Chuuk Lagoon in the context of Nomoi Islands

Yap State is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, located in the westernmost portion of the country. The state borders Palau to the southwest, Guam to the north, and Chuuk State to the east. According to the state's population census carried out in 2020, the total population is 11,577 residing across a total area of 119.54 sq km (46.15 sq mi), though a large majority of the area is water. The only town area in the state, Colonia, serves as the state capital.

What is now current-day Yap State and some parts of Chuuk State were the historical Yapese Empire, which at its peak, controlled 1,300 km of the western Pacific comprising all the inhabited islands and atolls between Yap and Chuuk. The rulers of the chiefdom of Gagil in Yap maintained sovereignty of these islands to the east and extracted resources and tribute, maintaining close economic and political relationships with the different island groups. After losing its influence and becoming incorporated territories of Spain, the German Empire, the Japanese Empire, and the United States through the UN-mandated Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI), Yap and the islands and atolls between Yap and Chuuk formed Yap State upon the founding of the FSM.

Chuuk State (/ˈtʃuːk/; also known as Truk) is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). It consists of several island groups: Nomoneas, Faichuuk, the Hall Islands, Namonuito Atoll (Magur Islands), Pattiw (Western Islands), and the Mortlock Islands. Chuuk is by far the FSM's most populous state, with 50,000 inhabitants on 120 square kilometers (46 square miles). Chuuk Lagoon is where most people live. Weno island, in the lagoon, is Chuuk's state capital and the country's biggest city. It may hold a referendum on independence in the near future, although this referendum has been repeatedly postponed.

The Chuukese, previously spelled Trukese, are a Micronesian-speaking ethnic group indigenous to the island of Chuuk and its surrounding islands and atolls. They constitute almost 49% of the population of the Federated States of Micronesia, making them by far the largest ethnic group in the country.

Gagil (Yapese: Gagil, dialect Ggil) is a municipality in the state of Yap, in the Federated States of Micronesia. It forms part of Gagil-Tamil (it) Island and covers the eastern side of the island. It has a population of roughly 400 people scattered in village groups. One of these villages includes the village of Gachpar which was once the capital of the historic Yap Islands Empire that lasted from about 10th to the 15th century AD and stretched as far as east as the west halls of Chuuk Lagoon, as far south as the northern atolls of Papua New Guinea, and as far west as the outer islands of Palau.

Nomoneas are a group of islands of Chuuk Lagoon, Chuuk, Micronesia. They are part of the Caroline Islands.

Administratively they are divided into two districts: Northern Nomoneas and Southern Nomoneas. The main islands of Northern Nomoneas are Fono, Piis-Penau, and Weno. The main islands of Southern Nomoneas are Fefan, Param, Tonowas, Tsis, and Uman.

The Hall Islands are a group of two large atolls in the northern part of the state of Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia. In the broader sense, a third and smaller atoll is included.

Nomwin, the western atoll, and Murilo, the eastern one, are located about 9 km apart, being the emergent parts of a twin-lobed seamount. Murilo and Nomwin each harbor a population of more than 1,000 people.[1] They lie roughly 100 km to the north of Chuuk Lagoon. Uninhabited East Fayu, lying 30+ km to the west of Nomwin, is sometimes included in the Halls.[2] The three atolls together account for a dry surface of about 3.5 km over more than 50 islets or motus.

Yamato (Japanese: 大和; named after the ancient Yamato Province) was the lead ship of her class of battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) shortly before World War II. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing nearly 72,000 tonnes (71,000 long tons) at full load and armed with nine 46 cm (18.1 in) Type 94 main guns, which were the largest guns ever mounted on a warship.

Yamato was designed to counter the numerically superior battleship fleet of the United States, Japan's main rival in the Pacific. She was laid down in 1937 and formally commissioned a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Throughout 1942, she served as the flagship of the Combined Fleet, and in June 1942 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto directed the fleet from her bridge during the Battle of Midway, a disastrous defeat for Japan. Musashi took over as the Combined Fleet flagship in early 1943, and Yamato spent the rest of the year moving between the major Japanese naval bases of Truk and Kure in response to American threats. In December 1943, Yamato was torpedoed by an American submarine which necessitated repairs at Kure, where she was refitted with additional anti-aircraft guns and radar in early 1944. Although present at the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, she played no part in the battle.