That was all Wade McClusky needed to hear. The word “carriers” resonated with both danger and excitement, and the Enterprise Group was quick of the deck that morning, and heading south. The six fighters of GI-Choitai-Gozo would put up a brave fight, six zeroes against 15 Wildcats escorting that strike. Pilot Warrant Officers Matsumura and Murakami would each get a kill in the fighter dual, and Murakami would slide off to make a good pass at the incoming Dauntless Dive bomber group, putting one down for the count.
Donald Runyon of VF-6 got behind one Zero and drilled it, sending the plane down with a long arc of smoke, and Flight Leader Jimmy Grey of the “Shooting Stars” would get another. There were 26 SBDs still in formation with McClusky when they broke through a puffy white cloud and saw the two carriers below. Down they went, and in spite of some rather wild defensive maneuvers made by the ships, the bombs were going to find both flight decks that morning. With so little flak coming up from the scouting group, the approach to the target was smooth and clear. Gozo would take the worst of it, with no fewer than five bomb hits amidships, just as the flight crews had finished bringing up another Shotai of three fighters.
The planes were caught in the heat and fire of the bomb explosions, with one Zero blown to pieces, a white wing careening wildly along the flight deck and cutting down two deck crewmen who were too late to the deck well to escape. One of the bombs penetrated to the hanger deck, exploding there to set off a raging fire where the last three Zeroes were being fueled. It was that fire that sealed the ship’s fate, burning right through a buckled bulkhead and setting off the ready ammo magazine for the B-turret forward. That explosion blasted through to the main magazine, and Gozo simply blew up.
Aboard Mezu, only six B5Ns had managed to take off before the strike came in, and they had climbed to join the last four Zeroes off the Gozo. That formation of ten planes looked down on the thundering explosion that claimed the scout carrier’s life, and the pilots tightened their jaws. They could see the American dive bombers pull out and head northwest, and they followed that heading, hoping to find the enemy and take just revenge. What they found instead was Lieutenant Merrill Cook’s VF-8 off the Hornet flying CAP with 15 more Wildcats. Only three of the B5Ns would get anywhere near the targets, and no hits were scored. The remaining planes, five in all, diverted to Kwajalein.
As for Mezu, that scout carrier had also taken three hits, with very bad fires, and it was desperately steering for Maloelap to try and find an anchorage before it went down. Yamamoto had sent the two scouts out to look for enemy carriers, and now he knew exactly where they were, but at great cost. Carrier Division 1, with Akagi and Soryu, were well south, the primary covering force for the convoy bringing the Sakaguchi Detachment for the Fiji invasion. Yamamoto was there aboard the Yamato, and the battlecruiser Kirishima followed in the wake of that powerful ship. Cruisers Takao and Atago were up in front with five more destroyers in a wide escort fan.
Admiral Ugaki came in with the bad news. Gozo was gone, Mezu badly damaged, and the Americans were pounding the Marshalls. “We are not too far south,” he said excitedly. “We can still turn and engage.”
“And leave the invasion group uncovered?”
“Those carriers would have to come south to threaten that convoy, and to do so they would have to get past us first.”
“How many enemy carriers were sighted?”
“Only two, with a number of cruisers and destroyers. Admiral, if we do not turn, that task force could even pose a grave threat to our main base at Truk. We have only a single squadron of nine A6Ms, and they will not be able to adequately protect that anchorage. Musashi is just sitting there collecting staff reports and signals traffic, and consider we still have a number of merchant ships anchored, and valuable facilities that cannot be compromised.”
“Yet the Americans could simply withdraw east now. This report says the last remaining planes off Mezu diverted to Kwajalein. We will lose contact, and if we go north, they could swing down and find our invasion group.”
“Truk sir. That base could be severely damaged if we do not intervene.”
“Then you consider it more valuable than the troops we are escorting now?”
“I do, sir. We must not allow this American raiding group to proceed. It must be challenged, here and now. Isn’t that what we hoped to do in the naval component of the FS plan? We have found the American carriers, and now we must go and destroy them.”
It was a very difficult decision, for if the invasion group was found and attacked, it would seriously compromise the entire Fiji invasion plan. Operation FS would not have the forces required to prosecute that battle.
“Where is Carrier Division 5?” asked Yamamoto.
“The last report had them 60 miles west of Mundo in the Solomon Sea.”
“Hara has seen nothing of those remaining enemy carriers?”
“No sir.
“And the Abe Detachment?”
“It has reached the rendezvous point off Lakatoro in the New Hebrides.”
Yamamoto thought for a moment, then decided. “I do not think this American carrier group is going to bother Truk. It is clear, however, that our ruse regarding Midway was not entirely successful. This group may have been on watch there, but it has obviously moved into the Marshalls. I believe it will now come south in our wake, because that is where I intend to take this task force. We will fulfill our primary mission and continue to cover the Sakaguchi Detachment. Remember, we still have no firm report on the location of those carriers that were spotted near Fiji. Until I do have better information, it is my decision to move our two carrier divisions into supporting range of one another. Order Hara’s 5th Carrier Division to proceed to the rendezvous point. We will make that our destination as well.”
Yamamoto saw his Chief of Staff hesitate ever so briefly, then he bowed, knowing an order when he heard one. As one last consideration, Yamamoto spoke again.
“There are 27 A6M fighters at Lae, and I do not think they will be all needed there, as our troops have already made a successful landing at Port Moresby. They report no enemy air defenses there worth mentioning. So we will move another three Shotai, nine more A6M fighters from Rabaul to Truk immediately, and you may notify the base to assume a high level of preparedness. Rabaul may then pull a squadron from Lae to replace those fighters.”
Ugaki nodded, and the die was cast. It was a decision that would soon set off a naval duel that would now crackle and pop like a string of fireworks. For far to the south, Admiral Fletcher had another difficult decision to make. The Japanese had beaten him to Port Moresby. Troops were already on the beaches there, and a small ongoing duel was underway between local shore batteries and the 6-inch guns mounted on the transports. Two enemy ships had been hit, set afire, and looked to be total losses, but most of the landing force was already ashore. Now what?