Battle of the Philippine Sea - The US Navy Knocks Out The Japanese Carriers (2/2) - Animated
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 เม.ย. 2023
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After destroying much of the Japanese Carrier's Air Arm in The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot yesterday, the US Navy launches a massed carrier bomber counterattack on the Japanese carriers.
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Correction - Ryuho not Ryujo*
No, it's literally unwatchable now.
Can you do Battle of Leyte Gulf
I would buy a goat gun, but they don’t have a P90
@@AF_Editz07 I would love to see that as well. I'm imagining it might end up having to be a multi-part series because there were a few different groups of ships fighting each other in different places during the battle.
Leyte would be nice. An interesting engagement which has had almost nothing done on it would be the battle of Empress Augusta Bay. Another one of those confused night surface gun battles defending a beachhead, but a later one in which lessons had been learned.. to some extent.
One of my favorite moments from this battle was after the night battle. The USS Enterprise somehow only had one missing pilot who never landed on a carrier or was picked up that night. Their top pilot, William R. "KILLER" Kane (or just Killer Kane, which is such a badass name). Two days into the search, a destroyer speeds up along the Enterprise frantically flashing its signal light in a message that read "How much ice cream for Killer Kane?" (This was a customary reward for rescuing pilots). This then turned into an old-fashioned haggling match (partly because there is a rivalry between the different ship classes, even now). The destroyer crew argued that they deserved more because he was a unit commander and an ace so surely he is worth the 25 gallons they requested (it would be 30 gallons because its packaged in 10 gallon containers and in my heart i know they knew that and just wanted to swindle more from the Enterprise XD). So after holding Killer Kane for ransom they were rewarded their 25 gallons of ice cream, the Enterprise got her pilot, Kane learned he was worth exactly 25 gallons of ice cream to his unit (lol), and the day was saved.
reminds me of the one pilot in the cactus air force at guadelcanal who was given back to the americans by locals in an exchange. His best quote was "Some men never know their worth, but mine is a 10 pound sack of rice"
How does that compare with Jeff DeBlanc being worth a 10-lb sack of rice?
I remember the show Battle 360 mentioned this moment during their episode covering the Battle of the Philippine Sea. One of the other Grim Reaper pilots, Donald "Flash" Gordan, talked about it near the end of the episode. Wish they mentioned which destroyer made the rescue.
@@asteropax6469 from what I’ve heard. The destroyer that found him was either USS Terry or USS Patterson.
I love battle 360
The fact that it is a US victory despite Japan attacking first, US-bombers getting bored and attacking an airbase, and the japanese attacking second as well, is wild
Shows you how stacked the deck was against Japan.
It's because the Hellcat slaughtered the zero
@@ihebyahyaoui5888 Which was primarily facilitated by the use of radar to direct said fighters int advantageous positions.
The US was never going to lose this war in the long run. Even Japan understood that, they wanted to deal a couple decisive blows, then sue for peace.
Yeah kinda boring reading about these one sided battles
One minor detail that got missed in the previous episode, but comes up right at the beginning here. One of the big reasons that Ozawa did not know the results of the previous days attacks was most of his attack squadrons were launched to do shuttle bombing runs. What that means is they were launched at greater than half the planes range, with the instructions to attack the Americans, land on one of the island airfields, and fly back to the carriers in the morning. There were two reasons for this. The first it allowed Ozawa to keep his carriers back further outside of expected American Carrier range. And second and more importantly, Ozawa’s team had some serious doubts about the barely trained Japanese pilots ability to land back on their carriers after an intense day of combat. He didn’t know the results because most of the Japanese pilots weren’t expected to return until morning. Above and beyond his communications difficulties.
I believe shuttle bombing was more about the aircraft landing at the island airfields after hitting the American carriers, refueling and re-arming and then immediately sortieing again to attack the Americans again, landing at another island airfield and repeating. Turn one carrier launch into two or three strikes on the enemy. The problem here was that (1) the Japanese bombers were shot down before they could reach an island base, and (2) those island bases were also hit by the Americans.
I remember reading about this on Wikipedia some years ago, but it's apparently been removed since. Perhaps it was a misconception from earlier historians that's been corrected by more recent facts?
Interesting, thank you. I do wonder about how Ozawa got that erroneous report of the land based planes attacking the Americans. Where did this piece of misinformation orginate?
@@trentvlak Probably from a general that didn't want to be executed for telling the truth and saying they barely did anything against the Americans.
@@LordKelvinX2086 Wikipedia is not exactly a reliable source of information, historical or otherwise.
It's a place to start, maybe, but deeper research would yield better results if what your after is historical truth.
@@mrgone658 🤡
200+ planes launched in 11 minutes is an amazing feat of coordination.
Plane jockeying done right. A far cry from ops circa Midway.
You should see the logistical system to replenish and refuel the Fast Carrier Task Force, in anchorages like Majuro or Ulithi they would establish well protected and established floating dry dock and anchorage with ice cream barge, mail ships etc.
While at sea there's this so called Task Force 50 which is at sea logistical train with 20 replenishment ships like store ships, fuel tankers etc plus 2 dozens of escort carriers to replenish the fleet and light aircraft carrier of TF58/38 when they had losses to their air groups these CVEs would replenish the loss aircraft. Also this group is escorted or screened by 30 or so combined Destroyers and destroyers escort plus 6 CVEs, whose air groups flies and provides close air patrol and anti submarine flights for the convoy.
This is why RN later learned and either copy or adapted the logistical system for their future British Pacific Fleet operating late 1944 to VJ Day where they would learn side by side UNderway REPlenishment technique and also gathering available tankers and supply ship to accommodate their battle fleet in the vast Pacific Theatre.
That's a plane every 3 seconds.
@@ramal5708 escort carriers and escort destroyers never went along w/ fleet task forces Caz they were to slow and less maneuverable compared to fleet/light carriers and fleet destroyers and other BBS and cruisers
@@xWarLegendx did you read my whole comment? The CVEs, DEs etc were there as replenishment force or group, they were meant to steam alongside the slow tankers and replenishment ships, this particular group are given a position on the map by the Carrier Task Force to replenish them, replenishment doesn't require you to be at 25+ knots or so. They are separate group from Carrier Task Force, read about Nimitz secret weapon, the supply train fleet.
"Turn on the lights" always gets me. They knew launching an attack too close to sundown was dangerous, and they gave those pilots the best chance to land safely even though it put the ships at risk.
Keep in mind that the pilots only had basic night training. With Enterprise being the only carrier at that point with any (albeit small) experience with night ops.
that must've moved more than a few stout hearts that night aboard that fleet. the danger was real, but the cause was just and right so you do it because the men are worth saving.
Just imagine those guys, flying back from intense combat hoping to find the ships in the dark, and then everything lights up, starshells, searchlights .. must have been such an incredible feeling to see that.
It’s long out of print but , “Mission Beyond Darkness” is a great and gripping retelling of this aspect of this historical naval battle.
@@oldfrend Even sending out destroyers the next day to search for men. Risk hundreds of sailors in search of a few dozen pilots. Buts that’s the way to do it.
"We have enough fuel to reach and bomb the carriers but not to get back." "Launch anyway." War is brutal.
War favors those who are daring
Doing what must be done often takes sacrifice. As long as they rescued the pilots, they'd have more planes from mainland factories soon enough.
@@rikk319 That's exactly what set the Americans apart. They valued their pilots more and took care to rotate them home, so they could pass on their experience to new trainees. The Japanese kept theirs at their station until they were killed, which is exactly what happened. A plane can be replaced, an experienced pilot not so much. And Japan had almost no trained pilots left, courtesy of having to cut back training more and more due to aviation fuel becoming more and more scarce because of the relentless sinking of their transport ships heading back to Japan.
@@rikk319 That's what I hear a lot about the philosophy of following orders vs thinking for oneself. I never served, so I'm speaking from a civilian/outsider perspective here, but what I understand about the importance of following orders is that the individual soldier needs to understand that his superior officers have access to information that isn't available to him, and so he therefore must trust them to do whatever he cannot. This is why a soldier is willing to sacrifice his life for the mission- he believes that it will contribute to a greater good. This is also why it's so bad for a military when the soldiers have no trust in their superior officers.
@@tiagodecastro2929 My father, uncles, and grandfathers served in different branches in Vietnam, Korea, and World War 2. Trust, unity, brotherhood, and honor were stressed a lot in my family. A worthy officer deserves respect not because of his position, but because he puts his men first, and leads by example. Good men trust a good officer to guide them with integrity.
The sheer balls needed to take off into the Pacific knowing you’ll probably not find your way back is hard to fathom.
well, they're not called called the greatest generation for nothing
@@willarterberry3392 lol or dumbest my family fought in ww2 lost a uncle almost my dad , dying is dumb
@@onlythewise1 are you dumb? Lmao
@@onlythewise1 being a coward and slave to a dictator is dumber, I guess that you're pretty dumb
@@onlythewise1 that's got to be the dumbest take I've ever heard
I’ve never seen a bad video by these guys.
I doubt we ever will.
For real
Because it doesn't exist
Yes. This channel is consistently excellent.
I’ll be honest, the early videos are kind of rough only because the music is so loud, but everything else is on point
39 out of 450? So basically as a Japanese pilot in this battle you had an over 92% chance of being killed or at the very least losing your aircraft, with your chance of survival with your plane in tact being at only 8%
And for the Japanese pilots, losing their aircraft was much more likely to result in their death. Aside from the Japanese aircraft being more lightly built and more likely to catch fire, the USN did a MUCH better job of rescuing their downed aviators than the IJN did throughout the war. The massive combined air and surface rescue effort mentioned at the end of this battle was the norm for the USN, but was rarely seen on the IJN side.
that is why they switched over to Kamikaze attacks late in the war m since it doesn't require much training , and u save fuel and other logistics when its a one way trip.
and when u are basically guaranteed to die against enemies , might aswell make sure that u go down and take as many with u as possible.
the craziest thing about the kamikaze attacks is , when u really dig into it why they did it , it becomes less and less insane , and more and more a rational decision ...
Given those numbers, it makes perfect logical sense for the IJN to start using kamikaze bombers instead. Get killed pointlessly in a hopeless battle or get killed doing something actually useful.
@@thelvadam2884
Should have switching pilots instead of switching to kamikaze tactics. All of those experiences gone to waste instead passing them down to the rookies.
I'm glad the US did the right thing (pilot rotation).
@@dereenaldoambun9158 The Japanese were completely focused on winning as short a war as they could get away with because they knew they could not possibly win a long war with the United States. They had put plenty of study into the possibility of war with the US and always concluded that the industrial disparity would spell their doom if they couldn't get a peace deal quickly.
Everyone always focuses on Midway, but the late-war battles make Midway look like a tiny skirmish.
I agree. I don't necessarily consider Midway the turning point, yes it gave the Americans the initiative, but the war could still conceivably go either way. Philippine Sea however was game set match. The Pacific war was effectively decided at that point.
@@NorthKoreaUncovered I agree that Midway was not exactly a turning point. The IJN had more carriers nearing completion and more pilots finishing training at that point in the war. It was the bloody battle of attrition at Guadalcanal that was the turning point in the war as the Americans gained the initiative at that campaign's end. Every notable naval battle afterwards was typically an IJN response to an American landing, including battles such as Empress Augusta Bay, Leyte Gulf and the one from this video.
I can't ignore the fact the IJN was also expected to assist with the offensives happening at New Guinia at the same time as both Midway and Guadalcanal. Lots of their carrier pilots were sent to that front as the casualties mounted. In fact, more than HALF of the Japanese Aviators at Pearl Harbor were killed by the start of 1943.
@@NorthKoreaUncovered Between the pilot training programs (17K for the Navy alone) and ship building, the US naval strength by 44 would have been overwhelming, if carriers were not just tossed away unecessarily. That is, as long as the US navy didn't get crushing losses, just the accumulation of material differences made the outcome inevitable.
Losing those 4 carriers and those air crews must have shortened the war though. Plus winning at Midway allowed the US to take the initiative in the Solomons, which ground away much of the remaining pilots the IJN started the war with.
By the end of '43 the Japanese committed trainers from their aviator program, which basically made it game over. But they did that because of the chain of losses starting at Midway.
@@recoil53 I don't deny that Midway was a huge victory for the USA. I'm just saying that if Japan ever had one last chance to inflict the devastating defeat to the US Pacific Fleet it had hope to achieve early on in the war, it was at the Philippine Sea. Japan needed nothing short of a decisive victory if there was to be any chance of a negotiated settlement. After PS any window of opportunity had since slammed shut.
@@NorthKoreaUncovered I'd say that at Leyte, the Japanese had a chance of a devastating victory if Kurita had been more aggressive.
Halsey left the invasion force - the infantry open to attack by inexplicably taking his slower battleships with him to chase Ozawa and the remaining IJN carriers.
The losses would have been huge.
I also think there was no chance at a negotiated settlement. While DC may have been more concerned about the war in Europe, it was Japan with the sucker punch.
That's why FDR had to be concerned about the public reaction to possible losses in Operation Torch, while the public would withstand the mess of Tarawa.
The animation is smooth, this man's educational commentary is on point
🙂🙂🙂
You’re godamn right.
The same background music for every video is getting abit samey though my only criticism.
I wonder what animation is that he used. I've seen other videos do this similarly. Kinda wonder if its After Effects or not.
This is the best battle history channel ✊🙏
What in the fuck? This is like running into Taylor Swift at a Metallica concert.
wait wait wait. chocolate rain guy????
My childhood???
*I step away from the mic to voice my surprise*
Chocolate rain
History quickly crashing through your veins
Chocolate rain
WELL! thats a name i haven't heard in a long time damn!
The audacity of Mitscher in turning on the lights on his carriers is one of the bravest move in Naval history, risking his carriers to be visible in the middle of night by IJN subs is rather ballsy move, but quite rewarding in saving the lives of his aviators, although some had to ditch they did in fact rescued those who did, unlike the IJN who didn't value their aviators much as the USN.
Interesting story. Spruance and Mitscher did a similar thing 2 years earlier at Midway with Enterprise and Hornet (CV-8). They had sent a strike on the afternoon of 5 June 1942. Which attacked a destroyer ( i think it was Tanikaze). The destroyer escaped and shot down a Dauntless. To make matters worse, that strike was returning after dark. So Spruance ordered Enterprise and Hornet’s lights on. Resulting in all the surviving aircraft returning safely. Albeit Enterprise somehow getting 5 of Hornet’s SBDs.
To be fair, potentially losing a considerable part of your aircrew in the currently hottest part of the pacific warzone (there was no guarantee Japan would concede the field) would have also been quite dangerous.
The fact that Zuikaku managed to contain its damage, unlike other IJN CVs at Midway, showed how important it was to have a veteran DCP crew. It was sth the IJN could achieve, but trajically not on more ships.
I wonder how much more different the Pacific Naval theater would have turned out if the Japanese had damage control training equal to the US
Also notably contrasts with Taiho’s more inexperienced damage control crew in this battle.
Note the USN didn't just have better DCP crews but it trained everyone on board on basics of DCP
After all she was the "Fortunate Crane".
@@garystu9878 that musta been a hell of an fucking explosion in that shaft
That nighttime landing must have been an amazing sight.
Massive balls to pull that off with 1944 technology.
If you want a first person account, read "Dauntless Helldivers: A Dive Bomber Pilot's Epic Story of the Carrier Battles" by Harold L Buell. He flew a Helldiver in that battle.
@@natowaveenjoyer9862 Especially with the threat of a Japanese submarine attack, dunno how in the world those ships were afloat with all of those balls of steels weighing it down
Having a time machine to look back on moments like these would be absolutely stunning.
Sure was kiddo, I was their
10:20 That animation of the planes colliding on the flight deck is the cherry on top. Such a superbly animated and produced video.
I know the situation was probably terrifying but seeing those little planes smash into eachother like a kid throwing their toys around makes it look funny.
Those who criticised Spruance were utterly wrong. It's that simple.
His primary mission was protection of the invasion forces. He achieved that mission gloriously.
At Leyte Gulf by contrast the glory-hunter Halsey failed in his primary mission to protect the invasion shipping. It was only thanks to the miracle of Taffy 3 that Halsey didn't have massive shipping and personnel losses to deal with.
Raymond Spruance was always about the mission and never about glory hunting. In my opinion, Spruance was one of the best naval commanders in the Pacific. So much better than glory hunting Halsey, who made so many mistakes from the Philippines campaign to the typhoon cobra of 1944, and he always got a pass, remarkable. Halsey definitely had good connections in Washington and with Nimitz.
And not to mention Kurita basically back stabbing IJN as he either an American spy and/or being a IJA sympathizer, countering every move for his forces to win. And not to mention the USS Johnston
@@45sticky Halsey did manage to build an impressive reputation for the USN during the Pacific campaign, it was hard for anyone even Fleet Admiral King considering the backlash if they did pull Halsey out. But at the same time Halsey was erratic and going into 2 different typhoons(including Cobra) doesn’t help him
@@45sticky Definitely, he removed some competent men from command for even less than his mistakes.
Yeah the prevailing view amongst the air admirals was that carriers couldn't possibly be end run. So much like Spruance got critised for Midway (where he made the correct decision) he also understood that carriers could indeed be end run. Which was proven in a battle that should never have happened the way it did off Samar.
I still tear up everytime I hear about fleet lighting up their carriers...
... in hope of showing their pilots the way home
There’s a great seen in the series Battle 360 where an Enterprise Fighter Pilot tears up just thinking about the ships lighting up. It was an incredibly dangerous thing to do but saved all the pilots lives.
@@thomasriley5830 I remember one of the veterans called Don "flash" Gordon talking about this battle on Battle 360 Enterprise and coming in tears about his reaction when TF58 lighted all the lights of the ships... Like he said the "lights were telling me, home is that way" and he starts to cry... Man that hit me hard... Imagine yourself in the middle of the ocean without GPS at night, only with a compass and trying to find a group of ships that are moving... It's overwhelming...
@@Yamato-tp2kf yeah that’s the moment I was referencing! Imaging myself during any WW2 campaign is hard to do… these guys were different
@@Yamato-tp2kf I remember that moment from Battle 360 Enterprise as well. Don "Flash" Gordon said he ended up landing on the Lexington, demonstrating how the flight groups got jumbled up in the night landing. I'm glad they included in this video at 10:52 and in the Battle 360 of how the Destroyers and search planes scoured the ocean for downed pilots. They mentioned in the Battle 360 show that the Enterprise was only missing one person from the night landings, "Killer" Kane, and he was later rescued by a destroyer. They had a light hearted moment, where the destroyer's crew was requesting ice cream in return for rescuing the Enterprise pilot.
@asteropax6469 "requesting" more like "gimme ice cream or we keep the pilot !!!!"
"And Admiral Mitcher said: 'Let there be light' and there was light."
Sorry. I couldn't resist.
Tibbets over Hiroshima.
@@Eric-kn4yn Has nothing to do with my comment.
Interesting story. Spruance and Mitscher did a similar thing 2 years earlier at Midway with Enterprise and Hornet (CV-8). They had sent a strike on the afternoon of 5 June 1942. Which attacked a destroyer ( i think it was Tanikaze). The destroyer escaped and shot down a Dauntless. To make matters worse, that strike was returning after dark. So Spruance ordered Enterprise and Hornet’s lights on. Resulting in all the surviving aircraft returning safely. Albeit Enterprise somehow getting 5 of Hornet’s SBDs.
@@ph89787 I see. In hindsight, they needed that experience.
@@ph89787 i mean,,,, a carriers' a carrier ??
“Turn on the lights” gives me goosebumps every time I hear this story. I love it!
For all the talk of the "Turkey Shoot", seems like USN subs were the MVPs in this battle.
Yes and no. During the next engagement, the carriers, as well as Ozawa, were used as bait. While they did have a full load of planes, they had recruit pilots and they even had a hard time drawing Halsey's attention...
After this battle the remaining carriers were paper tigers, like tanks without the main gun
@@sjonnieplayfull5859 Fair
This battle finally sealed the fate of IJN. The katana is already broken. But their commanders said:”If your katana is broken, get a bamboo stick and keep fighting”.
And that "bamboo stick" will be the Battle of Leyte Gulf
And 10-go operation
@@phucvinh2883 Ten-go is more of "fighting with bare hands" at that point
@@yosefvonhansom2921
Fighting hundreds of bee with only bare hands. 😨😨😨
IJN died at Guadalcanal. This is garbage time. Taihou, Shoukaku, and Zuikaku had no chance against the oncoming storm. Philippine Sea was a Hail Mary.
I love finding history channels like this one and watching them slowly improve and become solid, popular channels. The Operations Room never fails to deliver a fun and interesting story :)
6:50 I think it was supposed to be IJN Ryuho not Ryujo, IJN Ryujo was sunk during the Battle of Eastern Solomons
You're right, my mistake
@@TheOperationsRoom mixing your ho's and Jo's lol
@@TheOperationsRoom it a easy mistake to make, both are light carriers and have a single letter different in their names.
What the battle of the Philippines taught me is that Japanese damage control got better throughout the war
Edit: Also Between you and montemayor there is a lot of great animated WW2 carrier battles.
On one hand, it definitely got better
On the other hand, the Zuiho basically sunk herself.
Japanese damage control got better in some cases, but not uniformly across the fleet. There was also the issue that, while the IJN learned some major lessons about damage control, they weren't always able to pass those on to the newly arriving sailors that they were rushing through abbreviated training.
It's also important to note that Zuikaku, the star example of IJN damage control in this battle, was a veteran ship with two and a half years of combat under its belt by this point. Contrast that with the relative experience and damage control of Taiho.
Japanese damage control got better throughout the war and American flight-deck operations also got better throughout the war. :-)
There was not really Japanese damage control - it wasn't _that_ standardized (partly due to ship designs).
So, it was more of a ship-by-ship basis kinda thing.
At least, if I remember Drachinifel's video about it correctly 🙃
@@MrNicoJac That they put of fires on a carrier would be classified as 'damage control', though regardless of standardization or (lack of) training.
No bs, no jokes, no corny music, just straight to the point history.
I’ve visited the Lexington several times. It’s an amazing ship and extremely humbling to hear about her exploits knowing I’ve stood on that same deck and been inside.
agree. Living here in Corpus Christi TX, where the Lady Lex lives, it is humbling to stand on her flight deck and look at the tally of plane shot down and ships sunk by her airgroups. But is amazing is how much damage to Japanese plane by the guys manning the deck guns. Someone needs to a show on them.
Even though I've never NOT cracked my skull on something overhead when visiting the Lady Lex, I'll never pass up a chance to go aboard her and discover something new. 😀
one question that will never be answered is, if the Japanese aircrew of 1941 fought this battle instead of 1944, would it still be the turkey shoot it came to be known for?
Fun fact: I live in the Philippines, on the province of Iloilo, next to the island of Guimaras. I once read that Ozawa, with his carriers and green aircrew, were practicing and training off the Guimaras Straits. They were spotted by guerillas, reported their presence to the American high command, who became aware of them before the battle.
Top quality content mate! Sad to hear about TH-cam being a prick demonetising your vids
Another fun fact. All of TF 58's fleet carriers embarked 4-6 plane detachments of Night Fighters. Most of those were F6F-3E or 3N Hellcats with the exception of Enterprise carrying 4 F4U-2 Corsairs. During the "Mission beyond darkness" in addition to lighting the ships up. The fleet carriers launched these fighters to help shepherd the weary strike package back (or as close to) TF 58 as possible.
This is simply the best military history channel available. Your channel puts the other "official" channel to shame, which has turned into a cesspool show of Ancient Aliens, Swamp People, and American Pickers.
Yeah... the former "history channel" only made three good series about WW2, the Battle 360 Enterprise and Patton and the dogfight series... That's all what they did good... Nothing else...
@@Yamato-tp2kf And Greatest Tank Battles.
Montemayor is also a very good channel, though they do not produce as much content.
This was very good. Montemayor only posts once every few months but just dropped another banger proving he's still the king. www.youtube.com/@MontemayorChannel
@@JacenHawk I know... I love his videos!!!
My great grandfather was commander of air group 1 aboard the Yorktown during this battle. Amazing to see this in video
HELLDIVER BOMBERS?!?!?
"An eagle never misses!"
"Liberty Dispensed!"
"Got 'em!"
The immense scale of ww2 is almost hard to comprehend, its crazy to even imagine a battle today that resulted in multiple carriers sunk and hundreds of planes shot down.
Awww yeah, love the lengths you go to for these animations - keep it up
They work wonderfully well don't they, one of the finest I've discovered and delighted for the opportunity to subscribe. 👍
The bird's eye view animation allows me a deeper understanding than I get from a simple reading of the history 👍
The fact that this got demotized really shows the state of TH-cam.
From the animations of Desert storm till now, the animation and commentary is still great as always.
this channel is one of the few that i actually click on when they post new videos
Leyte will need at least 4 parts:
- Part I: Prelude and the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea (October 23-24) - American carrier planes sink Musashi, and Darter and Dace (two submarines) sink the 2 heavy cruisers Maya and Atago (Kurita's flagship, forcing him to go to Yamato)
- Part II: Battle of Surigao Strait (October 24-25) - American battleships, cruisers and PT-boats under RAdm Jesse B. Oldendorf of 7th Fleet annihilate Admiral Nishimura's southern force, destroying all but 1 of his destroyers, both his battleships (killing him in the process), and his heavy cruiser.
- Part III: Battle off Samar (October 25) - American 7th Fleet's Taffy 3 under RAdm Clifton "Ziggy" Sprague with 6 escort carriers, 3 destroyers, and 4 destroyer escorts faced the entire IJN center force under V.Adm. Takeo Kurita with 4 battleships including the monster Yamato, 6 heavy cruisers (four would be sunk), 2 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers; the Americans won with 2 DDs, 1 DE, and 2 CVEs sunk (one of the 2 CVEs was sunk via the first ever kamikaze: the St. Lo), and as I already stated the IJN lost 4 CA to a combination of scuttling due to damage and air attacks. Taffy 3 headed off the largest IJN fleet in the battle, a David vs. Goliath scenario.
- Part IV: Battle of Cape Engano - The US 3rd fleet under Adm Halsey controversially went north just when the center force turned around to head back to Leyte. But they did find the carrier fleet, but... it was the northern decoy force under Adm. Ozawa, basically no threat. They did however sink the Zuikaku, the last Pearl Harbor carrier left after the disasters at Midway and Philippine Sea.
engano should be part 3 cuz it happened first, and also samar would be a glorious finale.
I learned more from this comment than the entire Wikipedia article.
Thanks for being so succinct and clear, major chops!
@@oldfrend Very true, but I was going off the fact that Engano lasted into the 26th, not much of the 26th but still, but I totally agree, that would be a glorious finale
@@MrNicoJac Your welcome, I thought I accidently made it slightly unreadable due to length and some minor punctuation and grammar mistakes, I was thinking only I could understand what I wrote, you ever done that?
I think Engano should be included in Part 3-it happened at the same time as Samar and juggling the two in the same video would highlight the SNAFUS committed by both sides on October the 25th 1944 better.
Your channel makes complex and chaotic battles understandable. I impatiently waited for part 2. Thank you
I think you guys should do the Battle off Samar. The Last stand of the tin can sailors is a really good book and this engagement would perfectly suit this channel's style
almost certainly next in line of production.
Any time I pick up that book time fast forwards a fee hours...
Dear TH-cam,
GOAT Guns are not firearms.
Your algorithm is dumb for thinking so.
Do better next time.
Sincerely,
The Internet At Large
One of your best animations so far with so. much going on! Keep up the great work!
Imagine you were one of those pilots coming back to the carriers in pitch black. You’re tired from the battle, anxious and worried at your lack of fuel and whether you could land in pitch black.
And then suddenly, the entire fleet lights up like a Christmas tree. All done to make sure you land safely even with the present danger of possible Japanese submarines.
I would’ve remembered that moment for life.
Another great one...parts 1 and 2 and the Intel report were all great. Thanks for all the work you put into these videos.
I definitely think Spruance was right though, he was there to protect the landings in the Marianas and he did that brilliantly, look at what Haley does when we invade the Philippines, he chases the carriers and nearly gets our landings wiped out by a Japanese surface force off Samar
Halsey -
While you are right that Halsey messed up there and no excuses for that, the US 8th fleet, the same fleet who blew the southern force out of the water would've likely had the time to intercept the centre force even if taffy 3 would've been annihilated
This has been a very great week for Naval engagements. Eastern Solomons from Montemaryor, and Philippine Sea from Operations Room. Keep up the good work guys!
Thanks!
If TH-cam wants to demonetize you, that's fine. We got your backs.
Thank you very much for your phenomenal content! It was already great and each successive video seems to have additional improvements.
I just finished binging all the videos on your channel over the past few days and was sad there weren't any more. Thanks for delivering more! :D
Although Adm. Spruance was criticized by some, he was supported by Adms Nimitz and King because he saw his mission as support of the Marianas invasion and he was proved correct. Even Adm. Mitscher later acknowledged it.
When you lose more planes during landing operations than actual combat, you know there is a massive air dominance.
The animation is smooth, this man's educational commentary is on point. This is the best battle history channel .
>Resulting in one of the largest naval battles in history
Leyte Gulf episode confirmed?
The animations seem to be getting quite a bit better. The gunfire from ships, foreground (higher altitude?) planes, and smoother movement, all look better! Keep up the good work
The Operations Room is what HIstory should be, direct yet entertaining and educational. Greato work, I love these breakdowns and animations.
Yassss, keep ‘em comin. Always look forward to your uploads!!!
God bless those brave naval aviators and sailors who sacrificed so much to protect our country and preserve the freedoms we enjoy today! God bless America!
Taking off so late in the afternoon knowing that you will most likely have to ditch in the ocean. That is bravery.
Japan wanted to "steal our freedoms"? The monsters!
Don’t forget Kings and Generals. Their pacific series has been excellent.
@@br0k3nman went and watched it. It is very good.
Always enjoy this channel's content!
This is the best channel ever. I love waking up and seeing a new video dropped.
thanks for the great videos!
thank you for the content
Love your vids. Please keep making them!!
Sorry about the yellow circle of death!
Eagerly waiting for the battles of Surigao Strait, Sibuyan Sea and the legendary Battle off Samar!
Samar deserves an episode of its own.
This channel as a whole just keeps getting better and better 😁👍🏻
Another masterpiece! You guys deliver gold
Awesome content as always. My absolute favorite history channel.
I'd love to see a series or even single video on the Korean War - It has a lot of relevance today! These battles in WWII against the Japanese set the stage for our current geopolitical climate in Asia :)
What a treat seeing this video!!!
I really enjoy this format thank you
The Night The Lights Came On - excellent job sir. I anxiously await your next posting!
My uncle Lt (jg) Robert Sterling was one of the pilots that didn't make it. According to the year book from the USS Bunker Hill CV-17 he did score a hit on Japanese carrier.
Shame that such a talented content creator gets demonitized for such a silly reason. Great vid OR❤
I enjoyed these two videos. Great work.
LOVE these animations and explanations.. just amazing how much luck has to do with victory
An example of the truth of a Ludendorff remark. "Strategic brilliance without tactical superiority is useless." So long as the Japanese air could not compete with the Hellcats they had zero chance.
9:40 must’ve been a beautiful sight seeing all those ships suddenly light up from the air.
Reminds me when the Île de France lit up its lights to rescue the Andrea Doria.
Always clarifying. Thank you.
Unreal presentation. Best military history channel out there
Damn, that Ryujo/Ryuho thing generates as many comments as "Did you know the actor of Aragorn actually broke his toe when he kicked that Orcs helmet?"
That comparison 😆 You are not wrong.
Great narration! Thanks for another good tale of heroism and sacrifice on both sides. I don’t know how the IJN pilots found the courage to face that aerial mob. They paid dearly for their bravery.
Holy heck I'm early...time to sit back and enjoy a great vid!
Thank you, another great video! 🙏🙏
In the late afternoon attack, my wife's uncle, a gunner on a TBM Avenger from the USS Yorktown's VT-1, was shot down and lost while glide bombing a Japanese carrier. He was declared dead one year later.
Wasp's group taking out those oilers was nearly as important as taking out the carriers. A carrier isn't much use without fuel.
Amazing video as always!
Great videos as usual sir! Love the ship animations!
Please do Battle of Borneo 1945.
My great grandfather was on the Japanese side. My grandpa said that he came home looking like a zombie. Skinny, weak and just exhausted.
I’d love to know what happened.
Rushed to click on this as soon as it notified me.
Naval battle are my favorite. The aircraft carriers are the icing on the cake! Absolutely beautiful video, please, PLEASE do more naval and naval aviation battles. I love these ones
Amazingly put together!
Zuikaku propablly has the best crew so thats why they got the fire under control.
will you guys do the battle of leyte gulf anytime ? i heard it was the largest naval battle in history
yessss new ep!!
Great video as always!!!!! Love them
Another great series. Can't wait for the Battle of Leyte Gulf episodes
That’s the naval battle that he was saying happened after the great marianas turkey shoot right? Like the next battle ?
@@usmc4eternitey Battle off Philippines sea which is this video are where the "great marianas turkey shoot occured". Battle of Leyte Gulf is the next major battle after this video battle as US invasion of Phillipines are underway.
I thought Ryujo was sunk at the battle of eastern solomons in '42?
*edit* I looked it up, Ryujo WAS sunk at eastern solomons in '42. The CVL damaged at this battle was Ryuho. Might want to correct that in the video
The Ryujo was sunk at that battle. This battle had the Ryuho. They made a mistake.
@@matthewhecht9257 It's unlike them to make such a mistake, the only reason I caught it was because montemayor's eastern solomons vids that just came out a few days ago
I think this is a bit of confusion between the Ryujo and Ryuho. Ryujo was indeed sunk in 1942, whilst Ryuho was damaged several times but survived the war.
@@fix0the0spade until now I never knew the IJN had two carriers with such similar names
Operations Room being the absolute GOAT in TH-cam here with these narrative visuals!
Maybe I missed something..... did the Americans lose more planes to landing issues than to the Japanese?
I believe the Americans lost about 40 planes due to enemy action; about 20 on day one and 20 on day two. However, American pilots were not widely trained in night landings at this point in the war so around 100 planes were lost in the landings. It's worth noting, the American carrier Enterprise had been doing a fair amount of night flying during the prior months so all but 1 of their pilots made it back to a carrier.
@@asteropax6469 To be specific. Air Group 10, between working their first and second deployments on Enterprise, had been experimenting with night ops. By the start of 1944, every pilot had done at least 2-night landings and take-offs. This would be used during Operation Hailstone (the attack on Truk Atoll). When 12 VT-10 Avengers led by Lt Van Eason had sunk 8 ships and damaged 6 others for the loss of one Avenger.
You might argue that most lost die to fuel loss or landing accidents werd still casualties to Japanese actions, namely their tactic of launching from the west and kind of outside their range
Had Ozawa known what he knew afterwards, he might have even launched his planes even further away, with just enough fuel left to make the attack, because most did not need any fuel for flying home anyway... 39 out of 450....
I mean, at least that would have put his carriers out of the American attack range