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Battle of the Philippine Sea 19 - 20 June 1944
The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot
The Last Carrier Battle
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The Battle of the Philippine Sea was fought as the Imperial Japanese Navy attempted to repel the USN capture of the Marianas -- Saipan, Tinian, Guam. It was the final carrier battle of WW2 and probably of all time. The Japanese counterattack included nine carriers and was defeated, although most of the fleet escaped.
The Big Picture.
The Americans were in the Central Pacific to take the island of Saipan to break the line of defenses Japan had built. Saipan was within B-29 range of Tokyo and the destruction of Japanese industry would be able to begin. The Americans knew the Japanese had to defend this line in a all out battle, thus there would be a fight and with it the opportunity to destroy the new Japanese fleet.
Japan had longer range air search capability than the US. They also had longer ranged attack aircraft. This was the key to the Japanese plan was to find the US fleet before their opponents and keep the Japanese fleet out of range of the Americans, then to attack without the Americans being able to respond.
Background.
The Japanese plan for the war was to remove the fleets of all other nations from the Pacific and take the natural resources of the East Indies that were needed to complete their conquest of China. It was expected that they could then make peace and retain their conquests. This led to little long range planning of military design or training.
Fletcher had stopped the Japanese advance in the first three carrier battles of the Pacific War - saving Australia at Coral Sea, saving Hawaii at Midway, and Guadalcanal at Eastern Solomons. The Japanese carrier fleet was further weakened in the fourth carrier battle at Santa Cruz and the surface fleet battles at Guadalcanal. Then both sides withdrew to rebuild their fleets. In 1943 Japan commissioned 13 carriers in new construction or by conversion of other ships to aircraft carriers while the US commissioned 15 carriers and 37 escorts (used as aircraft ferries and for anti-submarine patrol.)
Training to replace pilots was in full swing in the United States who was turning out hundreds of new pilots a year starting before pearl Harbor.
US industry mobilized, and as soon as the Navy had enough ships and trained troops, they started a march across the central Pacific starting with the Gilberts campaign (Tarawa, Makin) in 21Nov 1943, then the Marshalls (Kwajalein, Enewetok) 31 January 1944, and now it was the Marianas. The Marines had learned how to land on defended islands.
Continued Battle of the Philippine Sea, Page 2
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