The United States Navy gave viewers a look at “Sea Power in the Pacific” during World War II in this nearly 30-minute film. The film opens in 1931 China as Japanese bombs rain down from the sky. The horrors of war are shown in grim detail at mark 01:05, including the murder and mass burial of Chinese civilians. Japan was poised to control all of the Pacific and the resources of the East Indies, including its oil and rubber. “The only power the Japanese aggressor had to face,” we’re reminded at mark 01:50, “was an opposing sea power.” And with that statement, the image of sailor appears on film, ready to defend. The grim reality of that stance comes out at mark 02:05 as footage of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, flashes across the screen. With the Japanese seizing control of the Pacific after damaging the U.S. Navy, the film touts the power of the Navy and its eagerness to rebuild, relying on aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, and battleships. At mark 04:35, we are taken to the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, as the Imperial Navy and the U.S. and Australian navies battled for a position near New Guinea. Although it proved to be a Japanese tactical victory, it served as a strategic victory for Allied forces. The Navy repelled the Japanese at Midway at mark 04:45, and landed Marines at Guadalcanal at mark 05:45. “Our forces were numerically inferior,” we’re grimly told at mark 07:05, “but we hung on and little by little chopped away at his ships.”

With the Japanese forced to switch to defensive tactics rather than offensive maneuvers, the Navy reversed the wartime strategy of the Japanese. The balance of power at sea had switched, and at mark 07:55 the viewer is told, “Now the Japs would have to fight for what he had.” The film takes us through the Solomon Islands and Naval victories across the Pacific Theater. Even so, the United States had to continue to hold command of the sea. “Command of the sea tell us where the land war will be fought,” the narrator notes at mark 09:55. The importance of aircraft launched from aircraft carriers and carrier escorts are shown near mark 12:00 as strafing missions on Japanese targets are revealed. “This force is G.I. Joe’s insurance that the enemy he meets on the beach will get no help from home.” As ships bomb inland targets and planes continue to rain terror from the sky, the film proclaims that such operations are a joint effort hell bent on victory. “G.I Joe has gone to work, and the fleet that brought him here will stay and support him until he wins the final decision,” we’re told at mark 13:00. “This is the pattern of amphibious assault.” With the U.S. now in charge of much of the Pacific Theater, the Navy could make its way to Hollandia, New Guinea … and move closer to Japan. The Mariana Islands would be next, with the lifeless bodies at mark 17:50 reminding us, once again, of the horrors or war. The air battle at mark 19:00 further touts Naval wartime superiority over their enemy. With Rota, Guam, Aguijan, Tinian, and Saipan secure, the Allies could ready a strike on Japan. The Battle of Leyte Gulf, in October 1944, the largest naval battle of WW2, once and for all confirmed Allied sea power. “Never again would (the Japanese) contest our control of the seas,” the viewer is told at mark 23:25. Securing Iwo Jima and Okinawa would follow in 1945. “From these bases we could apply the atomic bomb at the instant of its development, hastening the end of the war,” it is noted at mark 28:00. And with that prophetic statement, a mushroom cloud rises over Hiroshima, Japan, at mark 28:10.