Wasp's air group struck the Japanese oilers before reaching the carriers because it had launched from farther away and was already short of fuel. Its pilots chose valuable targets they could reach rather than spend their remaining endurance searching for carrier hulls. The attack was a serious operational blow because tankers were as important as carriers to Japan's ability to keep the fleet at sea in 1944. Destroying three oilers reduced Ozawa's ability to refuel and compounded the wider fuel-quality and shipping crisis already limiting Japanese naval power.
Notable Point · 1:36:04-1:36:51
Why the strike hit Japanese oilers first
Low-fuel American aircraft attacked the first valuable targets they found, crippling the tankers Ozawa needed to keep his fleet operating.