Word: mitscher
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Only five days after his task force had struck savagely at Truk Rear Admiral Marc Mitscher was hitting the Japs again: this time the Marianas Islands, 650 miles northwest of Truk, 1,400 miles south of Tokyo, were the targets...
...beyond denying Truk the defense to which it was entitled, the Japs didn't seem to want to fight at Saipan, Tinian, Guam-bastions far to the northwest of Truk. Rear Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's carrier forces hit these bases and Truk within the space of five days (see col. 3), probably without returning to base to refuel or rearm...
...There was scarcely time to return between strikes. Mitscher might have rearmed and refueled at sea from a "sea train" of oilers and munition carriers...
...manner of achievement was more startling than the figures. This time the surprise of the Kwajalein invasion and the Truk carrier blow was missing. The Japs detected Mitscher's force many hours away, sent wave after wave of planes against it. During the night, antiaircraft gunners aboard the carriers and their protective ships knocked down fourteen. Hellcats shot down five others which attacked the force during the morning. The fact that no U.S. ship was sunk (and none admitted to be damaged) provided the best vindication of the carrier's ability to meet land-based planes. Superior numbers...
Puzzling feature: if the Japs knew Mitscher's force was coming, why did they lose 87 planes on the ground? Possible explanation: when Japs become confused, or when something goes wrong with their plans, everything goes haywire. Sometimes in their stress they commit suicide because they can think of nothing else...