Victory at Sea S1E19 Battle for Leyte Gulf

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00:30And now, the battle for Lady Gough.

00:59Across the restless wilderness of water that is Pacific and name only, the United States

01:10Navy orders Halsey's Third Fleet and Kincaid's Seventh Fleet to the Philippines.

01:15Sailing over the Mindanao Deep and into Lady Gough, Allied soldiers and sailors come to

01:19answer the prayers of those who marched their way to death on Bataan two and a half years

01:23earlier.

01:24It is October, 1944.

01:51The liberation of the Philippines will start with the island of Lady.

01:54Seize the beaches, establish a base, six simple words on which hangs the destiny of the Western

02:01Pacific.

02:08132,000 troops, 200,000 tons of material, 750 transports and landing craft, for the

02:28GIs, Lady Gough is all out war, for the Japanese, Lady Gough is the most tempting target ever

02:36offered.

02:48And the Japanese know it.

02:49They have long been waiting for the Allies to get out on a limb.

02:53They have long had a plan to cut off the limb.

02:56Down from the north, up from the south, in from the west, the Imperial Japanese Navy

03:01converges with three powerful forces to perform the surgery at Lady Gough.

03:19The entire remaining naval strength of Japan is mustered for one final, supreme battle.

03:25Loss of the Philippines will tear the Japanese Empire in two, cutting off the home islands

03:29from the oil, the resources, the wealth of the Indies and Southeast Asia, fatally crippling

03:35Japan's ability to wage war.

03:37The Lady landings must be destroyed if Japan is to survive.

03:42The naval high command confesses, we are about to fight a battle that will decide the fate

03:46of our empire.

03:47The mission of our naval forces is truly great.

04:08Steady attrition has undermined the once superb Imperial Japanese Navy, but what the sailors

04:13now lack is a plant with courage sired out of desperation.

04:34Identify these ships.

04:35United States battleship, Maryland class.

04:36United States battleship, Maryland class.

04:37United States battleship, Oklahoma class.

04:54The American submarines, Darter and Dace, are stationed west of the Philippines.

05:00Three days after the Allied landings at Lady Gough, they discover part of the converging

05:04Japanese Navy.

05:05They attack, sink two cruisers, and send the enemy's course and speed to Halsey and Kincaid.

05:11Darter is lost, but the Americans are alerted.

05:25Intelligence from the submarines is analyzed and plotted aboard Admiral Halsey's flagship.

05:30The Third Fleet prepares its opening move in what is to be the greatest naval battle

05:34in all history.

05:35Halsey orders out his search planes, orders them to pinpoint the Japanese.

06:06Halsey's scouts find the Japanese central course in the Sibuyan Sea, headed east toward

06:15San Bernardino Strait.

06:17The enemy plans to sail through the strait and then set a southerly course for Lady Gough,

06:22a southerly course for slaughter.

06:32From the flagship to all carriers, strike, repeat, strike, good luck.

06:59The Japanese Navy can count on no help from its pilots and planes, all but destroyed in

07:27earlier battles.

07:28So anti-aircraft measures have been intensified in the hope the ships by themselves can beat

07:33off the Americans.

07:34The sailors prepare to throw up a wall of fire around their tassel.

07:58Six slashing attacks concentrate on the 63,000-ton battleship Musashi.

08:09Hit after hit is scored.

08:12Thirty-one torpedoes find their mark.

08:42The giant Musashi becomes the first Japanese battleship sunk entirely by aircraft.

08:57Other ships are damaged.

09:00The Japanese central force pauses and turns back.

09:03It has been battered, mauled, wounded, but it has not been destroyed.

09:25In the meantime, the Japanese southern force, in battle array and with all boilers lighted

09:30rips into the Mindanao Sea toward Surigao Strait, leading directly to Leyte Gulf from

09:34the southeast.

09:36Battleships, cruisers, destroyers lunge through the narrow waters, hoping to force the strait

09:41open and join up with the central force in the twin annihilation of the United States

09:45Army and Navy.

09:47But the jaws of an American trap are open.

10:01American men of war, alerted to the Japanese approach, race to put a stopper in the bottleneck

10:20of Surigao Strait.

10:21Admiral Kincaid stops the bottleneck with PT boats, destroyers, cruisers, and battleships.

10:32American and Australian ships and sailors comprise a floating dam across the strait,

10:37strong in firepower, strong in determination to hold.

10:41The admiral orders positions taken.

10:56PT boats, trained to attack anything afloat, with no defense but speed, skill, daring,

11:02patrol the southern end of Surigao Strait.

11:05In the fore of the battle line, these fragile sentinels prepare to draw the first blood.

11:22Behind the PT patrol is the destroyer picket line.

11:25Behind the destroyers are the cruisers, and behind the cruisers, the battleships.

11:30All hands are quiet, tense, waiting.

12:00The Japanese hurl themselves headlong through the dark, into the trap.

12:19Midnight, October 24th.

12:23Inside the Japanese force, detection gear picks up their enemy.

12:27Suddenly, brilliant, searchlights dispel the night.

12:32The Battle of Surigao Strait is on.

12:41The PT sailors let go all torpedoes in their savage attack, throwing the enemy off balance.

12:51The PTs have done their job.

12:58Located the enemy, attacked the enemy, betrayed the enemy to the bigger boys.

13:04Now destroyers, cruisers, battleships, all in position, all in battle stations,

13:09take up the fight.

13:11The Japanese are in the trap, and the jaws close.

13:21Old battleships that arose from the muck and humiliation of Pearl Harbor.

13:43California, West Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, deliver salvo after salvo.

13:51With the Japanese under their guns, the old battleships take their vengeance in Surigao Strait.

14:00The debris of Japanese disaster litters mile after mile of Surigao Strait.

14:22More than 5,000 Japanese sailors are wounded, missing, dead.

14:26The survivors, fanatical to the last, refuse to be rescued.

14:32The Japanese Southern Force is destroyed.

14:40But there is no time for celebration.

14:42To the north, San Bernardino Strait, unguarded, open waterway leading to the approaches of Lady Gulf.

14:49Through this passage, the Japanese Central Force of battleships, cruisers, and artillery

14:54The Central Force of battleships, cruisers, destroyers, steams at 20 knots.

14:59This is the force that was turned back.

15:02But if it could turn once, it could turn again.

15:05And the turn it has, toward Leyte.

15:16Only light American units, small escort carriers, destroyers, guard this approach to Leyte Gulf.

15:22The onrushing Japanese are first sighted by surprised, horrified search planes from the escort carriers.

15:29Should these 22 enemy ships break through, they will turn the Leyte landings into bloody shambles.

15:45Orders go out to the thin line of destroyers.

15:48Attack. Hit the cruisers. Block the battleships.

15:52These sailors sacrifice themselves for Leyte, and the battle of Samar.

15:57The Japanese force includes the largest warship ever built, the Yamato, mounting the biggest guns afloat.

16:25Open fire, orders the Japanese admiral,

16:28letting the feeble defenders feel the full sting of the Imperial Navy.

16:45Barrage after barrage straddles the escort carriers, protected only by the intrepid destroyers.

16:55Destroyers lay screens of real and chemical smoke between the escort carriers and the enemy,

17:12then bore in to deliver a furious torpedo attack.

17:15One of the most frantic, desperate actions of the war it's seen.

17:25Every plane that can get off the escort carriers joins the unequal battle.

17:38Trained only for support of ground troops,

17:40the jeep pilots hit the Japanese with what they can, with all they have.

17:55The Japanese keep pounding away, smashing the reeling escorts, the dauntless destroyers.

18:14But the reckless American attack continues, scattering and confusing the Japanese.

18:26Suddenly, the Japanese make an incredible decision.

18:30With parting salvos, they break off the fight. They turn back, this time for good.

18:37Five American ships, Gambier Bay, St. Lowe, Johnston, Hove, Roberts, Sondheim, 2,800 casualties.

18:51Meanwhile, far to the north, off Cape Nganyo, the third Japanese force is discovered.

18:58A force that answers the question the Americans have been asking since the start of the battle for Leyte Gulf.

19:02Where are the carriers?

19:07The Japanese northern force includes four carriers, as well as battleships, cruisers, destroyers.

19:13Steaming on a southerly course, the carriers are the final threat to Leyte Gulf.

19:32But the task of the northern force is suicidal. It is to act as decoy, to lure Halsey's third fleet

19:39away from Leyte Gulf, while the central and southern forces drive the Americans out of

19:43the Philippines. The Japanese are hopelessly outclassed, short on training, short of planes.

19:50We will be sunk, their admiral admits. That is our mission.

20:09Radio silence is deliberately broken to betray position.

20:12The dummy messages are intercepted by Halsey's radio men. The admiral is confronted with a tough

20:24problem. Should he stay at Leyte or sink the Japanese carriers?

20:30Regarding his mission to be offensive rather than defensive, he orders the third fleet north.

20:42The first strike, 55 torpedo planes, 60 fighters, 65 dive bombers.

21:42The Japanese maneuver to receive the assault with massed, intense anti-aircraft fire.

22:43Japanese land-based bombers from Luzon, Halsey's ships are the target.

22:56A

23:05few Japanese attackers break through, but a single bomber finds its single mark with a single bomb.

23:18The light carrier prints. One hit is enough. Rescue efforts by the crew and first aid from

23:27the crews of Birmingham cannot prevent a fatal internal explosion.

23:48So

24:04the Japanese decoy has worked, but it avails them nothing. All three of their forces are butchered,

24:12beaten, broken. In four days of far-flung fighting, the Japanese lose three battleships,

24:18one large carrier, three light carriers, six heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, nine destroyers,

24:2726 of their finest ships. Japan ceases to be a naval power. That dream is over.

24:35The once magnificent Imperial fleet is no more. It dies in the battle for Lady Goth,

24:42and it dies in vain.

25:05So

25:25fleets are made by nations. Battles are won by men,

25:29but when battle is done, the young and brave sleep, heedless of their greatest victory at sea.

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