December 28th - The Day of Infamy, Part XIX

The Marshals Campaign, Part II

Just before noon on the 19th, Admiral Ozawa’s carriers, still undetected, launched a maximum effort strike at extreme range towards the US carriers. Two hundred assorted dive and torpedo bombers escorted by one hundred and forty fighters were spotted by an SBD returning from patrol, which radioed off a frantic contact report before being picked off by a pair of Zeros. Ensign George Bush was the only survivor of his crew, but his contact report gained the fleet twenty vital minutes warning before the Japanese first appeared on radar. Hanger crews actually managed to get Hellcats fueled, armed, and launched in time to intercept the Japanese directly over the fleet – an effort that would save many lives.

The USS Enterprise had her Hellcats aloft as the CAP, and they were thus the first to make contact. Poor coordination by the Japanese allowed the twenty-two F6Fs to blow though the fighter screen and get in among the bombers. The Zeros became disorganized, some turning to pursue the Enterprise’s group while others continued on to meet the hastily launched reserve from the USS Hancock and USS Adams. By the time the Japanese bombers began their attack runs Hellcats from almost every carrier in TF51 had joined the defense, along with six from the escort carrier USS Santee in TF55. Roughly thirty Zeros and fifty bombers were gone.

TF 51 was operating in four slightly separated task groups; TG51.1 took the brunt of the attack while roughly twenty IJN bombers attacked TG51.4 (USS Iowa, New Jersey, and their screen).

TG51.1 had fleet carriers Lexington, Yorktown, and Saratoga (II), light carriers Wasp, Ranger, and Intrepid, heavy cruisers Salt Lake City, Pensacola, Baltimore, and Boston, light cruisers Atlanta, Denver, and Mobile, and nine destroyers. One hundred and thirty aircraft attacked 22 ships, concentrating on the carriers. Scores were downed by AA fire, and others to Hellcats that followed them down, but over half of the attackers were able to release their bombs and torpedoes, scoring fourteen hits.

USS Yorktown was hit by six bombs, two torpedoes, and one Val that crashed into her flight deck. There was probably no better trained and certainly no more experienced crew in the world at managing battle damage than hers, but the explosions and fires simply overwhelmed them. Yorktown, ablaze from stem to stern and beam to beam, was ordered abandoned at 1645 and sank twenty minutes later, taking over 1,200 of her crew with her.

Two bombs hit the Saratoga, wrecking her forward flight deck and elevator. Wasp was hit by a single bomb amidships that holed her flight deck and burst in her hanger, starting a fire that took over an hour to bring under control. Intrepid was hit by a torpedo aft that destroyed one engine room. Pensacola was hit by two bombs, which smashed her “B” turret and started a serious fire aft. Ranger took a near miss that opened a seam and killed one crewman. Lexington was soaked by a pair of near-misses but took no damage and reported no casualties – the only one of the six carriers in the group to emerge unscathed.

One hundred and ninety-three IJN aircraft failed to return to their carriers. Twenty-one Hellcats were shot down, mostly from among those hastily launched individually or in pairs as the Japanese approached.

Even before USS Yorktown sank, SBDs from TG51.2 were aloft, searching for the Japanese. TF 51 had detached its damaged ships along with a destroyer squadron for protection and was charging west. Halsey had blood in his eye, and was determined to hit back.

The position of the Japanese fleet, when finally located, posed a problem. By the time the US strike could finish being prepared, launch, fly to the target, attack, and fly back it would be dark. Night landings by massed, and in many cases damaged, aircraft would be sure to result in additional casualties. Further, most of the USN pilots had already flown one mission earlier in the day against Kwajalein. Pilot fatigue would be a danger on top of the hazards of combat and flying at night.

Halsey, however, overruled his staff’s concerns. 183 dive bombers, 97 TBFs, and 204 Hellcats reached the Japanese Carrier Force an hour and a half before dusk. Sixty Zeroes were aloft, and despite being outnumbered over 3:1 by the US fighters managed to shoot down eleven bombers. Japanese AA fire, nowhere near as heavy or capable as its US equivalent, downed some thirty more aircraft before they could release their ordnance. The Americans ignored the IJN light cruisers and destroyers, scoring 49 bomb and torpedo hits on the nine carriers (including the two seaplane carriers) and two heavy cruisers.

Half the hits were scored on the five IJN fleet carriers, causing severe fires and flooding that would sink or destroy all of them. CV Shokaku was the last to go, her flight deck beginning to dip under water just as the sun set on the Japanese fleet. Light carriers Zuiho and Shoho along with seaplane carrier Chitose joined them, Shoho being totally destroyed in a massive explosion just seconds after being hit by a pair of 1,000lb bombs amidships. Heavy cruiser Tone was wrecked and set afire by bomb strikes, although she would survive the night and be scuttled shortly after dawn. CVS Chiyoda was hit by a pair of torpedoes that ruined her main power plant, however the ship’s odd design allowed her to limp away on her secondary diesel plant. She was joined by CA Chikuma, three of her main battery turrets out of action and her seaplane handling facilities wrecked but her propulsion system almost miraculously intact. Admiral Ozawa, barely able to stand unsupported due to his wounds but still erect on Sendai’s bridge, ordered the two cripples, his new flag ship, and two destroyers to turn back for Truk. The other three light cruisers and seven destroyers were ordered to join the Battle Force.

Kido Butai was dead, but Combined Fleet yet lived.