Leyte Gulf - Death of a Navy Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sho-Go plan

Sho-Go (Victory Operation) was to be implemented as soon as the next American objective was identified. Sho-1 would counter a move on the Philippines, Sho-2 was for the defence of Formosa and the Ryuku Islands, Sho-3 covered the Home islands and Sho-4 covered a move on the Kurile Islands. Admiral Soemu Toyoda from his headquarters in Tokyo was in overall command of the operation. Sho-2 was prematurely implemented in response to a carrier sweep of airfields in Formosa and Okinawa by Marc Mitscher's fast carrier group from Halsey's Third Fleet.

The Japanese committed most of their remaining carrier aircraft to countering this move and by the end of the operation over 600 Army and Navy planes had been destroyed. At a stroke on the eve of the Leyte operation a large part of Japanese air power had been removed.

Answer: Three

In the Sho-1 plan three forces were to co-ordinate operations to counter the American landing at Leyte once that had been identified as the target. A Northern Force led by Admiral Ozawa leading the remaining aircraft carriers would sally from the Home islands to act as a decoy to draw away Admiral Halsey's carriers of the Third Fleet from covering the landings.

The Centre Force with Admiral Kurita leading a powerful group of battleships and cruisers including the giant Yamato and Musashi would sail from Singapore, refuel at Brunei, before proceeding through the central Philippines to fall on the now hopefully vulnerable landing forces at Leyte.

He would rendezvous with Admiral Nishimura's Southern Force consisting of a smaller group of old battleships and cruisers and between them they hoped to crush the American landings.

Answer: Dace and Darter

The USS Dace and Darter were at the end of a long patrol in the South China Sea when shortly after midnight on October 23 Commander McClintock of Darter spotted a double line of warships steaming up the western side of Palawan Island. McClintock sent out a message about the sighting and signalled his colleague Commander Clagett of Dace to join him in stalking the Centre Force.

Incredibly, there were no destroyers leading the formation, thus leaving it vulnerable to head on attack. McClintock and Claggett were in position to launch their attack at 5:30. McClintock fired the opening shots of the Battle of Leyte Gulf with a spread of six torpedoes from his bow tubes then turning to fire four more from his stern tubes. Five hits registered on Kurita's flagship the heavy cruiser Atago, and hits were registered on the next ship in line, the heavy cruiser Takao. Atago soon went down leaving Kurita floundering in the water with other survivors and Takao was forced to retreat to Brunei. McClintock took evasive action to avoid the hornet's nest he had stirred up and in the confusion managed to run Darter aground on a reef. Claggett had watched the fireworks at a distance and now moved in to make his move.

He managed to put four torpedoes into the heavy cruiser Maya which disappeared in a massive explosion. Kurita was fished out of the water by the destroyer Kishinami in time to witness this calamity, his force now been reduced by three heavy cruisers and two destroyers. (Two destroyers were escorting the heavily damage Takao from the scene). Dace survived several hours of depth charging before surfacing and making contact with the Darter which was now high out of the water stuck on a reef. A comedy of errors now occurred but the upshot of it was that the Darter's crew was rescued by Dace and made a safe return to base in Australia.

Answer: Sibuyan

Admiral Halsey, who was steaming off the east coast of the Philippines with the mighty force of aircraft carriers of the Third Fleet, was alerted by Darter's signal the day before and sent out search planes at dawn on the 24th. They soon found the Centre Force steaming at high speed across the Sibuyan Sea. Kurita had by now transferred his flag to the super battleship Yamato and still led a powerful force including five battleships, nine cruisers, and numerous destroyers. Halsey eagerly anticipated action with the Japanese fleet and as soon as the sighting of the enemy fleet was confirmed he gave the order "Strike! Repeat: Strike! Good Luck!" The action which followed is known as The Battle of the Sibuyan Sea.

Answer: Princeton

The 550 lb bomb went through the flight deck and exploded in the middle of six torpedo planes in the hangar deck causing a series of secondary explosions. An uncontrollable inferno broke out and the order was given to abandon ship with most of the crew being rescued. Later when the fires seemed to be under control the cruiser Birmingham pulled alongside to assist in recovery efforts. Suddenly a massive explosion blew the stern off the Princeton and engulfed the upper decks of the Birmingham killing over 200 crewmen.

The Princeton eventually went down with the loss of 108 crewmen. However the attack cost the Japanese dearly as they lost over 70 of the 200 remaining planes available for the Sho operation and air cover was what Kurita desperately needed as he came under attack from the massed air power of the Third Fleet.

Answer: Musashi

The first American aircraft arrived over Centre Force mid morning to find the fleet bristling with guns pointing skyward but devoid of air cover. They concentrated their attacks on the on the Musashi which along with her sister Yamato were the largest battleships ever built. Musashi soon took several hits and a second attack soon peeled back the outer plates on her bow where the armoured protection was a lot thinner.

The American flyers of the next attack knew she was in trouble when they saw her speed reduced and a great geyser of water shooting up from her bows so they concentrated their efforts on her. Captain Inoguchi knew his ship was in trouble and reluctantly authorised the use of the main battery sanshiki-don shells when the next wave of attackers appeared overhead.

These newly developed anti-aircraft shells were like a giant shot-gun cartridge and fired from the 18 inch main armament . They had the disadvantage of ruining the rifling of the barrels which Inoguchi hoped to use with conventional shells the next morning when bombarding the American invasion fleet at Leyte.

The defensive fire was spectacular but largely inaccurate as the Japanese did not have radar to direct the fire. Musashi succumbed to more hits and the bows were soon awash her end obviously near. She finally sank after being pounded with 17 bomb and 19 torpedo hits taking 1100 of her crew with her. The Americans only lost 18 aircraft despite the furious anti-aircraft barrage.

Answer: True

This is true and it enabled Halsey to turn his attention to the North where Ozawa's carrier force had now been detected and which was considered to be a greater threat. Kurita had indeed been observed to turn westward by flyers in the final attack force.

After the loss of Musashi, damage to three of his other battleships and the heavy cruiser Myoko being forced back to Brunei for repairs Kurita was a rattled man and needed to consider his options. With the prospect of further aerial attacks while negotiating the narrow San Bernardino Passage during daylight hours a turn westward indeed seemed wise.

When no further attacks eventuated and after consultations with Admiral Toyoda in Tokyo he was filled with new resolve to continue his mission. He reversed course two hours later just before dusk a move which although it was observed by American aircraft its significance did not seem to register with the High Command. Kurita proceeded to make for the San Bernardino passage during the hours of darkness which was to have fateful consequences the next morning.

Answer: Surigao

Nishimura's Southern Force consisted of the old battleships Fuso, Yamishiro, the cruiser Mogami and four destroyers and it was supposed to operate in conjunction with a second group of ships led by Vice Admiral Shima who had sallied from the home islands with two cruisers and eight destroyers.

However the two men were great rivals and could not work together and as a consequence Shima's force trailed 40km behind Nishimura when they entered the Surigao Strait. The ships had been spotted by search aircraft on the 24th and Coastwatchers kept the Americans informed of their progress as they proceeded toward the Surigao Strait as night fell.

The action which followed is known as The Battle of Surigao Strait.

Answer: Cross the enemy's T

Crossing the T is a classic manoeuvre where one fleet cuts in front of the enemy column in single file allowing every ship in the battle line to fire broadsides into the enemy ships while they can only return fire with their forward guns. Oldendorf deployed West Virginia, California, Tennessee, Maryland, and Mississippi across the mouth of the Surigao Strait.

These were Pearl Harbour veterans, three of which had been damaged and two sunk, and had been reconditioned fitted with the fire-control radar and put back into service. Nishimura was confident of his crew's night fighting skills even though he did not have fire-control radar.

As he proceeded up the passage he was ambushed by PT boats which had been lying in wait. They did not score any hits but reported the progress of the force.

A few miles further up he was ambushed by a force of American and Australian destroyers attacking from both sides. They launched a series of attacks with devastating results. The elderly battleship Fuso blew up and split in two, two destroyers were sunk and the flagship Yamashiro took two hits. Worse was to come. Just after 3 AM West Virginia's radar picked up the Yamashiro and soon had a firing solution.

She fired a salvo of 16 inch shells followed shortly afterward by 14 inch and 8 inch salvos from the rest of the battleships and cruisers in the battle line. Over the next 18 minutes 270 shells were fired from the battleships and 4000 rounds from the cruisers and destroyers. Yamashiro took several hits before exploding and sinking taking Nishimura with it and only one destroyer escaped destruction. One American destroyer was damaged after being caught in crossfire. Admiral Shima bringing up the rearguard came across the burning hulks of Nishimura's ships including the two halves of the Fuso. He managed to retreat before Oldendorf destroyed him too. His only contribution to the battle was to inform Kurita that there would be no Southern Force to meet him in Leyte Gulf come daylight. This was the last ever battleship vs. battleship action.

Answer: Battle of Bull's Run

'The Battle of Bull's Run' was a reference to the Civil War battle of that name and Halsey's nick-name 'Bull' which stuck, after a reporter misspelled his first name 'Bill' in a story about him before the war but seemed to suit him as it summed up his aggressive nature.

Historians call this action 'The Battle off Cape Engano'. Controversially he also took along Admiral Lee's fast battleship group Task Force (TF 34) leaving no one patrolling the mouth of the San Bernadino Strait. He later said he needed Lee's battleships to finish off any cripples left from the air attacks but the fact that he had his command on one of the battleships may have had something to do with his decision. For the Japanese this was about the only part of the Sho-Go operation that went as planned. Ozawa was fully prepared to sacrifice his force if it gave Kurita and Nishimura a clear run to destroy the Leyte landings. Halsey had no way of knowing that Ozawa's four carriers had only 108 planes between them to oppose his mighty force of 1000 planes flying from eleven carriers. Most of the aircraft assigned to Ozawa had been lost in countering the attacks of Mitschner's fast carrier group on Formosa and Okinawa earlier in the month.

Moreover most of the Japanese were inexperienced and had been instructed to land at airfields in Luzon after their missions as they had little experience in carrier landings.

Answer: Taffy 3

Taffy 3 was a task force of six small escort carriers or CVE's and seven destroyers commanded by Admiral Clifton Sprague stationed on the northern flank of the landings. The CVE's or 'Jeep Carriers' were converted merchantmen with flight decks added, carrying a complement of 28 planes and armed with a few antiaircraft guns up to 5 inch calibre.

There were three of these Taffy groups supporting the landings. With little warning great waterspouts from numerous shell bursts began erupting around Sprague's tiny fleet. "There're shooting at us in technicolour!" exclaimed one of the seamen describing the multicoloured shell bursts around them. Japanese ships used colour coded dye to distinguish their ranging shots from each other. Sprague desperately swung his carriers into the wind and launched every available plane and requested help from Taffy 2 which was 100km distant.

He only had a small stock of bombs and torpedoes as his aircraft had been supporting MacArthur's ground troops. Meanwhile his destroyers and destroyer escorts, following the lead of USS Johnston one of the new Fletcher class destroyers, charged toward the oncoming vastly superior force.

It was David vs. Goliath. Kurita misidentified the CVE's and believed he had surprised a group of Halsey's Fleet Carriers. The American carriers ducked into a nearby squall line (it was the monsoon season) while the destroyers and aircraft harried the Japanese ships. Some aircraft had no ordinance but made mock attacks anyway creating the impression that they were under attack from a much larger force. Torpedo hits were registered on the cruisers and at one point the mighty Yamato had to turn away from the battle for 10 minutes to outrun torpedoes on parallel courses until they ran out of fuel. She was now well out of position and never regained contact with the action. Kurita was now out of contact with his other surface units and was unsure of the tactical situation.

Answer: Gambier Bay

The armour piercing shells which the Japanese had been using were going right through the thin skinned CVE's without exploding and it was only when they switched to High Explosive that they started doing some real damage. The Gambier Bay was soon hit by 18 inch shells from the Yamato which then had to break off the action to avoid torpedoes but was sunk by the cruiser Chikuma, becoming the second US carrier to go down during the three day battle.

The destroyers Johnston and Pierce soon followed and it seemed like the fate of Taffy 3 was sealed.

The desperate efforts of Taffy 3 and the motley collection of aircraft from all three Taffy groups inflicted disproportionate damage on Kurita's force leaving the cruisers Chokai, Kumano, and Chikuma sinking and inflicting hits on some of the battleships. Only the Yamato was relatively unscathed.

At this point Kurita suddenly broke off the fight and ordered his force to retreat north. Intercepted radio calls indicated that help was on the way from the north and he realised the danger of having his retreat through the San Bernadino passage being cut off. Few military leaders can have had their mettle tested as did Takeo Kurita who in the past three days had one flagship sunk under him, been subjected to daylong aerial attack in the Sibuyan Sea, negotiated the perilous San Bernadino Strait, was out of contact with the current tactical situation because of the evasive action his flagship was forced to take to avoid torpedoes, and was now in danger of being crushed by a superior force. Caution reasserted itself and he ordered the retreat north.

The battered survivors of Taffy 3 could not believe what they were seeing as it looked as if they were within an ace of total destruction. This action is known as The Battle off Samar.

Answer: "The world wonders"

The final phrase included in the message was part of the nonsense padding routinely added to secret dispatches to befuddle the enemy and should not have been included in the message handed to Halsey. However it even fooled Halsey's people and when he received it the message was "Where is RPT Where is Task Force 34 RR The world wonders" and sounded like a stinging rebuke from his superior. To be given such a message at the moment he believed would be his greatest hour infuriated Halsey.

This upsetting message combined with the urgent queries from Kinkaid forced him to turn Lee's battleships southward and as he later wrote 'to turn my back on the opportunity I had dreamed of since my days as a cadet'. Task Force 34 sped southward at top speed on the return leg of 'Bulls Run'. Kurita had intercepted a message saying that help was on its way and managed to reach the San Bernadino Strait 3 hours before he could be intercepted.

The mightiest and fastest battleships in the US fleet spent the entire day fruitlessly racing north then south without firing a shot. Lee's original command of Washington and South Dakota which he had led since the Solomon Island campaign (See my quiz 'Solomon Islands Naval Battles') had now been joined by Alabama, Iowa, Massachusetts, and New Jersey making it the most modern and powerful battleship group in existence.

Answer: Zuikaku, Zuiho, Chiyoda, Chitose

The Zuikaku, Zuiho, Chiyoda, Chitose along with a destroyer were the major casualties from Ozawa's force after being overwhelmed by over 500 sorties by aircraft from the American carriers. Earlier Ozawa had desperately tried to attract the attention of the American Task Force by sending out unencoded messages and detached 7 ships from his force to flaunt themselves like a matador wielding his cape before the enemy. 'The Bull' responded to the ruse and charged north with everything he had. Ozawa attacked him with a puny force of about 75 aircraft which inflicted no damage and was almost totally wiped out by swarms of defending fighters. Mitschner's carriers raced ahead as Halsey was forced to turn south with TF 34 and launched his own attacks which easily brushed aside the 25 fighters that Ozawa had left. Even though Ozawa lost five ships he had fulfilled his mission and managed to escape after nightfall with the remnants of his force including the hybrid carriers Ise and Hyuga.
Soryu, Hiryu, Kaga, Akagi were lost in the Battle of Midway
Hiyo, Taiho, Shokaku, were lost in the Battle of the Philippine Sea the previous June.
Shoho was lost during the Battle of the Coral Sea
Ryujo was lost during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons.
Hosho, the first and smallest Japanese carrier, was the only one to survive the war.

Answer: St Lo

The St Lo was the first ship to be sunk by kamikaze aircraft and several others were damaged that day. This was another blow for Taffy 3 which had just survived annihilation from Kurita's surface group that morning. HMAS Australia had survived the first recorded Kamikaze attack on October 21 during the lead-up to the Battle of Leyte Gulf and had the misfortune to be struck again on the 25th during the same attack which sank the St Lo.

She went on to survive being struck by Kamikazes on six separate occasions before the end of the war! On this melancholy note ended the action collectively known as the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

It was an overwhelming victory for the Americans but at a cost of 3500 lives, 1 light carrier, 2 escort carriers, 2 destroyers, 1 destroyer escort. For the Japanese it was the end of the Imperial Japanese Navy as a fighting unit. Over the course of the three day action they lost over 10,000 lives, 4 aircraft carriers, 3 battleships, 10 cruisers, and 12 destroyers.

The scattered remnants were isolated in ports to the south where they had access to oil but no ammunition or spare parts, or north where they could be resupplied but were cut off from oil supplies.