Battle of the Philippine Sea - The Largest Carrier Battle Ever (1/2) - Animated

foreign [Music] this video is sponsored by enlisted a free-to-play World War II multiplayer shooter enlisted has a deep focus on historical authenticity with exciting and dynamic gameplay large-scale combat involving dozens of other players accurate World War II weapons and vehicles and historical campaigns I really enjoyed the squads feature commanding a team on the Battleground coordinating armored support and with Engineers constructing fighting positions while laying down a fuselard on the enemy with Miley Enfield 303 rifle join me in a listed for free on PC Xbox series X and S PS5 as well as Xbox One and PS4 by following my link to get the game as well as a free exclusive bonus it's 7 30 am on the morning of the 19th of June 1944. aboard the modern Japanese aircraft's carrier Tai ho vice admiral jisaburu Ozawa has received words that are reconnaissance aircraft has spotted a massive Fleet of U.S warships 380 miles to the east including six aircraft carriers intending to seize the initiative Ozawa launches an airstrike he hopes will bring about the decisive victory that the Japanese military has been searching for since the Battle of Midway two years earlier buoyed by a confidence that they can turn the tide of the war young Japanese Naval aviators manned their aircraft and begin launching off the carrier decks to the southeast of the fleet is the American submarine USS Albacore which has been silently watching the Japanese raiding Force take off the Pacific War has turned decisively against the Japanese as part of the American island hopping campaign Japan's military might is being worn down in a nutritional War by early 1944 the United States is now moving against the Marianas Islands the key to unlocking Japan's defensive perimeter in the Central Pacific Not only would losing the islands of Guam tinian and Saipan Mark a serious Battlefield setback it would also put the home Islands within range of B-29 super Fortress bombers thus the Marianas are to be held at all costs to counter the Apparently imminent Invasion the Japanese Naval leadership has formulated operation z a plan to draw the American forces into a decisive battle where they can be crushed once and for all when the American Fleet arrives in the Central Pacific the reformed Japanese mobile Fleet under the command of vice admiral Ozawa will sail to meet the attack with nearly all of Imperial Japan's remaining warships including nine aircraft carriers Ozawa intends to use the 450 aircraft of his carrier arm as well as 300 land-based aircraft in the Marianas to strike the American Fleet at what he considers its most vulnerable when he believes it will be focused on defending the landing beaches furthermore the easterly winds could give the Japanese a decisive advantage propeller-driven naval aircraft require a headwind in order to take off meaning an aircraft carrier must be sailing into the wind to conduct air operations because the Japanese Fleet will launch to the west of the Marianas pointing East into the wind Ozawa will have the initiative and positional advantage in the coming battle the American Fleet will be forced to steam away from their enemy when launching their own aircraft stretching the range of any counter-attack this will also permit Ozawa to break off the battle at his discretion should he choose to do so for the Americans the plan to see the Marianas is codenamed Operation forager supporting forager is the fifth Fleet under the command of Admiral Raymond spruance the victor of the Battle of Midway the court of spruance's Fleet is Task Force 58 the fast carrier Force led by vice admiral Mark fitzger aboard his Flagship the carrier USS Lexington the 900 aircraft on seven Fleet carriers and eight light carriers make task force 58 the most powerful Naval force in the world at this point after the first American Carrier aircraft strike the Marianas on the 12th of June in preparation for the follow-up Invasion Japanese combined Fleet commander-in-chief Admiral Toyota authorizes operation Zed now finalized as operation Argo he sends a message to every sailor and Airmen echoing the words of Admiral Togo before the battle of tsushima the rise and fall of Imperial Japan depends on this one battle every man shall do his utmost on the 15th of June U.S Marines stormed the beaches of Saipan yet much like the Battle of Midway the Americans know what's coming following the death of commander-in-chief isaroku Yamamoto his replacement Admiral manichi Koga was killed on the 31st of March when his aircraft crashed during a typhoon the documents carrying details of operations Ed washed ashore and were discovered by Filipino guerrillas who then smuggled the information to the United States koga's successor Admiral Toyota has not changed the central premise of the operation furthermore the mobile fleet has been forced to Anchor in tawitawi to be closer to the oil fields in Borneo due to the desperate fuel situation in Japan this allows the Japanese Navy to remain operational but the Large tawitawi Harbor is easily monitored by snooping American submarines when the mobile Fleet leaves on the 15th of June the submarine USS flying fish Shadows the enemy formations another unforeseen consequence arises from being close to the oil fields with no facilities or time to remove impurities from the oil Japanese ships are running on unrefined fuel Which is far more volatile this will lead to disaster in the coming battle having been alerted to the Japanese movement Admiral spruance is convinced that a major naval battle is at hand spruance and Pacific Fleet commander-in-chief Admiral Chester Nimitz agreed to move task force 58 into the Philippine Sea to intercept the enemy Fleet Nimitz radios you and the officers and men under your command have the confidence of the naval services and the country we count on you to make the victory decisive however spruance emphasizes to his subordinates that his primary orders are to defend the landing operations not locate and destroy the enemy Fleet he fears the use of Japanese decoys to draw his Fleet away from The Invasion forces leaving them open to attack on the morning of the 19th of June Japanese Scout aircrafts locate task force 58. with seemingly everything going his way Admiral Ozawa launches his decisive battle however Ozawa is operating under a false assumption he has been informed that the land-based aircraft at Guam are ready to play their part after scoring massive aerial victories over the Americans since the invasion began yet reality could not be further from the truth Japanese Fighters lost 35 of their own compared to a single American aircraft over Guam on the morning of the 19th of June alone furthermore an overzealous subordinate has already orders the air group from the carriers chitose to Yoda and zuiho to Head East towards the American Fleet they set off without waiting for the rest of the strike aircraft as the rest of the Japanese raiding force is taking off and forming up Commander Blanchard aboard the USS Albacore decides to launch his attack he is in perfect position to strike ozawa's Flagship Tai ho and orders the weapons officer to prepare a firing solution however the targeting computer fails to come up with a solution knowing it's now or never Blanchard fires a spread of six Torpedoes by eye at 909 am and then orders the albacore to dive deep despite the targeting difficulties two of the Torpedoes tracked right towards taiho warrant officer Seiko Komatsu has just lifted off the flight deck in a Jill torpedo bomber when he spots the incoming torpedoes without any hesitation he swings his aircraft around and Dives straight into one of the Torpedoes sacrificing himself to destroy it however the second torpedo slams into Tai Ho's starboard side near the forward fuel tanks rupturing fuel lines and jamming the forward aircraft elevator despite the hit there are no fires and the Damage Control Officers insist that the carrier can continue flight operations however with fuel Vapor now filling the ship from the ruptured fuel lines taiho the newest and most modern carrier in the Japanese Navy is now a ticking time bomb while Tai host crew attempts to contain the damage the first strike group is heading east to attack the American Task Force at 9 57 am the battleship USS Alabama picks up the enemy aircraft on radar after the incoming raid is confirmed Admiral mitcher orders the task force to transmit hey rube to the fighter directors the code phrase warning of an imminent enemy attack at 10 10 AM task force 58 is given the order to launch all available Fighters and the carriers turn into the wind Mitchell orders and he fueled up an armed bombers to launch as well to prevent them from being caught in their hangers the combat Air Patrol of 82 hellcats fly West to meet the Japanese raid head-on while 140 more Fighters take off and form up the bombers are ordered to take position to the East and orbit until it is safe for them to return to the carriers the first Japanese wave of 69 aircraft mostly comprised of fighter bombers is 72 miles from task force 58 when its inexperienced commander makes a critical mistake rather than close the distance and hit the American fleets before more Fighters can launch the strike group starts to orbit while the commander briefs his young flyers and allows the formation to reform after the cruise from the carriers during this time the large formation of hellcats takes station between 17 000 and 24 000 feet to await their enemy before the Japanese get underway again at 10 25 am the eight fighters of the F-15 from the USS Essex are the first to spot the incoming attackers led by Commander Charles Brewer and Lieutenant J.R Carr the f-15s hellcats pounce on the unsuspecting Japanese Raiders diving from high above the American fighters slash through the enemy formation causing it to break apart as panicked Japanese Flyers attempt to evade Brewer picks out the formation leader a zero and closes to 800 feet before squeezing the trigger the Japanese aircraft explodes in mid-air and Brewer moves on to another Zero peppering The Fighter with his 50 caliber machine guns which sets the wing on fire seconds later he Downs another enemy fighter before he is finally forced into a dogfight by a fourth zero Commander Brewer uses his Superior maneuverability to get behind the zero which attempts several barrel rolls to escape it's no use against the agile Hellcat as Brewer fires and sends the aircraft into the sea during the interception Brewer and his wingman attack eight enemy aircraft and down all of them Lieutenant car does even better shooting down five and becoming a flying ace in a matter of minutes this pattern is repeated across the formation as hellcats swarmed the overwhelmed Japanese attackers in 1941 the Japanese zero was widely regarded as one of the best fighters in the world but three years later it is inferior to the newest generation of American combat aircraft within minutes the first raid breaks up into isolated formations before the enemy Pilots have cited a single American warship despite their horrendous losses several Japanese aircrafts Do Slip through the fighter screen and attacks task force 58's battleships and cruisers at 10 48 am braving intense anti-aircraft fire a zero drops a bomb and scores a direct hit on the USS South Dakota killing 27 men but causing insignificant damage to the battleship more Japanese aircraft attack with one causing slight damage to the USS Minneapolis from a near-miss these will be the only successful attacks on American vessels during the entire battle task force 58's defenses are too strong and the remaining Japanese aircraft break off to retreat to Japanese Health Guam or their home carriers by 10 57 am American radar screens are clear only 27 of the 69 Raiders are able to limp back to base 10 minutes later Lexington's radar detects the second Japanese raid this is Admiral azawa's main effort of 107 aircraft led by Lieutenant Commander Akira tarui when the Japanese are within 70 miles of task force 58 they once again orbit to receive a briefing from Lieutenant Commander tarawi aboard Lexington Lieutenant Charles Sims is a Japanese language expert who listens in on taraway's briefing and passes it on to the fighter directors by the time the second wave is ready for its attack the American combat Air Patrol has again gained a decisive altitude Advantage the pilots eagerly awaiting the unsuspecting Japanese 10 hellcats from Essex are the first to greet the raid at 11 39 am when it is 45 minutes out Commander David mccampbell takes six Fighters and dives into a formation of Judy dive bombers mccampbell soon to become the U.S Navy's leading Ace of the war with 34 kills destroys one Duty after another he later notes that the inexperienced Japanese Flyers did not take many evasive actions faced with so many easy targets MCC Campbell scores five kills before he runs out of ammunition incredibly another pilot Lieutenant Alexander verashu ranks up a further six enemy aircraft shot down when ferrashu later lands back on Lexington and holds up six fingers Admiral Mitchell poses for a photo with the young pilot remarking this is not for publication it's to keep for myself hellcats attacked the Japanese formation from every angle as one enemy aircraft after another is shot out of the sky by the time the attackers reach the carriers of task force 58 only about 20 are left nonetheless these last few Japanese aircrafts launch a doomed attack on the American warships three Jill torpedo bombers head for the carrier USS Enterprise and one survives long enough to drop its payload the torpedo barely misses and explodes in the carrier's wake wasp Princeton and Bunker Hill also suffer near misses from dive bombers which cause negligible damage to demonstrate the futility of these attacks a weapons officer on the USS San Francisco suffers a scratch on his finger and holds it up to his gun Crews to see the bastards have finally drawn blood shoot them down the second and largest Japanese raid of the day is decimated with only 10 of the original 107 aircraft surviving the onslaught Task Force 58's Radar screens will be clear of enemy aircraft by 12 15 pm by this time asawa's force has accelerated 60 miles ahead of the USS Albacore when it stumbles upon another lurking submarine USS Kavala Commander Herm costler raises the Periscope and spots the carrier shikaku recovering aircraft directly in front of his vessel he later writes the picture was too good to be true cavalla fires a spread of five Torpedoes at Chicago before diving to avoid detection a 20 minutes past noon four of the Torpedoes impact shikaku's starboard side the carrier one of the only two remaining from the attack on Pearl Harbor quickly falls out of formation while secondary destinations ravaged the ship her damage control teams try in vain to put out the fires but the unrefined fuel from Borneo is ravenously devoured by flames just after 3 pm shikaku explodes and sinks taking 1263 men with her to the bottom Commander costler radios believe that baby sank to vice admiral Charles Lockwood the Pacific submarine fleet commander Lockwood radios back beautiful work Cavallo one carrier down eight more to go the Americans do not have to wait long for their next victim aboard Tai ho the smell of fuel Vapor permeates the ship after the earlier torpedo hits the inexperienced damage control officer decides to put the carrier's ventilation system on full blast in the hope the vapors will dissipate instead this action seals the ship's Fate by spreading the vapors throughout the entire vessel just half an hour after shikaku sank the deadly fumes are ignited by an electric generator and a massive explosion blows aircraft carrier taiho to smithereens her revolutionary armored Flight Deck bulges upwards as flames consume the hangar Bay Admiral azawa initially decides to go down with his doomed Flagship but is persuaded by his subordinates to transfer to the cruiser haguro Which is less capable of communicating with the rest of the mobile Fleet taiho Pride of the Japanese carrier arm will burn for another three hours before sinking and 1 650 men are killed back at the American Fleet at 12 55 PM a third Japanese raid of 47 aircraft arrive overhead but failed to spot the American carriers ten minutes later hellcats from USS Hornet jumped the formation and another dogfight develops during the melee aziro manages to find the USS Essex and attack but its Bond misses with the other Japanese aircraft still unable to locate task force 58's carriers the attackers turned back and abort the mission this wave is lucky only seven are shot down by the marauding hellcats during the Battle Above task force 58 the bombers which had been hurriedly launched to clear the carrier decks have been loitering to the east frustrated and bored some Squadron commanders decide to attack the Japanese airfields on Guam to pass the time Lieutenant Commander Ralph Weymouth leads over 30 bombers from Enterprise and Lexington along with a fighter escort of 10 hellcats two orote Airfield in Guam Weymouth has not been given this order and is acting on his own volition The Dauntless dive bombers and bomb-armed Avenger torpedo bombers give the Airfield a good going over cratering the runway and destroying aviation fuel stops when Weymouth later lands back on Lexington he expects to be reprimanded for his unauthorized action instead his superiors are delighted by his initiative and the rest of the orbiting bombers are sent to bomb Japanese airfields during the afternoon at 1 30 PM the fourth and final Japanese raid of the day is detected on radar by task force 58. however like the last raid the 82 Japanese aircraft are unable to spot the American Fleet the formation breaks up with some heading back to the carriers and others to the Mariana Islands one of the groups attempting to make it home instead stumbles upon task force 58. the 27 Japanese aircraft are again jumped by hellcats an attempt to attack the carrier's wasp and Bunker Hill 9 Judy dive bombers slip through the fighter screen but score no hits with hellcats along with anti-aircraft fire bringing down eight of the attackers a larger group of 49 Japanese aircraft attempts to land on Guam but are ambushed by American fighters led by Commander MCC Campbell in the ensuing dogfight 30 are lost while mccampbell adds another two kills to his record giving him seven for the day only two hellcats are shot down over the Airfield by 6 45 PM combat has ended for the worst day in the history of Japanese Naval Aviation aboard Lexington one Hellcat pilot exclaims to another why hell it was just like an old-time turkey shoot down home the name sticks and the first date of the battle on the 19th of June will be remembered as the great Marianas turkey shoot in just 12 hours the Japanese have lost 316 aircraft with all but 41 of them brought down by American fighters many of the survivors limp back to their carrier or Airfield with badly damaged aircraft incapable of flying again in contrast task force 58 has lost only 31 aircraft and retains the bulk of its offensive punch Admiral Mitchell now intends to use his overwhelming air power to land a knockout blow the following day this will be covered in part two next week on our sister channel the Intel report this week we're looking at why the Hellcat was so dominant over the zero during the battle of the Philippine Sea join me in enlisted for free on PC Xbox x and S and PS5 follow my link to get the game as well as an exclusive bonus thank you

Channel: The Operations Room

Views: 2,602,561

Keywords: Time-Lapse, History, Second World War, ww2, Documentary, Aircraft Carrier, Pearl Harbour, aircraft, animated, war, the pacific, battle of the philippine sea, grumman f-6f hellcat, grumman, hellcat, f6-f, uss enterprise, us navy, imperial japanese navy, mitsubishi zero, zero, helldiver

Id: 79F_Mu4-oQk

Length: 22min 41sec (1361 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 07 2023