Leyte Gulf: Largest Naval Battle Crushes Japan

Four separate naval engagements fought over three days around the Philippine island of Leyte in late October 1944 constituted the largest naval battle in recorded history, involving nearly 400 warships, hundreds of aircraft, and more than 200,000 sailors. When the guns fell silent on October 25, the Imperial Japanese Navy had been destroyed as an effective fighting force, and American control of the Pacific was secured. The battle was triggered by General Douglas MacArthur's invasion of the Philippine island of Leyte on October 20. Japan's naval command responded with Operation Sho-Go, a desperate gamble to destroy the American invasion fleet using a complex plan involving three separate naval forces converging from different directions. Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's Northern Force, built around Japan's remaining aircraft carriers (now nearly devoid of trained pilots), would serve as a decoy to lure Admiral William Halsey's powerful Third Fleet northward, away from the landing beaches. Two surface groups would then attack the vulnerable transports and escort carriers. The plan came terrifyingly close to working. Halsey took the bait, racing north with his battleships and fleet carriers to engage Ozawa. This left only Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague's tiny escort carrier group, call sign "Taffy 3," standing between Admiral Takeo Kurita's massive Center Force and the invasion beaches. In the Battle off Samar on October 25, six escort carriers, three destroyers, and four destroyer escorts fought a suicidal delaying action against four Japanese battleships, including the 72,000-ton Yamato, and six heavy cruisers. The destroyer USS Johnston charged directly into the Japanese formation, firing torpedoes at point-blank range. Against all probability, Kurita broke off his attack, convinced he was facing a much larger force. Leyte Gulf also saw the first organized use of kamikaze tactics, when Japanese pilots deliberately crashed their aircraft into American warships. Japan lost 26 warships and more than 10,000 sailors across the four engagements. The United States lost 6 ships and approximately 3,000 men. Japan would never again mount a major naval operation, and the battle sealed the fate of its Pacific empire.