It was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar from 23–26 October 1944, between combined US and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy. On 20 October, United States troops invaded the island of Leyte as part of a strategy aimed at isolating Japan from the countries it had occupied in South East Asia, Sony VAIO VPC S11V9E/B Battery
and in particular depriving its forces and industry of vital oil supplies. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) mobilized nearly all of its remaining major naval vessels in an attempt to defeat the Allied invasion, but was repulsed by the U.S. Navy's 3rd and 7th Fleets. Sony VAIO VPCB119GJ/B Battery
The IJN failed to achieve its objective, suffered very heavy losses, and never afterwards sailed to battle in comparable force. The majority of its surviving heavy ships, deprived of fuel, remained in their bases for the rest of the Pacific War.[3][4] Sony VAIO VPCB11AGJ Battery
The Battle of Leyte Gulf consisted of four separate engagements between the opposing forces: the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Battle of Cape Engaño and the Battle off Samar, as well as other actions. Sony VAIO VPCB11AVJ Battery
The Battle of Leyte Gulf is also notable as the first battle in which Japanese aircraft carried out organizedkamikaze attacks.[3][4] Also worth noting is the fact that Japan at this battle had fewer aircraft than the Allied Forces had sea vessels, a clear demonstration of the difference in power of the two sides at this point of the war. Sony VAIO VPCB11V9E Battery
Background
The campaigns of August 1942 to early 1944 had driven Japanese forces from many of their island bases in the south and central Pacific Ocean, while isolating many of their other bases Sony VAIO VPCB11X9E Battery
(most notably in the Solomon Islands,Bismarck Archipelago, Admiralty Islands, New Guinea, Marshall Islands, and Wake Island), and in June 1944, a series of American amphibious landings supported by the U.S. 5th Fleet's Fast Carrier Task Force captured most of the Mariana Islands (bypassing Rota). Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/P Battery
This offensive breached Japan's strategic inner defense ring and gave the Americans a base from which long-range Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers could attack the Japanese home islands. The Japanese counterattacked in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/R Battery
The U.S. Navy destroyed three Japanese aircraft carriers (and damaged other ships) and approximately 600 Japanese aircraft, leaving the Imperial Japanese Navy(IJN) with virtually no carrier-borne airpower or experienced pilots.[3] Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/W Battery
For subsequent operations, Admiral Ernest J. King and other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff favored blockading Japanese forces in the Philippines and attacking Formosa (Taiwan) to give the Americans and Australians control of the sea routes between Japan and southern Asia. Sony VAIO VPCCW19FJ/W Battery
U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthurchampioned an invasion of the Philippines, which also lay across the supply lines to Japan. Leaving the Philippines in Japanese hands would be a blow to American prestige and a personal affront to MacArthur, who in 1942 had famously pronounced, "I shall return." Sony VAIO VPCCW1AFJ Battery
Also, the considerable air power the Japanese had amassed in the Philippines was thought too dangerous to bypass by many high-ranking officers outside the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including Admiral Chester Nimitz. However, Nimitz and MacArthur initially had opposing plans, with Nimitz's plan centered on an invasion of Formosa, Sony VAIO VPCCW1AHJ Battery
since that could also cut the supply lines to southeast Asia. Formosa could also serve as a base for an invasion of mainland China, which MacArthur felt was unnecessary. A meeting between MacArthur, Nimitz, and President Roosevelt helped confirm the Philippines as a strategic target, but had less to do with the final decision to invade the Philippines than is sometimes claimed. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E Battery
Nimitz eventually changed his mind and agreed to MacArthur's plan.[4][6] It was also estimated that an invasion of Formosa would require about 12 divisions of U.S. Army soldiers and U.S. Marines. This was more land power than the Americans could muster in the whole Pacific Ocean area at that time, Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/B Battery
and the entire Australian Army was engaged in the Solomon Islands, on New Guinea, in the Dutch East Indies, and on various other Pacific islands. The invasion of Formosa would require much larger ground forces than were available in the Pacific in late 1944, and would not have been feasible until the defeat of Germany freed the necessary manpower.[4] Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/L Battery
It was eventually decided that MacArthur's forces would invade the island of Leyte in the central Philippines. Amphibious forces and close naval support would be provided by the 7th Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/P Battery
The 7th Fleet at this time contained units of the U.S. Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, including the County-class heavy cruisers HMAS Shropshire and Australia, and the destroyer Arunta, and possibly a few warships from New Zealand and/or the Netherlands. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/R Battery
The U.S 3rd Fleet—commanded by Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., with Task Force 38 (TF 38, the Fast Carrier Task Force, commanded by Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher) as its main component—would provide more distant cover and support for the invasion. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/W Battery
A fundamental defect in this plan was that there would be no single American naval admiral in overall command. This lack of a unified command, along with failures in communication, was to produce a crisis, and very nearly a strategic disaster, for the American forces. Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/B Battery
By coincidence, the Japanese plan, using three separate fleets, also lacked an overall commander. The American options were apparent to the IJN. Combined Fleet Chief Soemu Toyoda prepared four "victory" plans: Shō-Gō 1 (捷１号作戦 Shō ichigō sakusen) Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/L Battery
was a major naval operation in the Philippines, while Shō-Gō 2, Shō-Gō 3 and Shō-Gō 4 were responses to attacks on Formosa, the Ryukyu and Kurile Islands respectively. The plans were for complex offensive operations committing nearly all available forces to a decisive battle, despite this substantially depleting Japan's slender reserves of fuel oil. Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/R Battery
On 12 October 1944, the U.S. 3rd Fleet under Admiral Halsey began a series of carrier raids against Formosa and the Ryukyu Islands, with a view to ensuring that aircraft based there could not intervene in the Leyte landings. The Japanese command therefore put Shō-Gō 2 into action, launching waves of air attacks against 3rd Fleet's carriers. Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/W Battery
In what Morison refers to as a "knock-down, drag-out fight between carrier-based and land-based air" the Japanese were routed, losing 600 aircraft in three days, almost their entire air strength in the region. Following the American invasion of the Philippines, the Japanese Navy made the transition to Shō-Gō 1. Sony VAIO VPCCW26EC BatteryShō-Gō 1 called for Vice-Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa's ships—known as the "Northern Force"—to lure the main American covering forces away from Leyte. Northern Force would be built around several aircraft carriers, but these would have very few aircraft or trained aircrew. Sony VAIO VPCCW26FX/B Battery
The carriers would serve as the main bait. As the U.S. covering forces were lured away, two other surface forces would advance on Leyte from the west. The "Southern Force" under Vice Admirals Shoji Nishimura and Kiyohide Shima would strike at the landing area via Surigao Strait. Sony VAIO VPCCW28EC Battery
The "Center Force" under Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita—by far the most powerful of the attacking forces—would pass through San Bernardino Strait into the Philippine Sea, turn southwards, and then also attack the landing area.[3][4]
This plan was likely to result in the destruction of one or more of the attacking forces, but Toyoda later explained this to his American interrogators as follows: Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/P Battery
Should we lose in the Philippines operations, even though the fleet should be left, the shipping lane to the south would be completely cut off so that the fleet, if it should come back to Japanese waters, could not obtain its fuel supply. If it should remain in southern waters, it could not receive supplies of ammunition and arms. Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/R Battery
There would be no sense in saving the fleet at the expense of the loss of the Philippines.
The submarine action in Palawan Passage (23 October)
(Note: this action is referred to by Morison as "The Fight in Palawan Passage",[4] and is elsewhere occasionally referred to as "the Battle of Palawan Passage").Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/W Battery
As it sortied from its base in Brunei, Kurita's powerful "Center Force" consisted of five battleships (Yamato,Musashi, Nagato, Kongō, and Haruna), ten heavy cruisers (Atago, Maya, Takao, Chōkai, Myōkō, Haguro, Kumano,Suzuya, Tone and Chikuma), two light cruisers (Noshiro and Yahagi) and 15 destroyers.[4] Sony VAIO VPCCW29FJ/W Battery
Kurita's ships passed Palawan Island around midnight on 22–23 October. The American submarines Darter and Dace were positioned together on the surface close by. At 00:16 on 23 October, Darter's radar detected the Japanese formation at a range of 30,000 yd (27,000 m). Sony VAIO VPCCW2AFJ Battery
Her captain promptly made visual contact. The two submarines quickly moved off in pursuit of the ships, while Darter made the first of three contact reports. At least one of these was picked up by a radio operator on Yamato, but Kurita failed to take appropriate anti-submarine precautions.[4] Sony VAIO VPCCW2AHJ Battery
Darter and Dace traveled on the surface at full power for several hours and gained a position ahead of Kurita's formation, with the intention of making a submerged attack at first light. This attack was unusually successful. At 05:24, Darter fired a spread of six torpedoes, at least four of which hit Kurita's flagship, Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E Battery
the heavy cruiser Atago. 10 minutes later, Darter made two hits on Atago's sister ship Takao with another spread of torpedoes. At 05:56, Dace made four torpedo hits on the heavy cruiser Maya (sister to Atago and Takao).[4]
Atago and Maya quickly sank.[7] Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/B Battery
Takao turned back to Brunei escorted by two destroyers—and was followed by the two submarines. On 24 October, as the submarines continued to shadow the damaged cruiser, Darter ran aground on the Bombay Shoal. All efforts to get her off failed, and she was abandoned. Her entire crew was, however, rescued by Dace. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/L Battery
Takao returned to Singapore. She was joined in January 1945 by Myōkō.
Atago had sunk so rapidly that Kurita was forced to swim in order to survive. He was rescued by one of the Japanese destroyers, and he then transferred to the battleship Yamato.[4][8][9] Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/P Battery
The Battle of the Sibuyan Sea (24 October)
Around 08:00 on 24 October, the Center Force was spotted and attacked entering the Sibuyan Sea by VF-20 squadron F6F-5 Hellcat fighters, VB-20 SB2C-3 Helldiver dive bombers, and VT-20 Avenger torpedo bombers from USS Enterprise of Halsey's 3rd Fleet. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/R Battery
Despite its great strength, 3rd Fleet was not well-placed to deal with the threat. On 22 October, Halsey had detached two of his carrier groups to the fleet base at Ulithi to provision and rearm. When Darter's contact report came in Halsey recalled Davison's group but allowed Vice Admiral McCain—with the strongest of TF 38's carrier groups, Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/W Battery
to continue towards Ulithi. Halsey finally recalled McCain on 24 October—but the delay meant that the most powerful American carrier group played little part in the coming battle, and that 3rd Fleet was therefore effectively deprived of nearly 40% of its air strength for most of the battle. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S5C CN1 Battery
On the morning of 24 October, only three groups were available to strike Kurita's force, and the one best positioned to do so—Bogan's Task Group 38.2 (TG 38.2)—was by mischance the weakest of the groups, containing only one large carrier—USS Intrepid—and two light carriers Sony VAIO VPCF112FX/B Battery
(the failure to promptly recall McCain on 23 October was also effectively to deprive 3rd Fleet, throughout the battle, of four of its six heavy cruisers).
Planes from carriers Intrepid and Cabot of Bogan's group attacked at about 10:30, making hits on the battleships Nagato, Yamato, and Musashi, and severely damaging the heavy cruiser Myōkō. Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B Battery
A second wave fromIntrepid, Essex and Lexington later attacked, with VB-15 Helldivers and VF-15 Hellcats from Essex, scoring another 10 hits onMusashi. As she withdrew, listing to port, a third wave from Enterprise and Franklin hit her with 11 bombs and eight torpedoes.[4] Sony VAIO VPCF116FGBI Battery
Kurita turned his fleet around to get out of range of the aircraft, passing the crippled Musashi as his force retreated. He waited until 17:15 before turning around again to head for the San Bernardino Strait; Musashi capsized and sank at about 19:30.[4] Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ/W Battery
Meanwhile, Vice-Admiral Takijirō Ōnishi had directed three waves of aircraft from his First Air Fleet based on Luzon against the carriers of Rear Admiral Sherman's TG 38.3 (whose aircraft were also being used to strike airfields in Luzon to prevent Japanese land-based air attacks on Allied shipping in Leyte Gulf). Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI Battery
Each of Ōnishi's strike waves consisted of some fifty to sixty aircraft.
Most of the attacking Japanese planes were intercepted and shot down or driven off by Hellcats of Sherman's combat air patrol, most notably by two fighter sections from Essex led by Commander David McCampbell Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ/W Battery
(who is credited with shooting down nine of the attacking planes in this one action). However, one Japanese aircraft (aYokosuka D4Y3 Judy) slipped through the defences, and at 09:38 hit the light carrier USS Princeton with a 551 lb (250 kg) armor-piercing bomb which caused a severe fire in Princeton's hangar. Sony VAIO VPCF119FC Battery
Her emergency sprinkler system failed to operate, and fires spread rapidly. A series of explosions followed. The fires were gradually brought under control, but at 15:23 there was an enormous explosion (probably in the carrier's bomb stowage aft), causing more casualties aboard Princeton, Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI Battery
and even heavier casualties—more than 300—aboard the cruiser Birmingham which was coming back alongside to assist with the firefighting. Birmingham was so badly damaged that she was forced to retire. Other nearby vessels were also damaged. All efforts to save Princeton failed, and she was finally scuttled—torpedoed by the light cruiser Reno—at 17:50.[4] Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ/BI Battery
In all, U.S. 3rd Fleet flew 259 sorties—mostly by Hellcats—against Center Force on 24 October. This weight of attack was not nearly sufficient to neutralize the threat from Kurita. It contrasts with the 527 sorties flown by 3rd Fleet against Ozawa's much weaker Northern Force on the following day. Sony VAIO VPCF11AFJ Battery
Moreover, a large proportion of the Sibuyan Sea attack was directed against just one ship, Musashi. This great battleship was sunk, and cruiser Myōkō crippled, but every other ship in Kurita's force remained battleworthy and able to advance.[4]
As a result of a momentous decision about to be taken by Admiral Halsey, Sony VAIO VPCF11AGJ Battery
Kurita was able to proceed through San Bernardino Strait during the night, to make an unexpected and dramatic appearance off the coast of Samar on the following morning.[10]
Task Force 34 / San Bernardino Strait
After the Japanese Southern and Center forces had been detected, but before Ozawa's carriers had been located, Sony VAIO VPCF11AHJ Battery
Halsey and the staff of 3rd Fleet, aboard the battleship New Jersey, prepared a contingency plan to deal with the threat from Kurita's Center Force. Their intention was to cover San Bernardino Strait with a powerful task force of fast battleships supported by two of the 3rd Fleet's fast carrier groups. Sony VAIO VPCF11JFX/B Battery
The battleship force was to be designated Task Force 34 (TF 34) and to consist of four battleships, five cruisers and 14 destroyers under the command of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee. Rear Admiral Ralph E. Davison of TG 38.4 was to be in overall command of the supporting carrier groups. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E Battery
At 15:12 on 24 October, Halsey sent an ambiguously worded telegraphic radio message to his subordinate task group commanders, giving details of this contingency plan:
BATDIV 7 MIAMI, VINCENNES, BILOXI, DESRON 52 LESS STEVEN POTTER, Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H Battery
FROM TG 38.2 AND WASHINGTON, ALABAMA, WICHITA, NEW ORLEANS, DESDIV 100, PATTERSON, BAGLEY FROM TG 38.4 WILL BE FORMED AS TASK FORCE 34 UNDER VICE ADMIRAL LEE, COMMANDER BATTLE LINE. TF 34 TO ENGAGE DECISIVELY AT LONG RANGES. Sony VAIO VPCF11MFX/B Battery
CTG 38.4 CONDUCT CARRIERS OF TG 38.2 AND TG 38.4 CLEAR OF SURFACE FIGHTING. INSTRUCTIONS FOR TG 38.3 AND TG 38.1 LATER. HALSEY, OTC IN NEW JERSEY.
—Morison (1956)
Halsey sent information copies of this message to Admiral Nimitz at Pacific Fleet headquarters and Admiral King in Washington. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E Battery
But he did not include Admiral Kinkaid (7th Fleet) as information addressee.[8] The message was picked up by 7th Fleet, anyway, as it was common for Admirals to direct radiomen to copy all message traffic they detected, whether intended for them or not. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B Battery
As Halsey intended TF 34 as a contingency to be formed and detached when he ordered it, when he wrote "will be formed" he meant the future tense; but he neglected to say when TF 34 would be formed, or under what circumstances. Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E Battery
This omission led Admiral Kinkaid of 7th Fleet to believe that Halsey was speaking in the imperative, not the future tense, and so he concluded that TF 34 had been formed and would take station off San Bernardino Strait. Admiral Nimitz, in Pearl Harbor, reached exactly the same conclusion. Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E/BI Battery
Halsey did send out a second message at 17:10 clarifying his intentions in regard to TF 34:
Unfortunately, Halsey sent this second message by voice radio, so 7th Fleet did not intercept it, Sony VAIO VPCF11ZHJ Battery
and Halsey did not follow up with a telegraphic message to Nimitz or King. The serious misunderstanding caused by Halsey's ambiguous wording of his first message and his failure to notify Nimitz, King, or Kinkaid of his second clarifying message was to have a profound influence on the subsequent course of the battle. Sony VAIO VPCF127HGBI Battery
Halsey's Decision (24 October)
The 3rd Fleet's aircraft failed to locate Ozawa's Northern (decoy) force until 16:40 on 24 October. This was largely because 3rd Fleet had been preoccupied with attacking Kurita and defending itself against the Japanese air strikes from Luzon. Sony VAIO VPCF137HG/BI Battery
So, oddly enough, the one Japanese force that wanted to be discovered was the only force the Americans hadn't been able to find. On the evening of 24 October Ozawa intercepted a (mistaken) American communication describing Kurita's withdrawal, and he therefore began to withdraw too. Sony VAIO VPCS111FM/S Battery
However, at 20:00 Soemu Toyoda ordered all his forces to attack "counting on divine assistance." Trying to draw 3rd Fleet's attention to his decoy force, Ozawa reversed course again and headed southwards towards Leyte.
Halsey was convinced that the Northern Force constituted the main Japanese threat, Sony VAIO VPCS115EC Battery
and he was determined to seize what he saw as a golden opportunity to destroy Japan's last remaining carrier strength. Believing that the Center Force had been neutralized by 3rd Fleet's air strikes earlier in the day in the Sibuyan Sea, and that its remnants were retiring, Halsey radioed (to Nimitz and Kinkaid): Sony VAIO VPCS115FG Battery
CENTRAL FORCE HEAVILY DAMAGED ACCORDING TO STRIKE REPORTS. AM PROCEEDING NORTH WITH THREE GROUPS TO ATTACK CARRIER FORCES AT DAWN
—Morison (1956)
The words "with three groups" proved dangerously misleading. Sony VAIO VPCS117GG Battery
In the light of the intercepted 15:12 24 October "…will be formed as Task Force 34" message from Halsey, Admiral Kinkaid and his staff assumed, as did Admiral Nimitz at Pacific Fleet headquarters, that TF 34—commanded by Lee—had now been formed as a separate entity. Sony VAIO VPCS117GGB Battery
They assumed that Halsey was leaving this powerful surface force guarding San Bernardino Strait (and covering Seventh Fleet's northern flank) while he took his three available carrier groups northwards in pursuit of the Japanese carriers. Sony VAIO VPCS118EC Battery
But Task Force 34 had not been detached from his other forces, and Lee's battleships were on their way northwards with the 3rd Fleet's carriers. Halsey had consciously and deliberately left San Bernardino Strait absolutely unguarded. As Woodward wrote "Everything was pulled out from San Bernardino Strait. Sony VAIO VPCS119FJ/B Battery
Not so much as a picket destroyer was left".[2]
Halsey and his staff officers ignored information from a night reconnaissance aircraft operating from the light carrier Independence that Kurita's powerful surface force had turned back towards San Bernardino Strait, Sony VAIO VPCS119GC Battery
and that after a long blackout the navigation lights in the Strait had been turned on. When Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan—commanding TG 38.2—radioed this information to Halsey's flagship, he was rebuffed by a staff officer, who tersely replied "Yes, yes, we have that information." Sony VAIO VPCS11AFJ Battery
Vice Admiral Lee, who had correctly deduced that Ozawa's force was on a decoy mission and indicated this in a blinker message to Halsey's flagship, was similarly rebuffed. Commodore Arleigh Burke and Commander James Flatley of Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's staff had come to the same conclusion. Sony VAIO VPCS11AGJ Battery
They were sufficiently worried about the situation to wake Mitscher, who asked "Does Admiral Halsey have that report?" On being told that Halsey did, Mitscher—knowing Halsey's temperament—commented "If he wants my advice he'll ask for it" and went back to sleep.[4] Sony VAIO VPCS11AHJ Battery
The entire available strength of 3rd Fleet continued to steam northwards, away from San Bernardino Strait.
The Battle of Surigao Strait (25 October)
Nishimura's "Southern Force" consisted of the battleships Yamashiro and Fusō, the heavy cruiser Mogami, and four destroyers.[4] Sony VAIO VPCS11AVJ Battery
This force left Brunei after Kurita at 15:00 on 22 October, turning eastward into the Sulu Sea and then northeasterly past the southern tip of Negros Island into the Mindanao Sea. Nishimura then proceeded northeastward withMindanao Island to starboard and into the south entrance to Surigao Strait, Sony VAIO VPCS11J7E/B Battery
intending to exit the north entrance of the Strait into Leyte Gulf where he would add his firepower to that of Kurita's force.
The Second Striking Force—commanded by Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima—consisted of heavy cruisers Nachi (Flag), andAshigara, light cruiser Abukuma, and destroyers Akebono, Ushio, Kasumi, and Shiranuhi. Sony VAIO VPCS11M1E/W Battery
The Southern Force was attacked by U.S. Navy bombers on 24 October but sustained only minor damage.
Because of the strict radio silence imposed on the Center and Southern Forces, Nishimura was unable to synchronise his movements with Shima and Kurita. Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E Battery
When he entered the narrow Surigao Strait at 02:00, Shima was 25 nmi (29 mi; 46 km) behind him, and Kurita was still in the Sibuyan Sea, several hours from the beaches at Leyte.
As the Southern Force approached Surigao Strait, it ran into a deadly trap set by the 7th Fleet Support Force. Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E/B Battery
Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf had a substantial force. There were six battleships: West Virginia, Maryland, Mississippi,Tennessee, California, and Pennsylvania; all but Mississippi had been sunk or damaged in the attack on Pearl Harbor and since repaired, Sony VAIO VPCS11X9E/B Battery
Tennessee and West Virginia having been rebuilt since then. There were the 8 in (200 mm) and 6 in (150 mm) guns of the four heavy cruisers (USS Louisville (flagship), Portland, Minneapolis and HMAS Shropshire) and fourlight cruisers (Denver, Columbia, Phoenix and Boise). Sony VAIO VPCS123FGB Battery
There were also the smaller guns and torpedoes of 28 destroyers and 39 motor torpedo boats (Patrol/Torpedo (PT) boats). To pass through the narrows and reach the invasion shipping, Nishimura would have to run the gauntlet of torpedoes from the PT boats followed by the large force of destroyers, Sony VAIO VPCS125EC Battery
and then advance under the concentrated fire of the six battleships and their eight flanking cruisers disposed across the far mouth of the Strait.[4]
At 22:36, one of the PT boats—PT-131—first made contact with the approaching Japanese ships. Sony VAIO VPCS128EC Battery
Over more than three-and-a-half hours, the PT boats made repeated attacks on Nishimura's force. They made no torpedo hits, but sent contact reports which were of use to Oldendorf and his force.[4]
As Nishimura's ships entered Surigao Strait they were subjected to devastating torpedo attacks from the American destroyers disposed on both sides of their axis of advance. Sony VAIO VPCS129GC Battery
At about 03:00, both Japanese battleships were hit by torpedoes. Yamashiro was able to steam on, but Fusō exploded and broke in two when she was torpedoed by USS Melvin (DD-680) . Two of Nishimura's four destroyers were sunk; another, Asagumo, was hit but able to retire, and later sank.[4] Sony VAIO VPCS12C7E/B Battery
The classical account summarized above has been questioned recently because additional evidence has come to light. Fuso survivor Hideo Ogawa, interrogated in 1945, also wrote an article[11] on the battleship's last voyage. Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B Battery
He says that "shortly after 0400 the ship capsized slowly to starboard and Ogawa and others were washed away."[12] Fuso was hit on the starboard side by two or possibly three torpedoes. One of these started an oil fire. The fuel used by IJN ships in this period was poorly refined and had a tendency to burst into flame; Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B Battery
burning patches of fuel were most likely the source of the myth of Fuso blowing up. It is extremely unlikely that a vessel as strongly built as a battleship could be blown in half and the halves remain upright and afloat, so the classic version ofFuso's fate is also extremely improbable. Sony VAIO VPCY115FGS Battery
Accordingly, it is likely that the Morison account is incorrect in this detail. There are rumours of Fuso being either the largest ship to be sunk with all hands, or did leave survivors, but refused to be rescued by American or Japanese vessels, and foundered, Sony VAIO VPCY115FX/BI Battery
while the rest did eventually survive long enough to reach land but were killed by Filipino natives. Some believe Asagumo picked up Fuso survivors, only for all to perish when the destroyer sank.
At 03:16, West Virginia's radar picked up the surviving ships of Nishimura's force at a range of 42,000 yd (38,000 m) Sony VAIO VPCY115FXBI Battery
and had achieved a firing solution at 30,000 yd (27,000 m). West Virginia tracked them as they approached in the pitch black night. At 03:53, she fired the eight 16 in (410 mm) guns of her main battery at a range of 22,800 yd (20,800 m), striking Yamashiro with her first salvo. Sony VAIO VPCY118EC Battery
She went on to fire a total of 93 shells. At 03:55, California andTennessee joined in, firing a total of 63 and 69 14 in (360 mm) shells, respectively. Radar fire control allowed these American battleships to hit targets from a distance at which the Japanese battleships—with their inferior fire control systems—could not return fire. Sony VAIO VPCY118GX/BI Battery
The other three U.S. battleships, equipped with less advanced gunnery radar, had difficulty arriving at a firing solution. Maryland eventually succeeded in visually ranging on the splashes of the other battleships' shells, and then fired a total of 48 16 in (410 mm) projectiles. Sony VAIO VPCY119FJ/S Battery
Pennsylvania was unable to find a target and her guns remained silent.[4]
Mississippi only obtained a solution at the end of the battle-line action, and then fired just one (full) salvo of twelve 14 in (360 mm) shells. This was the last salvo ever to be fired by a battleship against another heavy ship, ending an era in naval history.[4] Sony VAIO VPCY11AFJ Battery Yamashiro and Mogami were crippled by a combination of 16 in (410 mm) and 14 in (360 mm) armor-piercing shells, as well as the fire of Oldendorf's flanking cruisers. Shigure turned and fled but lost steering and stopped dead. Yamashiro sank at about 04:20, with Nishimura on board. Sony VAIO VPCY11AGJ BatteryMogami and Shigure retreated southwards down the Strait.
The rear of the Southern Force—the "Second Striking Force" commanded by Vice Admiral Shima—had departed from Mako and approached Surigao Strait about 40 mi (35 nmi; 64 km) astern of Nishimura. Sony VAIO VPCY11AHJ Battery
Shima's run was initially thrown into confusion by his force nearly running aground on Panaon Island after failing to factor the outgoing tide into their approach: Japanese radar was nearly useless due to excessive reflections from the many islands. Sony VAIO VPCY11AVJ Battery
The radar was equally unable to detect ships in these conditions, especially PT boats, as PT-137 hit the light cruiser Abukuma with a torpedo which crippled her and caused her to fall out of formation. Shima’s two heavy cruisers (Nachi and Ashigara) and eight destroyers[4] next encountered remnants of Nishimura's force. Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E/S Battery
Seeing what he thought were the wrecks of both Nishimura's battleships (actually the two halves of Fusō), Shima ordered a retreat. His flagship, Nachi, collided with Mogami, flooding Mogami's steering-room and causing her to fall behind in the retreat; she was sunk by aircraft the next morning. Sony VAIO VPCY11S1E Battery
The bow half of Fusō was sunk from gunfire by Louisville, and the stern half sank off Kanihaan Island. Of Nishimura's seven ships, only Shigure survived. Shima’s ships did survive the Battle of Surigao Strait but they would be sunk in further engagements around Leyte, Sony VAIO VPCY11V9E/S Battery
while Shigure survived long enough to escape the debacle but eventually succumbed to the submarine USS Blackfin (SS-322), which sank her off Kota Bharu, Malaya, with 37 dead.[4][13]
What Louisville's action report actually says is "0529 firing 2 salvos – 18 rounds – at a large fire bearing 160 True, range 18,900 yards. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/BI Battery
Fire was then shifted to a second target bearing 180 T at the same range. …The first target is what has been termed the 'Fuso fire,' while the second was Mogami."[15] Morison and a number of others have presumed the fire surrounded part of Fuso still afloat. There is no evidence to support that claim. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/G Battery
The Battle of Surigao Strait was the last battleship-versus-battleship action in history. It was also the last battle in which one force (the Americans, in this case) was able to "cross the T" of its opponent. However, by the time the battleship action was joined the Japanese line was very ragged and consisted of only one battleship (Yamashiro), Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/L Battery
one heavy cruiser and one destroyer, so that the "crossing of the T" was notional and had little effect on the outcome of the battle.
Prelude
Halsey's decision to take all the available strength of 3rd Fleet northwards to attack the carriers of the Japanese Northern Force had left San Bernardino Strait completely unguarded. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/P Battery
It had been generally assumed by senior officers in 7th Fleet (including Kinkaid and his staff) that Halsey was taking his three available carrier groups northwards (McCain's group, the strongest in 3rd Fleet, was still returning from the direction of Ulithi) Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery
but leaving the battleships of TF 34 covering San Bernardino Strait against the Japanese Center Force. In fact, Halsey had not yet formed TF 34, and all six of Willis Lee's battleships were on their way northwards with the carriers, as well as every available cruiser and destroyer of the Third Fleet. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/P Battery
Kurita's Center Force therefore emerged unopposed from San Bernardino Strait at 03:00 on 25 October and steamed southward along the coast of the island of Samar. In its path stood only the 7th Fleet's three escort carrier units (call signs 'Taffy' 1, 2, and 3), Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/SI Battery
with a total of 16 small, very slow, and unarmored escort carriers, protected by a screen of lightly armed and unarmored destroyers and smaller destroyer escorts (DEs). Despite the losses in the Palawan Passage and Sibuyan Sea actions, the Japanese Center Force was still very powerful, Sony VAIO VPCCW2S5C CN1 Battery
consisting of four battleships (including the giant Yamato), six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and 11 destroyers.
The battle
Kurita's force caught Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague's Task Unit 77.4.3 ('Taffy 3') entirely by surprise. Sony VAIO VPCEA20 Battery
Sprague directed his carriers to launch their planes, then run for the cover of a rain squall to the east. He ordered the destroyers and DEs to make a smoke screen to conceal the retreating carriers. Sony VAIO VPCEB10 Battery
Kurita, unaware that Ozawa's decoy plan had succeeded, assumed that he had found a carrier group from Halsey's 3rd Fleet. Having just redeployed his ships into anti-aircraft formation, he further complicated matters by ordering a "General Attack",Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM Battery
which called for his fleet to split into different divisions and attack independently.[5]
The destroyer USS Johnston was the closest to the enemy. On his own initiative, Lieutenant Commander Ernest E. Evans steered his hopelessly outclassed ship into the foe at flank speed. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM/BI Battery
The Johnston fired its torpedoes at the heavy cruiser Kumano, which soon sank. Seeing this, Sprague gave the order "small boys attack", sending the rest of Taffy 3's screening ships into the fray. Taffy 3's two other destroyers, Hoel andHeermann, and the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts, Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM/T Battery
attacked with suicidal determination, drawing fire and disrupting the Japanese formation as ships turned to avoid their torpedoes. However, the Hoel and the Roberts were destroyed by the slowly advancing fleet. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM/WI Battery
Meanwhile, Thomas Sprague (no relation to Clifton) ordered the 16 carriers in his three task units to launch their aircraft equipped with whatever weapons they had available, even if these were only machine guns or depth charges. He had a total of some 450 aircraft at his disposal, Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX Battery
mostly FM-2 Wildcat and TBM Avenger torpedo bombers. The air counterattacks were almost unceasing, and some, especially several of the strikes launched from Felix Stump's Task Unit 77.4.2 (Taffy 2), were relatively heavy. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX/BI Battery
The carriers of Taffy 3 turned south and retreated through the shellfire. Gambier Bay, at the rear of the American formation, was sunk, while most of the other carriers were damaged and the Johnston sunk by a group of destroyers. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX/T Battery
Admiral Kurita withdraws
The ferocity of the defense seemingly confirmed the Japanese assumption that they were engaging major fleet units rather than helpless escort carriers and destroyers. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX/WI Battery
The confusion of the "General Attack" order was further compounded by the air and torpedo attacks, when Kurita's flagship Yamato turned north to evade torpedoes and lost contact with the battle. Kurita abruptly broke off the fight and gave the order 'all ships, my course north, Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX Battery
speed 20', apparently in order to regroup his disorganized fleet. Turning again towards Leyte Gulf, Kurita's battle report stated that he received a message indicating that a group of American carriers was steaming north of him. Preferring to expend his fleet against capital ships rather than transports, Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX/BI Battery
Kurita set out in pursuit and thereby lost his opportunity to destroy the shipping in Leyte Gulf. After failing to intercept the non-existent carriers, Kurita finally retreated towards San Bernardino Strait. Three of his heavy cruisers had been sunk, and the determined resistance had convinced him that persisting with his attack would only cause further Japanese losses. Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX/T Battery
Kurita was also influenced by the fact that he did not know that Ozawa had lured Halsey away from Leyte Gulf. Kurita remained convinced that he had been engaging elements of the 3rd Fleet, and that it would only be a matter of time before Halsey surrounded and annihilated him.[5] Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX/WI Battery
Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague wrote to his colleague Aubrey Fitch after the war, "I ... stated [to Admiral Nimitz] that the main reason they turned north was that they were receiving too much damage to continue and I am still of that opinion and cold analysis will eventually confirm it." [9] Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX Battery
Almost all of Kurita's surviving force succeeded in escaping. Halsey and the 3rd Fleet battleships arrived too late to cut him off. Nagato, Haruna and Kongō had been moderately damaged by air attack from Taffy 3's escort carriers. Kurita had begun the battle with five battleships. Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX/BI Battery
On their return to their bases, onlyYamato remained battleworthy.
As the desperate surface action was coming to an end, Vice Admiral Takijirō Ōnishi put his 'Special Attack Force' into operation, launching kamikaze attacks against the Allied ships in Leyte Gulf and the escort carrier units off Samar. Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX/BIC Battery
The escort carrier St. Lo of Taffy 3 was hit by a kamikaze aircraft and sank after a series of internal explosions.[4][9]
The Battle of Cape Engaño (25–26 October)
Ozawa's "Northern Force" comprised four aircraft carriers (Zuikaku—the last survivor of the six carriers that had attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX/T Battery
the light carriers Zuihō, Chitose, and Chiyoda), two World War I battleships partially converted to carriers (Hyūga and Ise—the two aft turrets had been replaced by a hangar, aircraft handling deck and catapult, but neither battleship carried any aircraft in this battle), Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX Batterythree light cruisers (Ōyodo, Tama, and Isuzu), and nine destroyers. His force had only 108 aircraft.[4]
Ozawa's force was not located until 16:40 on 24 October, largely because Sherman's TG 38.3—which as the northernmost of Halsey's groups—was responsible for searches in this sector. Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX/BI Battery
The force which Halsey was taking north with him—three groups of Mitscher's TF 38—was overwhelmingly stronger than the Japanese Northern Force. Between them, these groups had five largefleet carriers (Intrepid, Franklin, Lexington, Enterprise, and Essex), Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX/T Battery
five light fleet carriers (Independence, Belleau Wood,Langley, Cabot, and San Jacinto), six battleships (Alabama, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey, South Dakota, and Washington), eight cruisers (two heavy and six light), and more than 40 destroyers. Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX/WI Battery
The air groups of the 10 U.S. carriers present contained a total of more than 600-1,000 aircraft.[4]
At 02:40 on 25 October, Halsey detached TF 34, built around the 3rd Fleet's six battleships and commanded by Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM Battery
As dawn approached, the ships of Task Force 34 drew ahead of the carrier groups. Halsey intended Mitscher to make air strikes followed by the heavy gunfire of Lee's battleships.
Around dawn on 25 October, Ozawa launched 75 aircraft to attack the 3rd Fleet. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM/BI Battery
Most were shot down by American combat air patrols, and no damage was done to the U.S. ships. A few Japanese planes survived and made their way to land bases on Luzon.
During the night, Halsey had passed tactical command of TF 38 to Admiral Mitscher, Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM/T Battery
who ordered the American carrier groups to launch their first strike wave, of 180 aircraft, at dawn—before the Northern Force had been located. When the search aircraft made contact at 07:10 this strike wave was orbiting ahead of the task force. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM/WI Battery
At 08:00, as the attack went in, its escorting fighters destroyed Ozawa's combat air patrol of about 30 planes. The US air strikes continued until the evening, by which time TF 38 had flown 527 sorties against the Northern Force, sinking Zuikaku, Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX Battery
the light carriers Chitose and Zuihō, and the destroyer Akizuki, all with heavy loss of life. The light carrier Chiyoda and the cruiser Tama were crippled. Ozawa transferred his flag to the light cruiser Ōyodo. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX/BI Battery
The crisis – US 7th Fleet's calls for help
Shortly after 08:00 on 25 October, desperate messages calling for assistance began to come in from 7th Fleet, which had been engaging Nishimura's "Southern Force" in Suriago Strait since 02.00. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX/T Battery
One message from Kinkaid, sent in plain language, read: "MY SITUATION IS CRITICAL. FAST BATTLESHIPS AND SUPPORT BY AIR STRIKES MAY BE ABLE TO KEEP ENEMY FROM DESTROYING CVES AND ENTERING LEYTE." Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX/WI Battery
Halsey recalled in his memoirs that he was shocked at this message, recounting that the radio signals from the 7th Fleet had come in at random and out of order because of a backlog in the signals office. It seems that he did not receive this vital message from Kinkaid until around 10:00. Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX Battery
Halsey later claimed that he knew Kinkaid was in trouble, but had not dreamed of the seriousness of this crisis.
One of the most alarming signals from Kinkaid reported that, after their action in Surigao Strait, 7th Fleet's own battleships were critically low on ammunition. Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/B Battery
Even this failed to persuade Halsey to send any immediate assistance to the powerful 7th Fleet.[2][3][4] In fact, the 7th Fleet's battleships were not as short of ammunition as Kinkaid's signal implied,[4] but Halsey did not know that.
From 3,000 mi (2,600 nmi; 4,800 km) away in Pearl Harbor, Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/G Battery
Admiral Nimitz had been monitoring the desperate calls from Taffy 3, and sent Halsey a terse message: "TURKEY TROTS TO WATER GG FROM CINCPAC ACTION COM THIRD FLEET INFO COMINCH CTF SEVENTY-SEVEN X WHERE IS RPT WHERE IS TASK FORCE THIRTY FOUR RR THE WORLD WONDERS." Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/L Battery
The first four words and the last three were "padding" used to confuse enemy cryptanalysis (the beginning and end of the true message was marked by double consonants). The communications staff on Halsey's flagship correctly deleted the first section of padding but mistakenly retained the last three words in the message finally handed to Halsey. Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/P Battery
The last three words—probably selected by a communications officer at Nimitz's headquarters—may have been meant as a loose quote from Tennyson's poem on "The Charge of the Light Brigade", suggested by the coincidence that this day, 25 October, Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/W Battery
was the 90th anniversary of theBattle of Balaclava—and was not intended as a commentary on the current crisis off Leyte. Halsey, however, when reading the message, thought that the last words—"THE WORLD WONDERS"—were a biting piece of criticism from Nimitz, Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX Battery
threw his cap to the deck and broke into "sobs of rage". Rear Admiral Robert Carney, his Chief of Staff, confronted him, telling Halsey "Stop it! What the hell's the matter with you? Pull yourself together."
Eventually, at 11:15, more than three hours after the first distress messages from 7th Fleet had been received by his flagship, Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/B Battery
Halsey ordered TF 34 to turn around and head southwards towards Samar. At this point, Lee's battleships were almost within gun range of Ozawa's force. Two-and-a-half hours were then spent refuelling TF 34's accompanying destroyers.[4] Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/G Battery
After this succession of delays it was too late for TF 34 to give any practical help to 7th Fleet, other than to assist in picking up survivors from Taffy 3, and too late even to intercept Kurita's force before it made its escape through San Bernardino Strait. Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/L Battery
Nevertheless, at 16:22, in a desperate and even more belated attempt to intervene in the events off Samar, Halsey formed a new task group—TG 34.5—under Rear Admiral Badger, built around Third Fleet's two fastest battleships—Iowa and New Jersey, Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/P Battery
both capable of a speed of more than 32 kn (37 mph; 59 km/h)–and TF 34's three cruisers and eight destroyers, and sped southwards, leaving Lee and the other four battleships to follow. As Morison observes, if Badger's grouphad succeeded in intercepting the Japanese Center Force it would have been seriously outgunned by Kurita's battleships.[4] Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/W Battery
Cruisers and destroyers of TG 34.5, however, caught the destroyer Nowaki—the last straggler from Center Force—off San Bernardino Strait, and sank her with all hands, including the survivors from Chikuma. Sony VAIO VPCEB190X Battery
Battle of Cape Engaño – Final Actions
When Halsey turned TF 34 southwards at 11:15, he detached a task group of four of its cruisers and nine of its destroyers under Rear Admiral DuBose, and reassigned this group to TF 38. Sony VAIO VPCEB19FX Battery
At 14:15, Mitscher ordered DuBose to pursue the remnants of the Japanese Northern Force. His cruisers finished off the light carrier Chiyoda at around 17:00, and at 20:59 his ships sank the destroyer Hatsuzuki after a very stubborn fight.[4] Sony VAIO VPCEB19GX Battery
When Admiral Ozawa learned of the deployment of DuBose's relatively weak task group, he ordered battleships Ise and Hyūga to turn southwards and attack it, but they failed to locate DuBose's group, which they heavily outgunned. Sony VAIO VPCEB1AFX Battery
Halsey's withdrawal of all six of Lee's battleships in his attempt to assist Seventh Fleet had now rendered TF 38 vulnerable to a surface counterattack by the decoy Northern Force.
At about 23:10, the American submarine Jallao torpedoed and sank the light cruiser Tama of Ozawa's force. Sony VAIO VPCEB1AFX/B Battery
This was the last act of the Battle of Cape Engaño, and—apart from some final air strikes on the retreating Japanese forces on 26 October—the conclusion of the Battle for Leyte Gulf.
Criticism of Halsey
Halsey was criticized for his decision to take TF 34 north in pursuit of Ozawa, Sony VAIO VPCEB1AGX Battery
and for failing to detach it when Kinkaid first appealed for help. A piece of U.S. Navy slang for Halsey's actions is 'Bull's Run', a phrase combining Halsey's newspaper nickname "Bull" (in the U.S. Navy he was known as 'Bill' Halsey) with an allusion to the Battle of Bull Run in theAmerican Civil War. Sony VAIO VPCEB1AGX/BI Battery
In his dispatch after the battle, Halsey justified the decision as follows:
Searches by my carrier planes revealed the presence of the Northern carrier force on the afternoon of 24 October, which completed the picture of all enemy naval forces. Sony VAIO VPCEB1BGX Battery
As it seemed childish to me to guard statically San Bernardino Strait, I concentrated TF 38 during the night and steamed north to attack the Northern Force at dawn.
I believed that the Center Force had been so heavily damaged in the Sibuyan Sea that it could no longer be considered a serious menace to Seventh Fleet. Sony VAIO VPCEB1BGX/BI Battery
Halsey also argued that he had feared that leaving TF 34 to defend the strait without carrier support would have left it vulnerable to attack from land-based aircraft, while leaving one of the fast carrier groups behind to cover the battleships would have significantly reduced the concentration of air power going north to strike Ozawa. Sony VAIO VPCEB1CGX Battery
However, Morison states that Admiral Lee said after the battle that he would have been fully prepared for the battleships to cover San Bernardino Strait without any carrier support.[4] Moreover, if Halsey had been in proper communication with 7th Fleet, Sony VAIO VPCEB1CGX/BI Battery
it would have been entirely practicable for the escort carriers of TF 77 to provide adequate air cover for TF 34—a much easier matter than it would be for those escort carriers to defend themselves against the onslaught of Kurita's heavy ships. Sony VAIO VPCEB1DGX Battery
It may be argued that the fact that Halsey was aboard one of the battleships, and "would have had to remain behind" with TF 34 (while the bulk of his fleet charged northwards to attack the Japanese carriers) may have contributed to this decision, but this is in all likelihood a minor point. Sony VAIO VPCEB1DGX/BI Battery
It has been pointed out that it would have been perfectly feasible (and logical) to have taken one or both of 3rd Fleet's two fastest battleships (Iowa and/or New Jersey) with the carriers in the pursuit of Ozawa, while leaving the rest of the Battle Line off San Bernardino Strait Sony VAIO VPCEB1EGX Battery
(indeed, Halsey's original plan for the composition of TF 34 was that it would contain only four, not all six, of the 3rd Fleet's battleships); thus, guarding San Bernardino Strait with a powerful battleship force would not have been incompatible with Halsey personally going north aboard New Jersey. Sony VAIO VPCEB1EGX/BI Battery
Probably a more important factor was that Halsey was philosophically against dividing his forces; he believed strongly in concentration as indicated by his writings both before World War II and in his subsequent articles and interviews defending his actions. Sony VAIO VPCEB1FGX Battery
In addition, Halsey may well have been influenced by the criticisms of Admiral Raymond Spruance, who was widely thought to have been excessively cautious at the Battle of the Philippine Sea and so allowed the bulk of the Japanese fleet to escape. Sony VAIO VPCEB1FGX/BI Battery
It also seems likely that Halsey was influenced by his Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral Robert "Mick" Carney, who was also wholeheartedly in favor of taking all 3rd Fleet's available forces northwards to attack the Japanese carrier force. Sony VAIO VPCEB1GGX Battery
However, Halsey did have reasonable and in his view, given the information he had available, practical reasons for his actions. First, he believed that Admiral Kurita's force was more heavily damaged than it was. Sony VAIO VPCEB1GGX/BI Battery
While it has been suggested that Halsey should have taken Kurita's continued advance as evidence that his force was still a severe threat, this view cannot be supported given the well-known propensity for the members of Japanese military to persist in hopeless endeavours to the point of suicide. Sony VAIO VPCEB1HGX Battery
So in Halsey's estimation, Kurita's weakened force was well within the ability of Seventh Fleet to deal with, and did not justify dividing his force.
Second, Halsey did not comprehend just how badly compromised Japan's naval air power was and that Ozawa's decoy force was nearly devoid of aircraft. Sony VAIO VPCEB1HGX/BI Battery
Halsey, in a letter to Admiral Nimitz on October 22, 1944 (three days before the Battle off Samar) wrote that Admiral Marc Mitscher believed "Jap naval air was wiped out."Mitscher, with Admiral Spruance at the Battle of the Philippine Sea (the Marianas Turkey Shoot) Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX Battery
drew his conclusion from the very poor performance made by the Japanese.[16] Halsey ignored Mitscher's insights, and made an understandable and, to him, prudent threat-conservative judgment that Ozawa's force was still capable of launching serious attacks. Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/B Battery
Halsey later explained his actions partly by explicitly stating that he did not want to be "shuttle bombed" by Ozawa's force (a technique whereby planes can land and rearm at bases on either side of a foe, allowing them to attack on both the outbound flight and the return) or to give them a "free shot" at the US forces in Leyte Gulf.[8] Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/G Battery
He was obviously not similarly concerned with giving Kurita's battleships and cruisers a free shot at those same forces.
The fact that Halsey made one seemingly prudent threat-conservative judgment regarding Ozawa's Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/L Battery
aircraft carriers and another rather opposite judgment regarding Kurita's battleships probably reflects his understandable bias toward aircraft carriers as the prime threat of the war. At Leyte Gulf, Halsey failed to appreciate that under certain circumstances battleships and cruisers could still be extremely dangerous, Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/P Battery
and ironically, through his own failures to adequately communicate his intentions, he managed to bring those circumstances about.
Clifton Sprague—commander of Task Unit 77.4.3 in the battle off Samar—was later bitterly critical of Halsey's decision, Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/W Battery
and of his failure to clearly inform Kinkaid and 7th Fleet that their northern flank was no longer protected:
In the absence of any information that this exit [of the San Bernardino Strait] was no longer blocked, Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX Battery
it was logical to assume that our northern flank could not be exposed without ample warning.
Regarding Halsey's failure to turn TF 34 southwards when 7th Fleet's first calls for assistance off Samar were received, Morison writes: Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX/B Battery
If TF 34 had been detached a few hours earlier, after Kinkaid's first urgent request for help, and had left the destroyers behind, since their fueling caused a delay of over two hours and a half, a powerful battle line of six modern battleships under the command of Admiral Lee, Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX/W Battery
the most experienced battle squadron commander in the Navy, would have arrived off San Bernardino Strait in time to have clashed with Kurita's Center Force… Apart from the accidents common in naval warfare, there is every reason to suppose that Lee would have "crossed the T" and completed the destruction of Center Force. Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX Battery
Instead, as Morison also observes:
The mighty gunfire of the Third Fleet's Battle Line, greater than that of the whole Japanese Navy, was never brought into action except to finish off one or two crippled light ships. Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX/BI Battery
—Morison (1956), pp. 336–337
Perhaps the most telling comment is made laconically by Vice Admiral Lee in his action report as Commander of TF 34 —
Losses
The losses in the battle of Leyte Gulf were not evenly distributed throughout all forces; Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX/WI Battery
for instance the destroyer USS Heermann—despite her unequal fight with the enemy—finished the battle with only six of her crew dead. More than 1,000 sailors and aircrewmen of the Allied escort carrier units were killed. As a result of communication errors and other failures, Sony VAIO VPCEB1MFX Battery
a very large number of survivors from Taffy 3 were not rescued for several days, many dying unnecessarily as a consequence.[4][9]
Due to the long duration and size of the battle, there are varied accounts as to the losses which occurred as apart of the Battle of Leyte Gulf and losses that occurred shortly before and shortly after. Sony VAIO VPCEB1MFX/BI Battery
One account of the losses[18] lists the following vessels:
Allied Losses
The United States lost six front line warships during the Battle of Samar:
- 1 Light Carrier: USS Princeton
2 Escort Carriers: USS Gambier Bay and St. Lo (the first major warship sunk by a kamikaze attack.) Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX Battery
- 2 Destroyers: Hoel and Johnston
- 1 Destroyer Escort: USS Samuel B. Roberts
- 4 other American ships were damaged.
Japanese Losses
The Japanese lost 26 front-line warships during the Battle of Leyte:
- 1 Fleet Aircraft Carrier: Zuikaku, flagship of the decoy Northern Forces
3 Light Aircraft Carriers: Zuihō, Chiyoda, and Chitose Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/B Battery
- 3 Battleships: Musashi (former flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet), Yamashiro and Fusō
- 6 Heavy Cruisers: Atago, Maya, Suzuya, Chokai, Chikuma, and Mogami
- 4 Light Cruisers: Noshiro, Abukuma, Tama, and Kinu
9 Destroyers: Nowaki, Hayashimo, Yamagumo, Asagumo, Michishio, Akizuki, Hatsuyuki, Wakaba, and UranamiSony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/L Battery
Aftermath
The Battle of Leyte Gulf secured the beachheads of the U.S. Sixth Army on Leyte against attack from the sea. However, much hard fighting would be required before the island was completely in Allied hands at the end of December 1944: Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/P Battery
the Battle of Leyte on land was fought in parallel with an air and sea campaign in which the Japanese reinforced and resupplied their troops on Leyte while the Allies attempted to interdict them and establish air-sea superiority for a series of amphibious landings in Ormoc Bay—Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/W Battery
engagements collectively referred to as the Battle of Ormoc Bay.[4]
The Imperial Japanese Navy had suffered its greatest loss of ships and crew ever. Its failure to dislodge the Allied invaders from Leyte meant the inevitable loss of the Philippines, Sony VAIO VPCEB1PFX Battery
which in turn meant that Japan would be all but cut off from its occupied territories in Southeast Asia. These territories provided resources which were vital to Japan, in particular the oil needed for its ships and aircraft, and this problem was compounded because the shipyards, Sony VAIO VPCEB1PFX/B Battery
and sources of manufactured goods such as ammunition, were in Japan itself. Finally, the loss of Leyte opened the way for the invasion of the Ryukyu Islands in 1945.[3][4]
The major IJN surface ships returned to their bases to languish, entirely or almost entirely inactive, for the remainder of the war. Sony VAIO VPCEB1QGX Battery
The only major operation by these surface ships between the Battle for Leyte Gulf and the Japanese surrender was the suicidal sortie in April 1945 (part of Operation Ten-Go), in which the battleship Yamato and her escorts were destroyed by American carrier aircraft. Sony VAIO VPCEB1QGX/BI Battery
The first use of kamikaze aircraft took place following the Leyte landings. A kamikaze hit the Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia on 21 October. Organized suicide attacks by the "Special Attack Force" began on 25 October during the closing phase of the Battle off Samar, Sony VAIO VPCEB1RGX/BI Batterycausing the destruction of the escort carrier St. Lo.
J.F.C. Fuller, in his The Decisive Battles of the Western World, writes of the outcome of Leyte Gulf:
The Japanese fleet had [effectively] ceased to exist, and, except by land-based aircraft, their opponents had won undisputed command of the sea. Sony VAIO VPCEB20 Battery
When Admiral Ozawa was questioned... after the war he replied 'After this battle the surface forces became strictly auxiliary, so that we relied on land forces, special [Kamikaze] attack, and air power... there was no further use assigned to surface vessels, with the exception of some special ships'. Sony VAIO VPCEC20 Battery
And Admiral Yonai, the Navy Minister, said that he realised that the defeat at Leyte 'was tantamount to the loss of the Philippines.'
As for the larger significance of the battle, he said 'I felt that it was the end.'Sony VAIO VPCEE20 Battery
Months after the battle the US Navy knew that the American public had to be told something. The battle had been too large, involved too many US military personnel and had resulted in too much loss of life just to ignore. Sony VAIO VPCEF20 Battery
To this end the US Navy provided most of the information to the publication Popular Mechanics to publish an article on the battle showing the American public that the battle had gone exactly as Halsey had planned. Sony VAIO VPCF112FX/B Battery
It was several years before the true story of Halsey's decision to leave the San Bernardino Strait unguarded became known to the American public. Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B Battery,Sony VAIO VPCF116FGBI Battery,Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ/W Battery
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