In less than twelve hours they would succeed in their mission. They arrived over the target at 2200 hours on the 23rd and by the time they returned to their bases at dusk to rearm and refuel the Carrier fleet had suffered badly.
The first target had been the Light Carrier USS Wright which sank just after midnight. The bombers then turned their attention to the USS Antietam. She would sink before 0900 hours on September 24th and Cooley was left with no choice but to head east away from further punishment.
Yamamoto had already managed to sink a sizable number of Battleships over the last two weeks and now the United States Navy had committed some Carriers and had already lost one. He had missed a report and quickly rectified that situation. Bombers had also been sent to hunt down the USS Lake Champlain as it headed south. These bombers had found Lockwood's small fleet an hour after Cooley had been attacked.
The United States Navy had lost the USS Lake Champlain several hours before it had lost the USS Antietam. Two modern Carriers were no more and the losses for the American fleet were growing to the point were replacement of the ships would take years to achieve.
BB Division 3, led by Admiral Nomura, was Japan's fastest Battlefleet and it had arrived in the East Caroline Basin ahead of BB Division 2 and 3. Kaigun. The remains of Lockwood's fleet and a second fleet containing a Destroyer and Transport Division were found trying to head out of the area. Only the Submarine division would survive as the Heavy Cruiser IJN Takao sank one Destroyer Division with IJN Musashi sinking the other. IJN Yamato accounted for the Transport Division.
One of the Transport Divisions that had added troops to Palu had mistakenly headed west instead of east. It would not be leaving the Madura Strait as bombers sent it to the bottom on their way to try and relocate Cooley and the remains of his fleet.
0000 September 25th 1945.
Diplomatic Offices. Tokyo, Japan.
Mamoru liked to keep abreast of other Countries leaders as it could help with negotiations. He particularly liked to know when anything changed.
An American Minister had resigned. Why was unknown but Mamoru did know that it was not a member of the current American cabinet.
0300 September 25th 1945.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Saipan.
Reports were still arriving thick and fast at Yamamoto's temporary headquarters on Saipan. The latest report from Palu was looking slightly more favourable.
The marine division was close to ceasing to exist as a combat unit and would not survive until dusk. No further troops had been landed.
Ozawa had found Cooley again and by 0900 hours on September 25th he had lost another Light Carrier. The USS Saipan had rather fittingly been sunk as that island was no longer American controlled nor had it been for some time.
Yamamoto's was paying a lot more attention to New Guinea as the invasion force arrived off the coast of Hollandia. The marines began their assault at 0900 hours with support from BB Division 3 and the massive guns of IJN Yamato and Musashi.
Choosing to launch the attack at dusk was a mistake as had been proven time and again by the Americans. Such assaults could only work with air support, which did not arrive until dawn and would turn out to be too late. The marines defending Hollandia would win this battle despite being weakened beforehand by bombers.
None of the Japanese fleets were going anywhere just yet. 8. Kaigun had already left Davao with another three divisions and they would arrive in a couple of days. In the mean time the bombers would keep the pressure on the defending marines to prevent them from recovering.
At 1300 hours on September 26th the four American Destroyer Divisions that had sunk four Japanese Submarine Flotillas already found a second Submarine fleet in the North Magellan Seamounts. Admiral Shimada had been keeping a close watch on Eniwetok which had seen its garrison reduced to almost nothing. The final division on the island looked to be boarding a Transport Division as Shimada ordered his fleet to take evasive action to avoid the Destroyers.
Shimada would manage to escape with all six Submarine Flotillas still afloat, although some were close to being totally sunk. Yamamoto moved his headquarters back onboard IJN Yamashiro as he ordered BB Division 1 to sea to hunt down the American Destroyers before he had no Submarines left.