In total, the attacks carried on for two days, ending on February 17, 1944. Unlike most other pacific garrisons, Truk could not be bypassed initially like others as would normally be done in the Island Hopping strategy. Being a pre-war territory the island had been fortified for years, with numerous facilities to keep it running and a constant threat. After the battle, the Japanese had lost around 270 aircraft, 200 being destroyed on the ground and seventy in the air. Thirty-two merchant ships were sunk with another fifteen miscellaneous ships also being sunk. These consisted of different types of cruisers and destroyers. American losses were limited to a mere twenty-five aircraft lost and a damaged aircraft carrier.