Battle of the Philippine Sea

[Robert9670]

The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive naval battle that took place on June 19-20, 1944.  It was the largest aircraft carrier battle of World War II, being fought by the Imperial Japanese Navy and the U.S. Navy.  The battle was nicknamed "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" by American aviators for the severely disproportional loss ratio inflicted on Japanese aircraft by American pilots and anti-aircraft gunners.  The lop-sided outcome was mainly because of American advantages in pilot and aircrew training and tactics, war technology, and ship and aircraft design, which the Japanese could not match.  The battle ended with 3 Japanese aircraft carriers sunk, 2 oilers sunk, and 550-645 aircraft lost, along with 6 other ships being damaged.  U.S. losses were 1 battleship damaged and 123 aircraft lost.  Here's the Battle 360 episode D-Day in the Pacific, which covers the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

 

[Robert9670]

Map of the Battle of the Philippine Sea

[Krieg]

Battle 360 always does a top job. It's one of my favourite (I'm in Australia so yes, that is the correct spelling  :Smile_glasses: ) shows.

[Wunderwaffen1945]

Always pleasure to watch it over and over again...

[Robert9670]

While I liked every episode of Battle 360, D-Day in the Pacific was probably my favorite episode.

[Robert9670]

Zuikaku (center) and two destroyers under attack by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, June 20, 1944

[GeneralPatton1000]

I'm watching this episode as I wright this. I'd have to say that its one of my top 3 favorite episodes. I actually own the whole set of DVDs and if you don't include watching the original premier i've probably watched through the entire series 3-4 times. When it originally played through I became such a devotee of Enterprise that when I learned watching the last episode that Enterprise had been scrapped I cried myself to sleep that night. To this day I have a desire to build a Yorktown-class and name her Enterprise CV-6A and turn her into a museum. Don't know where I'd get the $20mil +inflation to build her though.

[brymstone]

Halsey's actions, in chasing the Japanese fleet, almost ended in disaster.  The American invasion force was left unprotected on the beaches. If the Japanese fleet hadn't retired and chose to stay and bombard the invasion forces, we might be be speaking of one of the worst military blunders of all time.

[Windhover118]

brymstone, on 28 January 2013 - 11:54 PM, said:

Halsey's actions, in chasing the Japanese fleet, almost ended in disaster.  The American invasion force was left unprotected on the beaches. If the Japanese fleet hadn't retired and chose to stay and bombard the invasion forces, we might be be speaking of one of the worst military blunders of all time.

This is the battle of the Philippine Sea, your thinking of the battle of Leyte Gulf. In Halseys defense, he had reports that the Japanese center force was had turned away and was retiring from battle which just left the Northern Force as the main Japanese threat. Halsey may have also taken into consideration the criticism faced by Spruance for not pursueing the Japanese Fleet after the battle of the Philippine Sea. The two mistakes Halsey made was not leaving any battleships to cover the strait and not informing 7th fleet of 3rd fleets intentions.

[Haguro]

The IJN expected to get a lot out of their land based air in the area.  Unfortunately, it suffered the same fate as their carrier based aircraft.  The USN bombed the Japanese airfields in the Marianas islands (Saipan, Tainan, & Guam) and caused some of the aircraft returning from the fight to crash upon landing or suffer damage such that they were non-operational. The horrendous aircraft losses suffered by the IJN could not be replaced by the time of the Leyte Gulf battle.  This made Admiral Ozawa's carriers expendable to use as a decoy to draw Admiral Halsey away.  While eventually Admiral Ozawa was able to draw the USN Fleet carriers and their escorts away several of Admiral Kurita's force had suffered damage including the loss of the IJN Superbattleship Musashi.

 

I believe Admiral Kinkaid's 7th fleet reported up through General MacArthur and Admiral Halsey's 3rd fleet reported to Admiral Nimitz.  So because of an miss communication, Admrial Kinkaid throught Admiral Halsey was still guarding the San Bernadino Strait.  If all the USN naval forces had reported up through Admiral Nimitz perhaps the vulnerable escort carriers and their escorts would not have been up against Admiral Kurita's formidable force.

[Gohibniu]

brymstone, on 28 January 2013 - 11:54 PM, said:

Halsey's actions, in chasing the Japanese fleet, almost ended in disaster.  The American invasion force was left unprotected on the beaches. If the Japanese fleet hadn't retired and chose to stay and bombard the invasion forces, we might be be speaking of one of the worst military blunders of all time.

Wrong battle. And he accomplished his objective of eliminating Japanese airpower. Should have left the BB"s home as history has shown.

[brian333]

In Halsey's defense, capping those carriers was a very high priority, mainly because the USN didn't know the Japanese were out of airplanes, and their ability to replenish aircraft losses duing the war had proved formiddable. In fact, at the end of the war, Japan had surplus airplanes, but a lack of pilots to put in them and a lack of fuel to get them in the air.

 

Spruance, after the Battle of the Philipine Sea, was roundly criticized by his peers for not doing what Halsey did. Most of the admirals of the day thought that pursuit of the retreating Japanese fleet was the right thing to do, but Spruance remained on station to cover the beaches. Only Adm. King and the Army appreciated his order to not pursue. (The army gave him a medal for it.)

 

In the Leyte invasion, the appearance of carriers could only mean, to Halsey, that the Japanese were throwing everything they had at the Philipines, and Halsey, an old school battleship admiral, desperately wanted a battleship-on-battleship engagement. (As did every other BB captain in the USN.) Pursuit of those carriers should have led him right to the BB's. We know now it was a decoy, but Halsey was justified in thinking the battleships and carriers were operating together, with the carriers forward to scout the battlefield.

[fuq2fromme]

is this game fun to play

[Robert9670]

fuq2fromme, on 10 February 2013 - 12:04 AM, said:

is this game fun to play

If you're talking about World of Warships, it's not out yet.  By the way, your post is in the wrong thread.