HOME | DD

Description
Admiral Staunton Pentecost was a Fleet Admiral of the California Republic during the Second World War, primarily engaged in offenses against the Empire of Japan. A major proponent of the importance of air superiority in naval combat, his views were vindicated when his command of the aircraft carrier CRS Shasta and its attached air crew proved to be a decisive factor in the Liberation of the Hawaiian Islands.

Pentecost's experience in naval combat began in campaigns through the Gulf of California in WWI, destroying the small Mexican Pacific Fleet in the Battle of the Gulf in the war's opening days. From there, he rose through the ranks until his decisive operations in the Liberation of Hawaii put him in the national spotlight. The "Hero of Hawaii" was assigned to creating a strategy for attacking Japan across the Pacific, starting with Hawaii as a forward base. Much as Wilkerson had pioneered the concept of the Turtling Strategy half a century ago, Pentecost created the "Leapfrog Strategy", where California would work on taking island after island, using each island as a forward base for attacking the next one in pursuit of making attacks on the Japanese home islands feasible. When asked about Japanese forces on islands not targeted and cut off from Imperial supply lines, he simply said "Let them rot."

His campaign mirrored Japanese efforts in their campaign through Indonesia, which was another part of Pentecost's ethos: to look at strategies the enemy used and attempt to copy them. His island-hopping campaign was eventually successful enough to lead a combined British-Californian effort to liberate the Philippine Islands, during which the almighty Battle of Dinagat Sound saw British, Canadian, and Californian navies face off against the bulk of the Japanese navy, during which the Japanese lost a vast portion of their navy, including the IJN Musashi, one of the two largest battleships ever built. His final contribution to the war was the Yancy Raids, in which Japan was firebombed repeatedly in advance of Project Skyarrow's climax with the nuclear destruction of Kokura, Nagasaki, and Yokohama.

In the days after the war, Pentecost remained in service of the Californian Navy, mostly as a bureaucrat working on doctrines of Pacific warfare that laid a foundation for Californian supply lines through to Asia that came in handy during the Korean War. Shortly after the war's end, he would die and be buried in Marin National Cemetary. The CRS Pentecost, the first nuclear-powered Californian aircraft carrier, was named in his honor, as was the subsequent Pentecost class of aircraft carriers.

Description
Admiral Staunton Pentecost was a Fleet Admiral of the California Republic during the Second World War, primarily engaged in offenses against the Empire of Japan. A major proponent of the importance of air superiority in naval combat, his views were vindicated when his command of the aircraft carrier CRS Shasta and its attached air crew proved to be a decisive factor in the Liberation of the Hawaiian Islands.

Pentecost's experience in naval combat began in campaigns through the Gulf of California in WWI, destroying the small Mexican Pacific Fleet in the Battle of the Gulf in the war's opening days. From there, he rose through the ranks until his decisive operations in the Liberation of Hawaii put him in the national spotlight. The "Hero of Hawaii" was assigned to creating a strategy for attacking Japan across the Pacific, starting with Hawaii as a forward base. Much as Wilkerson had pioneered the concept of the Turtling Strategy half a century ago, Pentecost created the "Leapfrog Strategy", where California would work on taking island after island, using each island as a forward base for attacking the next one in pursuit of making attacks on the Japanese home islands feasible. When asked about Japanese forces on islands not targeted and cut off from Imperial supply lines, he simply said "Let them rot."

His campaign mirrored Japanese efforts in their campaign through Indonesia, which was another part of Pentecost's ethos: to look at strategies the enemy used and attempt to copy them. His island-hopping campaign was eventually successful enough to lead a combined British-Californian effort to liberate the Philippine Islands, during which the almighty Battle of Dinagat Sound saw British, Canadian, and Californian navies face off against the bulk of the Japanese navy, during which the Japanese lost a vast portion of their navy, including the IJN Musashi, one of the two largest battleships ever built. His final contribution to the war was the Yancy Raids, in which Japan was firebombed repeatedly in advance of Project Skyarrow's climax with the nuclear destruction of Kokura, Nagasaki, and Yokohama.

In the days after the war, Pentecost remained in service of the Californian Navy, mostly as a bureaucrat working on doctrines of Pacific warfare that laid a foundation for Californian supply lines through to Asia that came in handy during the Korean War. Shortly after the war's end, he would die and be buried in Marin National Cemetary. The CRS Pentecost, the first nuclear-powered Californian aircraft carrier, was named in his honor, as was the subsequent Pentecost class of aircraft carriers.