| 23-26 October 1944 The Battle of Leyte Gulf |
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| The commander of the Japanese fleet, Admiral Toyoda
Soemu, sought to lure U.S. naval forces away from Leyte. Using his four remaining aircraft carriers
as bait, he sought to trap the Americans between two groups of battleships and cruisers. Unfortunately
for Toyoda, the plan started to go wrong almost immediately. In a whole series of engagements in
and around the Gulf of Leyte—often referred to individually as the battles of Surigao Strait,
Samar, and Cape Enganao—the Japanese Navy was crippled, losing no less than three battleships,
six cruisers, and all four of the carriers. The Americans suffered the loss of one large and two
smaller escort carriers.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle in history, and marked the last major effort on the part of the Japanese Navy to affect the course of the war. However, it also saw the first use of a horrific new weapon—the Kamikaze (Japanese for “divine wind”), planes packed with explosives and flown by pilots who were trained to crash them into enemy ships. History: Campaign Maps: Document: Personal Accounts: |
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