<\/strong> 15 to 16, depending on the source<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A Scientist's Idea Nobody Wanted<\/h2>\r\n<p>The champion of aerial mining was not a career officer. Lieutenant Commander Ellis Johnson was a scientist, a specialist in magnetism who had become a consultant to the Naval Ordnance Laboratory. Mines laid from the air had already closed ports across Southeast Asia, many of them dropped by <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/b-24-liberator\/\">B-24 Liberator<\/a>s, but Japan's home waters needed an aircraft with far more range and survivability.<\/p>\r\n<p>Only the B-29 had it. Working for Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the Pacific Ocean Areas, Johnson briefed a mining plan to XXI Bomber Command in Hawaii in early July 1944 and met a tepid response. Most Army Air Forces leaders saw mining as a distraction from strategic bombing, so Nimitz wrote directly to General Henry \"Hap\" Arnold to ask for the big bombers.<\/p>\r\n<p>Arnold agreed reluctantly, on a delayed schedule and with a smaller effort than Nimitz wanted, according to historian Richard P. Hallion. He handed the job to General Curtis LeMay, who had taken over the B-29 force in January 1945. LeMay, keen to find better ways to use his troubled bomber, backed the plan and insisted that the first seeding be flown at full wing strength against Shimonoseki.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lH36XRJzf-E\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic\">A wartime US Navy film on aerial mine warfare: how mines were armed, fused and laid from aircraft, including footage of PBJ mining missions in the Pacific.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The First Night Over Shimonoseki<\/h2>\r\n<p>The job went to the 313th Bombardment Wing, whose B-29s carried the AN\/APQ-13 radar. Crews flew to the target individually at night, released parachute-retarded mines from about 5,000 to 8,000 feet, and used radar bearings on the coastline to place each mine across a shipping channel. Navy specialists at Mine Assembly Depot No. 4 on Tinian had about 1,500 modified mines ready by late February.<\/p>\r\n<p>Brigadier General John H. Davies, the wing commander, flew the lead aircraft on 27 March. Pacific Wrecks records that 92 of the 102 B-29s mined the Shimonoseki Strait that night. Searchlights and flak were waiting, and Hallion counts three B-29s lost over the strait and eight more damaged.<\/p>\r\n<p>The mines themselves were influence weapons with magnetic and acoustic firing mechanisms, later joined by pressure types that fired on the change in water pressure from a passing hull. A typical load was twelve 1,000-lb or seven 2,000-lb mines, and an average round trip covered 2,870 miles.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/operation-starvation-mark-26-aerial-mine-parachute-1945.jpg\" alt=\"Parachute-retarded 1,000-lb Mark 26 aerial mine dropped by a 313th Bomb Wing B-29 descending toward the sea in 1945\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A 1,000-lb Mark 26 mine drifts down under its parachute after release from a 313th Bomb Wing B-29. The parachute slowed the fall so the mine survived hitting the water. Photo: USAF via Wikimedia Commons \/ Public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Five Phases, 12,000 Mines<\/h2>\r\n<p>Hallion divides Starvation into five phases. The first, from 27 March to 2 May, supported the invasion of Okinawa by closing the Shimonoseki Strait. Later phases mined the Inland Sea, Kobe, Osaka and Tokyo, then the ports of northwest Honshu and Kyushu, and finally reached the Korean ports before the campaign ended on 15 August.<\/p>\r\n<p>The effect on traffic was brutal. According to Hallion, tonnage through the Shimonoseki Strait fell from about 70,000 tons a day in March to 7,500 in May and 1,750 in June. Wikipedia, citing Ronald Spector, records that shipping through Kobe dropped by 85 percent between March and July, and that 35 of 47 essential convoy routes had to be abandoned.<\/p>\r\n<p>Japanese minesweepers, and even suicide boats sent to set off the mines, could not keep the sea lanes open, Hallion writes. The US Strategic Bombing Survey, reporting in July 1946, found that the B-29 mines had become the leading killer of Japanese ships in the last months of the war.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;After April, 1945, when Japanese shipping was restricted to the Korean and Manchurian runs and to shallow inland waters, mines dropped by B-29s in Japanese harbors and inland waterways accounted for 50 percent of all ships sunk or damaged.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>US Strategic Bombing Survey<\/strong> &mdash; Summary Report (Pacific War), 1 July 1946<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">How Many Ships? It Depends Who Counted<\/h2>\r\n<p>The totals are not settled, and the sources disagree. Wikipedia, citing a 1978 US Naval Institute Proceedings article, records 1,533 sorties, 12,135 mines laid in 26 fields on 46 missions, and 670 ships sunk or damaged, totalling more than 1,250,000 tons. The Strategic Bombing Survey puts the number of mines sown at 12,034.<\/p>\r\n<p>Hallion gives a higher figure: 961 ships sunk or damaged, totalling about 2,000,000 tons, of which 484 ships of nearly 650,000 tons were sunk outright. The price was modest by the standards of the B-29 war. Wikipedia lists 16 B-29s lost, including three scrapped after battle damage, while Hallion counts 15 aircraft and 103 airmen killed.<\/p>\r\n<p>Mining also took only a small share of the bomber force. According to Wikipedia, it accounted for 5.9 percent of XXI Bomber Command's successful sorties. Hallion's comparison is striking: on average, each mining B-29 sank about as many ships as a US fleet submarine, at a fraction of the cost.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/operation-starvation-tinian-north-field-313th-bomb-wing-1945.jpg\" alt=\"Aerial view of Tinian in 1945 showing the vast North Field with its parallel runways in the foreground and West Field beyond\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Tinian in 1945, looking north to south. The huge North Field in the foreground was home to the 313th Bombardment Wing, the unit that flew Operation Starvation. Photo: US Army Air Forces via Wikimedia Commons \/ Public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Verdict: Too Little, Too Late?<\/h2>\r\n<p>The Japanese felt the squeeze at once. Hallion quotes Commander Tadao Kuwahara telling Allied investigators that it became difficult to find crews and that sailors tended to jump ship.<\/p>\r\n<p>By June 1945, Hallion writes, traffic through the Shimonoseki Strait had fallen to 10 percent of its normal rate, and ports such as Moji and Niigata, along with Japanese-held Korean ports, were closed or useless. Captain Kyuzo Tamura, a minesweeping expert, was blunter after the war.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;The result of B-29 mining was so effective against the shipping that it eventually starved the country.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Captain Kyuzo Tamura<\/strong> &mdash; Imperial Japanese Navy minesweeping expert, as quoted by Richard P. Hallion, HistoryNet<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>The Strategic Bombing Survey reached a similar conclusion from the other side. Its analysts argued that much duplicated effort in the final assault on Japan could have been avoided, and that the strangulation of the Japanese economy could have been pushed harder and sooner.<\/p>\r\n<p>Its prescription was specific: start the aerial mining program earlier, aim carrier strikes at the remaining merchant fleet rather than at warships already immobilised, and hit Japan's fragile railway network.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;Greater economy of effort could have been attained, and much duplicative effort avoided, by extending and accelerating the strangulation of the Japanese economy already taking place as a result of prior attacks on shipping. This could have been done by an earlier commencement of the aerial mining program&hellip;&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>US Strategic Bombing Survey<\/strong> &mdash; Summary Report (Pacific War), 1 July 1946<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>That is the uncomfortable lesson of Operation Starvation. The B-29s that burned Tokyo in the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/tokyo-firebombing-operation-meetinghouse\/\">Operation Meetinghouse<\/a> raid were the same type that quietly closed Japan's sea lanes. One campaign made headlines; the other did its work out of sight.<\/p>\r\n<p>Mining also asked crews to fly long, lonely night sorties for results they would never see. A raid on the Korean ports could stretch to 3,675 miles and needed a fuel stop at Iwo Jima.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pwYa1aO6oJg\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic\">The Last Bomb (1945), the Oscar-nominated wartime documentary on the conventional B-29 campaign against Japan, opening on the bomber bases of Saipan, Guam and Tinian.<\/p>\r\n<p>Japan's cities burned in public. Its harbours died in the dark, one parachute at a time, and by August the island nation that lived by the sea could barely use it.<\/p>\r\n<p><em>Sources: Wikipedia (Operation Starvation), US Strategic Bombing Survey Summary Report (Pacific War, 1 July 1946), Richard P. Hallion, \"Operation Starvation\", HistoryNet \/ World War II Magazine, Pacific Wrecks (Shimonoseki missions)<\/em><\/p>\r\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What was Operation Starvation?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Operation Starvation was a US Army Air Forces aerial mining campaign against Japan in 1945. B-29 Superfortresses of the 313th Bombardment Wing dropped about 12,000 mines into Japanese harbours, straits and sea lanes between 27 March and 15 August 1945, severely disrupting the shipping Japan depended on for food, fuel and raw materials.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>When did Operation Starvation begin?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Operation Starvation began on the night of 27 March 1945, when 102 B-29s took off from Tinian, led by Brigadier General John H. Davies, commander of the 313th Bombardment Wing. Their target was the Shimonoseki Strait between Honshu and Kyushu. The campaign continued until 15 August 1945.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many mines did the B-29s drop in Operation Starvation?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">B-29s dropped about 12,000 mines during Operation Starvation. Wikipedia gives 12,135 mines laid in 26 fields on 46 missions and 1,533 sorties, while the US Strategic Bombing Survey Summary Report of July 1946 puts the total at 12,034 mines sown.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many Japanese ships did Operation Starvation sink?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Figures for Operation Starvation differ by source. Wikipedia records 670 ships sunk or damaged, totalling more than 1,250,000 tons. Historian Richard P. Hallion gives 961 ships sunk or damaged, about 2,000,000 tons, of which 484 ships of nearly 650,000 tons were sunk outright.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Who requested the B-29 mining campaign against Japan?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Admiral Chester Nimitz pushed for the B-29 mining campaign, writing directly to General Henry \"Hap\" Arnold to request the bombers after Army Air Forces leaders gave the plan a tepid response. Arnold agreed reluctantly and assigned it to General Curtis LeMay, who backed the plan once he took over the B-29 force.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many B-29s were lost in Operation Starvation?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Operation Starvation cost 15 to 16 B-29s, depending on the source. Wikipedia lists 16 B-29s lost, including three scrapped after battle damage. Historian Richard P. Hallion counts 15 aircraft lost and 103 airmen killed in combat and accidents. Three B-29s were lost on the first night over the Shimonoseki Strait.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What did the US Strategic Bombing Survey say about Operation Starvation?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The US Strategic Bombing Survey reported in July 1946 that after April 1945, mines dropped by B-29s accounted for 50 percent of all Japanese ships sunk or damaged. It also concluded that an earlier start to the aerial mining program would have tightened the strangulation of the Japanese economy with less wasted effort.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was Operation Starvation?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Operation Starvation was a US Army Air Forces aerial mining campaign against Japan in 1945. B-29 Superfortresses of the 313th Bombardment Wing dropped about 12,000 mines into Japanese harbours, straits and sea lanes between 27 March and 15 August 1945, severely disrupting the shipping Japan depended on for food, fuel and raw materials.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"When did Operation Starvation begin?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Operation Starvation began on the night of 27 March 1945, when 102 B-29s took off from Tinian, led by Brigadier General John H. Davies, commander of the 313th Bombardment Wing. Their target was the Shimonoseki Strait between Honshu and Kyushu. The campaign continued until 15 August 1945.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many mines did the B-29s drop in Operation Starvation?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"B-29s dropped about 12,000 mines during Operation Starvation. 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It also concluded that an earlier start to the aerial mining program would have tightened the strangulation of the Japanese economy with less wasted effort.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/tinian-north-field-largest-airport-wwii\/\">The Island That Became an Aircraft Carrier<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/tokyo-firebombing-operation-meetinghouse\/\">History's Deadliest Air Raid Wasn't Nuclear<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/hiroshima-nagasaki-atomic-missions\/\">Forty-Three Seconds Over Hiroshima<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/b-29-development-battle-of-kansas\/\">The Bomber That Cost More Than the Bomb<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Operation Starvation, 1945: B-29s of the 313th Bomb Wing laid about 12,000 mines in Japanese waters, shutting the Shimonoseki Strait and sea lanes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":28859337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28859359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Operation Starvation: The B-29s That Mined Japan | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Operation Starvation, 1945: B-29s of the 313th Bomb Wing laid about 12,000 mines in Japanese waters, shutting the 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