Key Facts
- Date
- 19–20 June 1944
- Carriers involved
- 24 aircraft carriers (both sides combined)
- Carrier aircraft deployed
- ~1,350 carrier-based aircraft
- American aircraft lost
- 80 planes
- Japanese carriers sunk
- 2 fleet carriers + 1 light carrier
Strategic Narrative Overview
On 19–20 June 1944, American and Japanese carrier forces clashed in the largest carrier battle in history. Japanese aircraft suffered catastrophic losses to experienced American pilots, superior tactics, numerical advantage, and new proximity-fuze anti-aircraft technology—earning the nickname 'Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.' American submarines sank two large Japanese fleet carriers. A late American strike sank a light carrier but many returning U.S. aircraft ran out of fuel after dark, losing 80 planes.
01 / The Origins
In mid-1944, the United States launched an amphibious campaign to retake the Mariana Islands from Japan in the Pacific War. Japan's Mobile Fleet sortied to intercept, intending to use land-based aircraft on the islands alongside carrier aviation to defeat the U.S. Fifth Fleet. Allied intelligence had already obtained Japanese defensive plans from the wreckage of Admiral Mineichi Koga's aircraft, giving American commanders advance knowledge of Japanese intentions.
03 / The Outcome
The battle resulted in a decisive American victory. Japan lost the bulk of its carrier air strength and was left with no capacity to mount large-scale carrier operations. The few surviving Japanese carriers remained mostly in port thereafter. Combined with the Battle of Leyte Gulf four months later, the Philippine Sea engagement effectively ended Japanese aircraft carrier operations for the remainder of the war.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Jisaburo Ozawa.
Side B
1 belligerent
Raymond Spruance, Marc Mitscher.
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.