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EspañolBATTLE OFF SAMAR
The 'Battle off Samar' was the final stage of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history. The battle took place in the Philippine Sea near the Samar area of Leyte Island in the Philippines on October 25, 1944 and involved warships from the United States Navy against warships from the Imperial Japanese Navy. Lacking the ships and armament to stand up against an armored battle force, American destroyers, escort carriers and their aircraft engaged a superior Japanese force of battleships and cruisers. Although they suffered heavy casualties, the US units nevertheless inflicted sufficient damage and chaos to discourage the Japanese and make them withdraw.
Summary
In the battle, a large force of Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers engaged a force of three US escort aircraft carrier task groups. The US naval forces were taken by surprise because they thought that Admiral Takeo Kurita's force had retreated the previous day. The main US force of fleet carriers and battleships, under the command of William Halsey, Jr., had left the area to attack a Japanese carrier force in what was actually a ruse by the Japanese to lure Halsey's heavy forces away from Leyte.
Unprepared to engage in a battle with large-gunned warships, Rear Admiral Thomas L. Sprague's escort carriers attempted to escape from the Japanese force while US destroyers, destroyer escorts, and carrier aircraft made repeated attacks on Kurita's ships. The escort carrier planes' ordnance was mostly high-explosive bombs and depth charges for their escort and support duties, rather than armour-piercing bombs and torpedoes which would have been much more effective against heavily armoured warships. Nonetheless, Sprague's planes pressed the attack and later continued to dive on enemy ships even though they were out of ammunition.
Two US destroyers, a destroyer escort, and an escort carrier were sunk by Japanese gunfire. Another US escort carrier was hit and sunk by a ''Kamikaze'' aircraft during the battle. Kurita's battleships were driven away from the engagement trying to avoid US destroyer torpedoes; they were unable to regroup in the chaos, while three cruisers were lost due to air attack and several other cruisers were damaged. Due to the ferocity of the US attacks, Kurita was convinced that he was facing a far superior force and withdrew from the battle area, ending the threat to the troop transports and supply ships. When Admiral Halsey got word, his carriers and battleships turned back to pursue Kurita but the Japanese forces had already escaped.
The battle was one of the last major naval engagements between US and Japanese naval forces in World War II. After this, the Imperial Japanese Navy never again sailed to battle in such large force, but returned to Japan to remain largely inactive for the remainder of the war.
This battle is often depicted as one of the major "what-ifs" in World War II. If Kurita had continued the attack instead of withdrawing, it is likely that the US would have suffered heavy losses in troops and supplies, which would have delayed their capture of the Philippines. It is also likely that had Kurita’s and Halsey's forces met, that would have set the stage for the long awaited "decisive battle" where both sides would have finally been able to pit their largest battleships against each other.
Background
The overall Japanese strategy at Leyte Gulf, a plan known as '''Shō-Go 1''', called for Vice-Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's fleet, known as Northern Force, to lure the United States Third Fleet — under Admiral William Halsey, Jr — away from the Allied landings on Leyte, using an apparently vulnerable force of carriers. The Allied landing forces, now lacking air cover, would then be attacked from the west by Japanese forces including Vice-Admiral Takeo Kurita's command, Center Force, which was based in Brunei. The plan called for Kurita to then enter Leyte Gulf and attack the Allied landing forces. Kurita's force included the battleships ''Yamato'' and ''Musashi'', the largest battleships ever built.
In the lead-up to the battle, on the night of 23 October, two American submarines, USS ''Dace'' and USS ''Darter'', spotted Kurita's Center Force entering the Palawan Passage. The two submarines submerged and fired torpedoes, sinking two cruisers and crippling a third. One of the sinking cruisers was the flagship of Center Force. Admiral Kurita had to swim for his life. Center Force was in chaos for hours before Kurita was finally rescued. Kurita transferred his flag to ''Yamato''. The order was then given to continue on to Leyte Gulf.
Kurita's force entered the Sibuyan Sea, northwest of Leyte, on 24 October. In the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, it was attacked by carrier aircraft and ''Musashi'' was sunk. When Kurita turned around, the American pilots assumed he was retreating, but he turned again and made his way through the San Bernardino Strait in the night.
 The battle off Samar. |
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The forces
The Japanese Center Force now consisted of ''Yamato'', the battleships ''Nagato'', ''Kongo'', and ''Haruna''; the heavy cruisers ''Maya'', ''Chokai'', ''Myoko'', ''Haguro'', ''Kumano'', ''Suzuya'', ''Chikuma'', ''Tone''; the light cruisers ''Yahagi'', and ''Noshiro''; and 13 destroyers.
They were pitted against an inferior force of three groups of light ships of the U.S. Seventh Fleet commanded by Admiral Thomas Kinkaid. Each had six small ''Casablanca''-class escort carriers, and seven or eight lightly armed and unarmored destroyers and/or smaller destroyer escorts.
Admiral Thomas Sprague's Task Unit 77.4.1 ("Taffy 1") consisted of the escort carriers
''Sangamon'', ''Suwannee'',
''Santee'', and ''Petrof Bay''. (The remaining two escort carriers from Taffy 1, ''Chenango'' and ''Saginaw Bay'', had departed for Morotai, Indonesia on October 24, carrying "dud" aircraft from other carriers for transfer ashore. They returned with replacement aircraft after the battle.)
Admiral Felix Stump's Task Unit 77.4.2 ("Taffy 2") consisted of ''Natoma Bay'', ''Manila Bay'', ''Marcus Island'', ''Kadashan Bay'', ''Savo Island'', and ''Ommaney Bay''.
Admiral Clifton Sprague's Task Unit 77.4.3 ("Taffy 3") consisted of ''Fanshaw Bay'', ''St Lo'', ''White Plains'', ''Kalinin Bay'', ''Kitkun Bay'', and ''Gambier Bay''.
Though each escort carrier was relatively small, carrying only 25 planes each, they added up to making available more than 500 planes in all. However, as they were intended to attack against ground forces and submarines, most were armed with machine guns, depth charges and high explosive and anti-personnel bombs, effective against troops, submarines or destroyers, but not against armoured battleships or cruisers. Unlike Halsey's fleet carriers which had been sent to counter the bait of remnants of the Japanese carrier fleet, they lacked both the ammunition and armour to stand in an encounter with a force of battleships.
Battle
Kurita's force passed through San Bernardino Strait at 03:00 on 25 October 1944 and steamed south along the coast of Samar, hoping that Halsey had taken the bait and moved most of his fleet away.
A mixup in communications led Kinkaid to believe that Willis A. Lee's Task Force 34 of battleships was guarding the San Bernardino Strait to the north and that there would be no danger from that direction. Halsey had radioed "am proceeding north with three groups to attack enemy carriers at dawn", which did not cause alarm because Halsey had four carrier groups. Thomas Sprague assumed that Halsey was taking three of his carrier groups to attack and would be leaving one group behind to guard the Strait. But Lee had gone with Halsey (who had, in fact, taken all four of his carrier groups) in pursuit of Ozawa.
Taffy 3 comes under attack
"Taffy 3" was the northernmost of the three units and the one which bore the brunt of Kurita's surface attack.
Rear Admiral Clifton “Ziggy” Sprague’s "Taffy 3" first learned of Kurita's presence when, at 06:37, a pilot on routine patrol spotted the force and attacked with depth charges. The Japanese had come upon Taffy 3 at 06:45, achieving complete tactical surprise. Kurita had not found the silhouettes of the tiny escort carriers in his identification manuals. He mistook the escort carriers for fleet carriers and assumed that he had the whole of the American Third Fleet under the guns of his battleships.
Taffy 3’s lookouts observed the antiaircraft fire to the northward. Admiral Sprague was incredulous and demanded identification verification which arrived when the enemy battleships came in sight. The ''Yamato'' alone displaced as much as all units of Taffy 3 combined. Within three minutes, the US units were under heavy fire from Kurita's Center Force and the Battle off Samar was thus joined.
Immediately, Clifton Sprague directed his carriers to turn to launch their aircraft and withdraw towards a squall to the east, hoping that bad visibility would reduce the accuracy of Japanese gunfire, and ordered the destroyers to create smoke to mask the retreating carriers which drew fire from the Japanese ships.
US Destroyer counterattack
USS ''Johnston'' makes a stand
In an action that author James D. Hornfisher would call “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors,” Lieutenant Commander Ernest E. Evans, CO of the destroyer ''Johnston'', which was the closest to the attackers, took the initiative. He ordered his ship to "flank speed, full left rudder," ordering ''Johnston'' to directly attack the vastly superior oncoming Japanese ships on his own in what would appear to be a suicidal mission.
The ''Johnston'' was a Fletcher-class destroyer, a much smaller class than cruisers or battleships. Its five 5-inch guns, depth charges, and multiple antiaircraft weapons were designed to be effective against ground troops, aircraft, and submarines, but not against armoured battleships or cruisers, and their lack of armour to withstand shellfire led to the nickname "tin cans". Only the ''Johnston''’s ten Mark-15 torpedoes housed in two 5-tube launchers could sink a battleship, but only if launched within a range of five miles, well within range of enemy gunfire. Had ''Johnston'' withdrawn, every escort carrier of Taffy 3 would have been destroyed due to the opposing force’s superior speed and armament. Evans therefore decided to take the chance that they might survive a charge and score a lucky hit.
Weaving to avoid shells, and steering towards splashes, the ''Johnston'' approached the cruiser squadron flagship, the heavy cruiser ''Kumano'', for a torpedo run. At a range of 10 miles (20 km), ''Johnston'' engaged ''Kumano'' with gunfire, aiming for bridge and deck since the 5-inch shells would have bounced off the enemy ship's belt armour. At the same time, ''Johnston'' proceeded to close within torpedo range and fired off a salvo, which blew the bow off ''Kumano'', also taking the ''Mogami''-class heavy cruiser ''Suzuya'' out of the fight as she stopped to assist.
At a range of seven miles, the battleship ''Kongo'' sent a 14-inch shell through the ''Johnston''’s deck and engine room, reducing ''Johnston''’s speed by half to 14 knots and interrupting electric power to the aft gun turrets. Then three 6-inch shells, possibly from ''Yamato'', struck ''Johnston''’s bridge, causing numerous casualties and wounding Captain Evans in his left hand. The bridge was abandoned and Evans proceeded to steer the ship back towards the fleet from the aft steering column, when he noticed the other destroyers starting to engage the enemy, too.
Emboldened by ''Johnston''’s attack, Sprague gave the order "small boys attack", sending the rest of Taffy 3's destroyers on the assault. Despite the heavy damage, Evans turned the ''Johnston'' around and reentered the fight while damage control teams restored power to two of the three aft turrets.
The other destroyers attacked the Japanese line, drawing fire and scattering the Japanese formations as ships turned to avoid torpedoes. The ''Yamato'' found herself between two torpedoes fired from the destroyer ''Heermann'' which were on parallel courses, and for ten minutes, she headed away from the action, unable to turn back for fear of being hit. ''Heermann'', meanwhile, engaged the other Japanese battleships at such a close range that they could not return fire for either inability to sufficiently depress their guns or for fear of hitting their own units.
USS ''Samuel B. Roberts'' at sea
USS ''Samuel B. Roberts''
At 07:35, the even smaller destroyer escort ''Samuel B. Roberts'' turned and headed toward the battle, passing by the damaged ''Johnston'' that had left. The Roberts had only two 5-inch guns, one fore and aft, and just three Mark-15 torpedoes but still proceeded to attack the heavy cruiser ''Chokai''. With smoke as cover, the ''Roberts'' steamed to within two and a half miles of ''Chokai'', coming under fire of the latter’s two forward 8-inch turrets.
But ''Roberts'' was so close that the shells passed overhead. Once in torpedo range, ''Roberts'' salvo of three torpedoes struck the cruiser, and then the ''Roberts'' dueled with the Japanese ships for an hour, firing over 600 5-inch shells, and firing at ''Chokai''’s superstructure with 40 mm Bofors and 20 mm anti-aircraft guns while maneuvering at close range. At 08:51, the Japanese finally landed two hits, the second of which destroyed the aft gun turret. With her remaining 5-inch gun, “Roberts” set the bridge of the cruiser ''Chikuma'' afire and destroyed the number 3 gun turret, before being pierced again by three 14 inch shells from the ''Kongo''. With a 40-foot hole in her side, the ''Roberts'' took on water, and at 09:35, the order was given to abandon the ship that sank 30 minutes later with 89 of her crew. She would go down in history as “The destroyer escort that fought like a battleship.”
Meanwhile, Sprague had ordered all three Taffy groups to launch their planes with whatever weapons loadout available, even if that were only machine guns or depth charges. Even after many aircraft expended their ammo and ordnance, they made dry runs to threaten and distract the Japanese warships and their gunners.
USS ''Heermann''
''Heermann'', in a position of comparative safety on the disengaged side of the carriers at the start of the fight, steamed into the action at flank speed through the formation of "baby flattops" who, after launching their last planes, formed a rough circle as they turned toward Leyte Gulf. Smoke and intermittent rain squalls had meanwhile reduced visibility to less than 100 yards (90 metres), causing ''Heermann'' to back emergency full to avoid collision with the destroyer escort ''Samuel B. Roberts'' and later the destroyer ''Hoel'' as she formed column on the screen flagship in preparation of a torpedo attack.
Initiating the run, ''Heermann'' engaged the heavy cruiser ''Chikuma'' with her 5 inch guns while directing a torpedo attack at ''Haguro''. After firing two torpedoes, ''Heermann'' changed course to engage a column of four battleships that had commenced firing upon her. She trained her guns on the battleship ''Kongo'', the column's leader, and launched three torpedoes. Then she quickly closed on the battleship ''Haruna'', the target of her last three torpedoes, which were launched from a mere 4,400 yards (4000 metres). Believing that one of the torpedoes had hit the battleship, she managed to avoid the salvoes which splashed in her wake as she retired. Japanese records claim that the battleship successfully evaded all of the torpedoes from ''Heermann'', but they were slowed down in their pursuit of the American carriers. The ''Yamato'', with her enormous 18.1 inch guns was forced out of the action altogether when, caught between two spreads, she reversed course for almost 10 minutes to escape being hit.
''Heermann'' sped to the starboard quarter of the carrier formation to lay more concealing smoke and then charged back into the fight a few minutes later, placing herself between the escort carriers and the column of four enemy heavy cruisers. Here she engaged Japanese cruiser ''Chikuma'' in a duel which seriously damaged both ships. A series of 8 inch hits flooded the forward part of the US destroyer, pulling her bow down so far that her anchors were dragging in the water while one of her guns was knocked out. The cruiser also came under heavy air attack during the engagement. Under the combined effect of ''Heermann''’s guns and the bombs, torpedoes, and strafing from carrier-based planes, ''Chikuma'' finally disengaged but sank during her attempted withdrawal.
As ''Chikuma'' turned away, the heavy cruiser ''Tone'' turned her guns on ''Heermann'', who returned fire until she reached a position suitable to resume laying smoke for the carriers. At this point planes from Admiral Felix Stump's "Taffy 2" swooped in to damage ''Tone'' so severely that she too broke off action and withdrew. The attacks of the destroyers and aircraft thus saved the outgunned task groups.
Carriers under attack
The carriers of Taffy 3 turned south and withdrew through shellfire. The armor-piercing (AP) shells intended for Halsey's battleships flew right through the unarmoured escort carriers without triggering their fuses. A switch to High Explosive (HE) shells holed, slowed, and sunk USS ''Gambier Bay'' at the rear, while most of the others were also damaged. Their single stern-mounted 5-inch (127 mm) anti-aircraft guns returned fire, though they were ineffective against surface ships. Yet, USS ''St. Lo'' scored a hit on the magazine of a cruiser, the only known hit inflicted directly by a gun on an aircraft carrier against an opposing surface vessel.
Two hours into the attack, Captain Evans aboard the ''Johnston'' spotted a line of four Japanese destroyers led by the light cruiser ''Yahagi'' making a torpedo attack on the fleeing carriers and moved to intercept. ''Johnston'' engaged the attacking group with gunfire, forcing them to prematurely fire their torpedoes and miss the carriers. Their gunfire then turned to the weaving ''Johnston''. At 09:10, the Japanese scored a direct hit on one of the forward turrets, knocking it out and setting off many 5-inch shells that were stored in the turret. Her damaged engines stopped, leaving her dead in the water. While the opposition closed in on the disabled destroyer, ''Johnston'' was hit so many times that one survivor recalled "they couldn't patch holes fast enough to keep her afloat." At 09:45 (2 hours and 45 minutes into the battle), Captain Evans finally gave the order to abandon ship. The ''Johnston'' sank 25 minutes later with 186 of her crew. Captain Evans abandoned ship with his crew, but was never seen again. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
USS ''St. Lo''
Steaming about 60 miles east of Samar before dawn 25 October, ''St. Lo'' launched a 4-plane anti-submarine patrol while the remaining carriers of Taffy 3 prepared for the day’s initial air strikes against the landing beaches. The Battle off Samar began at 06:47 when Ensign Bill Brooks, piloting one of the ASW planes from ''St. Lo'', reported sighting a large Japanese force comprising four battleships, six heavy and light cruisers, and ten to twelve destroyers approaching from the westnorthwest, only 17 miles away. At the same time, lookouts on ''St. Lo'' spotted the characteristic pagoda-like superstructures of Japanese battleships on the horizon. Admiral Sprague ordered "Taffy 3" to turn south at flank speed. Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita’s force steadily closed and opened fire on Taffy 3 around 06:58.
''St. Lo'' and the other five CVEs dodged in and out of rain squalls and managed to launch all available fighter and torpedo planes with whatever armament they had handy (general purpose bombs and even depth charges.) The carriers chased salvos from enemy cruisers and battleships, and ordered the pilots “to attack the Japanese task force and proceed to Tacloban airstrip, Leyte, to rearm and refuel". As salvoes fell increasingly nearer ''St. Lo'', her planes continued to strike the enemy force with bombs, rockets, and gunfire.
By 07:38, the Japanese cruisers, approaching from ''St. Lo''’s port quarter, had closed to within 14,000 yards. ''St. Lo'' responded to their salvoes with rapid fire from her single 5-inch gun, claiming three hits on a ''Tone''-class cruiser.
For the next hour and a half, Admiral Kurita's ships closed in on Taffy 3, with his nearest destroyers and cruisers firing from as close as 10,000 yards on the port and starboard quarters of the ''St. Lo''. Many salvoes straddled the ship, landed close aboard, or passed directly overhead. Throughout the running gun battle, the carriers and their escorts were laying a particularly effective smoke screen that Admiral Sprague credited with greatly inhibiting the Japanese gunfire accuracy. Even more effective were the attacks by the destroyers and destroyer escorts at point-blank range against the Japanese destroyers and cruisers. All the while, Kurita's force was under incessant attack by Taffy 3 aircraft and planes from the two other US carrier units to the south.
At 09:15, the Japanese destroyers which had been engaged by USS ''Johnston'' launched a premature torpedo attack on the escort carriers from 10,500 yards. The torpedoes were reaching end-of-run as they approached their target, broaching the surface. An Avenger torpedo bomber from ''St. Lo'', piloted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Waldrop, strafed and exploded two torpedoes in the wake of sister ship USS ''Kalinin Bay''.
Under heavy attack from the air and incessant fire from American destroyers and destroyer escorts, the Japanese cruisers broke off action and turned northward at 09:20.
USS ''Kalinin Bay''
''Kalinin Bay'' accelerated to flank speed; and, despite fire from three enemy cruisers, launched her planes, ordering the pilots "to attack the Japanese task force and proceed to Tacloban airstrip, Leyte, to rearm and refuel." As salvos fell increasingly nearer ''Kalinin Bay'', her planes, striking the enemy force with bombs, rockets, and gunfire, inflicted heavy damage on the closing ships.
As the trailing ship in the escort carrier van, ''Kalinin Bay'' came under intense enemy fire. Though partially protected by chemical smoke, by a timely rain squall, and by counterattacks of screening destroyers and destroyer escorts, she took the first of 15 direct hits at 07:50. Fired from an enemy battleship, the large caliber shell (14 inch or 16 inch) struck the starboard side of the hangar deck just abaft the forward elevator.
By 08:00, the Japanese cruisers, which were steaming off her port quarter, closed to within 18,000 yards. ''Kalinin Bay'' responded to their straddling salvoes with rapid fire from her single 5-inch gun, to which the opposing force reacted with intensified fire. Three 8-inch armour-piercing projectiles struck her within minutes of each other. At 08:25, the carrier scored a direct hit from 16,000 yards on the No. 2 turret of a ''Nachi''-class heavy cruiser, and a second hit shortly thereafter forced the Japanese ship to withdraw temporarily from formation.
At 08:30, five Japanese destroyers steamed over the horizon off her starboard quarter. The closing ships opened fire from about 14,500 yards; and, as screening ships engaged the cruisers and laid down concealing smoke, ''Kalinin Bay'' shifted her fire and for the next hour traded shots with the guns of Japan's Destroyer Squadron 10. Though no destroyer fire hit ''Kalinin Bay'' directly, she took ten more 8-inch hits from the now obscured cruisers. One shell passed through the flight deck and into the communications area, where it destroyed all radar and radio equipment.
At 09:15, an Avenger torpedo-bomber from the doomed ''St. Lo'' strafed and exploded two torpedoes in ''Kalinin Bay''’s wake about 100 yards astern, and a shell from the latter's 5 inch gun deflected a third from a collision course with her stern.
At about 09:30, as the Japanese ships fired parting salvoes and reversed course northward, ''Kalinin Bay'' scored a direct hit amidships on a retreating destroyer. Five minutes later she ceased fire and retired southward with the surviving ships of "Taffy 3." At 1050 the task unit came under a concentrated air attack. During the 40-minute battle the first attack from a ''Kamikaze'' unit in World War II, all escort carriers but ''Fanshaw Bay'' were damaged. One plane of Lt. Yukio Seki's ''Shikishima'' squadron crashed through ''St. Lo''’s flight deck and exploded her torpedo and bomb magazine, inflicting terminal damage. Four diving planes attacked Kalinin Bay from astern and the starboard quarter, two of which were shot down close aboard, while a third plane crashed into the port side of the flight deck, damaging it severely. The fourth hit destroyed the aft port stack.
''Kalinin Bay'' suffered extensive structural damage during the morning's intense action, as well as five dead among her 60 casualties. Twelve direct hits were later confirmed by damage plus two large caliber near misses. Ironically, it was the two near misses that exploded under her counter that threatened the ship's survival.
Japanese take hits
Taken under 5 inch gunfire by the destroyers and destroyer escorts, the Japanese cruiser ''Chokai'' was hit amidships, starboard side, most likely by the carrier USS ''Kalinin Bay''. A secondary explosion caused by the armed torpedoes on her decks knocked out the engines and rudder. ''Chokai'' dropped out of formation.
Within minutes, an American aircraft dropped a 500 lb bomb on her forward machinery room. Fires began to rage around the ''Chokai'' and she went dead in the water. Later that day she was scuttled by torpedoes from the destroyer ''Fujinami''.
After the destroyer USS ''Johnston'' put a Mk-15 torpedo into the ''Kumano'', blowing off her bow, she retired towards the San Bernadino strait where she suffered minor damage from aerial attack.
The ''Chikuma'' engaged the U.S. escort carriers, helping to sink ''Gambier Bay'', but came under fire from the American destroyer ''Heermann'' and heavy air attack. ''Chikuma'' inflicted severe damage on ''Heermann'', but was soon hit by an aerial torpedo attack and immobilized. Her crew was taken off by the destroyer ''Nowaki'' and ''Chikuma'' was scuttled in the late morning of on 25 October 1944. While withdrawing from the battle area, ''Nowaki'' was herself sunk, with the loss of all but one of ''Chikuma''’s surviving crewmen.
Kurita withdraws
Though many of Kurita's ships had not been damaged, the air and destroyer attacks had broken up his formations, and he had lost tactical control. The ferocity of the determined, concentrated sea and air attack from Taffy 3 had already sunk or crippled the heavy cruisers ''Chōkai'', ''Kumano'', and ''Chikuma''. Signals from Ozawa had disabused him of the notion that he was attacking the whole of the 3rd Fleet, which meant that the longer he continued to engage, the more likely it was that he would suffer devastating air strikes from Halsey's main attack carriers which were even more threatening than the tiny force of Taffy 3.
Calculating that the fight was not worth further losses, Kurita broke off the engagement at 09:20 with the order: "all ships, my course north, speed 20". As he retreated north and then west through the San Bernardino Strait, the smaller and heavily damaged American force continued to press the battle. (While watching the Japanese retreat, Sprague heard a nearby sailor exclaim: "Damn it, boys, they're getting away!") In retreat, ''Nagato'', ''Haruna'' and ''Kongo'' were severely damaged from the torpedoes of Taffy 3's "tin can" destroyers and escorts.
When Admiral Halsey got word, his carriers and battleships turned back to pursue Kurita but the Japanese forces had already escaped.
Aftermath
Tactically, the Japanese had succeeded in luring Halsey's force away, leaving only light forces standing in their way. Admiral Kurita's battleships and cruisers were in a good position to cause serious damage to US troops and supplies which would have potentially delayed their invasion of the Philippines. Despite earlier losses and sacrifices in the Leyte campaign, the Japanese managed to have victory within reach.
But the Japanese were unable to exploit this opportunity. Taffy 3 had turned back the most powerful surface fleet which Japan had sent to sea since the Battle of Midway. Domination of the skies, superior seamanship, and prudent, timely maneuvers, and tactical errors by the Japanese Admiral helped to nullify the overwhelming odds against the American task force. Of all of the battles in the Pacific War, this best demonstrates the potency of aircraft versus surface ships.
From a tactical standpoint, the lopsided battle had resulted in Americans losing one escort carrier (''Gambier Bay''), two destroyers (''Hoel'' and ''Johnston''), one destroyer escort (''Samuel B. Roberts'') sunk, and dozens of aircraft. Four other U.S. destroyers were damaged. Over a thousand American sailors and pilots gave their lives that day. (Remarkably, the destroyer ''Heermann'' finished the battle with only six of her crew dead, despite her duel with Japanese battleships many times her size.)
Against this, the Japanese were forced to scuttle three heavy cruisers, and one limped back seriously damaged without a bow.
More importantly, this ended Japanese attempts to defend the Philippines by sea, which would cut off their Navy's supply of oil in Southeast Asia. Compounded with their losses in the earlier battles of the Leyte campaign, the surviving ships of the fleet returned to Japan where they would mostly sit out the remainder of the war.
==Presidential Unit Citation==
Taffy 3 was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation "For extraordinary heroism in action against powerful units of the Japanese Fleet during the Battle off Samar, Philippines, October 25, 1944. ...the gallant ships of the Task Unit waged battle fiercely against the superior speed and fire power of the advancing enemy ...two of the Unit's valiant destroyers and one destroyer escort charged the battleships point-blank and, expending their last torpedoes in desperate defense of the entire group, went down under the enemy's heavy shells ... The courageous determination and the superb teamwork of the officers and men who fought the embarked planes and who manned the ships of Task Unit 77.4.3 were instrumental in effecting the retirement of a hostile force threatening our Leyte invasion operations and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."
[1]
References
Books
★ The Battle of Leyte Gulf: 23–26 October 1944, , Thomas, Cutler, Naval Institute Press, 2001, ISBN 1-55750-243-9
★ Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II, , Andrieu, D'Albas, Devin-Adair Pub, 1965, ISBN 0-8159-5302-X
★ A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941–1945, , Paul S., Dull, Naval Institute Press, 1978, ISBN 0-87021-097-1
★ The Japanese at Leyte Gulf;: The Sho operation, , James A., Field, Princeton University Press, 1947, ASIN B0006AR6LA
★ Afternoon of the Rising Sun: The Battle of Leyte Gulf, , Kenneth, Friedman, Presidio Press, 2001, ISBN 0-89141-756-7
★ The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, Hornfischer, James D., , , Bantam, 2004, ISBN 0-553-80257-7
★ The Men of the Gambier Bay: The Amazing True Story of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, , Edwin P., Hoyt, The Lyons Press, 2003, ISBN 1-58574-643-6
★ Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War, , Eric, Lacroix, Naval Institute Press, 1997, ISBN 0-87021-311-3
★ Leyte, June 1944 – January 1945, ''vol. 5 of ''History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, , Samuel Eliot, Morison, University of Illinois Press; Reprint edition, 2004 (reissue), ISBN 0-252-07063-1
★ Admiral Arleigh Burke, , E. B., Potter, Naval Institute Press, 2005, ISBN 1-59114-692-5
★ Bull Halsey, , E. B., Potter, Naval Institute Press, 2003, ISBN 1-59114-691-7
★ Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign 1941–1945, , Evan, Thomas, Simon & Schuster, 2006, ISBN 0-7432-5221-7
★ The Battle Of Leyte Gulf: The Last Fleet Action, , H. P., Willmott, Indiana University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-253-34528-6
Reports
★ War Damage Report A-3(420), ''Summary of War Damage - December 8, 1943 to December 7, 1944,'' pp28. BuShips, Design Division, Preliminary Design Section, War Damage Assessment Team. 1 June 1945.
★ War Damage Report #60, ''Escort Carriers Gunfire, Bomb, Kamikaze Damage and Loss During World War II,'' BuShips, Design Division, Preliminary Design Section, War Damage Assessment Team.
Web
★ Battle Experience: Battle for Leyte Gulf [Cominch Secret Information Bulletin No. 22]
★ Task Force 77 Action Report: Battle of Leyte Gulf
★ "Turkey Trots to Water" — detailed description of the battle from battleship.org
★ Order of battle: Samar.
★ "Glorious Death: The Battle of Leyte Gulf" by Tim Lanzendörfer
★ battle-of-leyte-gulf.com
★ The Battle Off Samar - Taffy III at Leyte Gulf website by Robert Jon Cox
★ Return to the Philippines: public domain documents from ibiblio.org
★ The Battle for Leyte Gulf Revisited
★ Timeline for USS ''Samuel B. Roberts'' (DE 413)
★ Animated History of The Battle of Leyte Gulf
★ Japan's TA-Operation: A Blueprint for Disaster by Irwin Kappes
Audio/visual media
★ ''Lost Evidence of the Pacific: The Battle of Leyte Gulf''. History Channel. TV. Based on book by Hornfischer, James D. (2004). The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors.
★ ''Dogfights: Death of the Japanese Navy''. History Channel. TV. Based on book, and with interview by Hornfischer, James D. (2004). The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors.
Notes
1.
Memorial to Admiral Sprague and Task Unit 77.4.3 (Taffy 3)
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