Battle off Samar
(October 25, 1944)

Kurita's reward for his perseverance the day before was presented to him the morning of October 25th. At 0644 Japanese lookouts spotted masts to the southeast. They belonged to a group of six escort carriers, three destroyers, and four destroyer escorts whose main responsibility was providing airpower for the ground forces on Leyte. This force was part of a larger Task Group consisting of sixteen escort carriers, nine destroyers, and fourteen destroyer escorts divided into three Task Units. Nearest to the attacking Japanese force was TG77.43, or 'Taffy 3', the northernmost of the three Task Units that comprised TG 77.4. Not surprisingly, the Americans were in quite a tizzy when the Japanese came over the horizon with four battleships and change, because by all rights their collective gooses were now about to be cooked. None of the American vessels carried anything larger than a 5" gun, whereas the Japanese had everything up to 18.1" weapons. Furthermore, the top speed of the American CVEs was appreciably lower than that of even the Japanese battlewagons. All in all, things did not look promising for Old Glory.

Fortunately, the Americans were aided by two factors. First, they did have airplanes on those jeep carriers, albeit airplanes without much in the way of anti-ship ordnance other than torpedos. By 0615, the Americans had launched several hundred aircraft, who proceeded to do everything short of throwing stones to harass the Japanese attackers. Second, the screening DDs and DEs for Taffy 3 were maniacally brave. In one of the great feats of sheer guts in naval history, seven American DDs and DEs charged the entire Japanese squadron, which outgunned them so utterly it beggars the imagination.

They paid the price, of course. Two DDs and a DE were sunk, but not before they had inflicted appreciable pain on the Japanese, and had convinced Kurita that he was actually up against American fleet CVs with cruiser escorts and all the fixin's. In the meantime, American aircraft had damaged more of his vessels, forced him to turn away form the battle area several times in Yamato to avoid torpedo attacks, and had completely disrupted his command of the tactical situation. As a result, the Japanese managed to sink only a single jeep carrier before they gave up and turned for home. The remainder of the day brought further air attacks on Kurita's retreating warships, which would damage still more of them, and sink some of the cripples. Upon arriving in Japan, only Yamato would be truly fit for action. The one dream of 'Big-Gun' fans in every navy, to turn one's broadside upon the defenseless hulls of an enemy carrier task force, had been briefly within Kurita's reach. But a combination of exhaustion, crummy visibility, relentless air attacks, and an American destroyer screen that fought like wolves over their cubs had obliged him to let the battle slip from his grasp. Japan would never be given another such opportunity.

Battle off SamarJapanAllied
Starting Forces x1
x3
x6
x2
x11
 Taffy 3
x6
x3
x3

Taffies 1 & 2
x12
x6
x5
x500 (approx.)

Losses x3 sunk (Suzuya, Chokai, Chikuma)
x3 damaged (Kumano, Haguro, Tone)
 x1 sunk (Gambier Bay)
x3 damaged (Kalinin Bay, Fanshaw Bay, White Plains)
x2 sunk (Johnston, Hoel)
x1 damaged (Heerman)
x1 sunk (Samuel B. Roberts)
x2 damaged (Raymond, Dennis)
x? destroyed

Back to the Leyte Campaign Map Page