With little more than a token combat air patrol to defend it, the Japanese fleet quickly became prey to U.S. bombs and torpedoes. Bosun Mate 1st Class John E. Brandau hoisting the American flag on Leyte Island during the invasion of the Philippines, October 20, 1944. Fast battleships and support by air strikes may be able to keep enemy from destroying CVES and entering Leyte." The Battle of Leyte in the Pacific campaign of World War II was the amphibious invasion of the Gulf of Leyte in the Philippines by American and Filipino guerrilla forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, who fought against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita from 20 October - 31 December 1944. Nishimura's "Southern Force" consisted of the old battleships Yamashiro and Fusō, the heavy cruiser Mogami, and four destroyers,[39] Shigure, Michishio, Asagumo and Yamagumo. The battered remnants of the Japanese Navy escaped, but not to fight another day. [6][page needed] Regardless, the IJN mobilized nearly all of its remaining major naval vessels in an attempt to defeat the Allied invasion, but it was repulsed by the U.S. Navy's Third and Seventh fleets. Nishimura then proceeded northeastward with Mindanao Island to starboard and into the south entrance to the Surigao Strait, intending to exit the north entrance of the Strait into Leyte Gulf, where he would add his firepower to that of Kurita's force. It also contrasts with the 527 sorties flown by 3rd Fleet against Ozawa's much weaker carrier decoy Northern Force on the following day. Sign In; Add to My List. However, the fact that the Japanese force had no air cover meant that Sprague's planes could attack unopposed by Japanese fighter aircraft. This lack of unity of command, along with failures in communication, was to produce a crisis and very nearly a strategic disaster for the American forces. Yamashiro and Mogami were crippled by a combination of 16-inch and 14-inch armor-piercing shells, as well as the fire of Oldendorf's flanking cruisers. Over the following days, U.S. carrier planes responded with attacks on Japanese air bases in Formosa and the northern Philippines, and October 18–19 saw further strikes on targets near the landing beaches. By autumn 1944 the Japanese had been dislodged from many key outposts in the southwest and central Pacific, and other Japanese-controlled islands had been allowed to wither on the vine. "[15], More than 1,000 sailors and aircrewmen of the Allied escort carrier units were killed. Teishin Shudan Paratroopers Attacking an American Airbase at the Battle of Leyte, December 1944. Returning to the Philippines, Allied forces began landing on Leyte on October 20. While Formosa could also serve as a base for an invasion of mainland China, which MacArthur felt was unnecessary, it was also estimated that it would require about 12 divisions from the Army and Marines. The ferocity of the American defense seemingly confirmed the Japanese assumption that they were engaging major fleet units rather than merely escort carriers and destroyers. However, one Japanese aircraft (a Yokosuka 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. At 04:05 Yamashiro was struck by a torpedo fired by the destroyer Bennion,[42][43] and suddenly sank at about 04:20, with Nishimura on board. The air groups of the ten U.S. carriers present contained 600–1,000 aircraft. King, other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Admiral Nimitz favored blockading Japanese forces in the Philippines and invading Formosa (Taiwan), while U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur, wanting to make good on his famous 1942 promise "I shall return", championed an invasion of the Philippines. [33][page needed]. After crossing a ridge line and the Leyte River, they approached the enemy left flank at 900 ft (270 m) Kilay Ridge, the highest terrain behind the main battle area. [33][page needed]. One of these started an oil fire, and as the fuel used by IJN ships was poorly refined and easily ignited, burning patches of fuel could have led to the description from Allied observers of Fusō "blowing up". 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. Leyte Gulf was the greatest naval battle of the modern era, involving some 370 ships and over 200,000 personnel, primarily from the United States and Japan. 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. Vice-Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa's "Northern Force", built around the four aircraft carriers of the 3rd Carrier Division (Zuikaku—the last survivor of the six carriers that had attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941—and the light carriers Zuihō, Chitose, and Chiyoda), included 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 ship carried any aircraft in this battle), three light cruisers (Ōyodo, Tama, and Isuzu), and nine destroyers. [64] On the memorial grounds is a museum showcasing several World War II artifacts including a Japanese Type 91 torpedo and other war memorabilia relating to the engagement as well as storylines and dioramas of the whole Battle of Leyte Gulf. The Battle for Leyte Gulf stands as a tribute to the effective employment of sea-power and sea-air-power and of close mutual support. [9][page needed][18], 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. Because Halsey intended TF 34 as a contingency to be formed and detached when he ordered it, by writing "will be formed," he meant the future tense, but he neglected to say when TF 34 would be formed or under what circumstances. CTG 38.4 CONDUCT CARRIERS OF TG 38.2 AND TG 38.4 CLEAR OF SURFACE FIGHTING. 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. The initial landings were entirely successful and almost completely uncontested, as the Japanese had chosen to mount their defense farther inland and out of the range of naval gunfire. This effort, about the Battle of Leyte Gulf, is much in the same vein as Thomas C. Hone’s earlier anthology of The Battle of Midway, released in 2013. The battle of Leyte Gulf secured the beachheads of the U.S. Sixth Army on Leyte against attack from the sea. The Battle of Leyte Gulf cost the Imperial Japanese Navy heavily, effectively destroying it as an offensive force. Kurita's force caught Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague's Task Unit 77.4.3 ('Taffy 3') by surprise. Clifton Sprague—commander of Task Unit 77.4.3 in the Battle off Samar—was later bitterly critical of Halsey's decision, 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... it was logical to assume that our northern flank could not be exposed without ample warning." At the mismatched Battle off Samar alone 5 of the 7 ships of the combined actions were lost along with 23 aircraft lost and 1,583 killed and missing and 913 wounded, comparable to the combined losses at the Battle of Midway and Battle of Coral Sea. Tubi Kids. Fought in the seas surround the island of Leyte in the Philippines from 23 October to 26 October 1944, this battle cut Japan off from her Southeast Asian colonies and therefore all of Japan's oil. Halsey stares out from the bridge of the USS New Jersey (BB-62) weeks after the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The first use of kamikaze aircraft took place following the Leyte landings. Just after midnight on October 23, Kurita’s First Attack Force was discovered off Palawan by the U.S. submarines Darter and Dace. By the time of the battle, Japan had fewer capital ships (aircraft carriers and battleships) left than the Allied forces had total aircraft carriers, underscoring the disparity in force strength at this point in the war. gun per carrier. At 03:53, she fired the eight 16 in (406 mm) guns of her main battery at a range of 22,800 yd (13.0 mi; 11.3 nmi; 20.8 km) or 12.9 miles, striking Yamashiro with her first salvo. Historical Map of East Asia and the Western Pacific (23 October 1944 - Battle of Leyte Gulf: From the Marianas and New Guinea, the Allies now converged on the Philippines, landing on Leyte in October. After expending all of its torpedoes, Johnston continued to fight with its 5-inch guns, until it was sunk by a group of Japanese destroyers. Believing the Center Force had been neutralized by 3rd Fleet's air strikes earlier in the day in the Sibuyan Sea, and its remnants were retiring, Halsey radioed (to Nimitz and Kinkaid): CENTRAL FORCE HEAVILY DAMAGED ACCORDING TO STRIKE REPORTS.AM PROCEEDING NORTH WITH THREE GROUPS TO ATTACK CARRIER FORCES AT DAWN[33][page needed], The words "with three groups" proved dangerously misleading. The Battle of Leyte Gulf secured the beachheads of the U.S. Sixth Army on Leyte against attack from the sea. [24] Atago sank so rapidly that Kurita was forced to swim to survive. Poor communication between the separate Japanese forces and a lack of air reconnaissance meant that Kurita was never informed that the deception had been successful, and that only a small and outgunned force stood between his battleships and the vulnerable transports of the invasion fleet. As the desperate surface action was coming to an end, Vice Admiral Takijirō Ōnishi put his Japanese Special Attack Units into operation from bases on Luzon island, launching kamikaze attacks against the Allied ships in Leyte Gulf and the escort carrier units off Samar. WWII carrier-versus-carrier engagements between Allied and Japanese naval forces: This page was last edited on 11 April 2021, at 01:58. The light carrier Chiyoda and the cruiser Tama were crippled. The Battle of Surigao Strait was one of only two battleship-versus-battleship naval battles in the entire Pacific campaign of World War II (the other being the naval battle during the Guadalcanal Campaign, where the USS South Dakota and Washington sank the Japanese battleship Kirishima). Kurita, unaware that Ozawa's decoy plan had succeeded, assumed he had found a carrier group from Halsey's 3rd Fleet. The officer in tactical command had instructed the carriers to "open with pea shooters," and each ship took an enemy vessel under fire as soon as it came within range. [49][a], Vice Admiral Lee said in his action report as Commander of TF 34: "No battle damage was incurred nor inflicted on the enemy by vessels while operating as Task Force Thirty-Four."[52]. The engagement that would become the Battle of Leyte Gulf began as Japanese forces advanced upon the island of Leyte. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall had proposed skipping both the Philippines and Formosa and proceeding directly to an assault on southern Honshu. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Leyte-Gulf, United States History - Battle of Leyte Gulf, military operations in the Philippines, 1941–45, Douglas MacArthur at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. [33][page needed]. Date Originally Written: October 21, 2018. On October 25, 2019, during the 75th anniversary of the battle, the Surigao City government and private partners opened the Battle of Surigao Strait Memorial overlooking the strait. The change in territorial control, along with the enormous increase in U.S. and British naval power in the theatre, had made the Pacific an Allied “mare nostrum.”. the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea) was fought in the Pacific Theater during World War II and was one of the largest naval battles in modern history. Two and a half hours were then spent refuelling TF 34's accompanying destroyers. Nagato and Kongō had been moderately damaged by air attack from Taffy 3's escort carriers. However, much hard fighting would be required before the island was completely in Allied hands at the end of December 1944: 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—engagements collectively referred to as the Battle of Ormoc Bay. Battle of Leyte Gulf: The landings on Leyte …reconnaissance of the area around Leyte and Samar, where landings were to take place in October. On his own initiative, Lieutenant Commander Ernest E. Evans steered his hopelessly outclassed ship into the Japanese fleet at flank speed. As a result of a momentous decision taken by Admiral Halsey and some unclear communication of his plans, Kurita was able to proceed through the San Bernardino Strait during the night to make an unexpected and dramatic appearance off the coast of Samar the following morning, directly threatening the Leyte landings. A kamikaze hit the Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia on 21 October. Attrition had taken a significant toll on Japan’s naval air force, perhaps most significantly at the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and the four Japanese carriers, which were under the command of Vice Adm. Ozawa Jisaburō, sailed with a little more than 100 aircraft between them. 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. The United States lost 1 light carrier, 2 escort carriers, and several other vessels. Its population grew rapidly after 1900, especially in the Leyte and Ormoc valleys. If it should remain in southern waters, it could not receive supplies of ammunition and arms. Following the American invasion of the Philippines, the Japanese Navy made the transition to Shō-Gō 1. The Battle of Leyte Gulf was fought from October 23-26 1944 and was the largest naval battle of World War II. Halsey finally recalled McCain on 24 October—but the delay meant the most powerful American carrier group played little part in the coming battle and the 3rd Fleet was therefore effectively deprived of nearly 40% of its air strength for most of the engagement. [21], Kurita's ships passed Palawan Island around midnight on 22–23 October. The losses in the battle of Leyte Gulf were not evenly distributed throughout all forces. On September 24 Mitscher’s planes bombed the central Philippines and conducted photographic reconnaissance of the area around Leyte and Samar, where landings were to take place in October. Ernest Evans of the destroyer USS Johnston was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Thus the one Japanese force that wanted to be discovered – Ozawa's tempting decoy of a large carrier group, which actually had only 108 aircraft – was the only force the Americans had not been able to find. He was rescued by the Japanese destroyer Kishinami, and then later transferred to the battleship Yamato.[25]. Leyte had a free undefended approach from the east and adequate anchorages, as well as good access to the other islands in the archipelago. This was largely because 3rd Fleet had been preoccupied with attacking Kurita's sizeable Center Force and defending itself against the Japanese air strikes from Luzon. West Virginia tracked them as they approached in the pitch black night. 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.[11]. However, their luck ran out a short time later, as they were subjected to devastating torpedo attacks from the American destroyers deployed on both sides of their axis of advance. These included Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Battle of Cape Engaño and the Battle off Samar and other naval action in the general vicinity. Cruisers and destroyers of TG 34.5, however, caught the Japanese destroyer Nowaki—the last straggler from Center Force—off San Bernardino Strait, and sank her with all hands, including the survivors from Chikuma. [4][page needed][9][page needed][33][page needed] In fact, the 7th Fleet's battleships were not as short of ammunition as Kinkaid's signal implied,[33][page needed] but Halsey did not know that. Halsey, however, when reading the message, thought that the last words—"THE WORLD WONDERS"—were a biting piece of criticism from Nimitz, threw his cap to the deck and broke into "sobs of rage". ", Eventually, at 11:15, more than three hours after the first distress messages from 7th Fleet had been received by his flagship, Halsey ordered TF 34 to turn around and head southwards towards Samar. Nevertheless, every other ship in Kurita's force remained battleworthy and able to advance. Almost all of Kurita's surviving force escaped. [37][38][page needed]. On October 20 the amphibious landings at Leyte began after air strikes, and heavy naval bombardment prepared the beaches. King advocated bypassing the Philippines and attacking Formosa directly, while other naval officers, such as Adm. Chester Nimitz, favoured limited operations in the Philippines as a prelude to the Formosa offensive. Browse. Having just redeployed his ships into anti-aircraft formation, he further complicated matters by ordering a "General Attack", which called for his fleet to split into divisions and attack independently. Halsey deployed a total of 5 fleet carriers, 5 light carriers, 6 battleships, 8 cruisers, and 41 destroyers against Ozawa’s force, which consisted of a single fleet carrier, 3 light carriers, a pair of obsolete carrier-battleship hybrids, 5 destroyers, 4 destroyer escorts, and 3 cruisers. At this point, Lee's battleships were almost within gun range of Ozawa's force. The resulting explosion caused a severe fire in Princeton's hangar and her emergency sprinkler system failed to operate. Displaying an aggression that sharply belied their underdog status, the three U.S. destroyers, led by the USS Johnston, launched an audacious torpedo attack that damaged the heavy cruiser Kumano and caused the Yamato to take evasive maneuvers that carried Kurita away from the battle. Both battalions reached positions only about 1,000 yd (910 m) apart on opposite sides of the highway … At 03:55, California and Tennessee joined in, firing 63 and 69 shells, respectively, from their 14 in (356 mm) guns. 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." [8][9][page needed] The Japanese Navy suffered heavy losses and never sailed in comparable force thereafter, stranded for lack of fuel in their bases for the rest of the war,[9][page needed][10] and were therefore unable to affect the successful Allied invasion of Leyte. As the ships approached the enemy columns, Lt. Cdr. It was also the last battle in which one force (in this case, the U.S. Navy) was able to "cross the T" of its opponent. This, of course, was entirely the point. The battle cost the IJN most of its remaining warships, including 3 battleships, one of which was the huge Musashi, 6 heavy and 4 light cruisers, and 9 destroyers, in addition to its remaining carriers. Gambier Bay, at the rear of the American formation, became the focus of the battleship Yamato and sustained multiple hits before capsizing at 09:07. [33][page needed], At 22:36, PT-131 (Ensign Peter Gadd) was operating off Bohol when it made contact with the approaching Japanese ships. Once Leyte was secured, U.S. forces proceeded to Luzon, landing on January 9, 1945. As dawn approached, the ships of Task Force 34 drew ahead of the carrier groups. The traditional account of the sinking of the Fusō was that she exploded into two halves that remained floating for some time. The entire available strength of 3rd Fleet continued to steam northwards, leaving the San Bernardino Strait completely unguarded. The Japanese counterattacked in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. However, Fusō survivor Hideo Ogawa, interrogated in 1945, in an article on the battleship's last voyage, stated: "Shortly after 0400 the ship capsized slowly to starboard and Ogawa and others were washed away,"[40] without specifically mentioning the bisection. 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. At 14:15, Mitscher ordered DuBose to pursue the remnants of the Japanese Northern Force. Birmingham was so badly damaged, she was forced to retire. From Singapore, Formosa, and Japan the Imperial Japanese Navy set forth: 9 battleships, 4 carriers, 14 heavy cruisers, 6 light cruisers, 33 destroyers — all bound for victory or death in the waters of Leyte Gulf. Oct 2, 2015 - Explore Ronald Rodriguez's board "Battle of Leyte Gulf (School Paper)" on Pinterest. On September 21 Manila was struck by U.S. carrier planes for the first time, and Luzon was hit the following day. The effect was devastating. This divided command was more important in determining the course of the battle than the tactical decision made by Halsey and led to an American disunity of effort that nearly allowed Kurita’s mission to succeed. Nishimura was unable to synchronize his movements with Shima and Kurita because of the strict radio silence imposed on the Center and Southern Forces. They assumed that Halsey was leaving this powerful surface force guarding the San Bernardino Strait (and covering the Seventh Fleet's northern flank), while he took his three available carrier groups northwards in pursuit of the Japanese carriers. [33][page needed], Mississippi only fired once in the battle-line action, a full salvo of twelve 14-inch shells. Date Originally Published: November 12, 2018. The U.S. Navy destroyed three Japanese aircraft carriers, damaged other ships, and shot down approximately 600 Japanese aircraft, leaving the IJN with very little carrier-borne air power and few experienced pilots. ', As for the larger significance of the battle, he said, 'I felt that it was the end. Even this failed to persuade Halsey to send any immediate assistance to the powerful 7th Fleet. The first four words and the last three were "padding" used to confuse enemy cryptanalysis (the beginning and end of the true message were marked by double consonants). Fought from October 23 to 26, 1944, the Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle of World War II and possibly of all time. Their intention was to cover the San Bernardino Strait with a powerful task force of fast battleships supported by two of the 3rd Fleet's equally swift carrier groups. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Ernest J. The U.S. Navy landed four Sixth Army divisions ashore on Leyte on October 20, 1944. The Allied campaigns of August 1942 to early 1944 had driven Japanese forces from many of their island bases in the south and the central Pacific Ocean, while isolating many of their other bases (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 Fifth Fleet's Fast Carrier Task Force captured most of the Mariana Islands (bypassing Rota). Early in the day, a 550-pound (220-kg) bomb from a Japanese dive-bomber penetrated the flight deck of the light carrier USS Princeton and ignited a series of fires on the decks below. The Japanese did not bother with the wreck. [33][page needed][38][page needed] Shima's ships did survive the Battle of Surigao Strait, but they were sunk in further engagements around Leyte. Ozawa transferred his flag to the light cruiser Ōyodo. Six panelists who have studied the October 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf participated in a 75th anniversary discussion hosted by the Naval Historical Foundation. 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. TF 34 TO ENGAGE DECISIVELY AT LONG RANGES. In the Sibuyan Sea action, several Japanese ships were damaged, and the super battleship Musashi was sunk after repeated strikes from American aircraft. The Japanese command, therefore, put Shō-Gō 2 into action, launching waves of air attacks against Third Fleet's carriers. Three Japanese cruisers, Chikuma, Chōkai, and Suzuya, were sunk; a fourth, Kumano, was heavily damaged. The Dace struck a mortal blow to the heavy cruiser Maya, which sank in less than five minutes with great loss of life. This plan had to overcome significant resistance from within the American high command, however. The carriers would serve as the main bait. Nishimura went down with his flagship, the battleship Yamashiro, and the cruiser Mogami was seriously damaged. Kurita’s First Attack Force, having passed through the San Bernardino Strait, moved southward along the coast of Samar. Leyte was secured, U.S. Navy bombers on battle of leyte October but sustained only minor damage and... Japanese ships sailed north through the narrow Strait, moved to capitalize on the east coast of.... Be regarded as the battle was also significant for the remainder of seriousness. Caused a severe fire in Princeton 's hangar and her guns remained silent weeks the. Battle was also significant for the invasion of the Third Fleet north to the. The Philippine sea had no air cover meant that Sprague 's Task 77.4.3... Ralph E. Davison of TG 38.2 and TG 38.4 CLEAR of surface fighting CVE 63 ) after she abandoned... 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