Short answers, pulled from the story.
Operation Hailstone was a large-scale United States Navy air and surface attack on Truk Lagoon, conducted on the 17th and the 18th of February 1944. It was part of the American offensive against the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific theatre of World War II.
Truk was nicknamed "the Gibraltar of the Pacific" and "the Japanese Pearl Harbor" because it was perceived as a heavily fortified, impregnable Japanese naval stronghold. In reality, Japan's economic limitations prevented significant shore fortifications, and the base was far less defended than its reputation suggested.
Operation Hailstone destroyed nearly 200,000 tons of shipping in total, representing almost one-tenth of all Japanese shipping losses recorded between the 1st of November 1943 and the 30th of June 1944. Losses included warships, merchant vessels, fleet oilers, and auxiliary cruisers sunk in the lagoon and nearby waters.
Yes. Operation Hailstone marks the only time battleships Iowa and New Jersey fired their main guns at enemy ships. Admiral Spruance personally led Task Group 50.9, which included both battleships, in a surface engagement against Japanese ships fleeing through Truk's North Pass. New Jersey fired a 16-inch round at the destroyer Nowaki at the extreme range of 35,700 yards, equal to 20.3 statute miles.
During the Japanese night counterattack on the 17th of February, a lone Rikko-type twin engine bomber from the 755th Kokutai torpedoed the starboard quarter of Intrepid, damaging her steering and killing 11 sailors. Intrepid was forced to withdraw and did not return to combat until August 1944.
Operation Hailstone destroyed 17,000 tons of stored fuel, sank several fleet oilers Japan could not replace, and permanently severed Japanese shipping lanes between the home islands and southern fuel supplies. The neutralization of Truk helped open the path to the invasion of Saipan, which placed U.S. heavy bombers within range of the Japanese home islands for the first time in the war.