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Ozawa's Raids

The initial Japanese raid was detected by radar aboard Lee's Battle Line at 1000 when still 150 miles distant. At 1023 Mitscher's carriers turned into the wind, and began to launch every available fighter. By this time Ozawa's first wave had approached to 70 miles. The Japanese aircraft then began circling as they regrouped and prepared to attack. This gave Task Force 58 ten minutes or more to complete its preparations to meet them.

At about 1036 the first interception was made by 11 Hellcats from the carrier Essex. As these fighters, led by Lt-Commander C.W. Brewer, were carrying out their attack they were joined by other Hellcats from Bunker Hill, Cowpens and Princeton. In this initial action at least 25 Japanese aircraft were shot down. Task Force 58 lost only one fighter. This set the pattern for the air-to-air combats of the day.

The Japanese planes which survived this interception were met by other fighters and 16 more were shot down. Of the remainder some made attacks on the destroyers Yarnall and Stockham, which were operating as pickets for the Battle Line, but the Japanese aircraft caused no damage. Three or four bombers broke through to the battleships, and one made a direct hit on South Dakota which caused many casualties but failed to disable her. Not one aircraft of Ozawa's first wave got through to the American carriers.

At 1107 radar detected another and much larger attack. This, Ozawa's second wave - consisting at this stage of 109 aircraft - was met by American fighters sixty miles out from Mitscher's flagship Lexington.

The first interception was made by 12 Hellcats, again from Essex, led by Commander David McCampbell, who was to become the highest-scoring US Navy fighter ace of the war. The Hellcats shot down approximately 70 aircraft from this raid. Most of the aircraft which broke through the combat air patrol were destroyed or driven off by the gunfire of the Battle Line.

Nonetheless, a handful of the bombers succeeded in attacking the American carriers. Six attacked Rear Admiral Montgomery's group, making near-misses which caused casualties on two of the carriers. Four of the six were shot down. A small group of torpedo aircraft attacked Reeves' group just before midday, one launching a torpedo which exploded in the wake of Reeves' flagship Enterprise. Three other torpedo-planes attacked the light carrier Princeton, but were shot down.

In all 97 aircraft of this - Ozawa's second wave - failed to return.

The third raid, consisting of 47 aircraft, came in from the north. It was intercepted at 1300, some 50 miles out from the task force, by 40 fighters. Seven Japanese planes were shot down. A few broke through and made an ineffective attack on Harrill's group. Many others did not press home their attacks. This raid therefore suffered less than the others, and 40 of its aircraft managed to return to their carriers.

After this third assault there was a brief lull in the battle. Several US carriers were able to secure from General Quarters, and Mitscher took the opportunity to launch a search mission - one which was, however, unsuccessful.

The fourth and final assault wave was launched from the Japanese carriers between 1100 and 1130. This raid was given an incorrect location for its targets. One group from this raid, failing to find anything at the reported position, headed for the island of Rota to refuel, but sighted Montgomery's task group by chance. 9 dive-bombers eluded the American fighters and made attacks on carriers Wasp and Bunker Hill, but failed to make any hits, and all but one of the attackers were shot down. Another group, of 18 aircraft from the Japanese carrier Zuikaku, lost half its number to the American fighters.

The largest group from this the fourth of Ozawa's raids - 49 aircraft - failed to locate any US ships and made for Guam. It was picked up on radar, and the last Combat Air Patrol of the day - consisting of 12 Hellcats from light carrier Cowpens - was sent to intercept. The US fighters came upon the Japanese planes as they were circling Orote Field ready to land.

As the Cowpens aircraft went in to attack they were joined by seven Hellcats from Essex, again led by McCampbell, and eight from Hornet. These 27 US fighters shot down 30 of the 49 Japanese planes, and the 19 survivors which landed received heavy and irreparable damage.

While Ozawa's air groups were being devastated in this massacre his carriers had come under attack from American submarines.

The US Submarine Attacks

A few days before the battle Admiral Lockwood, commander of Task Force 17 - the patrol submarines of the Central Pacific Force - had positioned four of his boats to intercept the Japanese fleet. Two of these located and attacked Ozawa's force on 19 June.

IJN Shokaku sinking

At 0816 Albacore sighted Ozawa's own carrier division, and soon began an attack on the carrier most suitably placed, which by chance was the Taiho, Ozawa's flagship - the Japanese Navy's most modern and most strongly-constructed carrier. As Albacore was about to fire a salvo of six torpedoes at Taiho her fire-control computer failed, and her commanding officer, Commander J.W. Blanchard, was forced to aim the salvo by visual judgment alone.

Taiho was than steaming at 27 knots. She had just launched 42 aircraft, her component of the Japanese second wave against Task Force 58. Four of Albacore's torpedoes were off-target. The pilot of one of the recently-launched aircraft - Sakio Komatsu - sighted one of the two which were heading for Taiho and heroically crashed his aircraft on it, destroying the torpedo and losing his life in the process. But the other torpedo struck the carrier on her starboard side near her aviation-fuel tanks. Nonetheless the damage to Taiho at first appeared not to be very serious.

Ozawa's Carrier Division also fell foul of the American submarine Cavalla. Shokaku, one of the six carriers which had carried out the attack on Pearl Harbor, was hit shortly before noon by three torpedoes of a salvo of six which Cavalla had fired from the close range of 1,000 yards. Fuel tanks on the carrier were ruptured by the explosions, fires spread through the ship, and at about 1500 a bomb magazine exploded, destroying her.

Meanwhile the flagship Taiho was falling victim to poor damage-control. On the orders of an inexperienced damage-control officer her ventilation system had been operated full-blast in an attempt to clear explosive fumes from the ship. This instead this had the disastrous effect of spreading the vapours throughout Taiho, and at 1532, approximately half an hour after the explosion which sank Shokaku, Taiho was herself wrecked by a huge explosion, and sank shortly after.

Albacore and Cavalla were both subjected to heavy depth-charge attacks, but the submarines escaped without serious damage.

Japanese and American Losses

Ozawa had committed 373 aircraft to his attacks and searches. Only 130 of these returned to their carriers, and about 50 of the Guam-based planes were shot down by Task Force 58. Other Japanese aircraft were lost operationally, and yet more went down with the two carriers sunk by the US submarines. In all the Japanese forces lost around 315 aircraft on 19 June.

Of the hundreds of US aircraft engaged in this great battle only 23 were shot down, and 6 more lost operationally. Task Force 58 lost 29 aircrew and suffered 31 fatal casualties on the ships which were hit or near-missed. In very few battles since medieval times, whether on land or at sea, have losses been so one-sided.

The Final Phase
The Air Battle of 20 June

Task Force 58 pushed westwards during the night of 19/20 June in order to attack the Japanese fleet, and at dawn launched air searches. On the Japanese side there was great confusion caused by the fact that Ozawa attempted to control his forces from the destroyer Wakatsuki, to which he and his staff had transferred when the Taiho had to be abandoned. The destroyer's communications were inadequate for her to act as flagship, and at about 1300 on 20 June Ozawa transferred to the large carrier Zuikaku (sister ship to the Shokaku and as of 20 June the only survivor of the six carriers which had attacked Pearl Harbor). It was only now that Ozawa learned of the massacre of his air groups the day before, and that his force had only one hundred aircraft still operational. Nonetheless he was determined to continue the battle, believing that there were still considerable numbers of Japanese aircraft operational on Rota and Guam. Ozawa intended to launch further strikes on the following day, 21 June.

American searches failed, for most of 20 June, to find the Japanese fleet, but eventually - at 1540 - an Avenger piloted by Lieutenant R.S. Nelson, from the veteran carrier Enterprise, found Ozawa's force. Nelson's message reporting the contact was however so garbled that Mitscher did not know what had been sighted or where. He nonetheless decided to make an all-out strike when more information came in, despite the fact that there were now only about 75 minutes to sunset, and that the strike would therefore have to be recovered in darkness. By 1605 further reports from Lt. Nelson had given the Task Force 58 commander the information needed.

At 1610 the aircrew manned their planes, and at 1621 the carriers turned into the wind to launch the strike, which consisted of 216 aircraft. The launching was completed in the remarkably short time of eleven minutes.

The attack went in at 1830. Ozawa had been able to put up very few fighters to intercept - no more than 35 according to the American pilots' later estimates, but these few were skilfully handled, and the Japanese ships' anti-aircraft fire was intense.

The first ships sighted by the US strike were oilers, and two of these were damaged so severely that they were later scuttled. The carrier Hiyo was attacked by 4 Avengers from the light carrier Belleau Wood and hit by at least one of their torpedoes. The carriers Zuikaku, Junyo and Chiyoda were damaged by bombs, as was the battleship Haruna. The torpedoed Hiyo later sank. Roughly 20 American aircraft were lost in this strike.

By nightfall on 20 June Ozawa had therefore lost three carriers, including two of his finest ships, and of the 430 aircraft which had been available to his force on the morning of 19 June only 35 were still operational.

The Night Recovery

Twilight was closing in as the American attack ended, and the aircrew were faced with the difficult and dangerous task of making a landing on what proved to be an exceptionally dark night. They had flown 275-300 miles to the enemy fleet and had almost as long a return flight to the US carriers. Their fuel was therefore dangerously low.

At 2045 the first returning planes began to circle over Task Force 58. Mitscher - who invariably showed unusual concern for the safety and well-being of his flyers - then took the decision to fully illuminate the carriers, despite the risk of attack from submarines and night-flying aircraft. All ships of the task force turned on their lights, and the screening destroyers fired starshell throughout the recovery, which lasted two hours. Despite these measures eighty of the returning aircraft - with pilots neither trained nor equipped for night landing - were lost, some crashing on flight decks, the majority going into the sea. But of the 209 aircrew participating in the 20 June strike 160 were rescued either during the operation or in the following few days.

The End of Japanese Seaborne Airpower At 2046 on 20 June Ozawa received orders from Admiral Toyoda, C-in-C of the Combined Fleet, to withdraw from the Philippine Sea. After the night recovery of Mitscher's aircraft the US task force moved westwards in pursuit of the retreating Japanese, but the battle was over.

The two-day engagement had been the largest pure carrier-versus-carrier battle in history, and was to be the last. The immediate consequence of the Japanese defeat was the US capture of the Marianas. This broke the Japanese inner line of defence, and meant that American bombers based in the islands could now reach targets on Japan itself. As a result of their huge losses of aircrew in the battle the remnants of the Japanese seaborne air groups were never again able to challenge the American fleet, and at the Leyte Gulf four months later the Japanese carrier force - which had once dominated the Pacific War - was reduced to playing the role of decoy, while the primary attacking role was, of necessity, assigned to the Imperial Navy's battleships and their attendant cruisers and destroyers.

Additional Sources:

www.onwar.com
www.history.navy.mil
www.brooksart.com
www.microsoft.com
www.multied.com

On This Day In history

Birthdates which occurred on June 22:
1478 Philips de Schone, Archduke of Austrian/King of Castilia (Philips I)
1732 - Johann Christoph Frederic Bach, composer
1757 George Vancouver surveyed Pacific coast from SF to Vancouver I
1837 Paul Morphy New Orleans, greatest chess player of all time (1857-61)
1856 H Rider Haggard author (King Solomon's Mine, She)
1858 Giacomo Puccini Italy, operatic composer (Madama Butterfly)
1859 Frank Heino Damrosch author/musician/teacher (found Inst of Music)
1887 Sir Julian Huxley London, biologist/philosopher, Darwin's Bulldog
1896 Francis C Denebrink US Naval officer (WW I, WW II, Korea)
1898 Erich Maria Remarque novelist (All Quiet on the Western Front)
1900 Jennie Tourel [Jennie Davidson], St Petersburg Russia, mezzo-soprano
1901 Jack Whiting Phila Pa, actor/singer (Marge & Gower Champion Show)
1903 Carl Hubbell pitcher (NY Giants)-253 wins, 2.97 lifetime ERA
1903 John Dillinger one of America's Most Wanted
1906 Billy Wilder movie director (Some Like It Hot, Apartment, Stalag 17)
1906 Richard Fanshawe England, equestion 3 day event (Olympic-bronze-1936)
1907 Anne Morrow Lindbergh aviator/author (Gift from the Sea)
1910 Jennie Tourel Montreal Canada, mezzo-soprano (Met Opera 1943-47)
1910 Katherine Dunham US, dancer/choreographer/anthropologist
1910 Sir Peter Pears Farnham England, tenor (Death in Venice)
1920 Paul Frees Chicago Ill, animation voice (Bullwinkle)
1921 Gower Champion choreographer (42nd Street)
1921 Joseph Papp Bkln, stage producer/director (Pirates of Penzance)
1922 Bill Blass Ft Wayne Ind, fashion designer (Nancy Reagan)
1928 Orson Bean Burlington Vt, comedian (I Got a Secret, To Tell the Truth)
1929 Ralph Waite actor (Last Summer, Cool Hand Luke, 5 Easy Piece)
1933 Dianne Feinstein (Mayor-D-SF)
1936 Kris Kristofferson singer/actor (Amerika, Millenium)
1941 Ed Bradley Phila, CBS news correspondant (60 Minutes)
1943 Jimmy Castor NYC, rocker (Troglodyte)
1944 Michael Obst German FR, coxsman (Olympic-gold-1960)
1944 Peter Asher London, singer (Peter & Gordon-World Without Love)
1946 Andrew Rubin New Bedford Mass, actor (Police Academy)
1947 David L Lander Bkln NY, actor (Squiggy-Laverne & Shirley)
1947 Don Henley drummer/singer (Eagles, Boys of Summer)
1947 Howard Kaylan rocker (The Turtles-Happy Together, Eleanor)
1948 "Pistol" Pete Maravich NBA star (Atlanta Hawks)
1948 Todd Rundgren rock singer (Hello it's Me, Bang on the Drum All Day)
1949 Alan Osmond Ogden Utah, singer (Osmond Brothers, Donnie & Marie)
1949 Lindsay Wagner LA Ca, actress (Bionic Woman, Paper Chase, Nighthawks)
1949 Meryl Streep NJ, actress (French Lieutenant's Woman, Sophie's Choice)
1950 Murphy Cross Harve de Grace Md, actress (Phyl & Mikhy, Perfect)
1954 Chris Lemmon actor (Brothers & Sisters, Richard-Duet)
1954 Freddie Prinze NYC, comedian/actor (Chico & the Man)
1956 Derek Forbes rocker (Simple Minds-Water Front)
1956 Green (Gartside) rocker (Scritti Politti-Flesh & Blood)
1957 Garry Beers Sydney Australia, rocker (Inxs-Kiss the Dirt)
1960 Colleen Devine San Gabriel Cal, actress (Irreconcilable Differences)
1960 Tracy Pollan actress (Family Ties)
1961 Jimmy Somerville rocker (Bronski Beat, Communards-You Are My World)
1962 Ruby Turner rocker (No Where to Run)
1963 Anne-Marie Ruddock rocker (Amazulu-Excitable)
1964 Kevin Sargeant rocker (Thrashing Doves-Reprobate's Hymm)
1965 Tommy Cunningham rocker (Wet Wet Wet-Wishing I Was)
1968 Paula Irvine Hollywood Calif, actress (Lily Blake-Santa Barbara)

Deaths which occurred on June 22:
1535 - John Fisher, English bishop (1504-35)/cardinal/saint, beheaded by Henry VIII at 65
1876 - General Santa Anna dies in Mexico City at 82
1874 Howard Staunton world chess champion, designer of chess pieces, dies
1922 Field Marshal Sir Henry H Wilson murdered in London
1954 Don Hollenbeck newscaster (CBS Weekend News), dies at 49
1955 Wyllis Cooper TV narrator (Volume One), dies at 56
1961 Betty Elder actress (Annie Get Your Gun), dies
1965 David O Selznick Gone With the Wind's producer, dies at 63
1969 Judy Garland singer/actress, dies in London at 47
1979 Emory Parnell St Paul Minn, actor (Life of Riley), dies at 85
1979 Julius Sommer dies of heart failure, buried in Dayton Ohio
1982 Alan Webb actor, dies at 75
1984 Joseph Losey director, dies at 75
1987 Fred Astaire actor/dancer, dies at Century City Hospital in LA at 88
1988 Dennis Day Jack Benny Show singer, dies of Lou Gehrigs disease at 71
1991 Kevin O'Connor actor (Bogie), dies of cancer at 56

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 SMITH WARREN P. JR. PASADENA TX.
1967 PIRIE JAMES GLENN TUSCALOOSA AL.
[02/18/73 RELEASED BY DRV, DECEASED 05/09/98]
1969 ENGELHARD ERIC CARL BELLBROOK OH.
[04/01/74 REMAINS RECOVERED]
1969 ROBERSON JOHN W. MALAKOFF TX.
1969 SEAGROVES MICHAEL ANTHONY CHICAGO IL.
[04/01/74 REMAINS RECOVERED]
1970 EARLE JOHN S. WESTFIELD MA.
1970 GUMBERT ROBERT W. JR. NEW RICHMOND OH.
1971 STROHLEIN MADISON A. PHILADELPHIA PA.
[INDICATIONS OF SHOOTOUT WITH NVA]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
431 Council of Ephesus (3rd ecumenical council) opens
816 Stephen IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1342 Bilbo Baggins returns to his home at Bag End, (Shire Reckoning)
1476 - The Battle of Morat in Switzerland was waged, in which the Confederates defeated the soldiers of Charles the Bold of Burgundy,.
1497 Antitax insurrection in Cornwall suppressed at Blackheath
1611 Henry Hudson & son set adrift in Hudson Bay by mutineers
1675 Royal Greenwich Observatory established in England by Charles II
1772 Slavery outlawed in England
1775 1st Continental currency issued ($3,000,000)
1807 British board USS Chesapeake, a provocation leading to War of 1812
1808 Zebulon Pike reaches his peak
1815 2nd abdication of Napoleon (after Waterloo)
1847 Doughnut created
1848 Barnburners (anti-slavery) party nominates Martin Van Buren for Pres
1849 Stephen C Massett opens courthouse using only piano in Calif
1851 Fire destroys part of SF
1868 Arkansas re-enters US
1870 Congress creates Department of Justice
1873 Prince Edward Island joins Canada
1874 Dr Andrew T Sill, of Macon, Missouri, finds science of osteopathy
1889 Louisville Colonels set ML baseball record with 26th consecutive loss
1910 1st airship with passengers sets afloat-Zeppelin Deutscheland
1911 King George V of England crowned
1918 Circus train rammed by troop train kills 68 (Ivanhoe Illinois)
1925 G Shajn discovers asteroid #1058 Grubba
1930 Lou Gehrig hits 3 HRs in a game, Ruth hits 3 in doubleheader
1936 Harry Froboess dives 110 m from airship into Bodensee & survives
1936 Virgin Islands receives a constution from US (Organic Act)
1937 Joe Louis KOs James Braddock for the heavyweight boxing crown
1938 Joe Louis KOs Max Schmeling at 2:04 of 1st round at Yankee Stadium
1940 France falls to Nazi Germany; armistice signed, France disarmed
1941 Finland invades Karelia
1941 Germany declares war on Soviet Union during WW II
1944 FDR signs "GI Bill of Rights" (Servicemen's Readjustment Act)
1944 Longest shut out in Phillies history, Phils beat Braves 1-0 in 15 inn
1944 Boston Brave Jim Tobin 2nd no-hitter of yr beats Phils, 7-0 in 5 inn
1947 12" rain in 42 mins (Holt, MO)
1949 Ezzard Charles defeats Jersey Joe Walcott for the boxing title
1954 Congress passes revised organic act for Virgin Islands
1957 KC stops using streetcars in it's transit system
1958 Game in KC between A's & Red Sox delayed 29 minutes due to tornado
1959 Eddie Lubanski bowls 2 consecutive perfect games
1959 Most Phillies strike out in a game (16 by Sandy Koufax)
1959 Vanguard SLV-6 launched for Earth orbit (failed)
1961 Beatles record Aint She Sweet, Cry for a Shadow, When the Saints Go Marching In, Why, Nobody's Child & My Bonnie, in Hamburg
1969 Aretha Franklin arrested in Detroit for creating a disturbance
1970 Pres Nixon signs 26th amendment (voting age lowered to 18)
1973 George Harrison releases "Living in the Material World"
1973 Skylab 2's astronauts land
1977 Former AG John Mitchell starts 19 months in Alabama prison
1977 Walt Disney's "The Rescuers" released
1978 James Christy's discovery of Pluto's moon Charon announced
1978 Neo-Nazis call off plans to march in Jewish community of Skokie, Ill
1978 Pluto's moon Charon discovered by James Christy
1979 Pro Football Researchers Association founded at Canton, Ohio
1980 Jim King begins riding Miracle Strip Roller coaster 368 hours
1981 2 Habash terrorists attack a travel agency in Greece killing 2
1981 John McEnroe exhibites a disgraceful act of misbehavior at Wimbeldon
1981 Mark David Chapman pleads guilty to killing John Lennon
1982 Manhattan institutes bus-only lanes
1982 Prince Chuck & Lady Di take Prince William home from hospital
1983 1st time a satellite is retrieved from orbit by Space Shuttle
1983 NHL institutes a 5 minute sudden death overtime period
1986 Pirate Radio Euro Weekend (Holland) begins transmitting
1987 Tom Seaver retires after 3rd try with NY Mets
1990 Billy Joel performs a concert at Yankee Stadium
1990 Florida passes a law prohibits wearing a throng bathing suit
1990 Longest game in Toronto, Yanks beat Blue Jays 8-7 in 15 inns
1991 Underwater volcano, Mount Didicas, erupts in Phillipines

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Congo : Army Day
El Salvador : School Teacher's Day/D¡a del Maestro
Haiti : Sovereignty Day/President's Day
Virgin Islands : Organic Act Day (1954)
Yemen PDR : Corrective Move Day
Newfoundland : Discovery Day (1497-John Cabot) - - - - - ( Monday )
National Frozen Yogurt Month

Religious Observances
RC : Mem of SS John Fisher, bp, martyr, & Thomas More, martyr (opt)
witch : Alban Hefin sabbat
Ang : Feast of Alban, 1st martyr of Britain
RC : Feast of St Paulinus, bishop of Nola, confessor

Religious History
1559 In England, Queen Elizabeth's Prayer Book was issued. During her 45-year reign, Elizabeth I rejected the Catholic faith, adopting instead the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican Church.
1745 Colonial missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd wrote in his journal: 'I am often weary of this world, and want to leave it on that account; but it is more desirable to be drawn, rather than driven out of it.'
1750 Clergyman Jonathan Edwards was dismissed from his Congregational pulpit in Northampton, MA, after serving there 23 years. Maintaining his ultra- conservative theology, Edwards had grown to become administratively too inflexible for his congregation.
1865 The society known today as the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) was first organized. Its purpose is to provide information about the archaeology, the history and the people of the Holy Land.
1870 Scholars began translation work on the English Revised Version of the Bible. Released in 1881, the ERV became the textual basis for the American Standard Version (ASV), first published in the United States in 1901.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"You are not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others."