Chapter 2 - The Great Carrier War

(Part 10)

Push Across the Pacific

After the battles for Guadalcanal, there was a lull in major carrier activity in the Pacific as the American and Japanese navies regrouped and made plans for future campaigns. During this time period, the United States built up its carrier forces significantly. By War's end it had commissioned 18 Essex-class fleet carriers and 9 Independence-class light carriers. The United States also constructed 123 escort carriers, of which 37 were transferred to the Royal Navy under lend-lease. (The Royal Navy built another 22 escort carriers of its own, called merchant aircraft carriers or MACs.) Additionally, major advances were made in the quality and number of American carrier-based planes. Among the most successful were Grumman's F6F Hellcat fighter and TBF Avenger torpedo bomber. The United States also had a significant advantage in the number and quality of its pilots. At the peak of the War, the United States had 30,000 pilots in training, while Japan never had more than about 3,500 pilots in training at any one time. Although the Japanese built 27 carriers of different classes during the course of the War, all except 5 were eventually sunk.

The USS Essex CV-9 was the first of 18 fleet carriers

While the USS Independence CVL-22 was the first of 8 light carriers built during the War

By the end of 1943, the Pacific war was beginning to heat up again as Admiral William Halsey and General Douglas MacArthur began working their way through the southwest Pacific with amphibious landings aimed at returning to the Philippines. Japan's Admiral Yamamoto had deployed large numbers of carrier aircraft to land bases at Rabaul. In one of the first actions of this campaign, the USS Saratoga and light carrier USS Princeton supported the American invasion of Rabaul on November 5, 1943. Planes from the two carriers heavily damaged six Japanese cruisers and a destroyer and shot down 25 Japanese aircraft.

Further north, the new American 5th Fleet was formed under the overall command of Admiral Raymond Spruance. One component, Task Force 58 under Admiral Marc Mitscher, included six fleet carriers, six light carriers, and a total of about 700 aircraft. On November 20, 1943, the 5th Fleet started its march across the central Pacific by seizing Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. Vicious hand-to-hand fighting resulted in 1,000 Marines and 4,800 Japanese defenders being killed.

Leapfrogging ahead, the 5th Fleet next captured Kwajalein and Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands in January 1944. On February 17th, Admiral Mitscher's Task Force 58 attacked the Japanese base at Truk, sinking 20,000 tons of shipping and destroying about 275 aircraft. The task force then moved on to support landings at Palau and Ponopei. The American fleet again attacked Truk in April 1944, inflicting further aircraft losses on the Japanese.

The American fleet next leapfrogged to the Marianas, and landings on Saipan began on June 15, 1944. Japan sent out a large carrier fleet in defense of the island. This fleet included three units:

-- Van Force with the light carriers Zuiho, Chitose, and Chiyoda, and the battleships Yamato, Musashi, Haruna, Koriga.

-- Force A with the carriers Taiho, Shokaku, and Zuikaku.

-- Force B with the carriers Huyo, Junyo, and Ryuho, and a battleship.

The nine Japanese carriers had a total of 475 aircraft, which were supplemented by land- based aircraft from Guam. The attacking American fleet included 15 carriers, seven battleships, and over 950 aircraft. The American ships were positioned in the Philippine Sea west of Saipan, with the battleships forming a line of defense between the opposing carrier forces.

Early on the morning of June 19, planes from the Japanese bases on Guam began attacking the American fleet and 36 Hellcats were sent up to intercept them. By 10:00 a.m., the first wave of 69 aircraft from the Japanese carriers were sighted by the USS Lexington (a new Essex-class ship). Within a half hour, a second wave of 128 planes appeared. Admiral Mitscher launched every available fighter to meet the oncoming Japanese planes. He also launched his dive bombers and torpedo bombers to orbit out of the way and leave his carriers' decks free to rearm and refuel during the expected dogfight. These bombers were later sent to attack the airbases on Guam.

The opposing aircraft met about 90 miles from the American carriers. In the ensuing battle, 42 of the first wave of 69 Japanese planes and 113 of the second wave of 128 planes were shot down, against a loss of only one American aircraft. Although some of the Japanese planes got through and hit the Essex-class carriers USS Wasp and USS Bunker Hill, the damage was not serious. During the aerial engagement, Lt. Alexander Vraciu of VF-16 scored six kills in a matter of just a few minutes and with only 320 rounds from his Hellcat's guns.

A third wave of 49 Japanese planes met with similar failure. About half of the group didn't even find the American carriers, while nine of the remaing planes were shot down. The Japanese, however, persisted and only nine of a fourth wave of 82 planes survived. Meanwhile, American submarines sank the Japanese carriers Shokaku and Taiho.

By the end of the first day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Japanese had lost about 375 aircraft and two carriers, while the American fleet had lost only 23 planes. This one-sided military victory for the United States has become known as "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot."

The worse was not over for the Japanese, however. Near dusk on June 20, American reconnaisance planes sighted the retreating Japanese fleet and Admiral Mitscher launched an attack of 216 aircraft. The Japanese ships were at the limit of the range of the American planes, but the pilots mounted their attacks, sinking the carrier Hiyo; damaging the carriers Zuikaku, Junyo, and Chitose; and shooting down another 65 planes. Upon their return to the American carriers, darkness had already fallen and many of the planes were extremely low on fuel. Some even had to ditch next to American escort ships as they ran out of fuel. Admiral Mitscher then had the ships of Task Force 58 turn on their lights and landing beacons to guide the pilots back to the carriers. Although almost one- half of the returning planes were lost, 90 percent of the pilots either returned safely or were rescued after they ditched.

With the capture of Saipan, the United States now had an airbase from which it could mount massive B-29 bombing raids against the Japanese home islands. Attention then turned to freeing the Philippines from Japanese control.

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003