Biggest Carrier Battle in History: Marianas Turkey Shoot

The Battle of the Philippine Sea. Known in the West as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" due to the significant losses faced by the Japanese forces, was seen by both sides as a lost opportunity. By June 1944, much of Japan's pre-war naval air power had been destroyed in the Battle of Midway and the Guadalcanal campaign. Since then, the Imperial Japanese Navy had gradually rebuilt its air groups and carrier fleet with the goal of engaging the Americans in a decisive battle that would end the American advance across the Pacific Ocean. When the United States Fifth Fleet advanced on the Marianas Islands, Japanese naval leaders saw an opportunity to spring their trap.

On June 12th 1944 Japan launched Operation A-Go. It relied on land-based planes to chip away at the US fleet and destroy up to one-third of its strength before the First Mobile Fleet, led by Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, delivered the knockout blow to the depleted fleet.

Ozawa was given nearly every available surface craft to meet the Americans. There were three fleet carriers, two medium carriers, and four light carriers available. Ozawa had five battleships, 12 cruisers, and 22 escorting destroyers as a protective shield for the carriers. Ozawa had assembled 430 carrier aircraft and could rely on an additional 540 fighters and bombers from nearby land bases.

The main parts of Ozawa's fleet met on June 16 in the western part of the Philippines and headed for the Marianas. However, during the previous four days of heavy air raids on Japanese bases on the Mariana Islands, American carrier aircraft ripped into Japanese airfields. In a foreshadowing of what was to come, Japanese Mitsubishi Zero fighters rose to meet their foes, but their inexperienced pilots were no match for their better-trained American counterparts and their advanced Hellcat fighters. When the final wisps of smoke cleared away from the ensuing slaughter, American pilots had stripped Ozawa of his desperately needed land-based air power. If Ozawa had known about this, he might have acted differently in the upcoming battle, but the commander of the decimated squadrons, unbelievably, failed to relay this critical information to his superior.