The Imperial Navy has been sent to halt an American offensive

in Saipan.

The US fleet has been putting up a vicious fight,

blasting hundreds of enemy planes out of the sky.

Yet Enterprise and her carrier comrades

have been unable to locate the main enemy fleet.

Now the skies over the Philippine Sea

are filled with American airplanes

on the hunt for Admiral Ozawa.

Target-- the Japanese fleet.

Objective-- drive the remains of Ozawa's task force

from the Philippine Sea.

Strategy-- fly constant searches until the Imperial ships

are spotted and destroyed.

But the seek-and-destroy mission goes on for hours,

and still Admiral Marc Mitscher cannot find Admiral Ozawa.

Tension is high aboard the Big E as the afternoon wears on.

But at 3:40 PM, they hit pay dirt.

300 miles away, Enterprise search planes finally

discover the enemy fleet.

6:30 PM-- finally, after two hours in the air,

Killer Kane's air group spots the enemy fleet.

12,000 feet below, they've discovered a major part

of Ozawa's force, three carriers,

Ryuho, Junyo, and Hiyo, and cruisers Mogami and Nagato.

It's a free for all.

Kane's forces immediately split up and make

a run for the enemy vessels.

The Japanese surface ships open up with a deadly fusillade

of flak as the dive bombers and Hellcats begin their assault,

but they keep right on coming.

Jig Dog Ramage and five SBDs line up for a bombing

run on the carrier Ryuho.

Jig Dog wings over and makes a steep dive on the enemy ship.

JAMES RAMAGE: I put the pipper, as we called it, just forward

of the bow and went down to the 2,000 feet,

maybe a little lower.

Dropped my bomb.

NARRATOR: Ramage delivers 1,000 pounds of terror on the Ryuho

and immediately pulls out of his dive.

It's a crippling near miss.

One by one, four other SBDs drop their payloads

over the Imperial flat top.

From his rear-seat position, Cauley

gets a choice opportunity to admire the grisly work

of his comrades.

Ryuho has been mauled, and carrier Hiyo is wounded

by torpedoes and is burning.

Enterprise bomb hits help finish her off.

Just as the Hellcats rejoin the dive bombers,

Flash Gordon spots a target of opportunity.

DONALD GORDON: Way down on the water, maybe 10 miles east,

I saw a Zero headed west about 900 feet.

NARRATOR: Gordon immediately firewalls the Hellcat

and pulls the big plane into a half loop and a half roll.

He races after the Zero, draws a bead, and cuts loose

with his rapid fire 0.50s.

Pulled up in the top of the loop and shot him down.

He blew up.

Then we came back down and joined up with the bombers.

NARRATOR: The Zero was Flash Gordon's seventh and final kill

of World War II.

He and his fellow pilots escape the last enemy flak bursts

and head for home.

The Battle of the Philippines sees a disaster

for the Japanese Navy.

Admiral Ozawa has failed to drive the US fleet from Saipan,

and the defeat has cost him hundreds of Imperial pilots

and three aircraft carriers, Hiyo, Taiyo, and Shokaku.

Some of the best news we got there

was to hear that our old nemesis, the Shokaku,

had been put down.

JONATHAN PARSHALL: For the Japanese,

the aftermath of the battle is a recognition that their carrier

force is finished.

They may still have vessels, but they

no longer have aircraft or pilots

to put aboard those vessels.

NARRATOR: But the Japanese fleet is not finished yet.

The Big E's nemesis, Zuikaku, is still afloat,

and so are the battleships.

Massive battle wagons Musashi and Yamato,

along with an armada of cruisers and destroyers,

are ready to meet the Enterprise in battle.

The bloody combat on Saipan goes on for another three weeks.

It becomes one of the most costly battles

of the entire Pacific War.