Battle of Leyte Gulf, (October 23–26, 1944), decisive air and sea battle of World War II that crippled the
Japanese Combined Fleet, permitted U.S. invasion of the Philippines, and reinforced the Allies’ control of the
Pacific.
The return to the Philippines
Battle of Leyte Gulf
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. The United States capitalized on the
success of its “island hopping” campaign by pouring men and matériel into its newly won bases. 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 Allied offensive in the Pacific in 1944 was to climax with the Allied invasion of the Philippines. The goals of
this operation were threefold: (1) to win positions that would allow the Allies to sever Japan’s supply lines to the
East Indies, (2) to make possible an invasion or neutralization of Formosa [Taiwan] and the east China coast, and
(3) to provide bases for an attack on the Japanese home islands. This plan had to overcome significant resistance
from within the American high command, however. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Ernest J. 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. 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. In the end, it would be Gen. Douglas MacArthur who prevailed. Eager to make good
on a promise he had made after the Japanese invasion of the Philippines—“I shall return”—MacArthur had
pressed for the reconquest of the whole of the Philippines as a goal in itself.
The landings on Leyte
Marc Mitscher
After supporting the American landings in the western Caroline Islands throughout early September 1944, Adm.
Marc Mitscher’s fast carrier task force began launching attacks against Japanese positions in the Philippines. On
September 21 Manila was struck by U.S. carrier planes for the first time, and Luzon was hit the following day. 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. It had originally been planned to
attack the Philippines at a somewhat later date, but the air strikes revealed an unexpected weakness in the Japanese
defense of the islands. The American Joint Chiefs of Staff, acting with necessary haste, moved to capitalize on the
situation. The invasion timetable was revised, and preparations were made for an amphibious assault on Leyte
Island in the central Philippines on October 20. Leyte had a free undefended approach from the east and adequate
anchorages, as well as good access to the other islands in the archipelago. Moreover, the seizure of Leyte would
bypass and isolate Japanese forces on Mindanao.
Douglas MacArthur at the Battle of Leyte Gulf
The assault on Leyte marked the joining of the two major advances on Japan—the central Pacific offensive
commanded by Nimitz and the southern Pacific approach under MacArthur. MacArthur was given overall
command of the Leyte operation, and Nimitz provided strong naval support from the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Adm.
William (“Bull”) Halsey’s Third Fleet covered the landings with carrier-based aircraft and guarded against attacks
by the Japanese fleet. Preparatory and diversionary carrier strikes preceded the landings: the Ryukyu Islands
(including Okinawa) were attacked on October 9–10, northern Luzon on October 11, and Formosa and the
Pescadores on October 12–13. Part of the carrier force was struck by Japanese aircraft on October 13–14, and two
U.S. cruisers were damaged and forced to retire. 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.
On October 20 the amphibious landings at Leyte began after air strikes, and heavy naval bombardment prepared the
beaches. Men of the central Philippines attack force, under Vice Adm. Thomas Kinkaid (commander of the Seventh Fleet
and MacArthur’s principal naval subordinate), went ashore on the east coast of Leyte. 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. More than 130,000 men of Lieut. Gen. Walter Krueger’s Sixth Army were ashore by the end of
the first day, but the Japanese had already put in motion a plan that was designed to drive the U.S. from the Philippines
and potentially turn the tide in the Pacific.
Sho-Go and the Battle of Leyte Gulf
Battle of Leyte Gulf
The Japanese responded to the American landings with Sho-Go (Victory Operation), a plan to decoy the U.S.
Third Fleet north, away from the San Bernardino Strait, while converging three forces on Leyte Gulf to attack the
landing; the First Attack Force, under Vice Adm. Kurita Takeo, was to move from the north across the Sibuyan
Sea through the San Bernardino Strait, with the Second Attack Force, under Vice Adm. Shima Kiyohide, and C
Force, under Vice Adm. Nishimura Shōji, moving from the south across the Mindanao Sea through the Surigao
Strait. As the Battle of the Philippine Sea had resulted not only in the sinking of three Japanese carriers but also in
the virtual destruction of the air groups of three carrier divisions, the fleet had been reorganized for surface action.
The only Japanese carriers involved in the battle were in the northern decoy force.
Battle of the Sibuyan and Sulu Seas
Just after midnight on October 23, Kurita’s First Attack Force was discovered off Palawan by the U.S. submarines
Darter and Dace. For the next several hours, the two submarines shadowed the Japanese armada and radioed vital
information about its speed, heading, and makeup back to the Pacific Fleet. When dawn broke, the submarines
made visual contact with the lead elements of the Japanese force and launched torpedoes. In its opening salvo the
Darter sank the Japanese heavy cruiser Atago, Kurita’s flagship, and proceeded to seriously damage the cruiser
Takao. The Dace struck a mortal blow to the heavy cruiser Maya, which sank in less than five minutes with great
loss of life. Although the Darter ran aground and was eventually destroyed by Japanese aircraft after its crew had
safely transferred to the Dace, the two submarines had inflicted serious damage on the Japanese fleet as well as
robbing it of the element of surprise.
n October 24 Third Fleet carrier planes located and attacked the central force in the Sibuyan Sea and the southern
force in the Sulu Sea. In the Sibuyan Sea action, several Japanese ships were damaged, and the super battleship
Musashi was sunk after repeated strikes from American aircraft. 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. Four U.S. destroyers and two cruisers hastily converged on the Princeton in an attempt to
save the stricken carrier and its crew. Rescue and repair efforts continued throughout the day. Just before 3:30 pm
a massive explosion ripped through the Princeton, and hundreds of sailors on the light cruiser USS Birmingham,
which was preparing to take the Princeton under tow, were killed. The Princeton was eventually scuttled by a pair
of torpedoes from the cruiser USS Reno. Having been battered by U.S. aircraft and submarines, Kurita initially
appeared to be retiring to the west, but he soon resumed course, and the Japanese central force pushed doggedly
onward toward the San Bernardino Strait and Leyte.
Battle of Surigao Strait
The Japanese C Force entered the Surigao Strait in the early hours of October 25 and was annihilated in a night
engagement with destroyers and battleships of the U.S. Seventh Fleet and the cruisers and destroyers of the Royal
Australian Navy’s Task Force 74. As the Japanese ships sailed north through the narrow strait, they were subjected
to torpedo attacks from U.S. PT boats and destroyers. The Japanese battleship Fuso was sunk, as were the
destroyers Asagumo, Michishio, and Yamagumo. Despite having already lost most of his fleet, Nishimura pressed
onward. At the end of the strait, the USS California, USS Maryland, USS Mississippi, USS Pennsylvania, USS
Tennessee, and USS West Virginia were arrayed in a line of battle under the command of Rear Adm. Jesse
Oldendorf. With the exception of the Mississippi, each of these battleships had been damaged during the Pearl
Harbor attack and subsequently returned to service.
Oldendorf “crossed the T” on Nishimura’s formation, meaning that his ships were able to deliver a full broadsides
attack with all of their big guns while Nishimura could only employ his forward weapons. At the same time, U.S.
Navy and Royal Australian Navy cruisers and destroyers on the flanks of the battleship line opened fire. The effect
was devastating. Nishimura went down with his flagship, the battleship Yamashiro, and the cruiser Mogami was
seriously damaged. Shima’s Second Attack Force had entered the strait some distance behind C Force, and the
Mogami collided with Shima’s flagship, the cruiser Nachi, in its attempt to escape. Showing no desire to fall into
the same trap that had decimated C Force, Shima reversed course and withdrew. The action at Surigao Strait was
one of the few naval battles of the Pacific War in which aircraft did not play a significant role.
Battle off Samar
Philippines
Kurita’s First Attack Force, having passed through the San Bernardino Strait, moved southward along the coast of
Samar. By this point, Halsey had shifted the Third Fleet to the north in pursuit of the Japanese decoy force. In
doing so, he had left the American amphibious forces on Leyte woefully unprotected. 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 3—a naval task force that consisted of just six escort carriers, three destroyers, and four destroyer
escorts under the command of Rear Adm. Clifton Sprague.
Kurita’s armada had been whittled down somewhat over the course of the previous days’ engagements, but it still
remained one of the most powerful collections of surface ships to see action in the Pacific War. By the time of the
engagement off Samar, it included four battleships—among them Kurita’s new flagship, the super battleship
Yamato—eight cruisers, and nearly a dozen destroyers. 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. Although Taffy 3’s 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. While Kurita’s ships continued their cat-and-mouse pursuit of Taffy 3,
they were subjected to nearly two hours of incessant aerial bombardment.
With no aerial reconnaissance of his own to determine the makeup of the enemy fleet, and unaware that Halsey
had taken the bait and moved his ships away from Leyte, Kurita believed that he had engaged a significant portion
of the Third Fleet. Such was the ferocity of Taffy 3’s attack that the Japanese identified the handful of U.S.
destroyers as heavy cruisers and escort carriers were taken to be fleet carriers. Three Japanese cruisers, Chikuma,
Chōkai, and Suzuya, were sunk; a fourth, Kumano, was heavily damaged. With his fleet in disarray and not
realizing just how close he had come to shattering the thin defensive screen around the Leyte landing beaches,
Kurita opted to retire. In what was perhaps the unlikeliest naval victory of the Pacific War, Taffy 3 lost two
destroyers, Johnston and Hoel, and the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts. The escort carrier USS Gambier Bay
was sunk, becoming the only U.S. aircraft carrier of the war to be lost to naval gunfire, and the escort carrier USS
St. Lo was struck by a kamikaze and sank shortly after the main engagement had ended. The St. Lo would be the
first U.S. ship to be sunk by a kamikaze attack.
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 unguarded…That 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. Ernest Evans of the destroyer USS Johnston was
posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Halsey and the Battle off Cape Engaño
William F. Halsey, Jr.
During the night of October 24–25 Halsey had moved the three battle groups of the Third Fleet north to meet the
Japanese decoy force. To Halsey the Japanese carriers represented a target too inviting to ignore. This, of course,
was entirely the point. Among the ships in the decoy fleet was the Zuikaku, the last surviving carrier to have
participated in the Pearl Harbor attack. 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. 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.
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. Halsey also held an overwhelming advantage in air
power: not only were his pilots more experienced than the raw recruits that the Japanese were rushing into service,
but just one of his heavy carriers boasted an air complement that equaled that of the entire Japanese decoy fleet.
With little more than a token combat air patrol to defend it, the Japanese fleet quickly became prey to U.S. bombs
and torpedoes. Beginning at about 8:00 am and continuting for several hours, waves of Halsey’s planes descended
on the Japanese carriers, and in short order, all four —Chitose, Chiyoda, Zuiho, and Zuikaku—had been sunk.
Carrier aircraft and naval gunnery also claimed several destroyers and escort ships throughout the morning and
early afternoon, but Halsey soon became aware of the drama unfolding some 400 miles (over 640 km) to his south.
Kinkaid sent a series of increasingly desperate messages to Halsey, requesting that he dispatch Task Force 34—a
collection of Third Fleet battleships, destroyers, and cruisers that was supposed to have been guarding the San
Bernardino Strait—to aid Taffy 3. Halsey, however, had never actually formed Task Force 34; he opted instead to
take all of those ships with him to sail against Ozawa. 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. Interpreting “the world wonders” as a stinging rebuke from the commander of
the Pacific Fleet, an insulted Halsey at last dispatched an air strike to harass the already retiring Japanese central
force. He also took the fast battleships USS New Jersey (Halsey’s flagship) and USS Iowa, along with three light
cruisers and eight destroyers, on a futile pursuit of Kurita’s long gone fleet. This final stage of the Battle of Leyte
Gulf has been derisively termed “Bull’s Run.”
Significance and casualties
The Japanese Navy’s “Victory Operation” not only failed to disrupt the Leyte landings, it resulted in serious losses
to what remained of Japan’s surface fleet. Japan’s total losses in the Battle of Leyte Gulf amounted to 3
battleships, 1 large carrier, 3 light carriers, 6 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers. The United States
lost 1 light carrier, 2 escort carriers, and several other vessels. The Imperial Japanese Navy had all but ceased to
exist as an offensive force.