Seek the detailed historical data of the great naval battle in Wright Bay.

Date:1944 65438+1October 20th-1944 65438+1October 26th.

Location: Philippines

The Battle of Leyte Bay was a naval battle near Leyte Island in the Philippines on the Pacific battlefield of World War II. Some naval historians believe that the Battle of Leyte Bay was the biggest naval battle in history.

both belligerents

American-led allied forces

Commanders: William F. Halsey and thomas kinkaid.

Troops: 17 carrier, 18 escort carrier, 12 battleship, 24 cruisers,14/kloc-0 destroyer, other ships, torpedo boats, submarines and about 1500 aircraft.

Japan

Commanders: Kennan Suda, Kenzaburo Ozawa

Strength: 4 aircraft carriers, 9 battleships, 19 cruisers, 34 destroyers, about 200 aircraft.

Losses/casualties:

United States: 1 aircraft carrier, 1 cruiser, two escort aircraft carriers, three destroyers were sunk, and 3,000 people were killed.

Japan: 4 aircraft carriers, 3 battleships, 6 cruisers, 12 destroyer sunk, 10000 people killed.

Japan tried to repel or destroy the allied landing forces on leyte island, and as a result, it defeated the Japanese joint fleet, which was far inferior in number, seriously weakening the strength of the Japanese naval joint fleet. Since then, the Japanese navy is no longer a strategic force in the Pacific War. This battle also laid the foundation for the US military to successfully capture the Philippine Islands occupied by Japan. Some naval historians believe that the Battle of Leyte Bay was the biggest naval battle in history. In the Battle of Leyte Bay, Japan first used Kamikaze Special Forces.

The naval battle lasted from1October 20th 1944 to 10 until1October 26th 10. Within six days, Japan and the allied forces invested more than 2 million tons of ships. 35 aircraft carriers, 2 1 battleship (capital ship), 170 destroyers, and nearly 2000 military aircraft participated in the battle. Although the Japanese army is at a disadvantage, after losing the battle of Saipan and Mariana Islands, if it loses the Philippines or Taiwan Province Province again, the lifeline of its imperial "southern line" resources to the mainland will be cut off, and its links with China, North Korea and the mainland in Southeast Asia will also be cut off. Therefore, Japan decided to put all its eggs in one basket in an attempt to repel the allied landing forces on Leyte Island and defeat its maritime power. After several considerations, the Allies gave up attacking Taiwan Province Province and landed from the Philippines first, determined to cover the landing with superior forces and defeated imperial japanese navy in one fell swoop.

Unsurprisingly, the United fleet of imperial japanese navy, which was far inferior in number, was defeated. 13 Cruiser's large warship was sunk, and Japan's sea-based and land-based aviation in the Philippines was eliminated, which seriously dealt a blow to Japan's overall strength. Since then, the Japanese army is no longer a strategic force in the Pacific War. This campaign also laid the foundation for the US military to successfully capture the Philippine Islands, Okinawa and other places.

Because of the hopeless war, Japan organized the suicide attack of Kamikaze special forces for the first time in this campaign. 101October 2 1 day, the Australian cruiser Australia was hit hard, which seems to indicate that the special attack has a certain effect. 10 year1since October 25th, the Japanese army began to organize large-scale suicide attacks on allied ships.

Strategic background

The battle of 1943 forced the Japanese imperial army to abandon its base in Solomon Islands. 1944, the allied forces occupied the Mariana Islands in a series of landings, breaking through Japan's internal defense circle in the Pacific Ocean. In June, the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet suffered heavy losses in the Philippine naval battle (Mariana naval battle), and the allied forces gained the air and sea control rights in the western Pacific.

At this time, the allies began to consider their next move. Admiral chester william nimitz suggested attacking Taiwan Province Province to stop Japanese actions in the Philippines. In this way, the allied forces can control the sea route connecting Japan with South Asia and cut off the connection between Japan and its garrison in South Asia, so that the garrison in South Asia will fail if it is not replenished. General douglas macarthur advocated landing in the Philippines. The Philippines is also on the line of contact with Japan. It is a shame for the United States to cede the Philippines to Japan. MacArthur vowed to return to his hometown when 1942 fled the Philippines. Finally, franklin delano roosevelt must make the final decision. He decided to land in the Philippines. The Japanese side is also very clear about the steps of the allied forces. Soeda Sobu, the supreme commander of the joint fleet, made four plans: Jie 1 is the main naval plan for the Philippines, Jie 2 is the plan for Taiwan Province Province, Jie 3 and Jie 4 are the plans for Ryukyu Islands and Thousand Islands respectively. These four plans are all desperate, complex and bold action plans, and they put all the forces of Japan into the decisive battle.

The landing point of the US Navy's attack on the Philippines is Leyte Island. Thomas? Kincaid vice admiral's Seventh Fleet's old battleships and escort aircraft carriers were used to support the landing troops. William? Admiral halsey's carrier task force of the Third Fleet was used to cover amphibious operations and pursue the Japanese fleet.

194410June 12, Nimitz's aircraft carrier carried out an air raid on Taiwan Province Province to ensure that the aircraft there could not be involved in landing on Leyte Island. Japan therefore began to implement the Jie 1 battle plan. Wave after wave of planes went into battle with the American aircraft carrier. In the following three days, Japan lost 600 planes, almost most of its air force. This made its navy basically lose air force protection.

According to the operational plan of Czech Republic 1, Saburo Ozawa's mobile forces used obviously vulnerable aircraft carriers to lead the US Third Fleet away from the landing troops it should protect. After losing air cover, the American landing troops were attacked by three Japanese fleets from the west: Lieutenant General Kenan Suda stationed in Brunei led the second fleet into Leyte Bay to destroy the allied landing troops. Nishimura Fleet and Lieutenant General Island Qingying Fleet formed the Fifth Fleet as a sports attack force. These three fleets have no aircraft carriers and submarines, and are entirely composed of surface ships.

Obviously, the result of this plan is that at least one of these four fleets will be destroyed. After the war, Toyota explained to American investigators: "If we lose the Philippines and the fleet survives, then the sea route between North and South will be cut off. If the fleet stays in Japan's territorial waters, it can't get fuel supply. If it stays in the South China Sea, it will not be supplied with weapons and ammunition. So if we lose the Philippines, there is no point in saving this fleet. 」

Activity flow

1944101On October 20th, an amphibious unit of the US army attacked Leyte Island in the middle of the Philippine Islands, which was the beginning of the Battle of Leyte Bay. On the same day, a Japanese army entered the position from the southeast of Leyte Island, and the Japanese first attack force was discovered by the submarine of the US Seventh Fleet.

The whole naval battle can be divided into four different parts.

Kurita's fleet entered the Sprayan Sea in the northeast of Leyte Island on October 24th, 65438/KLOC-0. In the naval battle of Sibuyan Sea, he was attacked by an American aircraft carrier and the battleship Musashi was sunk. Kurita turned back. The American pilot thought he quit the battlefield, but in the evening he turned around and entered the San Bernardino Strait, and arrived at Samar Island in the early morning.

Major General Nishimura's fleet entered the Surigao Strait at 3 a.m. on October 25th, 65438/KLOC-0, and just collided with the American combat fleet. In the naval battle of Surigao Strait, the battleships Fusang and Shancheng were sunk, Nishimura was killed and the rest retreated westward.

After receiving the news of the arrival of Ozawa's aircraft carrier fleet, Admiral halsey sent his own aircraft carrier to pursue it on October 25th, 65438. Four Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk in the naval battle at Cape Nganio, and the remnants of Ozawa fled to Japan.

Kurita's fleet arrived at Sama Island at 6: 00 a.m. on 10/October 25th. At this time, halsey is pursuing Ozawa. There are only three American escort carriers and their destroyers between Kurita's fleet and the American landing fleet. In the naval battle of Samar Island, the desperate torpedo attack and ruthless air attack of the American destroyer, as well as the unfavorable weather, made Kurita think that he was facing the main force of the American army, so he turned and withdrew from the battlefield.

1, Battle of Spoyan

Kurita's most powerful "Central Fleet" consists of five battleships (five battleships: Yamato, Musashi, Changmen, King Kong and hazel) plus 12 cruisers and 13 destroyers. Kurita's fleet tried to break through the San Bernardino Strait and attack the landing fleet in Leyte Bay.

65438123 After nightfall, Kurita's fleet passed through the waters of palawan island, and his fleet was discovered by American submarines crucian carp and surimi. Although the telegrapher on the Yamato discovered two submarines and reported the discovery of the fleet's telecommunications, the Japanese fleet did not take anti-submarine action. The Sea Crucian Carp fired a torpedo and sank Kurita's flagship heavy cruiser Aidang, while the heavy cruiser Mo Ye was sunk by this small fish. The heavy cruiser Kaohsiung was hit by a torpedo and returned to Brunei under the protection of two destroyers. American submarines followed closely. 10 year124 October, the crucian carp was abandoned because it ran aground. Kurita moved his flagship to the Yamato.

654381At around 08:00 on October 24th, the plane aboard USS Intrepid found the fleet entering the narrow Sprayan Sea. Halsey ordered the three aircraft carriers of the Third Fleet to concentrate on attacking Kurita's fleet. * * * 260 aircraft taking off from aircraft carriers such as the intrepid and Cabot began to attack the fleet at about 10:30. The striking Yamato and Musashi became the main targets of the US military. Musashi, Yamato and Nagato were shot. The heavy cruiser Miaogao returned with serious injuries. The second wave of air strikes focused on Musashi, which was hit by bombs and torpedoes many times. Finally started to fall behind. The third wave of aircraft taking off from the York-class aircraft carriers Enterprise and Franklin hit Musashi 19 times (1 1 bomb and 8 torpedoes). Several other light ships were injured in the air raid. Due to the lack of air cover, 15:30, Kurita ordered his fleet to turn around and leave the attack range of the American aircraft carrier. He waited until 17: 15, then turned around and headed for the San Bernardino Strait again. His fleet was too busy to attend to Musashi. He was badly injured and was left behind. Musashi finally capsized and sank around 19:30.

At the same time, 80 Lieutenant General Takiasi aircraft stationed in Luzon attacked the aircraft carriers Essex, Bennington, Princeton and Langley. Princeton was hit by an armor-piercing projectile and caught fire. /kloc-after 0/5: 30, the ammunition depot exploded, killing 200 sailors on the Princeton, 80 people on the Birmingham light cruiser who participated in the fire fighting, and other ships nearby were also damaged. Princeton sank. The sub-fleet is responsible for the alert task to the north, and there is no time to send planes to search the northern waters. Ozawa's decoy fleet was discovered by American planes at 16:35.

2, Surigao Strait naval battle

The South Road Fleet in Nishimura consists of the battleships Fusang and Shancheng, as well as the top heavy cruisers and four destroyers. 101On October 24th, they were attacked by air, but they were not injured.

Nishimura could not coordinate their steps with Kurita and Shima, because the South Road Fleet and the Middle Road Fleet strictly observed the telegraph silence. When he entered Surigao Strait at 02:00, Shima was about 40 kilometers behind him, while Kurita was still in Sibuyan Sea, a few hours away from the coast of Leyte Island.

No sooner had they sailed past Panaon Island than they broke into the trap set for them by the US Seventh Fleet. Jesse. Major General Oldendorf's six battleships (Mississippi, Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, California and Pennsylvania), eight cruisers, 29 destroyers and 39 torpedo boats are ready for battle. In order to cross the strait to attack the landing troops, Nishimura must use the torpedo released by the torpedo boat to break through the cordon of two destroyers and cross the strait to reach the landing site at the other end of the strait under the concentrated fire of six battleships and two cruisers.

At around 03:00, Fusang and three destroyers were sunk by torpedoes. Fusang exploded and broke in two, but it didn't sink. At 03:50, American warships opened fire. American ships are in a straight line, and Japanese ships are in a single line. Only the bow can face the American ship. This is the last time to use front tactics. At that time, the United States already had radar-controlled firepower, and American battleships could fire at a distance that Japanese warships could not fight back. Mountain city and Topmost are constantly hit hard by the armor-piercing bullets of battleships. The last cruiser turned around and fled, but lost its maneuverability. The mountain city sank 04: 19.

At 04:25, heavy cruisers Na Zhi and Foot Handle and eight destroyers Shima arrived at the battlefield. Shima thought that the two fragments he saw were the remains of two battleships in Xicun (actually two fragments of Fusang). He realized that there was no hope of crossing the channel and ordered him to turn around and retreat. In the chaos, his flagship "Na Zhi" collided with the burning "1", which lost its maneuverability and fell behind, and was sunk by the plane the next day. The first half of the Fusang was sunk by an American heavy cruiser, and the second half was later sunk. Of the seven ships in the West Village, only one destroyer survived.

Shancheng is the last battleship to engage with other battleships, and it is also one of the few battleships that was sunk in a gunfight with other battleships.

3. Battle of Cape Nganio

Ozawa's fleet consists of four aircraft carriers, Ruihe, Ruifeng, Chitose and Chiyoda, as well as Yi Shi, Sunward, three cruisers and nine destroyers modified from battleships built during World War I.. The Ruihe was the last aircraft carrier that survived the Pearl Harbor incident. The rear turrets in Sunward and Yi Shi were transformed into hangars, runways and take-off mechanisms. But neither ship has a plane. Ozawa has only 108 aircraft.

It was not until the afternoon of1October 24th 16:40 that Ozawa's fleet was discovered. At this time, the US military was responding to Kurita's fleet and air strikes from Luzon Island. On the evening of 24th, Ozawa received a telegram from the US military saying Kurita had retreated (the news was incorrect), but at 20: 00, Toyota ordered all the fleets to continue to attack.

Halsey saw that it had a chance to destroy all Japanese aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean, so that the United States could attack Japan without any worries. He thought Kurita had been repelled in the Sibuyan naval battle, so he led all three aircraft carriers and Willis after midnight. General Lee's battleship (according to halsey's order, it was temporarily incorporated into the 34th Special Task Force to guard the San Bernardino Strait. The order was a plan, which later caused confusion in understanding. ) began to pursue Ozawa. Although the US reconnaissance plane found Kurita flying to the San Bernardino Strait, halsey thought Kincaid's Seventh Fleet was enough to deal with it and ignored it.

The number of American fleets is much larger than that of Japanese fleets. Halsey has nine aircraft carriers (Intrepid, Bumblebee, Franklin, Lexington, Bunker Hill, Bumblebee, Hancock, Enterprise and Essex) and eight light aircraft carriers (Independence, Princeton, Baylewood, coburn, Monterrey, Langley, Cabot, San jacinto and six battleships). He had more than 1000 planes, but he gave up the landing point to several escort carriers and destroyers. Halsey was lured out by Ozawa's bait.

On the morning of October 25th, 65438/KLOC-0, Ozawa ordered 75 planes to take off to attack the US military, but these planes did not cause much damage. Most of them were shot down by American warplanes, and a few flew to Luzon Island.

Halsey personally led the battleships of the 34th Task Force to advance rapidly, and prepared to directly deal with the avant-garde battleships of Ozawa Fleet and the Japanese ships left behind by carrier-based air strikes with large-caliber naval guns. In the early morning, before the exact location of the Japanese army was determined, the US military took off 180 aircraft. It was not until 7: 10 that the reconnaissance plane discovered the North Road Fleet. At 08:00, American fighter planes destroyed 30 Japanese planes protecting the fleet. The air raid began, and they flew 857 sorties. Aircraft carriers of Ozawa's fleet were shot one after another (Chitose and a destroyer sank, while Ruihe, Chiyoda and a cruiser lost power). Ozawa replaced the flagship with another cruiser.

At this time, the news of the battle of Samarkand came. The landing troops of the US Army are in an emergency (the escort carrier of the 7th Fleet constantly telegraphed halsey for help because Kurita's fleet suddenly appeared. Even Nimitz, who was in Pearl Harbor, sent a short telegram to halsey: "Where is the 34th Special Task Force?" However, the officer in charge of cable encryption casually added "The whole world wants to know", and the decoding officer in halsey mistakenly thought that there was no deletion, which made halsey furious. Halsey ordered the south, leaving only two aircraft carrier brigades and a small fleet composed of cruisers and destroyers to clean up Ozawa's remaining ships.

In the afternoon, after sinking several Japanese aircraft carriers, the air raid was concentrated on two modified battleships, but its intensive air defense firepower effectively resisted the air raid. The air raid continued until the evening, and all the aircraft carriers used by Ozawa's fleet as bait, including a cruiser and two destroyers, were sunk. The "decoy force" has achieved outstanding success. However, communication confusion also occurred in Japan. Ozawa sent a telegram to lure the enemy successfully, but Kurita did not receive it. However, this once again saved Kurita's fleet from being completely annihilated.

4. Battle of Samar Island

In the Battle of Samak Island, Sutian Fleet sank two American escort carriers, the Japanese lost three cruisers and three capital ships were seriously damaged.

Kurita's fleet entered the San Bernardino Strait in the early morning of 10125. At 03:00, they drove south along the coast of samar Island. The American fleet was discovered at dawn.

Admiral Kincaid has three fleets to stop it, each consisting of six escort aircraft carriers and seven or eight destroyers. Each escort carrier carries about 30 aircraft, and one * * * has more than 500 aircraft. The defensive aircraft carrier is slow and has thin armor, so it can't deal with battleships.

Kincaid mistook Willis? Li's battleship was still guarding the San Bernardino Strait, from which there was no danger, but Li was transferred by halsey to deal with Ozawa. When the Japanese fleet appeared on the island of Samar, the US military was taken aback. Halsey's fleet has left Wright Bay by decoy tactics, but Kurita knows nothing about it. Kurita mistook the escort carrier for the American carrier fleet. He thought that the entire American Third Fleet was in front of his 18 inch gun.

The American escort aircraft carrier immediately retreated eastward, hoping that the bad weather would affect the accuracy of Japanese artillery, and at the same time immediately sent a message requesting support or even sending it in plain code. American destroyers tried to distract Japanese battleships to gain time. These destroyers attacked Japanese ships with torpedoes like suicide, attracting the fire of Japanese ships. In order to avoid torpedoes, Japanese ships had to break up in formation. Yamato was forced back by two parallel torpedoes, and was afraid of being hit by them and could not turn around, so it lost ten minutes. Four American destroyers were sunk and others were injured, but they bought time for the aircraft carrier and let their plane take off. These planes don't have time to reload armor-piercing projectiles, so they can only take off with their ammunition (sometimes even depth charges). Then the American aircraft carrier continued to flee south, and the shells of the battleship exploded around. An aircraft carrier was sunk and others were injured.

Because Kurita Fleet launched an attack before completing the reorganization formation, the attack of American destroyers broke his formation, and the teams were scattered in the vast sea. He lost the tactical command of the war, and his three heavy cruisers were sunk by concentrated air and sea attacks. Kurita ordered the team to turn north at 09:20. The attack on the escort carrier that escaped from Kurita Fleet is not over. One was sunk by a suicide plane of Kamikaze Special Forces, and the other two were badly damaged.

Soon Kurita's fleet changed course and sailed for Wright Bay. Just as the Japanese plan was about to succeed, Kurita turned to the north to retreat again. He felt that the American support fleet was approaching him, so he felt that the longer he participated in the war, the greater the possibility of being attacked by the United States. Under constant air raids, he went north and then crossed the San Bernardino Strait to the west. The Third Fleet, which sailed back and forth for 300 nautical miles, sent carrier-based aircraft to attack the stragglers of Kurita Fleet after sunrise on the 26th.

Kurita's fleet Changmen, Jingang and Hazel were badly damaged. He went into battle with five battleships, but when he returned to Japan, only the Yamato could fight.

Battle sequence between the two sides

Japan's joint fleet

Second fleet

Commander-in-Chief: Lieutenant General Kennan Kurita, Chief of Staff: Major General Kobayashi Fukui, and the flagship of the general: cruiser Aidang → battleship Yamato.

The first brigade, the first brigade

Team 1: Commander: Lieutenant General Yu Yuan.

Battleships: Yamato, Musashi, and Changmen.

The fourth team: commander, officer, Frank, heavy cruisers: Aidang, Kaohsiung, Mo Ye, Bird Sea.

Team 5: Commander: Major General Hashimoto Nobutaro Heavy Cruiser: Miaogao, Feather Bug.

Second Mine Battalion: Commander: Major General Ganfu Hayakawa; Cruiser: Nengdai.

The second team: commander: colonel Shiraishi Changyi, destroyer: first frost, autumn frost.

Thirty-first place by team: Commander: Fukuoka Kojiro Dazuo by boat: shore waves, waves, morning frost, long waves.

Thirty-second crew: Commander: Ichiro Oshima, Daisuke, Boats: Hamabo, Fujibo, Island Wind.

The first brigade, the second brigade

Third Squad: Commander: Lieutenant General Yoshio Suzuki Battleship: King Kong, Hazelnut Name

Seventh detachment: Commander: Major General Baishi Bandung Heavy Cruiser: Guling, Kumano, Li Gen, Zhu Mo.

Team 10: Commander: Kimura Jin, cruiser: Yazhi.

Unit 17: Commander: Gu Kangfu; Units: Pufeng, Ibaraki, destroyer Xuefeng, Bangfeng, Shuangqing and Nofen.

The third detachment of the first brigade (Nishimura Fleet)

Team 2: Commander: Lieutenant General Nishimura. Battleship: Shancheng, Fusang, heavy cruiser: Topmost.

The fourth expulsion team and destroyers: Shanyun, Chaochao and Chaoyun.

The 27th expulsion team, destroyer: Shi Yu.

Second Brigade of Southwest Fleet (Shima Fleet)

Commander-in-chief: heavy cruisers of Qingying:, pedal cruisers: Awu class, ship by ship: Shu, Chao, Ignorant Fire, Xia.

The Third Fleet (Ozawa Fleet)

Commander-in-Chief: Lieutenant General Kenzaburo Ozawa, Chief of Staff: Major General Tomio Dalin's flagship: aircraft carrier Ruihe (killed) → cruiser Daejeon.

Our team:

Third Air Fleet: Commander Sir Frank, aircraft carrier: Ruihe. Light aircraft carriers: Chiyoda, Qian Fang and Rui Feng.

Fourth Air Fleet: Commander: Major General Qianqiu Battleships Matsuda: Yi Shi and Sunward.

Cruiser Fleet: Commander: Captain Yamamoto Iwata of Tama commands light cruisers: Tama and Isuzu.

The first expulsion team: Commander: Major General Kotaro of Edo; Cruiser: Daejeon destroyer: Yun, Sugiyama, Dong and Sang.

The second expulsion team: the sixty-first expulsion team: the first month, if the moon, autumn moon; The forty-first expulsion team: Frost Moon.

Allied forces and the United States Pacific fleet

Commander of Pacific Fleet: Admiral Nimitz (in Honolulu)

Commander of the Third Fleet: William? Admiral William F. Halsey Jr.

General Flagship: Battleship New Jersey (Iowa Class Battleship)

The 38th Aircraft Carrier Task Force of the Third Fleet

Flagship: aircraft carrier Lexington.

The first task force: flagship: aircraft carrier CV- 12 of Bumblebee. Aircraft carrier: Bumblebee CV- 12, Hornet CV- 18, Hancock CV- 19.

Second Task Force: Flagship: USS Intrepid CV-11; Aircraft carrier: fearless cv-11; Bunker hill cv-17; Light aircraft carrier: Independence. Battleship cabot CVL-28: Three cruisers, Iowa, New Jersey (and General Flagship) and 16 destroyer.

The third task force: flagship: Essex CV-9 aircraft carrier; Aircraft carrier: Lexington; Essex cv-9 Light aircraft carrier: Princeton CVL-23；; Monterey CVL-26; Battleship: Washington. Cruisers Massachusetts, South Dakota and Alabama: 4, destroyers 13.

The fourth task force: flagship: aircraft carrier Franklin CV- 13; The aircraft carrier Franklin cv-13; Enterprise cv-6; Light aircraft carriers Bellowood (CVL-24) and Sanjacinto (CVL-30).

The 34th Special Task Force of the Third Fleet, Commander: William? Lieutenant General Willis A. Lee, transferred from the 38th Air Task Force, consists of 6 battleships, 7 cruisers and 17 destroyers.

Submarine fleet: 4 ships

The Seventh Fleet and the Royal Australian Navy

Commander of the Southwest Pacific Army of the Seventh Fleet: Thomas? Kincaid vice admiral

Artillery Support Group and Central Fleet: Battleships: Mississippi, Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, California, Pennsylvania, 6 ships one by one.

Left-wing fleet: three heavy cruisers, two long cruisers, and the 56th destroyer fleet: nine destroyers.

Right-wing fleet: heavy cruiser: 1, long cruiser: 2, 24th destroyer fleet: 6, 54th destroyer fleet: 7 destroyers.

Seventh Fleet High-speed Torpedo Fleet: 39 torpedo boats (3 brigades? 13 team)

Escort carrier battle group: escort carrier: 4 ships, destroyer: 3 ships, ship-by-ship escort: 4 ships.

The first fleet: six air escort ships, three ships and four ships.

The second fleet: 6 stewardesses and 26 destroyers,

The third detachment fleet: escort carriers: 6, ship by ship: 3, escort ships: 5.

Submarine forces: TF-78 in the north and TF-79 in the south.

Final results

The Battle of Wright Bay ensured the landing point of the Sixth Army of the United States from the sea. In the more difficult battle of Leyte Island, the US military did not completely control the island until the end of 1944 and 65438+February.

The Battle of Leyte Bay was the last great naval battle in the Pacific War and the largest naval battle in history. This naval battle wiped out Japan's naval power. Except for planes from land bases, the Japanese navy hardly exists, and the US military has gained absolute control over the sea. When Ozawa was tried after the war, he said: "After this war, Japan's maritime power has become an absolute auxiliary force. Except for some special ships, there is no room for warships at sea. "

At the end of the naval battle, Japanese vice admiral Takiasi, who was stationed at the air base in the northern Philippines, authorized Kamikaze special forces to launch a suicide attack on the allied fleet in Leyte Bay. 10 year 10 On October 25th, the Royal Navy cruiser Australia achieved another success, and it had to leave the battlefield for maintenance. An American escort aircraft carrier was sunk and five were injured.

Criticism of halsey

Halsey was criticized for driving Li Hao's battleships to chase Ozawa's aircraft carriers, but did not send them back immediately after receiving Kincaid's first distress signal. After the war, he explained his decision like this:

101On the afternoon of October 24th, the aircraft on our aircraft carrier found the Japanese North Road aircraft carrier, thus discovering all the enemy naval fleets. It's ridiculous that I'm sitting in the San Bernardino Strait. Concentrate troops at night and fire at the North Road Fleet in the early morning. I thought that the Chinese fleet had been hit hard in the Sprayan Sea, and there was no big threat to the Seventh Fleet.

Clifton, commander of the US military in samar Sea? Admiral sprague questioned this:

We haven't received any information that the north entrance is no longer defended, so we don't think our north wing will be in any danger.

Naval historian Samuel Morrison commented:

If Li's battleship returned immediately after receiving Kincaid's distress telegram, and if it didn't wait for the destroyer to refuel for more than two and a half hours, then under the command of Li, the most experienced navy at that time, six modern battleships could reach the San Bernardino Strait in time to deal with Kurita's middle fleet ... Although the naval action is always unexpected, we have every reason to imagine that Li Can destroyed Kurita's middle fleet.