any base ? be it carrier or land. The Japanese tried to land more planes at Guam or Rota from air forces elsewhere, but many were shot down by the Americans before they could land. In all, the Japanese had launched 373 planes from its carriers and only 130 returned ? nearly a two-thirds rate of loss. Only 102 were serviceable to any degree. Only 29 Americans planes were destroyed. A carrier fleet without planes was useless. The Battle of the Philippine Sea effectively spelt the end of whatever carrier strength the Japanese Navy had. However, Ozawa was never fully aware of what had happened to his plane force carried by his carriers. Those pilots that had returned had brought back stories of four American carriers being sunk and many US planes destroyed! He prepared to continue the battle. However, he was never given the chance. At 16.30, 77 dive-bombers, 54 torpedo-planes and 85 fighters took off from American carriers to attack the Japanese fleet. Ozawa had very few planes with which to fight back and his losses were severe. The carriers ?Hiyo?, ?Zuikaku? and ?Chiyoda? were hit. The battleship ?Haruna? was also hit. The Japanese lost a further 65 planes and by the end of the attack, Ozama?s fleet only had 35 planes left. The total American loss in this attack was 14 planes. Ozama realised that he had no hope of continuing the fight and signaled Toyoda that he was retreating to Okinawa. He had lost 375 planes