In One Afternoon, America Erased Japan's Last Carrier Fleet at Cape Engaño

Cape Engaño, 25 October 1944: Task Force 38 flew 527 sorties against Vice Admiral Ozawa's Northern Force, and by 4:55 that afternoon the last carrier of the Pearl Harbor strike force, Zuikaku, and three consorts were gone. Four carriers sank between 9:37 in the morning and 4:55 in the evening. The Imperial Japanese Navy would never again fight a carrier battle. This documentary covers the Battle off Cape Engaño from the Philippine Sea in June 1944 and the Formosa air battle in October, through Ozawa's decoy mission under Sho-1, to the strikes by the Hellcats, Helldivers and Avengers of Task Force 38 on 25 October. It follows Zuikaku, Zuiho, Chitose and Chiyoda, the hybrid battleships Ise and Hyuga, Admiral Halsey's decision to steam north, the Kinkaid and Nimitz messages, and the fight off Samar. Every figure comes from Navy histories, after-action summaries, Combined Fleet ship records and Ozawa's own American interrogation, with conflicting counts shown as conflicts. Subscribe for the definitive history of the United States in the Second World War — new documentaries every few days. #WW2 #WorldWarII #PacificWar #USNavy #WWIIHistory #Hellcat #CapeEngano #TaskForce38 #MilitaryHistory #USAInWW2