Battle of the Philippine Sea

Battle of the Philippine Sea
	Part of World War II, Pacific War
	; The carrier Zuikaku (center) and two destroyers under attack by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft, June 20, 1944
Date	June 19–20, 1944
Location	The Philippine Sea
Result	Decisive American victory
Belligerents
United States Navy Fifth Fleet	Imperial Japanese Navy Combined Fleet
Commanders and leaders
Raymond A. Spruance	Jisaburō Ozawa; Kakuji Kakuta
Strength
7 fleet carriers, ; 8 light carriers, ; 7 battleships, ; 79 other ships, ; 28 submarines, ; 956 planes	5 fleet carriers, ; 4 light carriers, ; 5 battleships, ; 43 other ships, ; 450 carrier-based planes, ; 300 land-based planes
Casualties and losses
123 planes destroyed (about 80 of whose crews survived)	3 fleet carriers sunk, ; 2 oilers sunk, ; about 600 planes destroyed, ; 6 other ships heavily damaged

The Battle of the Philippine Sea was an important naval battle of the Second World War between the navies of the United States and Japan. This battle took place on June 19 and 20, 1944 near the Mariana Islands, and involved two big naval forces and many Japanese aircraft from bases on land. The battle was a great defeat for the Japanese Navy, which lost three aircraft carriers and some 600 aircraft in two days of combat. This happened because the Japanese airplanes were getting old and their pilots had little training, compared to the more modern and better trained American forces. After the battle, the Japanese Navy was almost completely destroyed. This victory for Allied forces opened the door for the invasion of Iwo Jima.

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