US Navy photo By John T. Correll Battle of the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf. It was also overshadowed 1944, the Japanese had scaled back their June 19-20, 1944, marked the by the other war news that month from plans but still hoped to hold a shorter end of Japanese naval airpower halfway around the world: The Allied inner perimeter, anchored on the east by as a signifi cant factor in World War II. landings in Normandy on D-Day, June 6, the Mariana Islands. It was the single biggest aircraft carrier to begin the invasion of occupied Europe. Japan’s greatest hero, Adm. Isoroku battle in history. However, naval history buffs still argue Yamamoto, who had planned the Pearl The fi rst day is remembered as “the about the Turkey Shoot and how Adm. Harbor attack, was dead, his airplane shot Great Marianas Turkey Shoot,” in which Raymond A. Spruance—the non-aviator down over the jungles of New Guinea in US Navy pilots and anti-aircraft gun- in command of the US Fifth Fleet—might 1943 by AAF P-38s. There was no one ners shot down more than 300 Japanese have conducted the battle, but didn’t. of comparable stature to take his place. airplanes. Before the two-day battle was Meanwhile, the US armed forces were over, the Japanese had lost fi ve ships, REVERSAL OF FORTUNES engaged in an intramural argument about including three fl eet carriers, and a total The heyday of the Japanese navy in the strategy. Gen. Douglas MacArthur called of 476 airplanes and 450 aviators. Pacifi c did not last long. At Midway in for a push northward from New Guinea The Japanese fl ed with the ships and June 1942, fi ve months after the attack on through the Philippines led, of course, aircraft they had left. The carriers would Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Fleet lost four by MacArthur. Adm. Ernest J. King, not again be an effective force in the war carriers, one cruiser, and 322 airplanes Chief of Naval Operations, advocated except as decoys to distract the oncoming on the same day. an island-hopping approach across the Americans. Expecting fast conquest, Japan did not central Pacific where Adm. Chester W. The battle was part of Operation provide for replacing losses in aircraft and Nimitz was in command. Forager, the amphibious invasion of the trained aircrews. Japanese technology did King had an unusual ally in Gen. Marianas. Under the cover of air supe- not keep pace and the once-superior A6M Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, commander riority from US carriers, ground forces Zero fi ghter was soon outclassed by the of the Army Air Forces. Arnold, who took Saipan, Guam, and Tinian, 1,500 US Navy F6F Hellcat and the Army Air rarely agreed with King on strategy, miles from Tokyo and the Kanto Plain Forces P-38 Lightning. wanted bases in the Marianas from which and within range for B-29 bombers. The outer defensive perimeter—run- his new B-29 bombers could strike the For whatever reason, the Marianas ning through the Gilbert Islands in the Japanese home islands. Turkey Shoot never achieved the popular central Pacifi c around to New Guinea The Joint Chiefs of Staff came down fame of the carrier battles at Midway and and Sumatra—was no longer secure. By squarely on both sides of the issue, direct- 52 AIR FORCE Magazine / April 2016 It was the biggest carrier battle of all time. It also gained bases from which B-29s could strike Japan. ing an invasion of the Marianas in June The force created to stop the Ameri- advantages. His airplanes—lacking ar- 1944 with invasion of the Philippines to cans was the Mobile Fleet, to which mor and self-sealing fuel tanks—were follow a few months later. virtually all of Japan’s remaining car- lighter and had greater range. He could Operation Forager, drawn up by King, riers, battleships, and cruisers were attack from 100 miles farther away than would strike at three islands in the Mari- assigned. The commander was Vice the Americans could. The Americans anas chain: Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. Adm. Jisaburo Ozawa. would be far from support bases; Ozawa Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo, who Ozawa pulled the Mobile Fleet together would have bases nearby. commanded the strike on Pearl Harbor, at Tawi Tawi in the southern Philippines. The American carriers, steaming west had been relegated to relatively minor All told, he had nine carriers with 450 from their anchorage at Majuro Atoll positions since the defeat of his carriers combat aircraft, fi ve battleships, 13 cruis- in the Marshall Islands, would have at Midway. In 1944, he was commander ers, and 28 destroyers. It was a large force, the easterly tradewinds at their backs. of the Central Pacific Area Fleet on but as Ozawa knew, badly outnumbered To launch or recover aircraft, they had Saipan, which was not as impressive by the US Fifth Fleet. to swing around into the wind, turning as the name suggested. It consisted of In addition to the airplanes on his away from the enemy. Ozawa, facing patrol craft, coastal vessels, and some carriers, Ozawa could call upon hun- into the wind, could launch and recover ground forces. dreds of land-based aircraft dispersed while moving forward. Ironically, the first target of the Op- to islands around the perimeter from On the other hand, Ozawa’s Zero eration Forager attack would be Saipan. Guam to New Guinea to assist. fighters were no match for the US The plan was to lure the Fifth Fleet Hellcats. His pilots were minimally JAPAN’S DESPERATE PLAN into open water west of the Marianas trained and had little flying experience. The main Japanese naval strategy in where the land-based airplanes would His meager fuel supply did not allow World War II was the “Decisive Battle,” destroy a third of the US ships before expansive operations. inspired by Adm. Heihachiro Togo’s vic- the opposing carrier forces engaged. On June 15, Adm. Soemu Toyoda, tory over the Russian fleet at Tsushima Mobile Fleet aircraft would finish off commander in chief of the Imperial Strait in 1905 in the Russo-Japanese War. the rest Fleet, sent a message to the Mobile In 1944, the Imperial Navy was des- Offsetting to some extent his shortage Fleet: “The rise and fall of Imperial perately seeking such an engagement, in numbers, Ozawa had several tactical Japan depends on this one battle,” he upon which the outcome of the war might turn. Fighter contrails paint the sky during the Marianas Turkey Shoot in 1944. AIR FORCE Magazine / April 2016 53 Halsey- Ozawa Oct. 25 Mariana Luzon Islands Lee Eric map by Staff Saipan Philippine Tinian Islands Rota Philippine Guam Sea Japan Task Mobile Force 58 Fleet Leyte Turkey Shoot June 19 Mindanao Palau Majuro Atoll Islands Tawi Tawi US Navy photos Navy US said—the same words used by Togo foremost ships of the navy. Some senior was so large it took almost five hours at Tsushima. offi cers, notably King and Adm. William F. to clear the lagoon as it departed from Halsey Jr., had qualifi ed as naval aviators Majuro. It included battleships, cruisers, BLACK SHOE ADMIRAL in midcareer. Others, notably Nimitz and and destroyers, but the heart of the task In command of Operation Forager Spruance, did not. force was seven fleet carriers and eight would be Spruance, regarded by CNO With a big carrier battle looming, many light carriers with 904 combat aircraft. King as “the most intelligent offi cer in of the “brown shoes”—so called because Mitscher’s pilots were mostly expe- the Navy.” Spruance had the complete naval aviators wore brown shoes with their rienced veterans. His principal aircraft trust of Nimitz as well. working uniforms—would have preferred were fast F6F Hellcat fi ghters, SB2C Although the main strength of his com- one of their own in command instead of Helldiver dive bombers, and TBF/TBM mand was a carrier task force, Spruance the “black shoe” Spruance. Avenger torpedo airplanes. Among the was not an aviator. He had been a cruiser The Fifth Fleet had been built up to complement of the carriers were two future offi cer for most of his career before com- extraordinary strength and consisted of US Presidents. Lt. Gerald R. Ford was ing to special prominence as leader of the more than 800 ships grouped into two assistant navigator on Monterey. Ensign carrier victory at Midway and—despite task forces. George H. W. Bush was an Avenger pilot the grumbling of some airmen—was now The striking arm was Task Force on San Jacinto. commander of the US Fifth Fleet. 58, commanded by Rear Adm. Marc Task Force 51 under Vice Adm. Rich- Between the world wars, battleships A. Mitscher, a longtime aviator deeply mond K. Turner brought the 127,000 had been displaced by carriers as the experienced in carrier operations. TF 58 amphibious assault troops who would 54 AIR FORCE Magazine / April 2016 US Navy photo Navy US conduct the invasion. In addition to the Mitscher’s scouts discovered the loca- chew up incoming airplanes with anti- transports and landing craft, Turner tion of the Mobile Fleet in the Philippine aircraft fi re. The US carriers were fanned had combat vessels, including battle- Sea, some 400 miles from the Marianas. out in a wide semicircle about 100 miles ships, but they were of the older and Mitscher proposed to Spruance that TF from Guam and Saipan. slower kind. 58 pull away and go after the enemy car- riers but Spruance would not approve it.