Lest We Forget - Leyte Gulf

USS Hoel, DD 533




Tomorrow marks the 64th anniversary of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Here are some links giving you, the reader, a great opportunity to acquaint yourselves about this momentous naval battle raging for over three days.

And its a good time to remember the sacrifice and devotion to duty that all the ships and men provided for victory in the Pacific. As an Air force Vet, I have to salute the Navy from the PT boats, Destroyers, Destroyer Escorts, and Jeep carriers and their air crews for their devoted efforts! TVG

http://www.battleship.org/html/Articles/History/Leyte0.htm

http://www.battle-of-leyte-gulf.com/

http://www.angelfire.com/fm/odyssey/LEYTE_GULF_Summary_of_the_Battle_.htm


http://www.microworks.net/PACIFIC/battles/leyte_gulf.htm


http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/WW2Timeline/LUTZ/leyte.html


http://www.bosamar.com/ (My favorite)


And I would also recommend "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" by Hornfischer for a great book on the subject.

 

There really should be a movie on this. This battle ranks right up there with Jutland and Midway.

 

I agree...But I would suggest an independent film studio versus a "hollyweird" studio. (I'll like to see this story told without political correctness and historical revisionism getting in the way! )

And it was fought with just about every level of ship in the Navy as well as most of its aircraft types too.

When do you want me to review your script?

 

My dad was on board the Fanshaw Bay during the Battle off Samar. Tomorrow would be some kind of anniversary for him (and all the others involved). He passed away Dec. 30, 2006........

Here's to ya, Daddio (my name for him when I was a tot)......

:flag_USA_ww2:
:mourn::S!

 

Hello,

For those interested, it is worth noting that Ernest Evans was the former Executive Officer (XO) of USS Alden (DD-211) during the NEI campaign, and was quite fortunate to have escaped with other surviving Asiatic Fleet units when he did. For that reason Evans resolved never to retreat again before the enemy, and he did not.

If you care to learn about another flushdecker sister to Alden whose end has not been well-understood, and her skipper, who was more like Evans than we have ever realized, please look for a new book coming this December from Zenith Press: http://www.zenithpress.com/Store/ProductDetails_39721.ncm

With best regards

 

The book Sea of Thunder by Evan Thomas spends a little time on Evans time with the Alden.

 

All I have to say is wow to all of the men who fought in the battle of Leyte Gulf, and especially those onboard the seven destroyer/destroyer escorts and six CVE's who fought in the Battle off Samar in Taffy 3. The courage and resolve of the men in the USS Hoel, USS Johnston, USS Samuel B. Roberts, and the others amazes me and should amaze everyone who knows about history. But i would especially want to think about the men in the air who were attacking the largest battleship in the world with depth charges. The courage of the men in the air is astounding. Fighters and bombers and torpedo planes fitted with ground attack weapons fighting against overwelming AA fire is inspiring.

 

I have always been impressed by the courage, and audacity of the officers and crews of the Hoel, Samuel B Roberts, Johnston, and the others, in aggressively attacking the Japanese cruisers and battleships despite the overwhelming odds against them. But the story of the Heermann absolutely amazes me. The skipper of the Heermann fought his ship past several heavy cruisers, and took on two Japanese battleships, one of them the largest and most heavily armed battleship in the world. The Heermann dueled these two giants for almost 45 minutes, in broad daylight, at ranges as low as 5,000 yards, and landed many 5" and 40 MM hits on them (which, of course, did not significantly reduce their fighting power) and then withdrew without once being touched by the enemy!

Pre-war, such conduct, even at night, was considered certain suicide, yet Heermann not only pulled it off, she survived the battle.

 

He also got a ship named after him.

IIRC the only other thing I've seen in the Action reports to add to this was a number of the commanders attributed the victory to the kind grace of Almighty God. No one expected to be surprised like that, and no one expected that they could win. The objective was to sacrifice themselves so that maybe the escort carriers could flee. Ziggy ordered the right things at the right times. IMO it was also the best commanded battle in the PTO.

Many of the stories are overlooked from that day, IMO. the Heermann's is one. One (or a couple) account(s) I've read has one sailor on one of the carriers telling his shipmates something along the lines of "hold on a minute longer, we're sucking them into 40mm range". The battle turned out to be quite inspirational. The workers who helped build the Sammy B, were proud of the fact they helped work on her.

 

I wonder how it would have turned out had Halsey not left the Northern approaches open which was contrary to the original plan. I understand this is not the first time Halsey did something like this.

 

Halsey's orders were to attack the Japanese carriers if they appeared. He notified Nimitz and Kinkaid he was going after them when he located them. Kinkaid (CinC 7th fleet) was aware of Halsey's move to the north which uncovered San Bernardino Strait. It was Kinkaid's unauthorized reading of Halsey's earlier internal command message that led him to believe that Halsey had formed and detached a task group to deal with the Japanese Central force, which was NOT the case. There should have been no confusion on Kinkaid's nor Nimitz's part because Halsey had repeatedly informed Nimitz that he intended an all out attack on the Japanese carriers if they appeared.

Even so, when Kinkaid became aware of the continued advance of the Japanese Central force through San Bernardino Strait, he panicked and did nothing to warn his CVE task groups off Samar of the potential danger. Kinkaid could have avoided the near debacle simply by ordering the Taffy's to move 50-60 miles to the Southeast. This would not have substantially affected their mission and would have put them out of the path of the Japanese surface forces.

History has been blamed Halsey for the foul-up, but, in fact, Nimitz, Kinkaid, and to some extent MacArthur, bear far more of the burden. Ultimately, it was the divided command structure of the entire PTO that was responsible for the mess, and this was the responsibility of Roosevelt, Marshall, and the JCS.

 

Then it was Halsey's error for not ensuring that it was the 'rest' of the Japanese fleet that his scout plane spotted which is why in his words, he thought it childish leaving behind his battleship group to guard San Bernardino Strait. Halsey is renoun for such brash reactions and history reflects this.

Even so, when he received the calls for help from Kinkaid, Halsey would have known that a mistake was made and should have sent help which would have come from behind the Japanese force.

 

My Uncle John Cox was on the USS Franklin and received Battle Stars for this .