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In the Pacific theater of World War II, the United States and Japan launched a world-shaking aircraft carrier showdown. Despite the strength shown by the Japanese Navy in previous campaigns, all this looked insignificant under the powerful offensive of the US Navy.
In the Pearl Harbor incident, the Japanese Navy once tasted the sweet fruit of victory in the war, but as the war deepened, the US Navy showed its devastating offensive capability. The Japanese navy gradually became powerless in this duel of disparity in strength and could not withstand the fierce offensive of the American army.
This aircraft carrier showdown not only demonstrated the huge gap between the United States and Japan in naval strength, but also highlighted the importance of technology and equipment in war. In this crucial battle that determined the direction of the Pacific War, the US Navy finally won an overwhelming victory with its advanced aircraft carrier technology and tactics.
In the latter part of the Pacific War, the balance of power between the Japanese Navy and the U.S. Navy was almost one-sided.
Near the Mariana Islands, the Imperial Japanese Navy and the US Navy engaged in an unprecedented aircraft carrier showdown. The scale of this battle has left a strong mark in the history of human warfare.
However, for the US Navy, victory in this war seemed too easy. They defeated the Japanese navy so overwhelmingly that they jokingly called the war the "Mariana Turkey Hunt". On the one hand, this joking name shows the confidence and sense of humor of the US military, and on the other hand, it also hints at the passivity and powerlessness of the Japanese Navy in this war.
On June 19 and 20, 1944, the Mariana Sea witnessed a magnificent naval battle. The majestic figure of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and the Japanese First Mobile Fleet collided fiercely here, and the waves rolled and the battle raged. The sheer number of aircraft carriers invested by both sides has almost set a new record in naval history, and other types of warships are even more vast.
In this war, both the United States and Japan have done their best to try to write their own glorious chapter in this sea. The Japanese Navy's tactics were ingenious, but at the critical pre-war moments, all of this was meaningless.
With the Allied victory in the Battle of Guadalcanal, the initiative in the Pacific theater gradually shifted to the United States.
The sharp-eyed commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Chester William Nimits, planned a new offensive in the central Pacific, while Army Admiral Douglas MacArthur launched island-hopping operations from Australia to Indonesia and the Philippines. In the first half of 1944, two fronts rapidly approached Japan and were unstoppable. The goal of the U.S. military was clear: to attack the Japanese mainland.
To achieve this, the US military needs an important springboard. Therefore, the capture of the Mariana Islands as a base for B-29 bombers became critical. The Japanese Navy was not an idle man, they saw through the intentions of the US military at a glance, and formulated a corresponding combat plan to resist the attack of the US army.
Therefore, the Japanese navy has also taken corresponding measures, and they have seen the intentions of the US military. In response to the plan of the US military, Japan also worked out a corresponding combat plan to resist the attack of the US army.
On May 20, 1944, after Toyoda Vice Takeshi succeeded the deceased Mineichi Koga as commander-in-chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, the Japanese hoped that a mobile force of nine aircraft carriers led by Vice Admiral Jizaburo Ozawa could deliver a fatal blow to the U.S. Fifth Fleet when the U.S. forces attacked Marrina.
At that time, the Japanese Navy had also realized the decisive role of aircraft carriers in the war, but when the Japanese army realized it, the US military had been ahead of the Japanese army for two years, so in terms of sea operations, the Japanese Navy was a very undominant side, and at that time, the Japanese Navy, after several previous defeats, had greatly declined in naval strength, which was not as good as before.
Therefore, the Japanese army also thought of countermeasures for such a situation. That is, the Japanese fleet hovered outside the combat radius of US planes, and then took off carrier-based planes to attack the US fleet, and after completing the attack mission, it flew to the Japanese air bases on Rota Island and Guam, refueled and hung up bombs, and then turned back to launch the next wave of attacks, thus achieving one flight and two bombings.
However, the outcome of the war was a great disappointment for the Japanese Navy. Despite their seemingly ingenious battle plan, reality dealt them a heavy blow.
Relying on its powerful air power and superb bombing skills, the U.S. military carried out a fierce bombing of the islands occupied by the Japanese army, destroying a large number of Japanese land-based aircraft.
As a result of this naval battle, the U.S. Navy inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese Navy's main force, the First Mobile Fleet, and in one fell swoop seized sea supremacy in the western Pacific, while also consolidating the positions established on Saipan.
The U.S. military paid a very small price, with only 76 killed, 123 aircraft and four warships slightly damaged, but inflicting a huge blow on the enemy's three aircraft carriers, two oil tankers and 600 aircraft.