Battle of Leyte Gulf

battle_name=Battle of Leyte Gulf

Aftermath

The battle of Leyte Gulf secured the beachheads of the U.S. Sixth Army on Leyte against attack from the sea. Much hard fighting would be required before the island was completely in Allied hands at the end of December 1944.

Related Topics:
U.S. Sixth Army - Fighting

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The battle destroyed Japanese naval power, and opened the way for the advance to the Ryukyu Islands in 1945. The only significant Japanese naval operation in the rest of the war was the disastrous Operation Ten-Go in April 1945.

Related Topics:
Ryukyu Islands - 1945 - Operation Ten-Go

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As the battle was coming to an end, Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi put his "Special Attack Force" into operation, launching kamikaze attacks against the Allied ships in Leyte Gulf. On 25 October Australia was hit for a second time and forced to retire for repairs, and the escort carrier St. Lo was sunk.

Related Topics:
Takijiro Onishi - 25 October - ''St. Lo''

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Criticism of Halsey

Halsey was criticized for his decision to take Task Force 34 with him in pursuit of Ozawa, and for failing to dispatch it when Kinkaid first appealed for help.

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US Navy slang for Halsey's action has ever since been Bull's Run, a pun

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on Halsey's nickname "Bull" Halsey and the Battles of the Bull Run in

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the Civil War. In his dispatch after the battle, he justified the decision as follows:

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:Searches by my carrier planes revealed the presence of the Northern carrier force on the afternoon of 24 October, which completed the picture of all enemy naval forces. As it seemed childish to me to guard statically San Bernardino Strait, I concentrated TF 38 during the night and steamed north to attack the Northern Force at dawn. I believed that the Center Force had been so heavily damaged in the Sibuyan Sea that it could no longer be considered a serious menace to Seventh Fleet.

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Clifton Sprague, commander of Task Unit 77.4.3 in the battle off Samar, was later critical of Halsey's decision:

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:In the absence of any information that this exit was no longer blocked, it was logical to assume that our northern flank could not be exposed without ample warning.

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Naval historian Samuel Morison wrote:

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:If TF 34 had been detached a few hours earlier, after Kinkaid's first urgent request for help, and had left the destroyers behind, since their fueling caused a delay of over two hours and a half, a powerful battle line of six modern battleships under the command of Admiral Lee, the most experienced battle squadron commander in the Navy, would have arrived off San Bernardino Strait in time to have clashed with Kurita's Center Force.... Apart from the accidents common in naval warfare, there is every reason to suppose that Lee would have crossed Kurita's T and completed the destruction of Center Force.

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A message from Nimitz asking for the location of Task Force 34 led to ill-feeling between him and Halsey, owing to a misunderstood piece of security padding (see "the world wonders").

Related Topics:
Security padding - The world wonders

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