While supporting the American invasion of the Mariana Islands in the Pacific, the aircraft carriers and submarines of the U.S. Fifth fleet dealt a crushing blow to the Japanese Navy's carrier force and air crews. In two days of ship-to-ship air attacks 90% of Japan's aircraft carrier force was destroyed. The Japanese aircraft that were so successful in 1942 are no match for the new American fighters and bombers of 1944. Wave after wave of Japanese carrier aircraft are slaughtered by the American fighters and anti-aircraft fire. Over 600 Japanese aircraft and their crews were destroyed. American dive bombers, torpedo planes and submarines combine to sink all three of Japan's largest aircraft carriers. This eliminated Japanese naval air power for the rest of the war.