Lo got off lightly; but the Kalinin Bay took more than a dozen heavy projectiles, miraculously remaining afloat. Carrier Division 22. This was the astonishing situation when, just after dawn on October 25, Admiral Kurita’s twenty-three warships, three hours north of Leyte Gulf, ran into Admiral Clifton Sprague’s small group—the 10,000-ton black-and-gray camouflaged escort carriers Fanshaw Bay, St. 1 cost her three battleships, four carriers, ten cruisers, and almost a dozen other fighting ships. Within twenty-four hours, if all went well, Kurita’s ships would be steaming into Leyte Gulf from the east. Of her crew of more than 300, 253 went down with her. Dashing ahead of the pack, the little Roberts traded blows with the enemy heavies for forty-five minutes before she was hit. Finally, at 10:29 on tne light of October 26, a seven-ship detail personally ordered out by Admiral Kinkaid obtained results. Admiral Sprague, at this moment, was trying to make sense of two other odd reports. Ellis’ idea about the Battle off Samar was the project they’d been waiting for. Its bomb, however, exploded and damaged the carrier. And, at a greater distance, the, For almost two and a half hours—between 6:58 and approximately 9:20—the little American carriers were under constant fire from Kurita’s Center Force. She had inflicted serious damage on an enemy cruiser and had incurred almost two dozen Japanese hits. Although smoke screens and maneuvering threw Japanese marksmanship off, Admiral Sprague’s flagship, the Fanshaw Bay , received four direct hits and two near misses which killed three of her crew and wounded others. The sub’s torpedoes slammed into two of the enemy cruisers just as the first light of October 23 was streaking the eastern sky. RADM T. … Although the enemy ships had closed to within fifteen miles of their prey, they were still beyond the range of the puny U.S. 5-inch guns. Sixty seconds later, Japanese range-marker shells rattled into the sea to throw lowering geysers of colored water into the air behind the American carriers. Admiral Sprague’s battered flotilla headed into Leyte Gulf for a much-needed rest. This Japanese force was made up of four regular carriers, two converted battleship-carriers, and smaller screening vessels. A third exploded almost on top of the carrier and showered the ship with flaming aircraft parts. The battleship-carriers—the, The third prong, the Center Force, was the most potent of the Nipponese units, and was to deliver the knockout blow. Sho Plan No. Dodging the pink and purple bursts of antiaircraft fire, American Helldivers and Avengers pressed one attack after another against the wildly weaving ships. Bombs soon gone, they strafed with machine-gun fire. Somewhere to the soutli. Many had drowned. Soaring upward, they climbed a mile above the carriers and suddenly dived down. He had received no news of Ozawa’s success in decoying Halsey, and was still under the impression that Taffy 3 was part of the U.S. Third Fleet. In an attempt to box in the carriers, which could barely reach eighteen knots, the swift Nipponese heavy cruisers raced across the wakes of the Americans to close in from the east at almost thirty knots. And between the clouds and the sea was the incessant lightning and thunder of gunfire. By 8:45 A.M. , the carrier was entirely without headway and was settling. DIVE! If successful, it would split what remained of the Japanese Empire in half. In a last ditch-effort near the end of the war, Japanese Admiral Kurita led his … The, Pounding in behind the cruisers for the kill, the closest of the Japanese battleships—the, Nipponese destroyers were now also closing in on Taffy 3. The planes were landbased Japanese Zeros ordered to provide air cover for Kurita. The little carriers swung due east, far enough into the wind to launch aircraft without bringing them closer to the enemy. The battleship-carriers—the Ise and the Hyuga —were merely old battleships with their two main aft turrets replaced by small flight decks. The big battleships passing to port and the heavy cruisers steaming by to starboard deluged the quivering destroyer with heavy shells. His ships had arced into their southwesterly course as ordered. The United States and her allies had undisputed control of the Pacific Ocean. A. Baxter picked up more than 700 survivors from the, The last raft, containing fifteen men from the Johnston, was spotted at 9:30, Between October 23 and 26, Japan’s Sho Plan No. The American destroyer rolled under the rain of shells for another thirty minutes. He had been forced to swim for his life when the Atago was sunk on the twenty-third. The force flagship, the heavy cruiser Atago , shuddered and sank in less than twenty minutes, sending Admiral Kurita and his staff for an unscheduled swim before they were rescued by a destroyer. Kurita, thinking he must have stumbled onto Halsey’s Third Fleet, abruptly ordered his ships into pursuit formation. Only the, As the battle unfolded, Admiral Sprague saw that the greatest immediate danger to his group were the four enemy heavy cruisers, Although smoke screens and maneuvering threw Japanese marksmanship off, Admiral Sprague’s flagship, the, Shrewd guesswork and clever steering by her skipper saved the, Meanwhile Taffy 3 aircraft pounced like hawks on the enemy cruisers. Read more >>, The magazine was forced to suspend print publication in 2013, but a group of volunteers saved the archives and relaunched it in digital form in 2017. Steaming on one engine and maneuvering on emergency steering apparatus, with three of her 5-inch cannons out of commission, the Hoel made another run on the enemy. Barely able to keep ahead of the onrushing enemy, much less get out of the line of fire, the Hoel absorbed over forty hits as she fought back with her two remaining guns. But the war situation is far more critical than any of you can possibly know. Battle off Samar. Fire broke out in the ship’s hangar as the projectile sheared through the upper deck. I just finished reading "The Battle Off Samar - Taffy III at Leyte Gulf" which was written by a nephew of a survivor of the great battle. Planes were soon soaring into the damp sky armed with whatever bombs and bullets they had when the alarm sounded. A single-engined Zero fighter crashed on the port side of the Kitkun Bay and bounced into the sea. It was the story of David and Goliath in a terrifying modern context. Title: Battle off Samar, Description: 25 October 1944 American survivors of the battle are rescued by a U.S. Navy ship on 26 October 1944. Then, at 9:25, as he concentrated on evading the torpedoes launched minutes before by the Yahagi and her destroyers, the skipper of Taffy 3 was treated to the sweetest words he could ever hope to hear. “In no engagement of its entire history,” Samuel Eliot Morison has written, “has the United States Navy shown more gallantry, guts and gumption than in those two morning hours between 0730 and 0930 off Samar.”, Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague had his own observation on the battle: “The failure of the enemy … to completely wipe out all vessels of this task unit can be attributed to our successful smoke screen, our torpedo counterattack, continuous harassment of enemy by bomb, torpedo and strafing air attacks, timely maneuvers, and the definite partiality of Almighty God.”. Prepared to have to fight their way through to Leyte Gulf, the Japanese sailors were pleasantly’ surprised when dawn revealed nothing on the southern horizon but open water. Her ammunition blew up in a series of blasts, adding to the carnage. A U.S. plane joined the fray with chattering 5o-caliber machine guns. Not sixty seconds later, one of the battleship’s 14-inch projectiles screeched into the Hoel’s side behind the funnels. The history and Technology of Submarines (Grade 5), To the Ends of the Earth and Beyond (Grades 5-8), The Date that Lives in Infamy: Pearl Harbor (High School), Codes and Signals: Breaking the Spy Games of World War II and Vietnam, Damage Control Mission Brief: (Blue Navy) A Study Based on the Battle of Okinawa, Damage Control Mission Brief: (Green Navy) A Study Based on the Battle of Okinawa, STEAM Saturday: Codebreaking and Intelligence in the U.S. Navy, Brown Bag Brief: Race, Equality, and a Personal Journey, National Museum of the U.S. Navy Info Pamphlets, U.S. Navy Response to the 1855 Yellow Fever Epidemic, U.S. Navy Response to the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, U.S. Navy Response to the 1923 Kanto Earthquake in Japan, Chief Yeoman (F) Loretta P. Walsh: The First Navy Female Chief Petty Officer, The First Four: Women Chief Petty Officers: WWII, Invasion of Leyte and Battle of Leyte Gulf: October 1944. Then, at 9:25, as he concentrated on evading the torpedoes launched minutes before by the, “Goddamit, boys, they’re getting awayl” called out a signalman on the bridge of the, Unable to keep in touch with his fleet because of bad radio communication, Admiral Kurita had launched the, Yet it takes no great stretch of the imagination to understand the indecision and uncertainty that marked Takeo Kurita’s actions at this point in the battle. Battle off Samar. Far to the north, off Cape Engaño, too distant to do any good, Halsey’s Third Fleet was only now reluctantly giving up its chase of Ozawa’s Northern Force and turning about in answer to urgent messages from Admiral Kinkaid and Pacific Fleet Headquarters at Pearl Harbor. Further back, the slower destroyer escorts formed a second attack wave. If only he could keep his ships swinging in a wide circle around to the southwest without being overtaken or cut off, Sprague thought, he could hope to lead the Japanese fleet into the guns of the now-alerted battleships of the Seventh Fleet. Trading blows with five undamaged ships, the limping destroyer scored a number of hits on the 6,000-ton Yahagi . She was the first major victim of the Divine Wind. Unfortunately, these reports were somewhat exaggerated, and led him to the optimistic conclusion that Kurita’s Center Force “could no longer be considered a serious menace.” Meanwhile Admiral O/awa’s decoy Northern Force had been cruising the waters of the Philippine Sea off Luzon, hoping to be spotted by Halsey’s search planes. She was dead in the water, her stern almost submerged and her forward magazine ablaze, when the “abandon ship” order was given. With the exception of the beachhead on Leyte and a few islands in the adjacent gulf, all of the Philippine archipelago was in Japanese hands. The third prong, the Center Force, was the most potent of the Nipponese units, and was to deliver the knockout blow. Then, at 7:06 A.M. , Taffy 3 dipped its nose into a welcome rain squall. Radio equipment in the, The Battle oft Samar was a direct result of Japanese Higli Command plans. The result was a fierce but surprisingly unco-ordinated attack on the American ships. Suddenly, one of the charges ignited in the hot breech before the 5-inch gun could be fired. Straddled by the red, yellow, blue, and green splashes of marker shells, Taffy 3 was laying heavy smoke screens, the white clouds pouring from chemical generators contrasting sharply with the oily black smoke from the ships’ funnels. Task Unit 77.4.1 "Taffy 1" RADM T. L. Sprague. This aircraft is depicted as Lt. (jg) Thomas C. Lupo’s Avenger at the Battle off Samar, one of the three naval battles collectively known as the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Ahead and a bit to the right he could make out the dark outline of Samar some thirty miles away. 1 was to swing in against the Americans in Ley te Gulf from the southwest, through Surigao Strait. Lo, Admiral Sprague asked Seventh Fleet Headquarters to handle the rescue of the survivors of the Gambier Bay , Johnston , Roberts , and Hoel . The destroyer’s five remaining torpedoes swooshed from their tubes. The White Plains sent streams of tracer bullets into the remaining Kamikazes. The St. Battle off Samar: Jim H. 10/26/14 2:29 PM: Yesterday (Saturday) marked the 70th anniversary of one of the greatest stands against long odds of WW II. 's who had gone ashore at Leyte Gulf five days earlier. The first warning of a break in the morning routine came shortly after six thirty as the ships’ crews sat clown to breakfast. One of the enemy exploded a few yards behind the flattop, injuring eleven Americans and spraying the deck with debris and pieces of the pilot. Kurita would attack it. The Battle Off Samar. The pilot’s message stopped him short. Earlier in the day, an American task force had been reported in the Philippine Sea to the northeast. As the Japanese destroyers sailed off to rejoin the rest of the battle, their men came on deck and saluted the American sailors as they floated in the water. Yet, running to within 4,000 yards of the enemy with their 5-inch guns blazing, the American escorts managed to throw the Japanese off stride. Seven minutes after 9 A.M. , their ship turned turtle and sank. As the battle unfolded, Admiral Sprague saw that the greatest immediate danger to his group were the four enemy heavy cruisers Chikuma , Chokai , Haguro , and Tone . During the fifteen-minute respite afforded by the rain, Sprague made a decision. 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