Battle of Leyte Gulf
The Battle of Leyte Gulf[5] (Japanese: レイテ沖海戦, romanized: Reite oki Kaisen, lit. 'Leyte Open Sea Naval Battle') was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved.[6][7][8][9] It was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar, and Luzon from 23 to 26 October 1944 between combined American and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), as part of the invasion of Leyte, which aimed to isolate Japan from the colonies that it had occupied in Southeast Asia, a vital source of industrial and oil supplies.
This article is about the naval battle. For the invasion of the island, see Battle of Leyte.
By the time of the battle, Japan had fewer capital ships (aircraft carriers and battleships) left than the Allied forces had total aircraft carriers in the Pacific, which underscored the disparity in force strength at that point in the war.[10] Regardless, the IJN mobilized nearly all of its remaining major naval vessels in an attempt to defeat the Allied invasion, but it was repulsed by the US Navy's Third and Seventh Fleets.
The battle consisted of four main separate engagements (the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Battle off Cape Engaño, and the Battle off Samar), as well as lesser actions.[11] Allied forces announced the end of organized Japanese resistance on the island at the end of December.
It was the first battle in which Japanese aircraft carried out organized kamikaze attacks, and it was the last naval battle between battleships in history.[12][13] The Japanese Navy suffered heavy losses and never sailed in comparable force thereafter since it was stranded for lack of fuel in its bases for the rest of the war.[14][15]
Submarine action in Palawan Passage (23 October 1944)[edit]
(Note: This action is referred to by Morison as 'The Fight in Palawan Passage',[28] and elsewhere, occasionally, as the 'Battle of Palawan Passage'.)
As it sortied from its base in Brunei, Kurita's powerful "Center Force" consisted of five battleships (Yamato, Musashi, Nagato, Kongō, and Haruna)[d], ten heavy cruisers (Atago, Maya, Takao, Chōkai, Myōkō, Haguro, Kumano, Suzuya, Tone and Chikuma), two light cruisers (Noshiro and Yahagi) and 15 destroyers.[29]
Kurita's ships passed Palawan Island around midnight on 22–23 October. The American submarines Darter and Dace were positioned together on the surface close by. At 01:16 on 23 October, Darter's radar detected the Japanese formation in the Palawan Passage at a range of 30,000 yd (27,000 m). Her captain promptly made visual contact. The two submarines quickly moved off in pursuit of the ships, while Darter made the first of three contact reports. At least one of these was picked up by a radio operator on Yamato, but Kurita failed to take appropriate antisubmarine precautions.[30]
Darter and Dace traveled on the surface at full power for several hours and gained a position ahead of Kurita's formation, with the intention of making a submerged attack at first light. This attack was unusually successful. At 05:24, Darter fired a salvo of six torpedoes, at least four of which hit Kurita's flagship, the heavy cruiser Atago. Ten minutes later, Darter made two hits on Atago's sister ship, Takao, with another spread of torpedoes. At 05:56, Dace made four torpedo hits on the heavy cruiser Maya (sister to Atago and Takao).[31]
Atago and Maya quickly sank.[32] Atago sank so rapidly that Kurita was forced to swim to survive. He was rescued by the Japanese destroyer Kishinami, and then later transferred to the battleship Yamato.[33]
Takao turned back to Brunei, escorted by two destroyers, and was followed by the two submarines. On 24 October, as the submarines continued to shadow the damaged cruiser, Darter ran aground on the Bombay Shoal. All efforts to get her off failed; she was abandoned; and her entire crew was rescued by Dace. Efforts to scuttle Darter over the course of the next week all failed, including torpedoes from Dace and Rock that hit the reef (and not Darter) and deck-gun shelling from Dace and later Nautilus. After multiple hits from his 6-inch deck guns, the Nautilus commander determined on 31 October that the equipment on Darter was only good for scrap and left her there. The Japanese did not bother with the wreck.
Takao retired to Singapore, being joined in January 1945 by Myōkō, as the Japanese deemed both crippled cruisers irreparable and left them moored in the harbor as floating anti-aircraft batteries.