Leyte Gulf: The Pacific War’s Greatest Battle

How the Battle Unfolded

17 October 1944

0650: Japanese lookouts spot U.S. Soldiers landing on Suluan Island at the mouth of Leyte Gulf.  

0809: Admiral Soemu Toyoda, Commander-in-Chief, Japanese Combined Fleet, issues Sho-1 Operation alert.

18

0100: Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita’s First Striking Force (Center and Southern forces) sorties from Lingga Roads, off Singapore.\
1400: U.S. ship bombardment of Leyte installations begin.
1732: Sho-1 execute order is issued.

19

0530: Seventh Fleet ships begin moving to their assigned positions off the Leyte landing beaches as the shore bombardment resumes. 

20

1000: After a prelanding bombardment, U.S. Sixth Army troops begin coming ashore on Leyte. In all, four divisions will land this day.
1730: The Japanese Northern Force sorties from Japan’s Inland Sea through the Bungo Strait. The decoy carrier force is woefully short of aircraft.

21

Leyte landings continue.
1600: The Japanese Second Striking Force sorties from Mako, Pescadores, for Manila but en route receives orders to “support and cooperate” with the Southern Force’s advance through Surigao Strait.

22

0800: The Center Force departs Brunei Bay, North Borneo.
1530: The Southern Force departs Brunei.

23

0325: The USS Bream (SS-243) torpedoes the heavy cruiser Aoba, part of CruDiv 16. 
0632: The U.S. submarines Darter (SS-227) and Dace (SS-247) attack the Center Force, alerting American commanders of the approach of Japanese naval forces and opening the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

24

0813: Task Force 38 (Third Fleet) planes sink the destroyer Wakaba, part of a Japanese transport unit, off Panay.
0827: Five minutes after receiving a sighting of the Center Force, Admiral William F. Halsey orders three of TF 38’s task groups—2, 3, and 4—to concentrate off San Bernardino Strait and recalls TG 38.1, which is en route to Ulithi. 
0833: The first of three raids by Japanese land-based planes against TG 38.3 begins. 
0918: TG 38.4 planes strike the Southern Force as it crosses the Sulu Sea.
0938: TG 38.3’s Princeton (CVL-23) is hit by a 550-pound bomb (see story, p. 24).
1026–1600: Battle of the Sibuyan Sea
1145: Attempting to entice TF 38 into pursuing his Northern Force carriers, Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa launches 76 planes to attack Halsey’s force. TG 38.3 aircraft easily break up the strike.
1405: TG 38.3 launches planes to search for enemy carriers to the northeast. 
1512: In preparation for battling Kurita’s survivors, Admiral Halsey sends a message announcing that Task Force 34, composed of TF 38 surface warships, “will be formed,” but he fails to issue an execute order and the force is not assembled.
1530: Admiral Kurita orders his remaining ships in the Sibuyan Sea to reverse course temporarily to avoid further attacks. 
1640: TG 38.3 planes spot the Northern Force.
1714: The Center Force again turns around and heads toward San Bernardino Strait. 
1950: Halsey decides to concentrate three of TF 38’s task groups (TG 38.1 was to join the others after refueling) and pursue the Northern Group.
2024: Halsey informs the Seventh Fleet’s Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid he is “proceeding north with three groups to attack enemy carrier force at dawn.” Kinkaid assumes Halsey is leaving TF 34 to block San Bernardino Strait and positions his own warships to defend Surigao Strait against advancing Japanese forces.
2252–0500 25 October: Battle of Surigao Strait

25

0035: The Center Force passes through the unguarded San Bernardino Strait.
0700–1236: Battle off Samar
0800–2305: Battle off Cape Engaño
0822: Halsey receives word from Kinkaid that enemy battleships and cruisers are firing on escort carrier unit Taffy 3.
0900: Halsey receives another message from Kinkaid, requesting assistance from Third Fleet warships and planes.
1000: Halsey receives a message from Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet: “Where is, repeat, where is Task Force 34. The world wants to know.” 
1051: During the war’s first deliberate kamikaze attacks, a suicide plane crashes Taffy 3’s USS St. Lo (CVE-63), which soon sinks. Kamikaze strikes damage four other U.S. escort carriers. 
1055: Halsey releases a major portion of his surface combatants (TF 34.5) to intercept Kurita’s force.

26

0100: TF 34.5 arrives off San Bernardino Strait, but the Center Force has already withdrawn.

Leyte Gulf's Opposing Forces and Battles

Japan

Center Force

Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita
Battleships: 5 (1 sunk)
Heavy cruisers: 10 (5)
Light cruisers: 2 (1)
Destroyers: 15 (3)

Southern Force

Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura
Battleships: 2 (2 sunk)
Heavy cruisers: 1 (1)
Destroyers: 4 (3)

Second Striking Force

Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima
Heavy cruisers: 2
Light cruisers: 1 (1sunk)
Destroyers: 7 (2)

Northern Force

Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa
Fleet carriers:1 (1 sunk)
Light carriers: 3 (3)
Battleships w/flight decks aft: 2
Light cruisers: 3(1)
Destroyers: 8 (2)
Combat aircraft: 116

Land-Based Air

First Air Fleet (Fifth Base Air Unit)
Vice Admiral Takijiro Ohnishi
Operational planes: about 30*
Second Air Fleet (Sixth Base Air Unit)
Vice Admiral Shigeru Fukudome
Operational planes about 240*
4th Air Army
Lieutenant General Kyoji Tominag
Operational planes: about 173* *
*20 October
**22 October

United States

Third Fleet

Admiral William F. Halsey
Fast Carrier Task Force 38 (Task Groups 38.1 38.2,38.3, and 38.4)
Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher
Fleet carriers: 9
Combat aircraft: 921
Light carriers: 6 (1 sunk)
Combat aircraft: 187
Battleships: 6
Heavy cruisers: 5
Light cruisers: 7
Destroyers: 53

Seventh Fleet

Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid
Escort Carrier Group (Taffy 1,2, and 3)
Rear Admiral Thomas L. Sprague
Escort carriers: 18 (2 sunk)
Combat aircraft: 502
Destroyers 9: (2)
Destroyer escorts: 14(1)
Fire Support Group (TG 79.2 augmented by TG 79.3 and TG 70.1)
Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf
Battleships: 6
Heavy cruisers: 4
Light cruisers:  4
Destroyers: 21
Motor torpedo boats: 39 (1 sunk)

➀ Battle of the Sibuyan Sea: 1026–1600 24 October

TF 38 carrier planes strike the Center Force, which is without air cover. The superbattleship Musashi (above, foreground) sinks after being hit by 19 torpedoes and 17 bombs; her sister, the Yamato, is damaged along with two battleships and a heavy cruiser. U.S. forces lose only 18 aircraft.

➁ Battle of Surigao Strait: 2252 24 October–0500 25 October

PT boats open the battle by attacking the Southern Force as it crosses the Mindanao Sea. Continuing into Surigao Strait, the ships are successively attacked by more Seventh Fleet PT boats and then destroyers. “Crossing the T,” Allied cruisers and battleships finally deliver a devastating fire against the remaining vessels. Arriving on the scene later, the Second Striking Force launches 16 torpedoes and withdraws.

➂ Battle off Samar: 0700–1236 25 October

Advancing toward Leyte Gulf, the Center Force opens fire on Taffy 3 (Task Unit 77.4.3). After launching planes, Taffy 3’s six escort carriers steam at top speed to the southwest. Attacks by U.S. aircraft, destroyers, and destroyer escorts meanwhile disrupt the pursuit, and at 0911 the Center Force breaks off the chase. After briefly resuming a course for Leyte Gulf, the Japanese ships withdraw.

➃  Battle off Cape Engaño: 0800–2305 25 October

TF 38 planes quickly brush aside a weak combat air patrol and repeatedly attack Northern Force carriers, including the Zuikaku (above, left) and a light carrier (right), and other ships. The air attacks conclude at 1800, but the battle ends at night with the USS Jallao (SS-368) sinking the light cruiser Tama. Despite overwhelming U.S. superiority, ten Japanese ships escape.