Yesterday marked the 75th Anniversary of the start of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the last great naval battle of World War II, and arguably the largest naval battle in history. American naval forces (with help from Australia’s Task Force 74) decisively defeated the Japanese Imperial Navy, sinking four aircraft carriers, three battleships, six heavy cruisers and four light cruisers.
Leyte Gulf was a sprawling naval engagement that took place in roughly four areas around the Philippines October 23-26, 1944. The Battle of the Surigao Strait featured the last battleship-on-battleship engagement in history, where overwhelming American firepower sunk two Japanese battleships and caused the rest to turn back. One of the most decisive actions was The Battle Off Samar, in which two American ships, destroyer escort USS Samuel B. Roberts (laid down in Houston shipyards) and destroyer USS Johnston, carried out some of the greatest badassery in American naval history, attacking a much larger and heavier armed force of Japanese battleships and cruisers in order to screen the retreat of six escort carriers.
Here’s a machinima recreation of The Battle Off Samar:
They sank three Japanese cruisers, disabled another three, and caused the Japanese battleships to turn tail and run, ensuring the successful American invasion of the Philippines and destruction of Japan’s access to vitally needed war materials.
After Leyte Gulf, the remainder of the Japanese fleet would stay in port bereft of fuel. It wouldn’t engage the American fleet directly again until one last suicidal attempt during the invasion of Okinawa.
Tags: aircraft carrier, Battle of the Surigao Strait, Battle Off Samar, battleship, destroyer, history, Military, Navy, Philippines, The Battle of Leyte Gulf, USS Johnston, USS Samuel B. Roberts, video, World War II
Worth reading: https://tinyurl.com/y3wtkzfw
Would it also count as the largest aerial battle? Basically, the largest battle?
The DD’s and DE’s off Samar didn’t sink any Japanese ships. However, they did goad Kurita intonturning tail and running, leaving his force exposed to American airpower.
Interesting battle, because it is one of the few that (like Midway) could have been a huge US defeat. Except unlike Midway (where our command level was great, but we still needed some luck to win), the defeat could have been caused by gross mistakes by a US Admiral Halsey, who had a force that could have won easily and safely.
Halsey took the bait by chasing a decoy Japanese carrier force far north (a force that had no planes on it anyway), and not even bothering to leave his BB force behind, leaving a uncontested path for Kuritas BB force to come through the straight, and potentially lay waste to McCarthurs entire landing force. Their only opposition was a rag tag group of slow small jeep carriers, plus some US destroyers.
That ragged outclassed force (of mostly reservests, unlike Halseys elite regulars) courageously sacrificed themselves to delay and disorganize Kuritas force just enough, that he chickened out and turned back, on the brink of victory, because he feared that Halsey (who at that time was so far north chasing decoys he was nowhere close to helping out) would soon have his whole force on top of him. If Kurita, in true Samurai spirit, had continued on fearless of death, he could have laid waste to MacArthurs entire landing forces, cancelling the whole retaking of the Philippines, giving the Japanese a decisive victory, at the cost of much of their fleet. But once Kurita chickened out, and turned back, they lost most of their fleet anyway, but got nothing for it.