Biggest Carrier Battle in History: Marianas Turkey Shoot

The Battle of the Philippine Sea. Known in the West as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" due to the significant losses faced by the Japanese forces, was seen by both sides as a lost opportunity. By June 1944, much of Japan's pre-war naval air power had been destroyed in the Battle of Midway and the Guadalcanal campaign. Since then, the Imperial Japanese Navy had gradually rebuilt its air groups and carrier fleet with the goal of engaging the Americans in a decisive battle that would end the American advance across the Pacific Ocean. When the United States Fifth Fleet advanced on the Marianas Islands, Japanese naval leaders saw an opportunity to spring their trap.
On June 12th 1944 Japan launched Operation A-Go. It relied on land-based planes to chip away at the US fleet and destroy up to one-third of its strength before the First Mobile Fleet, led by Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, delivered the knockout blow to the depleted fleet.
Ozawa was given nearly every available surface craft to meet the Americans. There were three fleet carriers, two medium carriers, and four light carriers available. Ozawa had five battleships, 12 cruisers, and 22 escorting destroyers as a protective shield for the carriers. Ozawa had assembled 430 carrier aircraft and could rely on an additional 540 fighters and bombers from nearby land bases.
The main parts of Ozawa's fleet met on June 16 in the western part of the Philippines and headed for the Marianas. However, during the previous four days of heavy air raids on Japanese bases on the Mariana Islands, American carrier aircraft ripped into Japanese airfields. In a foreshadowing of what was to come, Japanese Mitsubishi Zero fighters rose to meet their foes, but their inexperienced pilots were no match for their better-trained American counterparts and their advanced Hellcat fighters. When the final wisps of smoke cleared away from the ensuing slaughter, American pilots had stripped Ozawa of his desperately needed land-based air power. If Ozawa had known about this, he might have acted differently in the upcoming battle, but the commander of the decimated squadrons, unbelievably, failed to relay this critical information to his superior.

[@062241kdp]

Wow, what a great delivery, a pleasure to listen to you. Nice job, very informative.

[@JRRodriguez-nu7po]

One of the reasons tyranny fails: underlings afraid to report failure.

[@MrLuckytrucker21]

Yep, and that was typical throughout the war with Japan, they would hide their losses and overestimate ours!

[@marksaunderson3042]

Indeed. If those actually fighting are unwilling to report what is actually happening back to those in command, then those in command carry on sending the lambs to the slaughter. ‘How are we doing?’ We are winning. Then they lose, because they were losing..

[@willisswenson3843]

The US Marines are a Department of the Navy. The number one job of the US Navy is to protect the Marines. Thank you Admiral Spruance for protecting countless Marines lives.

[@mrjipper]

I think Spruance did right by being careful, he had an invasion force to protect. The aim was to take the islands and not get into a slug fest with the IJN. That was for another day and time. Agree or disagree? Remembered what happened in the Philippines when Halsey took off.

[@lukeclarke267]

They may complain about letting them "escape," but the losses suffered by the Japanese were extreme and not replacable. The loss of even moderately or undertrained aircrew was something they could not afford. Why take risks when it's not necessary? Agreed he made the right choice, no point in inadvertently giving the IJN even the slimmest of chances to score a victory.

[@davidoltmans2725]

The mission of the battleship and and the heavy cruisers was to anchor themselves to the invasion force and the supply lines. The lessons the navy learned from the Guadalcanal campaign was for the Navy to show up and protect the landing force and its supply chains, neither of which the Navy did effectively. A mistake that was repeated in the Philippines campaign when Halsey foolishly left the invasion force under protected while he went charging off for glory. The outcome was a miracle, that saw the remaining US fighting ships hold off a much superior IJN force with a great loss of life.

[@patrickmiano7901]

Future events validated his decision.

[@tarn1135]

If this was 3 years earlier the Japanese fleet would’ve decimated the USN. 3 years earlier the ijn had better aircraft and better trained pilots, however by ‘44 the USN had better aircraft, better trained pilots (who were also trained in night air operations like landing, more advanced radars, and finally a shit ton more carriers and planes. Even knowing the outcome of the war and this battle in particular, I think Spruance was too cautious and missed the golden opportunity to wipe out the IJN sooner. However hindsight is 20/20 and I can only guess what was going through his mind in that critical moment, who knows it’s entirely possible that Izzowa’s fleet could’ve obliterated the USN then and there and history would’ve been a whole lot bloodier even though I have zero doubt the USA would’ve still been victorious in the end. It was, imo, inevitable given the massive industrial base, training structure state side and a much larger population to drawn on.

[@TowGunner]

Was it a brilliant victory or a bungled opportunity? Nimitz’s direction to Spruance was to capture, occupy and defend Saipan, Guam and Tinian. Nimitz’s orders said nothing about going on the offensive against an enemy fleet. Was Spruance too cautious? Admiral Mitscher wrote in his battle report, “The enemy had escaped. He had been badly hurt by one aggressive carrier strike at the one time when he was within range. His fleet was not sunk.” Mitscher wanted to close the distance instead of waiting for the enemy to come to them. If Spruance did do things differently and was successful, it’s then very possible the Battle of Leyte Gulf would never have occurred. This engagement is more controversial than Halsey’s 3rd Fleet dash.

[@leodouskyron5671]

Spruance did two things perfectly 1)protected the invasion fleet as his highest priority as ordered 2)by focusing on defense the last effective units of the Japanese were lured into powerful defense with interlocking layers, expert pilots, more effective fighters and the attackers were also outnumbered and defenders could use fleet resources (including leaning the Japanese plans for attack) to obliterate the attackers. As plans go, hard to do better.

[@coniccinoc]

Highly rewatchable. It is a curse of command that no matter what the outcome, people safely behind a desk away from combat will be the loudest critics.

[@spikespa5208]

And people, with history's 20-20 hindsight, 75+ years on.

[@flashwashington2735]

Talking about keyboard warriors? ☺🤪🙏

[@raymondpaller6475]

Well you'll feel better if you remember Babe Ruth's line, "The loudest boos come from the cheapest seats."

[@alanmacification]

Spruance had his primary orders: protect the landings. And the Japanese had a potent force if they could have got surprise or caught Spruance out of position. Later at Leyte Gulf in October, Admiral Halsey would do exactly that, got suckered out of position, and almost lost his invasion fleet. Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

[@tonyjanney1654]

The ghosts of Savo Island haunted US Invasion thinking. There was a great fear that a Japanese force could slip by the escorts and hit the loaded transports. American Marine generals and their US Army counterparts remembered how the Navy pulled out after Savo Island and left the invasion force at Guadalcanal unprotected. If you are familiar with the rest of the Solomons campaign, great emphasis was placed on protecting the landing force and not having a rerun of Savo. Halsey ignored those concerns, but was saved by Taffy 3's heroics.

[@1982nsu]

I agree that Ray Spruance made the right call. Let's not forget that Admiral Marc Mitscher made the wrong call at the battle of Midway resulting in the infamous "Flight to Nowhere".

[@salamanca1954]

Exactly right. Spruance was vindicated by the results, and the Marines were protected.

[@josephcernansky1794]

@@The_Fat_Controller A good synopsis of Halsey. I always thought he was more of "bullshit" Halsey rather than "Bull" Halsey. He EASILY telegraphed his tactics to the enemy via his bravado. Bravado may serve you well, if you are not ingrained to its inflexibility. It is such inflexibility to attack that allowed him to be decoyed and waste a great proportion of his forces in a "nothing burger". Had he even a sliver of tact and THOUGHTFULNESS.....a double decoy could have allowed him to turn back and annihilate the ENTIRE Japanese Northern Force of battleships and cruisers at Leyte Gulf....without the loss of great naval commanders and sailors that saved the day....but only because the Japanese Commander was not as aggressive and foolhardy to charge forward with little intel of what airpower was still available to the Americans at the Leyte beachhead. Had they pursued the fight.....it would have been an unmitigated disaster and Admiral "Bullshit" Halsey would forever go down in history as the perfect example of The Peter Principle

[@rdejonge2189]

@@The_Fat_Controller And because of his mistake, he achieved his objective, getting in the historiebooks, but probably not at the way he wanted.

[@jamesfrost7465]

Thank God for many things. The F6F Hellcat is at the top of that list.

[@GH-oi2jf]

Ozawa’s air power had been more than “decimated,” which means only “reduced by a tenth.” The Japanese lost nearly 600 aircraft, two fleet carriers, and a light carrier, with associated personnel. It was a devastating loss.

[@josepherhardt164]

Yeah. People think "decimated" means reduced to 1/10, not reduced BY 1/10, which is/was the original definition (and a punishment to Roman legions that failed to rise to their required duty).

[@korbendallas5318]

It once _meant_ "reduced by a tenth", but it means something else now.

[@josepherhardt164]

@@korbendallas5318 Comes from the Romans. "Decimation" was punishment meted out to legions that behaved cowardly. One in ten of them would be summarily killed.

[@lamplighter1968]

Oh? What does it mean now? @@korbendallas5318

[@Trashcansam123]

Yes we know that’s what decimate technically means but we use it differently now

[@colinstafford7846]

The Americans had broken the code used by the Japanese navy before Midway. I don’t know if the Japanese knew this by this time. But it goes to show, it doesn’t matter what the odds are against you if you know what your enemy is going to do it gives you a hell of an advantage.

[@richardmalcolm1457]

"I don’t know if the Japanese knew this by this time." They didn't. They had changed up the codes more than once since May 1942, though. Not that it mattered: the U.S. pretty consistently had much better intelligence on IJN operations than the Japanese had on the USN for the rest of the war.

[@danr308]

They didn't and they sure were stupid not to. Of course the Japanese were just across the board stupid back then.

[@bluedragontoybash2463]

broken code, advance radar, proximity fuse, industrial might. No wonder Japan resort to kamikaze

[@denvan3143]

The US had not completely broken the Japanese code by the time of midway, to the extent that they could look over the shoulder of those sending the messages, but rather they were able to peek through a lot of windows, and get some idea of what the Japanese were up to. The American Intel on the Japanese trap at midway was based partially on information that was deciphered and partly on deduction. I have never heard the Japanese really thought their coated been broken, nor that we have broken the German codes. This isn’t mere hubris your ignorance; at some point, you have to believe your message of sending secret messages works or you just won’t send any messages.

[@michaelmapes4119]

Yeah the Japanese military intelligence was actually a joke. Plus still using Military equipment that was state of the art back in '40, but already obsolete by then.

[@user-bh8tx4id5x]

Spruance was correct in his actions. The extent of the losses in the JN air force was unknown at the time. Matter of fact, the magnitude of the losses and the state of training of the replacement japanese pilots were unknown until the end of the war. This was also a contributing factor to Halsey’s decision process at LEYTE GULF.

[@mafuletrekkie]

Spruance effectively broke the back of the Japanese navy in this battle, although that was not recognized until much later, leaving the Japanese carriers as nothing more than paper tigers for the rest of the war.

[@frankward8336]

Use of the proximity fuse was a great advance in anti-aircraft shells

[@lychan2366]

For an Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) that believed in the concept of decisive battles, Pearl Harbor, Midway and the Battle of the Philippine Sea were a matter of time. String these decisive battles out, they became a war of attrition for Japan. Ironically, many IJN officers, most notably its C-in-C of IJN Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, foreknew from their pre-war naval gaming exercises that Japan couldn't hope to win a war against the USA. Yet, their reservations were overridden by pro-war voices and factions within IJA (e.g. PM Hideki Tojo, Chief of Staff Sugiyama and other hot-headed IJA officers) and IJN (e.g. Chief of Naval General Staff Nagano). As the Imperial Conference (presided by Emperor Hirohito), had decided on war against USA by September 1941, Yamamoto planned for (what he thought) the second-best sub-optimal outcome for Japan; a surprise raid on Pearl Harbor. Yet, his predictions that his IJN could run riot for the first 6 months of war but no guarantee of victory if war stretched out to 2 years and beyond, proved prophetically true. He was to pay the ultimate price with his life. What tragedy for him and millions of others! When will mankind ever learn from history?

[@badboy-gn8fu]

but war is fun so humans will never stop

[@lychan2366]

@@badboy-gn8fu Wait till you get out of your comfort zone and experience the horrors of war first-hand, then you will know how "fun" it is.

[@user-qi3qi5re8i]

Das kommt davon wenn man sich von der Kriegsvorbereiteten USA in einen Krieg ziehen lässt.

[@charleskoehler9873]

Excellent narration.

[@genEricSVG]

Very much so ... when the narration began I did a double take , thinking I had misread the video title and it was current events or something ! Dude could easily transition to one of the big network/prime time news type shows lol - I'm glad someone else mentioned it as well so I knew it wasn't just me

[@politicsuncensored5617]

Great video and narration of what happened. It took Japan 2 years to rebuild from the Midway disaster only to see their rebuilt navy destroyed in 2 days. Shalom

[@lakeman_gj]

Actually, big amount of experienced Japanese carrier crews died while battling from Rabaul (Guadalcanal campaign, Operation I-go, Operation Ro-go) in 1943. After that, they had to build carrier air force from scratch, they didn't have enough time, and was destroyed as you wrote. Big disaster for Nippon Kaigun (Japanese Navy)

[@jamesmummerfied3044]

i like how you ended that comment. had to look up the exact meaning of that greeting / salutation. Aleichem shalom

[@politicsuncensored5617]

James peace is beautiful no matter how one writes or speaks it. Shalom or just Peace to all. @@jamesmummerfied3044

[@davewallace8219]

From the coral sea...thru midway...the i.j.n. , was on it heels

[@FairwayJack]

Mitscher shouldn't of criticized Spruance ... imho, Spruance was key to the earlier Midway victory ... and without planes the Japanese carriers were as good as sunk at that stage of the war (late June 1944)

[@jonathanbaron-crangle5093]

FairwayJack "Mitscher shouldn't of criticized Spruance" Please, you're a native English speaker, stop mangling the language It's "shouldn't have" not "shouldn't of" (the issue is the 've sounding like 'of' I get it, but please take this lesson on board)

[@StephenLuke]

RIP To the 109 US Navy men and airmen, and 2,987 Imperial Japanese Navy men and airmen who were killed in the Battle of the Philippine Sea

[@herbsuperb6034]

2 years of intense work wiped out in 2 days of fighting. Unreal.

[@user-pg4iw1cm8c]

My father learned RADAR at Cambridge from one of the developers Huxley. He had been attached to the RAF before Pearl to learn RADAR. While there he ran one of the RADAR sites in London during the Battle of Britton. He told me the deciding factor for defeating the Luftwaffe was RADAR. They enemy could not seem to understand that we knew they were coming and got our planes in the air. It sounds like RADAR was the factor the Japanese could not understand.

[@bkjeong4302]

The Germans did have radar even early in the war (though the Japanese didn’t, at least not to that extent). The secret to British fighter interception wasn’t radar in itself, *but how it was integrated into a much more advanced fighter direction system to tell fighters where to go.*

[@ScoutSniper3124]

“A trap isn’t a trap if you know the trapper’s trying to trap you. It’s a face off” - Star Lord, Guardians of the Galaxy.

[@RickTheClipper]

The proximity fuzes had a huge part of success

[@leexingha]

the US tech had been advancing meanwhile the IJ couldnt even replace their previous losses let alone make some advancement

[@brentcollins9727]

That was an amazing presentation. You have a new subscriber. Happy New Year!!

[@gnperdue]

Jesus. We call it The Greatest Generation for a reason.

[@ancientanomalies]

Thanks to those who also saved the Philippines from the Japanese butchers! My wife is Filipina her parents recalled the horror of what the Japanese did to the kindest of people on God's Earth. How Filipinos manage to forgive the Japanese is beyond comprehension. They do not hold grudges and know that Patton and his men saved their country. 😊

[@cjgparas3]

We are eternally gratefull for USA. But we also do not hold a grudge against japan or USA or even spain. We do not promote hatred to another country. Although china is beginnig to bother us. 😂

[@sushibar777]

It would have been better for the US not to have tried to retake the Philippines. This contributed nothing to ultimate victory, but resulted in terrible destruction and loss of Filippino and American lives. The destruction wreaked by the Japanese Army in Manila on the civilian population as the US forces took the city was horrific. But regardless, Japanese forces on the islands were still fighting when Japan surrendered. It took the US flying one of the Emperor's brothers to the Philippines after the surrender to convince the forces there to surrender. Better would have been to bypass the Philippines, as had been done with other islands, and go straight from the Mariannas to Okinawa and Japan to force surrender. The Philippines were assaulted for one reason, and one reason only-- MacArthur's ego. He had been unceremoniously kicked out in 1942, and he wanted to avenge that, the cost be damned, even if strategically it was pointless.

[@WhizeCracker]

This was a view I never saw coming. WELL DONE!!! LIKED, SUSCRIBED, & DING!!!

[@williamleadbetter9686]

The United States learned from the painful carrier battles of the Solomons like the battle of Santa Cruz on how to better manage fighter interception, creating layers of figters, keeping enough still orbiting the fleet to defend against those that broke through and excellent radar ranged proximity fused anti-aircraft surface based weapons.

[@herbsuperb6034]

Yep. America had few advantages in the early days of the war, but Anti-Aircraft gunnery was one area we had going for us. Got better as the war progressed, especially with the addition of the Swedish-designed 40 mm Bofors guns, which were absolute killers. That, the German-designed 20mm Oerlikon, and the American 5-Inch 38 Caliber were among the best anti-aircraft guns of the war.

[@williamleadbetter9686]

@@herbsuperb6034 I always thought the oerlikon 20mm was a swiss design but then again I believe the design did come from the German Becker M20 cannon. That proximity fuse really was quite a leap forward I think the British helped with that. I've shot the .50 cal but the only thing that ever shot back was an AK-47 imagine hoping to God above you get that kamikaze before he plunged right into you. Must of been harrowing. My grandfather was in the Solomons, Guadalcanal, munda point, bougainvillea and the Philippines. He was my hero. Iraq was nothing compared to WW2

[@ryanslauderdale]

Yeah. They lost the Hornet in the Battle of Santa Cruz, if memory serves.

[@williamleadbetter9686]

@@ryanslauderdale and it was largely because of poor ship board fighter directors sending intercepting fighters in poorly coordinated cluster #$@*. This got much better with time but still a work in progress as it was an art form not yet common place in naval Warfare doctrine, yet. So it cost the Allies dearly.

[@herbsuperb6034]

@@ryanslauderdale Indeed. She and her sister Yorktown both went down swinging. They didn't make it easy to sink them. The Japanese Navy chalked up the Yorktown a couple of times before they actually finished her off. Fighting ships of the highest order. Have you read the story about their other sister's last engagement? The kamikaze that knocked Enterprise out of the war (Japan surrendered while she was undergoing major repairs in Washington) displayed one of the most astonishing feats of airmanship of the entire war. Or just and incredibly lucky piece of happenstance. The pilot (of course) was killed. So we'll never know.

[@byronlemay2166]

It took me several weeks of watching videos about these battles and here it is all contained in one. Nice job, nice summary with all the important details. The IJN...after they threw that first punch they really started loosing their teeth, one by one. Yamamoto knew it was going to happen...and then we tore him to pieces as well. The Japanese talked themselves into this and it should have been the absolute last resort...surely they could have found a diplomatic way to deal with the oil embargo. Instead they threw a fit.

[@danmyers9372]

Arrogance never listens to reason.

[@danielburgess7785]

Good that the proximity fuse was mentioned.

[@jaytravtulsa1]

Those shells ultimately helped us win the Battle of the Bulge. They exploded when they got close to a target, instead of just going off on a timer or when they hit something. Proximity, or “Pozit” shells were only used in the Pacific over water at first, in case a dud got discovered by the enemy. The plan was to use them in Europe starting Jan 1 ‘45, but the date was moved up to debut them in the Bastogne counterattack starting with Patton.

[@sejembalm]

2:44 Ozawa: "What do you mean you have lost all your land-based aircraft? And you didn't think it important enough to inform command?"

[@reidbronson6358]

Spruence did the right thing. Spruence's primary responsibility was to protect the Marines. Not go glory hunting. The Navy had a nasty habit of not taking better care of its Marines. The remaining Japanese carriers were useless after losing their airplanes along with their air crews. Look at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Halsey went glory hunting and, by doing so, exposed the invasion troops to possible annihilation by the Japanese Center Force. Halsey should have been court martialed for leaving the invasion forces unprotected. If not for the incredible bravery of a small number of escourt carriers and screening vessels, thousands of our invasion forces would have been slaughtered on the beaches of Leyte. My father was a career Navy officer who served in the Pacific War. He despised Halsey for not giving a sh*t for the Marines and soldiers dying on the beaches. Halsey just wanted to make a name for himself by sinking carriers, even if they were useless ships, having few planes, and trained air crews left on board. Spruence's primary responsibility was to protect his Marines. And he did just that. Good for him. After the Turkey Shoot, the Japanese carriers became only useless museum ships.

[@tharrigan5661]

Completely agree with your assessment. Excellent summary. I read a biography on Spruance and the author was also critical of Spruance’s decision to not go after the Japanese carriers. I held a much different opinion especially after carefully reviewing Halsey’s actions at Leyte Gulf. Needless to say I didn’t bother finishing the biography.

[@lamwen03]

To be fair to Halsey, he had different mission from Adm. Kincaid and his 7th Fleet. Halsey's writ was primarily to knock out the IJN's carrier fleet when spotted, and only secondarily to guard the landings. So there is some justification for him being suckered out of position. Though not enough for him to desert the landings totally. Still, I'm glad that final padding on the message got through to him.

[@rring44]

It is kinda amusing that nobody really remembers Halsey destroying the decoy carriers, but everyone remembers Taffy 3.

[@lamwen03]

@@rring44Because it was a nothing burger. Those carriers had almost no planes on them, because there were none left. With his 5 Fleet and 5 light carriers, he sunk 2 large and two light IJN carriers. AND he totally abandonded his coverage of the San Bernardino Striats, without telling his superiors what he was doing.

[@paulhogan7270]

When Halsey took over from Gromley, he promised Vandergrift that he would protect the Marines on Guadalcanal. Bromley had sent a msg to Vandergrift that the Marines were on their own. Halsey gave the Marines everything they needed.

[@billp.8489]

Getting to close to the Japanese fleet risked a surface engagement that was not our strong point, especially a night fight where air power wouldn't mean much except that he would have to defend his carriers. Spruance was first a surface commander and would know those dangers. He also had his orders. Japanese naval pride was always their own worst enemy. Hiding losses from themselves in the middle of combat, ugh....

[@davidkimmel4216]

Thank you

[@phillipnagle9651]

It should be noted that more aggressive Halsey almost caused one o0f the greatest disasters of the war at the Battle of Leyte Gulf by his over aggressiveness. As it turned out, the Japanese carriers were of little value after the Battle of the Philippine Sea because they no longer had a capable pilots. All the carriers were good for during the Battle of Leyte Gulf was to draw away the overly aggressive Halsey.

[@jimjenkins2319]

Halsey should have been relieved of his Command.. Many o' historian feel Halsey's move was in retaliation to MacArthur's ordering of Peleliu..

[@phillipnagle9651]

@@jimjenkins2319 I always though it was just a very stupid move by a glory seeking admiral who ended up missing his big chance.

[@decimated550]

​@@phillipnagle9651imagine those men who died in the darkness instantly or from wounds or exposure floating in the water alone because he wanted to have a grand knockout victory

[@charlesnelson4042]

Proximity fuse was very affective.

[@tonyb8660]

cool beans! i liked this presentation and narration 🧐🤓

[@bernardantoinerouffaer7578]

Excellent.

[@jimvick8397]

7:00 Yay, the 5" proximity round was mentioned... so few videos mention it...

[@roberttangen2942]

In a meeting after this action Adm King told Spruance that he had done the right thing and regardless what others were saying he was very pleased with results

[@nolisandigan8552]

Thank you so much

[@touring4973]

Great story-telling. New Subs

[@aFoundingYouTuber]

Excellent presentation. Liked, subscribed, and rang that bell.

[@richardmalcolm1457]

@12:00. Spruance made the right call. And certainly that was the assessment of Admiral Nimitz and Admiral King. The mission was to guard the invasion task force, and Spruance's decision was directed to that end.

[@alanh1406]

Agreed, other over-rated leaders would have abandoned the landing force and chased after him like a near-sighted bull dog.

[@richardmalcolm1457]

@@alanh1406 Not to name any names, of course... :)

[@BuzzSargent]

Good show. I subscribed.

[@tinman3586]

This guy sounds like a sportscaster. "It's been an amazing and exciting month in World War Two news! First, the British get their revenge for their humiliating retreat at Dunkirk as they land together with their American and Canadian allies on the beaches of Normandy! I think team Germany is gonna have a tough time with this one, especially as they face off against the Soviet offensive next month! And in the Pacific, the US Marines faced off against the Imperial Japanese Army on Saipan! This hard fought Marine victory now puts US bombers within striking distance of Tokyo! Look out Japan! Now back to you Phil with a word from our sponsor!"

[@colormedubious4747]

"Tune in to ESPN at this time tomorrow for the next exciting episode of WarCenter!"

[@rwarren58]

The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot is what we call it. I wonder what the Japanese called it?

[@B1900pilot]

Japanese Naval carrier aviation ceased to exist, and it's surface fleet had only fuel enough for one last gasp at Leyte...In hindsight, the fleet commanders acted upon the intelligence that they were given and the desire to destroy the enemy. VADM Lee was probably a better overall commander than both Halsey and Spruance put together...

[@BrianKorth-nu7gw]

They had a lot of balls. I’ll give them that.

[@Todd.P]

I would really love to know which motion pictures the images came from at the 8:40 mark!

[@Chris-vz7en]

The Japanese seemed to have this idea of a single, titanic battle that would decide the fate of the war....seems strange considering the United States' massive industrial capability to replenish losses in any battle. I don't think there was a shortage of men to recruit either.

[@daniellapus636]

What about the contribution of the modern battleships in protecting the carriers from air attack

[@smurra3]

That was a great summary of the battle! Could you please list the movies that you used to provide some of the scenes in the great vid? There is one or two that i haven't seen yet? That would be wonderful if you could do that for me.. Thanks

[@WorldWar2inColours]

The Eternal Zero and Midway

[@NathanKlugerman212]

Hi but you call shokaku as chicago it not a japanese warship it is an american one​@WorldWar2inColours

[@NathanKlugerman212]

​@@WorldWar2inColoursplz be careful on what you say otherwise good video thx

[@elennapointer701]

Re the comment about Ozawa having land planes "to rely on" as well as his carrier assets, given the mutual loathing between the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, if these land-based planes were Army units, he couldn't have relied on them at all, given the way both forces routinely stabbed each other in the back.

[@CatBrannigan]

Would be helpful to properly credit the movie and documentary clips in the video itself, although I understand the motive for using clips from Midway (2019) used to illustrate Taiho's catastrophe; its misleading as that was a completely different battle and circumstance.

[@ryanslauderdale]

Honestly, I thought the 5th Fleet was the bait for the Americans' trap. Those two US subs took out two Japanese fleet carriers. All that was left was to let the Hellcats flex.

[@gruntforever7437]

The IJN had no chance. By this time not only did the US Navy outnumber the Japanese Carriers by at least 3 to 1, their air crews were experiences as well as trained. The IJN carrier pilots were a faint shadow of the group that started the war. The IJN carrier air groups on December 7 were the best pilots in the world. But that group were all gone by the anniversary. They were incapable of replacing battle losses in either carriers or air crew so the battle never had any other possible outcome. Spruance was criticized but his primary duty was to protect the landing forces. Halsey got that changed for the Leyte Gulf battle and look what happened.

[@markusb.2850]

I think a big cause of loosing the war by the Japanese were their mentality. They fought until the last man, that was admirable. But the concept (cultural) to not say "No", to not lay out mistakes of superiors and to not admit to own mistakes to not loose "face" were the downfall of their army. You can not plan an attack if your soldiers come back and lie about their "success" instead of facing the fakt that they lost almost all their planes.

[@elbowkneecap4391]

Also, us getting better aircraft, the Wildcat and then Hellcat come to mind.

[@autobotjazz1972]

Exactly The Japanese lost the cream of their naval air crews at Midway.

[@josephcernansky1794]

@@markusb.2850 Just living in a bubble....unicorns and fairies.....will get you killed every time! People are so used to saying whatever to make themselves look good. I think that's why God said, "Thou shalt NOT lie." "The Truth that you know shall set you free." But you MUST FIRST KNOW The Truth!!

[@slammer00x]

The fleet's job was to protect the beachhead. Spruance remembered (Saipan), Halsey (Leyte Gulf) did not. The crews of the escort carriers: USS Gambier Bay, St. Lo, Destroyers: USS Johnston, Hoel, Destroyer Escort USS Samuel B. Roberts, who were sunk and the rest of Taffy 3 or Task Unit 77.4.3 paid in blood.

[@thatguy22441]

The USA did very well for being a nation of 'pleasure lovers with no stomach for a long war' or words to that effect, uttered by many of our enemies at the time.

[@johnnyg3166]

Well that’s the image we gave off. Of course what they failed to understand is: these playboy pleasure lovers will rip their head off if we get sucker punched. And they sucker punched us.

[@54blewis]

Don’t forget Goring’s disparaging remark about the US…” The Americans are only good at making refrigerators and razor blades and incapable of building enough military equipment to defeat Germany “he would later regret that statement….

[@daviddelaet8116]

Richard Pryor related it best, IMO. The Japanese thought we were all like the people in California. They didn't know about the crazy MFs chained up in basements in Alabama and Mississippi 😂

[@craigwheller]

Think about it, an entire generation that was toughened by the Depression and then sucker punched, combined with industry given free rein to produce whatever was needed? They had no chance

[@MrCadet08]

The vietcong, Iraqi insurgents and the taliban proved that quote to be true. We don't have the stomach for wars that last longer than 8 years

[@twillison8824]

Some customers just don't want to be level-headed about their rig. We did body work on a run of the mill v6 Mustang years ago. The next day, the owner was back with a 2 page typed list of everything he claimed we'd done wrong. The vast majority of the list were things we hadn't even touched. One thing that we all got a good laugh out of was his claim we had removed his dash and replaced it half an inch to the left. The only interior teardown we did was removing one door panel to pull the mirror, outer handle, and belt molding to paint the door.

[@davidpflepsen954]

Your portrait looks very much like an immortal capsulear!

[@WorldWar2inColours]

👍

[@bobjones2460]

I came across your amazing channel last night watching the Coral Sea battle. How do you do your amazing war animations and scenes? It looks like partly real footage combined with movie or computer scenes, is this right? First rate work!

[@WorldWar2inColours]

Most WW2 films are silent black-and-white footage that has been seen numerous times, which is why I go to great effort to colourize and add sound effects, then use an interpolator to increase the frame rate to bring it to life. I then use editing techniques to alter the image, like zooming in on certain parts, altering the speed, or flipping the image, as an example. The end result is an image not seen before. I use film clips and battle reenactments, which I age using effects to give an authentic feel. As a last resort, I will use computer generated clips to enhance the story if it's well-made. This takes a lot of work, which is why I upload once a month.

[@bobjones2460]

@@WorldWar2inColours Man, you bring this stuff to life like I've never seen -you have incredible talent! You are also first-rate in narrating the stories and getting the history spot on. I am so glad I found your excellent channel! I look forward to watching all your videos.

[@housemoneywithjimwalsh3109]

I said the same thing. Excellent visuals

[@jamesweber1827]

@@WorldWar2inColours I thought that this was a recording of a televised documentary! Your research and editing skills are top notch. Subscribing after seeing the work you put into your videos.

[@gtdcoder]

What movie is that in the beginning of the video?

[@surfdocer103]

Very gutsy call, Admiral.

[@sushibar777]

Spruance did what Nimitz wanted him to do, which was to protect the fleet attacking the Mariannas. The fact that some of the Japanese carriers got away was irrelevant, because they did so without airplanes. A carrier without airplanes in not much of a threat. American aviation had destroyed Japanese naval air forces, and they would never recover. It is also irrelevant that two carriers were sunk by submarines. All that mattered was that they were sunk. We have submarines for a reason, which is to sink surface ships. The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a total victory for the US. It was the Kantai Kaisen Japan wanted, just not with the outcome they wanted.

[@georgedoolittle9015]

Saipan was too valuable and a tough nut to crack in its own right so a very well managed Battle to stunning effect from a purely Naval point of view. Once Saipan fell US land based airpower could now strike Japan. Many of these now far more experienced crews and pilots gained invaluable real World training all of which would yield the desired results during the Battle of the Philippine Sea when indeed the bulk of the Japanese Navy would be annihilated whatever one may think about how that Battle might have played out. The safe Landings at Leyte and brilliant speach given by General Douglas MacArthur caused Japan to act in a far too aggressive manner once the Landings moved aggressively inland. Now US Army Air Force airpower started to make its presence felt in a far more devastating manner than could ever be true of Carrier Aviation plus losing the Philippines plus Saipan meant the entire aspirational Japanese Empire was now over with the bulk of the Japanese Army now trapped fighting in China and not even a defense of the Home Islands possible let alone any possibility of a sortie from either Land, Sea or Air to dislodge the USA Americans plus associated Allies from the entire Pacific now lost.

[@luisvaldes1568]

Spruence, another right man at the right time in American history.

[@WithTwoFlakes]

I think the US Navy were very lucky to have Admirals at the top who can be regarded as having a balanced mix of aggression and caution - Spruance, Halsey, Mitscher, etc. For me though, the greatest command asset the Navy had was Charlie Lockwood. The Kreigsmarine (more than 1,100 U-Boats) failed to bring my own country to it's knees during the Battle of the Atlantic. Lockwood's couple of hundred boats in the Pacific were the most decisive factor in the collapse of the Japanese economy.

[@facubeitches1144]

The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot from the Japanese perspective (Cliff Notes): "Oof! The Emperor is gonna be pissed...."

[@autobotjazz1972]

Despondent if they bothered to tell him, Hirohito was not often given much inthe way of reports of how the war was going . The air campaign the US waged on Japan could not be kept from the Emperor.

[@user-xf1lh1go3q]

mitscher did nout take into consideration that spruance had to consider the safety of the beachead and the invasion fleet. plus, the previous plan the japanese had put together under the previous fleet commander, koga, had fallen into us hands, and spruance had been given a copy. it specifically said the japanese would send a decoy force to lure the main fleet out and then the main japanese fleet would destroy the invasion. spruance could not ignore this possibility.

[@davidphillips6803]

Mitscher should've been relieved of command after his midway debacle and certainly not in command at this battle. Just imagine a commander losing 80 planes all due to his recklessness.

[@user-xf1lh1go3q]

he had done very well as commander air solomons in 1943. also, like many competent officers who were prone to doing reckless or even stupid things i.e. mcarthur, montgomery, etc.) a brilliant chief of staff compensated for a great deal, most notably in this case, a. burke.@@davidphillips6803

[@jamesweber1827]

Thanks!

[@WorldWar2inColours]

I am truly grateful for the incredibly generous super-thanks donation! The fact that someone appreciates my work enough to show such support makes all the hard work truly worth it and motivates me to continue creating content for the future.

[@tiagodecastro2929]

One thing I've always wondered: what was up with the Japanese lying and giving their superiors falsely positive reports? Like, they would get their butts kicked, then the few survivors would come back like "Yeah, we totally, like, destroyed the Americans. We basically just won the war by ourselves. Sank more American ships than actually exist." In this video, he points out that returning aviators lied to Ozawa, and I also know that the Japanese lied to their people and even their own government and military about the losses at Midway. What was the reason for this?

[@WorldWar2inColours]

To keep up moral

[@tabo01]

to tell the truth would be defeatism.

[@user-vd5td2tr8u]

The great victory of the U.S. in the latter half of the Pacific War meant that Japanese pilots were fighting a hopeless battle. I have read a book about it called 幻の大戦果 (literal translation goes like "phantom fruit of battle") published in Japan. There are testimonies that the Japanese pilots who barely escaped with their lives were unable to speak due to mental shock and stared blankly at a blackboard with the false results of the battle written on it. Those pilots were interrogated, and when they said they saw something burning in the sea, their superiors said it was the sinking of the enemy carrier. In addition, pilots who died in battle were often given false military achievements as offerings. Of course, some Japanese people doubted these reports, but it was considered disrespectful to the pilots and was not allowed. Such things occurred frequently, and no Japanese was able to know the fact.

[@josephcernansky1794]

Just living in a bubble....unicorns and fairies.....will get you killed every time! People are so used to saying whatever to make themselves look good. I think that's why God said, "Thou shalt NOT lie." "The Truth that you know shall set you free." But you MUST FIRST KNOW The Truth!!

[@dennismattord1554]

Pride, honor and the religious beliefs of their people. That is what happens when your society is totally brain washed.

[@alansnowdeal9845]

My Uncle was on A Desrtyoyer Philippines.Had a Kami coming up their aft.Knocked him down,Safed,looked up&Hit the 20mm into another Kami&hit aft&Blew the rudder&Screws/Shaft.2 Days later into a tow to refit the Cap called Him up&said Dammit Snowdeal I don't Know wether To Give You A Medal or the Brig For Fing My Ship!Got a Medal&kept them out of Iwo&Okie.

[@johnkochen7264]

So Bofors (Sweden) and Oerlikons (Switzerland) defended the U.S. Navy ships against Japanese warplanes. No wonder it was called a world war.

[@stischer47]

What some people don't recognize is that in a "turkey shoot", you don't shoot turkeys. You either shoot skeet or targets. The turkey is the prize.

[@bluedragontoybash2463]

Advance radar, proximitiy fuze, broken code, superior materiel and manpower. Why Japan didn't surrender is somehow beyond belief

[@nelsonzambrano5788]

Simple - A Japanese person said to me... "We hadn't lost a War in 2,000 years - we didn't think we'd lose to You ( the Americans)"

[@adamwu4565]

@@nelsonzambrano5788 They’re really sugar-coating the outcome of the Imjin War if they’re claiming to have never lost in 2000 years….

[@danallen3947]

so where did the radar come from?

[@lightbox617]

We all know that, historically, no decisive battle. Everything is attrition of men or equipment and the party that can supply the most of either gets all of the marbles....eventually.

[@marcusanton95]

In WW1 Japan was an ally that was unrecognized for their significant contribution to Germany's defeat, just see the "Treaty Of Versailles". In WW2 Japan was our enemy and Germany's ally.78 years later Japan is again our ally with a looming war against Russia. In time someone will narrate the outcome of this war. Humans love war it's the ultimate game with lethal results.

[@user-rx8pt6tr3k]

Before WW1 Japan was part of the international force in the boxer rebellion.

[@johnreacher3756]

Yes. This is a nice concise presentation of the Battle of the Philippine Sea. However, the Japanese lost a lot more than 10% of their mobile air-fleet which is what you stated when you said that the Japanese air power was decimated. Learn the meaning of that word. To ALL persons presenting on KZbin, AVOID using the word "decimate" unless you truly mean that a military force was reduced by 10%. Read the story of how a Roman Legion was decimated (by their own commander, no less), and learn how we go to use that term.

[@WorldWar2inColours]

Dictionary description of Decimated: kill, destroy, or remove a large percentage. What you described is the origin of the word from Roman times. Where a unit would be punished by having every thirteenth person flogged to death, which is where we get the unlucky 13 from.

[@alejandrovargas7592]

​@@WorldWar2inColours...Agreed, the word has changed over the centuries to be considered as more catastrophic. Slaughter, ... Massacre, ... Utter devastation are accepted definitions. I routinely use the word that way myself, in comments. To date, no one has taken me to task about that. Time for critics to get with the times. The word is more and more used to indicate devastating results.

[@alejandrovargas7592]

...😮😅😂. Perhaps you should have "john-overreacher" as a title. We aren't living 2,000 years in the past. For better or worse, the word has come to be widely accepted as a greater magnitude of death and destruction in almost every normal person's mind.. Once a preponderance of people regard it that way, it basically relegates the original definition to the dust bin of history, and people have moved on. I'll bet you're the "Life Of The Party" at any social gathering, when you go "all pedantic" on anyone that desecrates the "King's English".

[@aegrotattoo9018]

Like, comment and subscribe ! Done, thanks for a great clip.

[@d.owczarzak6888]

The destroyer my dad served on picked up one of the pilots that ran out of gas. Ransomed him for ice cream.

[@colormedubious4747]

As is the custom.

[@observer8534]

"The few who made it through were shot down in droves."

[@frankward8336]

😄

[@elijahhodges4405]

Hitler was always looking for that decisive strike. It isn't a good strategy. The Americans hit and hit, hit and hit to keep the Japanese off their balance was a great strategy. We learned it by accident at Midway.

[@tolfan4438]

1st time I ever heard 50 cal refered to as under powered

[@gurk_the_magnificent9008]

The ships escaped, the air wings not so much, and carriers without air wings are just so much scrap metal

[@amuhlisrizalan9164]

❤

[@tuliomartin6404]

🇧🇷 BRASIL, 25/11/2023. Quando o Japão atacou Pearl Harbor um militar disse: " despertamos um gigante ".

[@darkhorse13golfgaming]

Gotta ask, totally off topic....do you play EVE by chance?

[@WorldWar2inColours]

I did

[@michaelgeraghty3989]

The controversy was misguided. This battle ended the IJN’s ability to engage in offensive naval operations. After this, their only mission was the disastrous 1945 attempt to send Yamato and its escorts one way to Okinawa. None of the ships made it there.

[@WorldWar2inColours]

your forgetting the largest naval battle of WW 2, battle of Leyte Gulf.

[@michaelgeraghty3989]

@@WorldWar2inColours You’re right. It was a couple of months later and equally disterous for Japan, although it wasn’t as one-sided.

[@peterm3964]

nice mix of cgi snd historic images

[@JohnSmith-hq3qv]

how is this from the Japanese Perspective? this is just the history for both sides

[@owizcomg]

There are people who are great actors, great voice actors ie, animation and then there is me great for silent movies.

[@davewallace8219]

Japan ignored the elephant...in the room...the elephant was the us military

[@pryder5943]

What i don't understand, is the fact that the more posts you watch, they more difference in facts

[@ryanbluer6098]

If Meacher had been allowed to carry out the early raid then the Lexington would not have been sunk at the battle of the coral sea and the Hornet would have been in better shape for the Battle of Midway

[@gregwilliams386]

Decimate means eliminate 1 of 10. The US Navy more than decimated the IJN's aircraft.

[@reefhog]

That was the original definition of the word, but now it is commonly used now as meaning destroying a large proportion of…

[@raymondpaller6475]

Fine. Embrace & extend. Use centi-mate instead so "The U.S. Navy centimated the IJN's aircraft."

[@raymondpaller6475]

@@retiredbore378 Lol, I agree, upon further review I foobar-ed that one.

[@rjkbytes1]

The IJN lost 2 out of 3 fleet carriers and 1 light carrier, not 1 light carrier, worse was the loss of most of the IJN's trained carrier pilots, effectively ending the IJN's aviation ability. P.S. Spruance was right.

[@WorldWar2inColours]

nop Spruance had no control over the subs so he cant get the credit for the 2 fleet carriers. Guadalcanal campaign had ended the IJN's aviation ability.

[@korbendallas5318]

1:03 That description as a planned perimeter is almost certainly false. The area does not include the southern Solomons and sothern New Guinea, both areas of intense Japanese effort (cf. Battle of the Coral Sea, Milne Bay and of course Guadalcanal). The line also exactly matches the maximum extent of Japanese occupation, hardly a coincidence.

[@WorldWar2inColours]

You're very observant; the map shows the pre war planned perimeter. With Japan's stunning success and relative ease in obtaining these objectives, they suffered what historians call “success fever”. This, together with the Doolitle raid, convinced them that they needed to extend the perimeter further. This led them to overreach and ultimately defeat at Guadalcanal and New Guinea.

[@korbendallas5318]

@@WorldWar2inColours They planned to occupy _half_ of New Guinea? Do you have a source for that?

[@WorldWar2inColours]

@@korbendallas5318 Lae was taken during The Second Operational Phase, so the makers of this map have pushed the perimeter line slightly to far in the eastern New Guinea

[@jonathanbaron-crangle5093]

I wonder what went through the minds of the IJN pilots as they flew into a hail of cannon-fire that gave no escape. Certainly they were brave beyond measure, if mis-guided in their bravery, but there was, of course, propaganga to bolster the pilots resolution & the fact the nations were at war with each other, but still.

[@lamwen03]

Actually, quite a few turned back and never made it to the battle, either through navigation trouble or other reasons.

[@user-kq4tt5oh5t]

是非、日本語訳も付けてください

[@angrydoggy9170]

It was indeed a solid and valid plan. Too bad the US messed it up by producing so many superior equipment and better trained pilots.

[@WorldWar2inColours]

yes. typical of the US ruining a good plan by not co-operating. 😃

[@angrydoggy9170]

@@WorldWar2inColours Surprising really, given how much they like to “play ball”. Must be down to the weird shape of their footballs, it just doesn’t role along all that nicely.

[@colormedubious4747]

@@WorldWar2inColoursThese points have been better made by better warriors than I: 1) War is chaos, and the US military practices chaos on a daily basis. 2) It's hard to predict US military doctrine when its own commanders don't follow it.