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The Battle of Leyte Gulf October 23-26, 1944
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US Army General Douglas MacArthur had fought a hard campaign up the back of New Guinea, only to see his greatest successes eclipsed in the press by the invasions in the central Pacific and Europe. Privately, he was considering a run for US President against Roosevelt, and he did not get along with US Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz. The reconquest of the Philippines would shore up his wounded prestige.
He had waited for three years to make good on his promise to return to the Philippines. He now commanded a force that could do the job and that was growing in strength every day. After the defeat of the Marianas, the Japanese were concentrating their strength on the Philippines. The battle would be one of the most intense of the war, and would begin with the main fleet engagement both sides had looked for since the start of the war.
When it was over, a cloud would hang over one of America's naval heroes, the Japanese would come within yards of winning the strategic objective, and the United States Navy would destroy the backbone of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Never again would surface units deploy in great numbers. After Leyte Gulf the largest fleet units would be reserved as suicide attacks for the coming invasion of the Japanese Home Islands.
But a determined Japanese force, using the "Go" Plan, would deploy to attack the transports supporting the landing and destroy the US Navy. The plan called for the remnants of the once great carrier forces, depleted of aircraft, to act as decoys for the battleships, which would come from Singapore and sink the American transports while the screening force would go after the carriers. Included in the Fleet from Singapore were the 18-inch guns of the Yamato and Musashi, the largest battleships ever built. Admiral Ozawa's force included the veteran Zuikaku; he had only 90 planes for his four carriers. A second group would come through the Surigao Straights to attack the Americans, while the main force -including Musashi and Yamato - would attack Leyte Gulf.
What the Japanese did not know was that their codes were still being read by US Navy intelligence. The entire plan was made available to the American commanders, who knew that Ozawa's decoy force was just that and the other forces would concentrate on the transports. Admiral William "Bull" Halsey knew that Ozawa was the decoy force, while battleships would try to attack the landing ships in Leyte Gulf while he was chasing the carriers.
Which makes Halsey's actions that much more glaring. On October 20, 1944, MacArthur landed in the Philippines. On October 23 two US Submarines spotted the Japanese Decoy Fleet and sank a carrier. The few aircraft from Ozawa's force announced themselves with an air attack, sinking the USS Princeton, a light carrier. On October 25, the second unit entered the Subian Sea and was met by Vice Admiral Thomas Kinkaid commanding the veterans of Pearl Harbor, raised from the mud. In a classic example of night fighting, scores of torpedoes from PT boats and destroyers and shells from the battleships slammed into the Japanese force, sinking everything but a destroyer. The Americans' slow old battleships, with new radar, had outfought the slow old battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy. But the Americans were now low on ammunition and remained in place, not falling back to protect the transports.
Halsey withdrew the next day to the north after Ozawa, thinking that Kinkaid's battleships were covering the transports. Halsey knew that Ozawa was the decoy force, and he knew that another more powerful surface fleet was coming from Japan. Nevertheless, without consulting Kinkaid, who was were he was supposed to be, Halsey tore after the Decoy Force, anxious to sink the Japanese carriers with 16" shells from his flagship, USS New Jersey.
That afternoon, the transports were at anchor on Leyte, with just escort carriers, light carriers built on transport hulls, to screen them. The shock of seeing the tall "pagoda" masts of four battleships, eight cruisers, and thirteen destroyers led the Americans into a desperate tactic. Making smoke, the escort carriers and their destroyers attacked the much larger ships, firing torpedoes. Kamikazes, suicide planes, made their debut, crashing into and sinking the USS St. Lo. Other escort carriers were hit, and three destroyers were sunk. Nimitz, in Hawaii, sent Halsey the question, "Where is the Third Fleet?" to which Halsey's radioman accidentally added part of the dummy code used to confuse Japanese radio listening posts - "the world wonders." This embarrassed and infuriated Halsey, who turned around at raced for Leyte Gulf.
Confused by the smoke and under severe air attack, the Japanese Fleet withdrew, and lost the Musashi on the return to Japan. With just six capital ships left, the Imperial Japanese Navy would never again take to sea in significant numbers. Halsey was embarrassed, but soon recovered and went on to higher glory as the naval equivalent of US Army General George S. Patton.
The Philippines Campaign, 1944-1945
Battle of Leyte - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Battle of Leyte Gulf - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Battle Off Samar - Main Menu
Dedicated to the men of RADM C.A.F. Sprague's U.S. Seventh Fleet Task Unit 77.4.3, Taffy III, for action against VADM Takeo Kurita's Imperial Japanese Navy Centre Force on 25 October 1944. Task Unit 77.4.3 consisted of six escort carriers (CVEs) FANSHAW BAY, ST LO, WHITE PLAINS, KALININ BAY, KITKUN BAY, & GAMBIER BAY, three destroyers (DDs) HOEL, HEERMANN, & JOHNSTON, and four smaller destroyer escorts (DEs) JOHN C. BUTLER, DENNIS, RAYMOND, & SAMUEL B. ROBERTS. They fought the vastly superior Imperial Japanese Navy Centre Force at Leyte Gulf on October 25, 1944, sustaining losses of five warships sunk and nearly all remaining warships heavily damaged; with the high cost of nearly 900 American lives.Order of Battle - Battle off Samar - 25 October 1944
HyperWar: Battle off Samar Island - TF 77
Task Force 77 Action Report: Battle of Leyte Gulf (Battle off Samar)Battle of Leyte Gulf Web Site
THE BATTLE FOR LEYTE GULF 23-26 October 1944 (D Llewellyn James)
Four major naval actions which together amount to the greatest naval battle in history, and one of the most decisive of the Pacific WarTHE BATTLE FOR LEYTE GULF - Summary
Battle for Leyte Gulf 23-26 october 1944 - Narrative of the battle - The Leyte landings - The Sho-Go Plan - US Third and Seventh Fleets - Halsey and Kinkaid - Task Force 38 - MitscherThe American Experience | MacArthur | Maps | WWII: The battle for Leyte
HyperWar: Battle Experience: Battle for Leyte Gulf
Cominch Secret Information Bulletin No. 22: 'Battle Experience--Battle for Leyte Gulf'HyperWar: Return to the Philippines: Contents
Index to on-line histories of the liberation of the Philippines during World War II: Guerrilla operations, Leyte, Battle of Leyte Gulf, Luzon, etc.1944: LEYTE GULF
Olive-Drab information about 1944: LEYTE GULF.LEYTE GULF - The Battle of Surigao Strait (D Llewellyn James)
THE BATTLE FOR LEYTE GULF - The Battle of Surigao Strait 24-26 October - US forces under Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf - Japanese forces under Vice Admirals Nishimura and Shima - US battleships West Virginia, California, Tennessee, Maryland, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, cruisers Louisville, Minneapolis, Portland, Denver, Columbia, Phoenix, Boise - Australian heavy cruiser Shropshire - Fletcher Class Destroyers - Japanese battleships Fuso, Yamashiro - heavy cruisers Nachi, Ashigara, Mogami - US commanders Berkey, Weyler, Chandler, Jesse CowardPerformance of US Battleships at Surigao Strait
Order of Battle - Battle of Surigao Strait - 24-25 October 1944
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