“The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot” on June 19, 1944, was the most lopsided aerial victory of the Pacific War. In one day Japan’s 1st Mobile Fleet and land-based contingent lost over 300 aircraft and crew, rendering Japanese naval air power a shell of the fighting force that had so confidently sallied forth to meet the Americans and end the Saipan invasion.
Admiral Ozawa, however, still commanded a formidable array of surface ships. And although U.S. submarines had sent two of his three prized fleet carriers to the bottom, he was still eager for a fight with the seven carriers and roughly 150 planes he had remaining, plus aircraft he mistakenly believed were still in some force on Guam, which was not the case. He’d planned on rendezvousing with his tankers, refueling, and hitting the Americans again in the morning.
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