After loading 37 Army Republic P-47 Thunderbolts of the Army Air Forces' 73rd Fighter Squadron, 318th Fighter Group, "Manila Bay" sailed on 5 June for the Mariana Islands. Steaming via Eniwetok, she reached the eastern approaches to Saipan on 19 June. During the next 4 days, she remained east of the embattled island as ships and planes of the Fast Carrier Task Force repulsed the Japanese Fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and inflicted staggering losses on the enemy, crippling the Imperial Navy’s air strength permanently.