The course of the Battle of Wright Bay

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 submarine of the US Seventh Fleet discovered the Japanese first attack force. Kurita's fleet entered the Sprayan Sea in the northeast of Leyte Island on 19441October 24th. 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.

The fleet of Lieutenant General Nishimura entered the Surigao Strait at 3 am on June 25th, 1944, 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.

On1October 25th, 1944, General halsey sent his own carrier to pursue after receiving the news of Ozawa's carrier fleet. 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 a.m. on1October 25th, 1944. 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.

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

Sibuyan naval battle

Kurita's most powerful "Central Fleet" consists of five battleships (five battleships: Yamato, Musashi, Changmen, King Kong and Hazel) plus 10 heavy cruiser, two light cruisers and 15 destroyer. Kurita's fleet tried to break through the San Bernardino Strait and attack the landing fleet in Leyte Bay. 1944101after the night of 23rd October, Kurita's fleet passed through the waters of palawan island, and his fleet was discovered by American submarines Haijiu and Yu Yun. 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. At 06: 43, the sea crucian carp (SS-247) launched its first attack and fired six torpedoes at patrol Aidang and Kaohsiung at a distance of 1 000m. Aidang was hit by four thunderbolts and sank, Kaohsiung was seriously injured by two thunderbolts, and the heavy cruiser Moyer was struck by four thunderbolts and sank at 06: 56. The heavy cruiser Kaohsiung was hit by a torpedo and returned to Brunei under the protection of two destroyers. The American submarine followed, and was forced to give up on 10124 October because the crucian carp ran aground. Kurita moved his flagship to the Yamato.

1944101At around 08:00 on October 24th, the plane aboard USS Intrepid found that this fleet was entering the narrow Sprayan Sea. Halsey ordered the three aircraft carriers of the Third Fleet to concentrate on attacking Kurita's fleet. * * * At about 10:27, 260 planes taking off from the intrepid and Cabot aircraft carriers and other aircraft carriers began to attack this fleet. The striking Yamato and Musashi became the main targets of the US military. The heavy cruiser Miaogao was hit first, and the stern was struck by lightning 1, and it returned seriously. Musashi, Yamato and Nagato were shot one after another. Musashi hit 19 torpedo and 17 bomb (and 18 was near misses) and sank. Both the Yamato and the Changmen were injured and the speed dropped to 24 knots. King Kong and hazel were slightly injured and lightly patrolled. 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 has no aircraft carrier. Princeton was hit by an armor-piercing projectile and caught fire. /kloc-after 0/5: 30, the ammunition depot exploded, killing 229 people, injuring 236 others and damaging other ships nearby. 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.

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. 194410124 October, they were attacked by air, but they were not injured. Due to the strict radio silence of the South Road Fleet and the Middle Road Fleet, Nishimura could not coordinate their steps with Kurita and Island. 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. Major General Jesse Oldendorf's six battleships (from west to east, Pennsylvania, California, Tennessee, Mississippi, Maryland and West Virginia) and eight cruisers (from west to east, Shropshire, Boise and Phoenix (the above three cruisers are grouped into south-facing right-wing cruisers); Columbia, Denver, Minneapolis, Portland and Louisville, 29 destroyers and 39 torpedo boats are ready for battle.

Due to the lack of aircraft fighting at night, the US military can only use torpedo boats equipped with radar to provide information. At 20: 50, American torpedo boats found the Nishimura fleet. At 22: 52-02: 13, the U.S. military 13 torpedo boats launched torpedo attacks on the Nishimura fleet respectively, but none of them hit, and the U.S. military torpedo boat PT-493 hit the rocks and sank. At 03:00, three destroyers of the first part of the US 54th destroyer squadron launched a torpedo attack on the Nishimura fleet at a distance of 7000-8000 meters. * * * Fired 27 torpedoes, 1 torpedo hit the middle of Fusang. Fusang immediately fell behind, and then turned right to retreat. Eight minutes later, the whole ship lost power. At 03: 09, the second part of the 54th destroyer squadron also fired a torpedo. The leading destroyer Shanyun was first struck by lightning and then sank in a big explosion. Chaoyun was hit by the former main gun, the bow of the ship broke, and the speed dropped to 12 knots. The battleship Shancheng and the destroyer were struck by lightning. The mountain city was torpedoed twice before and after, but the main gun could not be used after the middle, and it was still insisting. At 03: 45, the fuel tank in the middle of the backward Fusang and the ammunition compartments of No.3 and No.4 main turrets exploded, and the hull broke. At 04: 20, the bow part sank, and 1 more hours later, the stern part sank. After the war, no one knew what happened on the Fusang, because all the ships survived, and the number of victims was between 1400- 1600.

At 03: 50, American battleships and cruisers used the classic naval artillery tactics to form two T-lines (the distance between battleships is 20,000m, and the distance between cruisers is 14000m). Under the guidance of radar, they fired 245 rounds of large-caliber main artillery shells with full frontal crossfire, and cruisers fired more than 4,000 rounds, the 56th destroyer. In an instant, the mountain city burned violently and exploded, and the bridge collapsed and sank 04: 19. Except for 10, all of them were buried in the belly of fish (in contrast, only 26 people survived the whole warship lost by Nishimura Fleet). 1 was also shot in many places, among which the air defense command post was directly hit, and almost all the senior officers such as the captain, the deputy captain and the sailors were killed, so they had to be commanded by the gunner Captain Noi. Five people were also injured in the destroyer Shiyu. At 04: 25, heavy cruisers Na Zhi and Foot Handle and eight destroyers Shima arrived at the battlefield. Shima thought that the two pieces he saw were the remains of two battleships in Xicun (actually two pieces 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. In the process of retreat, the Zhimo fleet was pursued by the US carrier aircraft, and the light patrol Awujing and the destroyer Ignorance sank one after another.

Surigao naval battle is the last naval battle between battleships in human history, and it is one of the most successful examples in the history of naval battle. At the cost of 1 torpedo boat, the U.S. military has achieved an impressive record of sinking 2 battleships, 1 heavy cruisers and 3 destroyers, injuring 1 heavy cruisers and 1 destroyers (not counting the results of the patrol of Awujing and the destroyer Ignorance).

Battle of Cape Nganio

Ozawa's fleet consists of four aircraft carriers: Ruihe, Ruifeng, Chitose and Chiyoda, two air warships modified from battleships built in World War I: Yi Shi and Sunward, and three cruisers: Dadian, Tama, Isuzu and eight destroyers. 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 1944 10 that Ozawa's fleet was discovered at 16:40 on the afternoon of October 24th. At this time, the US military was responding to Kurita's fleet and air strikes from Luzon Island. 1944101On the evening of October 24th, Ozawa received a telegram from the US military saying that Kurita had retreated (the news was incorrect), but at 2000 hours, 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 naval battle of Sibuyan, so he led all three aircraft carriers and the battleship of General Willis Lee after midnight (according to halsey's order, the 34th task force was temporarily formed 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), eight light aircraft carriers (Independence, Princeton, Baylewood, coburn, Monterrey, Langley, cabot and jacinto) and six battleships. 17 cruisers, 64 destroyers, 1000 planes, but he gave landing points to several escort carriers and destroyers. Halsey was lured out by Ozawa's bait.

1On the morning of October 25th, 1944, 10, 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 position of the Japanese army was determined, the US military took off 180, and it was not until 7: 00 10 that the reconnaissance plane discovered the North Road Fleet. At 08:00, American fighter planes destroyed 30 Japanese planes protecting the fleet. They dispatched 857 sorties, and the aircraft carriers of Ozawa's fleet were shot one after another (the destroyers Chitose and Qiuyue sank, and the light cruisers Ruihe, Chiyoda and Tama lost their maneuverability). Ozawa replaced the flagship with the cruiser Daejeon.

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 Seventh 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 (Ruihe, Ruifeng, Chitose and Chiyoda) of Ozawa's fleet as bait were sunk, including a light cruiser (Tama) and two destroyers (autumn moon and early month). The "decoy force" has achieved outstanding success. Due to poor communication, Ozawa sent a telegram to lure the enemy, which Kurita did not receive. However, this once again saved Kurita's fleet from being completely annihilated.

Battle of Samar Island

In the Battle of Samak Island, the Soviet fleet sank two American escort carriers, three destroyers and frigates 1 ship. The Japanese army lost three cruisers and three capital ships were seriously damaged.

Kurita's fleet entered the San Bernardino Strait in the early morning of 19441October 25th, and they sailed south along the coast of Samar Island at 03:00. The American fleet was discovered at dawn.

Kincaid will have 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 escort carrier is slow and has thin armor, so it has little chance of winning against battleships.

Kincaid mistakenly thought that Willis Lee's battleship was still guarding the San Bernardino Strait, so there was no danger from there, but Lee 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 fired torpedoes at Japanese ships like suicide, attracting Japanese ships' firepower. 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. Three American destroyers and a frigate 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). The American aircraft carrier continued to flee to the south, and the shells of the battleship kept exploding 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.

The Changmen, King Kong and Hazelnut of Kurita Fleet were badly damaged. He went into battle with five battleships. When he returned to Japan, only the Yamato could fight.