Unfortunately, the ANZAC Squadron fuel oil supply was inadequate to accompany TF 11 to its launching point north-east of Rabaul for the planned 21 February air strike.

When Admiral Brown realised he had lost the element of surprise, he broke off the attack against Rabaul and started to retire from the area.

One of these was Nakagawa's lead plane,[2] the loss of which caused a delay to the attack run while command was passed to the next ranking pilot.

This, combined with Captain Frederick C. Sherman's adroit ship-handling, caused their bombs to land 3,000 yards short of the carrier.

The two F4F pilots were directed eastward and arrived 1,500 feet (460 m) above eight "Bettys" (reported as nine) flying close together in V formation 9 mi (7.8 nmi; 14 km) out at 1700.

O'Hare employed a high-side diving attack from the right side of the formation, accurately placing bursts of gunfire into the outside "Betty"'s right engine[7] and wing fuel tanks.

[8] Maeda's plane caught fire, but his crew managed to put out the flames with "one single spurt of liquid...from the fire-extinguisher.

With two "Bettys" knocked out of formation (albeit temporarily), O'Hare initiated another firing pass, this time from the left side.

[9] With Mori out of combat, O'Hare next targeted Ito's senior wingman, Petty Officer 1st Class Susumu Uchiyama (1st Shotai),[9] whose plane did not recover from its dive.

Lieutenant Commander John Thach, hurrying towards the scene with reinforcements after mopping up the 2nd Chûtai, arrived in time to see three enemy bombers falling in flames simultaneously.

[15] As the surviving "Bettys" withdrew, Ito's command pilot, Warrant Officer Chuzo Watanabe,[16] managed to regain enough control to level his plane.

A fourth, flown by Petty Officer 2nd Class Tokiharu Baba (2nd Shotai), was brought down eight miles out by Thach's wingman, Ensign Edward R.

[17] Of the remaining four, Petty Officer 1st Class Kosuke Ono (1st Shotai) was badly shot up during the retreat, and forced to crash-land on Nugava Island at 19:25 with several dead crewmembers.

Because of the high losses in bomber aircraft, the Japanese postponed their impending invasion of Lae-Salamaua, Papua New Guinea from 3–8 March 1942.

Two "Mavis" flying boats were also shot down which were shadowing the US force, as well as two other Japanese scout aircraft lost in operational accidents while participating in the day's action.