THE GREAT MARIANAS TURKEY SHOOT

1. It occurred on June 19-20, 1944. America had invaded Saipan in the Mariana Islands.  Admiral Raymond Spruance (the victor of Midway) headed a large fleet that participated in the invasion and protected the transports after the invasion.
2. The Japanese navy was determined to bring on a decisive naval battle that would turn the tide in the war. Unfortunately, most of their veteran pilots had been killed at this point.  Most of the available pilots were not trained well and had little experience.  The aircraft had undergone little improvement since Pearl Harbor.  And Japan was losing the production war to America.  The battle would be a daring roll of the dice.
3. Spruance’s fleet had none of the problems the Japanese had. Its pilots were well-trained, had many more hours of flight time, were more experienced, and had better planes.  The F6F Hellcat had replaced the F4F Wildcat as the main fighter.  The Hellcat had been designed to be superior to the Japanese Zero.  The Avenger was the best torpedo plane in the war.  The Helldivers and Dauntlesses were the best dive bombers.
4. The American fleet had a huge advantage in defending itself. Not only were the Hellcats great at shooting down Japanese attackers but the command and control was excellent.  Radar gave early warning of attacks and the combat air patrol could be vectored to reach them before they  even sighted the American ships.  The Japanese planes then had to run the gauntlet of naval anti-aircraft fire.  The Anglo-Americans had invented proximity fuses.  This top secret development was one of the most important inventions of the war.  A tiny radar in the shell would cause it to explode near a plane.
5. The battle was the largest aircraft carrier battle in history. A total of 24 carriers were involved.  Admiral Ozawa had 9 carriers with 440 planes and Admiral Spruance had 15 carriers with 905 planes.  The supposed advantage the Japanese had was it would use carrier-based aircraft and land-based from Guam.  And the carrier planes could land on Guam, which gave them longer range than the Americans.
6. The battle began with several waves of Japanese attacks on the American fleet. They were decimated by the Hellcats and the proximity fuses.  The horrific losses were not compensated by sinkings.  One American battleship was damaged.
7. Most of the Japanese losses were to American fighters. The Hellcats were superior to any Japanese plane but especially to torpedo and dive bombers.  Several American pilots became “aces in a day”.  One of the most famous pictures from the Pacific war has Alexander Vraciu holding up six fingers upon return to his carrier.  He shot the dive bombers down in eight minutes.  One of Vraciu’s buddies told a reporter:  “Why, Hell, it was just like an old-time turkey shoot down home.”  That comment led to the battle being nicknamed the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”.
8. The American submarine fleet alone topped the Japanese fleet. The USS Albacore fired six torpedoes at Japan’s brand new carrier, the Taiho.  A Japanese fighter pilot named Sakio Komatsu saw one of them and dived his plane in its path to save his ship.  Lucky for the Taiho, only one torpedo hit.  Unluckily the Japanese damage control officer decided to use the ventilation system to remove the gasoline fumes.  Instead, it spread the deadly fumes all over the ship.  And then there was a spark and down goes the Taiho.  The USS Cavalla put three torpedoes into the venerable Shokaku.  The Shokaku had attacked Pearl Harbor and had been in several battles.  It took three torpedoes which resulted in numerous fires and the carrier swiftly sank.
9. The American carriers had trouble locating their foes. It was late afternoon before a sighting allowed an attack.  The problems were the distance to the target and it would be dark before they returned.  They were launched anyway.
10. The American attack was only partially successful. A light carrier was sunk and other carriers were damaged.  Then the strike force headed home with ominous fuel gauge readings.  With darkness setting in, Admiral Marc Mitscher ordered the ships to turn on their lights, a bold decision considering that Japanese subs could be lurking in the area.  Thankfully, none were.  In spite of the lights, 80 planes ran out of fuel and had to ditch in the ocean.  Most of the pilots and crews were rescued.
11. Although Adm. Spruance was the clear victor, he came under some criticism for his cautious decision-making. The naval airmen faulted him for not sailing towards the Japanese fleet so the battle could have been more decisive.  However, Spruance was under orders from Commander in Chief Chester Nimitz to put his priority on protecting the transports.  The Japanese fleet could have been a decoy.  Besides, we now know that the battle was decisive because although Japan kept some carriers, its fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo planes had suffered 90% losses.  Not to mention all the pilots that were killed.  The strike power of the remaining carriers had been eliminated.  At the upcoming Battle of Leyte Gulf, the carriers could only be used at decoys.
12. The Japanese lost 3 aircraft carriers and around 600 planes. The Americans lost no ships and 120 planes.  2,987 Japanese were killed and America lost 76.   

https://www.historyhit.com/philippine-sea/

https://www.american-historama.org/1929-1945-depression-ww2-era/battle-philippine-sea.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Philippine_Sea