received few shipments of reinforcements or supplies following the capture of the Palau islands by US forces in September 1944. Historian David Hobbs has stated that it had been "reduced to starving impotence" by the time of Operation Inmate. The garrison's main activity from mid-1944 onwards was growing food to sustain itself. The tropical conditions and damage caused by air attacks complicated this effort, and most of the Japanese personnel were malnourished. Nevertheless, the garrison also took extensive measures to protect the atoll from invasion and placed large stores of food and other supplies in reserve for such an eventuality. Following the end of the war in August 1945, United States forces found that the garrison still held enough ammunition to supply its gun batteries for at least 30 days of combat. The BPF's Truk attack force was designated Task Group 111.2, and comprised the 4th Cruiser Squadron and 24th Destroyer Flotilla. The ships assigned to the 4th Cruiser Squadron were Implacable, the escort carrier , the British cruisers and , the Canadian cruiser HMCS Uganda and the New Zealand cruiser HMNZS Achilles. The 24th Destroyer Flotilla was made up of , , , and . The Task Group was commanded from Implacable by Rear Admiral E.J.P. Brind. While Implacable, Newfoundland and the destroyers had only recently arrived in the Pacific, all the other ships assigned to Task Group 111.2 had seen combat off Okinawa. Implacables most recent combat experience was a series of air strikes conducted against German forces in Norway during late 1944. Implacable embarked 80 aircraft, which was the largest number to be operated by any of the BPF's aircraft carriers. The air group included 38 Naval Air Wing, whose 801 and 880 Naval Air Squadrons were equipped with 48 Supermarine Seafire fighter aircraft. The other units assigned to the carrier were 828 Naval Air Squadron with 21 Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers and 1771 Naval Air Squadron, which operated 11 Fairey Firefly fighters. Ruler was to be used as a "spare deck" for Implacables air group to operate from, and embarked only a single Supermarine Walrus search and rescue aircraft from 1701 Naval Air Squadron. Attacks 14 June Task Group 111.2 sailed from Manus Island on 12 June. While en route to Truk, its orders were broadened to also include a cruiser bombardment of Japanese positions at Truk. This change was made as the cruisers were