The third of Japan's Decisive Battles had been fought, and it was by far the biggest disaster of the three for Nihon Kaigun. Upon the conclusion of operations in the Phillipines, Japan no longer had a fleet in any functional sense of the word. Those ships that remained were mostly damaged, and all were critically short of fuel. The Navy's carrier arm was completey destroyed, and its battleships were decimated. For the Allies' part, they now had the advance bases needed to begin contemplating launching operations aimed at the very heart of the Empire. The battle for Okinawa lay just ahead. And beyond that, Japan.