Three days after the battle, Nimitz would relate his disappointment in Halsey in a personal message to King: It never occurred to me that Halsey, knowing the composition of the ships in the Sibuyan Sea, would leave the San Bernardino Strait unguardedThat the San Bernardino detachment of the Japanese Fleet, which included the YAMATO and the MUSASHI, did not completely destroy all of the escort carriers and their accompanying screen is nothing short of special dispensation from the Lord Almighty. All the men of Taffy 3 were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their actions off Samar, and Capt. The escort carrier Suwannee was shortly afterwards hit by a kamikaze, killing 71 sailors. Omissions? Fuller: "In the battle which ensued, the greatest up to then between ship- and shore-based aircraft, 650 Japanese aircraft were destroyed. 1,773 POWs died due to the rest of the Japanese convoy refusing to rescue them. Birmingham was so badly damaged, she was forced to retire. This task 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. On his own initiative, Lieutenant Commander Ernest E. Evans steered his hopelessly outclassed ship into the Japanese fleet at flank speed. However, battleships were known sometimes to be cut into two or even three sections which could remain afloat independently, and Samuel Morison states that the bow half of Fus was sunk by gunfire from Louisville, and the stern half sank off Kanihaan Island. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The effect was devastating. On July 6, 1942, the . All efforts to get her off failed, she was abandoned; and her entire crew was rescued by Dace. With the bulk of the Seventh Fleet engaged with Nishimura at Surigao Strait, all that stood between Kurita and the landing beaches were the ships of Taffy 3a naval task force that consisted of just six escort carriers, three destroyers, and four destroyer escorts under the command of Rear Adm. Clifton Sprague. [101], The Imperial Japanese Navy had suffered its greatest loss of ships and crew ever. Pennsylvania was unable to find a target and her guns remained silent. Just after midnight on October 23, Kuritas First Attack Force was discovered off Palawan by the U.S. submarines Darter and Dace. Battle of Leyte Gulf | Facts, Casualties, & Significance Very minimal Allied casualties occurred at the overwhelming Allied victories at the Battle of Surigao Strait and the Battle off Cape Engao. The Battle of Leyte Gulf: WW2's Largest Naval Battle - History Rescue and repair efforts continued throughout the day. The Battle of Leyte Gulf - Army University Press 'Leyte Open Sea Naval Battle') was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. The Allied offensive in the Pacific in 1944 was to climax with the Allied invasion of the Philippines. The destroyer USSJohnston was the closest to the enemy. Beginning at about 8:00 am and continuting for several hours, waves of Halseys planes descended on the Japanese carriers, and in short order, all four Chitose, Chiyoda, Zuiho, and Zuikakuhad been sunk. Seventh Fleet and the cruisers and destroyers of the Royal Australian Navys Task Force 74. Why did the Battle of Leyte Gulf happen? | Homework.Study.com The assault on Leyte marked the joining of the two major advances on Japanthe central Pacific offensive commanded by Nimitz and the southern Pacific approach under MacArthur. The ensuing engagement reflected the dramatic imbalance in power that now existed between U.S. and Japanese naval strength, and the result was so lopsided that it was almost an anticlimax when measured against the action which was taking place simultaneously at Samar. Rangers had gone ashore on some of the islets in the mouth of Leyte Gulf on October 17th. To pass through the narrows and reach the invasion shipping, Nishimura would have to run the gauntlet of torpedoes from the PT boats and destroyers before advancing into the concentrated fire of 14 battleships and cruisers deployed across the far mouth of the strait. The U.S. Navy destroyed three Japanese aircraft carriers, damaged other ships, and shot down approximately 600 Japanese aircraft, leaving the Japanese Navy with very little carrier-borne air power and few experienced pilots. [89][pageneeded] In addition, Halsey may well have been influenced by the recent criticisms of Admiral Raymond Spruance, who was criticized for excessive caution in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, allowing the bulk of the Japanese fleet to escape. U.S. causalities included about 12,300 people and Japanese causalities was more than 11,000 people. TF34 TO ENGAGE DECISIVELY AT LONG RANGES. Ten minutes later, Darter made two hits on Atago's sister ship, Takao, with another spread of torpedoes. Despite having already lost most of his fleet, Nishimura pressed onward. This article was most recently revised and updated by, Pop Quiz: 17 Things to Know About World War II, https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Leyte-Gulf, GlobalSecurity.org - USS Leyte Gulf CG 55, Royal Australian Navy - Battle of Leyte Gulf (1944), Naval History and Heritage Command - The Battle of Leyte Gulf, United States History - Battle of Leyte Gulf, military operations in the Philippines, 194145, Douglas MacArthur at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Such was the ferocity of Taffy 3s attack that the Japanese identified the handful of U.S. destroyers as heavy cruisers and escort carriers were taken to be fleet carriers. On being told that Halsey did, Mitscherknowing Halsey's temperamentcommented, "If he wants my advice he'll ask for it" and went back to sleep.[49]. The Dace struck a mortal blow to the heavy cruiser Maya, which sank in less than five minutes with great loss of life. Create your account View this answer The Battle of Leyte Gulf happened because the Allies needed to attack Japan's. Leyte Gulf was the last naval battle between battleships in history. Halsey and Third Fleet's battleships returned too late to cut him off. ", Eventually, at 11:15, more than three hours after the first distress messages from Seventh Fleet had been received by his flagship, Halsey ordered TF34 to turn around and head southwards towards Samar. Importance of the Battle of Leyte Gulf | Britannica 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. At 10:00 am Nimitz himself sent what would become one of the most famous radio messages of the entire war: WHERE IS RPT WHERE IS TASK FORCE THIRTY FOUR RR THE WORLD WONDERS. The last three words were meant to serve as meaningless padding to deter Japanese code breakers and should have been stripped from the final message, but they were included in the printout that was given to Halsey. The Southern Force provided no further threat to the Leyte landings. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. While Kuritas ships continued their cat-and-mouse pursuit of Taffy 3, they were subjected to nearly two hours of incessant aerial bombardment. The Battle of Leyte Gulf was a tough slog, where U.S. maritime forces reclaimed a beachhead in the Far East after being expelled in 1941-1942. Battle of Leyte Gulf - McGill University Learn More Visit NHHC. Focusing on U.S. Navy escort aircraft carriers, the pilots hit USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71), USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70), USS Sangamon (CVE-26), USS Santee (CVE-29), USS St. By the time of the battle, Japan had fewer capital ships (aircraft carriers and battleships) left than the Allied forces had total aircraft carriers in the Pacific, which underscored the disparity in force strength at that point in the war. Although Taffy 3s carrier planes has been outfitted for close air support of the landing forces, they dominated the airspace above the Japanese ships and were eventually joined by aircraft from Taffy 2, another task force that was a short distance away. The rear of the Japanese Southern Forcethe "Second Striking Force" commanded by Vice Admiral Shimahad departed from Mako and approached Surigao Strait about 40mi (35nmi; 64km) astern of Nishimura. His ship, the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts, had been sunk following an heroic charge straight into the huge guns of Japanese battleships and cruisers. A total of 107 sailors were killed and over 150 were wounded on Suwannee in the kamikaze attacks on 2526 October. Seventh Fleet at this time contained units of the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Navy. [34][35][36] The resulting explosion caused a severe fire in Princeton's hangar and her emergency sprinkler system failed to operate. As a result, an invasion of Formosa, or any operation requiring much larger ground forces than were available in the Pacific in late 1944, would be delayed until the defeat of Germany freed the necessary manpower.[15]. For the invasion of the island, see, Plaza Cuartel Museum, Puerto Princesa, historical marker for 23 October 1944 (left). The Princeton was eventually scuttled by a pair of torpedoes from the cruiser USS Reno. The force that Halsey was taking north with himthree groups of Mitscher's TF38was overwhelmingly stronger than the Japanese Northern Force. Cruisers and destroyers of TG34.5, however, caught the Japanese destroyerNowakithe last straggler from Center Forceoff San Bernardino Strait, and sank her with all hands, including the survivors from Chikuma. Shimas Second Attack Force had entered the strait some distance behind C Force, and the Mogami collided with Shimas flagship, the cruiser Nachi, in its attempt to escape. White Plains reported hits on multiple targets, two between the superstructure and forward stack and another on the No. 6 Grumman FM-2 Wildcat fighters and 5 Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers went down with St.
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