Battle For Leyte Gulf Navy Wwii

Includes 6 charts and 20 photos Pulitzer prize winning author C. Vann Woodward recounts the story of the largest naval battle of all time. “The Battle for Leyte Gulf was the greatest naval battle of the Second World War and the largest engagement ever fought on the high seas. It was composed of four separate yet closely interrelated actions, each of which involved forces comparable in size with those engaged in any previous battle of the Pacific War. The four battles, two of them fought simultaneously, were joined in three different bodies of water separated by as much as 500 miles. Yet all four were fought between dawn of one day and dusk of the next, and all were waged in the repulse of a single, huge Japanese operation. “They were guided by a master plan drawn up in Tokyo two months before our landing and known by the code name Sho Plan. It was a bold and complicated plan calling for reckless sacrifice and the use of cleverly conceived diversion. As an afterthought the suicidal Kamikaze campaign was inaugurated in connection with the plan. Altogether the operation was the most desperate attempted by any naval power during the war-and there were moments, several of them in fact, when it seemed to be approaching dangerously near to success. “Unlike the majority of Pacific naval battles that preceded it, the Battle of Leyte Gulf was not limited to an exchange of air strikes between widely separated carrier forces, although it involved action of that kind. It also included surface and subsurface action between virtually all types of fighting craft from motor torpedo boats to battleships, at ranges varying from point-blank to fifteen miles, with weapons ranging from machine guns to great rifles of 18-inch bore, fired “in anger” by the Japanese for the first time in this battle.”

The last great naval battle of World War II, Leyte Gulf also is remembered as the biggest naval battle ever fought anywhere, and this book has been called the best account of it ever written. First published in hardcover on the battle's fiftieth anniversary in 1994 and drawing on materials not previously available, it blends history with human drama to give a real sense of what happened--despite the mammoth scope of the battle. Every facet of naval warfare was involved in the struggle that engaged some two hundred thousand men and 282 American, Japanese, and Australian ships over more than a hundred thousand square miles of sea. That Tom Cutler succeeded at such a difficult task is no surprise. The award-winning author saw combat service aboard many types of ships during his naval career, and as a historian and professor of strategy and policy at the Naval War College, he has studied the battle for many years. Cutler captures the milieu, analyzes the strategy and tactics employed, and re-creates the experiences of the participants--from seaman to admiral, both Japanese and American. It is a story replete with awe-inspiring heroism, failed intelligence, flawed strategy, brilliant deception, great controversies, and a cast of characters with names like Halsey, Nimitz, Ozawa, and MacArthur. Such an exciting and revealing account of the battle is unlikely to be equaled by future writers.

The blazing, hour-by-hour account of the bloodiest sea battle of World War II from acclaimed author Edwin P. Hoyt. By October, 1944, the Japanese Navy was driven to take a desperate action: to surprise the American forces at Leyte Gulf in the South Pacific. Special action photo edition.

Often overshadowed by other Pacific War engagements such as Midway or Guadalcanal, the Battle of Leyte Gulf was characterized by some of the most gallant hours in seagoing history: the U.S. Navy's defeat of the combined Japanese fleet during the invasion of the Philippines in October 1944. Involving more ships than even the gargantuan First World War Battle of Jutland and two hundred thousand men, it was the biggest naval battle in world history. It marked the last time that huge capital ships fought within sight and sound of each other. Using the personal accounts of the men who were there, Sears tells this mammoth and compelling story. This moving tale uses personal accounts of the veterans who achieved victory in the biggest and last great naval battle, largely fought with aging ships, untested reserve crews, and teenaged combat aircraft pilots. Often overshadowed by other Pacific War engagements such as Midway or Guadalcanal, the Battle of Leyte Gulf was characterized by some of the most gallant hours in seagoing history: the U.S. Navy's defeat of the combined Japanese fleet during the invasion of the Philippines in October 1944. Involving more ships than even the gargantuan First World War Battle of Jutland and two hundred thousand men, it was the biggest naval battle in world history. It marked the last time huge capital ships fought within sight and sound of each other. Using the personal accounts of the men who were there, Sears tells this mammoth and compelling story. The Battle of Leyte Gulf could have been the Pacific War's Battle of the Bulge. In a space of 12 hours, Japan, a beaten, cornered enemy, was able to devise and execute a strategy that very nearly pierced the heart of America's war machine. The real margin of victory would come from surprising quarters: from aging ships risen from the graveyard of the war's infamous first day; from small, hastily constructed ships with largely untested reserve crews; from fragile support ships never intended to be anywhere near battles of this scale; and from combat aircraft piloted by teenagers.

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the fighting from sailors on both sides *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents The waters of the Pacific Ocean - stretching deep blue under the tropical sun, or scourged by typhoons - provided World War II's most far-flung battlefield. Two of the world's premier mid 20th century maritime powers, the United States of American and the Empire of Japan, grappled for supremacy across that pelagic expanse. In the process, they forcefully sounded the knell of battleships and naval gunnery, ushering in the era of the aircraft carrier and the submarine. As 1944 passed, the U.S. Navy (USN) steadily drove the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) westward, closer to the Japanese home islands and defeat. Nevertheless, the IJN remained aggressive, hoping to launch a devastating attack on the American fleets to improve their nation's bargaining position, or perhaps even reverse the fortunes of war. This, of course, ignored a pair of previous catastrophic failures of similar plans, at Midway and the Battle of the Philippine Sea, otherwise known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" due to the loss of around 480 Japanese aircraft at a cost of 49 US planes. The Americans forced the Japanese to abandon their forward base at Truk. At the same time, the USN moved its main fleet base westward, first to Eniwetok. Due to the constraints of the era's technology, plus the necessity to maintain a robust logistics chain across the Pacific's vast spaces, the island-hopping campaign represented a strategic necessity, with only the specific islands taken or bypassed open to debate. The U.S. aimed to take Ulithi as the new site for a new forward base in early autumn 1944, pushing fleet resupply even closer to Japan's last bastion. From there, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, swayed by the plans and arguments of General Douglas MacArthur, planned to seize a number of islands and then Leyte in the Philippines as a prelude to invasion of Luzon, then Formosa. Conducting massive air raids on Leyte in September, Admiral William "Bull" Halsey's air groups destroyed 500 Japanese aircraft and 59 ships at a cost of 9 aircraft shot down. This prompted Halsey to send an urgent message to Roosevelt, then at the Octagon Conference in Canada with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, claiming a feeble defense of the Philippines. Trying to take advantage of this intelligence, the Joint Chiefs moved up the timetable for the landings on Leyte to October 20th. The Americans would now bypass several islands such as Yap, to take Leyte and Luzon quickly, though Ulithi and several other islands remained earmarked for conquest. The USN assembled a massive attack force for Leyte, consisting of 7th Fleet, charged with the actual amphibious landings, and 3rd Fleet's Task Force 38, Halsey's powerful strike force centered around 17 aircraft carriers bearing some 1,000 aircraft. The Americans, however, did not realize that a powerful IJN force lurked near Singapore. This armada, Vice Admiral Kurita Takao, found itself waiting for the USN to move into the jaws of the trap and, hopefully, suffer a crippling defeat. The ensuing Battle of Leyte Gulf would consist of a series of coordinated actions over the course of several days in late October, and though some confusion would cause problems for the Americans, the end result was the permanent crippling of the Japanese navy and the taking of Leyte Island, a crucial step in liberating the Philippines as a whole. Cut off from badly needed supplies after the battle, the Japanese lacked the resources necessary to continue fueling their navy, much of which would sit idle for the remainder of the war. The Battle of Leyte Gulf: The History and Legacy of World War II's Largest Naval Battle analyzes the complex and controversial battle, widely considered the largest naval battle in the history of warfare.

The Battle for Leyte Gulf was the greatest naval battle of the Second World War. It the largest engagement ever fought on the high seas. From Singapore, Formosa, and Japan the Imperial Japanese Navy set forth: 9 battleships, 4 carriers, 14 heavy cruisers, 6 light cruisers, 33 destroyers -- all bound for victory or death in the waters of Leyte Gulf. They were met by the combined forces of the American and Australian navies with 12 battleships, 8 fleet carriers, 8 light carriers, 18 escort carriers, 24 cruisers, 166 destroyers and destroyer escorts, along with numerous other vessels. For the Japanese the battle represented the supreme naval effort of the war. At Leyte Gulf they aimed to smash the Allied navies and prevent the American attempt to recapture the Philippines. The Japanese were willing to gamble everything on this battle and one of their Admirals, Takeo Kurita, admitted after the war that they "expected that more than half our ships would be lost." Yet, the Japanese were not able to smash the Allied navies and never again demonstrated the same strength on the highs seas that they had prior to 23rd October 1944. C. Vann Woodward, the Pulitzer-prize winning historian, provides a fascinating overview of the engagement that lasted for four days. He breaks down the conflict into four separate major battles, including the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Battle off Cape Engaño, and the Battle off Samar, to demonstrate to the reader the sheer scale and ferocity of the Battle for Leyte Gulf. "This is the first full account of what will undoubtedly be a considerable library on the Battle for Leyte Gulf and it is well that it is the first. The general picture is so soundly documented that it is hard to see how anyone, ever, will be able to improve on Mr. Woodward's presentation of the facts in the case." -- The New York Times C. Vann Woodward was Professor of History at John Hopkins University and subsequently at Yale. During the war he served as as an Intelligence Officer in the Office of Chief of Naval Operations. He wrote numerous books on the American south and race relations. His book The Battle for Leyte Gulf was first published in 1947 and he passed away in 1999.