All language subtitles for Battle 360 - D-DAY IN THE PACIFIC (Part 2)_ Americans Hunt Down The Imperial Fleet _ Battle 360 _ History (720p).English

NARRATOR: June 20, 1944.

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.