Stock Photo - U.S. Bomb Explodes Near Ship At Japanese Midget Submarine Base, Okinawa: A bomb from a U.S. carrier plane churns up the water near a Japanese ship at a midget submarine and torpedo boat base in a sheltered cave on Okinawa during preinvasion bombing of the island in the Ryukyu group. U.S. Navy planes pounded Okinawa for nine consecutive days before American forces landed on March 31, 1945. A day later the U.S. troops had cut the island in two, Okinawa, the largest Island in the Ryukyu (Loochoo) chain is north of Formosa and 362 miles (579 km.) south of the Japanese homeland. Capture of Okinawa will make possible a great intensification of air and sea assaults on Japanese home bases. April 27, 1945. (Photo by U.S. Office of War Information Picture).