page_title: Philippine Sea order of battle
section_title: Task Group 58.4
hierarchical_section_title: Philippine Sea order of battle / American order of battle / Task Force 58 / Task Group 58.4
caption_attribution_description: English: The Bagley-class destroyer USS Bagley (DD-386) tied up at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, late in 1945. Note markings on her side, giving the location of hull frames. Removed caption read: Photo # 19-N-115254 &#160; USS Bagley at Pearl harbor, late in 1945
context_page_description: The Battle of the Philippine Sea was fought 19-20 June 1944 in the waters west of the Mariana Islands by elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet and of the United States Navy's Pacific Fleet. The battle exacted a terrible toll from the Japanese naval air arm, costing them most of their few remaining experienced pilots. The Combined Fleet was no longer capable of serious offensive operations after this engagement. Historian Samuel Eliot Morison characterized it this way:
  This was the greatest carrier battle of the war. The forces engaged were three to four times those in preceding actions like Midway, and victory was so complete that the Japanese could never again engage on such a scale. ... above all the skill, initiative, and intrepid courage of the young aviators made this day one of the high points in the history of the American spirit.
  Since the Japanese assumed the tactical offensive, their forces are listed first.
  Japanese forces
  Combat ships: 3 fleet carriers, 2 old fleet carriers, 4 light carriers, 2 new battleships, 3 old battleships, 7 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, 34 destroyers, 6 oilers, 7 1st-class submarines, 17 2nd-class submarines
context_section_description: Carrier Division 12 (Rear Admiral William K. Harrill)
  1 fleet carrier:
  Essex (Capt. Ralph A. Ofstie)
  Air Group 15 (Cmdr. David McCampbell)
  38 F6F Hellcat fighters (Lt. Cmdr. C.W. Brewer -- KIA)
  36 SB2C Helldiver dive bombers (Lt. Cmdr. J.H. Mini)
  15 TBF Avenger, 5 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers (Lt. Cmdr. V.G. Lambert)
    4 F6F-xN Hellcat night fighters  (Lt. R.M. Freeman)
  2 light carriers
  Langley (Capt. W.M. Dillon)
  Air Group 32 (Lt. Cmdr. E.C. Outlaw)
  23 F6F Hellcat fighters (Lt. Cmdr. Outlaw)
    7 TBF Avenger, 2 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers (Lt. D.A. Marks)
  Cowpens (Capt. H.W. Taylor)
  Air Group 25 (Lt. Cmdr. R.H. Price)
  23 F6F Hellcat fighters (Lt. Cmdr. Price)
    3 TBF Avenger, 6 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers (Lt. R.B. Cottingham, USNR)
  Cruiser Division 14 (Rear admiral Wilder D. Baker)
  3 light cruisers
  Vincennes (Capt. A.D. Brown)
  Houston (Capt. W.W. Behrens)
  Miami (Capt. J.G. Crawford)
  1 anti-aircraft light cruiser:
  San Diego (Capt. L.J. Hudson)
  14 destroyers:
  6 Fletcher class (5 x 5 in. main battery): Charles Ausburne, Stanly, Dyson, Converse, Spence, Thatcher
  1 Mahan class (5 x 5 in. main battery): Case
  3 Gleaves class (4 x 5 in. main battery): Lansdowne, Lardner, McCalla
  4 Benham class (4 x 5 in. main battery): Lang, Sterett, Wilson, Ellet
caption: Destroyer Bagley after war
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