Two hours after launching, the 97 planes reached their targets–Simpson Harbor, the inner anchorage at Rabaul, and the outer roadstead at Blanche Bay–and a curtain of AA fire. Again the Americans got a break from the weather, which was so clear over Rabaul that they could see for 50 miles. That was especially welcome under the circumstances, because although Sherman and Caldwell had trained their aircrews rigorously to hit moving targets, they had not had time to prepare a detailed plan of attack for the Rabaul strike–much of it was worked out by group and squadron commanders over their radios.

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The Japanese already had a total of 59 A6M3 Zeros in the air, but they had expected the Americans to break into small groups as they neared the targets. Instead, Caldwell simply directed one large formation through the gantlet of AA fire, letting it split into smaller groups only at the last moment before making their attacks. Unwilling to go through their own flak, the Zeros milled around while ‘Jumping Joe’ Clifton’s Hellcats went after them.

Ignoring the curtain of AA shellfire, Caldwell led his group across Crater Point in order to swing upwind of the enemy ships. Then his SBDs deployed and the TBFs went down low to start their torpedo runs. By then, the Japanese ships were either steaming for the harbor entrance or taking evasive action. One heavy cruiser fired its main 8-inch gun battery at the TBFs. As they pulled up from their attacks, the SBD and TBF pilots found themselves dodging over or around ships for four or five miles. Miraculously, all but five fighters and five bombers emerged from the wild melee, although most of the survivors suffered some damage. Casualties amounted to seven pilots and eight crewmen killed or missing.

Caldwell, who had been directing the dive bombers from above, found himself and one of Princeton’s Hellcats being chased by eight Zeros. His rear turret was disabled and his photographer, Paul T. Barnett, was dead, but Caldwell managed to fend off his attackers with his nose machine gun. Lieutenant H.M. Crockett of Princeton’s VF-23 took more than 200 hits in his Hellcat–and a few in himself–yet he managed to land aboard Princeton without flaps, while Caldwell brought his Avenger back to Saratoga ‘with one wheel, no flaps, no aileron and no radio.’

Total American losses in the attack came to 13 aircraft–far fewer than the 49, including 20 probables, claimed by the Japanese. While the Hellcat pilots were credited with 21 victories and the TBFs and SBDs claimed another seven, the Japanese recorded the loss of only two Zeros and their pilots: PO1C Hiroshi Nishimura from Zuikaku, and Zuiho’s Chief Petty Officer Kosaku Minato.

The attack did not sink any ships, but it accomplished its mission. Lieutenant James Newell’s Saratoga-based bombing squadron VB-12 caught Maya refueling, and one of his SBDs sent a bomb down her smokestack and into her engine room, causing damage that would keep her out of commission for five months. Takao took two hits under the waterline, Atago was damaged by two near misses, and Mogami took some damaging bomb hits. Chikuma and light cruisers Agano and Noshiro were also damaged, the latter by a torpedo hit. Destroyer Fujinami was hit by a dud torpedo, and Wakatsuki was holed by near misses. All the warships but Maya were able to retire under their own power, but the naval threat to the beachhead at Bougainville had been neutralized. A follow-up attack by Maj. Gen. George C. Kenney’s Fifth Air Force was a virtual anticlimax.

After recovering their planes at 1 p.m., Sherman’s carriers retired. Japanese searchers spotted them at 2:45, and Kusaka dispatched 18 Nakajima B5N2 torpedo planes (code-named Kate by the Allies) to sink the carriers. At 7:15 the Japanese found a target, and on the following day, Radio Tokyo reported the results of what it called the First Air Battle of Bougainville: ‘One large carrier blown up and sunk, one medium carrier set ablaze and later sunk, and two heavy cruisers and one cruiser and destroyer sunk.’

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