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…and…after another two days sans solid Internet connection, I’m able to start publishing again. Just when I think everything’s in order…
For more than two years, the Japanese fleet had been looking for a chance to engage the U.S. fleet in that one decisive, all-out naval battle that would finally crush the Americans and give the Imperial Navy command of the Pacific. And for more than two years, the U.S. Navy had steadfastly avoided that encounter, concentrating again and again on isolating enemy strongholds and starving them into submission…all while extracting a heavy toll in Japanese aircraft and pilots.
But with the U.S. landings at Saipan in June of 1944, neither side could be put off any longer. For the U.S. it was the first of several really large-scale Pacific island invasions. And for the Japanese, it presented them a chance to attack a large portion of the U.S. fleet. Fortunately, for the U.S. Navy, the two years since Midway had seen dramatic change…on both sides of the war.
American production had ramped up to astonishing levels. Ships of every size and flavor, particularly aircraft carriers, were being put to sea at breakneck speed. Newer and better aircraft patrolled the skies in bigger numbers…airplanes that were now superior to their Japanese counterparts in nearly every facet of flight. Meanwhile, the Japanese Navy had seen its best pilots killed in the Pacific’s far-flung battles, its fighter and bomber designs eclipsed, and its production at home slashed as their enemy made its way toward the homeland.
So as the opposing forces squared off in the Philippine Sea on June 19, 1944, the outcome was pretty easy to predict. The Japanese Navy was beaten back with an ease that was almost scary. Japanese planes were swatted from the skies with an eerie inevitability…it was very nearly suicide even to take to the air. More than 300 would be downed in the day’s action, with only 25 U.S. planes lost. In addition, three precious Japanese carriers were sunk.
The battle would continue into the next day, but relatively speaking, the U.S. Navy suffered very little lost. No ships were sunk and 125 aircraft were shot down, but more than 80 of those crews would be rescued. The Japanese came to the 2-day fray with nearly 475 aircraft…and left with 35. One U.S. pilot said shooting down the enemy was like an old-time turkey shoot. The name held, and Battle of the Philippine Sea came to be known as “The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”.
Recommended Reading: Clash of the Carriers: The True Story of the Marianas Turkey Shoot of World War II – I got introduced to Barrett Tillman’s fiction years ago. This book is a little lean on maps, but Tillman knows how to write.
