fter After refuelling and reprovisioning at Majuro on 4 February, the task group returned to Kwajalein for a week of CAP and ASP over the ships supporting the conquest of the atoll. On 12 February, TG 58.1 and two of the other carrier task groups sailed for a raid on the Japanese base at Truk in the central Pacific. Intended to cover the landings on Eniwetok and to distract the Japanese from Allied operations in New Guinea, Operation "Hailstone" began on 16 February when the big carriers struck at enemy airfields on Truk. Belleau Wood's planes flew CAP and ASP over her task group, shooting down a Nakajima B5N "Kate" carrier bomber at 1432 that afternoon. After a morning strike on the 17th by planes from Enterprise and Yorktown, the task group retired east to refuel.
